Episode 58 With a horrifying howl, dozens of wolves with long black horns between their eyes emerged from the forest and began charging towards the center of the knights.
A monster that is much faster than a typical wolf and is more than half the size.
Although they were classified as mid- to low-level monsters, they were the appearance of a swarm of monsters that were classified as more dangerous when encountered in groups.
“It’s the horned wolves! Unite!”
The knights’ response was also different from when dealing with goblins.
The knights who were targeted by the horned wolves immediately gathered together in groups of three and faced the rushing wolves with their backs to each other.
“Kiiik!”
“Keeng!”
“Kyaoooo!”
Even the horned wolf was not powerful enough to pose a threat to many knights.
As several of the group were killed in an instant, the largest of the dogs let out a howl, and the horned wolves passed the knights and headed straight to the rear.
Unlike the goblins, they didn’t seem to be afraid of over a thousand humans at all, but the same was true for the soldiers lined up.
“Deploy the crossbow cavalry!”
“under!”
“Shoot!”
Even though the soldiers were nervous, they faithfully followed instructions.
But the pouring bolts did not do their job this time.
“Awwwwww!”
At the same time as the howling of the leader running in front, the rain of arrows was seen to have clearly slowed down.
There were no bolts that were completely deflected or disoriented, but the rain of arrows, which were debilitating, could not pierce the thick hide of the horned wolves and fell helplessly and rolled on the floor.
And the moment that brief salvo passes by.
They were already close to the front of the formation set up by the soldiers.
“Sword soldiers line up!”
“Sort!”
“Don’t let a single thing go!”
The faces that were tired and nervous of the horn wolf’s momentum turned red with Logan’s shout.
“Taaaa!”
The swordsmen who were waiting, led by Victor at the forefront, swung their swords and spears in unison.
Behind them, a pair of red eyes were watching the soldiers closely.
“Wwaap!”
“Kyao!”
A spear sword being swung with a sound that could not be described as screams or excitement.
When the battle line led by Victor clashes with the leader of the Horned Wolf.
The rest of the horned wolves jumped into the ranks of soldiers.
The number of horned wolves is only 21.
However, 300 soldiers were unable to effectively respond to the horned wolf pack that invaded their ranks.
“Ugh!”
Grumbling.
A soldier was hit by a black horn, lost his sword and panicked, and the horned wolf’s sharp teeth stuck in his leg.
Even though their comrade was screaming and falling down, most of the panicked soldiers around them were frozen and could not do anything.
But some of them had different reactions.
“Fall! Monster!”
Wow.
Wow!
The soldier’s spear, which still lacked strength, was unable to completely pierce the horned wolf’s thick hide, leaving behind a result that looked as if it had been struck with a club.
But it was enough to make the horned wolf, who had fatally wounded one of the soldiers, wince.
Seeing this, the frozen soldiers gained courage and began swinging their weapons again, albeit with a pale look.
Similar situations were happening everywhere.
Logan killed the horned wolf by jumping into a group that had only a few courageous soldiers, in other words, everyone was completely overwhelmed by the monster’s force.
Sigh.
“Kkii….”
Shake it off.
“You, you, everyone but you, get back!”
Logan’s bloody momentum drove away the monster’s peers and enabled the soldiers’ legs to move.
Frowning slightly, Logan moved to help the soldiers who were in crisis one after another.
And in the meantime, I kept in mind the melee created by the small number of horned wolves and the responses of the soldiers moving between them.
In fact, Logan didn’t even need to try.
This is because the difference between the soldiers that Logan paid attention to and the soldiers that he did not was clearly visible.
‘Definitely a good fight.’
Trey, who showed off his eyesight like a monster, was quick to dodge the monster’s attacks one beat at a time, as if his body vision was also like that of a monster, and Adam, who has amazing hearing, showed his agility by dodging attacks coming from behind.
In addition, the guys who were thought to have accumulated a little bit of force had particularly good fighting skills compared to the other guys.
The story was that they were producing results despite their lack of skills.
Most of them were children who ranked in the top 100 in the sensory test.
There were such people among the senior soldiers who were not selected this time, but what was more noticeable than them was that there were also such people among the lower ranks who barely passed the sensory test.
