310 – Battalion Commander, Big Lump Alan

“M-me, me arm has…!”

The huge man is flung through the air.
One of his arms detaches from his shoulder and rolls across the ground before him.
After bouncing once, he crashes through the wall of a house.

I’m not getting any experience points, so he must still be alive… I guess I wasn’t precise enough.

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Alan Agroose
Species: Giant Huma
Condition: Bleeding (major)
Lv: 41/60
HP: 28/301
MP: 31/69
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His endurance is high… But then had I hit him directly, one blow would still have been enough.

“M-me arm….
m-me…”

The huge man crawls out of the crumbling house.
Then the thick-legged horse he was riding flies towards him.

“Oooooooh! Buska, don’t come, Buskaa!”

With a final choked scream, he’s crushed under his horse and stops moving.

【246 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 246 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 90 to 91.】

God’s Voice informs me of my level up.
I clean up the nearby cavalry as I approach him, then flick his detached arm with my claw.

“Commander Alan has been killed!”
“Th-that Alan-sama has, so, so lightly…”
“This is impossible! We can’t fight that! Sorry I don’t want to die for nothing!”

The remaining cavalry scatter upon losing their leader.
It doesn’t look like any are willing to stay.

Next up… I don’t need to chase after them, I think.
Following such a thorough defeat, I don’t expect they’ll ever want to try again.
I’d rather not chase and kill each of them in turn.

My eyes are caught by the blood sticking to my claws.
I get the feeling I’ve grown used to killing people.
I know I can’t afford to immerse myself in my emotions, but I still have to reflect on it a bit.

“Uu, u, uu…”

I hear groaning from nearby.
Looking towards the source, I see a Lithovar warrior leaning against a building and covered in blood.

I run towards him and signal my partner with my eyes.

“Gaah”

She cries, and the Lithovar warrior is bathed in warm light.
His wound quickly closes and his laboured breathing settles down.
He opens his eyes a moment later.

The village was hit directly.
The damage is incomparable to everything before.
I’m just grateful that I had to use surprisingly little MP in the battles, so I still have plenty to heal with.

I look in the direction that the man who Aro chased after, who seemed to be their leader, fled.
Sorry, Aro… It doesn’t look like I can  follow you yet.
Don’t die on me, Aro…

I run around the village, healing the Lithovars who have fatal wounds.

I feel bad for them, but I’m putting off healing those with wounds that aren’t too serious.
The MP cost of healing dozens of people is a bit dicey, even for me.
Once everything’s calmed down, I can focus entirely on [High Rest]…

I wonder if it’s okay to assume this battle’s over already.
I’ve killed or scared away quite a lot of cavalry.
With the state that their main force that attacked the village is in, it should be safe now.
It’s hard to imagine they could still have enough troops that can fight left.

Without being sure, I can’t feel relieved, but… If their objective was the annihilation of the Lithovars, it wouldn’t be strange for them to have given up.
Once I’m finished healing the warriors, Bella of the miko bloodline rushes over to me.
She chants hurriedly, raises her staff and closes her eyes.

『Dragon-god-sama! W-would you mind coming over here? I was treating a soldier in a shelter, but… His pulse keeps getting weaker…』

A shelter…? Aah, the anti-abyss basements.
I have Bella lead me through the village.

She enters a half-destroyed building.
I guess there’s a shelter below.

I can’t go in, so I wait outside for a little while, then a man on a cloth-covered is carried out.
He’s half-naked, and his upper body is smeared with a green liquid.
Bloodsoaked bandages cover wounds on his abdomen and shoulders.
The strange liquid is probably a Lithovar salve.

“Gaah”

My partner chants [High Rest], and his wounds rapidly close.
A pink tinge returns to his pallid face.
He should be okay now.

Having watched, Lithovars pop out of hiding places all around.

“Dragon-god-sama has driven them back!”
“We’ve been saved yet again!”

Among the clamouring Lithovars, I spot a familiar face.
It’s man who tried to free me from the cave of sacrifices, Tatark.
Did you come over here too, ossan?

He’s sitting with his back against the building with the shelter entrance, his head hanging down.
Even though the village has escaped the crisis, his expression isn’t cheerful at all.
At first I think he’s injured, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

“Don’t screw with me! How dare you come back after what you’ve done!”

From inside the house, I hear a woman screaming.
Startled, I jerk back.

“P-please calm down, Aino-san! They came here to save us, you know? He was probably worried about you…”

“Then he shouldn’t have left in the first place! He threw away everything to leave, not giving the slightest care for my feelings!”

A-Aino-san…? I’m sure I heard that name before…

『…Her name is Aino.
Aino had a daughter, but she was killed by the manticore.』

…Aro’s mother, huh.
I was told that she’d been a bit unstable ever since Aro was sacrificed to the manticore.
She might not be too happy about the anti-dragon-god people returning so easily.

We decided to stay quiet about the matter of the dragon-god and the miko I used to persuade the anti-dragon-god-village so as not to cause confusion in this village.
It’s still not the time to tell them.
But the result is that it looks like the anti-dragon-gods left the village without thinking, then came back without thinking.

Judging from what she said, someone close to her left to join the anti-dragon-god village.
For that to have happened while she was grieving the loss of her child, it’s not strange for her to feel like it’s a betrayal.
I guess I can’t do anything but leave her alone for now.

As I’m thinking that… Tatark quietly gets to his feet and trudges away.

…Hmm? Eh? C-could Tatark be Aino’s friend… No, her husband?

To be sure, apparently he only went to the anti-dragon-god village recently.
The timing is a perfect fit for his child being sacrificed to the dragon-god.
The reason he tried to save me could easily be because he was depressed about being assigned to watch the cave of sacrifices even after immigrating, or because the children being sacrificed reminded him of Aro.

Aro also had a strange reaction when I headed towards the anti-dragon-god village.
She might have known that her father would go there after she died.

Or did Tatark try and fail to take Aro with him to the anti-dragon-god village…? Perhaps because Aino objected, he ended up going by himself… I don’t know enough to be certain, but I can guess their circumstances.

The sound of Aino’s crying fills my ears as I watch Tatark’s receding back in astonishment.

AN: I’ve put together information about the seven『Starved Hunters』commanders!

Sword Lord Tolman (preparing to escape)
First Battalion Commander, Azalea the Blood Dragon (injured)
Second Battalion Commander, Grodel of Deadly Poison (preparing to escape)
Third Battalion Commander, Big Lump Alan (killed in action)
Fourth Battalion Commander, Norwell the Angel of the Battlefield (standing by)
Fifth Battalion Commander, Ernesis the Witch Who Invites Death (killed in action)
Sixth Battalion Commander, Lightning Wielder Lapar (fled without permission)
Seventh Battalion Commander, One-Eyed Hannibal (killed in action)