Chapter 14

A Mad Wastrel (1)

The strange sound sent a chill through my instincts. I turned toward it to find a massive creature, some four or five meters in size, striding toward us.

Its hide was white as snow, serving as camouflage. It had a snake's head and a birdlike body. Unlike a legless snake, however, it walked on all fours. And unlike a bird, it had primitive yet powerful feet that looked as though they had stopped halfway through evolving into wings.

If my memory served...

'A Dermexus?'

That was what the monster was called.

Dermexuses were monsters found only in the north, with vicious tempers and powerful bodies. They were also among the monsters I absolutely had to devour. I simply hadn't dared hunt one yet because they were so strong. In a sense, they ranked even higher on the food chain than ice trolls.

Perhaps that explained the distinct alarm on Kai's face. Dermexuses actually lived in the snowy mountains. They occasionally descended in search of prey, but never came this close to the county.

GRRRR!

The Dermexus let out a low growl. It had identified us as prey.

Dermexuses were vicious by nature. Once one marked you as prey, there was no escape. We had to fight, but...

"Hah...! Hah...!"

... I was exhausted. After two whole days of running, my stamina wasn't merely depleted; it was utterly destroyed. The packed innards in my Inventory had run out as well. I couldn't use Regeneration anymore.

Taking on a Dermexus in this state was beyond me. If I fought alone, I would undoubtedly become its next meal, but...

I glanced toward Kai. He wasn't even looking my way. His blue eyes were fixed on the Dermexus. Watching its movements closely, he carefully brought his hand to his sword hilt. He knew we had to fight, too.

Except...

"Hah...! Hah...!"

Kai was exhausted too. His breathing was ragged, his long blond hair drenched in sweat. Even he would struggle to face a Dermexus in his current condition. He surely knew that himself—yet he charged at it without hesitation.

* * *

A Dermexus had suddenly appeared. The first thing Kai felt upon recognizing the monster was puzzlement. After all, this wasn't a monster found near the county. It lived primarily in the snowy mountains and almost never ventured down this far.

'Then how...?'

He quickly dismissed the question. Now wasn't the time to ponder it. Drawing a ragged breath, he filled his lungs with the bitterly cold air.

A Dermexus was not a monster to underestimate. It took ten trained soldiers working together to handle one properly. Even Kai couldn't be certain of victory when he was this physically exhausted. Worse, two days of nonstop running had drained his aura as well.

Facing it alone would be difficult. Even so, he had to do it alone.

Kai acknowledged that Adrian had changed to some extent. But that was all: to some extent. Above all, everything Adrian had done so far was nothing more than conditioning and training. Fighting a Dermexus, however, was real combat.

Training and real combat were entirely different. Training merely tested physical limits. Actual combat tested those limits along with one's ability to withstand pressure, tension, and emotional pain. The mental preparation required was on another level entirely. A mere few days of conditioning couldn't bridge that gap.

Nor did everything unfold predictably in combat as it did in training. It was an endless succession of unforeseen situations. Danger could become reality at any time, anywhere. Every decision and action meant the difference between life and death. A single mistake could have fatal consequences, and the price was death.

He therefore couldn't expect anything from Adrian. As a combatant, Adrian was worse than useless.

THUD!

His feet felt heavy as he pushed off the snow. Through his blurred vision, he saw the Dermexus's enormous body and sharp teeth. Its eyes grew clearer as he approached, menacing in the extreme. Suddenly, a savage gleam flashed through them.

ROAAAR!

Sharp claws came flying at Kai. He swiftly twisted aside, but the movement threw him off balance for a moment. He struggled to steady his faltering legs and keep from falling.

Scraping together what strength he had left, he thrust his sword. But his stamina had reached its limit. His heavy arms could put little power behind the strike.

KRRRK...!

Blood bubbled from the Dermexus's neck where his sword had pierced it. Kai pushed harder, but with its aura depleted, the blade went no farther.

The Dermexus's eyes widened, seemingly in agony, and its great mouth opened wide. At that moment, its eyes gleamed.

Instinct screamed a warning. Alarm bells rang ceaselessly in his head. Kai hurriedly pulled his sword from its neck and kicked off the ground—just as the Dermexus's gaping jaws lunged into the space he had vacated. Had he not dodged on instinct, it would have swallowed him whole.

He gulped involuntarily and adjusted his grip on his sword. The Dermexus wasn't dead yet. Wounded now, the already vicious monster would only grow more savage.

And then it happened. While the Dermexus was distracted by Kai, Adrian darted in like lightning and swung his sword at its neck.

But an ordinary blade couldn't even scratch a Dermexus's tough hide. Aura was necessary. And Adrian wasn't using aura—or rather, he couldn't. His aptitude for mana was practically zero.

Yet the trajectory of Adrian's sword suddenly changed. He aimed precisely for the opening Kai had just made in its neck. Without deviating even a fraction, he drove his blade into that very same spot—

"...!"

Kai's eyes widened.

KRAAK!

Blood bubbled from the Dermexus once more. It thrashed in agony, but Adrian didn't retreat. Gripping his sword with both hands, he held the struggling monster in check.

Adrian was driving the Dermexus back. These were movements the count's wastrel son could never have displayed.

