Awakening(??) (3)
Zeke squeezed every bit of information he could out of the Adventurers' Guild Master, without even paying for it.
"Rank! I'll guarantee your rank even if you don't hunt monsters. Just give me that orb!"
He clung to the Guild Master's ankles and pleaded, only to be met with a baguette beating.
Whack! Whack! Whack!
"Kuh-huk! P-Please! I'm... I'm dying!!! Agh! Kuh-huk…!!"
Ah, right. This baguette was only meant for monsters.
Zeke looked at the Guild Master, now a bloodied mess after a few hits, with an awkward expression.
He held back, so it shouldn't be too bad.
***
Armed with the information, Zeke left the capital.
A short while later, a group of weary-looking adventurers heading back towards the capital caught his eye.
“Halt.”
“What do you want?!”
They drew their weapons and shouted, wary of the stranger.
Clashes between adventurers weren't uncommon outside the capital, so they couldn't let their guard down even if they were close to it.
Returning with the spoils of their hunt while physically exhausted made them particularly vulnerable.
As Zeke approached, the adventurers cautiously backed away.
He pulled out a heavy pouch wrapped in cloth.
One of the adventurers, a man with unkempt hair, eyed Zeke suspiciously before accepting the offered pouch.
“What’s this?”
“A head.”
“Eek!!!”
The adventurer dropped the pouch.
Thud.
As it landed, the cloth unraveled, revealing a severed head with vacant, white eyes.
“What have you done?!”
One of the women in the group brandished her sword, her voice sharp with threat.
“Just offering a quest.”
“A q-quest!?”
“Yes. Deliver this head to the Adventurers' Guild Master.”
“Ah, a-are you saying… a bounty hunt?”
At the mention of a quest, the unkempt adventurer’s tone became more respectful.
“I would go myself, but I'm busy. Tell him I'll visit later.”
“H-how much will you pay?”
“It’s just up ahead, a simple delivery. I'll give you 10 silvers.”
“10 silvers… That’s a fair price.”
“And there's no bounty on him, so you won't get anything for the kill. Just take the 10 silvers and deliver it. The Guild Master will give you some benefits later.”
Zeke’s words made the adventurers flinch.
“Then please fill out a quest form. We don't want to get involved in anything strange.”
“Alright, fine.”
The adventurers took out a simple quest form, and Zeke scribbled down the details and signed it. He added a postscript.
[This is your last chance. If you pull another stunt like this, this head will be yours. Zeke Clayman]
He handed the adventurers 10 silvers.
“We accept the quest.”
“Good.”
Zeke watched as the adventurers gathered the head and headed back to the capital.
'This must be pretty important. Well, I guess it makes sense since magic tools are only used by the Imperial family.'
Zeke tossed the orb in his hand up and caught it.
He thought he should put on the filter and see what it was all about.
'But to think they'd send assassins after me right away?'
Zeke had a long memory.
* * *
Two nights later.
Zeke was hiding amongst the reeds, covered in mud.
'Lizardmen. Pitch black bodies, so they're diurnal. The information was accurate.'
They were active during the day and slept at night.
In the past two days, Zeke had raided four goblin camps, two werewolf dens, and two lizardmen villages.
His spoils: six magic stones.
He still needed four more.
He had already killed hundreds of monsters, but the magic stone drop rate was abysmally low.
‘Maybe I should be slightly grateful to Iriel…?’
Zeke had been hunting non-stop, without any sleep.
He could feel the fatigue in his muscles, but it was a familiar sensation.
'Ha, this brings back memories of the Dave Continent.'
He needed to kill more monsters to get more magic stones.
To acquire them efficiently, Zeke chose to employ a tactic: monster herding.
He wanted to see if his experience from the other world would translate here, so he tested the habits of monsters suitable for herding, just like he did on the Dave Continent.
Fortunately, although there were some differences, most of it still applied.
Goblins were driven by lust, werewolves by scent, and lizardmen by heat.
Therefore, to catch goblins, he used herbs with aphrodisiac effects. For werewolves, he used alluring fragrances. And for lizardmen, he used fire.
The lizardmen village was dotted with swampy puddles and huts crudely built with reeds.
Zeke observed a few guards patrolling the village.
Once they were out of range, he quietly made his move.
Swoosh.
Zeke poured the large bottle of oil he bought from the store, encircling the village.
Using mana to start a fire in the humid swamp consumed too much mana, so he opted for this method instead.
'Not even a single rat will escape.'
After drawing a large circle around the village, Zeke ignited a flame at his fingertip.
Fwoooosh!
The fire slowly spread along the trail of oil.
Once it had grown to a certain size…
'Whirlwind.'
Zeke swung his baguette, generating a wide gust of wind.
Fwoosh!
The small fire roared to life, engulfing the entire village.
The intense heat alerted the lizardmen guards.
“Kreck?!”
“Kreeek!!!!”
“Kreck!! Kre-kre-krek!!!!”
