75 – Assault (3)

When all the participants in the tournament went into the forest to hunt, Noel and Orcus, who entered the forest with the others, took a base based on what they had learned from Damian earlier.

Perhaps thanks to their experience at the time, Orcus and Noel succeeded in finding a place they could be satisfied with and settling down. After securing a foothold like that, Noel opened his mouth without hiding his exhilaration.

“Um! First of all, let’s aim for victory!”

“Will it be?”

To Noel’s triumphant words, Orcus immediately replied with a puzzled face.

No matter how much I knew that my younger brother was talented, who is participating with me this time? Wasn’t it Damian who taught them how to hunt?

Of course, there is no such thing as a disciple who cannot necessarily beat his master just because he is being taught, but Orcus knew that there was a significant difference in skill between Noel and Damian. In his view, Noel was also a genius outside the standard, but Damian was a guy above him.

“Brother!! Don’t think too negatively! The place we’ve settled in might be where a lot of animals live.”

“Are you talking about a good place? Um…well. Well, for now, I did as I was taught.”

“I’m sure!”

Despite Orcus’ self-deprecating tone, Noel’s momentum seemed unwavering.

Well, Damian himself said that hunting doesn’t necessarily depend on skill and success, but on the luck of the hunter.

‘But if that’s the case, wouldn’t that guy do better than us?’

Since it was Damian who told them everything about hunting from start to finish, everything the two can do now must be seen as Damian knowing how to use it.

After all, Damian isn’t a Southerner here. They already had a history of participating in several competitions, and it was clear that they at least knew more about this forest than they did.

Listening to what was said yesterday among the members of the Black Dragon Knights, it was said that somehow Damian was eagerly awaiting this year’s tournament.

Even the appearance he showed during practice was overwhelming. I don’t know if the situation would be a little different if I used magic, but it was a violation of the rules, and I didn’t think that I could win even if I used magic.

‘Still, I’m looking forward to it like that… Let’s match the beat.’

I didn’t think I would be able to win, but I still thought I would be able to put my name on the top of the list. It was a good choice for both Noel and Orcus to keep their mouths shut rather than to refute logically and discourage them.

I didn’t even expect that Noel would listen because I was logical in the first place.

Still, his sister was expecting a lot, so Orcus decided to tell a story that could motivate him as an older brother.

“Looking at it earlier, it doesn’t look like Damian started off with us. If we got a better place than Damian first, we definitely have a chance.”

“That’s right! When we checked the traces as we arrived, there was no other place where the animal’s movements overlapped as much as here. Even Damian will need time to settle down, so we have an advantage!”

“But, in case you don’t know, the forest is wide. Well, since we’ve decided on a base, let’s simply prepare and hunt.

At some point, for both of them, beating Damian was equated with winning the hunting competition. But neither Noel nor Orcus thought that was particularly wrong.

In the eyes of Noel, who excelled in martial arts, there was no one other than Arthur, the head of Krause, who came here and saw someone better than Damian. Orcus didn’t have the same eyes as Noel, but he had the same thoughts. Even from an outsider’s point of view, the things Damian sometimes showed were different from what I saw in other articles.

“Huhhhhh.”

Noel paused his usual smiley face for a moment and began to look around seriously. Then, with a satisfied face, he smiled and spoke to Orcus.

“It’s not just a lot of tracks, but the footprints of carnivores and herbivores are mixed. This is probably the main route for mountain animals. So, you can easily hunt just by waiting in this place, and you can catch some of the catches. If you use it as bait, you might be able to summon wild beasts with it!!”

“Oh, so?”

Noel’s behavior was very similar to that of an experienced hunter, to the extent that anyone could see that she was not a princess, but a child who had spent her entire life hunting in the forest.

It was said that Noel absorbed what he had learned well, but Orcus felt uncomfortable every time he saw it.

‘What if I say that I want to become a real hunter?’

Since Noel is so immersive, it is not strange to say that he will become a hunter at some point. However, since she had already made up her mind to become a knight, there was no way she would change what she had once promised due to her personality, but a little anxiety about it remained.

