The creature rose to its feet and howled.
“Ummmer~!”
Whoosh!
Every time it exhaled roughly, flames spilled from its mouth.
“The cow spews fire.”
Isabel and I targeted one of its front legs and launched our attacks.
Thud!
The dagger I threw bounced off the cow’s front leg.
On the other hand, Isabel’s attack seemed to have worked, leaving a shallow wound.
One attack wasn’t enough to sever the leg of the giant cow.
“Whoa!”
The cow lifted its front leg and slammed it down on the ground.
Boom!
The ground began to shake violently, and cracks started to form here and there.
Monsters that couldn’t escape fell into the gaps.
As the rumbling of the ground began to settle, I looked around.
The area was devastated from a single attack.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Isabel was banging a huge boulder with her sword.
“What are you doing?”
“It went inside this!”
Looking up, I saw that the ground around the giant cow had risen to form a large wall.
“Can’t we just turn back?”
“Go check for yourself.”
After taking a moment to look around, I realized that the ground hadn’t just risen randomly.
It had formed a large dome, covering the giant cow.
“What on earth did you guys do?”
Aila and the raid team, having cleared the surrounding monsters, gathered in one spot.
“We’re trying to catch this thing.”
“You can’t catch that.”
“Why not?”
Isaac examined the risen ground and spoke.
“It’s a monster called a Pyson.”
“If it’s a monster, we should just catch it.”
“It’s pretty skittish and will dive underground if pressed.”
In other words, the raised ground in front of us wasn’t created to protect it.
It likely dug underground and escaped somewhere.
“Cows can dig?”
“They dig better than you’d think. Anyway, it’s gone underground, so it won’t come out for a while.”
Thanks to the cow, the surrounding monsters had been quite cleanly dealt with.
“There are some monsters that are actually helpful. Pyson is one of them. There are areas nearby that hold this cow sacred.”
As long as we avoid attacking first, it won’t cause us much harm.
Thanks to the upturned earth, we had a temporary resting place.
The cracks around us made it hard for the monsters to approach easily.
Divided into two teams, one team kept watch while the other rested.
“We need to maintain vigilance.”
“Got it.”
Aila warned us to stay alert before heading off to rest.
Some mercenaries and knights also patrolled the area to keep watch.
Rustle! Rustle!
Above, monsters fell from the fractured ground, and we finished them off.
Although it felt like we’d been fighting for a long time, not even half a day had passed.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yeah.”
Thinking back, I realized I hadn’t eaten breakfast.
Isabel rummaged through her bag and pulled something out to hand to me.
“Let’s eat this at least.”
A piece of dried jerky, blackened from age.
“Where did you get this?”
“I bought it. At the cabin.”
I tore a piece from the jerky Isabel handed me and put it in my mouth.
As I chewed on the rock-hard jerky, I slowly savored its flavor.
“We should save the rest as emergency rations.”
“That sounds smart.”
It seemed there would be no meal provided during the raid operation.
When it came time to shift, a simple meal was prepared.
A dish made with an unknown meat between slices of bread.
There were no vegetables or special sauces, but the bread accompanied by the juicy meat was unexpectedly a good combination.
After finishing my meal, I climbed up to the raised ground.
It wasn’t too high, but I could see much more of the plain.
At the end of the plain, there was another city, but beyond that lay Latnia.
Looking to the other side, the plain stretched endlessly.
Monsters were moving towards the plain that faced away from Latnia.
I was curious what lay at the end that made the monsters move.
I came down from the hill and asked Tooler, who was resting.
“Why are the monsters moving that way?”
“It’s going to get much colder in the north soon. They’re moving south, which is relatively warmer. There’s plenty to eat there too.”
Across the Kant Plain, a long mountain range emerges.
At the end of the mountain range, Roran’s olive trees can be found.
The mountain range that starts at the edge of the Kant region’s plain effectively serves as the border between Roran and Latnia.
“I see.”
“If you go a little further down, the armies of each country will be hunting the monsters. Our role is to follow behind the monsters and reduce their numbers.”
If the raid team doesn’t reduce the monster population, the army would face an enormous horde of monsters.
“The next target is Pyson.”
“Is that the cow from earlier?”
“It’s the name of the village. It’s a village that holds the previously mentioned monster sacred.”