After watching their battle closely for a while, Logan was able to find one thing in common.
‘I think it’s true that they should be selected based on sense rather than physical strength, but…’
Up to that point, it was no different from the empire’s soldier selection criteria.
However, by focusing on those who had weakly absorbed the Force, Logan was able to find out something else.
‘That’s… strictly speaking, not because of eyesight or hearing.’
These guys know how to avoid attacks from monsters flying from blind spots or instinctively counterattack.
It was natural that there were many such people among those with excellent vision and hearing, but there were also those among the soldiers who had low rankings in the sensory test.
‘Developed sense of touch? Or should I say sixth sense? Huh…’
I couldn’t be sure because there weren’t many samples yet.
He just kept in his mind the fact that those who felt it in his senses actually showed good qualities.
Just confirming that made this match meaningful.
Before the soldiers’ formation could collapse further, Logan shouted.
“Mr. Clayton!”
Then Clayton, the 5th Circle wizard who had been preparing his magic since the horn wolf attacked, responded.
“…Reply the power of the earth. Stone edge!”
bang!
A sharp stone pillar rose up exactly where the horned wolves were, instantly killing nearly half of the twenty horned wolves and seriously injuring most of the rest.
The only leader who completely avoided magic was the Horned Wolf.
“Wow!”
Fuuuuk.
“Kyaoo….”
Viktor’s sword, swung at the perfect opportunity, penetrated his eye, signaling the end of his life.
Mandible. Mandible.
It was a short battle, but it was quite dangerous, as several places on the armor were dented in the shape of animal claws.
Viktor, breathing heavily, pulled out the bloody sword from the monster’s corpse and smiled brightly.
It was such a creepy sight that even the surrounding soldiers who saw it got goosebumps.
Chi profit.
As black blood dripped from Viktor’s sword and burned the ground, his fellow soldiers unconsciously took a step away from him.
But Logan couldn’t help but smile when he saw that.
‘It’s definitely peeled off. ‘I guess it’s not long now.’
Because future Auror users were perfecting the basics.
“Good job Viktor! Monster blood is toxic, so wipe it off as quickly as possible. Be careful not to let it touch your body. Just do it. I’ll watch your swordsmanship again after it’s over.”
The soldiers’ perspective on Viktor changes once again due to Logan’s praise.
Logan shouted, looking at the soldiers’ eyes.
“I saw all the guys who ran away first! I know it won’t be fun if it’s like that next time!”
A few people were seen with their complexions visibly hardened by the razor-sharp life of a man stronger than a monster.
If we make the cowards who were running away fight properly, we will be able to identify the soldiers more clearly.
Logan’s eyes scanned our soldiers like a wild beast looking at its prey.
* * *
After that, the knights often missed monsters.
There were more low-level or higher monsters in the southern forest than expected.
But still, no major problems occurred.
The very few intermediate or upper-middle level monsters were dealt with by appropriate knight leaders or Heinkel Padric himself.
This is because most of the mid- to low-level monsters were also eliminated at the level of the knights.
“under!”
Ugh.
“Keeeeek!”
With a single sharp slash of a sword, a giant dog-headed man over 2 meters tall was cut in half.
Plain Knight Anthony trembled with excitement as he slaughtered a monster with an intense sword strike that was impossible until a few months ago.
‘It’s exhilarating.’
The swordsmanship he had learned while being beaten to death by the head of the family over the past two months was not only effective in cutting down trees.
I felt like the accumulated stress was being released. Instead of feeling tired, I felt like I was gaining strength from the thrilling touch.
And it was the same for my colleagues around me.
“If possible, only the middle and lower grades should continue to come out!”
“Intermediate level is okay!”
“Hey. That’s a bit…”
“Shut up! You can do it!”
“Wow! Kill them all!”
Okay.
Ugh.
“Keeeeek!”
The knights’ swords became sharper as time passed.
On the other hand, the soldiers’ battle was becoming increasingly difficult.
“back!”
“be careful!”
“Ugh!”
“Damn it! Get out of the way!”
Even goblins and similar kobolds could be eliminated with just a crossbow shot.
