WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 52: Tyrant of the Forest (2)

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The magical beast's all-out assault after sensing a threat to its life was nothing like before.

Under the Grizzly Owl's attack, now twice as fierce as before, Ilvern's face grew visibly pale as he leaned his entire body against his ash-gray shield.

He deflected the monster's attacks with the exquisite shieldwork only a veteran who had survived decades on the battlefield could possess, but that was all. Before the Tyrant's merciless barrage from both paws, all he could do was endure.

"Gerik!"

As Ilvern desperately endured the assault, they called Gerik's name.

It was a very brief call, but Gerik understood its meaning. To help Ilvern, he used Charge to circle behind the monster again and drove Slash into its back.

Slash!!

Having learned the Grizzly Owl's attack patterns through several exchanges, Gerik was gradually figuring out how to make the most of every fleeting moment.

Rather than waiting idly for Charge's cooldown to end, he kept running to stay behind it and secure his position.

It seemed like a simple decision, but that persistent effort doubled the number of Slashes he could land from each position.

Thanks to that, visible wounds were beginning to appear one by one across the Grizzly Owl's back, unlike before.

"Rrrooo...!!"

As the pain from the wounds on its back worsened under the repeated attacks, the Grizzly Owl grimaced and stopped in place, glaring at Gerik and Ilvern.

As if it were catching its breath and recovering its strength.

"Ignis sagittam... caro ardet!!"

But as if mocking it, a measured chant rang clearly through the area.

Before long, a single fiercely burning arrow took shape in the air at one corner of the battlefield.

Fweee!!

A flaming arrow as thick as an adult's forearm flew straight toward the Grizzly Owl at terrifying speed, filling the surroundings with heat fierce enough to melt iron.

Boom!!

"Rooaaar!!!!!"

When the flaming arrow struck the Grizzly Owl's back, its terrible scream filled the underground ruins so completely that the air shook.

As if that were not enough, it wildly swung its sharp claws and stomped up and down, showing its pain with its entire body.

'Ah... Because of its feathers...?'

Gerik realized that the Grizzly Owl was suffering especially badly because its dense avian feathers made the flames spread more fiercely.

Normally, they would have been one of its strengths, protecting its body. This time, though, they seemed to be working against it.

'As expected of a mage...!!'

Gerik trembled at the ability of a mage to control the battlefield with such versatility. Meanwhile, Ilvern roughly shouted Gerik's name and ordered him to charge.

"Die!!!!"

As if drawing the Grizzly Owl's attention while it thrashed in pain, Ilvern let out a fierce roar and charged at it.

His actions truly put the Grizzly Owl, which had suffered badly from Ash Strike, on guard and kept it from paying attention to Gerik.

'Charge!!'

Boom!!

Ilvern deceptively acted as though he would use Ash Strike, but focused only on defending against the Grizzly Owl's attacks with his ash-gray shield.

Gerik did not miss the opening Ilvern created, and his Slash struck one of the monster's wounds.

Slash!!

"Rooaaar!!"

The Grizzly Owl's pain-filled cry echoed through the ruins.

Gerik looked encouraged, as his attack finally seemed to have dealt meaningful damage to the Grizzly Owl.

Boom!!

Then Ilvern, the veteran Warrior, swung his mace and struck the Grizzly Owl's torso as it stiffly raised its head and roared.

The Grizzly Owl's body swayed violently.

The flames on its back, Ilvern's Ash Strike, and Gerik's Slash. Perhaps because all three pains struck it at once, the monster staggered in a way it normally never would have.

'We did it...!!'

Just as Gerik brightened at the opening in the battle, the chant from one corner of the battlefield stopped again, and another burning arrow struck the Grizzly Owl's head.

Fweee!!

"Rrrooo!! Rooaaar!! Rrrooo!!"

A bizarre cry, half owl and half bear, filled the ruins.

'Just how tough is this thing?!'

Having fought the Grizzly Owl fiercely today, Gerik felt that it was too crude for an apex predator. Its fighting style was simple, and even its body had nothing particularly special about it.

But while fighting it to the death, Gerik could now clearly understand why it held the position of apex predator in the Demonwild Forest.

Why? Because it had never needed anything else. With its overwhelmingly powerful stats alone, it could have crushed and devoured everything it encountered.

Gerik had driven his sword into the Grizzly Owl's back more than ten times while working alongside Ilvern. Yet despite its accumulating wounds, there was no sign of its movements slowing.

The situation was clearly favorable for them. But Gerik could feel that appearances were deceiving. The battle was as taut as a drawn string.

'It's unfair...'

A battlefield where they could maintain the advantage from beginning to end, only for everything to turn around in an instant if one of them made a single mistake.

Though Gerik had not taken a single solid hit, he felt as though he could barely breathe.

'My lungs feel like they're going to tear apart...'

The side effects of using skills repeatedly were piling up. It felt as though the last edge of his focus was slowly being worn away.

His legs were fine, and he could still move his arms, but somewhere inside his head was gradually growing hot. A sweet taste filled his mouth.

'Just a little more... Just a little...'

When Charge came off cooldown, Gerik lowered his stance again and began waiting for the right moment. As he had done several times before, he charged toward the deep wound on the Grizzly Owl's back.

