The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family – Chapter 43 – Tribal Conflict (8)

Author: Dawn

[Hu…man…!!]

The Leshy was slowly rising to its feet, hands pressed against the ground.

Boiling sounds leaked from the mouth of the creature whose face should have been too mangled to make any noise.

Viktor narrowed his eyes.

‘Its face is healing.’

Amazingly, each time the Leshy swayed as it stood up, its wounds were rapidly recovering.

It was truly a bizarre sight.

The mercenaries cried out in terror.

“It’s a demon! That thing is a demon! The Leshy has been resurrected!”

“No! That creature is an evil spirit! An evil spirit that will curse us!”

The sight of the Leshy reviving as if time itself were rewinding was utterly incomprehensible.

And when people see something incomprehensible, they naturally fall into terror.

Unrest began to spread among the mercenaries.

That’s when it happened.

“Everyone quiet.”

When Viktor spoke in a low voice, silence instantly fell as if the commotion had been meaningless.

Anton looked at the mercenaries with an incredulous expression.

They seemed to fear the knight before them more than the Leshy that had risen from death.

The young priest sighed and posed a question to Viktor.

“Sir, as you can see, no matter how many times we kill it, it will rise again. How about we retreat for now?”

Anton’s words were sound reasoning.

Continuing to attack an opponent that couldn’t be killed was reckless.

However, Viktor shook his head.

“Even if we retreat, we won’t come up with any clear solution. Besides, we’ve already crossed the river with that creature. As long as I’m here, it won’t easily back down.”

The Leshy wasn’t paying attention to anyone else and was glaring only at Viktor.

The gloomy green eyes were shot through with blue veins, making it look quite malicious.

Anton let out another heavy sigh.

“Crossed the river… it’s an old-fashioned expression, but it fits perfectly. Phew… I wonder what we should do.”

“Father, don’t worry. I have a method.”

Despite the incredible situation where an opponent he had killed with his own hands had been resurrected, Viktor still maintained a calm expression.

Anton’s head shot up.

“Ah, did you perhaps learn methods for exorcising Leshys at university?”

“University? I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I do have a method.”

In contrast to Viktor’s calm expression, his eyes began to gleam ominously.

“Let’s see how many times it can get back up.”

Once he decided to stomp on something, he would do it thoroughly.

A violent aura flowed from his body.

The Leshy was now in an almost perfectly resurrected state.

The wounds it had suffered from Viktor had mostly healed, and the withered branches were once again full of vigor as if freshly grown.

[Human! Human!! How dare you reduce me to such a state! I will not retreat until I make you fertilizer for the forest!]

The Leshy pounded its chest in extreme rage.

To be beaten to death by a mere human was the ultimate humiliation.

However, if there was something that arrogant human had overlooked, it was that it was invincible within the forest.

The Leshy let out a cruel smile.

[Human! No matter how much you struggle, I will never die! Kehehehe!]

“Looks like you didn’t get beaten enough.”

Viktor slowly stepped forward.

As he took a large step, the Leshy involuntarily flinched.

The memory of being beaten by Viktor was still vivid.

It had been truly merciless and savage violence.

The Leshy shouted even louder as if to hide its fear.

[Human! Human! You cannot kill me! I am invincible!]

“Leshy. I understand why you’re acting so arrogantly. It seems you can keep resurrecting as long as you’re in the forest.”

When Viktor calmly spoke while looking at it, the Leshy became triumphant.

The creature had just been standing there with its arms crossed as if there was nothing he could do about its resurrection.

[Human! Kehehehe! That’s right! No matter what you do, you cannot kill me! You’d better be afraid! Since you dared to lay hands on me, I’ll kill you in the most painful way possible!]

“I see.”

Viktor loosened his grip and picked up his battle axe.

“So you’re invincible within the forest.”

[Wh-what, human!]

As the Leshy shouted in sudden unease, Viktor swung his battle axe.

Whoosh! Thud!

The axe made a buzzing sound like a bee with each swing, such was the force behind it.

“Leshy. How about thinking of it this way.”

[…?]

“You come back no matter how many times you’re killed within the forest. So what do you think would happen if I killed you and then carried your head outside the forest?”

[…!!]

“Would only your body resurrect without your head? What if I cut off all your limbs and scattered them in different directions? Would you have to live forever in the forest with only your body remaining? How about it, hm? Give me an answer.”

The Leshy suddenly realized something.

The knight before it had appeared expressionless, but his eyes had been continuously staring only at its face from beginning to end.

When it met those deep, abyss-like eyes that contained no emotion, the Leshy felt goosebumps rise all over its body.

‘This human… really intends to dismember me!’

It had never imagined such a thing, but what if its entire body were dismembered and abandoned as he said?

‘I would truly cease to exist…’

Fear began to creep across the Leshy’s face.

Throughout its life in the forest, it had never feared death.

But for the first time, it was facing the threat of true death.

When its thoughts reached that point, the Leshy could no longer overcome the rushing fear and couldn’t help but tremble.

[Hu-human! You would di-dismember me? Do you think you can do such a thing?]

As the Leshy trembled while barely managing to speak, Viktor’s mouth twisted slightly.

“You act as if you’re something special. An opponent I’ve killed once—why couldn’t I kill it several times? Let’s start with the neck.”

