When seven huge monsters appeared within the scope of the firelight, the missionaries hiding in the back of the carriage couldn't help shouting loudly because of the legendary image.
"Minotaur!"
People on the east coast, who have the cultural heritage of the Gulaman Empire in the distant classical era, are extremely familiar with this legendary monster - but this is only in fairy tale picture books, and no one has actually seen them in the current era. Combined with Cerberus, who had appeared before, for some reason, monsters that Rigar had once thought existed in myths appeared frequently in this remote foreign land.
The monsters whose bodies are half the same as humans exude a strong aura of beasts. From the knee joints down, they are no different from cows and horses. They do not walk like humans but walk on hoofs. At first glance, the upper body looks like an enlarged human shape, but the head is a strange head with four horns growing arrogantly and a mouth full of fangs that are very similar to those of a cow.
"Oxhead?! How can there be a jailer here!" The witches and the others seemed to recognize the existence of this kind of monster. Apparently there was a similar legend in Crescent Continent. They looked very panicked, because they recognized their opponent and knew that the person coming was evil.
"Be careful, it is difficult to kill!" the great witch reminded anxiously.
But she didn't need to say anything, the group of people could see how terrifying these beasts were from just a glance.
The minotaurs that seem to be attacking in conjunction with the ghouls are bigger than the ghosts. If their huge bodies of more than 3 meters in height are not scary enough, they also seem to have a certain degree of intelligence - at least judging from the rags they wear. Judging from the crude weapon in his hand.
"Archers shoot, divert the targets of these guys!" The Minotaurs were huge but moved much faster than expected. They quickly approached from the gap in the defense line. At the same time, the warriors still failed to deal with the ghouls. Narumi, who judged that there was no time to organize himself into formation, climbed into the carriage and evacuated, shouted an order. The samurai have never hated the darkness blocking their vision so much - if they had good vision, they would be able to detect such a huge creature from a distance. The archers stayed away from the carriage and opened their bows to shoot arrows. There were still nearly 20 ghouls alive. Henry and Joshua quickly eliminated them, but the others had to do their best to protect themselves due to their numerical disadvantage.
The archers only took a rough aim when shooting their bows and arrows. Compared with the small monsters with a flexible and low-lying body, the Minotaur was obviously a better target.
After the sound of "廻廻廻-", the arrows accurately hit the monster's body covered with thick black hair one after another. The arrows penetrated the skin and bright red blood flowed out immediately, which seemed to indicate that they were related to food. What is different about creatures like ghouls.
But there is no time to delve into it now.
"Gun!" The shrine maidens, whose original swords were taken away by the samurai, tried to arm themselves again. The scene became chaotic because of the new entrants. The existing threats that had not been resolved by everyone but new ones appeared again. The bow-wielding samurai were running and shooting. Mira took the short spear thrown by Sakura and climbed up on Mitea's back. Kazuto, who was powerful in dealing with humans, sent out the few remaining arrows from his big bow and successfully angered the enemy. The minotaurs roared and diverted their attention away from the carriage, charging towards the tiny human archers who had hurt them.
"Spread out! Spread out!" The extremely high tonnage charge of 7 such huge tauren may be able to directly knock down the earth wall, but the loose formation that lacks enough people and is dogged by ghouls has become an advantage at this moment. , the minotaurs that charged towards the archers trampled the ghouls who were theoretically friendly forces to pieces when the humans avoided them in time.
"Roar!!!" The roar of a wild beast that is definitely not related to the braying of a domestic cow echoed. The ghoul stepped on by the hooves of hundreds of kilograms of heavy creatures directly fractured and fell over. There should be coordination between the monster and the beast that have no sense of pain. came up, but at this moment these shocking tonnage minotaurs caused the largest ghoul damage so far.
The human warriors knew the threat and followed the orders, even if they abandoned their weapons or rolled forward in panic, they tried their best to dodge away. However, the ghouls were not buried in such a design. They were abandoned objects used to entangle the target, and the only way to fight was to swarm them forward. What they are designed for.
