WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 51: Tyrant of the Forest (1)

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"Protect the young lord!!"

As though their act thus far no longer mattered in the face of danger, Ilvern used Minos's old title as he ordered his allies to protect him.

Then, gritting their teeth, Ilvern raised the tower shield and charged head-on at the enormous magical beast, which stood over three meters tall.

Awoo!!

As if it found the human daring to oppose it laughable, the Grizzly Owl let out a savage roar and powerfully swung its clawed forepaws.

"Don't underestimate me!!"

Ilvern roared back at the Grizzly Owl. Just before they collided, they drove the massive tower shield in their hands into the ground.

'Shockwave...?'

Having watched Ilvern fight hundreds of times over the past fifteen days, Gerik naturally thought of Ilvern's signature skill, Shockwave, when he saw their stance.

Yet instead of a powerful shockwave erupting from the shield planted in the ground, searing heat poured out as it began turning grayish white.

'Another skill?!'

That was right. Facing such a difficult enemy, Ilvern seemed determined to show their full strength by bringing out a skill they had kept hidden instead of relying on their usual skills.

Boom!!

When Ilvern and the Grizzly Owl collided head-on, a tremendous impact shook the entire cavern.

Everyone worried that Ilvern would be terribly injured, but to their surprise, they spotted Ilvern still standing with the shield raised amid the drifting dust.

'...He blocked that?!'

Ilvern had been pushed back about two meters, but Gerik shuddered at the sight of them enduring a terrifying blow from a magical beast weighing over four hundred kilograms, made even stronger by its charging momentum.

"Gerik!"

Ilvern's face had turned red, perhaps from the collision, but when they shouted, Gerik instinctively took a charging stance and prepared to perform the combination they had practiced.

"Trust me and target its rear!!"

Holding the ash-gray shield, Ilvern shouted. The moment he understood, Gerik used Charge and swiftly moved to Ilvern's opposite side, behind the Grizzly Owl.

Boom!! Boom!!

In the meantime, the Grizzly Owl's fierce assault rained down on Ilvern.

Its two sharp-clawed forepaws crossed wildly as they swung again and again. It was an utterly simple attack.

Yet that simplicity made it even more terrifying. It was as if the monster were declaring that techniques were only necessary for those without strength.

Watching it, Gerik clearly understood why the Grizzly Owl, despite having no special abilities, reigned as an apex predator in the Demonwild Forest.

"Urgh...!!"

Ilvern desperately endured with their whole body braced against the ash-gray tower shield. They were pushed back, held on, then were pushed back again. It was a repeated cycle.

In some ways, Ilvern was no different from a punching bag, but Gerik was instead horrified by their capability.

Gerik himself would not have been able to endure even a single strike from the Grizzly Owl, let alone withstand its attacks.

Through this encounter, he keenly felt the difference between someone with a Class and someone without one.

His admiration lasted only a moment. Feeling that Charge had come off cooldown, Gerik immediately activated the skill and shot toward the owl's back.

His Slash struck the completely exposed rear of the Grizzly Owl, which was busy attacking Ilvern like mad.

Slash!!

It had definitely landed cleanly. With Charge's momentum added to it, the attack was several times more powerful than usual.

But the result left Gerik dumbfounded. A Slash combined with Charge could cut through even a thick oak tree in one blow.

Yet it only left a shallow scratch on the Grizzly Owl's hide. It had not even reached the dermis.

'What the...?!'

Gerik only had a moment to feel stunned. Perhaps angered that he had attacked it, even if it was merely a scratch, the Grizzly Owl turned and looked at him.

For a moment, Gerik felt like his breath had stopped.

"Rooaaar!!!"

It moved with an agility that was hard to believe for a creature weighing four hundred kilograms.

Normally, Gerik should have immediately used Charge to escape, but the overwhelming terror exuded by the apex predator clouded his judgment for a moment and delayed his timing.

'I'm screwed...!!'

Seeing the Grizzly Owl raise a forepaw high with a roar, Gerik sensed that he had reached the greatest crisis of his second life.

"Where are you looking, you animal!!"

True to a veteran who had survived countless battles, Ilvern immediately grasped Gerik's situation. He raised his mace as though he intended both to protect Gerik and teach a lesson to the insolent enemy that had turned its back on him.

Just as his shield had turned ash-gray, his mace now began changing to the same color. The ominously colored mace then shot toward the Grizzly Owl's back like lightning.

Boom!!

"Rooaaar!!!"

The strike was faster and heavier than his usual Heavy Strike, and carried a fiery attribute. When it struck the monster's back, the Grizzly Owl let out its first roar of pain.

It had clearly worked. The Grizzly Owl seemed to forget about Gerik, glaring at Ilvern, who had inflicted such terrible pain on it, with eyes full of resentment before wildly swinging its forepaws.

'I lived...!!'

Gerik ran a hand over his chilled chest in relief and used Charge to leave the battlefield.

Boom!! Boom!!

While Gerik waited for Charge to come off cooldown, Ilvern returned to defense and repeatedly blocked the Grizzly Owl's attacks.

He was using skillful shieldwork and his skills well to stop the attacks, but perhaps due to the monster's overwhelming attack power and the side effects of using skills continuously, his skin had turned red from excessive blood circulation.

Twang!! Twang!!

Katrin did not dare approach, but as an experienced adventurer, she kept as much distance as possible and fired suppressing arrows from her longbow to relieve some of the pressure on Ilvern.

"Vitriol sagittam... caro liquescit...."

While Ilvern and the Grizzly Owl struggled against each other, Gerik finally had enough room to look around after his tension eased slightly. At the deepest edge of the battlefield, he saw Minos chanting a spell.

