Translator: CinderTL
Roland stared at the chaotic footprints on the ground, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
Returning to the Adventurer's Guild now to hand over the commission would mean forfeiting his reward, but at least he wouldn't have to pay a penalty for breach of contract.
However, for him, money was secondary.
As this thought crossed his mind, his gaze drifted involuntarily to his Job Panel.
[Requirements: Strength 9, Agility 6, Five combat-related skills at maximum level (4/5), Kill 60/100 hostile creatures]
"To advance to the warrior class, all I need besides the attribute requirements is one more maximum-level combat skill and forty more hostile creatures."
"Mastering Lion Swordsmanship isn't a problem. I can always return and grind it out with the Combat Readiness trait. While I'll miss the bonus from the Theory and Practice trait, it'll just take a little longer."
"As for attributes, I can improve them through training. But forty hostile creatures..."
He recalled the Adventurer's Guild's bulletin board, plastered with commission notices.
If he remembered correctly, there were barely any commissions related to demonic beasts.
He had already taken two of the three available, leaving only one remaining: the mission to investigate the demonic beast's unusual behavior.
At this rate, it seemed unlikely that another commission to hunt demonic beasts would appear anytime soon.
"Never mind."
After weighing his options for a moment, Roland finally made up his mind.
"Since the kobolds haven't been gone long, I'll follow them for now. If I catch up, I'll finish things quickly. If things go south, my agility, enhanced to 7 points through adaptive training, should be enough to escape."
With his decision made, Roland swiftly moved through the dense forest, following the kobolds' tracks. His sharp eyes constantly scanned the surroundings for any signs of movement.
Moments later, his steps abruptly halted at a fork in the path.
On the muddy ground before him, alongside the familiar kobold tracks, lay several different sets of footprints.
Roland knelt, carefully examining the overlapping marks.
Besides the familiar kobold claw prints and human boot prints, there were also the distinctive three-toed tracks of goblins and a strange footprint he had never seen before.
"This is more complicated than I thought."
Roland's fingertips traced the various marks, his brow furrowing deeper.
"Not just demonic beasts like goblins and kobolds, but humans too."
He stood up and scanned the surroundings.
The footprints in the muddy ground were chaotic, converging from all directions before scattering again.
Gazing at the intricate web of tracks, a theory began to take shape in Roland's mind.
"Could it be that besides kobolds and goblins, other demonic beasts are also migrating en masse?"
His gaze followed the direction of the unfamiliar footprints, his fingers unconsciously stroking the hilt of his sword.
"And the mercenaries and Adventurers who accepted the extermination request... have they followed these tracks all the way here?"
With this doubt lingering in his mind, Roland continued to cautiously follow the footprints.
As he ventured deeper, the footprints grew denser. The narrow forest path had been trampled into a wide dirt road.
Before long, the sunlight filtering through the canopy suddenly intensified, indicating that he was nearing the edge of the forest.
A deafening cacophony of sounds gradually drifted from afar.
Human roars, demonic beast howls, and the clang of clashing metal mingled together, signaling an intense battle raging ahead.
Roland gently pushed aside the last bush, and the scene of the battle burst into view.
Over a hundred mercenaries and Adventurers were locked in a desperate struggle against a horde of demonic beasts in a forest clearing, the air thick with the suffocating stench of blood.
"What's that?"
Roland's gaze froze at the center of the battlefield.
Dozens of humanoid demonic beasts were mixed among the kobolds and goblins. These monsters were covered in rough fur, their grotesque heads bearing distinct hyena features.
Roland frowned involuntarily. This was the first time he had ever seen demonic beasts other than kobolds and goblins.
"Hyena-Men?"
The battle raged on, oblivious to Roland's surprise.
Sharp metal blades flashed blindingly in the sunlight, intertwining with crimson blood that splattered everywhere, staining the ground a sinister purple-black.
Yet even in the face of this demonic onslaught, the mercenaries and Adventurers, who should have been united against a common enemy, were now locked in a frenzy of infighting.
A mercenary in leather armor had just felled a Hyena-Man when he greedily lunged for its head. As he pulled out his dagger to claim his trophy, a sharp short sword suddenly thrust from the side.
It was an Adventurer with a sinister gaze, his eyes fixed on the prize in the mercenary's hand.
"That's mine!"
"Bullshit! That Hyena-Man was clearly hit in a vital spot by my arrow!"
Similar ugly disputes erupted across the battlefield.
Several well-equipped Adventurer teams, completely ignoring the menacing goblins surrounding them, drew swords and clashed over the ownership of a few bags of demonic beast ears.
Roland observed coldly, noting that at least a third of the mercenaries and Adventurers were actually facing off against each other rather than fighting the demonic beasts in front of them.
The demonic beasts, sensing this golden opportunity, seized the advantage.
Cunning goblins hid behind trees, hurling stones, while ferocious Hyena-Men formed strike teams. Even the relatively dim-witted kobolds began organizing coordinated attacks against isolated adventurers.
Despite the disparity in equipment and combat skills, the humans' self-inflicted chaos miraculously allowed this mixed demonic beast army to maintain the previously one-sided battle.
