The best path.
Even if something is exhausting and tiresome, once it's repeated again and again, one inevitably grows accustomed to it.
"Night raid—!"
The sentries shouted at the top of their lungs. A familiar bell rang harshly in their ears. Soldiers who had been asleep cursed as they crawled out of their tents.
A night draped in deep shadows. As usual, the hyenas drove a herd of demonic beasts forward.
"Is it bulls again today?"
"Damn it… there goes our sleep."
Chatting among themselves, the soldiers formed a tight formation. The spearheads in their hands gleamed ominously.
They couldn't use the silver arrows.
There were a few left, but they had to conserve them for the coming day. If they faced a powerful demonic beast without arrows, they'd be in serious trouble.
"Javelins!!"
The knight's command fell. In response, the soldiers hurled the javelins gripped in their hands with all their strength.
Thud—!
Several spearheads embedded themselves into the bulls' bodies. Though they didn't sink in deeply, the blows were significant. The bulls' charging speed visibly slackened.
Immediately after, the knights advanced and cut into the bulls. In the darkness of night, blades imbued with mana traced brilliant arcs through the air.
It was a dangerous yet beautiful spectacle.
But there was no particular sense of awe. At some point, this had become routine—like a farmer cutting barley during harvest season.
Thud!
One massive bull collapsed. Seeing this, a knight let out a faint sigh.
'Shall I go hunt another one?'
He brushed past the fallen bull.
Crunch!
"…Huh? Wh–what?"
The knight's body tilted forward. He fell face-first onto the dirt. With bewildered eyes, he looked down at his own leg.
One ankle had been torn off.
"Why?"
The question came before the pain. The fallen knight opened and closed his mouth like a fish pulled from water, then shifted his gaze to the bull he had just slain.
…And met its eyes.
Beneath the bull's belly clung a hyena. It looked like a thief hiding under a bed. With mocking eyes, it stared this way, chewing and swallowing the knight's severed ankle.
The cunning gnolls had infiltrated beneath the bulls' bodies, clinging to them as they slipped into the enemy ranks. The night's shadows were so thick that the army realized their presence too late.
"Aaaagh!!"
"Argh, aaah—!"
Screams erupted from all directions. After biting through passing knights' ankles, the gnolls shoved aside the bulls' carcasses and rose.
There were roughly twenty gnolls. Far fewer than the expeditionary force. But each one rampaged like a general from legend, tearing apart the soldiers before them in an instant.
The hyenas burrowed deep into the formation. Their target was clear.
"Protect the priests!!"
Cornelius shouted urgently. A nearby knight charged at a gnoll. A mana-infused blade swung toward the creature's neck.
Crunch!
The gnoll bit down on the incoming blade and shattered it. The knight's eyes widened at the sight.
"This is impossi—urk!"
The gnoll's claws ripped through the knight's body. His armor tore open, and crimson blood burst forth. Then the hyena kicked off the ground and leapt. Twisting midair, it lashed its tail.
Whoosh!!
Jet-black spikes shot out from its tail—sharp as spearheads. The fleeing priests were struck and collapsed in droves.
Just as extraordinary individuals exist among humans, so too among gnolls. A high-ranking vanguard captain was a monster beyond the reach of ordinary knights.
Cornelius drew the sword he had long cherished.
"Beomont. Slaughter those beasts."
The giant knight Beomont stepped forward.
A man over three meters tall with a massive physique. With each stride he took, the distance between him and the enemy shrank drastically.
The gnoll vanguard captain narrowed his eyes.
A human so enormous he had to look up to see him. A worthy opponent who stirred his competitive spirit. But dueling such a strong foe was not the captain's mission.
Tap!
The gnoll swiftly withdrew, avoiding Beomont. His true targets were the priests. Evading those who posed a threat, he hunted down only the frail humans, picking them off like selective prey.
But he could not run forever. Beomont and the high-ranking knights had already chased him to within arm's reach.
Whooom—!
A vicious gust of wind roared. Beomont swung the two-handed hammer in his grip. The massive iron head, as large as a grown man's torso, aimed squarely at the gnoll captain.
The captain hurled himself aside.
Boom!!
The hammer smashed into the ground with an explosive crash. As if taking that as a signal, the high-ranking knights charged their respective foes. The gnoll vanguard and the knights became hopelessly entangled, and a chaotic battle erupted.
The high-ranking knights were exceptional. Their precise swordsmanship pressed the gnolls back. Hyena screams rang out repeatedly.
Soon, they would subdue them.
…But the vanguard had already completed its mission.
Boom! Boom! Booom!
War drums thundered. Then a desperate scream pierced the air.
"Rhinoceroses!!"
Seven gigantic rhinoceros demonic beasts. They charged forward, trampling everything in sight.
This was a situation that required silver arrows and the priests' holy arts to stop them—but the earlier vanguard assault had torn the formation apart, and they could not respond in time.
"Aaaahhh—!"
"Run, everyone!!"
Panic-stricken soldiers fled like a frightened flock of sheep. There was no way to control them. The knights and commanders who should have issued orders were half out of their minds themselves.
War rhinoceroses.
