When you poke someone, they usually flinch, but these soldiers showed no such reaction.
Instead, they acted smoothly according to the situation, even without specific orders.
Such behaviour was something you wouldn’t see from those who had never been in real combat.
Den fell into deep thought.
‘Moreover, even their commander is highly capable. Is there someone among them who knows about us?’
Den concluded that such thorough preparation wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Should he be glad or sad that news of them had reached even this remote frontier?
In any case, he realized it wasn’t the enemy who had been careless, but himself.
He had underestimated this frontier territory, thinking it would be an easy target, and had even been confident of victory.
Den acknowledged his mistake and widened his eyes.
“It seems we’ll have no choice but to use that.”
“B-boss! You can’t mean…! That’s not an option!”
The vice-leader, realizing what Den intended, tried to stop him in a panic, but the other subordinates didn’t understand.
“This is the only way to ensure even one more of our men survives.”
Seeing Den’s bitter smile, the vice-leader understood there was no other choice and stepped back with a sigh.
“I’ll clear the path myself.”
Immediately after.
Creak—! Crack—!
An unpleasant sound echoed as Den’s body began to twist and grow larger.
The subordinates, watching their leader transform into a completely different form, were utterly shocked.
“Awooooo—!”
“A, a werewolf!”
The soldiers of Schrantz arrived at the bandits’ base and immediately engaged in fierce combat.
“It’s fortunate we discovered the bandits’ infiltration into the territory early. Any later, and it would’ve been a headache.”
Ian nodded in agreement.
‘That’s why we mobilized the troops and came here immediately.’
There were many narrow paths, and the routes were limited.
But they had learned that the bandits hadn’t been stationed here for long.
Assuming their defenses would be weak, they launched an immediate attack.
And that decision was correct.
‘Originally, we would’ve had to suffer at least dozens of casualties.’
With traps lurking everywhere, even reaching this point wouldn’t have been easy.
But thanks to setting out as soon as they heard of the bandits’ arrival, the enemy had no time to prepare.
‘Dwayne seems to be doing well. Why hasn’t he joined us yet?’
Ian had tasked Dwayne with selecting hunters and sharp-eyed individuals from Dobina Village for a specific mission.
The mission was to locate and eliminate the enemy’s ambush units.
It was meant to make the path to the base safer for the main force, but…
‘Surely nothing went wrong, right?’
Feeling uneasy, Ian was interrupted by Oswell.
“As expected of the young master. It seems the plan is working perfectly. The enemy isn’t even thinking of fleeing elsewhere. Dwayne seems to be doing well too, so that’s a relief.”
“Huh?”
What plan?
Ian looked at him with a confused expression.
Dwayne was carrying out a diversionary operation in the rear.
This wasn’t something Ian had directly ordered but was a result of Oswell interpreting his command and adding his own instructions.
Oswell had thought Ian wouldn’t stop at such a simple plan and had pondered deeply.
“Assassinate the enemy ambush units, disrupt their rear, and throw the enemy into chaos. Isn’t this the kind of strategy we need for such a situation?”
He concluded that this must have been Ian’s intention and expanded on the original plan.
Isn’t it the role of a subordinate to understand even the vaguest orders perfectly?
Ian’s simple command had been fleshed out, creating an unintended butterfly effect.
“Good heavens. You had this entire strategy planned from the moment you gave that order?”
Hubert, who had interpreted all of this as part of Ian’s grand plan, was amazed.
‘What on earth are they talking about?’
Ian, who had only thought one-dimensionally, couldn’t understand what they were saying.
‘I don’t get it. But it seems to be going well, so it’s fine, I guess.’
Ian decided to stop overthinking and focus on the task at hand.
They were already inside the enemy base, and combat had begun.
Then.
Awooooo—!
A wolf’s howl echoed throughout the mountains.
Soon after, a massive wolf appeared behind the bandits and began charging.
Both the bandits and the soldiers were equally stunned by the sudden appearance of the giant wolf.
The wolf leaped to an incredible height, vaulting over the bandits, and began slashing at the soldiers with its sharp claws.
“Is that a werewolf?! There’s a werewolf among the bandits?!”
Oswell was shocked by the unexpected presence, but something even more surprising happened.
[Emergency Quest ‘Appearance of the Werewolf’ has been triggered.]
<Appearance of the Werewolf>
Objective: Defeat the Werewolf 0/1
―Defeat the suddenly appeared werewolf.
Reward: ―
As the emergency quest activated, a smile spread across Ian’s face.
‘Finally, it’s here!’
He had been waiting for this moment.
“Hubert, and Sir Oswell. I’ll take it from here. Don’t intervene.”
“Huh?”
“Young master, what do you mean…?”
“Hyah!”
“Brother?!”
“Young master?!”
After saying his piece, Ian suddenly grabbed the reins and charged at the werewolf.
His abrupt action left them both utterly bewildered.
The soldiers were thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of the werewolf.
“What the hell is that monster?!”
“Do the bandits have a tamer or something?! Why is there a monster here?!”
