Wolves of Hader

Chapter 62

Puhk—

The blade failed to pierce the blade-hairy crab's shell and got stuck instead.

Without even a moment to be surprised, I immediately spun forward and wrenched my sword free.

Chwak—

Some sort of bodily fluid spurted out from the blade-hairy crab's carapace.

The moment I landed, I swung my greatsword and struck at its belly.

Kkuweeeek—

The blade-hairy crab shrieked monstrously, swinging its blade-like pincers at me.

I dodged quickly and stabbed again at its side, but only half of the blade sank in this time, too.

The infuriated blade-hairy crab leapt straight at me. Despite its size, the creature was incredibly fast.

I rolled away just in time, and it crashed down on the spot where I'd just been.

While it recovered, I swung my greatsword again, lopping off one of its legs.

Teokeokeok—

Its thin legs were severed helplessly.

As its legs were cut off, the blade-hairy crab, which was about to attack me again, collapsed forward without strength.

At that moment, "Loki" bit down hard on the blade-hairy crab's mouthparts with a loud crunch.

Was its brain located there?

When the blade-hairy crab's movements suddenly slowed, I took the opportunity to smash its body with my greatsword once more.

Puk— Puk— Peokeokeok—

After striking it three times in quick succession, a satisfying sound of slicing rang out as the crab's body was cleanly split.

Chwaaaa—

The blade-hairy crab slumped, spilling a huge amount of bodily fluid.

There was no time to rest. Another blade-hairy crab, frenzied, came charging at me.

"Loki! Draw that one's attention! I'll go for its weak point!"

It was unlikely he could understand, but I felt a strange sense of connection, so I shouted anyway. Amazingly, loki darted past, striking at the other blade-hairy crab's eyes.

Thanks to that, the blade-hairy crab turned toward Loki. Loki toyed with it,-nimbly evading the savage, flying pincers—such agile movements didn't suit his bulk at all!

While Loki kept it distracted, I infused my sword with magic power and leaped again.

Sensing my intent at last, the blade-hairy crab tried to turn its body, but my greatsword descended first.

Peokeokeok—

My greatsword crashed down on the crab's head as it twisted, cleaving it in two.

This time, it was a single strike.

"Whew..."

When the greatsword dug into the crab's body, the resistance of magic power was substantial.

I'd only ever heard of such creatures existing in the north; meeting one in person was a first.

Loki soon dashed off to hunt other large crabs.

Meanwhile, Donnie and the others were fiercely fighting through the swarm.

All around me, crabs swarmed incessantly. In just a little while, I would be buried beneath them.

As the mass grew so thick that I could barely move, I finally summoned Flame from the [subspace] inside my necklace.

At once, fire blazed from my greatsword.

At the same time, the crabs clinging to my body turned red and fell off with a rapid patter.

Next, I started channeling flame's magic power throughout my whole body. The crabs near me scattered and fled in all directions.

I kept moving, radiating Flame's power. The squad members would be surprised to see this, but they'd find out sooner or later.

From now on, we'd gradually come to understand one another.

While I roasted countless crabs with Flame, the others simply beat them to death as they appeared.

There must have only been two blade-hairy crabs. There were plenty of large ones, but none as big as those two.

After roasting the dead blade-hairy crabs and all the others nearby to a bright red, I withdrew the Flame's magic power.

Then, infusing only my sword with flame's power, I continued fighting the seemingly endless crabs with the others.

Maybe it was the Flame. Or maybe the crabs realized the blade-hairy crabs had died.

Gradually, the relentless attacks began to subside.

"Whew..."

Sighs of relief spilled out everywhere.

At last, the squad took off their helmets, and everyone was drenched in sweat.

Donnie wiped his brow and spoke.

"That pincer almost gouged my eye out."

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No injuries."

Everyone sprawled on the ground in exhaustion, and even the wolves, having stopped fighting, approached us, panting.

I noticed blood dripping from the wolves' bodies.

"Donnie, you've got medicine, right?"

"Of course."

Donnie and the others took out ointment from their backpacks.

Without anyone prompting them, each person treated the wolf they'd arrived with.

The wolves seemed a bit awkward as the humans treated them, some acting nonchalant, others twisting away as if to resist.

We removed pincers lodged in the wolves' backs and wiped away the sticky fluid coating their bodies.

Those wolves who hadn't carried anyone received care just the same.

Meanwhile, I went over to where the blade-hairy crab lay dead.

Since it had magic power, I figured it must contain some familiar material.

So, I plunged my hand into the crab's body and rummaged around, feeling something hard in my grasp.

After extracting the substance, I searched the other crab's body as well.

Finding a similar material, I tore it out and placed both in my helmet before returning to the cave.

Everyone had finished treating wounds and were now gathered around a campfire, resting. Unlike before, the wolves lingered peacefully near the cave.

Loki sat at the cave entrance, watching me approach, while several wolves lay beside him.

Some stood outside, keeping vigil over the darkness.

Seeing everyone smile, I knew their feelings were mutual. We felt closer to the wolves now.

"But Captain... isn't there a delicious smell?"

"It started a while ago. The young master roasted the crabs."

I'd been too caught up in the fight to notice, but now the savory aroma of crab meat filled the air.

Especially the two blade-hairy crabs, which I'd roasted whole.

"Shall we give it a try?"

At Hans's suggestion, everyone instinctively swallowed, but no one went so far as to say we should eat.

After all, they were monsters despite their crab-like appearance.

Donnie answered.

"Feels weird eating man-eating crabs, though."

"I doubt they've ever eaten a person. Who would come this far?"

"True enough."

They all looked at me.

Honestly, my mouth was watering, but I wasn't sure if it was safe.

