Chapter 62 : Chapter 62
Chapter 62. The Roar of Evil Echoing in the Forest (1)
Knights of Tolome and Cadmus toured the forest with hunters assigned by Count Renald.
What they found while touring the forest with them was that, first of all, the map provided by the Adams Family itself was quite accurate, and the territories of the monsters inhabiting the forest were divided more clearly than expected.
“Orcs, Goblins, and beast-type monsters have established their own territories……”
Blanc frowned as if he had a headache while looking at the map he had marked himself.
“First, it would be good to focus on attacking one territory at a time.”
“It does seem best to set a clear target and strike them one by one, but……”
The twin knights’ opinion would be the standard method, but this had the disadvantage of taking too long.
Plus, the forest was currently in a state of oversaturation with monsters due to the Adams Family’s neglect.
If they rashly sent in troops, they might not be able to handle the overflowing monsters.
The forest was their territory, teeming with enemies, and no commander wanted to force troops into terrain where they were disadvantaged.
The best way would be to draw the monsters out of the forest, but there was no particular way to do so.
“Since snow is piled up, we can’t even set fire to the forest……”
Noel also shook his head as if there was no particular method.
Even though the twin knights were in their mid-twenties, they were knights who had accumulated much experience following their father, Stefan Tolome.
Even they could only suggest the standard strategy of approaching carefully and dealing with them one by one.
“Brothers.”
Blanc spoke quietly while looking at them.
“There is something I want to test; may I try it?”
At Blanc’s words, the twin knights looked at Blanc simultaneously.
Then, as if promised, they nodded at the same time.
***
“Rakshar. You’ve figured out the path, right?”
At Blanc’s question, Rakshar answered in a voice lacking confidence.
“N-not perfectly, but st-still roughly……”
Blanc didn’t mind Rakshar’s unclear answer much.
In the first place, one couldn’t perfectly memorize the forest’s terrain and the habitats of countless monsters in a short time.
Also, no matter how accurate the map was, predicting the natural movement of living monsters was impossible, and moreover, this forest wasn’t Rakshar’s forest.
However, Blanc trusted Rakshar’s ability to find the path accurately even in the dark night when they went to find the Moonlit Grass.
He trusted the Half-Werewolf blood sleeping in his instincts and the hunter’s senses polished while living alone almost his entire life.
“From now on, you are my eyes and ears. Take the lead.”
“Y-yes! Young Mast…… Baron!”
Rakshar, hearing that Blanc trusted him.
He unknowingly drew out the Werewolf instincts deep within him that he hadn’t been able to access until now.
While Rakshar awakened his instincts, Blanc closed his eyes and entered his mental world.
And there, he found a dark passage and pulled it up into reality.
The energy of Evil pulled up through the dark passage heated the mark of Tiday on his left shoulder.
At the same time, pitch-black Ghost Fire began to burn in Blanc’s left eye.
Blanc manipulated the Evil left by Tiday and recalled the black magic lecture he heard from Tarania.
‘Evil is drawn to Evil. Furthermore, it has a characteristic of naturally submitting to Evil of a higher rank than itself.’
Tarania said that due to this characteristic, the Evil hiding in Ciella’s soul was dragged out by Blanc.
‘The Evil left by the warlock Tiday is of a very high rank, as far as I can determine.’
Tarania had left words to always be careful when handling Evil.
Blanc remembered her words and obtained a clue for the plan he was about to execute.
“Phew……”
Blanc took a deep breath and began to move the energy of Evil staying in his left eye to another part.
Perhaps due to the results of his practice so far, the energy of Evil faithfully followed Blanc’s will.
And finally, the energy of Evil moved by Blanc’s will.
Blanc confirmed the energy had settled properly and took a deep breath.
Then, after inhaling as much as he could.
He shouted loudly.
“Get—out—!”
The vocal cords, filled with the energy of Evil, carried a dark and terrible momentum, spreading Blanc’s voice deep into the forest.
‘……!’
It was a roar that surprised even Blanc, who had shouted it.
It was a roar like the scream of a soul filled with despair and terror.
And just as Blanc was surprised, the roar seemed to have a significant effect on the monsters sleeping in the forest as well.
“……It seems to have worked properly.”
Blanc was not a hunter and didn’t know this forest well, but he could definitely feel it.
That the things in the forest were roughly rising due to his roar.
“Guide me, Rakshar.”
“Yes, Baron.”
Blanc gained certainty from the roar just now.
Certainty that this plan would succeed.
