***Arc 8 One Who Spread Death, Chapter 194 King of the Night***
――It was a night attack.
"Get out of the way!"
"Hi――!?"
Roughly pushing the woman she was holding to the side, Chief Meeklea, Gain Meeklea, raised his muscular naked body that was covered with tattoos.
He pulled up his trousers and placed his sword belt around his waist.
Grabbing a great axe in his right hand, he quickly stepped out, half-naked and without armor.
A sudden night attack was impossible for Alberan's army, which was located just northeast of here.
The reason being that it was not the vanguard that was being attacked, but the main camp where Gain was located.
An unexpected attack――even a slight time delay could be fatal.
But Gain, at least the great tribal leader Meeklea, understood his predicament with a beastly reaction and immediately used his brain to overcome the situational confusion in order to overcome the situation.
"――There are only a few enemies! Warriors of Meeklea, keep calm and deal with them calmly!!"
He shouted before he could catch sight of the enemy, before he could fully grasp the situation.
The main body of the enemy was northeast, then this was just an ambush.
If the direction of attack was from the south of this main camp, then the enemy force was not that large.
Even though they were in the forest, the number of troops that could lie down without being caught by their scout was negligible.
He was sharp and decisive.
He had more than enough of the qualities needed to be a general.
The most dangerous thing about this situation was the soldiers' confusion and the collapse of the chain of command.
"Soldiers gather under the nearest commander! The enemy's goal is chaos and the destruction of each individual, and avoid isolation as much as you can! Don't forget that this is the night forest――our territory!!"
Despite the completely unexpected night attack, Gain Meeklea had already awakened as a warrior.
Switching as fast as a wild beast.
At the very least, he was far from being called mediocre.
There is no one more suitable than him to be the martial king of the small country of Meeklea.
He was half-naked as he leaped out of the door without any fluster.
The soldiers, who had been panicking at the sight of their commander, regained their spirits.
From the beginning, only the elite directly under the headquarters――extraordinary warriors were around here.
There were 1000 troops in this main camp.
The enemy was undoubtedly elite.
However, there is no way they outnumber the military strength of this main force. There were at most 500.
"Gain-sama"
"You're late, Carnesaldo."
"Haha, it’s because the woman wouldn't let me go."
What appeared was also a half-naked――huge man carrying a large spear.
He had the same streamlined, ancient script tattooed on his handsome face as Gain, and his hand sweeps his braided hair back.
He was Carnesaldo Rouline, Gain Meeklea’s right-hand.
"As always, what a joker...I can't grasp the situation. You should take command in front and give me a report."
"Okay, then, let's take out the bastard who interrupted our fun――hg!?
Just before Carnesaldo could respond, the roar of a beast rang out.
It's not just a beast――it makes the earth echo, the branches of the trees shake, the leaves dance, and with a single roar it could freeze all living things around it.
"Chief! A Suiko is coming from the west――"
"I can hear it!"
Gain silenced the soldier who came to report, and Carnesaldo frowned in displeasure.
"Damn it, the timing is good. Regardless of how it works, it's a trick of the other party. They pushed the Suiko towards us."
"That's how it is. They sure did it huh. ...Carnesaldo, I take back the order."
"It can't be helped. I'll go."
Carnesaldo rejected the soldier who hurriedly brought his armor, waving his spear in the air and saying he didn't need it.
Unless you were a fierce warrior who could hold your own, hunting a Suiko would be nothing but suicide.
Armor was only good for psychological comfort against the Suiko.
Carnesaldo twisted his face in annoyance and shouldered the great spear again.
"I'll take the fur, Gain-sama."
"Hah, Do as you please."
The appearance of a Suiko in this situation.
The two were not even intimidated by it.
Carnesaldo, as a matter of course, ran to the west, and Gain sent the next instructions to the assembled soldiers.
The warriors who led them had nothing to fear.
The soldiers, seeing this figure, lost any fear that had arisen in them, and simply exuded the will to fight.
Breaking down a huge tree as a foothold, it easily leapt from the forest to the sky.
It stands eight shaku tall at the shoulder, and has a total body length of two jou (~6m) from head to tail.
The arms as big as the human torso and log were enough to damage and break the human body through the armor.