Not long after Gerik noticed him, Minos finished the chant. A green arrow formed before him.

Twang!!

The vividly green arrow flew toward the Grizzly Owl's face, and before long, the magical arrow made of hydrochloric acid struck it directly.

"Rooaaar!!"

Even for a three-meter-tall monster, a shower of hydrochloric acid seemed threatening. A pained groan escaped its mouth as it twisted its body.

Gerik thought there was a good chance its eyes had been injured and its vision had gone dark, so he prepared to use Charge and aim for a vital point.

"Be careful!! Its eyes are fine!"

Seeing what Gerik was about to do, Katrin urgently stopped him. When Gerik looked at her in confusion, she rapidly explained the Grizzly Owl's eyes.

"Its eyes are protected by a thin third eyelid called a nictitating membrane!! An attack like that will only hurt it. It most likely didn't damage its eyes at all!! Don't push yourself!"

Just as Katrin said, the hydrochloric acid arrow seemed to have failed to inflict serious damage on the Grizzly Owl's eyes. However, the irritation unique to acidic substances appeared to have caused it intense pain and temporary vision problems.

"Rooaaar!!"

Though the nictitating membrane had protected its eyes, it could not completely block the irritation.

As pain and temporary darkness filled its vision, the Grizzly Owl roared in rage and wildly swung its forepaws in every direction with its eyes closed.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!!

The sound of enormous claws cutting through the air spread throughout the cavern. It was an attack fierce enough to make an ordinary Warrior panic instead of daring to resist.

But the person before it was not an ordinary Warrior. It was Ilvern, a veteran who had experienced countless battlefields.

"You're full of openings, you animal!!"

As though mocking the Grizzly Owl's wild assault, Ilvern used nimble footwork and precise shieldwork to easily deflect its attacks while slipping inside its reach.

After successfully closing the distance, he swung the mace, now ash-gray once more, and struck the monster's body with all his strength.

"Taste Ash Strike, you animal!!"

When the mace carrying ash-gray flames struck the Grizzly Owl's chest, a massive shockwave and deafening noise spread in every direction. The Grizzly Owl's cry of pain was an added bonus.

'...So it really was a second-tier skill.'

Gerik muttered inwardly and held his breath as he watched the result. Unfortunately, the Grizzly Owl's uniquely thick hide and muscles successfully blocked Ilvern's powerful strike, leaving no visible wound on its body.

'What... the hell...?!'

Gerik was horrified by the monster's unnatural toughness. Still, perhaps the pain of the strike had properly reached it, because a pained groan flowed from the Grizzly Owl's mouth for the first time.

"Rrrooo...!!"

It was a strange, chilling sound that Gerik had never heard before. Oddly enough, hearing that monster groan in pain reassured him.

It was proof that it could be killed.

That relief lasted only a moment. Having regained its vision, the owl roared again with even deeper hatred in its eyes and began swinging its forepaws at Ilvern.

'It's back...!!'

Gerik, who had been catching his breath in the rear, instinctively felt that Charge's cooldown had ended and he could use the skill again.

'Now...!!'

Seeing that the Grizzly Owl had lost all reason in its rage and was neglecting its surroundings as it unleashed a mad barrage at Ilvern, Gerik used Charge again and slipped behind it.

Boom!!

The sound of terrifying leg strength kicking off the ground echoed throughout the cavern. Reaching its rear in an instant, Gerik unleashed a sharp Slash at the exact spot where he had struck it the first time.

Slash!!

The effect of the consecutive strike was clear. The scratch was slightly deeper than before, and the Grizzly Owl flinched more, as though the pain had increased.

The difference was very slight, but Gerik did not miss the change.

"Rooar!!"

But the title Tyrant of the Forest was not earned through strength alone.

Perhaps deciding it could not react as it had before, the Grizzly Owl did not turn around. Instead, it leaped slightly backward and assumed a position where it could keep both Gerik and Ilvern in check at once.

Then it began wildly swinging both forepaws in turn, pressuring them both at the same time.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!!

As the terrifying forepaws swept through the area, Gerik used Charge in the opposite direction with a frightened expression to put distance between them.

It was a judgment that a monster with only brute strength could never make. Gerik felt a chill at its cunning.

Unlike Gerik, who had been caught off guard, Ilvern was briefly freed from the pressure of concentrated attacks and gained a moment to catch his breath.

He hung his mace from his waist, then skillfully blocked the monster's attacks with only his shield as he took out a small potion from his belt and drank it in one gulp.

"Phew..."

Despite blocking the Grizzly Owl's vicious left-paw attack, his complexion improved. Seeing that, Gerik realized that Ilvern had used the most famous item in fantasy worlds.

'A healing potion...!!'

After drinking the potion, Ilvern threw the empty bottle into the air. He took out his mace again and slowly but bravely began advancing toward the Grizzly Owl.

The Grizzly Owl threatened him by roughly swinging its sharp forepaws to stop his advance.

But unlike before, it could only use one paw against Ilvern as it kept Gerik behind it in check. It could no longer pressure Ilvern as it had before.

"Die!!"

As though mocking the Grizzly Owl, Ilvern thoroughly redirected its attack with his ash-gray shield, then swung his mace again as ash-gray flames flickered over it.

"Rooaaar!!!"

When the transcendent attack that only a Class-bearing Warrior could deliver struck its body, the Grizzly Owl let out a roar full of pain.

Instinctively, it realized that the old Warrior was the greatest threat among the humans who had troubled it so far. It also realized that it could not overpower him without using both forepaws.

In the end, the Grizzly Owl ignored Gerik and began mercilessly attacking Ilvern with both paws.

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