Vol 2 Chapter 54 – The Trump Card’s Words【Vol 2 – The Condemned Knight Edition】

Ugh… gaaaggh…!!

Erik sprayed vomit from his mouth.

Probably from having his organs jostled by the kick.

Watching Erik retch, Klet didn’t bother to run. He just looked down from above and laughed at the pathetic sight.

“Heh heh heh… ‘Altruistic Charity Hero’? Don’t make me laugh. Before my trump card, you’re just some small fry who can’t do a thing.”

He was confident in the werewolf’s victory, which was why he didn’t rush to flee.

First, I’ll watch the werewolf pathetically kill Erik, then I’ll take my sweet time leaving.

“Hah… hah…”

Erik staggered to his feet.

Watching him struggle was even more entertaining for Klet.

“Give up the pointless resistance. You’ll only prolong your suffering.”

“Hah, hah… (All the more reason to) I refuse…”

“Hmph, you fool. Werewolf! Hurry up and kill him!!”

There was no reason for someone who ignored Klet’s kind advice to live.

He ordered the werewolf to execute him.

With its superhuman physical abilities, it once again closed the distance to Erik in an instant, this time trying to punch his face in with its powerful arm…

“Hmph…!”

…only for Erik to dodge it by simply tilting his head back.

“What?!”

Klet was stunned.

This was not the kind of move he expected from a man who, until moments ago, had been completely helpless.

However, after taking enough damage to make him vomit and being subjected to a scornful gaze, the masochist was now in peak condition.

The more you hurt him, the more persistent he gets. That’s Erik for you.

He swung his sword at the werewolf’s defenselessly outstretched arm.

But…

“It didn’t go through…?!”

Blocked by the werewolf’s tough fur, his blade couldn’t reach its skin.

It wasn’t so much like striking something hard with a sword as it was like trying to cut something that couldn’t be cut in the first place.

Erik’s hand didn’t tingle, the blade just simply failed to connect.

“Heh heh heh… The werewolf’s fur is incredibly durable and flexible. A swordsman of your level won’t be able to cut through it.”

A truly skilled warrior… like the captain of the Royal Knight Order or a first-class adventurer, for example, could probably slice through a werewolf’s fur.

But Erik didn’t have that level of swordsmanship.

The only things he could definitively say were superior to others were his skill and his abnormally high endurance, born from his particular tastes.

“Hero. My trump card’s superiority isn’t limited to just its physical abilities, you know?”

Klet muttered, looking down from above.

His words didn’t reach Erik, who swung his sword again in defiance…

CLANG!

A shrill sound, like hard objects colliding, rang out.

Erik’s eyes widened to the sight of the werewolf catching his sword with its claws.

“Claws sharp enough to slice through soft metal. You should be careful with those… though I suppose it’s too late now.”

Just as Klet said, the werewolf’s claws swung down, slashing Erik’s body to ribbons.

◆　

“Guh! Gih…?! …Gah!!”

A series of screams erupted from Erik.

The werewolf was moving with blinding speed, its superhuman leg strength allowing it to slash at Erik’s body with its claws.

Erik somehow managed to avoid a fatal blow with his sword, but he was covered in wounds.

Blood sprayed, illuminated by the moonlight as it fell to the ground.

His body staggered from the relentless assault that didn’t even give him a chance to fall.

The wound on his chest, from the first slash, was particularly deep.

From it, an endless stream of blood continued to flow.

“Hmm… Quite persistent. Well, pests are persistent too, so I suppose he’s the same.”

Klet chuckled.

Yes, normally, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be down by now.

Not just because of the blood loss, but after having his attacks fail so completely and being toyed with one-sidedly, a normal person’s spirit would break.

It’s not a matter of winning or losing; his attacks just weren’t landing.

The pain of having one’s body carved up one-sidedly is terrifying even to imagine.

But even so, the strong light in Erik’s eyes never dimmed. He just hardened his body and devoted himself to defense.

“Hmph… ‘Hero’ might not be entirely wrong, after all.”

There were some things he didn’t want to admit, but had to.

Another reason Erik hadn’t fallen was the magic item he’d received from Miriam.

It was the same magic tool, imbued with healing magic, that she had given him when they were fleeing from Biriel Hegstett’s rebellious private army.

That one had been destroyed after its power was used up in that battle, but Miriam, knowing Erik would be reckless, had hastily made a few more for him.

Thanks to that, the bleeding from the deepest wound on his chest was slowly but surely lessening.

“Enough toying with him! Finish it with your fangs!!”

When Klet roared, the werewolf stopped its high-speed movements.

Until now, it had been toying with Erik.

That was because Klet had wanted to see Erik’s pathetic begging and fear.

But watching any longer would only show him Erik’s persistence, which was nothing but unpleasant.

