GILF Hunter

The subjugation team climbed onto Behemoth’s back one after another.

Ariel muttered while looking down at Behemoth’s back visible beneath the canyon.

’Jumping from a canyon to mount a back... what kind of operation is this...’

’Right? He comes up with a lot of interesting ideas.’

Ariel glanced back and forth between Freya and Ian.

Was this the reason Freya liked him? I should have expected this from the moment he started hanging around Freya....

It was a thought that would have made Ian feel a bit wronged if he had heard it.

’And how else would we get up if not like this? Hook a rope and climb?’

’...’

Well... she couldn’t deny it was efficient.

It certainly seemed like a better method than trying to climb up Behemoth’s legs.

Ariel, confirming that all members of the infiltration team had descended, turned to Ian one last time and said,

’Then we’re heading down too, so I’ll leave the top to you. If we fail, I’ll send a signal immediately, so I’m counting on you.’

’Don’t worry. There’s almost no chance of failure.’

’Thanks for the words, at least....’

Ariel and Freya finally mounted Behemoth’s back.

The time limit was as long as the barrier held out. In case of failure, Ian remained at the top of the canyon to lead the rest of the members.

Watching this, Tanya, who was behind him, asked Ian with a slightly anxious face.

’Will it be alright with just Rin and Airi going in...?’

’Freya’s with them.’

’That’s exactly why I’m worried....’

’...It’ll be fine. Probably.’

Meanwhile, Freya, standing on Behemoth’s back, looked around in a circle.

With rough, sharply protruding rocks scattered everywhere, visibility was poor and the path looked complicated.

’Freya. Did you find anything?’

’Yeah, about four spots.... There are definitely weak points.’

Just as Ian had said, several locations on Behemoth’s back showed strong concentrations of mana.

Freya found the location with the largest amount of mana among them.

Normally, the standard strategy for Behemoth was to attack the legs to accumulate damage and put it into an immobile groggy state, then target the weak points one by one to gradually weaken its power.

However, since Behemoth events usually appeared in the late game when builds were nearly complete, people rarely followed such a time-consuming standard strategy.

A simplified strategy was much more common: putting it into a pseudo-groggy state through an exploit, skipping other weak points, and attacking the main weak point directly to kill it in one go.

What Ian planned this time was also a simplified strategy.

The plan was to make Behemoth get stuck in the terrain to stop its movement, then immediately climb on top to attack the creature directly.

’He said to find the place where the mana is the greatest....’

There were several weak points, but only one had to be attacked in the end. Destroying that place, which acted as the heart of mana, would put Behemoth into a death state.

The rest were weak points that helped in situations where Behemoth couldn’t be caught within a single groggy window, such as by lowering defense or movement speed. When firepower was sufficient as it was now, there was no need to touch them.

That’s why Ian had said to ignore the other spots and attack the place where the mana felt the strongest.

Freya identified where the place Ian called the ’heart’ was and took a direction.

’Right, looks like it’s over there. Let’s go.’

Watching Freya’s back as she took the lead, one member standing next to Ariel said,

’Will this be okay? They were asking from Labyrinth city if we were sure we could succeed....’

While preparing for the subjugation, a reply from Labyrinth city had arrived.

Since they also understood it was an unavoidable situation, permission for the subjugation was granted, but they seemed to have various concerns.

Ariel replied as if it couldn’t be helped.

’Even if it fails and it goes on a rampage, it’s better to start here. Otherwise, we’d have to fight in front of the city.’

Leaving those words behind, Ariel and the mercenaries followed after Freya.

From a distance, the top of Behemoth’s back had looked like a rugged rocky mountain. They expected rough terrain, but the actual state after climbing up was much worse.

Since there was almost nothing that could be called a path, just moving through the clusters of rocks consumed quite a bit of physical strength.

A mercenary leading the way said to the back,

’Wait, there are monsters.’

Everyone hurriedly lowered their bodies upon hearing that.

’Are they those things we heard about beforehand?’

’They look similar to what we heard.’

Peering out from behind a rock, they saw beast-like monsters formed from clusters of rocks wandering around ahead.

They were wild rock spirits living parasitically on Behemoth’s back. They were magical creatures closer to monsters, having not yet grown to the level commonly called spirits.

Ariel quietly took out an arrow.

Without a word, she aimed her bow at the monster and fired an arrow immediately without even a moment’s pause.

It looked as if she had released the string without aiming, but the arrow flew accurately toward the monster. The fired arrow struck the rock spirit’s head precisely.

’Rock spirits, was it? They’re incredibly hard, just as I heard....’

The arrow was embedded much shallower than Ariel expected. It meant the hardness was greater than she thought.