Its fur was flexible but hard, easily blocking blows and slashes, and weak spears and the like cannot even pierce its muscles.
――Suiko is the king of the forest.
Meeklea's main camp, to the west, was a place of slaughter.
Its charge as fast as gusts of wind were beyond human dynamic vision, and despite its speed, its gigantic body effortlessly follows a sharp-angled trajectory.
The soldiers, who were on guard to the south, were helplessly blown away by a monster that suddenly appeared from beside them, and were thrown into the air, spitting out their internal organs from their mouths.
In Elderant, where much of the country is covered with forests, this was not a beast that they hadn’t seen.
The elite guards of the main camp, not a small percentage of whom had fought against magical beasts before, were also there.
However, they were being slaughtered too unilaterally.
"Ggh!
"Eruuka!!"
There was not just one Suiko.
On top of that was a black cloak and a one-piece dress――silver hair shimmering in the starlight.
Sitting or standing on the inexhaustible Suiko, which repeats its high-speed movement and carnage, leaping in the air and landing on its feet.
While repeating the acrobatic movements, the girl shot arrows one after another from her short bow.
She pulled an arrow from her quiver, nock is aimed, and released――and in the blink of an eye, another arrow was already there again.
In an instant, she emptied the quiver containing 30 arrows, tossed it away, and then took a new quiver on her shoulder from Suiko’s waist or side.
The arrows were fired at an unbelievable speed that didn't even seem to be aimed, but they were unrivaled in accuracy, ignoring the wind and Suiko’s high-speed movements――the soldiers couldn't even properly follow the Suiko’s figure. It was impossible to avoid the arrows she shot.
The purple eyes shining in the bonfire.
Was it an accident due to fear, or was it due to experience and ability?
When one of them narrowly blocked an arrow that came from directly in front of, in the next moment an arrow was shot directly from the side piercing their temple, or perhaps their spine from behind.
All of the soldiers with experience in hunting magical beasts were shot dead one after another in this way.
If one had to classify her, it should be said that she was both an archer and cavalry.
However, what she was riding was a Suiko with a speed that overwhelmed even those who possessed magical power, and her presence was different from that of a mere bow cavalryman, as she continued to take lives at a speed and accuracy that was out of the ordinary.
The forests, which cavalrymen normally hate, were her hunting grounds.
In this world, she was a werebeast magical beast that could single-handedly overpower even a battalion of elite soldiers.
Countless griffins and warriors danced out from behind her, but they did not even have time to pay attention to them.
The ones that escaped were mercilessly pierced by arrows, and they had no choice but to continue to scream.
"Gururun, that way."
‘Gururu’ The beast roared in a strangely high-pitched voice and snapped the torso of the soldier on the left.
Krische shot and killed the soldier on the right, and fired an arrow at the magic possessor who was jumping high towards them.
The arrow that deflected instantly pierced his side, and she reluctantly used a second shot to pierce his eye and kill him.
Krische pouted her lips.
If she was to kill then it’s on shot one kill――it was Krische’s dissatisfaction born from that thinking
She threw away the quiver, slung a new one, and pulled out the long hair that was covered by it.
She calculated that she used up two quivers, wasting and about 10 arrows went to waste for about 50 people.
Krische narrowed her eyes, growing dissatisfied with her own inexperience.
She gave no consideration to the fifty lives she had killed.
To her, their lives are equivalent to the arrows she shoots, and using two arrows for one was nothing more than a waste.
She sat down and drew an arrow from her new quiver.
"Gururun over here"
Krische hit the Suiko on the right shoulder.
The Suiko made a big leap to her right, and a spear pierced the area where they were.
What appeared in front of the werebeast was a large, half-naked man covered in tattoos.
Krische shot an arrow from the air at the man who had lost his balance with a throwing spear, and after the Suiko landed, she shot another one.
The man, however, twisted and dodged it, swinging his braided hair around.
And he repelled the other arrow with his large spear.
Krische eyebrows twitched as she grabbed two arrows and fired them together.
The Suiko ran behind the man, and she fired another shot at the man who dodged it――but even that was dodged by the man.
Five arrows have already been fired, with zero hits.