A grayish-white ominous wolf and a black devil moved into the forest of the Adams Family.
***
Blanc moved along the set route, shouting roars of Evil filled with powerful warnings.
Following Rakshar’s guidance, he was unsparingly projecting his presence toward the monsters settled in the forest.
Blanc’s goal was to chase the monsters out of the forest and send them to the grasslands where the troops were stationed.
He couldn't be sure if it was possible, but looking at the current situation alone, it was already producing effects that easily exceeded expectations.
Even considering him just as a knight, Blanc was one who had transcended the realm.
Since a knight of such a realm was shouting ferocious roars filled with the energy of Evil, the monsters in the forest were fleeing in confusion, thinking a higher-ranking monster different from their level had appeared.
If comparing the current Blanc to a monster, his level was such that even the Twin-headed Ogre rumored to be roaming the Adams territory wouldn’t dare mimic his presence.
Sensing a powerful and evil energy they had never felt before, the monsters trembled in fear.
The evil voice emitting immense presence was telling them.
From now on, this place is my land.
“Get—out—!”
Hearing that voice, the monsters dared not resist Blanc’s presence and had no choice but to leave their nests, stricken with terror.
Blanc was watching that sight while hiding his body on a hill.
As Tarania had said, lower-ranking Evils could not resist Blanc’s Evil.
Even Rakshar, who was only half-mixed with Werewolf blood, had been covering his ears every time Blanc shouted.
“Let’s go, Rakshar.”
Rakshar shook his head as if appalled and moved.
It was fortunate that he was already deeply loyal to Blanc in his heart; otherwise, Rakshar would also have been stricken with fear and unable to make proper judgments due to the formidable presence.
“We have many places to move to today.”
“Y-yes. Young Mast…… Baron.”
One roar wouldn't be able to chase all monsters into the grasslands.
Blanc and Rakshar had divided the areas and decided on points to shout to effectively drive the monsters to the grasslands.
And the area shouted at today was where the Goblins inhabited.
What was visible before the eyes of Blanc and Rakshar, who had toured those places and just exited the forest, was the great escape of Goblins leaving the forest in terror.
“Whoa……”
It felt as if a massive swarm of cockroaches was rushing out.
The Goblins escaping through the narrow forest path as Blanc intended.
And in front of the narrow forest path, Tolome’s soldiers had already formed a solid defensive formation with shields raised.
Soldiers who had firmly constructed the defensive formation with wooden fences and traps raised their spears toward the rushing Goblins.
However, even though armed forces were in front of them, the Goblins were rushing toward them frantically.
The Goblins, having already lost their reason to terror, were throwing their bodies toward the soldiers with eyes full of fear, as if something they couldn’t handle was chasing them from behind.
THWACK— THUD—.
Goblins who had lost their reason rushed recklessly toward the shields.
Heavy weight pushed in without filtration through the shields.
It was to the point where soldiers in the second row had to support the soldiers in the first row from behind.
“There are too many!”
Aubert was momentarily flustered by the number of Goblins exceeding their expectations but calmly commanded the soldiers and killed the Goblins’ momentum.
While Aubert used traps and wooden fences to block the Goblins’ terror-filled charge with Tolome’s knights and forces at the forefront, Noel used the handed-over Adams forces and mercenaries to drive the rampaging Goblins so they couldn’t escape the encirclement.
Aubert, who succeeded in killing the momentum of Goblins rushing out of the forest by blocking them with spears and shields, shouted to the soldiers with shining eyes.
‘Now!’
“Second row, advance!”
As soon as Aubert’s order fell, the soldiers in the first row turned their bodies sideways, and through that gap, the soldiers of the second row rushed out toward the Goblins with swords raised alongside the knights.
Movement without an inch of error or hesitation.
It was a scene that allowed one to guess the formidable training amount of Tolome soldiers.
Tolome’s soldiers were strong soldiers who could handle ten each, if not a hundred.
Even at the sight of Goblins filling their vision, they swung their swords without any agitation.
Every time they swung their swords, Goblins’ screams and corpses piled up without fail.
“Baron!”
Among the knights who had rushed out, Simon, who was flying Goblins’ heads, recognized Blanc.
His whole body was covered in Goblin blood, but Simon didn’t mind.
Rather, he was glaring at the Goblins with glistening eyes.
‘He must have drunk the potion Ciella gave.’
Certain that it would be a bloody battlefield, Blanc had given the potion to Simon in advance.
Simon, borrowing the power of the potion, was sweeping through the Goblins with momentum as if he had become a berserker.