"It should be fine. These creatures mainly ate fish."

No sooner had I spoken than everyone bolted out of the cave. The dignified wolves, too, leapt about in excitement.

To be honest, blade-hairy crabs do eat monsters—there are no other monsters in their habitat, so they mostly eat fish.

Soon, the squad brought back helmets full of crab meat. The wolves crunched away at the small, well-roasted crabs.

Donnie tried a piece first and monitored his body's reaction.

Everyone watched Donnie anxiously, so I grabbed a handful and took a bite myself.

"There's no poison. Just eat."

At that, everyone laughed and began devouring crab meat.

It didn't taste especially good, but where else in the east could one eat such a delicacy to one's heart's content?

During the ongoing feast, I took out the material I had kept in my helmet.

The others looked at what I'd produced.

It was a substance like a chunk of ice.

A mass of multiple crystals stuck together.

White in color, about the size of grapes.

Its magic power concentration seemed higher than Racrill's, and while hard on the outside, it was soft inside.

It wasn't something generated spontaneously by the crab.

Rather, it was accumulated in its body as it consumed things suffused with magic power over many years.

This was an opportunity for the squad.

It wouldn't do much for me, but if the others ingested it, their magic power would double.

Previously, they hadn't had vessels for magic at all, but now it was different.

There were about twenty pieces in all.

One each would be enough. Any more wouldn't be absorbed.

"Everyone, take one of these."

"What is it?"

"Magic power."

Everyone's eyes grew wide.

They'd all been hungry for magic power, almost famished.

Since no one stepped forward, I separated the magic crystals, carefully pulling each off by hand.

These were coagulating liquefied magic, so it'd be bad if one burst.

I handed the first to Donnie.

"Swallow it whole. Compared to the wellspring of magic you took before, these have much denser magic, so there will be some pain."

"Can we have some too?"

"What, am I going to sell these to someone else?"

At my words, Donnie laughed and accepted a magic crystal, then swallowed it in one gulp.

I continued distributing one to Hans and each of the other squad members.

After Donnie swallowed his, he lay down in a comfortable position, and the others followed suit.

Soon, Donnie and the others lay side by side on the ground, working to control the surging flow of magic power.

As I quietly watched them, the wolves gathered as if to watch, too.

It was as if they'd eaten magic crystals before, peering at the squad with curiosity.

I rested while the others writhed in increasing discomfort.

Watching the campfire to keep it from going out, I must have dozed off for a bit.

"Young master."

"Mm?"

I opened my eyes at Donnie's call.

Daylight was already breaking.

The team was saluting me in unison.

"Did everything go well?"

"It seems so."

Everyone's faces were bright.

Apparently, while I dozed, they'd checked both their increased magic power and significantly boosted combat abilities.

"That's a relief."

Donnie gave a silent nod.

The others, too—though their eyes brimmed with emotion and gratitude, they didn't say a word.

Since they'd already packed, I climbed right onto Loki's back. The others mounted their wolves one by one as well.

And we set off again.

/ / /

The dash continued for ten hours.

We followed the coast as we had yesterday, but around noon veered southeast, and things were different.

As yesterday, the monsters tended to avoid the divine beasts, but a few tried to attack us.

If anything got in our way, we simply detoured.

But the goblins were entirely different.

Did they think it was the end for them whenever a divine beast entered their territory?

They raised the most raucous commotion everywhere.

Wherever we went, goblins set up defenses and charged us; when we passed through a canyon, they rolled rocks down at us.

"There are some in this canyon too!"

"We go through anyway!"

Kkieeeek—

Kukung— Kukukukung—

Boulders started tumbling down in front of us as we charged through the canyon.

The slope sent them rolling straight toward us.

Still, the wolves deftly dodged both falling and rolling stones, continuing at full speed.

Ting— Titing—

Countless pebbles pelted our armor, and now and then a pouch of green-smoking substance flew at us.

"Watch out for poison pouches!"

Poison pouches rained from above, and green toxic mist thickened ahead.

The wolves instinctively kicked off and ran along the right wall, accelerating as they ran along the cliff.

That green poison is something goblins use when hunting, but if you just hold your breath, it has no effect.

The divine beasts don't even seem to care.

Uwoooaaa—

As we barreled through the canyon, an earthshaking roar echoed ahead, as if shaking land and sky.

Was this the goblin overlord tribe?

Once we cleared the canyon, an enormous host of goblins filled the broad plain.

The land was hilly, riven with countless caves. In front of each, a horde of nearly a million goblins raised a tremendous clamor.

"Loki! To the hill over there!"

As our twelve wolves charged ahead, the goblins surged after us in unison.

We weren't scared, but it was a staggering spectacle.

A surging wave of dark red!

"What is wrong with these guys?!"

"Yeah! Who's eating whom here?!"

"Break through!"

Puhbububuk—

Tututututung—

The wolves barreled through the goblins as they ran. Goblins charging in from the side were cut down again and again by swinging greatswords.

Some leaped onto the wolves' backs, others clung to us and wriggled. These bothersome creatures multiplied until they all but covered the land.

Was it ten million, not just one?

No matter if they blocked or attacked, we rammed through or leapt over them, climbing in one charge to the highest point in the area.

At that moment, a shout went up.

"Wow—!"

"I can see the mountain range!"

Everyone looked incredulous.

I'd said all the north was connected, but back then the squad had been baffled by my words.

Still, we'd made it for sure.

In the far southeast, a majestic mountain range was visible. The eastern mountains like the Himalayas, seen even from the fortress.

It would still take a few days to reach the fortress, but no matter. We had arrived, to the north not far from our fortress—

In just two days!