Krische eyebrows twitched even more, and her eyebrows furrowed.
On the other hand the other man understood in that instant that the other person was an insane monster, and shouted.
"――Bastard! Who are you!?"
Krische ignored that and jumped down, silently charging in.
In one breath, she was right in front of the man. She kicked the large spear that was being swung away from the side with her right foot,
"Gah――!?"
She twisted her waist and dug her left heel into the defenseless stomach.
The man's large frame floated, and Krische aimed an arrow under his chin――and from there, it pierced his skull.
"It’s Krische. Goodbye."
Without looking at the dead man, she gave her name out of politeness.
Then she looked at the four arrows that were stuck on the ground, except for one that had been snapped off by a large spear.
She thought about it for a moment, then retrieved them as if nothing had happened and put them in her quiver.
"...Hmm, that's two shots."
No matter how you look at it, it's a two-shot, she thought, nodding with satisfaction as she turned back to the Suiko.
She jumped on Gururun, who seemed to be having fun rolling one of the frightened soldiers over with his paw, and shot the toy to death and looked around.
There were soldiers who dropped to their knees, saying ‘Carnesaldo-sama is’ and there were soldiers who were stunned and seemed to have lost the will to fight for the most part.
She didn’t care or hesitate, if they didn’t move, they’re just an easy target to hit.
As she shot them down, she called out to the griffin cavalry that had come nearby.
"Vinthril"
"It looks like they arrived first. I saw Kolkis-sama fighting a man who seems to be the enemy general."
Vinthril said, looking at the half-naked man's corpse with pity.
It was an unusual skill――but the opponent was just bad.
There were no other words to say.
"Then let's go deal with that. Gururun."
"No, Krische-sama――"
She tilted her head for a moment at Vinthril, who was about to call out to her, but after receiving her instructions, the Suiko immediately distanced from him.
‘Well, that's okay’, she thought, the Suiko running towards the center of the camp, now they already had the upper hand.
There were about 1,000 enemy main forces and 5,000 troops of the second corps directly under Alberinea, the most powerful force in Alberan.
It was a natural result when the condition of a surprise attack was added to that.
While shooting and killing the enemy commanders who continued to resist the second corps coming from the south, she moved to the large tent in the center.
"Curse...you..."
"If we were wearing armor and the conditions were the same, we would have had a good fight. …But in war――this is also an unavoidable outcome."
There, the silver tiger armor――Kolkis Argand's Great Spear had already pierced the half-naked man's chest.
"I hope you die proud of the fact that even in this situation you managed to damage my armor."
"Ah, ga――"
As it was, Colchis casually waved his spear and forcibly pulled it out.
The muscular man's body easily tumbles to the ground.
Then he severed the dead man's neck with the tip of a small sword.
"Krische-sama, my side is also finished. He was quite a warrior, but..."
Kolkis showed the scar on the chest of his armor and laughed.
Seeing that the opponent was quite a fierce man, he purposefully used his armor to block the sword and attack him in return.
No matter how good a fighter one is, they can't always land a blow that could cut through metal armor in one blow.
"Krische is glad things are going well. Krische and the others are going to Kurofuyo."
"Yes, ...?"
Looking at the soldiers who seemed depressed after seeing the result of the duel, Krische readied her arrow.
Then, she casually without hesitation fired arrows and shot them in turn from the side until his quiver was used up.
A scream goes up and the air freezes.
When Krische used up all the arrows, she put down the quiver――and picked up the fourth and final quiver from the Suiko’s waist and carried it over her shoulder.
Then, looking at the gazes directed at her from the soldiers, she tilted her head and nodded.
"The quiver seemed to be getting in Gururun's way, so Krische decided to use it up. Meow-Meow, please kill them randomly later as well."
Kolkis looked around, unsure of what to say.
Normally, this headquarters would have surrendered.
But, Krische was completely merciless.
――No prisoners will be taken.
To Krische that was clearly stated and communicated in advance, there was no distinction between soldiers who had lost their will to fight and those who had not, and it was natural for them to be killed.
More than a dozen people died simply because she wanted to use up the quiver.
"Just as you heard...Kill them."
Screaming at Colchis' words, the stiffened enemy remnants ran away, and the soldiers of the Second Corps chased after them, looking at each other for a moment.