“Cadmus Knights follow my command from now on!”
Blanc knew that his knights were by no means weak.
Therefore, he ordered them to push unhesitatingly into the center of the Goblin horde that had lost momentum and was wavering.
“Understood!”
“GrrrrrrRAAAAA!”
Hearing Blanc’s order, Simon and Rakshar, who completely indulged in the madness of blood, began to trample the Goblins unhesitatingly.
It was to the extent that the Tolome knights beside them were slightly suppressed by their momentum.
Blanc also joined the knights and cut down the Goblins.
Every time the White Thunderbolt flashed, dozens of Goblins fell.
The thoroughly prepared 170 troops steadily slaughtered the Goblins pouring out of the forest as if driving them into a basket.
Tolome’s soldiers reorganized the movements of the first and second rows like a precise mechanism, slaughtering Goblins.
And the appearance of knights sweeping through Goblins shining silver swords among them was a magnificent scene worthy of being recorded as a painting.
“This is…… absurd……”
Only Yogen, the Knight Commander of the Adams Family, was watching that spectacle with a pale face.
This was more fitting to be seen as a harvest rather than a battle.
The envoys of Tolome harvesting the fruit called Goblins pouring out of the forest.
It was a method that was neither possible nor attemptable with the Adams Family’s power.
However, the envoys of Tolome and the knights of Cadmus were scattering blood with cruel smiles as if enjoying it.
Yogen had no choice but to clearly feel the difference in power between Tolome and Adams through the scene before his eyes.
The snow-piled green grasslands of Bronberg were being dyed red with Goblin blood.
***
“There were too many today. What are you going to do about this?”
Aubert smirked while showing Blanc his armor, crumpled here and there by Goblin claws.
“I didn’t know it would be effective to this extent either.”
“Hmm. It seems the warlock named Tiday was indeed a great guy.”
The twin knights shook their heads as if recalling the ceiling where corpses hung blackly.
“It was fortunate that your mental strength was extraordinary as expected of a knight acknowledged by Sir Aselheit; if something went wrong, we might all have not seen the sun today.”
The twin knights already knew about Tiday’s destruction and the brand on Blanc’s shoulder.
Therefore, they could accept the operation Blanc proposed without much difficulty.
Knowing Tiday’s terrifying momentum, the twins thought ‘it wouldn’t be ineffective,’ but they didn’t expect Goblins to pop out pitch-black like this.
“Anyway, it is clear that we achieved excellent results with the operation Blanc proposed. How is your body condition, Blanc?”
“I am fine, Brother.”
At Blanc’s answer, Noel gave a satisfied smile, approached the map, erased the existing boundaries, and began to draw new lines.
“It would be better to go safely if possible. Fortunately, there were few troop losses today, but I don’t see the need to drag it to the limit.”
As expected of Noel who pursues stability, he was reconstructing the areas to drive out monsters.
The tactical map Noel recreated had lines divided more minutely than before.
“It will take a bit more time, but let’s go steadily.”
At Noel’s proposal, Aubert and Blanc nodded.
“We should pay a bit more attention to wooden fences or traps too.”
“Let’s make Adams and the mercenaries do those chores. It looks better to preserve our soldiers’ stamina.”
“Let’s requisition more equipment too. Since they seem to haven’t recruited proper mercenaries, I think a demand of this level is sufficient.”
Since the success of this operation was unexpectedly excellent, Blanc and the twin knights listed things to supplement while encouraged.
Blanc, who shared opinions through the night like that, could only come out of the twin knights’ tent at dawn.
“Are you not tired?”
Simon, who had been waiting until the end, attended to Blanc.
“It will take two days to repair wooden fences or traps anyway. There is enough time to rest.”
Blanc answered like that and touched the Phoenix feather in his inner pocket.
The feather was still warm, and that warmth was heating Blanc’s body pleasantly.
‘To think it had such efficacy…….’
Blanc thought of the time he chased out monsters with his roar.
The reason it produced effects exceeding expectations wasn’t just because of Tiday’s energy of Evil.
It was also thanks to the Phoenix feather that emitted white light from his inner pocket as if reacting when Blanc let out the roar containing Evil.
The Phoenix feather heated up white and emitted energy as if to oppose the evil energy Blanc emitted.
The Goblins moved to avoid not only the roar of Evil Blanc emitted but also the divine energy emitted by the Phoenix feather.
For Goblins, it must have felt truly like a natural disaster.
‘This will be useful.’
Blanc fell into thought looking down at the Phoenix feather that played a part in driving out the monsters.