Chapter 65: All taurs, Unite! (03)

  "Save me! Save me!!"

  "Retreat for now!"

  Seeing the screamiaur thieves, I realized we couldn't just leave them be, so I shouted to make the frightened taur maidereat, and after dismounting from Eileen, I examihe spike-ied wound.

  "It's not ordinary metal"

  I couldn't fully uand, but at least I khis spike wasn't made of ordinary metal.

  As I watched the spike burrow into the wound aowards the brain, I quickly drew out my Mana Saber.

  "You don't want to die, do you? Then... give up a leg."

  Ssh!

  I split the area below the spike-ied right joint.

  There was no blood sptter. The high heat from the Mana Saber cauterized the wound, and I quickly cut off the affected area before the mutated spike could spread elsewhere.

  "Drag these fellows to the vilge now!"

  By now, the taur maiderembling in fear, and sino one was in their right mind, I had to give orders one by one.

  Hoping someone would help seemed futile as no one was likely to assist, so I focused with the Mana Saber and directed one of the fleeiaur thieves, giving ands myself to lead the wounded areat.

  Tatatatatata-!

  "Shield!"

  As I shouted, one of the taur maidens threw her wooden shield at me, and I i with mana again to catch the spike flying towards us.

  Crash!!

  This time, I didn't block it directly but ahe shield, coating it with mana, causing a powerful defle that embedded it deep into the ground.

  "Eileen!"

  As Eileen came alongside, I grabbed the reins and jumped onto her back. I held a wooden shield in my left hand and the Mana Saber in my right, charging at the hostile taur thieves.

  'Is he still alive?'

  As I got closer, the taur thief was bleeding from his head, and his entire body seemed twisted, moving awkwardly.

  The subject had a broke f ankle visible to the bone, but he seemed unfazed by the pain and was limping towards us while trying to simultaneously wield two spikes with both hands.

  'One spike for me, one for Eileen.'

  As I predicted, one spike flew towards the wooden shield I was holding, and the other targeted Eileen's lower body.

  Until just now, I was assessing the situation and caught it with the shield, but now that I knew where it was aimed, it wasn't something I couldn't deflect with a sword.

  'The throwing speed is normal, but there must be something peculiar about the projectile...'

  As expected, the throwing itself resembled ordinary dagger throwing, but the moment the spike was thrown, it accelerated in the air, spinning at high speed.

  "Trust me. Don't dodge, just charge!"

  If Eileen got scared and slowed down or missed the timing, she would be hit by the spike.

  But I trusted Eileen, and uhe other taur maidens, she didn't back down out of fear but trusted me a up her speed as she charged.

  Swoosh!

  To avoid startling Eileen, I briefly activated the Mana Saber to melt the spike targeting her lower body, and the one flying towards me was avoided by embrag Eileen and turning our bodies.

  'It seems there are no more spikes...'

  The moment I approached, the bleediaur thief touched his jaw.

  Gulp...

  'What is he doing...?'

  The taur thief ied his fingers into his jaw and began pulling out a long object—spikes that had grown branches and were forcibly removed, bringing out the tongue and brain.

  "What kind of thing is this?"

  Staggering, he still threw the spike he held in his hand at me, and at that moment, the spike's surface had spikes retrag inwards and then it started to accelerate rapidly towards me.

  Whoosh!

  But sihe trajectory was too simple, I timed my swing with the Mana Saber to evaporate the spike in mid-air.

  Thump.

  I reached the taur thief's body, which had destroyed its own head and fallen, but by then, it was nothing more than a mere corpse.

  Thunk.

  Even if I touched the body with my foot, there was ion, and it was just a corpse, like a pieeat.

  "Ah... What the heck is this?"

  * * *

  Thunk!

  I retrieved the spike, and to prevent any potential erosion, I wedged it between broken pieces of the wooden shield and brought it into the vilge.

  "What is this?"

  "I don't know."

  As the spike tried to escape the fragments of the wooden shield, Dane was about to touch it when I warned him.

  "If you want your fingers cut off, go ahead."

  "Ah shoot! Just tell me not to touch it."

  "Like you would listen?"

  Dane was tapping the spike with his mana shield geor, and as soon as the spike touched the mana shield, its tip began to melt.

  'I thought it melted because of the high heat from the Mana Saber... does it melt upon tact with mana?'

  If so, this spike wasn't made with magic but was crafted with special teology.

  "It's not a domestic product."

  Domestic products infuse mana into all sorts of goods, even in self-defense products in the kingdom.

  Sihe spike was no ordinary item, Dane ed it with a few pieces of wood, then ed it in cloth, and finally, pced two spikes iin box.

  Now it was time to interrogate the captured taur thieves.

  "What is this?"

  "The chief... the chief imp."

  Sihey were more fearful than rebellious, they were cooperating with us, although some had been raving in fear, I was interrogating a taur thief who was still retively sane.

