Chapter 167: Vacation (6)

Rustle.

A magical beast with dark blue fur wandered through the forest.

The Shabel Tiger was originally known as a solitary creature.

In typical forests, it had no worthy opponents, so it moved alone with dignified pride.

The problem was that it showed no hesitation in trespassing into human territory.

Ordinary soldiers couldn’t handle it, and it took a formation of skilled fighters to barely fend it off due to its strength and size.

Gradually, it marked its territory with its scent and traces, expanding its domain, and when it reached a human village, it hunted its prey under the cover of night.

Swish.

Having finally discovered a village, the Shabel Tiger rubbed its body against a nearby tree, leaving its scent behind.

It was planning to descend upon the village to hunt humans once night fell.

Just as it turned to return to its base, a figure suddenly dropped from the tree where it had left its scent.

Shwaaak.

With a sharp sonic burst, a terrifying arc slashed through the air.

The Shabel Tiger instantly twisted its body and leapt away, but it still ended up with a deep gash along its side.

Growl.

Blood oozed down its black fur in thick streams.

Leaping backward to create distance, the Shabel Tiger immediately lowered its stance to gauge the strength of its opponent.

But before it could do so, a greatsword shot out from the bushes and mercilessly sliced through the beast’s neck.

Slice.

All of its attention had been on the foe in front of it, so it couldn’t even react to the ambush.

Darius casually swung his greatsword to flick off the blood and tilted his head as he looked down at the fallen Shabel Tiger.

“It’s much bigger than I remember.”

“Looks like it’s the alpha. I was trying to kill it in one strike, but I didn’t expect it to dodge.”

“I doubted you for a second too. Thought you’d gone soft since joining the Knights.”

“Watch it.”

At Carius’ words, Darius grinned and casually stepped away, walking over to the fallen Shabel Tiger’s corpse.

“How is it, Carl? Do you see anything?”

“Nothing particularly unusual…”

While the two older brothers were bickering, Carl, who had been examining the Shabel Tiger’s body, furrowed his brows.

“What’s wrong?”

“Wait a second.”

Shring.

Heavenly Thunder Sword was drawn and swung toward the Shabel Tiger.

As Carius and Darius took a step back to watch, Carl reached into the massive beast and pulled out something the size of a fist.

“Do either of you know what this is?”

“…What is that?”

“A magic stone? No, it doesn’t give off a good feeling to be one.”

A crystal, resembling a magic stone, had been extracted from the Shabel Tiger’s body.

The problem was that the energy it radiated felt incredibly familiar to Carl.

‘It’s Demonic Energy.’

Not the kind from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, but the same demonic energy that beings like Besha or other Demon Humans possessed.

Though magical beasts were known to be creatures corrupted by demonic energy spread across the continent, even after slaying countless of them, nothing like this had ever appeared before.

“Wait. Brother, isn’t this demonic energy?”

“…You feel that too?”

“Death Knights and Ghouls gave off this same unpleasant vibe. I’ve never seen it in crystal form, though.”

Darius furrowed his brow and lifted his head.

“What the hell is going on?”

“There are no other wounds on the body. It doesn’t seem like someone forcibly implanted it.”

“Of course. Who in their right mind would try to implant a demonic crystal into a Shabel Tiger of this size?”

“Then…”

Carius carefully nudged the crystal with the tip of his sword to examine it.

“It’s likely that it absorbed a denser concentration of demonic energy than normal, causing a crystal to form inside its body.”

“If that’s the case, isn’t this a serious problem?”

Carl also stood up and dusted himself off.

“It would mean something is happening deeper within the forest.”

“It’s worth investigating, then. Good thing we moved quickly.”

“Hm.”

Carius stared at the crystal for a moment, lost in thought.

Darius, noticing what his eldest brother was thinking, spoke in a light tone.

“If it’s about returning, don’t worry too much. We’re not planning to go deep anyway. We’ll return based on your schedule and report the rest to the family.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do what I can. And the Knights aren’t that cold-hearted. If it’s for family matters, I can probably get more time.”

“Just don’t get on their bad side. They might say the Count’s son is slacking off using the family as an excuse.”

“Do I look like you?”

Carius let out a bitter chuckle at his brother’s words.

“Anyway, don’t worry about that. We still have time. For now, it seems we need to investigate further.”

“Carl, you…”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Geez, tsk.”

Darius scratched his head.

Judging by the Shabel Tiger’s level alone, things could get dangerous, so he had planned to send Carl back with the demonic crystal.

But seeing Carl assert himself so clearly, it was obvious he wouldn’t listen even if they tried to talk him down.

‘Right, the Leipzig bloodline is stubborn through and through.’

Darius nodded and picked up the crystal.

“We’ll stash this away from the corpse and take it with us when we return.”

“Won’t other magical beasts be drawn to the demonic energy?”

“If it were me, I’d be more tempted by the Shabel Tiger’s corpse than the crystal. With a body this big, there’s plenty to feast on.”

“Then we should move it somewhere else. This place is too close to the village.”

Carl grabbed the Shabel Tiger’s head and began dragging it away.