'Ah...!'

For an instant, his focus scattered. It was his first time fighting such a difficult foe for so long.

So his timing was just a little late. That was all.

Whoosh!!

With a terrifying sound cutting through the air, the Grizzly Owl's sharp claws came flying at Gerik.

Horrified, he clenched his teeth, put all his strength into his thighs, and used a second Charge.

'I have to duck...!!'

Gerik instinctively threw his upper body back and desperately lowered his head. At the same time, a silver flash brushed past above his head.

"Gah...!!"

Gerik sprang backward as if flung and stopped a good distance away from the Grizzly Owl, his expression stiff.

As he watched a few strands of hair drift through the air, he trembled as he realized what had just happened.

If he had been even a finger's breadth slower, he would have died.

'It's not over yet. Get a grip. Focus!!'

Gerik wiped away his sweat with the back of his hand and spoke to himself inwardly.

Even if it was caused by accumulated fatigue, the battlefield did not forgive mistakes. Gerik steadied his breathing and forced himself to focus.

Just then,

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

The fourth spell was completed.

Boom!!

"Rooaaar!!!"

Having used up all his third-circle Flame Arrow spells, Minos seemed to have no choice but to cast the less effective second-circle Hydrochloric Acid Arrow.

But unlike before, the Grizzly Owl's hide, grotesquely exposed by burns and sword wounds, was vulnerable to the acid arrow. Struck directly, it writhed in pain as its raw flesh melted away.

"Gerik!"

"I'm going!!"

As if it were only natural, Ilvern and Gerik called to each other and tried to land solid blows on the suffering Grizzly Owl.

But surprisingly, it showed behavior it had never displayed before.

"...?!"

Gerik and Ilvern, who had been about to attack, paused when the monster suddenly covered its head with both arms. Wondering what it was doing, they watched its strange behavior.

Curled up as it protected its body, the Grizzly Owl's yellow eyes glimmered as it began looking somewhere other than Gerik and Ilvern for the first time.

Then, as if it had found something, it let out a sharp cry and fixed its gaze there.

It was Minos.

The one who had burned it and covered it in acid. The monster's hate-filled eyes locked onto the mage standing at one corner of the battlefield. Then it roared.

"Rooaaar!!!!!"

A roar full of hatred.

Thud!! Thud!! Thud!!

The Grizzly Owl dropped its defensive stance and turned around.

Perhaps because of its injuries, its earlier agility was gone. But having lost its reason in rage, it ran fiercely toward Minos, planting its feet as though it would crush the floor beneath them.

The earthquake-like footsteps made by its three-meter body shook the entire ruins.

"No!!"

Ilvern's shout shook the underground chamber. Clutching his mace, he began chasing after it.

"Ghk!!"

As the four-hundred-kilogram monster charged at him in blind rage, Minos panicked and ran in the opposite direction.

But absurdly, despite its massive size, the monster was extraordinarily fast. Even while injured.

"Gasp...! Gasp...!"

Minos desperately fled from it.

But true to a young lord who normally only sat at a desk, he was painfully slow, and the distance between him and the Grizzly Owl rapidly closed.

"Minos!! This way!!"

Gerik used Charge and quickly approached Minos to help him. Minos seemed to understand Gerik's intention and ran toward him with all his strength, teeth clenched.

'Just a little... Just a little more...!!'

The distance narrowed in an instant. When Minos reached him, Gerik grabbed him and turned in the opposite direction.

Thud!! Thud!! Thud!!

At the same time, the Grizzly Owl closed in right before them. There was no trace of reason in its eyes. It held only the hatred of a beast determined to kill the one who had burned it.

Its enormous forepaw rose.

'Charge...!!'

Gerik tried to use his last remaining Charge to create distance. But it was his first time using the skill while holding someone.

His balance faltered, and the timing slipped by half a beat.

Whoosh!!

"Gahh!!"

The sound of something being slashed and a scream erupted at the same time.

Gerik shot away with Charge, then looked at Minos's back in shock. Bright red blood poured out. Though it had only grazed him, the Grizzly Owl's claws had left a vicious wound across his back.

"You fucking animal!!"

Boom!!

Having reached the Grizzly Owl's back, Ilvern let out a furious roar and drove his mace, wreathed in ash-gray flames, into its back.

When the higher-tier skill struck a wound that had already been mangled by repeated Slashes and magic, the Grizzly Owl let out the most desperate roar Gerik had heard yet.

But Gerik had no time to watch.

"Minos! Stay conscious!"

When he laid Minos on the ground, blood continued flowing from his back without stopping. Gerik frantically pulled a bandage from his clothes and pressed it against the wound.

Even while breathing heavily, Minos narrowed his eyes and pointed with his chin toward the small backpack lying beside him.

Remembering Ilvern's earlier situation, Gerik immediately realized that Minos was pointing to a healing potion. With trembling hands, he picked up the bag and tried to look inside.

"...!!"

Gerik's hand froze as he lifted the bag.

The inside was soaked. Unfortunately, the potion bottles seemed to have shattered when the Grizzly Owl's claws cut Minos earlier.

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