The most ironic sight was in the fiercest central zone of the battlefield, where several bulging loot bags lay scattered carelessly.
They were filled with ears, claws, and teeth.
But their owners were either already corpses or were still locked in a frenzy of killing for more loot.
"A bunch of profit-hungry fools!"
Roland's cold smile flashed across his lips. He reached behind him with his right hand, feeling for the two quivers on his back.
Before this expedition, he had prepared a full fifty arrows just in case.
They were perfect for this situation.
He narrowed his eyes, quickly scanning the battlefield and mentally calculating.
Even after the recent chaos, there were still no fewer than a hundred demonic beasts present.
Clearing them out alone would take considerable effort.
But now, he was spared much trouble.
The reward and bounty were mere icing on the cake. His true goal was the hundred kills required for his class advancement.
And these demonic beasts, currently locked in combat with the mercenaries, were practically handing him his mission objectives on a silver platter.
Roland quietly retreated a few steps, melting into the shadows of the trees.
Then, with practiced ease, he drew his bow, nocking an arrow and aiming at a kobold locked in combat with a mercenary.
Whoosh!
The arrow pierced the kobold's throat with deadly accuracy.
The mercenary, momentarily stunned, quickly recovered and gleefully pulled out his dagger, swiftly severing the creature's ear.
Roland paid no attention to the sudden assist or its source.
[Requirements: Strength 9, Agility 6, Five max-level combat-related skills 4/5, Kill 61/100 hostile creatures]
Glancing at the increasing numbers on his Job Panel, Roland unconsciously licked his dry lips.
He drew another arrow, nocking it on his bowstring.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, reflecting cold light off the arrowhead.
The sharp hiss of arrows piercing the air echoed continuously, each one claiming the life of a demonic beast with deadly accuracy.
Yet the battle remained fiercely contested.
The mercenaries, their faces flushed with greed for loot, continued to shove, curse, and even draw their blades against each other.
As his quiver neared empty, Roland exhaled deeply, his fingertips brushing against the remaining dozen arrows.
"Seven left..."
"I didn't expect the requirement to kill demonic beasts for my warrior promotion to go so smoothly."
In that moment of relaxation, his peripheral vision caught movement on the eastern side of the battlefield.
A figure cloaked in a black robe was approaching the fray with an eerie gait.
He moved with the casual grace of a stroll, yet his speed was astonishing.
Sunlight glinted off the unsheathed rapier, casting a blinding cold light like a viper's fangs.
In the next moment, the black-robed figure materialized on the battlefield like a phantom. Wherever the rapier's silver arc sliced, blood bloomed like crimson lotuses.
Even more chilling was the indiscriminate nature of the blade's attacks. Human armor and the rough hides of demonic beasts alike were torn apart like paper before its razor-sharp edge.
The battlefield's cries of agony suddenly intensified. The chaotic melee transformed into an eerie order under the newcomer's slaughter.
Every living creature scattered in panic, only to fall one by one into pools of blood.
"Damn it! It's the Executioner!"
"What's that madman doing here?!"
Amidst the rising chorus of screams, a few defiant mercenaries and adventurers raised their swords in futile resistance, only to become cold corpses in an instant.
The weaker demonic beasts fared even worse, collapsing like wheat stalks under the black-robed figure's precise swordplay.
"It's him..."
Roland released the arrow, his eyes narrowing.
He finally remembered the black-robed man's identity.
It was the mysterious figure who had brushed past him at the Adventurer's Guild earlier.
"The Executioner."
Watching the man's fluid swordsmanship, Roland's brow furrowed deeper.
Even though he had undergone rigorous training with the manor guards and gained considerable combat experience, and his Lion Swordsmanship was nearing its maximum level, Roland knew that in terms of pure swordsmanship, he was likely still no match for this killing machine.
But these thoughts were quickly pushed aside.
The Executioner's madness, the chaotic melee between mercenaries and adventurers, and even the demonic beasts—none of it mattered to him.
His sole focus was completing the hundred-kill target.
"Thirty-seventh!"
With another arrow whistling through the air, a goblin fell in the distance.
"Just three more to go..."
Roland excitedly nocked another arrow.
But as his fingertips brushed the bowstring, a deafening buzzing sound suddenly erupted from afar.
He turned sharply toward the sound, and in the distance, the silent forest suddenly erupted in a cloud of dust. A trail of smoke, like a bolt of lightning, streaked toward the battlefield.
"What's going on?"
Roland, sensing impending disaster, immediately drew his bowstring taut.
But before the arrow could leave the bow, a dark shadow burst from the forest and hovered over the battlefield.
"That's..."
Roland looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.
Sunlight pierced the dust cloud, gradually revealing the shadow's true form.
Its body, covered in blood-red scales, closely resembled the Bloodscale Kobold he had encountered in the village. However, its canine head had become elongated and pointed, more like a lizard poised to strike, its tongue flicking out.
Most terrifying of all was the monstrous creature's left side, where a deformed, fleshy wing sprouted from its back.
The wing looked as fragile as a newly emerged larva, utterly disproportionate to its massive body.
Yet this mismatched little wing somehow kept it hovering low in the air, casting a suffocating shadow over the battlefield.
(End of the Chapter)