Chapter 201

Chapter 201 - Conquistador (2)

Steel bolts fired from the dwarven heavy crossbows pierced the bodies of the fox-man Rakshas.

Unlike the guys they fought in Samur, they were completely naked, and wearing ornaments made of plant stems or animal bones was all they had.

Thanks to that, the sound of the iron tips digging into their flesh was refreshing.

Walking on two legs and exposing their tender chests and abdomens, they were vulnerable to projectiles.

Thwack!

Puck!

The guards had gone through numerous battles until now, but this was the first time the impact felt this spectacular.

"Kkweow-."

Only after nearly 10 fell did the Rakshas properly realize the danger lurking ahead. The fierceness faded from their fox faces and they all hesitated.

At that time, the main gate of the outpost opened wide.

"The opponents are Rakshas."

"I know, Captain. Instead of Yeti pelt, let's peel and wrap that."

Cassandra and her subordinate female warriors finished their charge preparations first and darted out.

It was a speed possible because they came out with only their weapons, without even donning armor. In their hands were repeating crossbows.

Pew pew pew!

Compared to the dwarven guards' heavy crossbows, the bolts were fired with weaker tension.

"Kee-eek-?!"

"Kyoo-it-!"

And simultaneously, the groans of the Rakshas rang out.

It's a pain that isn't fatal but brings out screams to call it just a sting. When this hacked up their entire bodies, it was hard to endure even with their fierce wild nature.

Their fox faces, turning shrill with pain and venom, grabbed the bolts stuck in their chests.

"Kkiyaaaak-!"

But giving a bit of strength, they gave up on pulling them out. The iron tips were small, but since they were made with broadheads, it seemed like several times the flesh would be ripped out.

Eventually, they gave up on the Cat-folk and all started fleeing.

The Caracal Special Ops female warriors continuously fired the repeating crossbows while chasing at the same speed.

Thwack!

Puck!

Every time the handle grasped by the right hand moved back and forth, a bolt embedded in the backs of the Rakshas. Because they are fairies possessing darkvision, they could hit accurately without difficulty even outside the torches.

The lacking power was compensated by applying poison to the iron tips.

Flop.

The steps of a Raksha fleeing with 4 bolts stuck in it got tangled, and it collapsed as it was and convulsed.

- The enemies of the new continent do not wear armor due to restrictions in technology and environment. Projectiles with weak power will also be sufficiently effective.

According to the new doctrine established before the expedition, Eugene added repeating crossbows to their main armament.

Considering the weak defensive power of the enemies and the vision restrictions of the jungle, there would be situations where the rate of fire exerts an effect rather than the strength of a single shot.

'An army that has developed beyond a certain level evaluates supply as more important than tactics...'

Cassandra, combining a new magazine, recalled what Eugene habitually said.

To the majority of commanders including herself, supply merely remained as a concept of maintaining an army.

But Eugene always prepared supply from the domain of tactics. As a result, he would often bring things that seemed unrelated to combat along with weapons.

Around the time the Rakshas escaped the Kill Zone and hid in the jungle, the war hounds were deployed.

"Pee-eek-!"

"Bark! Bark!"

"Woof woof woof!"

The fierce dogs led by Homi rapidly joined the pursuit despite starting late.

The Rakshas, running diligently showing their backs, disappeared sucked into the bushes.

"Karrrrr!"

Following that, a scream filled with pain flowed out along with the unique sound dogs make when biting.

Thinking escape was impossible like this, the Raksha captain roared. Then, the rest also uniformly turned around and prepared for a final stand.

"Halt!"

Since Cassandra and her subordinates were unarmored, they stopped for now.

"Peeeee-eek-!"

Homi also blew a whistle, calling back the war hounds trying to fight.

- In this expedition, we cannot expect reinforcements. Prioritize small victories without losses over big victories.

It was exactly as Eugene instructed. There was no need to clash head-on with enemies trying to fight risking their lives.

"You bought excellent time."

Through them, Eugene mounted on Might charged in.

- Lord, do you sleep inside the castle?

- No. Having just arrived, I shouldn't seek comfort already. For a few days, I want to camp outside and adapt to the atmosphere.

He didn't know an attack would come from the first day, but in result, it was a good choice.

In Eugene's eyes sharing darkvision from Might, a purple flame flickered.

Chwa-a-a-ak!

Every time he swung Blackout, the bushes and vines, let alone the Rakshas, were sliced away entirely.

"...!"

"...!"

An intense smell of blood forbidding comparison with battles until now. The aura of a beast radiating from Might.

Befitting guys with keen senses of smell, they realized immediately. That it was an enemy they couldn't handle.

The Rakshas, whose fur stood on end like chestnuts, hurriedly began fleeing.