"..."

Kai was at a loss for words. That... was no wastrel who had spent his life wallowing in gambling and pleasure.

Adrian had recently begun conditioning his body. But even so, it had only been about ten days. And all he'd done was physical conditioning. In other words, he had never so much as held a sword. He was a greenhorn with absolutely no combat experience.

And yet...

KRRRAAAK!!

What part of that looked like a greenhorn? Who could possibly think he was a wastrel novice who had never held a sword, let alone experienced real combat?

The Dermexus began rampaging. It bucked in every direction like an enraged bull, trying to shake Adrian off. But he refused to retreat. Instead, he drove the sword still lodged in its neck deeper, keeping up a relentless assault.

"...!!"

Kai's eyes widened again. Even a knight who had survived countless battles and brushes with death, or a mercenary who had crossed innumerable battlefields, couldn't go that far. Kai himself wasn't confident he could do it.

SQUELCH!

... This was impossible. He couldn't help thinking it. Adrian's audacity alone was astonishing, but his swordsmanship rivaled a knight's. No matter how Kai looked at it, this couldn't be someone holding a sword for the first time.

Still, he could try to make sense of it. Reaching that level in a mere ten days was absurd, but the continent had its share of geniuses capable of such absurd feats. In a sense, Kai himself was one of them.

But...

SLASH!

... Not to that extent. The timing and coordination with which Adrian shifted his blade's path from instant to instant, matching the Dermexus's movements—every motion was flawless.

KREEE!

... That wasn't something the word "genius" alone could explain. Didn't they say that what could only be learned by doing wasn't knowledge, but experience? Such movements were impossible through talent alone. Only the combined experience of countless real battles and life-and-death struggles on the battlefield could produce them.

'How in the world...?'

Adrian put strength into his sword.

RIIIP!

The Dermexus was sliced cleanly open from neck to jaw. That wound alone would have been fatal. But Adrian didn't stop.

He swiftly retrieved his sword and clenched a fist. Then he hurled it at the Dermexus's head with all his might—

CRAAACK!

A tremendous impact rang out. The monster's head caved in, its skull apparently shattered.

"...!!!"

Kai's eyes went wider still. The fist that had just shattered the Dermexus's skull held no aura. That meant its strength had come purely from a human body. Yet the force and destructive power of that blow... were not something a human could produce.

THUD!

The Dermexus collapsed, sending a slight tremor through the ground. It moved no more. Its blood stained the snow red.

"Whew...!!"

Adrian let out a deep breath and dropped to the ground. Rather than merely sitting, he sprawled across it. His stamina was completely spent.

The same was true of Kai. He barely had the strength left to stand on his own two feet. In other words, without Adrian, he would have been in serious trouble. That was how powerful a Dermexus was.

Of course, with sufficient stamina, a Dermexus would have posed little threat to him. But with both his stamina and aura depleted, it had been a formidable threat indeed.

'Why would a Dermexus come all the way to the county...?'

He still didn't know why a monster that normally lived in the snowy mountains had descended so close to the county. He was simply relieved that he had been the first prey it encountered. Otherwise, the county's people would have fallen victim to it.

And Kai himself would have been in danger "without Adrian."

'Hmm.'

Kai went over Adrian's fighting once more. His skill with a sword was impressive, but his swordsmanship lacked any formal structure. His blade had been directed solely toward killing. In truth, it could hardly be called swordsmanship. To put it kindly, it was practical; less kindly, crude.

Yet meticulous calculation and outstanding combat instincts compensated for those shortcomings. In that sense, Adrian could be considered closer to a knight. His actual fighting style, however, resembled a mercenary's. And his efficient movements, devoted solely to killing, were those of a beast.

A knight, a mercenary, and a beast.

... Kai couldn't begin to fathom what kind of person he was. All he could say for certain was that Adrian was no longer the count's wastrel son.

Adrian had suddenly changed after running away from home. Kai didn't know what had happened during that week. But Adrian had changed completely. The way Kai looked at him had unmistakably changed as well.

Just then, Adrian sprang up from where he lay sprawled on the ground. He moved without hesitation, apparently having recovered some stamina. Picking up his fallen sword, he climbed onto the Dermexus's carcass and plunged the blade in without a moment's pause.

'What...?'

Before Kai could even finish the thought, Adrian pulled something roughly thirty centimeters across out of the carcass.

'Its heart?'

It was the Dermexus's heart. It still twitched faintly in Adrian's hands. That didn't mean the monster was alive, however. The heart's nerves simply hadn't died yet. In other words, Adrian's killing blow had been that swift and decisive.

The blood was still warm, sending up hot steam as it met the cold of the snowfield. Scarlet blood remaining in the heart dripped to the ground, staining the white snow an even deeper red.

Adrian gazed at the Dermexus's heart and smiled with satisfaction.

... Was he insane?

To Kai, he looked like the biggest lunatic in the world. If pulling out a monster's heart and smiling at it didn't make someone a lunatic, what did?

Utterly unconcerned, Adrian raised the Dermexus's heart to his mouth.

'Why is he suddenly taking its heart—'

CRUNCH.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

Kai shouted before he could help himself. The look on his face was no longer that of someone looking at a fellow human being.