Chapter 253
Chapter 253. The Absence of a Miracle
Magical beasts.
As the name suggests, they are beasts infused with magical power.
They warp the laws of nature with magic, boasting strength far beyond that of ordinary beasts, often possessing unique appearances and traits.
And what appeared before Tafuman and the others was—
A bear.
“GRROOOAAARR!!”
It stood on its hind legs and roared.
As if to assert its own existence—raising all four of its arms.
It was huge. I had to look up at it. Its height could easily surpass that of two adult men standing side by side.
“What the hell is this thing?!”
“It’s an Asurabear!!”
Dobel answered Tafuman, who was grimacing in fear, with an urgent tone.
Named after the multi-armed demon known for its ferocity, the Asura tribe, this monstrous carnivore wielded four massive limbs like tree trunks.
“Normally, they’re deeper in the forest! Why is it here—”
But before Dobel could finish his sentence.
The four-legged Asurabear lifted its extra pair of arms, channeling its full power throughout its massive body.
—it’s coming.
“Close ranks! Raise your shields!”
At Tafuman’s command, the human soldiers instinctively gathered and formed ranks as trained. The front row stepped forward while the back row raised their shields, forming a tight cluster. Their swords protruded through gaps, looking just like a hedgehog.
“We’ll draw its attention! In the meantime, take it down!”
Shouting to Dobel with bloodshot eyes, Tafuman declared.
The strength of the human race lies in teamwork, while the beastmen’s strength lies in agility and individual skills. To contend with this gigantic bear, they had to leverage their respective strengths.
Of course, retreat was also an option. If they all fled in different directions, only a few might be sacrificed.
Yet Tafuman’s battlefield intuition warned him—this beast isn’t some easy opponent! If they turned their backs on it, they’d be shredded in no time!
—They had no choice but to confront it.
“Steady yourselves! [Oh gods of light, protect us!]”
““[Protect us!!]””
Without faltering, Tafuman shouted, and the soldiers echoed his call. Sixteen shield-bearers gathered around Tafuman, forming a pitiful defense before the towering Asurabear—
“GRROOOAAARR!”
The Asurabear charged forward with the force of a thunderous quake.
With its four arms, it swiped at the shield wall as if to hug it.
With a horrific crunching sound, the shields shattered, arms crumpled, and several soldiers screamed in terror. A soldier’s torso was raked by claws, causing him to sputter blood, while the young soldier beside him cried out, “Waaah!”
However, even with such a lethal blow, the beast’s arm halted.
“You bastard—!”
Right before Tafuman’s eyes, close enough to feel its hot breath, was the face of the Asurabear. He thrust his sword towards its nose, but at the last moment, it turned away, causing the sword to slide harmlessly along its cheek. The thick fur felt impervious—seemingly not causing even the slightest damage—
The Asurabear’s dark, piercing gaze locked onto Tafuman. In that moment, it shifted recognition from “a collection of shields” to “a tiny human.”
A thick, suffocating aroma of death filled the air.
“GRROOOAAARRR!”
But at that moment, the remaining fifteen beastman soldiers charged at it. With claws and fangs bared, they lunged forth, some leaping and clawing, others scaling it to target its head.
Dobel too struck at the Asurabear’s flank, his claws honed like blades.
(—It’s tough!)
With a jarring impact, his attack was thwarted—as if he had struck a solid rock! The sensation sent chills down Dobel’s spine; it felt like he had hit something indestructible!
Growling annoyingly, the Asurabear started swatting the hordes of beastmen as if they were mere flies.
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
“Grr…!”
Each of its rough swipes contained a fatal force. Beastmen were sent flying like dolls, and those unfortunate enough to be struck by the claws were torn apart mid-air.
“Ryan! You bastard—!”
It was clear that some had died instantly. Dobel screamed Ryan’s name, glaring at the reddish-brown fur of the Asurabear.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
There’s no way I’m getting eaten here!!
Avenge Ryan! Strike with all your might!
“OOOOOHHHHH—!!”
Imagining the ribs beneath the fur, he concentrated all his energy into his claws, aiming to drive them in once more at an opening.
He could feel his claws sinking into the flesh.
“GRROOOAAARR!”
The Asurabear, about to bite down on a fallen soldier, jolted its body in surprise and reflexively swung its arms.
With incredible speed, its glimmering claws, illuminated by the campfire, came rushing at him.
“—!”
With its claws embedded in his arm, Dobel jumped up just barely avoiding a direct strike thanks to his constant training.
