novelraw Chapter 100 : Assault
Chapter 100 : Assault
Chapter 100: Assault
In front of the hut where dusk had fallen, four people ate dinner.
It was a plentiful meal, complete with stew, grilled meat, and even soft bread.
The seasoning made it taste good, but Robin’s expression was dark.
He had dealt with monsters all day, but the results were negligible.
He had ended it after slicing only flesh that did not even reach the bone.
Rather than swinging a sword, it had been closer to logging.
‘Did I end up experiencing life as a lumberjack without meaning to.’
A hollow, self-mocking laugh escaped him.
Burt looked at him and sneered.
“Why? Did you think you’d take it down in one go.”
“That’s not it, but it’s absurd. I’m feeling skeptical.”
His single-minded resolve to grow stronger remained unchanged.
If he could defeat that monstrous creature, it was clear that he would become stronger.
If that wasn’t an achievement, then what was.
“Give up on the idea of leaving here before you catch that thing.”
“I figured you’d say something like that…….”
Robin let out a sigh and thought of Imelda.
He had asked Burt about the war, but Burt knew nothing.
Saying he had no interest had been accurate.
Robin thought of Imelda again.
“Could you at least deliver a letter for me?”
“Ask the porter.”
When he looked at Emily, she scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“You said you wanted to send it to Miss Imelda and Admiral Wilcock, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… give it to me for now. I’ll send it when I have time.”
“When would that be?”
“Well… I may not look it, but I’m quite busy. A week? A month? Or maybe a year later?”
“It’s important to me. Please.”
“But is there really a need to announce your survival? In my opinion, it might be better to leave things as they are.”
“What do you mean?”
Emily tore off a piece of bread as she continued.
“If you disappeared from the battlefield for over a month, it’s obvious you’d have been declared dead.”
“So what? I’m alive. Even if administrative processing takes time, it’s better to correct it.”
“Who would be happy about the return of a mercenary thought to be dead?”
“If it’s about the reward money, I don’t care. I don’t have to take it.”
“Really? The amount would be enormous…….”
“My pay wasn’t particularly high.”
“Ah, my mistake……. Anyway, I can’t really recommend it. That’s my opinion.”
Emily covered her mouth in an exaggerated manner, then resumed eating.
The masked figures who appeared in the Runeberg War.
The strange woman who claimed to be Burt’s porter.
At first, he had thought she was an enemy, but now it felt a little different.
The one called Sparrow had overwhelmed Imelda.
‘Even so, she didn’t take her life.’
Thinking back on it, it was strange, but if Emily and Sparrow were the same person, it made sense.
Even when Robin treated her coldly, Emily responded gently.
At times, she even told him things he was curious about.
That Imelda, Serena, and Theodric were safe, that the funerals of the dead had been concluded properly.
Unlike Burt, Emily was well informed about outside news.
He didn’t know if it was because Burt had taught Robin, but she wasn’t hostile.
‘She doesn’t really give straight answers when I ask. Still, I should send the news.’
He took out letter envelopes from his bosom.
He handed Emily two envelopes with Imelda’s name and the Admiral’s name written on them.
Emily accepted them with a smile.
“I’ll deliver them as soon as possible.”
“Thank you.”
That was enough.
He wanted to show his face as soon as possible, but there was something that took priority.
In the war, Robin had keenly realized his own weakness.
To live the life he wanted, he needed to hone himself.
And having heard Sigbard’s story, he couldn’t simply pass it by.
He wanted to help the benefactor who had saved his life.
For these intertwined reasons, Robin agreed to remain here.
“I’ll turn in first.”
Burt set down his empty bowl and headed for the tent.
Before entering, he spoke to Robin and Sigbard.
“Eat well and rest up. Tomorrow will be tougher.”
A cold wind flowed through the surroundings where only the three remained.
Looking at the spot Burt had left, Robin felt the air change.
‘Is this what presence is.’
Things he wouldn’t have noticed before gradually came into view.
It was far.
The gap between him and the one-legged general store owner was large.
Chewing what was in his mouth, he muttered to himself.
“What kind of life have you lived.”
In the middle of the night, while he was fast asleep.
Robin opened his eyes.
As he sat up, Sigbard was getting ready to go out.
Their eyes met, but no particular words were exchanged.
‘There’s something outside.’
He strapped on the sword he had placed by the bedside and left the hut.
Emily was holding a torch and staring into the pitch-black darkness.
When she saw Robin and Sigbard, she spoke in a cheerful voice.
“You both have good instincts.”
“I felt a presence. What is it?”
“A group of monsters is coming.”
When he listened carefully, faint crunching footsteps could be heard.
“Mr. Burt said the two of you should handle it yourselves.”
Before Robin could reply, Emily floated up into the air.
The torch rose with her, narrowing visibility even further.
Sigbard grabbed firewood from the campfire with his bare hands and thrust it firmly into the ground.
“Robin.”
He flung another piece of firewood toward him.
If he caught it with his bare hands, he would obviously get burned, so he drew his sword and slightly redirected its flight path.
Seeing the firewood stick precisely into the ground, Emily clapped her hands.
“Wow, what a rare sight.”
Robin’s feat didn’t end there.
Sigbard threw three more pieces of firewood.
In response, Robin planted them at regular intervals.
As their field of vision was secured, the silhouettes of monsters began to appear one by one.
Just from what he could roughly see, there were more than ten.
“For reference, Mr. Burt said not to use any tricks.”
Without even coming out of the tent, Burt seemed to have a complete grasp of the area.
“Is this also part of the training?”
“Half right, half wrong.”
Until now, monsters had never attacked at night.
