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Shadow of War
The beast had merely let out a single low cry, yet their bodies went rigid, seized by a spine-chilling fear.
Things had gone wrong from the very beginning.
But Reynold was a talented man who had trained for years as a knight.
Without hesitation, he hurled his spear.
Shwick—.
The hunting spear carried enough force to inflict a fatal wound on the cave lion, but the beast reflexively leaped aside to dodge it.
At the same time, it charged at them with terrifying momentum.
“Damn it! Shoot!”
Reynold shouted urgently, but the beast’s speed was too great.
Only a single bolt managed to lodge itself in the cave lion’s shoulder.
Grrr!
The enraged beast faltered only briefly before surging forward with even greater ferocity.
By the time Reynold hurriedly drew his sword, a pitch-black shadow had already engulfed him from above.
Before he could even strike down the leaping cave lion, he was hit and sent sprawling.
“Ugh!”
An intense impact crashed over his entire body and head.
His vision went black for a moment, accompanied by a dizzying sensation.
Yet even in this moment of crisis, his trained body reacted mechanically.
He shoved his gauntleted left hand toward where he felt the beast’s breath, while his right hand fumbled for the dagger at his waist.
Crunch! Screech!
A sound of metal crumpling and scraping reached his ears, along with pain.
And the beast’s hot snort and foul breath could be felt right in front of him.
When his vision returned, he could see his left hand caught in the beast’s massive jaws.
The cave lion shook its neck violently, rattling the sense out of Reynold.
The beast’s strength was beyond imagination.
Thanks to that, his body was lifted halfway into the air and shaken about helplessly.
His back scraped against the dirt, and twigs caught on his chainmail, snapping.
“Uwaaah!”
A scream tore from his lips involuntarily.
His pounding heart thrashed wildly, as though it might burst at any moment.
The cave lion’s tremendous strength shook him so violently that he nearly dropped the dagger drawn in his right hand.
Fortunately, however, Reynold did not lose his composure.
“Hap!”
With a shout, he swung his right hand with all his might and stabbed the cave lion in the nape.
He felt a deep thunk as the tremor of muscle traveled up the blade to his very fingers.
At the same time, the beast’s yellow eyes, previously filled with savagery, met his black pupils.
On the massive beast’s face, which had known no fear, the terror of death bloomed.
And the next moment, Bellabello, having discarded his crossbow and drawn his short sword, delivered a blow to the cave lion.
The beast roared in pain and leaped aside, but its eyes were already dimming.
As if trying to flee, it took a few steps before collapsing heavily in place, gasping for breath.
Each time the cave lion’s chest swelled, blood poured from the wound in its side.
Its panting breath, ragged with pain, was so violent that it kicked up the surrounding dirt.
Bellabello, confirming that the prey had fallen, immediately rushed to the young man.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, I just fell.”
Reynold rose with Hokma’s help.
He promptly picked up his fallen sword.
His whole body ached, but he had to finish the job quickly for the suffering prey.
He briefly made the sign of the cross toward the heavens, then plunged his sword into the beast’s nape with all his strength.
The cold blade crushed bone as it entered.
When he eventually pulled the sword free, sticky blood flowed down the blade, slick with fat.
“It’s done!”
Reynold, his excitement still not faded, was gripped by an inexplicable exhilaration at the realization that this massive creature had fallen by his hand.
He burst into a great cry of joy, celebrating his victory in battle.
Hokma, who was beside him, also shouted and rejoiced with him.
“This is truly an incredible feat! Hahaha.”
The two rejoiced in their victory for quite some time.
Defeating the cave lion, a massive beast, was an accomplishment worth boasting of anywhere.
Once some of the excitement had subsided, Bellabello drew his knife and began skillfully skinning the cave lion.
He hummed a song, seemingly in a good mood.
As always, the lyrics were incredibly childish; it was something of a trademark for Bella.
Hearing his song, Reynold let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey, dear Bella. Can’t you stop with that song already?”
“It’s not like this started just yesterday, Captain. Hehehe.”
Childish songs were Bellabello’s specialty alone; to minstrels who sang elegant songs like “The Sun Setting over Caesandra,” Hokma was always a target of scorn.
Still, the people of Redforest liked him.
Bellabello was singing happily when he suddenly furrowed his brow.
“Ugh! The smell.”
The beast’s meat reeked too strongly of urine to be eaten.
So they usually only took the hide, though they would sometimes collect teeth or fangs as souvenirs if needed.
Reynold resolved to extract a fang to boast about later, and he looked around for his dagger.
“Ah, right. It’s stuck in the neck. My head’s really something.”
He smirked, but his expression instantly hardened.
While looking around for his dagger, he discovered the corpse the cave lion had been eating earlier.
“Huh?”
From the beginning, he hadn’t paid any attention to what the beast had been eating.
Naturally, he had assumed it was some forest animal.
But looking at it now, the corpse resembled a human in shape, with arms and legs, and protruding ribs with entrails spilling out.
Surprised, he called for Bella.
“Take a look at this.”
At Reynold’s call, Hokma, wondering what was going on, looked at where his fingertip pointed and his face hardened stiffly.
“Check it out.”
“Got it, Captain.”
Having given the order to Bella, he felt somehow uneasy and followed, picking up his fallen sword.
As they approached, the corpse became clearer.
Long arms reaching down to the knees, a hooked nose with slit eyes, dark green skin. It was humanoid in shape, but it was not a human.
“What is this thing?”
Unlike Reynold, who narrowed his brows completely unable to make sense of it, Hokma knew exactly what the corpse was.
“It’s a hobgoblin,”
Hokma muttered quietly.
Reynold felt relieved that the corpse wasn’t human, but he furrowed his brow involuntarily at the ominous feeling emanating from the dead hobgoblin.
Bellabello, seeming to feel the same way, spoke anxiously.
“These guys live in the unexplored northern regions; there’s no way they should appear in this Ranalri Forest…….”
“Is that so? This one even has armor and an axe?”
The hobgoblin lay dead, clad in studded leather armor.
Nearby, an axe presumed to have been used by the creature lay on the ground.
“We’ll have to report this to the Lord. First, cut off this thing’s head. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Once we’ve skinned the cave lion, let’s head back immediately.”
“Got it.”
At his words, Hokma nodded.
Neither of them wanted to remain any longer in a forest where hobgoblins roamed.