"Now. Resume the pursuit!"

To those showing their backs, the female warriors' repeating crossbows and the war hounds' fangs dug in mercilessly.

"Kiyaaa-."

A Raksha that had its mount position taken by a war hound struggled desperately, but it was useless. Because destiny was decided the moment a bipedal primate was pinned under a quadrupedal beast.

They were fierce dogs with an average bite force of 150kg. The palm the Raksha extended became a rag, and the wrist raised as a guard was bitten and crushed.

Since the body odor of Dark Elves and Rakshas was completely different, distinguishing friend from foe was simple even in the darkness.

Just like that, the Raksha pursuit team of 53 was annihilated without a single one escaping.

* * *

When Eugene returned in front of the outpost, Cat-folk survivors were gathered and trembling.

"What's this? They still haven't gone inside?"

"It seems they're terrified. Because they fled in a hurry, things much scarier burst out continuously from that direction."

It was exactly as Cassandra guessed.

Even when the female warriors mobilized, the Cat-folk were bewildered, but their legs kept moving.

However, as the war hounds rushed out baring their white teeth, they just stiffened up rigidly.

- Hi-eek!

The women holding children squatted down, thinking they were going to pounce on them. And as the deciding blow, Eugene appeared.

A warhorse reaching the domain of a demonic beast, and a giant axe making one piss their pants just looking at it.

The Cat-folk survivors, reaching the limit of fear, gave up going inside the outpost at all.

"It's awkward to leave them outside all night."

The night jungle, full of corpses and blood everywhere, is absolutely not a place to seek sleep even as a joke.

However, Eugene's worries didn't last long. Because the Cat-folk slinked over and began kneeling and prostrating to him.

"They catch on quick. Recognizing who the leader is."

When Eugene unmounted Might and gestured toward the outpost for them to go in, only then the Cat-folk moved.

An appearance still terrified, yet they seemed incapable of conjuring even a thought to dare disobey.

* * *

Verifying the battle site after daybreak, scavengers had already visited. On several corpses close to the jungle, only inedible parts remained.

"Is this the boss?"

A Raksha extravagantly decorated with coral lay dead with glaring eyes.

The posture suggested frantically trying to block the bleeding from a bitten neck. Probabilistically, the handiwork of a war hound.

He was the only one donning armor, but it was a crude item made by tying the bones of all sorts of creatures.

"In reality, aren't these guys crows pretending to be foxes?"

Cassandra laughed while taking off a pearl necklace and jade ornaments from the Raksha corpse.

The female warriors rummaging through the spoils also shouted cheers in various places.

"Captain. These guys' weapons are stone axes or clubs, yet they're dangling jewels."

"They are Raksha bastards, aren't they?"

The ones who had constructed a matriarchal society even stronger than Dark Elves were the Rakshas. The males were small in stature and few in numbers, so they were targets of protection as well as seed contributors.

To win a male's favor, just increasing combat power wasn't enough. The females competed with each other by adorning themselves with various ornaments.

"Is obsidian dagger the best weapon?"

Eugene playfully tossed around in his grip the dagger he collected from the captain.

Looking at the extravagant dreamcatcher decoration, it seemed more like an item symbolizing authority rather than for practical combat use.

"I can't understand. If everyone is bare-handed, a spear would be more effective. Why use weapons like clubs or stone axes. It's not like they are strong like the little guys."

The little guys Cassandra mentioned naturally referred to the dwarven warriors.

"The purpose isn't to kill. Whether using them as slaves or capturing them as edible livestock. This place is humid and temperatures are high, unlike the dry Samur. If killed immediately, they will start rotting before a day passes."

Environment has a profound influence on civilization.

Unlike the Rakshas of Samur who liked bamboo spears so much, it was natural for the bastards here to prefer blunt weapons.

* * *

He had many things he wanted to ask the Cat-folk, but since they were in an exhausted state, he first provided them time to compose their bodies and minds.

After providing first aid and giving them egg drop soup, they devoured it ravenously.

"Hii-aang..."

"Uaaah...uh...mgh?"

Even the Cat-folk children who hadn't stopped crying opened their eyes wide when their mothers put wooden spoons in their mouths.

As their small lips moved rapidly, a final teardrop rolled down their cheeks and that was it.

Wondering if it was that delicious, Cassandra took a spoonful and looked at Eugene with a peculiar face.

"I can't see any solid ingredients besides egg, but the flavor is really rich? It's like drinking fish."

"I used a broth made by boiling 4 types of fish. Since the natives near the landing site are Cat-folk, I prepared it according to their tastes."

Delicious food is the first button of interaction.