The rock spirit hit by the arrow tried to turn its head to find the enemy that attacked it, but before it could, the mana contained in the arrow exploded.

The rock spirit caught in the explosion was instantly reduced to stone fragments.

Watching this, Freya was quite surprised by the debris of the shattered rock spirit. Normally, there shouldn’t have been a trace left after getting hit by that, but seeing it become stone fragments meant it was considerably hard.

’Whoa. It really is a bit hard. Rin! Try catching that one over there.’

’M-me?’

Freya pointed at another spirit nearby.

Sensing that a battle had occurred, another spirit was approaching.

’It’s hard to even walk properly here....’

’In the Labyrinth, even weirder terrain appears. You have to adapt to this much on your own.’

Pushed by Freya, Rin hesitantly stepped forward. There wasn’t a single flat spot on the ground, and it was rugged terrain where it was difficult even to step properly.

’...’

As Rin approached, the rock spirit noticed and stared at her before suddenly charging.

’Woa!’

Despite its sluggish appearance, the rock spirit approached at incredible speed.

Surprised voices were heard from the back where they were watching.

Rin dodged the sudden attack by tilting her head and swung her sword to slash the defenselessly exposed torso.

The opponent’s body was made of rock, but since it had an appearance similar to a beast, its attack patterns and weak points were also quite similar.

The sword Rin swung emitted a mysterious, ominous glow as it was brandished. The rock spirit was cut in two in an instant.

It was a cluster of rocks that looked extremely hard, so even Rin herself, who had slashed it, was surprised.

’What sword is that?’

’I thought it looked unusual... is it a magic sword after all?’

The other mercenaries watching from behind buzzed with conversation about Rin’s suspicious sword.

’She didn’t look like it... but to use a magic sword, how ruthless...’

’She’s not hanging around Freya for nothing.’

’...Wait, what’s wrong with a magic sword!’

’Well, those who pick up a magic sword are either people crazy about fighting, or people who have an enemy they must kill at all costs... right?’

Rin, who had almost made a slightly proud face thinking people were discussing her performance, shouted at the whispering mercenaries.

...Of course, it was a sentiment Rin had agreed with before she picked it up herself, but regardless, it was a very rude prejudice.

’I’m not like that at all! I have a perfectly valid reason, and I went through so much trouble with the Leader.’

’Oh, really? Like what?’

’That’s...’

I can’t... explain it in detail.

The mercenaries were waiting for Rin’s next words with faces full of anticipation for what kind of interesting story related to a magic sword would come out.

Recalling the numerous twists and turns she had with Ian to obtain this sword, Rin’s face turned slightly red.

They were stories she could absolutely never reveal to others.

’...L-let’s just say it’s for revenge.’

’I knew it.’

Rin decided to simply become a cold-blooded avenger who reached for a magic sword consumed by a desire for revenge.

Only Freya, who knew the general circumstances, had an expression as if she was dying of laughter.

’...She fights pretty well.’

Ariel, who was watching from behind, muttered.

Since Freya kept taking her around as if she were her own disciple, she thought she wouldn’t be ordinary, but she seems to have already surpassed the Rank B level.

Ariel spoke to Airi, who was standing next to her.

’You were in the same unit as Miss Airi, right? Since the other members’ levels are high, the mercenary group will likely rise to Rank A soon. You’ll be able to strip off that ’temporary’ label in no time.’

’Ye-yes....’

Airi, who was acting together with Ariel as part of the same long-range group, replied with a face full of tension.

Of all things, she was assigned to the same pair as Ariel, so she couldn’t even escape to somewhere else without being noticed.

Airi continued to be wary of Ariel, with an expression worrying that an arrow might fly her way by mistake during combat.

Freya, who was walking while clearing out rock spirits that occasionally blocked the way, suddenly came to a dead stop at one point.

’I think it’s around here. The weakest spot.’

Freya looked down at her feet. The source of mana was being felt beneath here.

Where she was standing now wasn’t Behemoth’s body, but actual soil and rock clusters that had accumulated over many years. To deal a blow to Behemoth, they had to penetrate through these and go down.

’Hey, mages. It’s under here.’

’We need to investigate, so please stay back a bit.’

The mages who had accompanied them stepped forward.

They were a team made of mages specially selected for their high-powered spells, commonly known as the Demolition Team.

The mages began a brief investigation to calculate how much power would be needed, the hardness of the rock, and the required distance.

One mage, who was sensing deep underground, tilted their head with a puzzled look.

’Wait... there’s something underneath.’

’Yeah, I told you it’s there.’

’No, not Behemoth’s vital point. Something else... watch out!’

Suddenly, a huge vibration occurred, and a massive boulder rose up from the ground.