The monsters lunged toward Takeshi with extreme speed, eyeing the free meal before them—or rather, that was what they thought.
Takeshi raised his clenched fists toward the monsters, hearing the fading sound of the cart's wheels and the horse's hooves moving away from him. Only the sound of the monsters' footsteps approaching remained. Takeshi leaned forward slightly, advancing his left knee and raising his fists to the level of his neck.
'I couldn't have handled you when you were in that large number, but only six of you won't be that difficult.'
Their small number was what raised his self-confidence; it was utterly impossible for him to withstand the previous swarm with only his bare arms. But things were different now.
The monsters took their final steps toward Takeshi. The first one in the lead raised its sharp, decaying claws and bared its yellow teeth, ready to hunt the human before it. In an instant, Takeshi focused all his body weight on his forward left foot, quickly tilting his torso to the left to avoid the reckless monster's claws.
The monster lunged through the air in vain, entering Takeshi's attack range. He exploited this and delivered a crushing punch to the monster's jaw, sending it flying back and falling down the rugged slope.
His strike was not lethal, as he used the "Critova" fighting style, which relies on balancing on a single point of the body and attacking with light, swift strikes to avoid losing balance. Now, only five remained.
However, things were about to get more difficult. The five monsters attacked all at once, attempting to finish off their prey while he was in a critical position. Takeshi, standing on one foot and tilted, was delayed in making a quick response to the situation. He moved his injured arm in front of the swarm, focused his weight once more on both feet, and jumped toward the slope.
Indeed, one of the monsters managed to wound his already injured arm, making its condition much worse. Takeshi had been enduring the pain from the wound on his wrist, but now the situation had become unbearable; he couldn't even use his injured arm again.
Takeshi regained his balance at the edge of the slope, letting his injured arm hang loose while raising his healthy one before the monsters lurking nearby. Without any wait, the monsters suddenly moved, rushing rapidly toward Takeshi.
'Fools...'
Just as they got close enough, Takeshi jumped away from them. The airborne monsters continued their trajectory, their claws landing on nothingness. They lunged directly toward the slope.
As gravity began to take effect and the monsters fell a short distance of less than two meters, three of them clung to the cliff with their sharp claws, scraping against the rocky slope for another meter until they managed to stabilize themselves. As for the other two monsters, their momentum was much stronger than the rest, carrying them much further from the cliff and causing them to fall directly to their deaths.
The slope was like the cliff above until the incline became more pronounced at the bottom, which is why it was called a rocky slope rather than a sheer cliff.
The sound of rapid footsteps echoed above their filthy ears. Just as they tried to climb back up, they saw a swift shadow launching toward them. It was Takeshi, who had jumped from the top of the slope, holding the dagger Orphen had given him—the one stained with the blood of the Rivarg monster he had used in his previous plan.
And now, another suicidal plan came to his mind.
Takeshi landed on the monsters, who hadn't even realized what had happened yet, causing their grip on the slope to fail, so they fell as well. Takeshi quickly adjusted his position so as not to be subjected to a sudden attack from the monsters falling with him. They would not let go of him, no matter what happened.
However, Takeshi noticed that the excessive redness of their eyes had begun to fade. This was due to the moonlight hitting this area without the interference of the tall pine tree shadows. Nevertheless, their appetite for delicious human flesh would not diminish.
Takeshi kicked the nearest monster with his left foot to push it out of his range, but the lurking monster's reaction was swift; it bit Takeshi's leg—specifically the calf muscle, which became stained with flying blood. Takeshi quickly kicked it with his other foot.
"Damn you!!"
Immediately after his curse, he moved his healthy hand carrying the blue-blood-stained dagger and quickly struck the rocky slope before the incline became too steep. Thanks to this action, and after a rough friction that nearly broke the solid dagger's blade, Takeshi was able to gradually slow his speed, distancing himself enough from the monsters.
He remained in this state for several seconds, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes from the intensity of the pain. Aside from the pain coming from his injured arm, this friction generated another pain that nearly cost him his hand, but he had to endure until he reached the end of the slope.
Suddenly, the sound of something hitting the ground erupted. This relieved his heart for two reasons: The first reason was the proximity of the sound, meaning he would reach the ground soon, and at his current speed, he wouldn't be in mortal danger. The second reason was that he had managed to get rid of the Rivarg monsters; they would not be able to survive a free fall from such a height.
Takeshi opened his eyes slowly and moved his head downward, staring at the ground as it gradually approached. It was littered with the corpses of the Rivarg monsters that his actions had caused to fall, gasping their last breaths before bidding this mortal life farewell.
When only about five meters separated him from the ground, he let go of the dagger, which had worn out from the intense friction. Takeshi landed on his feet and then immediately collapsed onto his back, catching his ragged breaths. Finally, he was relieved from the danger that had been pursuing them for about two hours. Two hours of pursuit had ended now.
However, he had to endure the burden of finding Sota's cart in this vast space. But since it was clear of trees that would obscure vision, the task was made easier—though not for someone exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.
And that was a problem in its own right.
'Damn it...'
Takeshi realized that all the food and water were inside that bag he had thrown at one of the monsters to protect Sota. In this way, they might end up dead from hunger instead of being killed by those monsters that were chasing them to satisfy their own hunger. How ironic.
As soon as Takeshi stood on his exhausted feet, struggling against the pain that nearly made him scream like a madman, he took a quick look at the Rivarg monsters as if he had an idea to silence his hunger, but he quickly wiped that reckless thought away. He raised his head high to see the area he was in clearly.
It was completely devoid of trees and full of green grass that doesn't usually grow in the forest. A faint southern wind was blowing gently, moving the grass in all directions. The moonlight made this empty space look like a green lake rippling with the movement of the grass.
After a quick contemplation of this breathtaking view, he managed to spot a cart roaming the place; it was Sota's cart. Takeshi moved toward it with light steps. The cart was in a deplorable state; the wheels were worn out and could barely get them to the city of Galleon before becoming wooden scrap. As for the cart itself, it was nearly destroyed because of Takeshi, who had destroyed the upper roof.
As for the horse, it could barely endure walking this distance before its energy failed and it collapsed on the ground from fatigue. Even Sota, sitting in the driver's cabin, was not in a normal state; he too was physically and mentally exhausted, and exhaustion coupled with hunger was overwhelming him.
Sota caught a glimpse of someone approaching the cart. Once he turned and gathered his strength to recognize the person, he realized it was Takeshi. Suddenly, happiness overcame him, but his strength failed him once more, and he leaned back, saying:
"Thank God you're alive!"
Before Takeshi could respond, he in turn turned and fell onto his back. He wiped the flying sweat from his forehead and said:
"I think we should take some rest..."
And that is what both of them did along with the horse. After two hours of fleeing from the savage Rivarg monsters inside the darkness of the Great Fargrim Forest and after all those losses, they had to rest at least a little.
All three fell into a deep sleep, ignoring the hunger that nearly tore their stomachs. They had to get even a small amount of rest before continuing their way toward the city of criminals.
The city of Galleon.