The night swamp was illuminated by the black smoke and raging flames.
The lizardmen, awakened by the commotion, tried to escape in a daze, but their skin was extremely vulnerable to fire, forcing them to gather in one spot.
Their eyes fell on the only exit untouched by the flames.
And standing before it was a man.
He watched the huddled lizardmen with cold eyes.
“About fifty lizards. I hope I get at least four magic stones from this.”
Only then did they realize who was behind the arson.
“Kreee!”
“Kreck!!!”
About ten of the larger ones unsheathed their claws and charged at Zeke.
“Let’s take care of the melee units first.”
There was still some oil left in the large bottle, even after encircling the entire village.
Zeke tipped the bottle with his foot.
Then, he stabbed the side of the bottle.
Crack!
The bottle shattered with a loud noise.
'Whirlwind!'
He unleashed the same technique he used to fan the flames.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Oil droplets rained down, drenching the charging lizardmen.
Simultaneously, the embers that had been flying around ignited upon contact with the lizardmen.
“Kreeek!!”
“Krak!!!”
They rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames with the swamp’s moisture, but it was too late.
Zeke, who had charged forward, was already upon them.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
His baguette crashed down on the heads of the writhing lizardmen, crushing their skulls.
He took down ten of them in an instant and strode towards the rest with a calm demeanor.
“I’ll go easy on you. Don’t move unless you want to get hurt.”
The lizardmen backed away at the sight, but the flames surrounding them left them with nowhere to go.
They stumbled and fell over each other in their panic.
Fwoosh!
Bang!
Like a wolf among sheep, Zeke swung his baguette, crushing their skulls one by one.
Trapped rats with nowhere to run.
As their inevitable demise drew near, even the non-warrior lizardmen instinctively bared their sharp claws and fangs.
“Kreeek!!”
“Krak!!!”
Fwoosh!
Thud!
They attacked Zeke with all their might, but none could land a blow.
Not even their blood, splattering from their crushed skulls, could touch him.
***
Zeke was surrounded by headless corpses.
'Hmm. Found one magic stone. This is taking longer than I thought.'
He rummaged through the corpses of 53 lizardmen and managed to find only one.
The magic stones were so small that he couldn't just swing his baguette carelessly.
He had to crush their skulls to ensure instant death, as the stones were embedded near their hearts.
'Well, only three more to go.'
The swamp was a far cry from its former self, littered with charred reeds and lizardmen corpses.
The stench of burnt flesh filled the air.
Flap.
As he unfurled his quest parchment again to check the location of the nearest monsters…
A chill ran down his spine.
He sensed a sharp, murderous intent and quickly turned around.
He could hear something large moving in the darkness.
“Shhh. Shhh. Shhh.”
A chilling wind blew from the darkness.
“That sound… A Yutra…?”
Zeke lowered his guard, feigning vulnerability to catch his opponent off guard.
Then, a monstrous figure emerged from the trees.
A single eye glowed with a crimson light.
Teeth, densely packed like thorns, gleamed menacingly.
Hair, writhing like venomous snakes, swayed around its head.
It had a serpentine tail, and its muscular torso sported four arms, each wielding a crude weapon.
This wasn't a romance fantasy.
The genre had changed.
“It is a Yutra. What’s it doing here?”
Zeke was taken aback by the appearance of a monster he thought impossible to encounter in this world.
Yutras couldn't survive in places with scarce mana like this.
And he had encountered them far too often in the dark fantasy world.
Their meat was tough, and the taste was absolutely disgusting.
"How could the inhabitants of this world possibly handle something like this?"
Based on the power levels of this world, the Yutra was far above anything they could handle.
'If it's the same creature I remember… it's guaranteed to have a magic stone.'
Compared to his dark fantasy days, Zeke's current body was weaker than when he was first summoned to the Dave Continent.
He couldn't use mana recklessly.
He had to carry around oil bottles to start fires and carefully plan his attacks to conserve energy, resorting to herding tactics instead of chasing down fleeing monsters.
Even dealing with 53 lizardmen required meticulous effort.
Objectively, Zeke was no match for the Yutra in terms of physical strength, senses, or mana manipulation.
However, Zeke licked his lips.
‘I don't know why it's here, but this is perfect.’
He never thought he would be so happy to see a remnant of his past.
This was a creature that used to flee in terror at the slightest hint of his killing intent.
Zeke had spent five years hunting these creatures.
After the fifth year, he stopped bothering; it was a waste of his time.
Taking down the Demon King as quickly as possible would save far more lives than focusing on a creature like this.
He knew everything about it—its habits, weaknesses, attack patterns, evasion techniques, everything.
Even with his current limitations, the Yutra was nothing more than a large, time-consuming target practice.
'It's like a veteran player in a game using a beginner class to slowly chip away at a boss's health with basic attacks.'
Zeke adjusted his grip on the baguette.
"Hand over your magic stone. A good one."
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