Chapter 23: Subjugation (2)

“Quiet. Stand by.”

At that single command, the soldiers stopped in their tracks without a word.

Muno, too, didn’t wait for an answer and plunged straight into the bushes.

It might have seemed like a reckless act, but there was a good reason for it.

‘I can feel demonic energy.’

It was already the third day since the Hunt began.

In that time, Muno had achieved tremendous results for his level, and in the process, he had gained something new.

‘Even though I can feel such dense demonic energy, I can't see it or smell it.

This one might be worth devouring.’

It was a sense for judging ‘prey.’

Monsters were remnants of the war between gods and demons that occurred in the age of myths.

More accurately, there was a legend that they were the remnants left behind by demons.

In reality, monsters did harbor dense demonic energy depending on their grade.

Despite having caught five Grade 2 monsters in the past two days, he hadn't felt any substantial increase in his skills.

It was merely enough to replenish his depleted energy.

- Isn't that enough? The chronic weakness of our Drasen Greatswordmanship is combat endurance, which means you don't have to worry about that at least when fighting magicians or monsters.

He didn't exactly disagree with his father, but as someone who had expected to grow with every monster he caught, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

But with the amount of demonic energy he was feeling now, the story might be different.

‘At least Grade 3.

And if there are no traces to this extent, it's a monster that specializes in stealth.’

A name naturally came to mind.

Giant Boa.

- If you don't feel the presence of any other living creature in the forest, be careful.

The creature might have eaten them all.

- If that giant snake, a master of stealth, suddenly attacks from the sky or the ground, even a decent knight will have all the bones in their body crushed in an instant and die.

He had gotten a slight chill when he first heard Sir Gunter's words, but now, he could only smile.

Although he couldn't smell or sense its presence, the Demon Devourer was perfectly capturing the form of a giant snake, seemingly 20 meters long, draped over a tree.

‘Very good.’

Just like the stars for knights or the circles for magicians, monsters were also given grades, but those were assigned with the meaning that it would take three or more superhumans of the same class to safely capture one.

In other words, unless one was exceptional, it was impossible to catch a monster of the same grade alone.

That was why the 4-Star knight, Ryan Drasen, who had single-handedly caught a Grade 5 Snow Troll, had made the name Knight of Gluttony famous throughout the world.

The fact that Muno had caught five Grade 2 monsters in two days had surprised those around him in the same context.

The nickname ‘Genius Knight of Drasen’ had started to spread because of that incident.

Of course, that didn't mean that many believed Muno could catch even a Grade 3 monster.

He himself thought so too.

But this one was a different case.

‘The Giant Boa is a monster rated as Grade 3 only because of its incredible stealth ability. It’s entirely possible.’

Rustle.

As soon as he entered the forest, black chains began to extend from Muno’s limbs in all directions.

Since their color was clearly different from the surroundings and could be spotted by the enemy, the chains moved along the ground for now.

They soon secretly dug slightly into the ground before shooting up again and climbing the tree the Giant Boa was hanging from.

“Hmm. Whe. re. could. it. be…….”

Muno even put on some awkward acting as he walked under the tree to draw its attention.

The Demon Devourer's senses had perfectly captured the demonic energy lingering on the enemy's body.

Just then, as the giant snake's head silently approached above his own head.

Four chains plunged into the snake's gaping mouth, wide enough to swallow Muno's entire body.

Kwa-d-d-d-d-duk.

“Chwiik!? Guk!?”

Bang. Bang!

The Giant Boa, which had been about to swallow its prey, thrashed violently as it suddenly had a hard foreign object forced into its body.

“Hap!”

Frowning at the thrashing and the foul odor, Muno faced the Giant Boa’s forcibly opened mouth head-on.

……Ah, so gross.

So.

‘I'll cut you just like that.’

Thump.

With a powerful stomp that momentarily withstood the thrashing of a monster weighing hundreds of kilograms, perhaps even close to a ton.

W-w-w-w-wooduk.

Muno's body, bent far backward, momentarily flushed red as his muscles bulged.

The monstrous strength that would have normally consumed the calories stored in his body in an instant was now being exerted based on magical power.

And just like that.

‘Wind Slicer.’

Flash.

Chwa-a-a-a-a-a-ak.

A sword strike, invisible to the eye, split the Giant Boa's head vertically.

Pa-a-a-a-a-ang.

A shockwave spread out a beat after the sword was swung, bursting open the wound again.

“Kieeeeeek!”

‘Damn it, I underestimated it.’

Because of the ridiculously huge head of the creature, Muno’s sword strike didn’t seem to have reached its brain.

“Hup!”

He hastily moved the chains that had dug into the creature’s body more violently.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“Kuk!”

Kwaaang.

His body was too light to withstand the movements of the Giant Boa convulsing in pain.

“Kyaak!”

Kwaaaang!

‘Damn it!’

He felt like his intestines were twisting as he was repeatedly slammed into the surrounding tree trunks, but it was difficult to predict the movements of the snake monster convulsing in pain.

So, Muno pulled out two of the chains that were churning inside the creature.

Thump. Thump.

He pushed off the surrounding tree stumps and the ground, barely managing to regain his balance.

“Hup!”

And with barely managed timing, he leaped toward the creature’s head again.

However, at that moment.

“Die……!”

“Kyaaaaak!”

Muno was covered in the sticky fluid that the giant snake spewed out.

‘Damn it.’