For the Beast-folk, unlike humans with varying tastes, there is a keyword that generally works.

"For felines, if fish is included, the reaction is good in most cases."

Next to Eugene was Homi, who was emptying her second bowl.

Just feed her first and observe her tail. If it wags more than twice a second, it can be considered to work on all feline Beast-folk.

'For a knight, he sure likes holding a kitchen knife.'

Even in the Blackhand Tribe, a matriarchal society, the kitchen was the women's domain.

The view of Eugene wearing an apron when bored and chopping vegetables side by side with Homi. It was often mobilized in the chatters of the village women.

After the meal ended, they attempted to converse after giving some time. Surprisingly, there were quite a few among the natives here who knew the common language of the old continent.

"Life and food. Thank you. We know grace."

The tone was slurred and the vocabulary rough, but communication was sufficiently possible.

"Nice to meet you. Welcome. I am Eugene. The chief of this great tribe."

"Excellency? Are you making a joke, by any chance?"

When Eugene answered with equally rough sentences, the dwarven warriors looked back in a panic.

"What nonsense are you saying? For those not accustomed to a foreign language, if you speak fluently and fast, it will be hard for them to understand. Wouldn't it be easier to understand if you slowly speak centered on words?"

"Ah, we were foolish. We didn't think of that."

The attitude of always thinking from the opponent's perspective. This is probably the secret driving the Dwarves and Dark Elves, who squabble at the drop of a hat, into one mass.

Considering the sense of privilege or pride of great nobles, it's an astonishing part though.

"Our language. How do you know?"

At Eugene's question, a middle-aged Cat-folk extended 3 left fingers and clenched his right hand into a fist.

"30 years ago. A guest came from the sea. A hairless person like you. Came to deliver the words of the Father above the sky. Smart and treats injuries well. Even taught us the Father's language. If we learn that language, when we die we are embraced in the Father's bosom."

"A missionary."

Eugene understood immediately.

Seeing him intrigued, the Cat-folk swallowed hard in tension.

"He said. Someday the Father's army will descend from the sky. To judge the sinners. Are you that army?"

The Dwarves listening looked at each other.

"It's not exactly wrong, is it?"

"Since we fell riding lightning, we did come from the sky."

Eugene pushed away the whispering Dwarves and answered the Cat-folk who were filled with anticipation.

"No. We are a great tribe that came from beyond the sea."

"Oh..."

An exhalation mixed with regret, though not to the level of disappointment.

"The Raksha are common enemies. Must be eradicated. Information about this place is needed."

However, at the immediately following words of Eugene, they nodded their heads joyfully.

Who cares whether they are the envoy of God or not? It's enough if they just beat up the cannibals.

* * *

Everyone looked at an explicitly drawn map on a large square paper.

A map made based on the testimonies of the Cat-folk and observations from the top of the Moving Castle. Since it was improvised, it was extremely lacking.

It only had the cardinal directions East, West, South, North and the bases marked, but it was still better than nothing.

Eugene's command baton pointed at a place adjacent to the sea in the south of the map. The flags of an ark and the Meyer family were drawn.

"Here is our current location."

The baton stopped at a green circle slightly away to the north from the outpost.

"Here is the village of the Cat-folk who fled last night. It's destroyed now."

As the command baton moved further up, a large green circle appeared.

"This is the largest base of the Cat-folk in the vicinity, Divide. It's also the place where the missionary who drifted and arrived in this land 30 years ago stays."

"Divide? It seems it must be a name built by the person called the missionary?"

"Yes. Rivers connect in all directions from here."

Numerous blue lines were connected to the green circle.

"Thanks to that, it became a holy land where all the villages in the area interacted. The missionary wisely mediates when disputes arise between tribes."

Now everyone's gazes went up above Divide. Red circles occupying most of the map were placed all over.

"One day, suddenly, Rakshas invaded from the north. The villages of the Cat-folk who lived peacefully were mostly occupied, and now only Divide remains."

The most powerful faction was only the Raksha, and with Smallfolk and other monsters joining in. The jungle in the area was changed to just hell, not a green hell.

However, there weren't only bad news.

- What you want. There's a lot of it here.

Caves drawn in yellow were also drawn here and there on the temporary map. They were gold mines.

- The fox cannibals. They like shiny things. To snatch them, they invaded our land.

It is the habit of Raksha to like decorating themselves more than human. While expanding their influence searching for jewelry and gold, they even reached the eastern end of the continent.

"That's great, Excellency!"

"Because if we sweep away the Rakshas, we can also occupy the treasures those bastards have gathered for generations."

Eugene calmed the subordinates who shouted in excitement.

"It's not such an easy task. The bastards haven't scattered in tribal units but have strictly formed a single nation."

