Centipede Extermination II

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“Gaah!”

I managed to push away the fang, and pull myself away while falling to the ground. When I looked up, the giant centipede was blurry. The poison was quick to take effect.

“Nana-ren-mas-nar Cure Poison!”

I chanted while holding the wound, and then my vision returned to normal. The giant centipede continued to stumble around, with the blade still piercing it. The more it thrashed, the bigger the wound would become.

“Mei-lei-mote-sei Heal!”

While healing, I moved back to observe it. And then the wound opened wide enough that the sword fell out. While the outer shell was still connected, it was bad enough that the two halves of its body looked like they would rip apart. Still, it would not stop moving, and I could not get close enough to retrieve my sword. Its vitality was amazing.

In the meantime, the other one finished eating the killer ant, and was now approaching me. It did not even look at the goblin corpse.

Shoving its thrashing companion out of the way, it advanced. As I had some distance on it, I decided to run. I was just running without a sword, so I would not get caught easily. My opponent just charged in a straight line, and so I turned as if to draw a circle, and returned to the battlefield.

The wounded centipede had been torn in half after being rammed by the other centipede, and it had stopped thrashing around, and merely twitched. Still, I stayed away from it as I ran and picked up my sword.

And then, I turned to face the other giant centipede that was chasing me. While holding Mine Breaker at the mid level, I charged it with magic energy and waited.

I could read their attacks for the most part now. They either bite and then wrap around their prey to stop their movement, or they wrap around them first and then bite.

Just as expected, the giant centipede rushed towards me at full speed and tried to bite. At the same time, I took a step forward.

“Hah!”

With all my might, I thrust forward towards the gaping mouth and bared fangs. Previously, I had not been able to pierce its shell, even though I swung down at full strength. And stabbing its stomach had caused the blade to get stuck. And so I thought a thrust with high piercing ability would be the best.

The charged up Mine Breaker pierced through the giant centipede’s head, all the way to the handguard. Still, it tried to close its jaw and bite me.

“Woah.”

I would not make the same mistake twice. I quickly let go, and the fangs deflected off the shield on my gauntlet.

Even after having its head pierced, it continued to twist its body wildly. And it still had my sword. It was lodged too deep for me to retrieve it. However, it also showed no signs of targeting me.

And so I kept my distance and waited for it to stop moving.

After thrashing about for some time, it finally stopped moving. And so I hurled a large rock at it. There was a loud clang, and it went wild again. I repeated this three times until it only twitched.

“Alright. Good.”

I carefully freed the sword and returned it to my sheath. Around me, there were the scattered pieces of the killer ant. As well as the goblin corpse. It was quite horrible. Even if I could carve them for materials, it was too much to carry. And so I returned to the village in order to borrow a wagon.

“I killed two of them as a greeting. Will you lend me a hand?”

“You really did? Not bad, Adventurer.”

I felt rather proud as I told the hunter, and then had him help with the wagon. However, the bodies were too heavy for us, and we could not even load them onto the wagon. And since we were close to the nest, it was dangerous to stick around for too long. And we couldn’t carve them on the spot either. We had no choice but to separate them into pieces and put them on the wagon. It took several trips, and it was dark by the time we finished.

“You said it was just a greeting. But your armor is broken.”

“They were quite polite as well, and greeted me back. I’ll have to go to Suelbur once and have it repaired.”

“What are you saying? These mountains are filled with materials. If it is just a temporary measure, I can repair it.”

Oh! He can repair them. Huh. He’s not a bad guy after all.

“That would be a great help! There are still more centipedes left, after all. Thank you.”

As it was late, the repairs would be done on the following day. But as I didn’t know when the eggs would hatch, I wanted to continue the extermination tomorrow.

While the battle had been hard, I had gained a lot as well. Indeed, they had powerful attacks and high defense ability, on top of impressive vitality. You could not lower your guard around them. But I had also seen their weakness. They were clearly not intelligent at all. Their movement patterns were so simple.

I also realized why they had ignored the goblin. Apparently, killer ants were their favorite food. And so if you scattered that acidic scent, they would gather around in no time.

Because of that, I was able to devise a plan.

First, I hunt killer ants. If I can’t find any, I could use goblins as bait. And then I used a wagon to carry the killer ant close to the nest, spreading the scent everywhere. And then I wait from a short distance away.

If only one comes out, I can attack it first while it’s eating the killer ant. Then I can just fight and kill it normally. I could just stab it once and run away, but it would be dangerous to lose my sword if more of them arrive.

If there are two of them, I will attack and lure away one while they are eating.
Then I just have to draw it as far away as I can, and then fight one on one. Thrusting was dangerous if I couldn’t pull it out, and so it was safer to just hit the same spot over and over, even if it took longer. It was possible that the other one would get away, but I couldn’t be reckless.

If there were three or more, I would just have to run away while they were eating the killer ant.

The giant centipedes showed no ability to learn, and so the work continued smoothly after that. Still, it was hard work. By the time I had killed all of them, eight days had passed. And a total of nine centipedes were down.

“Are you sure that you got all of them?”

“Like I said, we’re here to find out. Now, hurry up.”

I took the hunter to the nest, and from behind a tree, peered at the hole in the cliffside. The cave was like a crack, and in the far back, there were white eggs stuck to the walls. They were packed quite densely. I did not want to see them hatch.

“Apparently, there really aren’t anymore.”

“So you finally believe me. Now, let’s crush them.”

The work that followed was not very fun. However, it had to be done, or it could threaten the village next year. And so I repressed any emotion and continued like a machine until it was done.

“I don’t want to have to do that again.”

“Well, yes. But we could not allow them to increase so close to the village. If they appear again, then I will crush them over and over.”

The hunter said while clenching his fist. He clearly had a great hatred for monsters. The village must have been attacked many times up until now. Still, there was something that needed to be said.

“Though, I’m the one who fought them.”

“I know! Thank you!”

He said as he hit me on the shoulder. He was a jolly fellow.

In any case, I had now completed all of the initial requests that the chief had given me. So for now, I could learn Amerata and take it easy for a while. Occasionally, I might go to the town of Suelbur and maintain my gear or find work at the guild.

My life at the village was finally starting to feel like it was going somewhere.

Next Chapter

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Another bonus chapter courtesy of Photo. Thank you so much!!

Ossan Boukensha no Jimichi na Isekai Tabi