The werewolf obeyed its master’s words and decided to finish him off.

“Grrrrrrrrrrr…!!”

The werewolf bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight.

The werewolf’s most powerful weapon was not its physical ability or its claws.

It was its fangs, which could chew through anything.

With its overwhelming jaw strength and sharp fangs combined, it could pierce and destroy any hard object.

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

The werewolf let out a howl and, opening its mouth wide, lunged at Erik.

Klet watched from above with glee.

He had a front-row seat to the moment that pretentious Hero was bitten to death by a werewolf.

What a wonderful spectacle.

Now, where will it bite?

Will it crush his head?

The sight of his brain splattering and the Hero’s well-formed face being destroyed would be a thrill.

Or would it go for the neck, so vital for life?

If it tore through that hard-to-train, soft spot, blood would surely gush out like a fountain.

Either would be a magnificent sight, so Klet’s chest swelled with anticipation.

The already-staggering Erik couldn’t even dodge the werewolf’s lunge…

“Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Erik’s scream echoed.

However, it wasn’t the result Klet had hoped for.

Erik had instantly used his left arm as a shield, avoiding a bite to his face or neck.

“…!! Just chew it off!!”

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”

Obeying Klet’s words, the werewolf clenched its jaws, biting down on the arm.

The sharp fangs easily pierced the skin and flesh of the arm, and blood gushed out.

The intense pain of having one’s arm chewed on by a werewolf while still alive—how much would it hurt?

At the very least, no ordinary person could take that and still move.

But Erik was different.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?”

This time, it was the werewolf’s scream that echoed.

The pommel of Erik’s sword had been slammed into its right eye.

Blood sprayed from its right eye, and the intense pain made it release its fangs from his arm and scream.

“I-Impossible…?!”

Klet was stunned.

To endure the intense pain of having one’s arm chewed to pieces and accurately strike the werewolf’s—a living creature’s—weak point, its eye.

How many people could do that?

If your arm was being chewed off, you wouldn’t think of counterattacking.

You’d writhe in pain, run, and beg for it to let go.

Only someone with a strong tolerance for pain, and someone who didn’t just use their arm as a shield on reflex but sacrificed it from the start with the intention of delivering a counter, could immediately strike back after having their arm destroyed.

Erik possessed both of these qualities.

“What is that…?!”

A resolve so strong it made him unconsciously take a step back.

Seeing something he himself completely lacked, Klet was terrified.

“Heh… you’re wide open.”

Erik slipped into the guard of the werewolf, which was roaring in pain.

With its eyes covered and its body arched back, its abdomen was wide open.

But Erik’s face was also covered in a sheet of sweat.

The intense pain from having his arm chewed to pieces must have been unbearable. Or so one would think.

“D-Damn it…?!”

Klet’s voice rose.

The werewolf’s weak points, covered by its hard fur, were its eyes and its sparsely-furred abdomen and chest.

“Gah…?! Guooo…?! Gopo…!!”

Erik’s sword was thrust into its poorly-defended chest.

The sword, carrying the full weight of his body as if he never expected a counter, plunged deep into the werewolf’s chest.

The werewolf coughed up blood.

Its sharp fangs were stained not only with Erik’s blood but also its own.

“K-Kill him!! Kill the Hero!! Do that much, at least, at the end!!”

Klet’s scream echoed.

Right now, if the werewolf swung its arm, Erik would be sent flying.

No, if it put its last strength into a punch to his defenseless neck, it could even kill him.

And this werewolf, with its heart pierced and rapidly approaching death, had enough power to do so.

However, though the werewolf raised its arm, it never brought it down.

Just before collapsing to the ground, it brought its mouth to Erik’s ear…

“Thank… you…”

…and with those last words, it fell to the ground.

What was on its mind when it thanked him?

Forcibly injected with a drug, transformed from a Beastman into a werewolf, turned into a mindless puppet forced to obey Klet against its will, a man forced to do things he never wanted to do—those were its last words.

(To be killed and say thank you… could it be that he was a fellow traveler on my path… a masochist?)

Apparently, Erik didn’t get the message.

“N-N-No way… Th-That can’t be…! My trump card…?!”

Watching Erik defeat the werewolf, Klet trembled.

Erik paid him no mind, savoring the intense pain from his chewed-up left arm.

(Heh heh… I can almost see the bone. I hope I get more chances to fight Beastmen from now on.)

With that thought, he sheathed his sword and picked up a moderately-sized stone from the garden.

“I-I have to run…! I have to get out of here, as fast as possible…!!”

The moment Klet said that and turned his back,

Erik wound up and threw the stone.

“Gueh!!”

It struck Klet squarely in the back of the head. His escape ended the moment he took his first step.