CH 64

‘Ruger…’

Ruger ran around with a group of people that had the power to command monsters. A month ago, Ruger would have been in the duchy; so, the person involved couldn’t have been Ruger. Luisen supposed this must’ve been the group’s doing.

They seemed to be scheming something with the bizarre power. Luisen had no idea who they were. With such strange happenings cropping up everywhere, rumors were bound to spread around.

‘Just what are they up to? What could they want? What benefit could come from their actions? What’s their connection with Ruger? Was their goal to kidnap me related to all this? Was it like this in the previous timeline? What’s going on?’

Luisen felt momentarily dizzy. It felt like he was staring down the dark abyss of a deep hole.

Carlton quietly approached and grabbed the young lord’s shaky shoulders. “Try not to think about anything else right now. First, we should take the women out of this place. We won’t be too late if we choose to think once we’ve reached a safe location.”

Taking heart from Carlton’s resolute tone, Luisen soon returned to his senses. “Yes, that’s right. First, we’ll leave… we can think later.”

The young village men were already carrying the women, one by one. The young lord tried to follow them quickly, but a gentle wind brushed past his cheek.

‘Hm? Wind?’

Carlton dragged the young lord into his embrace by his shoulders. Right before Luisen’s eyes, a black liquid sharply flew by. It barely brushed against the hem of his robes, and the cloth melted. ‘Argh! What is that?!’

Sh–Sh–Shhh~

An eerie sound echoed overhead. Luisen looked up quickly; there, a huge centipede clung to the ceiling, glaring at them. Its dozens of red eyes rolled around. Black drool dripped from between its sawlike teeth; when the liquid touched the ground, the soil corroded with a violent noise.

“Everyone, run!”

“Arghh!” The village youths discovered the centipede and ran away with the women in their arms. Luisen and Carlton, who brought up the rear, were in the most danger. Without thinking twice, Carlton carried Luisen in his arms and started running as well.

Bang!

The centipede crashed and stuck its head into the floor. Carlton dodged by a hair’s breadth and slipped into the hallway. The passage was narrow, long, and uphill. Since before them were the youths carrying the women, Carlton found it difficult to speed up.

The centipede bustled and clacked its dozens of legs and chased them while crawling along the walls.

Thud, Crash, Thud–!

Every time the centipede poked the wall with its leg, an earth-shattering vibration spread out.

“Argh! Didn’t that thing die? We burned its corpse just in case!” Luisen shouted.

“….It’s not the same monster.”

“What?”

“Centipedes travel in pairs, male and female. Damn–I just remembered. That’s a female centipede.”

It was bigger and longer than the monster that Carlton killed. So, you’re saying those things travel in pairs? There’s no doubt about it–this world had gone insane!

The young lord saw the centipede open its big mouth as if it were about to swallow him.

‘Arghhh!’ The young lord wrapped his arms around Carlton’s neck and legs around the mercenary’s waist. Forget about shame or propriety–none of that mattered if he died. With that determination in mind, he clung resolutely to his companion.

The centipede bared its teeth–pincers?—from time to time as it relentlessly chased them. Poisonous saliva trickled down through the gaps in its mouth. Luisen couldn’t help but to inwardly pray to god.

‘God. Why would you bring such a creature into this world?’ The holy diety was silent as always, but at least Luisen had Carlton.

Carlton tactfully defended by kicking at the centipede’s head or teeth. He bought time by smashing its head into the wall in between his defense. Thanks to that, the village youths and Luisen were able to crawl out of the den safely.

The villagers, who came after hearing the news, were gathered around the rock.

“What are you doing? Run away!” Luisen shouted, but the villagers, caught unaware, moved slowly. Calrton immediately placed the young lord on Zephys, drew his sword, and prepared for battle.

The ground rumbled throughout this short, uneasy silence.

At that moment, the centipede popped out from below the boulder as if it were flying into the sky. Dust and dirt rose like a cloud as soon as it appeared. Underneath the bright sunlight, the monster showed off its majestic form. Its long, wriggling body seemed like it was made of steel; the long, spindly legs were bent at precise right angles and moved freely. Every time it clacked its legs in the air, a sharp noise rang out.

Keeeeeeeeeee–!

The centipede screeched. The villagers panicked, and the empty meadow soon turned into a  pandemonium.

“I-It’s a centipede!”

“It’s alive! Arghhh!”

​​”Save us!”

Scared, the villagers fled in all directions. However, the centipede stood straight and stayed still. It didn’t go after the running people and simply hissed and tried to intimidate Carlton.

“Why does it seem like, in my eyes at least, it’s focusing only on you?” Luisen asked.

“It knows I’m the one who killed her husband.” Carlton snorted.

‘Could he really laugh at a time like this? My legs are shaking right now.’ The young lord couldn’t decide whether or not to admire Carlton’s guts or to cry. Actually, no, he just wanted to cry.

‘If I knew that we’d encounter a monster like that, I’d have never taken this request! We were originally going to just meet the captain’s wife, deliver a letter, and obtain a reply. Simple, safe, and heartwarming!’

