Chapter 4 : Fighting is unbeatable
Piggel is an omnivorous monster.
Although its size is not small, it moves surprisingly fast.
Coupled with its sharp claws and teeth, it’s quite a threat.
Even for trained soldiers, this was not an easy opponent.
One careless move could lead to injury or even death.
Nia was curious to see how El would handle this creature and took this opportunity to gauge his strength.
They walked a little further down the slope, and just as they were about to reach the foot of the mountain, El stopped.
Under Nia’s watchful eyes, he opened the silver chest he had been carrying, pulling out a strange-looking object.
Although the object looked unusual, judging by the arrows and its shape, Nia guessed it was some kind of bow.
“Mr. El… what is that?”
Nia couldn’t help but ask as El swung the “bow” around.
“In our land, this is called a compound crossbow,” El said, nocking an arrow and taking an odd aiming stance toward the Piggel quietly grazing not far away.
“You can just think of it as a bow.”
It really was a bow.
Nia had never seen a bow like this before.
She stared intently at El, eager to see what would happen next.
“Let me show you some modern craftsmanship.”
With that, a metal-shimmering arrow shot off the string.
The arrow carved a straight line through the air, flying all the way to the Piggel’s head, piercing through it and embedding itself into a nearby tree, splattered with pink brain matter.
A few seconds later, the monster, which had been standing, collapsed straight onto the ground, its limbs twitching erratically before going still.
Nia felt a sudden warmth rising in her throat.
This was clearly not the normal power of any bow she knew.
The arrow’s flight speed was insanely fast, and its piercing effect rivaled that of her tribe’s magic archers.
It was hard to imagine how such lethality was possible without magical assistance.
The most baffling part was that she didn’t sense El exerting any effort in drawing the bowstring, nor did she detect any trace of magic.
It was as if he had casually fired the arrow without any strain.
If magic were added… she dared not even imagine.
Nia could only attribute the power to that strange “bow” in his hands.
He said it was “modern craftsmanship”?
Which master smith was responsible for this?
If a weapon like this existed on the Pharra Continent, the smith should be a household name.
So why had she never heard of him?
Lost in these thoughts, El had already finished cleaning up.
He put the strange bow back in the chest and then laboriously lifted the Piggel’s corpse onto it.
For some reason, the chest suddenly sprouted a handle and several wheels.
“Miss Nia, let’s go. Tonight’s dinner is settled.”
“Mm.”
Nia responded blankly, still reeling from the shock of what she’d just witnessed.
…
The return journey was much harder than the way down.
Besides the uphill climb, the main reason was that El now had a “burden” trailing behind him.
Even with the wheels easing the load, the Piggel’s weight was no joke, and moving quickly was far from easy.
Nia offered to help, but El rejected her without hesitation.
At first, Nia didn’t understand.
If two people worked together, they could go faster.
Why refuse her help?
It wasn’t until the third rejection and hearing El mutter under his breath that she realized something.
If he were his old self, he probably wouldn’t accept help from a lady either.
He was a man with quite a chivalrous spirit.
But from her current perspective, the help was unnecessary.
She was likely much stronger than him.
At that moment, Nia suddenly understood why Master Elena didn’t like being treated as a girl.
Elena had passed the knight’s exam with top honors and was a full-fledged knight.
Yet during missions, Nia had always instinctively treated her as someone to be cared for, prioritizing her as a woman.
Looking back, it was indeed inappropriate.
No wonder she often got angry.
Once back in the Royal Capital, Nia resolved to apologize properly.
Yes, that was the plan…
Her tangled thoughts were abruptly cut off when she sensed something was wrong and suddenly stopped.
El, who had been walking behind her, wasn’t paying attention and bumped into her back.
“Miss Nia, why did you suddenly stop?” El asked with a hint of complaint.
“Danger.”
“Danger?” El glanced around, seeing nothing unusual. Turning back, he said indifferently, “It’s broad daylight. What danger could there be?”
“Get down!”
Just as Nia’s voice fell, a face rapidly grew larger in El’s line of sight.
Before he could react, the female knight drew her longsword from her waist and stepped in front of him.
A loud clang rang out as the sword met the paw of a monster.
Dust billowed around them instantly.
When the dust settled, a two-headed dog-like monster appeared before El.
This beast was about a meter tall, with two heads, four blood-red eyes, and slobber dripping from its mouths—clearly a starving dog ready to feed.
Its appearance reminded El of the hellhound from old movies—muscular and imposing, radiating fierce dominance.
Especially those four glowing red eyes, shimmering with death and greed, chilling anyone who looked at them.
Despite having been here a while, this was the first time El had seen such a monster.
He wasn’t sure if it was tasty…
But judging by the lack of any immediate attack, this thing was probably harder to deal with than any monster he had faced before.
Instinctively, he reached for the weapon in the chest.
As soon as he made this move, the two-headed dog seemed to sense it and charged toward him with uncanny speed.
Before he could regain his senses, the charging dog collided with the female knight again.
“Clang.”
The sound of longsword meeting claw echoed sharply.
The powerful impact made Nia stagger, nearly losing her footing.
Even this brief clash gave Nia a clear understanding of her current physical state.
She couldn’t confront this beast head-on—retreat was necessary.
Using the momentum from the collision to steady herself, Nia immediately made a decision and ran backward.
As she fled, she suddenly remembered she wasn’t alone.
She glanced back and saw El not running away but reaching for his bow.
Nia had no choice but to rush back, scolding him under her breath.
“Idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
“Run!”