However, the dog-headed humanoid monsters that appeared after that, such as the Gnoll Giant Spider, could not be solved with crossbows alone.
In the end, the golems that were carrying the lumber had to act as a barrier to initially block the monsters attacking the soldiers.
A battle that lasted all day.
Even though everyone was exhausted and injured, Logan clenched his fists as he looked at the soldiers he had first noticed.
‘I’m sure… His excellent senses, especially his sense of touch, are close to the talent of the Force. ‘How do I make a test for this?’
It’s still an insufficient sample, but I felt like I was getting the hang of it.
It was already enough to make me think about the next soldier selection test.
That alone was a very rewarding day for Logan.
“Everyone stop work! Let’s finish today and prepare for camp!”
Of course….
“Wow!”
“I survived!”
“I didn’t know there was something like this.”
“Damn it. Mom…”
Contrary to his feelings, he couldn’t help but feel like there would be a lot of training losers who had never shown up before.
The problem was that among them, there were a small number of people who showed potential in the Force.
‘It’s better to train other kids a little more while catching those guys and tearing their minds apart.’
Even in this relatively safe situation, there was no need for a coward who would rather run than fight.
Even that was income, so I couldn’t help but smile.
* * *
But not everything was so smooth.
At the midpoint of the monster forest, which can be said to be the entrance to the southern mountain range, a group of gnolls numbering as many as a thousand were gathered in three villages.
– If we had left it alone, it would have attacked McLane Castle in no time. It’s scary to even imagine a monster wave with over 3,000 low-to-mid-level monsters. I’m so glad I found this out in advance. The Grand Duke’s insight is amazing.
– Huh….
A mid- to low-level monster gnoll that formed a much larger group than the horned wolf.
By the standard of a normal knight, it was a difficult monster to deal with two or three at a time.
Of course, as Heinkel said, it was fortunate that he had discovered it in advance, but Logan couldn’t help but laugh.
Because we had no choice but to change our strategy to minimize sacrifice.
First, the supply of crossbows was increased and the knights moved as a guerrilla force to attract an appropriate number of groups.
Afterwards, they were gradually eliminated with a barrage of fire from the soldiers.
In doing so, there was little sacrifice of troops, but it took a month and a half, much longer than expected, to completely clear the starting point of the monster wave, called Monster Canyon.
Of course, there was no major loss.
The wood obtained through continued logging was constantly being transported to the McLane Town construction site, and construction was progressing with momentum.
Moreover, during the actual battle, which was longer than expected, Logan changed the role of swordsman several times and was able to constantly update the information he had gained on the first day.
‘Are you sure. ‘Sixth sense… or should I say survival instinct.’
Even in the 200th or 500th place in the sense test, there were some who could absorb the force, albeit slightly.
Those guys had a particularly strong survival instinct.
Guys who use evil and wield swords to survive in any situation.
‘Sixth sense and survival instinct. Or it might even include fighting spirit….’
It’s not certain yet, but I can feel it to some extent.
‘For now, the soldiers are enough. After the civil war begins this winter….’
If the civil war achieves results as expected, McLane will be able to use this information as a stepping stone to develop tremendously in the future.
‘The knight power can be drastically increased during the remaining period until the Imperial War.’
I couldn’t help but have a good laugh.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Oh no. Now that we have enough wood, we have to complete Macline Town. There is now one month left until spring. We have to finish it before full-scale clearing. Is that possible?”
“…All right.”
Hamar’s expression looked like he had something to say, but the answer he gave was positive.
Even Logan, who spoke up, thought it was a tight and unreasonable schedule, but it was an unexpected reaction.
“Is this definitely possible? I made this suggestion because I thought it would work, but…” “
Well, there are wizards over there, and the workers have been very motivated since the dam construction. Food is being distributed sufficiently, and they are all building houses of the same standard. “As time goes by, efficiency increases.”
“Don’t forget the magic tower in the center of town.”
“of course.”
Hamar’s answer, who came from a long vacation once, was trustworthy.
‘As expected, pushing this guy isn’t the only solution.’
Logan’s realization about how to roll Hamar gave me confidence.
In this way, McLane Town, a huge pioneer village larger than McLane’s main town, was gradually taking on the form expected.
