Revenge of the Iron-Blooded Sword Hound TL

Chapter 9 Hell Hound (2)

In the Baskerville family, practical exams are conducted frequently, several times a day.

Most of them involve siblings fighting each other to determine the hierarchy of strength, and the start of these fights is usually signaled by this bell.

Ding-

The young hounds of the Baskerville family, tense in the unfamiliar environment, immediately came to their senses at the familiar bell sound.

And as they had learned, they instinctively show their fighting spirit.

One young Baskerville from the 9-year-old class quickly ran to the other side of the wasteland.

This one had gained quite a bit of profit last year by occupying advantageous terrain first.

But while he had the intelligence to remember last year's points, he didn't have the intelligence to consider the gazes focused on him.

Quick-witted 8-year-olds chase after him.

They plan to snatch whatever he's trying to get, even though they don't know what it is.

The clever ones pretend to know something, acting like they do, and run to attract competitors.

Then they lure them into dangerous pits or swamps and get rid of the annoying flies all at once.

The triplets Highbro, Middlebro, and Lowbro were such cunning ones.

"Occupy that side first."

"Don't order me around."

"We're doing fine on our own, you guys just do well."

The 9-year-olds already showing prominence, by the way, used similar methods last year when they were 8 to eliminate a bunch of seniors a year older than them.

Just a few hours after the bell rang, dropouts started occurring in droves.

Fainting from shock, rolling down steep slopes, falling into swamps, getting stabbed or cut by sharp objects.

The reasons were varied, but the fundamental cause was one.

They fell victim to other siblings.

...Clang!

The sound of metal pieces clashing can be heard from various parts of the forest.

As soon as the competition started, the young children of the Baskerville family were fighting each other with the short swords they were given.

Blunt swords with edges that aren't sharpened to prevent lethal damage.

Killing opponents is not encouraged in this competition.

It's not prohibited, but it's not encouraged either.

If you kill an opponent, points are deducted... and since this point deduction is quite significant, the children do their best not to kill their opponents 'personally'.

Of course, if one's skills are good enough and accumulated points are sufficient to afford the deduction, or if one can kill the opponent secretly enough not to be noticed by the Guide Dogs, it doesn't matter.

Well, even though the guardian knights acting as Guide Dogs keep a vigilant eye 24 hours a day, mysterious deaths and accidents frequently occur during the practical evaluation, so this might be an opportunity to eliminate rivals or those one dislikes.

...However.

Vikir was not part of this fierce competition.

From the beginning, Vikir acted as if he wasn't interested in scoring points.

All he did was, as soon as the bell rang, move nimbly to leave the protected area and settle in the wasteland on the outskirts of the boundary adjacent to the unexplored area.

'...Was it around here?'

Vikir was recalling his time as a test-taker and instructor before the regression.

Surely, if you keep going this way, there's a wasteland that's barely within the boundary area.

There's a dead tree standing tall there, with its roots that spread deep into the ground rotting and making the entire ground soft.

Eventually, Vikir found the land he was aiming for.

The soil there is unusually more reddish compared to other places.

Vikir started poking and digging the ground with a broken branch.

While other siblings were fighting and gaining or losing points in distant places, Vikir silently kept digging.

The Guide Dog guardian knights observed Vikir continuously from hidden places.

But even after several days passed, Vikir only showed the appearance of continuing to dig a hole.

'He seems to be trying to hide and pass time there.'

'Somewhat disappointing.'

'No need to keep watching.'

The guardian knights had high expectations internally because Vikir had shown prominence since childhood, but this was quite deflating.

Digging a hole and hiding was typical behavior of cowards, lower-ranked children with nothing special about them.

Eventually, unable to keep watching, the guardian knights started to take their eyes off Vikir one by one.

...However.

They were too focused on the fights between children to see.

How deep the 8-year-old Vikir was digging the hole, and what he was doing inside it.

* * *

"This place is still like a cradle."

Vikir.

He was spending leisurely time sitting at the bottom of the hole.

The Red and Black Mountain he revisited was too comfortable and cozy.

Outside, the guardian knights are standing guard instead, and competitors don't come to this outskirts.

If thirsty, he could collect dew that gathered overnight on large leaves hung on the hole walls, and if hungry, he could catch and roast passing snakes or moles.

It was actually much more delicious than the haggis or preserved food served as meals in the Infant Tooth Castle.

The bed he made himself was also more comfortable.

The beds for young children in the Infant Tooth Castle are made of monster skins or thorny trees, making them very hard and rough.

But here in the hole, well-dried straw, sawdust, and burnt ashes are spread softly, making it very warm and comfortable.

Vikir closed his eyes for a moment while roasting a rat he caught last evening over a bonfire.

Danger level: F

Size: 50cm

Discovery location: Entire continent

-A rat grotesquely transformed by being steeped in magic.

Adult specimens have intelligence and size comparable to a small dog, making them objects of disgust for women.

After removing the internal organs, if well-roasted over fire or well-boiled in water, it's surprisingly edible.

He remembers all information about monsters clearly, even if they're low-grade.

Thanks to the monster encyclopedia he memorized to death before the regression.

Of course, Vikir wasn't the only one who memorized the entire monster encyclopedia in the world before the regression.

In the Age of Destruction, everyone was a hunter.

'...But now I'm the only hunter.'

Perhaps he's closer to being a hunting dog used by hunters.

But that's why he can make the hunter even more miserable.

"Is there anything more ironic than a hunter dying with his throat bitten by the dog he raised?"

Suddenly, a conversation he had with Hugo before the regression comes to mind.

It was shortly before his execution.

'When training dogs, you have to accept that some will die. Usually, two out of three die. Do you think that's heartless?'

'No, sir.'