Not when he had wandered alone through the snowfields, nor when he had followed Sigbard riding the white bear.
It was the first time in over a month that this had happened.
“Robin, they’re coming.”
At Sigbard’s warning, one monster charged in.
The relatively small monster lost its life to a single slash from Robin’s sword.
As if that were the signal, the rest swarmed in.
‘By not using tricks, he must mean not accelerating thought.’
Following Burt’s words, he swung his sword.
His body moved based on judgments made the instant he saw them.
“Huuh. Huuh.”
‘Was fighting monsters always this difficult.’
Considering that he was under the same conditions as an ordinary person, Robin’s response had been excellent.
However, that was only by the standards of an average man.
For Robin, who lived in a different time frame during combat, this situation was overwhelming.
The output his body produced should have been the same, yet there was no room to catch his breath.
Extraneous thoughts vanished, and his body moved on its own.
Chwaaaak.
The snowfield was dyed red with the blood of those grinding their teeth.
If a monster hesitated and retreated, he immediately pressed in.
Enemies on all sides.
The farther he moved beyond the torch’s range, the narrower his vision became.
He closed his eyes and imagined the enemies.
With sight excluded, they became clearer.
Sound, smell, temperature. That alone was enough.
“Indeed, his adaptability is fast.”
“Definitely… Sir Burt as well, now I see why that person takes an interest in him.”
Burt sat perched atop the hut, watching.
Around him, monsters did not even dare to approach.
Robin had already vanished into the darkness.
Only the yelping cries of monsters and the sound of flesh bursting told what was happening.
The boy’s sword danced.
The midnight assault continued until the sun rose.
As dawn broke, orange sunlight revealed countless corpses.
Puuk!
The sword stabbed into the neck of the last monster.
Ppajik.
The sword was pulled free as it snapped the monster’s neck bone.
Warm blood streamed down along the blade.
Sigbard approached and grabbed Robin’s shoulder.
“Good work.”
“You too, Sigbard.”
Both of them were covered in blood and bodily fluids.
Unlike Sigbard, who had been drenched in monster blood, Robin had suffered considerable bleeding.
As Robin staggered, Sigbard caught him.
“Robin. Injury.”
“Yes… it’s embarrassing.”
Supported by Sigbard, he collapsed onto the clean snow.
It was cold, stinging, burning, and he was utterly drained.
After staying still for ten seconds, he rolled over.
Bloodstains smeared into the snow.
Sigbard scooped up handfuls of snow as well and washed himself.
After the rough bath ended, Robin looked toward where the monsters lay strewn about.
“Why did they suddenly gather like this?”
Sigbard raised his hand and pointed in one direction.
It was where the giant monster was.
“Territory. Taken.”
‘So the appearance of a giant monster drove the surrounding monsters away?’
Territorial disputes among monsters were a natural order.
Especially when an unusually powerful individual suddenly appeared, nearby monsters were pushed out.
‘Then what about the barbarian village?’
The sun rose a bit higher, driving away the darkness.
To the naked eye, there was no particular damage.
That didn’t mean monsters hadn’t appeared nearby.
The barbarians who had been keeping watch gathered the corpses outside the palisade into one place.
Sigbard watched calmly.
Though unintended, Robin and Sigbard had prevented damage to the village.
“So it’s finally over.”
Burt sat leisurely in front of the campfire.
The fire had gone out long ago after the logs were removed.
Jiiik.
He scraped the ground around the campfire with his prosthetic leg.
“Sigbard, give me firewood.”
Sigbard tossed over the firewood piled beside the hut.
He caught the log with one hand and squeezed, and with a crack it split into four pieces.
When he set the evenly split firewood onto the scraped ground, flames sprang up.
“Boss Burt.”
“What.”
“…No, never mind. You wouldn’t tell me even if I asked anyway.”
“The fire? It’s nothing special.”
Burt lifted his prosthetic leg.
It was the same glossy prosthetic leg as when Robin had first met him.
“This wood is a bit special.”
“What’s it made of that it sets the ground on fire?”
“World Tree.”
“Yes?”
“And apparently a dwarf attached this and that to it.”
“A dwarf? More importantly, is that the World Tree I know?”
“There’s just something like that.”
Robin stopped thinking any deeper.
Emily came out of the hut carrying a load of breakfast supplies.
“Don’t you get tired of just eating meat? I’ll prepare it today!”
“Hurry up, porter.”
“Is there something urgent, Sir Burt?”
“It’s moving.”
At Burt’s words, the three of them flinched.
Emily set down the bundle and said,
“If you mean that enormously huge monster, shouldn’t we take action quickly?”
“If you’re so worried, why don’t you deal with it yourself.”
“Haha… what a joke…….”
Emily hurriedly prepared breakfast.
Contrary to her confident words, it was modest.
No one complained.
Thinking about that monstrous monster, food wasn’t what mattered.
“If you’re done eating, shall I clean up?”
“Let’s go.”
“Have a safe trip! I’ll guard the luggage!”
Burt glared at Emily.
“…You know I’m joking, right? I couldn’t possibly be left out of where you’re going, Sir Burt!”
Emily wiped sweat as she walked forward.
Burt’s words wouldn’t leave her mind.
‘Telling me to deal with it. It would take forever for me to handle that!’
Surely he wouldn’t really order its subjugation…….
But with Burt, it somehow felt possible.
The three men followed behind Emily as she went ahead.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and come! At this rate we’ll be late!”
Emily chattered and urged them on.
She watched Burt’s reaction, worried that trouble might spill over onto her.
It was the same expressionless face as always.
‘Just endure until tomorrow…….’
Holding onto the hope that she could escape if she endured just one more day, she stepped forward.