But the secret technique, Wind Slicer, which he had already swung by squeezing out all the muscles and magical power in his body, slashed through the creature’s body like lightning according to his original intention, even as his vision was obscured by the unpleasant and sticky fluid.

Chwa-a-a-a-a-a-ak.

The massive greatsword cut once more, deeper, into the already vertically split wound.

Pa-a-a-a-a-ang.

The shockwave created by the sword strike that surpassed the speed of sound dug into the wound a moment later.

“K-krr…….”

The nearly 20-meter-long body stood rigidly, as if looking at the sky, and trembled.

Thump.

“Kuk.”

The moment Muno, covered in the unknown fluid, instinctively used a breakfall to roll on the ground and get back up.

Kuuuuuuung.

The huge monster's corpse fell over, causing a great tremor.

But the condition of the one who had brought down such a huge monster was not so good either.

“Aish, damn it.”

His whole body was sticky.

So much so that he couldn't even open his eyes.

‘I heard there was no poison. What is this…….’

His body wouldn't move properly, as if he was covered in sticky spiderwebs.

But there was a way.

Chwa-rr-rr-ruk.

As he retrieved the chains that had been churning the snake's intestines all at once, they shook off the unpleasant residue and shrank back into bracers and greaves on his limbs.

Chwa-rr-rr-ruk.

Immediately after, the chains that were dispatched once more moved carefully and began to quickly brush off the fluid covering Muno’s entire body.

The chains, moving delicately according to his will, repeatedly dispatched and retrieved, instantly restoring freedom to Muno's movements.

At that moment, Muno made a decision.

“Ugh, the smell…….”

The hunt was over for today.

It wasn't just because this sticky, dirty body fluid had dried onto his greatsword, dulling the weapon.

He had gone to the trouble of dealing with a Grade 3 magical beast, but the result was minimal.

Of course, the Giant Boa's scales, teeth, and hide would be expensive materials, but that wasn't what he wanted.

‘After all that trouble.’

It was clearly a monster with a dense amount of demonic energy, but the amount absorbed from the chains that had even dug into its intestines fell far short of his expectations.

Of course, his magical power was replenished to the point where he wasn't very tired even after using Wind Slicer twice in a row, and he even felt his skills had increased, albeit slightly.

But what he had expected was not something of this level.

Hsss.

‘It’s different. Why?’

The total amount of demonic energy felt from the Giant Boa was definitely much greater than that of Amos, the 2-Circle magician.

So where did this difference come from?

It felt like he would have to catch ten of these things to be on par with devouring one Amos.

‘No, it might even be less than that…….’

His expectation of growing in an instant was shattered in vain.

But he soon changed his mind.

Clap.

“This is a great ability in itself. Right, let's not be greedy. When has anything ever been easy……”

He tried to soothe himself with a monologue and a sigh, but the conclusion was the same.

Muno let out the breath he had been holding and shouted.

“Come on in!! I caught a big one. We're done for today!”

- Yes!!

The voices coming from outside the bushes felt particularly energetic, and it was by no means a delusion.

“Hieee…….”

“Th-this……?”

“The Young Master, alone?”

The soldiers who saw the Giant Boa’s corpse were initially terrified, but eventually turned to look at Muno with astonished eyes.

“You know which parts to take, right, Rom?”

“Yes, yessir!”

Although they were called soldiers, they were in fact all-around workers.

Rom, who had been a soldier in Drasen for 7 years, was also a skilled monster butcher.

‘I need to send a signal……. Ah, it's wet. Damn it.’

Muno sighed again as he looked at the fireworks soaked in the sticky fluid.

In the areas to the left and right of where he was hunting, Sir Gunter and Karina should have been stationed to prepare for any possible tricks by the Demon Cult.

And they were much closer to this side than their originally designated areas.

‘Sir Gunter aside, Karina has practically given up on her achievements in the Hunt. I’ll have to repay her later.’

That rare 3-Star knight specialized in speed.

When Muno, who had judged that she would be able to handle a magician of the same or higher class, requested her assistance.

- I understand the situation. But still…….

- I! I'll do it!!

-sister!?

The surprised expression on Lady Roanna's face was still vivid.

He was grateful to Karina for being so proactive.

Shudder.

‘Honestly, I'm still a little scared…….’

It wasn't that he wasn't attracted, but he also had a premonition that if he got any more deeply involved, he would be tied down for life.

She was a woman whose hands were as stinging as she was pretty.

‘No, am I already wrong to describe her blowing off the limbs of knights as just having stinging hands? Still, she did it to the enemy…….’

It was difficult for a forever-alone to clearly define what this soft yet chilling feeling was.

“Hah…….”

Thinking about her only made him sigh, so for now, he decided to just focus on the problem at hand.

“Rom. This firework, will it go off in this state?”

He called out to the all-around worker who was working hard for no reason.

“Ah, are you sending a signal again? The others don't, but why does the Young Master insist on doing it every time……”

Of course, it was to maintain close contact with his comrades in preparation for an attack by the Demon Cult.

But he couldn't answer Rom like that.

“There's something. So just look at this and tell me. Will it work?”

“……I think it needs to be dried a bit.”

“Just as I thought, right?”

Hsss.

He had asked just in case, but it was just as he expected.

Just as he sighed deeply and was about to turn away.

Muno suddenly felt a chill down his spine and clenched his teeth without realizing it.

‘This is……!?’

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.