Chapter 13
Eighteen spears stood arrayed as if piercing the heavens, while the soldiers holding them stared straight ahead.
The forest stretched out before them.
As we watched the forest with bated breath, we heard something pushing through the treetops and saw small animals and birds fleeing.
A black shadow burst from the forest. The soldiers tensed for an instant, but soon realized it was one of our own.
Al, whom I had assigned to act as a decoy, came charging out of the forest on horseback.
Having charged straight through the forest, Al came toward us with branches and leaves clinging to their body.
Several seconds after Al, five more black shadows burst from the forest.
The massive beasts charging toward us on hooves were boars that had been transformed into monsters.
The boars, whose backs bore vertical stripes, were enraged at Al for attacking their nest and pursued without a thought for anything else.
"Make room for Al to escape."
I ordered two of the soldiers standing in formation to retreat. Once a gap opened in the formation, Al galloped through it on horseback.
We immediately closed the gap, and the soldiers prepared to receive the boars.
True to their nature, the boars charged straight ahead and did not change direction even when they saw us.
I gauged the distance and drew the boars in close enough.
"Take them down!"
At my command, the upright spears were brought down all at once, forming a wall of spearpoints. Unable to change direction, the boars charged straight into the spears.
The soldiers braced themselves against the boars, which came crashing toward them like rocks tumbling down a cliff.
Though I could never have withstood that weight and speed, the soldiers managed to hold them back, giving ground only slightly.
Several spears were knocked aside by the boars' immense mass and speed, but three of the beasts were impaled on the dense wall of spears and died instantly. The remaining two suffered no fatal wounds, made it inside the spear line, and thrashed their heads, knocking the weapons away.
But two nearby soldiers displayed excellent teamwork and thrust their spears at the same time. The boar had nowhere to go and was pierced through. The soldiers killed the last one as well, calmly pulling back their spears and thrusting again.
Good!
I was pleased with the soldiers' performance. They had not been frightened by the enemy's charge, and even when the boars resisted, they dealt with them calmly.
This was their fourth real battle since their debut. Their experience was steadily improving their proficiency.
As I watched the soldiers slaughter all five boars, Ray, who had been riding nearby, seemed eager to move forward.
"Calm down, Ray. I know you want to fight, but I need you to protect me."
Cavalry would be of little use against a charging boar. Besides, I needed to keep some fighting strength close at hand—not merely as an escort, but in case something happened.
"That's right, Ray. The real thing starts now."
Al, who had raced through as the decoy, turned the horse around and came back.
"So there was one?"
"Yes. A big one."
I looked at the boars we had defeated. They were already as large as adult boars, if not larger, but their backs bore vertical stripes.
In other words, they were still young.
"Ray, take the reins for me."
I dismounted, handed the reins to Ray, and took a round object from the pouch attached to my belt.
It was a sphere wrapped in cloth. When I removed the cloth, I found a talisman bearing strange characters. Peeling it off revealed an unglazed earthenware sphere.
Carefully taking one in my right hand so I would not drop it, I clutched another in my left as a spare. Immediately afterward, the once-quiet forest erupted with a thunderous roar.
The soldiers flinched at the sound and looked toward the blasted forest. A black giant emerged through the dust as branches, earth, and stones flew through the air.
It was a boar as large as a wagon.
Its entire body was covered in wiry fur, and enormous pure-white tusks rose toward the heavens. On its pitch-black face, murderous red eyes glared at us, and it unleashed a roar like dozens of horns sounding at once.
It was the mother of the monsters we had just killed.
Having found us and seen the carcasses of its young lying at its feet, the monster became nothing but a mass of rage and murderous intent.
"It's Three-Legs!"
As Al shouted, I saw that the giant boar had no right foreleg and was supporting its huge body on the other three.
It was said that the beast had once been caught in a steel trap set by a hunter, but had torn off its own leg and escaped.
In the wild, losing a leg should normally mean certain death, but Three-Legs had survived through unbelievable vitality. Three days ago, it had demolished the house of the hunter who set the trap and devoured the hunter's entire family.
Three-Legs charged toward us at a speed utterly at odds with its immense size, enraged by the deaths of its young. If the young ones had been rocks tumbling down a cliff, this one was a massive boulder rolling down it. No arrangement of spears could stop it.
But I did not run. The soldiers were startled by Three-Legs' massive body, yet they did not flee.
I steadied my breathing and hurled the object in my right hand at the oncoming Three-Legs.
The prized explosive magic stone we had been issued traced a parabola through the air.
The stone struck Three-Legs in the head. Just as the earthenware casing shattered and exposed the black magic stone within, the impact detonated it, blasting apart Three-Legs' head.
The force of the explosion sent Three-Legs' charge veering to the side, and it crashed to the ground.
The impact reached us with enough force to lift our bodies off the ground.
The soldiers erupted in cheers when Three-Legs fell, but it was too soon to celebrate.
"Not yet. Finish it!"
The explosive magic stone had detonated to the left of its head. The fur had been blown away, exposing the skull, but the powerful bone had only cracked, leaving the brain intact. The explosion and impact had merely caused a concussion.
I ordered them to finish it while they had the chance, but a horse immediately raced past me. It was Ray.
"Ray, no!"
With a shout, Ray charged with the spear leveled. Perhaps the sound had brought it back to consciousness, because Three-Legs suddenly opened its eyes and rose, swinging its head to knock Ray's spear aside with its enormous tusk.
Startled, the horse reared up on its hind legs, and Ray was thrown from the saddle.
This is bad.
I shifted the spare explosive magic stone into my right hand, but at that distance, it would catch Ray in the blast as well.
Three-Legs loomed over Ray, who had fallen on his backside.
"Ray!"
Al sprang forward and thrust the spear at Three-Legs. The beast noticed Al and caught the spear with its tusk.
Al put all their strength into it, but a single swing of Three-Legs' neck sent the spear flying.
But Al's actions had not been in vain. Taking advantage of the opening, several soldiers broke from the formation and rushed toward Three-Legs.
Two soldiers led the charge. Moving like mirror images of each other, they circled around to Three-Legs' left and drove their spears into the base of its left foreleg.
Excellent!
Choosing to strike the base of the leg rather than its internal organs was excellent judgment. Even if they pierced an organ or vital point, Three-Legs' incredible vitality made it impossible to know how long it would rampage before dying. It had no right foreleg and was supporting its upper body on its left foreleg alone. Once the base of that leg was pierced, its stance collapsed.
A stocky soldier arrived a moment later. The soldier was short but powerfully built, and drove a spear into the beast's armpit with all their strength.
The spear pierced the area where its heart lay, and Three-Legs let out a roar of pain. More soldiers swarmed in after, driving several spears into its internal organs.
With a death cry that seemed loud enough to be heard beyond the mountains, Three-Legs met its end.