When Isaac mentioned our next destination, the raid team’s expressions darkened slightly.
A village that worships monsters.
Though each nation follows different religions, there is one thing they all agree on.
They don’t recognize heretical religions.
Worshipping a monster instead of a deity wouldn’t sit well with many.
Payson Village is located at the very edge of the Kant region, making it a neutral territory.
If the village were even slightly skewed toward one side, it wouldn’t have survived.
After resting, the raid team began to form ranks and march.
The plain was littered with the corpses of monsters everywhere.
“It seems like there are fewer this time.”
Tooler remarked as he observed the piles of monster bodies.
“You think so?”
When the monsters first arrived at the plain, there were so many that it looked like a river flowing from a distance.
“There should be more than this.”
“How do you expect a mere dozen of us to handle that?”
“Why not? We’ve managed it before.”
Monster takedowns are surprisingly high-intensity labor.
“Why not send out criminals instead?”
“What for?”
“For the takedowns.”
“Do you think criminals would cooperate?”
It’s said that they had tried, but the problem is that they often take advantage of the chaos to escape.
In the end, there were far more escapees than casualties, and they never did it again.
While walking through the plain, monsters attacked occasionally, but with just a few, everyone remained relaxed.
“What kind of monsters can be cut down like tofu…”
Small monsters were sliced with every charge they made.
Occasionally appearing medium-sized monsters were easily dealt with when tackled by several at once.
We comfortably approached the vicinity of Payson Village.
A large statue of a cow could be seen even from outside the village.
The entrance to Payson Village was flanked by a small avenue of trees.
It was clearly a beautiful village entrance.
“I always get the feeling of being watched every time I come here. It’s quite unsettling.”
Looking around, I saw people with bows mounted in the trees.
When our eyes met, they did not hide and politely bowed in greeting.
Upon reaching the village entrance, it immediately felt like a fortress.
“We’re the raid team. Please open the gate.”
“I hadn’t heard any news, but the timing is right.”
A surprisingly young man’s voice responded, and soon the gate opened.
Clang!
The large steel door slowly began to open.
Once inside, it felt more like a fortress than a village.
“Is this really a village?”
“Half of it is a fortress. Monsters frequently invade.”
It wasn’t as if anyone from the village came out to guide us.
However, there was a predetermined inn we used every time we came.
On the way to the inn, I spotted something unique next to a statue in the plaza.
A statue that looked entirely out of place.
“An angel?”
“Wouldn’t you like to believe in the Angel?”
It was a line and voice I had heard somewhere before.
Beneath the angel statue, a figure wearing a golden mask was preaching to the villagers.
Seemingly so focused on the preaching that he didn’t recognize me at all.
For now, I decided to pretend I didn’t see him.
Upon arriving at the inn, we were each assigned a room.
It wasn’t a spacious room, just enough to fit a single bed, essentially just a place to sleep.
Having no luggage to unpack, I checked my room and headed straight out to the plaza.
As I approached the goddess statue, it recognized me and greeted me.
“Ah, you’re Ririan, right?”
“Jere. Why are you here?”
“I need to spread the word about the Angel. Plus, there are many monster specimens to be obtained here.”
“Are the other parts still not found?”
“Yeah, I’m in the process of looking for them.”
Jere was collecting the broken pieces of the angel’s body.
“Who’s behind you?”
“What?”
Turning around, I saw Isabel standing behind me, having followed me.
“Is that an angel?”
“If you believe in angels, you can die peacefully.”
“Was it like that?”
Isabel made a peculiar gesture and greeted the angel statue.
“Hey, are you from Midlen by any chance?”
“I might be.”
Jere fixed his gaze on Isabel as if examining her.
“Are you mixed blood?”
“Yes.”
“You must have had a tough life.”
“How do you know?”
“You hesitated when you paid respects to the angel statue. People from Midlen usually act like that.”
Most people wouldn’t behave particularly differently upon seeing an angel statue.
However, Jere explained that those from Midlen demonstrated unique behaviors in such situations.
“It’s a habit. Since childhood. Midlen is a country that believes in angels.”
I began to roughly understand why Midlen only possessed the body of an angel.
They firmly believe that in due time, the angel will descend and purify the world.
