Shock was one thing.
But faced with the dizzy Bullfango King, Gordon wasn't about to let such a perfect opportunity slip away.
Its enormous tusks had previously made it difficult for him to reach the vulnerable spot on its neck.
Now, with one tusk broken, the Bullfango King had lost not only a spear for attacking, but also a shield protecting its vital point!
Gordon no longer cared about holding anything back. This was the moment for the decisive blow!
"Hyaaaah!"
Shouting, he leaped high and used the momentum of his charge and jump to drive the Hunter's Knife in his hand toward the vital artery on the side of the Bullfango King's neck with all his strength.
The tip of the Hunter's Knife pierced the relatively thin hide and the shallow layer of muscle without trouble, but just as it pushed deeper, about to puncture the artery and enter the windpipe-
The crack in the blade finally gave way under the tremendous force. Before Gordon's nearly despairing eyes, it shattered completely, just as the Bullfango King's tusk had.
The intense pain and the attack on its vital point jolted the Bullfango King out of its daze. It struggled to rise, and two equally labored sets of breathing echoed through the woods.
The Bullfango King was on its last legs, but what could a hunter do without a weapon?
Punch it? Bite it?
That wasn't realistic.
Even gravely wounded and weakened to the extreme, the Bullfango King's hide and muscles were far beyond what human fists and feet could penetrate to inflict meaningful damage.
"I've come this far, only to retreat? Has the hunt failed?"
Gordon's thoughts tangled into a chaotic mess. He had never imagined it would end like this.
"Not a chance!" he roared.
Humans had neither fangs nor claws, yet they forged monsters' fangs and claws into weapons, making that power their own.
His instructor's voice seemed to echo in his ears, and the young hunter's gaze fixed on the enormous tusk lying nearby.
A monster's weapon, a human's strength!
A trace of madness flashed in Gordon's eyes. With a roar, he wrapped both arms around the tusk, over two meters long and weighing nearly a hundred kilograms, and hoisted it high.
What had once been the Bullfango King's pride became a greatsword in the young hunter's hands. Whistling through the air, it crashed down on the Bullfango King's enormous skull and knocked it to the ground.
Again and again.
Amid the dull thuds of hard tusk striking flesh, the Bullfango King's struggles grew weaker and weaker.
Gritting his teeth, Gordon wrung every last ounce of strength from his muscles and bones, continuing to swing the tusk. He knew full well that this was the last of his strength.
Once he lowered that heavy tusk, he would never be able to lift it again.
The frenzied assault continued for nearly a minute.
Only when the Bullfango King was utterly lifeless did Gordon collapse into a helpless sitting heap, as though his spine had been pulled out, gasping for breath.
He was a complete mess, but the smile on his face was brighter than ever.
Clutching the heavy tusk, he grinned and shouted:
"Bullfango King-hunt successful!"
With his hands behind his head, Gordon lay on his back in an Aptonoth-drawn freight wagon returning to Kokoto Village, his eyes closed as he recalled everything that had happened over the past two days.
The enormous tusk rested beside him as a trophy. By comparison, the four tusks from ordinary Great Bullfango looked utterly unimpressive.
The wagon's owner, a man in his forties, kept glancing back at the enormous tusk, his eyes full of admiration whenever he looked at Gordon.
He and Gordon had known each other for a long time. Gordon often caught rides with him between the Schrade Hills and Kokoto Village.
The owner knew Gordon was only sixteen or seventeen, and that he was a novice hunter who had begun training just two years ago.
An underage novice hunter had successfully hunted a Bullfango King with the most basic training equipment. That would have caused a minor stir even in Minegarde City!
How could giving someone like that a ride count as letting him freeload? The owner was clearly the one getting a free escort all the way home!
The journey of a little over a day passed in a blink.
When Gordon returned to the village with the Bullfango King's tusk, the quiet, remote mountain village erupted with excitement.
Everyone exclaimed in amazement, "After that hero, another future legendary hunter is going to come from our village!"
Compared with the villagers' uninformed amazement, however, the reaction of Ernest, whom Gordon called his instructor, could only be described as horrified.
"You really hunted a Bullfango King with a Hunter's Knife?" Disbelief covered the instructor's face, but with that tusk over two meters long as evidence, he had no choice but to believe it.
For someone who had successfully hunted Flying Wyverns, a Bullfango King was hardly an opponent worth mentioning.
Even with Gordon's weapons and equipment, he could have done it easily through experience and combat skill alone.
But for an apprentice who had yet to qualify as an official hunter, it was astonishing. Well, right-he had almost forgotten. The boy had just passed his assessment and already counted as an official one-star hunter.
The tusk, over two meters long, gave him a rough idea of the Bullfango King's size. Its body should have measured around three hundred and fifty to four hundred centimeters, putting it above average even among Bullfango Kings.
With a few more years of experience, might this youngster really be taking down Flying Wyverns before he turned twenty?
The Wyverian village chief's response to this major village event was rather peculiar.
The old man merely smiled with narrowed eyes and kept nodding, murmuring, "Great Bullfango, eh? Great Bullfango are good. Very good, very good..."
Gordon had reason to suspect that the old man had gone senile.
Under his instructor's questioning, Gordon gave a full and honest account of the hunt.
The instructor was genuinely pleased by the maturing approach to hunting of Gordon, who had once relied entirely on direct combat.
Put nicely, this approach meant "using every resource available." Put less nicely, it meant "stopping at nothing." Yet it was often only hunters like that who survived to the end.
Afterward, the instructor brought in a physician to give Gordon a thorough examination.
Gordon had no shortage of injuries, with his right arm the worst of all. There was some pooled blood in his chest, his shoulder blade was slightly displaced, and his contusions, scrapes, and bruises were too numerous to count.
Potions could indeed heal most injuries quickly, but their effects would not realign broken or displaced bones. An experienced physician still had to set those.
After setting Gordon's bones, dressing his wounds, and draining the pooled blood, the physician told him to rest in bed for ten days to half a month to avoid lasting complications.
Foods rich in calcium and collagen, such as bone broth and cartilage, would also greatly aid his recovery. Without another word, the instructor asked a neighboring woman to look after Gordon for a couple of days, then headed straight to the nearest hunting grounds.
Two days later, the instructor returned, bringing an entire handcart loaded with Aptonoth meat.
During Gordon's recovery, he strictly forbade him from doing any physical training. Gordon found that deeply unfamiliar, but on the other hand, having lost his parents at an early age, he also thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being cared for.
Another week passed.
Feeling fully recovered, Gordon refused to keep lying in bed all day. Unable to do anything about him, the instructor could only put that time to use.
By giving Gordon "remedial lessons."
Gordon had never much liked using the wide variety of hunting tools, trusting the hunting knife in his hand more. Naturally, he hadn't studied them seriously, so this time his instructor made him catch up on everything.
Never mind commonly used Sonic Bombs and Flash Bombs-he was even forced to study the exceedingly rare Thunder Rod.
Who knew what eccentric genius had invented this hunting tool, which could call down lightning during thunderstorms? It was expensive, unreliable, and liable to get both the monster and its user struck.
It'll probably disappear from the market soon, won't it?
Before you continue