“No, that’s a werewolf! There’s a werewolf among the bandits!”
“Hold the formation! Don’t break!”
The soldiers, though shocked by the unexpected sight, tried to remain calm and hold their ground.
But it wasn’t easy.
Every time the werewolf swung its claws, shields were shattered, and soldiers were sent flying.
Its claws were that hard and sharp.
“Stop that monster at all costs!”
Even though they were used to monsters, the soldiers were struggling against the werewolf, which they were encountering for the first time.
Just as the damage was piling up and the line was about to break.
“Everyone, move aside!”
“It’s Young Master Ian! Young Master Ian is stepping in! Everyone, make way!”
At Ian’s shout from the back, the soldiers quickly cleared a path.
They witnessed Ian riding his horse in a strange posture.
Instead of sitting normally in the saddle, he was crouched with his heels raised.
How could anyone ride a galloping horse in such a position?
It felt like watching an acrobatic performance.
Thud!
Finally, Ian’s feet left the saddle.
Launching himself from the saddle, Ian jumped high into the air.
Whoosh—!
Simultaneously, a bluish aura began to linger on the blade of his sword.
“Spread out!”
“Spread out, now!”
Ian swung his sword as he shouted.
At the same moment, Den sensed danger and issued the same command. Ian’s sword and Den’s claws collided.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
“Kuaaah!”
“Kyaaah!”
The shockwave from their clash didn’t discriminate between bandits and soldiers.
“What kind of absurdity is this…?!”
“Stay back! This isn’t our fight!”
This wasn’t a battle between a monster and a human.
It was more like a clash between two monsters.
Realizing that getting involved would only lead to disaster, both the bandits and soldiers scrambled to get out of the impact zone.
Den was stunned as he looked at Ian.
“You’re quite something for a brat who still smells of milk.”
Ian kicked off Den’s forelimb to create distance.
“I’ve heard a lot about how amazing I am.”
“Yeah, you’re impressive.”
Their conversation was brief.
Den swung his left arm instead of his right, which had been blocking the sword.
Ian jumped backward, kicking off the ground to evade the attack. But this was part of Ian’s plan.
Thud!
In an instant, he kicked off the ground again, closing the distance between them.
Ian swung his sword in one swift motion.
Swoosh!
“……!”
Den, caught completely off guard, took the hit.
A deep wound opened on his right arm.
The gray fur covering his arm began to stain red, like ink spilled on paper.
“Tsk!”
But Ian clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
‘I was aiming to sever it completely.’
Den’s reflexes, a trait of his species, had prevented a clean cut.
Still, it was a satisfying result.
He had achieved his goal of rendering one of Den’s arms useless.
“You damn brat…!”
Enraged, Den began to press Ian relentlessly.
Swiftly, persistently, and recklessly, he swung his one good arm, driving Ian back.
The number of exchanges between them was impossible to count.
Even as their stamina was being drained at an insane rate, neither could stop.
It was clear that this battle wouldn’t end quickly.
‘The one who slows down even a little loses!’
That’s why neither of them let up.
But this back-and-forth was nearing its limit.
Ian was the first to show signs of reaching his breaking point.
He managed to dodge and block Den’s attacks, but he was gradually being pushed back.
“You’re quite skilled for your age. But it seems you’re reaching your limit.”
Ian frowned.
Den had noticed Ian’s movements slowing.
The evidence was in the scratches now appearing on Ian’s armor and cheeks.
“Come to think of it, the soldiers called you ‘young master,’ didn’t they? Are you the lord’s son? If I capture you as a hostage, do you think the lord will pay your ransom in mithril?”
Ian’s frown deepened.
‘So they came here because of the mithril?’
He hadn’t been able to figure out why they had arrived six months early, but if it was for the mithril, it made sense.
As bandits, they would naturally move to where they could make money.
They must have heard rumors of mithril being found in Schrantz.
Whoosh—!
“Huh?”
At that moment, the aura surrounding Ian’s blade vanished.
Seeing this, Den seized the opportunity.
“Heh heh! You held out well, but you’ve finally run out of mana!”
Clang!
“……!”
Ian’s eyes widened like the full moon in the sky.
He weakly dropped the sword he had been holding.
He had been maintaining a precarious balance with his aura, but he could no longer sustain it.
“I’ll keep you alive for the ransom, but I can’t promise the same for your limbs!”
Den swung his arm, aiming to sever Ian’s limbs with his claws.
But at that moment, as if he had been waiting for this, Ian’s crimson eyes glowed brightly in the darkness.
“Instant Acceleration.”
[Instant Acceleration skill activated. For 5 seconds, attack speed and movement speed are doubled, and attack power increases by 10.]
His movements changed in an instant.
“What?”
Den was stunned by the sudden burst of speed, too fast for his eyes to follow.
And in that moment, he lost sight of Ian.
He frantically looked around, but Ian was nowhere to be seen.
Den felt something ominous from behind.
Thud—!
A sinister sound reached his ears, right beside him.
