The Bandit Chief Attacks

Apart from Pine, the old driver was the only person in the caravan who shared his worries.

Everyone believed this trade route was safe. The merchant association's executives even felt that making only three trips a year along it was a serious waste of resources, so this year they had scheduled an extra run before winter had even ended.

"Those fat, pampered bigwigs have no idea how dangerous monsters are after starving all winter. Even their hunting grounds spread much farther!"

The old driver, who had spent his entire life driving carts, cursed under his breath.

Unfortunately, neither he nor Pine, the caravan leader, could change the association's decision.

Half a day. Just another half a day and we'll be through the danger zone, Pine kept telling himself.

He sat down beside the old driver, his expression grim.

It seemed that only by constantly watching the Aptonoth pulling the cart quicken its pace slightly under the old driver's reins could he ease his anxiety a little.

"Mooom!"

"Moooh, roar!"

"What's going on? Stop!"

"What's gotten into these beasts?"

Without warning, the entire caravan descended into chaos. The source was the normally docile Aptonoth, which toiled without complaint and usually did little more than grunt when struck with a whip.

They had all gone berserk!

The Aptonoth twisted frantically, struggling to break free of their reins and cart shafts. No amount of whipping or shouting from the drivers could calm them.

One burly adult Aptonoth even reared up, lifting its forefeet off the ground and overturning the wagon behind it. Bundles of valuable pelts spilled across the ground, becoming coated in dust.

"What's going on?! Hayata! Where are you, Hayata? Get over here!" Pine shouted, his voice sharper than usual, betraying his unease.

"M-monsters. Monsters are coming..." The old driver's face had gone as pale as if he had heatstroke. His trembling mutter caught Pine's attention.

"Monsters? Where? How could there be monsters!"

Pine shouted in angry panic. Subconsciously, he had reached the same conclusion as the old driver, but emotionally, he refused to believe it.

The old driver jumped down from the wagon, his voice hoarse. "Aptonoth don't scare easily. Even if they did, the whole herd wouldn't go berserk at once. They must have sensed predators approaching!"

That explanation was convincing enough.

Pine slapped himself hard, venting his regret while using the pain to force himself to calm down.

He jumped onto a cart shaft and shouted his orders. "Do your best to calm the Aptonoth! Form a circle with all the wagons, everyone get inside, and draw your weapons!

"There are thirty of us! We have strength in numbers, so don't be afraid!"

Their leader's orders gave the panicking people a little confidence. They divided the work among themselves: some pulled on the reins, restraining and soothing the Aptonoth, while the others helped push the wagons. A crude defensive circle slowly took shape.

Pine hurried back and forth, inspecting their positions.

He had no experience fighting monsters and did not know how to deal with them. All he could do was use the same approach he would against human bandits, directing everyone to build makeshift fortifications from the wagons.

He had stuffed Hayata into a pile of pelts on one of the wagons inside the formation and, in a tone sterner than he had ever used before, ordered her not to come out, no matter what happened.

Every member of the caravan gathered together.

Clutching the shortswords they carried for self-defense, they looked at the wall of fully laden wagons, taller than a person, and gradually calmed down.

Maybe we really don't need to be so afraid?

Even if a monster does attack, we have thirty swords. If each of us lands a blow, surely we can kill it?

"Graaaw! Guh-guh-gooo!"

A strange cry, somewhat like birdsong but much deeper, rang out from behind a nearby hill.

Everyone looked nervously toward the sound. The first thing that came into view was an enormous, bright red crest.

It was a huge, hideous creature.

Its back stood more than two meters high, and it measured roughly six meters from head to tail. Its blood-red foreclaws, half a meter long, seemed to give off a pungent stench of blood. Its large, vivid crest resembled a crown, marking its status as a leader.

This was the ruler of the Blue Velociprey pack-the Blue Velociprey King.

Flanked by two adult Blue Velociprey, the Blue Velociprey King strode leisurely toward the caravan like a true king.

Several cries of fear and confusion rose from within the caravan's formation.

The Blue Velociprey King's snake-like slit pupils stared coldly at the people surrounded by wagons. The sharp teeth in its massive jaws scraped lightly together, like a butcher wiping down a knife as he surveyed a pen full of panicked pigs.

It was merely deciding which one to eat first.

Inside the circle of wagons, the people prayed in terror.

They hoped the wagons were sturdy enough to shield their lives and stop the Blue Velociprey's advance.

From the moment they saw the terrifying Blue Velociprey King, almost everyone lost the courage to fight. They also understood why monsters were called "monsters."

Against ordinary Blue Velociprey, they might have been able to fight back with their superior numbers and shortswords.

But against the Blue Velociprey King...

What difference was there between a toothpick and an iron shortsword only three or four centimeters wide and barely half a meter long, hilt included?

Its blue scales, faintly gleaming with a metallic sheen, and its tough, keratinized hide, several centimeters thick, already made it virtually invincible.

Soon, the Blue Velociprey King and its companions reached the wagon formation.

The wagons, though more than two meters tall, could not completely conceal the Blue Velociprey King's towering body. Its massive head rose above their tops as it looked down on the terrified humans inside.

Boundless fear gripped everyone's throats like an invisible hand, leaving them unable to breathe.

Yet just then, the Blue Velociprey King suddenly turned and walked away.

Their faces broke into ecstatic relief at having escaped death. Quite a few collapsed to the ground as though every bone in their bodies had been pulled out.

Only Pine remained deathly pale. He gripped his sword so tightly that his knuckles whitened, his eyes fixed on the direction the Blue Velociprey King had gone.

Before it turned away, he had clearly seen a flicker of almost human mockery in its scarlet slit pupils.

As though it were laughing at their stupidity and their failure to recognize their own weakness.

"Get up! Pick up your weapons, now! It hasn't-"

BOOM!

A thunderous crash cut off Pine's shout.

One of the wagons serving as a wall burst apart as though struck by a cannonball, sending shattered wood and goods flying everywhere.

These "walls" of wooden planks and cargo could not withstand even the Blue Velociprey King's seemingly casual Iron Mountain Lean.

With the Blue Velociprey King smashing a breach through it, the wagon wall was no longer a barrier protecting their lives. Instead, it had become a fence blocking their escape.

Blue shapes easily swept over the tops of the other wagons and landed among the terrified people.

They were the two Blue Velociprey following their leader!

Their arrival turned the people's already panicked expressions even more despairing.

These monsters were showing off.

Even without the Blue Velociprey King's wagon-shattering Iron Mountain Lean, they could have easily leaped over this ridiculous barrier.

Their supposed defensive circle had been meaningless from the start.