What should have been a disadvantage in a loose formation becomes an advantage when locked in a fight with a difficult-to-kill enemy and charged by a new giant beast.
"Hey! I'm here." The Luoan girl, who understood that she was a bait, shouted loudly while riding on Medea's back, waving her spear, but the minotaurs seemed to have no interest in her presence. They just lowered their heads and tried to She found those individuals on the ground who had hurt her - but the ghouls were attracted as she expected. Even if their spines were trampled, the uniform monsters turned their heads this way and stared straight at them with empty black eyes. Stare straight at her.
They tried to move towards her position, and the ghouls at the Minotaur's feet moved and caused many conflicts with them, so these behemoths roared and waved the simple wooden sticks in their hands.
Ghouls weighing tens of kilograms were knocked away like pebbles. Although there was still doubt whether they were actually killed, it was obvious that these newly emerged beasts had no concept of friendly fire.
The tactic worked.
Henry and Joshua cooperated with each other to kill the surrounding ghouls, and then quickly ran in the direction of the Minotaur.
"Retreat outward! Don't stop the bows and arrows, concentric circles!" Narumi gave instructions one after another and at the same time asked the miko to get on the bus while the monster's attention was distracted. The archers followed his instructions and shot arrows in a circle, trying to confuse the Minotaur. Recognize the direction and lead them away from the carriage. Mira was riding a unicorn from the other side, trying to use herself as bait to pull away the ghouls. The heavy-armored warriors responsible for melee combat and the stupid green man gathered together to distance themselves, waving torches to draw away the ghouls. Archers light up the environment.
The little people swaying back and forth and the monsters crawling on all fours below, as well as the stinging pain and swaying firelight from time to time, further angered these simple-minded beasts. They may even be able to overwhelm the ghosts in the use of pure strength. Warrior, but obviously without any tactical ideas.
"Let them come together." The sage said to the only person present who could do it besides him - the blind swordsman. The latter nodded as he ran, and then without hesitation He rushed forward into the array of monsters filled with the aura of beasts. He put the back of the sword close to his side and slid forward while making a slash on the calf of one of the beasts.
"Roar!!!" The clumsy and brutal Minotaur couldn't grasp the surrounding situation at all. The attacked beast directly hit the injured place with a stick, but Joshua had already dodged it, and it only hit one end. Ghoul.
The red-haired swordsman used his extremely keen hearing and speed to contain the huge beasts, causing them to huddle together and bump into each other. Several injured ghouls that were slow to follow Mira were also killed in the process.
"Do you still have the magic talisman?" The sage who did not join the battle but ran in front of the witches asked. The big witch was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Some of them have been worn for too long and have failed. You have a way to restore them." ?”
"It's a one-time use, never used again, wrap it up." He handed all the remaining rune stones to the great witch. It was not a good idea to use them all here, but there was nothing else. Methods. These things are for emergency use. Although it was difficult to deal with the ghouls, they could still win steadily. Now if the minotaurs join in, they no longer have to worry about heavy casualties.
Mira attracted many ghouls, but the forest was extremely dark. She also knew that running out blindly was not a good idea, so she used Mediya's strong physical ability to circle around and run back.
Although the speed of the ghouls is good, it is still not comparable to that of the unicorns. They fell behind a beat and were attracted by the Luoan girl behind them.
But Mitia can't contain them like this forever.
Now or never. The biggest threat, the Minotaur, is now located a few meters in front of the bonfire that has been extinguished during the battle for various reasons. With their size and pace, they can easily cross it if they recover in a short time.
"Hurry over and help the lady." Joshua took on the task of disrupting the Minotaur alone. The panting heavily armored warriors and the bow warriors who had already used up their arrows and switched to short spears moved their array in the direction of the white-haired girl. He ran, while the witches hurriedly pulled out the runes and put the rune stones given by Henry on them. The moment the gods' words lit up, Henry's eyes and the runes on his body also lit up.
He lowered Klemmer's head.
