Ossan Boukensha – 104

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Centipede Extermination I

In the deep forest, I hid in the shadows, holding my breath.

Rustle. Rustle.

After hearing the dry rustling fade away, I sighed with relief. Then I scanned the area, ensuring that it was safe, before coming out from behind the tree.

Out of the first requests I got from the village, there was only one remaining. I had left it for last. The extermination of some tough-looking centipedes. But the difficulty was even higher than expected. And so I gave up for now, and started to return to the village. I would have to rethink my strategy.

They were giant centipede monsters that measured three meters in length. And their powerful fangs contained venom. The shell that enveloped them was hard but also pliant. Their movements were also quick, and their difficulty rank was D. And so while it would not be easy, it shouldn’t be impossible either.

“Nobody told me about this!”

After safely returning to the village, I went to complain to the hunter who had put out the request.

“Ah, the giant centipedes had laid eggs, and so I told you to kill them before they hatched.”

“You did say that, but that’s not the problem! You didn’t tell me that there would be that many!”

Just the memory of that many giant centipedes writhing around was enough to send a chill down my spine. As they were tangled together, I could not even count them. But it was clearly more than just two or three.

“If they nested and laid eggs, of course there would be more than one!”

“But I didn’t know it would be like that!”

“Well, how would I know if you knew or not? So, What are you going to do? If you want to quit, then I’ll have to put out a request at the Adventurers Guild. Otherwise the eggs will hatch.”

“I didn’t say anything about quitting! I’m just going to have to think of a new strategy. Yes, I’ll get them all, and so you should prepare a wagon to carry the materials.

I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t told me on purpose, or assumed that I would know as a C-Rank Adventurer. In any case, I understood the situation now, so I had to adapt to it.

And while I left the hunter’s house with a bold declaration, I could not actually think of a good plan. As there were so many, usually you would want to separate them so you could fight one on one.

Pesticide might be helpful, but I had no knowledge of such things. But there were a lot of bug type monsters in this area, so it probably would have been effective.

There were too many of them to set traps. And pitfalls wouldn’t work against them. I could lure them out with bait, or smoke them out of the nest. But if I got too close to the nest, they would come out. So I wouldn’t have time to be making fires.

And so I decided to try and use bait, and entered the forest to look for prey that I could use. I killed one goblin, but wasn’t sure if I could use it.

Also, walking through the forest while carrying a goblin corpse was very uncomfortable. Still, I managed to haul it close enough to the giant centipede nest, and then I watched from a distance.

I waited for some time, but they did not show themselves. And by the time that slimes started gathering towards the corpse, there was a rustling sound, and a black monster appeared. It was about the size of a large dog. A killer ant.

“Not you!”

I rushed forward as it pincered the goblin with its mandibles and tried to drag it away. The killer ant did not try to fight, and continued to try to leave with the bait.

“Give it back!”

I ran towards it while holding my sword. It was carrying a goblin that was nearly the same size as it, which slowed it down. But just as I had caught up with it, the killer ant stopped and raised its tail.

Sensing something bad, I jumped to the side as liquid sprayed over the spot I had just been standing in. A sharp smell rose into the air.

I had heard about this acid attack. That was a close one.

However, it was not able to do it while running, and so I was able to catch up to it. With no other choice, the killer ant let go of the goblin and turned towards me.

In order to quickly put it down, I raised my sword. But then I heard the sounds of rustling from a different direction. I spread out my awareness while keeping my eyes on the killer ant, and in the corner of my vision, I saw two giant centipedes crawling on the ground. It was disheartening to be around so many bugs.

And I could not take on three at once. I wanted to escape immediately, but I could not turn my back towards a killer ant.
But if I retreated slowly, the killer ant would see an opening and move in. In the meantime, the giant centipedes were getting closer. Were they cooperating?

In order to put the killer ant in the path of the giant centipedes, I changed my angle and retreated. And then, one of the centipedes attacked the killer ant, while the other bared its fangs towards me.

Thankfully, they were not working together. And so I swung my sword to meet it, one on one.

Clang.
It was like hitting a boulder. My sword bounced off and we both moved away from each other.

Behind it, I saw that the other centipede had wrapped itself around the killer ant. It was a pretty one-sided fight that would not last long.

While I wanted to end the fight as soon as possible, my opponent was crawling low on the ground, on top of being hard and heavy. If it managed to wrap around me, I would be following the killer ant soon enough. And so as the flat head opened its jaws and tried to bite me, I charged Mine Breaker with magic energy and slammed down.

My hand felt numb, but the giant centipede’s head was pushed into the dirt. And while there was a visible crack in its shell, it was not enough to cut it open completely.

Not only was the shell durable, but the insides were heavy. Mine Breaker became lighter when charged with magic, which meant its destructive ability was lessened a little. But if I attacked without charging it up, the sword would have shattered.

Its body writhed as I held the head down. And then its tail lashed out like a whip, and so I retreated a few steps.

I glanced at the other centipede, and saw that the killer ant had been torn apart and being bitten. Apparently, it was meal time. They were not intelligent enough to help each other.

That being said, it would surely join the fight once it was finished eating. And so I could not take too long.

Regardless, the centipede quickly moved forward, bridging the gap and attacking again. This was not the kind of enemy that would let you maintain your distance.

Indeed, the durable outer shell, poisonous fangs, and great strength made it a threat. However, it didn’t think when attacking, which gave me an advantage.

“Hmph!”
Clang.

I swung down with all of my might again, slamming the blade into its flat head. While it wasn’t in the same exact spot, the crack in the shell was deeper , and the shell caved in. I could probably destroy it with one more hit.

It must have gotten frustrated, getting hit when it tried to bite, and not being able to wrap around its prey. The giant centipede raised its body like a goose neck, as if ready to strike.

However, this meant that its soft underside was exposed. And there was no way I would not target it.

“Hyah!”

I unleashed a thrust towards it. It broke through the soft belly and reached the hard outer shell.

With the pierced part of its body as a point of support, the front part of the giant centipede fell down. However, its fangs were still targeting me.

I quickly tried to twist my body and get away, but Mine Breaker would not come out.

The sword held me back, and I couldn’t move. And so the points of the giant centipede’s sharp fangs pierced into the armor over my shoulder.

Bonus chapter courtesy of Photo. Thank you so much!!