Chapter 127: Monster Wave (3)
The deer squad that I created with my <Monster Taming> skill was more terrifying than I imagined.
They had incredible destructive power from their enhanced bodies and speed.
The deer charged at the gate one after another, breaking the wall and storming into the castle.
As soon as the deer broke through the gate, the characters behind the wall screamed and ran away.
Then, the deer marched into the city.
-“Aaaah!”
-“It’s the deer! Run for your lives!”
The characters who hid inside the buildings had no choice, but the ones who were on the street flew far away and became stars in the night sky.
The guards who couldn’t escape were trampled by the deer’s hooves.
Of course, there were some soldiers in the town who tried to fight back against the deer, but many of them faced a hopeless situation under the merciless bombardment of the deer.
I watched the castle turn into a hellish scene, and moved my guidance marker to the center of the inner sanctum.
I moved the marker more for experimental purposes than for conquering the castle.
I wanted to see how the deer would react if I placed the marker in an inaccessible place.
-Rrrrrrr!
-“Deer… There are deer!”
– “How can this be… The evil god has unleashed his demons on the earth!”
The soldiers who were confused by the sight of the deer rushing towards the inner sanctum started to move.
They couldn’t just ignore the deer invading their sacred place, even if they were soldiers.
Of course, I was still gaining a large amount of karma during that time.
I wonder if the karma gain from <Monster Taming> is considered as my direct involvement.
The karma that came from the deer horde was not as much as when Kueberg moved.
“I wish there wasn’t such a difference in the karma gain.”
When I use my skill to obtain karma directly, it’s only about half as efficient as when the apostles moved.
It meant that I couldn’t just abuse <Monster Taming> everywhere.
That was probably one of the factors that made this game a passive game.
As I watched the deer’s movements, I saw men in armor coming out of the inner sanctum.
Clank. Clank.
I heard the heavy sound of metal rubbing every time they took a step.
They wore thick armor and watched the deer that were rampaging through the streets.
They looked like knights who belonged to the castle.
“Oh… Are these the elite characters who were hiding in the castle?”
Unlike the soldiers who were guarding the entrance, these were strong characters who came out this time.
The knights who saw the deer drew their swords at once.
Ching.
The swords of the knights who quickly pulled them out glowed with a blue haze.
It was similar to the light that wrapped around Evan’s sword when I first met him.
The difference was that the light that enveloped the knights’ swords flickered faintly.
It looked like a skill that only elite characters who met certain conditions could use.
The knight who led them pointed his shining sword at the deer.
-“We’ll clean up the demons that invaded the castle.”
-“Yes, sir!”
-“Be careful not to get hurt, everyone.”
It seemed like the knights were going to subdue the deer horde themselves.
As if to prove it, they ran towards the deer together.
The sword of the knight in front cut off the neck of a deer that was blocked by the wall.
A blue flash that wrapped around his sword drew a trail, and the deer that was cut by his sword fell to the ground.
Beyond the deer that he killed, there was a character who was soaked in fear hiding.
-“K-Knight… Thank you!”
-“I’ll slay the demons myself! Everyone, go inside the buildings and hide!”
The character who saw the fallen deer thanked the knight.
The knight also gave him instructions after receiving his gratitude.
The characters started to hide in their houses one by one when they heard that the knight would take action.
The knight who held his sword moved his head to find his next target.
It was a scene of the knights moving and killing the deer one by one.
Normally, I would have tried to stop the knights myself.
But today, I didn’t make that choice.
“It seems that every castle has some characters of that level.”
Of course, there were several reasons for that.
One of them was to check the strength of the characters who lived in the castle.
I wanted to see the difference between the apostles and elite characters that I had with my own eyes.
Just by observing the battle in front of me, I could roughly estimate the level of the enemies.
This information would be useful in the war with the empire that would happen someday.
-Rrrrrrr!
-“Die! You dogs of the evil god!”
Another reason was that the taming effect on the deer was not permanent.
The deer would return to their original state after 27 hours of using the skill.
The deer were nothing but consumables, not something that I could train and nurture.
So I had no reason to try to protect them at all costs.
It was enough to protect them with the leaders and apostles of the cult.
“It seems that the deer are easily caught by elite characters.”
I made a conclusion as I saw the number of deer quickly decreasing after the knights started to move forward.
Of course, there were also some knights who were pierced by the deer’s horns and turned into karma.
The deer shook their horns at the knights who blocked them.
But most of the knights moved strategically and cut down the deer.
-“There are not many enemies left!”
“And be careful, we don’t know when or where the dark mages will attack next.”
“Yes.”
“This is the dark mages’ territory. They are most powerful in their own domain, so we need to be on guard.”
Hoo.
With a white breath, Ban’s thoughts faded away.
He had been chasing the traces of the dark mages for a long time.
It was a clue that he barely caught after many trials and errors.
He couldn’t afford to waste any more time and let them slip away with their accumulated power.
As Ban moved towards the cave, he heard a voice from behind him.
It was his subordinate, who pointed at somewhere with his finger and told him something.
“Inspector Ban. There are five undead moving on the left.”
“Don’t move, everyone. I’ll handle them.”
As if to prove Ban’s warning, he saw the undead moving in the distance.
If the undead that faced Ban and his subordinates went back, it was only a matter of time before the information reached the dark mages.
But in this place where snow piled up, the inspectors’ movements were not free.
Ban decided to move himself instead of his subordinates.
Shriek.
The sword that Ban wore reflected the dazzling sunlight and came out.
“…”
In the blizzard that blocked his sight, Ban’s blue eyes looked beyond.
His refined senses could detect even the movements of the enemies far away.
Ban, who covered his sword with aura, stared at the undead that walked slowly.
The snow piled up also slowed down the undead’s movements.
Ban aimed the tip of his sword at the undead, and then swung it with a big motion.
The aura that was on the edge of his sword flew out in a crescent shape.
“O-aura…!”
His subordinates were amazed by the flying aura for a moment.
The aura that flew at a fast speed collided with the undead.
Kwaang!
The loud explosion was buried by the magic of the mountain range.
Snow flew up from the aftermath of the explosion where the undead were.
Crack.
Ban confirmed the faint cracking sound in his ears and put his sword back in its sheath.
“I took care of them. Let’s keep moving.”
“…”
Maybe they were impressed by the inspector’s skill.
The inspectors gaped at Ban who had cleared the undead.
Ban flipped his hood back on and glared at them.
It was good to be surprised, but now they needed to move as fast as possible.
Ban frowned and grabbed his hood as he opened his mouth to them.
“What are you doing? We better get into the cave before the blizzard gets worse.”
With that, Ban started to move towards the cave that was his goal.
The inspectors who were staring blankly at him also came to their senses and followed him.
Thud. Thud.
The white mountain range where the blizzard was raging.
The inspectors’ footsteps echoed regularly in the quiet mountain range.
