302 – Battalion Commander, Hannibal the One-Eyed

“R-run for it! It’s too strong, way too strong! Why’s there a monster like that in this forest?!”
“B-but, if we run without gathering information, Tolman-sama will kill us…”
“Is this the time to be saying that!? Can you still say that while looking at it!? Have you gone mad with fear?! That’s no ordinary dragon!”

The cavalry scatter one after the other… At this rate, fighting will become meaningless.

I turn my gaze to the depression in the ground that was used to be captain Hown.
Mixed with pieces of flesh and blood, a single arm falls to the ground.
A short distance away, a bloodstained metal staff that was blasted away by the impact rolls through the forest.

Finding it difficult to look at, I turn my gaze downwards.
Immediately, I spot cavalry moving against the flow, charging towards me.
It’s not a single cavalryman… There’s six, no, seven.
They pass a man riding a fleeing horse, who falls from his horse with blood gushing from a wound.

“Fufun, what an idiot.
Trying to flee without fulfilling Hannibal-sama’s order!”

One of them says with a backward glance at the collapsed man… Is he sane?

The oncoming cavalry slip past arrows shot by the Lithovars.
An arrow grazes a cheek, but the man just licks the bleeding wound and laughs fearlessly.

Trampling over corpses, they take the shortest route to me.
It’s not to my extent, but they’re fast.
I guess I should have checked the horse’s statuses too.

I fire three [Wind Slashes] towards them.
Two of them are hit, but the third dodges at the last second then continues to charge at me without slowing down.

“Gaah!”

Black light coils around one of them.
It’s my partner’s [Death].
He instantly falls limply from his horse.

【522 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 522 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 88 to 89.】

The remaining four come in reach of my arm.

“Do it now!”

One shouts, and the surviving men throw their swords at me then hold their hands up high.
I ignore the swords, not evading them.
The swords leave scratch marks in my skin, then fall to the ground.

“[Poison]!” “[Paralyse]!”

The cavalrymen shout in unison, and my front is wrapped in purple and yellow mist.
It quickly rises and obscures my vision.
A smokescreen!

I swing my arm downwards to where I expect them to be.
With a whoosh, the poison cloud parts.
Just as I realise I missed, the cavalrymen leap out of the cloud to either side, turning their back on me.

“Gehoh, gehoh! Shit, I breathed in a bit! It’s horrible!”
“Get away from it!”

I’m about to attack, but then feel something’s off… These guys, was their objective really to throw their weapons and run? Indeed, it might have been shallow but they did make a wound, so poison mist is entering and making my body a little numb, but this degree of status condition isn’t a hindrance at all.

After the four flee the poison cloud, a single jet black horse cuts through the mist towards me.
The horse has one eye gouged out, and is covered in old scars.
It’s only the horse, no rider.

I swing my claws up, gouging the horse’s chest.
A bright red line traces from the its chest to its head, then it tumbles forwards from the momentum of its charge while spurting blood.

【124 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 124 experience points have been acquired.】

Just the horse…? Where’s the rider…? Before I can find the answer, I suddenly sense a presence above my head.

“[Power]! [Power]! And [Power]!”

It’s a voice I remember.
It belongs to the battalion leader, Hannibal.

“This is my strongest blow!”

With spear in hand and a contorted body, I see the figure of the one-eyed Hannibal.
His huge spear stabs into my forehead.
A sharp pain runs through my head.

He had his subordinates create a smokescreen of poison mist, then thinned his presence with [Soft Steps] and separated from his horse with [Great Jump] to strike my head.
What a crazy guy.

“Guuh…”

“And again, another blow!”

Using the recoil of his spear thrust, he turns his body and slams his fist into the end of the spear.
The spear digs in deeper and blue blood spurts from my head.

“That’s our boss!” “He did it!”
“The boss really is our unit’s strongest!”
“Fuhahaha fools! Now Hannibal-sama of the [Starved Hunters’] seventh unit has…”

I swing my jaw down towards the falling Hannibal.

“Wha-! Th-this…”

He twists his body to receive my chin with his shoulder.
The sensation of his bones breaking is transmitted to me through my jaw.

“Gaah….
AAaaAaah!! AAaaaaaah!!”

Hannibal screams with his mouth open wide.
Just as he hits the ground, my partner slams her chin into his body to shove him into the ground.
With a splat, I hear the sound of him being crushed.

【234 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 234 experience points have been acquired.】

I scrape my head against a nearby boulder, dislodging the spear from my forehead.
It gouges flesh as it snaps out, the fragments dancing through the air.

Partner… Sorry, please heal me.

“Gaah”

She cries, and my vision is bathed in a light that seeps into my forehead.
The wound closes in an instant.

I turn my eyes to the four of Hannibal’s direct subordinates who withdrew after scattering the [Poison Mist].
As they watch me, their laughing faces are replaced by pallid expressions.

“B, b, bosss!”

One of them stops their horse and starts to head back to me.

“C-come back! Boss is already dead!”

Their horses pick up speed as they run away.
I look around.

Already, the eighty cavalrymen have disappeared.
All that remains is a mountain of corpses.
It looks like most of them ran away.

【Title Skill [Calamity] has risen from level 8 to 9.】

…It keeps increasing.
I already made my resolve though.
It might be better if I don’t evolve next time since I have this.