"A nation? Small-folk building a nation, you say?"

At the story that was virtually equivalent to goblins or orcs establishing a dynasty, everyone found it absurd.

"Ah!"

But soon they realized something and stiffened their faces. Because having been with Eugene, they had seen cases several times where that was possible.

"A champion appeared among the Rakshas."

The time of the spiritual high tide where the present world and the otherworld become close.

A great chief of the Raksha who enjoyed blood and war and routinely performed human sacrifices came to hear the voice of a god. It is, in a way, an inevitable occurrence.

"Divide needs warriors. Everyone is welcome."

When Eugene asked for guidance to Divide, the Cat-folk welcomed them with open arms.

* * *

Before departure, Eugene inspected the equipment of his subordinates.

"Iron plates are unnecessary."

If they wear the heavy armor the Hammer Brotherhood usually wore in the hot and humid jungle, they wouldn't be able to endure.

"Because the weapons of the enemies here remain at the stone age level, chain and leather armor will be sufficient."

Thanks to frequent monster subjugations so far, Eugene's army possessed a large quantity of high-quality leather.

Aside from the knight-level forces armed with Hydra armor, general soldiers also received top-grade leather armor.

"Combining chain with leather armor feels somewhat mismatched?"

"As long as it's light and doesn't get sweaty, what does it matter."

The Dwarves obeyed the armor exchange without complaint, but everyone felt sad when exchanging weapons.

"Excellency! You're telling us to put down our hammers?"

"They are half-naked enemies. Since they will get deeply pierced and sliced wherever you stab, is there a need to insist on blunt weapons?"

"That's true but... but..."

"Being numerically inferior, we must use everything we can use. A broken leg or bruised skin doesn't smell. However, the limbs severed by your axes will effectively stimulate the Raksha's sense of smell."

Rampage couldn't think of any logic to protest.

Two years trailing after Eugene. Because he clearly experienced how great an effect such things other than combat skills exhibited.

The only one wearing metal armor in the Divide expeditionary force was Homi. She was donning Dullahan's armor.

"Aren't you hot?"

Shake shake.

It is living armor. Its texture and hardness are metal, but it changed form on its own fitting Homi's body shape.

If necessary, it created gaps for ventilation, and the cool spiritual aura protected Homi's body from the humidity and heat.

"Does it rub against your skin?"

Shake shake.

Instead, the function was properly exhibited only when it directly made body contact with the master. So she absolutely had to wear the armor naked without underwear.

'Metal armor sticking closely to the body like leggings.'

Homi's figure where her voluptuous breasts, slender waist, and long and firm legs were revealed intact.

It was a steel flower blooming on the battlefield. Slicing away everything touching its petals.

"How are the residents inside the castle?"

"Everyone is healthy. It's only been two days, after all."

"Poisonous insects might sneak in so keep maintaining the barrier."

The tribal witches burned special herbs in various places of the Moving Castle and cast spells of protection. It was to prevent the intrusion of potentially dangerous bugs.

"Activities outside the outpost are strictly prohibited."

"No one dares disobey the Lord's command."

The witches smiled and bowed.

"If you stay inside the castle, there will be no worry of endemic diseases."

The Moving Castle is a living castle itself, so it is equipped with homeostasis and an immune system.

Like the human body, the temperature and humidity were always maintained constantly.

Except in specially created environments like cultivation rooms or casting foundries, not even a small mold could grow.

Whether insects or pathogens, uninvited guests entering the haven inside the castle were firmly blocked.

* * *

The subordinates were bewildered by the sight of Divide they arrived at after a forced march.

"Such a place is a holy land?"

Divide was gloomier than any place they had seen living as mercenaries. Not even a shadow of holiness could be found.

Sticky humidity heavily wrapped their hemlines and not a piece of dry land could be seen anywhere.

Shacks were also built on top of 1m tall wooden pillars to avoid the wet ground.

"Welcome to Divide. Please do not think this current powerless appearance is everything of Divide."

What welcomed Eugene at the entrance was the missionary the Cat-folk mentioned. His face was gaunt and filled with fatigue.

"If only defeat and fear, death and sorrow continuously flow in, any shining city would change like this. The last place in this land where reason and mercy remain. Welcome once again to visiting Divide."

At that moment, a sharp scream rang out.

It was the jungle beyond the river adjacent to the village. Fishermen trimming nets on anchored boats wrapped their heads and squatted down.

"Even now, innocent people who could not reach this place are being massacred. Small ponds have filled with bloody water turning into red lakes, and monsters even the oldest have never seen in their lives are roaming. The only salvation left for us is you all."

The missionary, due to the sorrow filling his heart, couldn't even introduce his name properly in time.