No matter how free it was compared to the position of the imperial family, there were lines that had to be followed. If it were a knight, it would be impossible to let the princess do the hunters that the mountain keepers did. Orcus, who had gone so far in his thoughts, said firmly, grabbing his younger brother who was looking at him with an innocent face.

“Hunting is just a hobby, okay?”

“Yes Yes.”

At the sudden words of Orcus, Noel replied that he knew even though he had an expression that he did not know why. Noel was only serious about hunting, but he had no intention of becoming a hunter, so this was just Orcus’s intention.

Only then did Noel nod his head and say that he understood, and then Orcus’ face relaxed.

“Anyway…then, there are some baits prepared in advance, so let’s use them. Considering that the purpose of this tournament is to rescue people from the sea, we will probably have to hunt for wild animals.”

Although the contest emphasized the amount of game, there was that purpose, so catching one tiger would get a higher score in the contest than catching 100 rabbits.

Orcus divided the prepared bait into two and gave it to Noel. What he called bait was a lump of meat marinated in a certain drug, which was created by Orcus himself without the help of anyone else.

While he was being rolled by Damian, he had some fun in hunting, so he prepared something like this.

‘The tournament rules said not to use magic tools, because there was no law against using alchemy lures.’

The goal to be overcome was already set, and the plan to execute it was prepared to some extent. Noel’s words about winning the championship were not completely absurd.

As I was talking with Noel, I felt Orcus’ own tension gradually rise. As the possibility began to appear, it seemed that the heart of Orcus, who had only been thinking negatively, was starting to catch fire.

Still skeptical about winning, Orcus had never been less serious about participating in the event before that.

Orcus smiled and said, following Noel’s smiling face as he gazed at the dark forest.

“Then… shall we begin?”

“Yes!”

***

First of all, the spot Orcus and Noel chose was, as Noel said, a good spot.

Even without using bait, I was able to quickly find the game at a distance from the camp, and even while I was carrying the game I caught to the camp, I was able to see animals running through the forest.

The variety of species inadvertently resulted in seawater and carcasses of various animals being piled up in the camp.

As a result, Orcus and Noel decided not to hunt on horseback, but instead to hunt by hovering around the camp on their own feet. It was okay to ride on top of a horse and feel the wind while hunting, but the place where they settled down was the forest road, so it was more efficient to hunt while hiding.

So right now, Orcus is hiding in the grass, quietly holding his breath, not far from the camp.

In order to prevent the leaves from rubbing against her body and making even the slightest sound, she pulled the string of the bow while minimizing body movements. There is no trembling in Orcus’ hand, which is holding on to the taut string. The cold wall contained only the prey in front of his eyes.

Krrr-

Where Orcus’ eyes were directed, a tiger was sniffing and looking around. He must have been looking for the bait that Orcus had placed through his scent.

It was a great tiger with the length to the chest of a strong adult man even in terms of body height.

There must have been a sense of intimidation from its size and appearance, but it had no effect on Orcus as it was surrounded by people who didn’t look like humans. His strength was as great as his size, but in Orcus’ eyes, it was nothing more than a moving target.

Since there is no fear, can we make the mistake of missing the right time to protest?

Due to his innate strength, the arrow shot quickly and pierced the tiger’s neck. However, the sea water that lives in Rune Proud, which is called the Devil’s Land, did not collapse due to that one shot.

The tiger with an arrow stuck in its neck staggered, but quickly regained balance on its forepaws and turned its gaze to Orcus, who had put an arrow through its neck. The angry tiger’s face turned even more frightening when he found the culprit. The teeth that are exposed when the mouth is open are just intimidating.

However, Orcus did not waver and immediately took a new arrow from his back and tied it.

Even though he had already successfully hunted several times, Orcus’s quiver was not empty and contained more arrows than before. He collected the arrows he caught, but it was all because Noel, who stopped hunting with a bow, gave his arrows to Orcus.

Anyway, Orcus smiled as if it was all right when the tiger looked at him.

With a tiger in front of him who could attack him at any time, Orcus pulled the string forward again. Orcus didn’t move from his seat because he knew who he had learned from and where he would die if he hit him from the front.