There was no use regretting things now. The female centipede ran towards the mercenary at a high speed. In the blink of an eye, it came directly in front of Luisen and Carlton. Lifting its upper torso, it swung forward and thrust its pincers. The mercenary parried its pincers with his sword and, this time, swung his blade at one of the legs.

Clank–!

Alongside the sound of metal clashing against metal, his blade bounced off the leg. Carlton intended to cut off the legs gradually, like he did with the male centipede, but failed. It seemed as if the female’s body was harder and tougher.

As soon as it weathered that first attack, it stuck its body into the ground and swung around. The legs moved in perfect synchronization as its torso wriggled about. In an instant, the centipede circled around Luisen and Carlton to their rear and attacked simultaneously with its tail and head. The attack wasn’t aimed solely at the mercenary; it would also involve the young lord in its path.

“Aghh!” Luisen hugged Zephys’ neck. The horse deftly dodged by jumping over the centipede’s tail.

Carlton, anticipating the head’s attack, easily dodged and posed to scratch the eyes sideways in a counterattack. However, the centipede was frighteningly fast. The numerous joints on its huge body allowed it to speedily change directions with little force needed. It dodged by plunging its head to the ground, and Carlton’s sword only gazed past its black antennae.

Kyaak–! Kyaaagh–!

The centipede screeched as it burrowed into the soil.

Rumble–

The ground shook as if an earthquake was happening; a thick cloud of dust rose into the air. As soon as Carlton attempted to grab its tail, it spat out some saliva from that end–the very same acidic saliva that had melted cloth. The mercenary could not approach, and the monster soon vanished underground.

“?”

“Damn it!” Carlton flung his body sideways as he swore. Simultaneously, accompanied by a hair-raising roar, the centipede popped out with an open maw–exactly where the mercenary had been standing just seconds before. It was too close for comfort.

‘This won’t work. We’ll need to both run away.’ Luisen tried to pull on Zephys’ reins to direct the horse towards its owner. “No! Go back! Your master might die like this!”

Zephys brushed off the young lord’s shouts and moved away from the battle scene. The young lord dismounted, somehow, but there was nothing more he could do. He knew that running to the mercenary would just make him into a bigger burden; Luisen was forced to watch his companion struggle.

The female centipede then launched various attacks. It seemed like it was taking everything for the mercenary to even block the attacks. Even if he somehow placed his blades against the centipede’s joints, the monster soon fled underground and jumped out of some unexpected vantage point to continue the onslaught of attacks. Each time that happened, the mercenary had to move in an ungainly way and fling himself out of the line of danger. He didn’t have to move a single step while fighting the male centipede, but now it looked difficult to stand on his two feet.

Luisen felt like something acrid was burning in his mouth.

However, Carlton was smiling.

‘Where did that come from?’ The female centipede was an incomparably tricky opponent compared to her counterpart. Not only was it strong, fast, and gigantic…but the difference it its weight distribution made it hard for the mercenary to aim for its eyes. The hard outer skin protected everywhere else. It was clever enough to know that Carlton was aiming for its eyes, so it didn’t attack with its mandibles again.

Its appearance, ferocity, and strength–furthermore what it had done to this forest. All that was enough to crown this centipede as a ‘named monster.’ It would go down in history.

‘If one kills a thing like that, they’ll become super famous.’

Along with the news of the emergence of a new monster, stories of the person who slayed it would spread as well. Even if one killed dozens of monsters like Orcs, they wouldn’t be able to attain that sort of reputation. Fame was like gold for mercenaries like Carlton–the more the better. So, naturally, Carlton couldn’t help but smile.

Carlton’s sword split through one of the joints on the centipede’s countless black legs. His blow struck true, but the centipede hid in the ground again; the mercenary couldn’t continue his offense.

Carlton was searching for an opportunity. The more he took damage, the sharper his gaze became. He tapped the ground with his feet. As soon as the centpiede burrowed into the ground and popped out once more, Carlton plunged his sword down with all his might.

Kyaaaaaaaaaargh–!

The centipede’s wail rang out. The attack was half successful. Originally, the mercenary aimed for the eyes but missed by a narrow margin and caught the edge of the socket. Though Carlton was hit by the centipede’s head, he landed stably on the ground.

‘I wish I could have poked through the eye in one shot, but…’ He didn’t think he would be able to defeat the monster in one blow anyway. It had too extraordinary of a reflex. That was alright, though. Carlton wasn’t aiming for a single blow.

The centipede stood upright. It slammed into the ground and wriggled around.

Kyaaaaaagh–!

It was the first time the monster had ever felt that kind of pain. It was born strong and had never been hurt before. In addition, anger and fear compounded in its monstrous body from the fact that the same human that had killed its husband was pushing it to this extent. Its monstrous instinct, which had laid dormant from complacency, had revived.

‘I have to live. I have to escape!’ it thought.

However, things didn’t work out according to the centipede’s wishes.

Rummmmbleee–!

A grumble echoed deep from underground; the soil caved in right underneath its feet.