'Of course not. Because the master also trains dogs prepared to be bitten to death. The master must always be trained too. You never know when you might be bitten to death by blind teeth.'

This was a fact that Hugo himself was aware of.

Perhaps that's why Hugo trusted no one in this world. Not even himself.

"..."

Vikir shook his head to clear away stray thoughts.

Then he took out a bean from the pouch tied to his waist.

Blood Bean. A dark red bean with an incredible cacao concentration.

Vikir threw one bean into the bonfire.

The gamey smell and off-odors from the plump, greasy rat meat disappear, and a subtle cacao aroma permeates.

'Cacao beans, especially the highly concentrated Blood Beans, are the best for removing meat odors!'

It was a cooking method he learned from a senior soldier in the same platoon when he was drafted for the war against the demon race.

"...Camping like this brings back a lot of memories from the past."

Vikir looked around.

The watchful eyes that had been monitoring him were now all gone.

Probably because the Guide Dogs who found his behavior uninteresting had moved elsewhere.

...Then it's time now.

Vikir reached for the pile of firewood he had stacked up.

And he started carving the wood with the dagger from his waist.

Wooden spears.

Vikir began planting these pointed wooden spears upside down all over the bottom of the hole.

Spears rising high as if to pierce the sky.

Dozens, hundreds of them are planted in the bottom of the hole.

Like the lower jaw of a beast with fangs protruding.

Even Vikir himself hadn't yet thought about what these teeth would bite.

Outside the boundary area of the Red and Black Mountain, in the 'unexplored area', there are monsters so large and powerful that humans of the present world can't even imagine.

...Well, for Vikir who has been through the Age of Destruction, most of them are familiar.

"I've run out of wood."

Vikir found that all the wood he had cut was used up.

There's not enough to carve more wooden spears or throw into the bonfire.

Vikir moved outside the hole to gather more wood.

Now that the guardian knights' gazes have disappeared, he should be able to cross over to the unexplored area and cut down trees.

Eventually, Vikir stealthily entered the unexplored area, crossing the boundary.

* * *

The sea of trees in Red and Black is incredibly dense.

The stems and roots growing without distinguishing horizontal and vertical turn the entire forest into a huge maze, a jungle gym.

Looking at the dark caves pierced between the tree roots burnt by forest fires, one might suspect they are passages leading to hell.

While normal young hounds of the Baskerville family would instinctively avoid this gloomy and ominous place without being told, Vikir rather dives into these caves of his own accord.

'Let's see. I think this was roughly where the habitat was.'

Vikir roamed through the sea of trees for quite a while.

Having roamed this place frequently during his time as an instructor or scout, he knows the way like the back of his hand.

Eventually.

Vikir discovered something.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle...

It was the sound of embers burning, buried in ashes.

Following the smell of something greasy burning, he finally sees what he was looking for.

It was a pile of dung.

In the blackened, burnt pile of dung, flames that haven't yet extinguished are burning.

As far as Vikir knows, there's only one monster that defecates such hot dung.

Raising his head and crawling a bit further into the root caves of the sea of trees, he finally saw the owner of the dung.

A huge body, sharp teeth and claws, two eyes glowing like humans.

Danger level: B+

Size: 3m

Discovery location: Red and Black Mountain Range 2nd Ridge

-Also known as 'The Dog that Brings Hell'.

A being that unconditionally brings terrible disaster to those who encounter it, once bitten, one can never survive.

The sulfur fire spewing from its eyes and mouth is said to be embers transferred from the deep layers of the oil hell, and it doesn't extinguish until the life it uses as firewood is completely burned and disappeared.

Even in the encyclopedia, there wasn't much information about this dangerous monster.

But Vikir had dealt with quite a few of these types of monsters while going through the Age of Destruction.

"Finally found it."

The reason for coming to the Red and Black Mountain was to meet this creature, or rather, these creatures.

Vikir quickly turned around.

The Hell Hound, as soon as it saw Vikir, charged at him fiercely.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The roar of the hunting dog closely pursuing from behind.

Vikir threw himself into a cave on the side of the sea of trees.

Whoosh-

The Hell Hound, unable to overcome the momentum of running fiercely in a straight line, took several missteps.

"As expected, just a fool that only knows how to go straight."

Beings that crawled up from hell mostly can only go straight.

Even elite monsters like Hell Hounds show weakness to such suddenly turning patterns.

Grrrr...

The Hell Hound turned around and started chasing again.

Vikir prepared for the next pattern.

Splash-

Drinking water made by collecting dew drop by drop was sprinkled, drawing a long line on the ground.

...Flinch!

The Hell Hound came to an abrupt stop with the momentum it was running with.

This oil realm species monster, peculiarly, cannot cross water.

No matter how thin or shallow the water is.

The Hell Hound, which can't do much besides running in a straight line, deliberately goes around the water mark on the ground.

This is a habit well known to hunters who have been through the Age of Destruction, but not well known in the current world due to lack of research.

'Well, when the demon realm gates open later and Hell Hounds swarm all over the continent, it will inevitably be discovered.'

Vikir faced the Hell Hound.

Although its momentum has slowed after going around the water mark, the Hell Hound's charge is still terrifying.

After all, the Hell Hound is a monster that even Expert-level knights above intermediate level find difficult in a 1:1 fight.

Even the pre-regression Vikir could barely handle one alone around the age of eighteen, such a powerful monster.

But.

Vikir didn't come here without any countermeasures.

"Canine monsters always open their mouths when running."

Like an experienced hunter who has lived through the Age of Destruction, he pulled out a secret weapon he had prepared for this situation.

The most effective weapon for catching canine monsters.

...Crunch!

The sound of beans colliding with each other in his grasp.

Blood Bean cacao beans.

It was chocolate.