Astonishingly, these demonic beasts were livestock tamed by the gnolls. Gnolls riding on their backs laughed shrilly as they hurled bone javelins, hunting down fleeing humans one by one.
As the rhinoceroses drove forward, a gnoll strike force pierced through the breach they created. It was like a blade heated red slicing through butter.
"Counterattack!! Will you just stand there and take it?!"
Cornelius shouted at the top of his lungs. But even a commander's authority could not salvage this situation. The expeditionary force's formation completely collapsed.
"…Damn it all!"
Cornelius belatedly began to flee. His breath soon rose to his throat.
He heard multiple presences behind him.
"Kik!"
"Kikikik—!"
And the laughter of hyenas. The gnolls were chasing the old knight. Desperation filling his voice, Cornelius shouted at those nearby.
"Stop them!! Hurry—!"
Several young knights stepped forward to protect the aging commander. But the gnolls ignored them and pursued Cornelius alone, as if they had recognized him as the highest-ranking figure.
Cornelius gasped for breath. His knees creaked. Even so, he clenched his teeth and ran—yet before long, the old knight was seized by the gnolls.
"Commander!!"
A young knight screamed. He raised the crossbow in his hands. The hyena grinned and shoved Cornelius forward as if using him as a shield.
The supreme commander had been taken hostage. It was a situation where they could not fire carelessly. As the young knight hesitated, Cornelius roared at him.
"Have you lost your wits?!"
"H-How can I…?!"
"Do what you must! Now!!"
Cornelius shouted at the top of his lungs. His bloodshot eyes bore into his subordinate. The young knight's mind snapped into focus.
That first night raid long ago…
Soldiers had been taken hostage by monkey-type demonic beasts, and back then the young knight had panicked and halted the army. What should one do in such a moment?
Cornelius had personally given him the answer.
"…There are no hostage negotiations."
If one was captured by a demonic beast, they were as good as dead. At the very least, you had to end the hostage's life and spare them further suffering.
Click.
Without hesitation, the knight aimed his crossbow. Seeing this, Cornelius laughed and shouted.
"That's it! Now save m—urk!"
The bolt pierced Cornelius's forehead. The old knight went limp before he could finish his words. The young knight blinked in stunned confusion.
'Was… that not it?'
He had only done as Cornelius had taught him, yet the commander's final words troubled him.
The young knight looked at the gnoll as if seeking an answer. The hyena stared back, seemingly baffled by the situation… then suddenly bared its fangs.
"Aaaah!!"
The young knight hurled the crossbow to the ground and fled. Just as the gnoll was about to chase him, words he had heard recently crossed his mind.
'I hope we haven't been too harsh on them. Most were dragged here without even knowing why.'
The man at the gate had said that. Only now did he begin to understand its meaning.
"…How distasteful."
Rogar let the fleeing coward go. He would rather search for a worthy opponent.
The other gnolls also scanned the surroundings in search of prey. A hyena sniffed the air. Before long, its keen sense of smell picked up nearby humans.
There—targets in the distance. A group of humans trembling in fear. Just as the gnolls charged to hunt them—
"Are you planning to break the deal?"
Woojin stepped in front of the hyenas, blocking their path. The gnolls faltered briefly, then belatedly noticed the necklaces hanging from the nuns' necks.
Failing to confirm the status of the deal had been a grave mistake. The gnolls hurriedly lowered their heads.
"We apologize. A deal is sacred."
"This isn't something that can simply be overlooked."
Woojin jerked his chin in displeasure.
"Take me to your Great Warrior. I believe we need to discuss what happened here."
"That is not—"
"Are you offering nothing more than empty words?"
Had he not intervened, the choir's lives would have been in danger. In effect, the gnolls had broken the deal. They needed to take responsibility.
When Woojin pressed the matter, the dejected gnolls nodded reluctantly.
"…We will guide you to the Great Warrior."
"That's more like it."
The gnolls began walking ahead. Woojin turned his head and gestured to his companions.
"We just have to follow them now."
"What are you planning?"
Roland asked.
The expeditionary force had been utterly shattered. Thousands of soldiers were on the verge of dying like dogs. It was hard to even imagine how to resolve this.
Woojin answered without much hesitation.
"We negotiate."
The gnolls also had a field commander—commonly called the Great Warrior. They needed to find that commander and propose terms.
"They took the bait, which makes this easier."
Woojin had asked the nuns to act as bait, and the naive gnolls had eagerly bitten.
Breaking a deal was taboo.
It wasn't merely an individual's mistake—it was a matter of the entire tribe's honor. If they used this situation wisely, negotiations would proceed far more smoothly.
"If we handle this negotiation well, we might save at least some of the expeditionary force."
"So that's why you avoided fighting from the start."
"Yes. Exactly."
Since a ceasefire negotiation had been the goal from the beginning, Woojin had maintained friendly relations with the gnolls.
Had Woojin and Roland joined the expeditionary force in battle, they might have fended off several of the gnolls' ambushes. But then the gnolls would surely have returned with an even larger army.
No matter how capable Woojin was, he had only one body. If the conflict with the gnolls escalated further, even more casualties would follow.
'This is the best path.'
The road that saves the most lives.
The expedition had already failed. At the very least, a successful ceasefire negotiation might reduce the loss of life.
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