Yet he dodged the claws and was struck squarely by the club-like arm, sent flying like a child’s toy. His clawed gauntlet remained embedded in the bear’s side, slipping clean off his hand.
“Gah—!”
After tumbling to the ground, he crashed into a tree trunk. Agony surged through his body, stars exploded behind his eyelids, and he lost consciousness.
“Dobel! You bastard! Just because you’re a little bigger doesn’t mean you can act all high and mighty!”
While on the verge of being thrown off, a wolf-type beastman clung desperately to the Asurabear’s back, finally managing to scale up to its head.
“Die already!”
Wrapping an arm around its head, he brandished his claws perilously close to its eye.
“———!!”
The Asurabear shrieked in utter agony as its right eye was gouged out. It was a pain beyond its expectations, causing it to shake its head violently, inevitably tossing off the wolf beastman who clung to it.
“Gah—! You bastard!”
The wolf man, despite crashing painfully to the ground, instantly attempted to spring back up.
“Ah!”
The last thing he saw was the enraged, blackened left eye of the Asurabear.
With a brutal rip and tearing noise, the wolf beastman’s torso was devoured. The leather armor he wore offered no protection, ripped apart like brittle pastry, and he was swallowed whole.
“GRROOOAAARR—!!!”
Screaming with his right eye still empty and blood pouring from his mouth, the Asurabear howled into the night.
The forest trembled with its roar, causing birds to take flight all at once.
The roar of the predator chilled the hearts of the weak and caused them to falter.
The soldiers who had put up a valiant fight instinctively took a step back, two steps—
Yet—
“OOOOOOOOHHHHH—!!!”
Someone returned the intimidation.
It was Tafuman.
In the center of formation, he had endured blows from the Asurabear’s arms, causing his shield to warp, his left hand to crush, hanging barely by a thread. Blood trickled down from his forehead, and his gaze appeared a bit vacant.
“Come at me, you bastard—!!!”
Despite the condition he was in, his fighting spirit was unyielding. No, it was as if he forced himself to maintain his fighting spirit.
At this point, he didn’t think he could win.
However, he couldn’t show weakness. He mustn’t be underestimated as an easy target to kill.
Come at me. I may be battered, but I won’t go down quietly!
“I’ll fight back! I’ll struggle until the very end!”
“OOOOOOOOHHHHH—!!!”
Tafuman raised his sword and yelled.
Reflecting the flames of the campfire—the blade emitted a sinister gleam.
“GRROOOAAARR…”
The Asurabear growled.
It had thought it spotted a small, easy prey…but found an odd shell that turned out to be more resilient than expected. Moreover, its claws seemed sharper than it had anticipated.
It felt like a sting at its side.
Looking at the bait before it, bloodied and weakened, it could easily crush, but—
The Asurabear surveyed the surroundings with its remaining eye. The beastmen were growling with their claws and fangs bared.
—Ridiculous.
It thought. Trying to fill its belly with such small fry had wound up being a hassle. While it would love to slaughter them all, if it suffered more injuries, it wouldn’t be worth it.
“GRROOOAAARR…”
The Asurabear chewed down on the lower body of the annoying prey that had gouged out its eye and swallowed it down.
Then, it picked up the head of another prey that had been crushed underfoot and began dragging it away.
Considering the threat it might face for showing its back, it remained on guard.
With a dragging sound, the meat scraped against the ground.
“…”
Tafuman, glaring intently at the Asurabear, waited until it finally disappeared into the depths of the forest, and after a few moments, he finally crumpled to his knees, drained of strength.
Faced with memories, he was drenched in cold sweat. His left hand barely moved. Whether it was connected was doubtful, yet the pain suggested it must be.
“Tafuman! Are you okay?!”
“How many… were taken…?”
Tafuman turned the question back to his comrades who rushed to him.
It was Tafuman who chose to face the beast head-on rather than retreat. As a leader.
He believed his decision would, in the end, result in fewer casualties. But now that notion felt like nothing more than a hunch.
“Ryan and… Dewey and, Gotol are…”
“Renato! Stay with us!”
“It’s bad, Hogan’s bleeding… Bandages! Please, give me some bandages!”
From the looks of it, three beastmen had died instantly. Others were severely injured. Among the human shield soldiers, two were crushed to death, and many more were in grievous condition.
With five confirmed dead and most of the injured unlikely to survive, the situation was grave.
“Tafuman…”
Dobel, holding his stomach and limping, approached.