Looking at the crazy girl sitting on the green tiger, they could not hide their feelings of fear.
Kolkis looked on with satisfaction and told Kolkis as she removed the unnecessary belt from around the waist.
"Once we have a general idea, Meow Meow will go ahead and go to Skeleton. Bagil's Third Corps will be better at mopping up battles, so stay behind for a while and help Keith until the hunt for the remnants stabilizes."
"...Ha"
Krische didn't care what the soldiers thought.
Kolkis was at a loss as to what to say to her,
"Ehehe, Krische’s glad everything is going well. It looks like Krische will be able to return to the mansion a little earlier than planned."
He fell silent when he saw Krische smiling happily, like a child.
She was different from Kolkis and the others.
She was not a soldier who sacrificed her life for the country and honor, she was just a girl.
This was not where she wanted to be, and it was not like she wanted to get her hands dirty.
She's just here because that's what was wanted.
There was no word he could say for her, Kolkis realized.
If circumstances permitted, she would be happily spending her time cooking with Bery.
But her unusual talent would not allow her to spend her days as a mere girl.
――It was simply just that kind of tragedy.
"Krische also got a present for Bery, so Krische would like to give it to her as soon as possible..."
"...That's right, Bery will surely be happy if Krische-sama returns."
Kolkis said that, and Krische happily wrapped her hands around the pouch around her neck.
Then she took out a candy and placed it in Kolkis hand.
"Meow Meow is also working hard, so this is a reward."
"…Thank you."
She smiled bitterly and put it in his mouth, Krische also put one into her mouth.
When you roll it, it had a sweet and gentle taste of honey that was completely unsuitable for a battlefield――Kolkis lowered his eyes at the distortion.
Then, a little behind Krische, there were thirty Griffin cavalrymen.
"As expected, we won’t be able to catch up with Suiko if Griffin runs on the ground."
Up in the air or on the ground?
For the Lion Eagle Cavalry in a melee, acting at halfhearted height is the most dangerous.
They only flew in the sky for reconnaissance purposes, and they basically operated on the ground.
Although their legs are somewhat slower than a horse, it could use its wings to accelerate, and griffins' movement speed on the ground was not that slow.
"Vinthril was about to say that it was Meow Meow win right. Krische should have listened properly."
"Yes, Kolkis-sama had the upper hand."
Vinthril answered and looked around.
The main camp is now destroyed, and the survivors are running away. Surrounded by soldiers of the Second Corps.
As he shouldered the bloody spear, he saw Krische.
"What will you do?"
"As planned, let's meet up with Kurofuyo who is ahead of us. Given the current situation, it should be okay to fly at a low altitude. As planned, we're going around a bit... Kurofuyo is searching for an enemy, so we should be able to catch up soon."
"Yes ma’am. Should I check on General Keithriton and the others once more?"
"Hmm, well, let's do it here. It's better than taking a detour and then looking."
Vinthril nodded and called out to one of the Eagle cavalrymen, ‘Begu’.
Begu immediately called out his Griffin's name and headed south, gradually rising from low altitude to the sky.
Griffins were surprisingly easy to see even in the darkness of the night when they took to the sky near a camp that was brightly lit by bonfires.
That's what it was for.
"Well then, Krische-sama."
"Yes. Meow Meow, please do the rest. Krische will hunt the head of the enemy general."
"Ha. Vinthril-dono should be careful as well. There are many hunters in Elderant who are used to the forest. People from Kreisharana who live in the mountains should understand how scary it is."
"I’ll keep that in mind. It's most dangerous when you get used to the atmosphere after all. ... Kolkis-dono too Godspeed."
Vinthril thrust out his spear, and Kolkis laughed and stacked his spears on top of each other.
It was like a greeting between warriors in Kreisharana.
Krische saw this and ran Suiko around, followed by Vinthril and the others.
Kolkis saw them off, shouldered his spear, and narrowed his eyes.
"The fleeing enemy mercilessly...I'm not too keen on it, but the situation is such that it can't be helped even if we complain about it....Hey, stick that head up to the main flag over there."
"Yes sir!"