The already powerful physical ability increased again under the influence of strengthening magic. The one-meter-and-five-meter-long sword was slashed out without any mercy, and the arm of a Minotaur that was about to swing the club was chopped off in the air. break.
Blood spurted out, and the most violent roar accompanied by anger since its appearance immediately sounded.
Joshua, who was already a little out of breath, ran in the direction of the carriage tacitly, and Henry took over his original task of attracting the Minotaur's attention.
The sound of "Zizi" flashed, and the recharged talisman was filled with the thunder and lightning power of the Moon God. The witches held it, and Mira saw the panting but well-arranged warriors on the other side, and understood their plan with just one glance.
"Qiang——" Just like the reappearance of the dense horses in the small village that day, Henry wielded the sword and accurately left a bone-deep wound on the body of another monster. The fatal threat sent these primitive beasts into a rage. , they desperately want to kill this opponent, and this is the opportunity they are waiting for.
No verbal communication is required.
Because each other is a top warrior.
The witches neatly held the talisman between their index and middle fingers and stretched it forward.
When Mira rushed in front of the array of warriors, she forced Mitya to stop, turn around and charge back towards the dozen or so ghouls who were still chasing.
"God Thunder, come!"
Thunder and lightning descended from the sky and headed straight towards the huge monster in the center of the array.
"Haah!" The snow-white unicorn's front hooves trampled and at the same time the short spear in the Luoan girl's hand was thrust out, and the warriors drew their swords and slashed in turn like a water wheel.
"Boom!!!" The blazing white light illuminated the night sky, and the sharp blade cut open the pale demon skin.
Black body fluids splashed everywhere, and the burnt and cracked skin began to overflow with blood.
The loud noise was followed by a moment of silence.
Immediately after the warriors moved forward, Mitya turned around and kicked away a ghoul that was missing a leg and missed the initial attack. The witches then added a second shot of divine thunder.
"Qiang——" Amputation and beheading. Panting.
"Boom——!!" The Minotaurs, who were hit by a thunderbolt and were seriously injured and paralyzed but still standing, were even more charred under the second attack, but they were still standing.
The weird head of the last ghoul was severed and rolled around on the ground.
Henry mentioned Claymore and turned back, and Joshua also set off again from the side of the carriage.
All the rune stones have been used up, and there are still some runes left, but there is no way to recharge them before returning to Shinkyo Shrine.
But the Minotaur still stood.
The skin all over their bodies was scorched and cracked, their hair turned into black lumps and stuck together, and their muscles were emitting steam, but their vitality was so tenacious that they were still standing.
The straight sword slashed, hitting the side of the joint.
"Roar——" A weak roar came out hoarsely, and the fallen beast knocked down its companions. The sage then went up to fight with the red-haired swordsman, and quickly killed these behemoths.
Steam and blood emanated from the fracture. Under the lips of the ferocious bull's head, which had been raised by lightning, were twisted fangs. Sweat flowed into their eyes from under the helmets, making their eyes feel sore and sore, but everyone still stared blankly, searching desperately for fear that other monsters were still alive.
"Did you win...?" The panting young master said in a daze. The monks and Qingtian family members who were huddled inside the carriage and hiding under the symbolic protection provided by the tarpaulin, as well as the hunter girl who had little confidence in this kind of battle, finally cautiously poked their heads out.
A miserable victory.
Although there were no real casualties.
But in this battle, almost all the weapons of the warriors were severely damaged, their armor was not much better, and their bows and arrows were all used up.
The priceless Druid rune stones Henry carried were finally exhausted.
Just like the battle with Cerberus that day, although they survived, the losses were still heavy.
"We really need more manpower and materials." The samurai leader sighed, but even though it seemed quiet, they did not dare to stay. After quickly packing up his luggage, he got on the carriage and started on his way again.
After speeding up and running for quite some distance, we camped again in a more secluded place.
And after arranging personnel to patrol the surroundings, they dared to rest peacefully after taking turns to watch the night.
Although this increases the burden even more, no one dares to relax anymore.