“I’m sorry, Dobel…”
“No… I think your judgment was correct…”
With a grave expression, Dobel gently shook his head at Tafuman.
“The Asurabear is quite persistent, fast, and possesses stamina. Even if everyone had fled, many would likely still have been eaten. The beastmen might have managed to escape, but… probably not you humans…”
The chances were high that the human race would have been utterly wiped out had they fled.
However, that also implied that if Tafuman and the others had been sacrificed, Dobel and his men could have safely escaped.
“Hey, don’t make that face.”
Dobel’s ears stood up, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.
“If we had abandoned you and returned, that would have been a disgrace. There’s no way we could have done something like that.”
He didn’t verbalize it, but had Dobel and the others abandoned Tafuman, the divisions between the human and beastman races would have surely widened.
“It’s for the best. We… did what we could.”
Dobel declared. Looking at the leftovers—pieces of the wolf beastman’s torn-up ankle—
“…”
Tafuman said nothing further. His whole body ached too painfully for him to express anything.
Neither heroes, priests, nor sword saints were present among this troop of soldiers.
He knew very well that both humans and beastmen were incredibly… vulnerable without divine protection.
Sustaining such casualties from just one encounter with a magical beast was a heavy toll.
Moreover, even if he were to return alive, it was doubtful whether the trainee priests in the autonomous district would be able to provide adequate treatment.
(At this rate…)
Tafuman envisioned the figure of the blue-skinned, insane young Demon Lord Prince.
The trainee priest had said that the Demon Lord Prince was the bearer of an unfathomably powerful magical energy, unlike anything seen in the Holy Church—
Would Zilbagias have effortlessly taken down the current Asurabear?
…He likely would. He would probably dispatch it with ease.
(We are…)
With his unblemished right hand, he slammed the ground.
(Why are we so…)
Weak.
Tafuman gritted his teeth.
He continued to glare into the dark depths of the forest, where the Asurabear had disappeared.
†††
—Deep in the forest.
Amidst the dense, overgrown foliage, something massive moved uneasily.
It was a creature that could only be described as a colossal lion.
—A magical beast known as a Manticore.
With a fluffy mane, bat-like wings, and a tail resembling a venomous serpent—
Though something seemed off. Its mane was abruptly severed around its chest, and its serpent tail was headless with healing wounds along its rear.
—This Manticore was a loser.
Now, it strutted through the forest as if it owned it, but it had been chased from its territory by smaller, terrifying beings and had run desperately until it reached this place.
However, this area was unexpectedly nice. The Manticore enjoyed the quiet atmosphere.
It was just a bit hungry. Sniffing the air, it could catch a whiff of blood from somewhere.
Following the scent, it slipped through the night forest.
“GRROOOAAARR…”
It crossed paths. With the four-armed bear.
“…”
The bear growled in warning, but the Manticore took no notice, observing it instead. It was apparent the bear was injured; blood flowed from its right eye, and something was glistening under the moonlight at its flank. Was it clawed or bitten?
The scent of blood felt mixed. This bear may not have been heavily wounded but rather returned from a difficult hunt, possibly receiving a nasty retaliation from its prey.
—Perfect timing.
The Manticore thought. It was big and seemed filling.
“GRROOOAAARRR!”
The bear roared, undaunted by the Manticore’s lack of reaction and stood up on its hind legs, preparing to intimidate.
That was the signal.
With a thud, the Manticore kicked off the ground and spread its wings to leap.
“GRROOAAARR?!”
The surprised bear recoiled, and the Manticore struck its exposed body with its claws.
With a ripping sound, fur and flesh were sliced deeply.
“GRROOOAAARR—”
And before the painful cries could continue, the Manticore’s powerful jaw clamped down on its neck.
With sheer force, it tore apart.
Blood sprayed out like a fountain as the bear’s spine was ripped free from its body, its limbs flailing in a futile struggle before it collapsed.
“Grrr…”
Tossing the head aside, the Manticore growled with satisfaction as it dug into the bear’s meaty body.
First, it would savor this arm. The crunch of the bones felt delightfully refreshing.
Delicious. It had eaten similarly large bears before, but perhaps this one was younger; the meat was tender and flavorful.
“GRRR…”
Plus, there was plenty of it, and fortunately, the Manticore had the ability to gorge itself.
Lazily lying down, it enjoyed a long-overdue feast.
As it chewed through the torso, it spat out something hard.
Clang, clang.
The sound of its claws rolling on the ground echoed.