  "The chief?"

  "He has been subduing bandit groups on the pins si fall. He demanded horses, so we thought he inteo monopolize ahem at high prices, but... suddenly, he killed all the horses he had gathered and tried to impnt these things in us."

  I'm not sure what kind of person he is, but he's a dangerous individual who shouldn't be allowed to run amok he kingdom.

  "Is this chief a taur?"

  "Sometimes he is a taur, and sometimes he is a human."

  "What does that mean?"

  "That... it's exactly as I said. We don't really uand."

  He didn't seem to be lying.

  If they were hostile to us as a bandit group before, now that the bandit group has colpsed, they are being hunted down by the chief uniterally and are talking about wanting to stay safe in the vilge.

  "Isn't this a trap? These guys might cause turmoil within, leaving the vilges defenseless for the bandits to attack from outside."

  Daiohat possibility, but...

  "What about information from other vilges?"

  When I asked Eileen, who had just returned from outside the vilge, she shared the information she had learned with a serious expression.

  "The nearby vilges have also taken in survivors from the bandit group. It seems that the bandit group has indeed disbanded, and most of the bandits have lost tact."

  "Hmm..."

  Thinking of the taur dominated by the spikes we had just entered, the taur bandits who were spiked in the head would end up in a simir state as that individual.

  "And... surprisingly, about a hundred or so taur bandits are gathered quietly in one pce. They seemed to be moving to attack the kingdom's horse farms."

  That meant the taurs trolled by the spikes were now pnning a full-scale atta the kingdom.

  "Damn..."

  That must be stopped.

  It's not just about whether we get horses for free or not; most knights, including the magical knights, would be uo train on horseback.

  Moreover, si takes 1-2 years to raise horses, if they ransack the horse farms and sughter the horses, it would be years before the knights could obtain new mounts.

  Additionally, it would bee impossible to retire aged horses, albeit temporarily, but the entire kingdom's knights and cavalry would lose their mobility.

  'I wish we had some support.'

  Clearly, this was not something just two trainee knights could handle.

  But even if we request reinforts now, it would take time for the knights to arrive here, so we o stall with what forces we have for now.

  "There, knight, we 't just stay like this. If the chief gets more spikes, we will definitely be annihited...!"

  Acc to the bandits' testimony, the spikes don't self-replicate, but if left alohey would bring more spikes and cause this kind of situation again, so the survivors from the bandit group are now demanding that we join forces to strike at the bandit chief.

  They are terrified by the situation caused by the spikes, but they fear the chief's danger even more.

  " we stop it? There are just two of us... even if we mobilize the taur maidens from this vilge, would we have 20?"

  We would have to fight an enemy more than five times our number.

  And that's against enemies trolled by spikes who know no fear.

  Moreover, the taurs trolled by the spikes would throw spikes from their heads wheed, as seen during the day, so defeating one would only lead to aaking its pce.

  Unless we crush them with overwhelming force to prevent the spikes from transferring to another body, or mobilize enough knights to prevent any terattack...

  "We need numbers, numbers. If we could surround those trolled by spikes and prevent them from moving their arms, we could subdue them, but we'd o outhem to do that."

  Tatatatatata-

  "If not, the damage will increase expoially and could even provide the enemy with better hosts. We might least three times, maybe even more."

  But the problem is that taurs are fearful.

  If the bandits unicate their fear of the chief to the taurs, rather than uniting, they might flee the vilge for their own safety.

  'Other vilges might have seen simir ses, but even humans would flee their vilges in fear...'

  Rumble!

  As I was pting this, Dane and I heard the stant sound of hooves and stepped out of the tent into the vilge.

  "I'm sorry."

  "What do you mean?"

  Eileen couldn't read my internal thoughts, so she didn't uand what I was talking about, but I still felt the o apologize.

  "I think I uimated the taurs too much."

  Outside the vilge, at least a hundred taurs were gathering.

  Not just randomly gregating to suppress the bandits, but joining with the survivors of the bandits and vergio prevent this situation after hearing all the rumors.

  And looking at the distant sound of hooves and dust, it wasn't just a hundred.

  It seemed as if all the taurs on this pin were gathering here.

  "Ah, right."

  Horses are fearful. taurs are fearful too.

  But when a horse carries an armed rider on its back, it bees brave enough to charge at predators because it trusts the rider on its back.

  And I had overlooked that this also applies to taurs.

  They trust their vilge chief and their rades.

  Thus, taurs are not just a fearful species but bee a perfect cavalry force, unified with their riders.

  "With this many, there's o worry, right?"

  Dane was right.

  With so many forces gathered, all we had to do was follow them.

  "Shall we go then?"

  I climbed onto Eileen's back as she held the reins and offered me her back.

  Now it was time to subdue the bandits.

  Ultimate-Harem-fan