Black Flag Special Force moved quickly, but while searching for the enemy to some extent, it advanced to the rear of the enemy's main camp.
If they encountered an enemy, they would immediately annihilate them unless they were a large force, and speed was their priority.
Currently, there were no encounters with anyone other than patrolling sentries, and the march was going smoothly.
There were no particular points that could be called problems.
The Company formed a cross, the centurions Tagel and Corinth on the left and right wing.
Aleha, who had excellent overall ability, was at the end, and Company Commander Dagra and Waltza were in the center.
At the front were Mia and the leader of the special task force, Kalua.
Kalua's special task force currently consists of seven people, including her, and was made up of veteran and special skilled personnel.
Not only were they former mercenaries with good sword skills, but they were also men of underworld jobs and merchants――soldiers with a wide perspective who could deal with various situations such as disguise and manipulation.
Krische summarized the human resources that were easy to use on hand, whether on the battlefield or in the city.
Kalua herself was a quick-witted person who could deal with various situations, so this was a way to take advantage of that.
Even though they had already taken down the four sentries, the girls at the front were still on guard.
"Adjutant Mia, the company commander, has requested a short break."
"...Hmm, understood."
Mia nodded to the soldier who came from the center, putting her right hand up.
Then, with her left hand, she threw a pebble at Kalua, who was walking a little ahead of her.
Kahlua turned around and looked at Mia's hand, putting her right hand up as well.
The faint sound of rustling branches and leaves that echoed in the quiet forest disappeared with that.
From the enemy's main camp, it would be somewhere diagonally behind and to the right.
The war is about four ri. There was no need for much caution.
Mia continues walking a little closer to Kahlua, who has her back rested against a tree.
"……tired?"
"To some extent. Usa-chan who can do this so calmly must be sick after all."
Kalua sighed and rubbed the corners of her eyes.
In the dark, moonless forest, she was constantly on the lookout for enemy sentries and never missed a sound――her nerves seemed to be going crazy.
She did training to the point where she was tired of it, but training was just training after all.
Although she repeated this over and over again at Bernaich, the lead was always Krische.
It was the first time she had been in actual battle without Krische.
Krische, who was able to keep her guard up and keep on guard against the enemy while naturally continuing to advance at the front, even if she didn’t take her fighting ability into account, was a superhuman after all.
"Shall I replace you with Koza?"
"I'm still fine. The others also, will be able to go for a while. Usa-chan will probably catch up soon, so I guess I'll leave it to Koza then."
Kalua said honestly.
She didn't intend to be stubborn, and she still had the ability to concentrate for a while.
At the beginning, Koza and the others were in front, so she wanted to let them rest a little more.
"I see. It's a shame that I can't help you change, muu..."
Mia said with a grin, and Kalua pinched her cheek.
"Hmm, are you planning on getting revenge as usual?"
Mia was an adjutant.
Because of her position, she was exempted from the nerve-wracking hardships of going ahead as a scout.
However, that was also just a light talk.
That's not to say Mia was having it easy, she was also stretching her nerve as she took grasp of the unit and chose their path.
If they encountered a scout, they would handle it.
But the ideal was to avoid encountering them.
In order to avoid risks as much as possible, she recalled the geography and Krische instructions she had in mind, and changed the course according to the situation――she considered contact with the enemy to be her own responsibility.
Kalua patted Mia on the head and told her that she didn't have to say anything that didn't suit her, and smiled bitterly.
"Muu..."
"What's our next course?"
"...Go a little further west and then north. It seems there are a little more scouts than I expected, so let's make a bigger detour and go to the safer side."
"U~nderstood..., hm?"
Kalua immediately looked ahead and pulled out a large machete-like sword.
Mia saw her like that, and she instantly pulled out the sword from her waist.
Starlight shone through the gaps in the trees――a huge shadow, be it human or beast.
It looked familiar.
"What? Krische-sama already――"
"No, stay away!"
――Did the shadow realize that it had been noticed?
It shook the trees and distorted the atmosphere, snapping the trees apart and closing the distance in a single breath..
Green fur, black vertical stripes.
A monster eight shaku tall at the shoulders――its name Suiko.
The giant beast, also known as the ruler of the forest, swung its arm down at the two of them.