Slowly stepping forward, the tiger was approaching Orcus. Orcus, on the other hand, seemed to have no intention of shooting immediately.

A very short standoff.

It was a moment so fleeting that there was no time to think, but the moment the tiger stopped, Orcus knew what to do.

The tiger rushed at Orcus without any warning, and when the tiger’s paw fell off the ground, Orcus’ arrow was fired. Orcus lowered his head as soon as he shot the arrow, and the tiger went over Orcus’ head and crashed into a tree behind him.

Leaves fall from the trees with a bang.

There was no sound after that. The tiger that hit the tree didn’t move.

Orcus raised his head again and inspected the tiger’s head. An arrow was right between his eyebrows. After confirming this, Orcus was overcome with a sense of ecstasy as if the blood in his whole body was boiling.

“Azuaaa!!!”

“Brother!!”

“Did you just see it?! Did you see it! Hey! This is what happens?!”

Noel, who was watching from the tree, came down and ran to Orcus. Orcus shouts at Noel, pointing at the fallen tiger with his finger. His current emotions were clearly revealed on his face, who was a genius at hiding his emotions, as if his excitement was out of control.

“Noel.”

“Yes! Brother!”

“Isn’t this enough to win…maybe I’ll aim for it?”

“of course!!”

Noel nodded vigorously at Orcus’ words.

I wondered if the words would come out of the mouth of a person who had said there was no hope until just now, but it was because the two of them had achieved results worthy of saying so even in their own thoughts. Of course, since the seats are good, gamers flock to them. Excluding Noel, who was originally talented, Orcus showed his ability beyond imagination in hunting.

Even with the catches so far, the space in the camp was filled, and everything was more than I thought.

In particular, Orcus couldn’t escape from the joy of catching a tiger of that size with a bow, not his specialty magic. If he had used magic, he would have been able to turn that tiger into a beehive with just a flick of his finger, but even if he caught the tiger, the feeling was different.

After hunting without magic, Orcus’s confidence in his own skills soared to the point where he could succeed if he succeeded. In fact, it’s okay to have that level of self-esteem because your skills are noticeable in a short period of time, but I’ve come to look at the situation emotionally, which an ordinary Orcus would never do.

The climax here was to catch the tiger with a bow.

Even if Orcus himself thought about what happened earlier, there was no shortage in saying that catching a tiger just now was an art. No wonder Noel came to praise Orcus.

If he had looked at the situation objectively as usual, he would have refrained from talking about winning the championship in terms of his skills, but Orcus, who had fallen into extreme narcissism due to his success in hunting so far, was completely impressed by Noel.

Even though they had disagreements, neither of them had ever changed the personality of the other, and for the first time, their personalities had changed to be the same.

In a good way, it is said that the two with opposite personalities have a common hobby to the extent that they become one.

“Ah. This isn’t the time. Noel. Let’s get the corpse back to the camp. I still have a lot of arrows left.”

The guy who had been worried about what would happen if his younger brother wanted to be a hunter until now has turned into a hunter. Of course, this was a temporary phenomenon, so there was no possibility that Orcus would become a hunter instead of an emperor.

“hehehehe…”

Noel burst into laughter as he looked at Orcus, who was holding a bow and had a flushed face. Anyway, it just feels good to have a common hobby for the first time with a brother who has been in conflict with everything.

However, the laughter of the two that filled the forest soon came to an end.

The two stopped laughing at the same time, as if they had made a promise.

When the two of them fell silent, the forest became strangely quiet. The footsteps of animals that I always heard and the chirping of birds were completely erased, and I felt a sense of difference. As if someone had deliberately erased sound from the world.

Noel’s hand, which was trying to lift the dead body of the tiger, stopped, and Orcus’ eyes, which were drunk with excitement, had a cold reason again.

Noel and Orcus didn’t say anything, just stood there and rolled their eyes at the forest. You shouldn’t be able to see anything because it’s covered in darkness, but what the hell can you see in the eyes of the two? Their eyes were chasing something hidden in the darkness of the forest.

Their gazes were so dizzyingly intertwined, at some point, the gazes of the two focused on one place.

At the same time, the darkness extending from the forest covered the two of them.