The sight of Viktor approaching with his axe like an executioner was eerie beyond words.

The Leshy couldn’t maintain its composure in the face of the killing intent emanating from his entire body.

Finally, the Leshy made its choice.

[Hu-human! I’m sorry! I was wrong!]

It decided to beg this terrifying human for its life!

Anton, who had been watching from beginning to end, nodded with an admiring expression.

‘It’s an exorcism method I never thought of, but… it has quite high feasibility. If we can somehow cut off its head, we could prevent continued resurrection… I should report this to the diocese later and have it recorded.’

A rampaging Leshy was a powerful opponent that would inevitably cause casualties to subdue, but compared to the things they had been doing as so-called Leshy exorcism methods, this was quite a good idea.

While Anton was nodding, Viktor continued approaching the Leshy without saying anything particular.

[Hu-human! I was wrong! I’ll never appear on the road again, so please don’t cut my neck!]

However, Viktor didn’t stop.

[Human! Didn’t I say I was wrong! Calm down for a moment! Calm down and— Eek!]

Before it could finish speaking, Viktor swung his axe, causing the Leshy to cry out in shock and duck.

As the axe blade passed right over its head, the Leshy shuddered at the bone-chilling sensation and threw its body backward with all its might.

[Human! Why are you doing this? Didn’t I say I was wrong! Why do you keep trying to kill me!]

When the Leshy cried out as if wronged, Viktor spoke.

“Leshy, think about it this way.”

[…]

“Suppose a bandit entered your forest. Even after you politely warned the bandit that you wouldn’t harm him if he retreated, he arrogantly insulted you while setting fires in the forest as he pleased. But only after you couldn’t stand it anymore and came out to beat him did the bandit say he was wrong and beg to be spared. What would you do?”

[…Th-that’s…]

“That bandit is you, Leshy. Does saying you’re wrong make it all end?”

Viktor declared coldly.

“You should have begged for your life much earlier.”

He raised his axe.

[Human! Human! Wait! I never set any fires and I didn’t kill anyone! I’m truly sorry for acting arrogantly!]

And just as he was about to swing the axe,

[Human!! I’ll compensate you! I’ll give you everything I have and do everything I can, so please spare me!]

The Leshy clutched its head and shouted while trembling violently.

At those words, the axe stopped.

The Leshy carefully opened its eyes and looked ahead.

The eerie axe blade had come right up to its neck.

Viktor looked at it with an expressionless face.

“Say more.”

The Leshy gulped.

[So-so I don’t have gold or jewels, but… wait! Wait! I haven’t finished talking yet!]

“There should be a proper reason to keep you alive. Not just some twigs or fruit.”

Viktor muttered in a voice filled with killing intent.

The items the Leshy had tried to offer while begging for its life were just that absurd.

-What is this?

-[The sweetest and most delicious fruit in this forest! And this is my most precious branch… wait! Why are you swinging the axe! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!]

‘This fellow, is it because it’s a forest spirit…?’

The Leshy was poor beyond measure.

A Leshy born from the essence of the forest couldn’t possibly have money.

Just as Viktor was wondering whether he should cut its neck right now, the Leshy glanced around and carefully brought up something else.

[Human, then how about this? From what I can see, you people need to pass through this road…]

“Don’t tell me you’re going to say something like getting by with just moving aside.”

When Viktor frowned, the Leshy shook its head vigorously.

[No! I’m not shameless enough for that! That’s not it—isn’t the road a mess because of all the rain? Especially up ahead, the road will be completely cut off!]

“So?”

[I’ll help all of you pass through comfortably! I can make a road so sturdy that it won’t budge even if many people pass over it! How about that…?]

It was an unexpected proposal.

‘I was just worrying about that problem… if it can solve that.’

Viktor looked at the Leshy with suspicious eyes.

“But Leshy, how can you make a road? Do you have that ability?”

At his words, the Leshy bristled.

[Human! Who do you think I am! I was born in this forest and have lived with the forest! I can easily do that much!]

“What does being born in this forest have to do with that? Prove it. Don’t forget that you’ve already lied to me once.”

Under Viktor’s cold gaze, the Leshy turned its head away awkwardly.

[Fine, human! Watch carefully! Like this…]

The Leshy pointed both hands toward the ground.

Then its grotesquely long fingers gently burrowed into the earth.

With a light grunt, the branches growing from the Leshy’s body began to shake wildly.

Rumble!

Soon, with a light vibrating sound, something could be felt rising from beneath the soft earth.

Crack!

What finally broke through the surface were massive tree roots.

Exactly ten tree roots intertwined with each other, rising along the ground and covering the surface like a solid foundation replacing the ground itself.

“This is impossible…”

“To think I’d see such a thing with my own eyes…”

The mercenaries exclaimed in amazement.

The massive tree roots that had instantly grown to cover the soft ground slowly sank back underground while covering the surface with light mud.

A solid wooden road was complete.

The Leshy pulled out its hands and shouted proudly.

[How about that! It got a bit narrow, but this should hold up even if many humans pass over it!]

Viktor knelt on one knee, brushed away the mud, and touched the tree root.

‘It’s sturdier than I thought. Not bad.’

He nodded.

The wooden road, sturdier than expected, looked sufficient for immediate use.

Then, with a sudden thought, Viktor tilted his head and posed a question to the Leshy.