Chapter 38: Fear

The area around the western gate was a scene straight out of hell. The cries of women and children echoed everywhere. The soldiers’ scattered movements couldn’t possibly be called coordinated.

“This is bad… I knew they were weak when forced to respond on the spot, but I never expected it to be this bad.”

Diller muttered as he watched the confused soldiers. Unfortunately, bad reports kept coming.

“The leader of White Baron has been killed!”

A despairing shout came from farther ahead.

White Baron?

Seeing me tilt my head, Diller explained.

“White Baron is the top adventuring party in this town. They’re rank C…”

So even a rank-C adventurer couldn’t put up a fight…

We pushed through the fleeing townspeople and finally reached the grand crocodile. One glance was enough to know it was the horde’s leader. Its presence was simply that overwhelming. It was even larger than we’d been told. One of the eyes on its left side had been sealed by a scar, presumably inflicted by someone long ago.

“That thing’s obviously stronger than an ordinary rank-B monster, boss. It’s much bigger than we were told. It must’ve lived a very long time.”

Diller’s many years of experience seemed to be telling him so.

Wait. Could it actually be the same individual that attacked this town fifty years ago?

『Is that the same grand crocodile that came to Delcour fifty years ago?』

『Yes.』

Seriously? You’re awfully persistent, aren’t you?

A large man stood with his legs planted firmly in front of the grand crocodile. Apparently, someone had arrived before us.

“You’ll pay for what you did to Hawkins!”

Clad from head to toe in magnificent armor, the giant of a man charged the grand crocodile with a greatsword. Only the lower half of a man’s body lay beneath the monster, and its mouth was stained crimson. That must have been the party’s leader.

The grand crocodile rolled its three bulging eyes, tracking the large man’s movements. Then, in the next instant, it opened a mouth far larger than I had imagined and bit off the man’s upper body in one motion.

My body trembled before the overwhelming violence unfolding in front of me.

Th-this is… rank B! A monster said to require an entire army to fight. Only now did I truly understand that I’d stepped onto a battlefield where I could die in an instant.

I heard harsh, gasping breaths. At first, I thought I was hyperventilating, but the sound came from a Delcour soldier. A young man with red hair slicked back glared at the grand crocodile, his face deathly pale. He was hyperventilating so badly that there was no chance he could fight properly.

“I-I don’t know anything about you. I never heard a thing!”

With a scream, the red-haired soldier charged the grand crocodile.

“Stop!”

My shout was in vain. The grand crocodile lunged at him.

“Eek!”

Overwhelmed by terror, he froze at once. He couldn’t escape, and the monster bit off his left arm.

“AAAAAAAAAH! HELP ME!”

Screaming with his face drained of all color, he turned and fled as fast as he could.

The story is reaching its climax.