Seeing their supposedly timid younger brother act so tough, the eldest and second-born both laughed and walked alongside him, offering to help.

Hmm.

After moving far from the village, Carl tossed down the Shabel Tiger’s body and brushed off his hands, falling deep into thought.

The demonic energy emerging across the continent was said to be backflow from the Demon Realm.

That was the commonly accepted theory in academic circles.

If it were something occurring only in the Forest of Nore, they could’ve pinpointed the source and resolved it.

But what if such incidents were happening across the entire continent?

‘It means something must have happened in the Demon Realm.’

The amount of demonic energy that naturally backflowed had suddenly increased.

No matter how one looked at it, that was never a good sign.

“Well, it’s moved now.”

“Let’s head out quickly. The sun sets faster around the forest and mountain range.”

“If we want to check up to the front of the mountain range, we’ll have to move fast.”

The three Leipzig brothers roamed through the Forest of Nore.

They were careful not to miss even the smallest traces, chasing signs of magical beasts or demonic energy all the way to the mountain range.

“Nothing here.”

“Are they all somewhere else?”

But ever since encountering that one Shabel Tiger, all they found was empty leads.

That didn’t mean the search had been pointless.

The traces found in various places confirmed that magical beast activity this year was progressing even faster than last year.

It was just disappointing that no other beasts had shown themselves.

“Let’s head back. It’ll get dangerous once night falls.”

“Brother, should we keep searching at night instead?”

“No. Don’t break the forest’s unwritten rule.”

“…Right.”

Darius nodded obediently, unlike his usual self.

Night in the Forest of Nore was dangerous.

Magical beasts were active after sunset to begin with, and the darkness made it easy to lose track of movement, greatly increasing the risk.

Of course, someone like Darius wouldn’t have much to worry about, but with Carl tagging along today, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

“Let’s return to the village and rest. It’s not like today’s our only chance.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, we should bring the crystal too.”

The three brothers turned away from the mountain range and headed back toward the village.

The sky gradually darkened, and dusk began to settle over the land.

By the time they reached the spot near the village where they had slain the Shabel Tiger and buried the demonic crystal, it was already pitch black.

“The crystal’s intact.”

Worried about contamination from the demonic energy, Darius tied the crystal with a rope before lifting it and pointed toward the village.

“How about a drink tonight? There’s no father or mother watching us.”

“…Not a bad idea.”

At Darius’ words, Carius grinned and nodded.

Drinking with family was pleasant, but sharing drinks among brothers had a special flavor of its own.

Especially after a long day spent scouring the forest, it was bound to taste even better.

But their steps halted abruptly as a strange smell tickled their noses.

“Blood?”

“And something burning too…”

Carl raised his internal energy to his eyes and peered ahead.

Beyond the dark forest, smoke and sparks were faintly rising from inside the palisade walls of the village.

“…”

The three looked at each other briefly, then without a word, dashed toward the village.

Carl furrowed his brow, trying to sense the presence from that direction.

‘A magical beast attack.’

It was strange that he hadn’t sensed it earlier.

With his level of awareness, he should have noticed something was wrong in the village much sooner.

‘No.’

Could the strange aura permeating the forest have disrupted his senses?

He had brushed it off as a fleeting feeling, but perhaps his perception was indeed slightly dulled today.

“Save the people!”

Boom!

At Carius’ command as he crashed through one side of the palisade, Darius and Carl followed suit, bursting into the village.

“Gyaaah!”

“Gather on one side!”

“Light fires to form a perimeter! Keep the magical beasts at bay!”

The village was in utter chaos.

The well-trained vigilante corps was doing its best to hold the line, but the horde of magical beasts attacking with purpose was overwhelming.

Corpses of people mauled to death already littered various corners of the village.

Slash─!

Carl darted through the chaos and sharply swung the Heavenly Thunder Sword.

A Shabel Tiger that had been gnawing on a vigilante’s shield was split in two and tumbled to the ground.

Even so, it still clenched onto the shield, showing just how tenacious they were.

Swish!

Carl didn’t stop moving.

He hadn’t shown his full strength, but he swung his sword diligently, doing his part as a member of the Leipzig family.

“…”

Even Darius, fighting beside him, was surprised by the momentum.

‘I knew he’d grown, but this much?’

It was a beast so tough and resilient that even Carius, the eldest, couldn’t cut it down in one blow.

Even if he had used aura, he had sliced through it like it was paper?

Drop.

Eventually, most of the magical beasts had been dealt with.

The survivors were gathered at the village center to assess their condition, and the vigilante corps moved again to search for remaining beasts and repair the palisade.

Rustle.

Carl wiped the blood from his sword with some straw and suddenly looked up, sensing someone’s gaze on him.

“What’s the matter?”

“…Youngest, your skills have improved noticeably.”

“Seriously. It’s impressive. At this rate, you might catch up to us soon.”

“Ah.”

Carl let out a bitter laugh.

He might have put in a bit more strength than he meant to.

Of course, he already had an excuse ready for times like this.

Carl raised his sword with a sheepish expression and said:

“Actually, it’s thanks to this sword.”

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