Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Chicken-head Hunt. (3)

‘Huuuuuuh…….’

‘It’s flying this way.’

For a moment, time stretched out.

On the faces of the knights staring into the air, bewilderment appeared.

From the cockatrice’s beak, a violet liquid was slowly falling toward them.

It was the first time they had seen such a sight, but they all knew very well what it was.

‘Damn it, is that really petrifying poison?’

‘If it hits… I’m screwed.’

It was similar to that of a basilisk, but it was known to be at least a hundred times more concentrated.

Which meant, the moment it hit, one would turn into a stone statue—and becoming a stone statue in front of that deranged monster meant…

 Pasa-sasak!

 Aaaagh! My body, my body is shattering!

In everyone’s mind, the image of their stone-turned body being crushed to pieces by the cockatrice’s beak appeared vividly.

“Heh heh, ah-hahahahahaha!”

Didn’t they say people laugh when they are too afraid or when they face a great crisis?

This was exactly such a moment.

It was then.

“What the hell are you bastards doing! Move it, now!”

Thud!

When Hardin stomped his foot and shouted again—

“Eeeek!”

Only then did the knights regain their senses and roll their bodies to the side.

Chiiiiik!

The violet liquid splashed onto the ground at a hair’s breadth away.

Then, with white smoke, stone spires quickly jutted up from the ground like stalagmites.

Gulp.

Saliva was swallowed instinctively.

‘If I’d been hit by that…….’

‘That was close.’

But not everyone made it out safely.

“Aaagh! My foot! My foot!”

A knight cried out while crawling on the ground.

From his two legs stretched out behind him, smoke was rising, and that part was turning into gray stone.

“Co, Corin!”

Beryl shouted in alarm and dashed toward him.

Meanwhile—

 Kkieeeek!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The cockatrice fixed its sharp gaze in that direction and waddled forward in another charge—

As if determined to crush the petrified knight before even Beryl could reach him.

“Save meeee!”

The knight, unable to use his legs, desperately tried to crawl with his arms, but of course it was futile.

At the moment the knight shut his eyes in despair—

“Heave-ho.”

Baaang!

“Kkiiiieeeek!”

Hardin leapt in from the side and kicked the creature’s head, making the cockatrice stagger.

In that opening—

“Hold on tight!”

“Y-Young Master!”

Hardin landed on the ground, grabbed the fallen knight, and pulled back. He carried him toward the passage entrance and set him down carefully.

“You call yourself a knight and you can’t even dodge that?”

“I’m sorry. It was… too sudden.”

“Enough. You’ll get special training when we return.”

“B-but…….”

Just as the knight opened and closed his mouth, Hardin brushed the dust off his clothes, stood up, and looked forward again.

 Kruruk? Krururuk?

The cockatrice stood glaring at Hardin.

Perhaps it was furious from being kicked.

Its eyes were full of venom, and the feathers on its body were all bristled.

Hardin shouted urgently to the knights.

“Wrap it in chains!”

“Yes?”

“We’re going to capture it, so wrap it in chains!”

At those words, Beryl cried out in alarm.

‘No matter what, this is…….’

‘Damn it, you think that’s even possible!’

While everyone hesitated—

Swoooosh!

Hardin’s eyes flashed cold blue as he shot forward like a cannonball toward the cockatrice.

 Kkieeek?

The cockatrice seemed to tense, puffing up all the feathers on its body…

Shwa-shwa-shwaaak!

It fired feathers from both wings.

Each one had a sharpened tip, said to pierce through stone—an unrelenting wave of feather arrows.

Hardin, however, drew his sword still in its scabbard—

Tadatang! Tatang! Tadatadang!

—and swept it through the air, knocking every last one away.

Then he lowered his stance.

“Calm down, you damn….”

Swoooosh!

Kicking off the ground, he leapt high into the air, flying right above the cockatrice’s head.

“You birdbrain!”

Smack!

 Kkiieeek!

He slammed the scabbard into the crown of its head.

As the cockatrice screeched in pain and thrashed—

Grab!

“Stay still unless you want another beating!”

Wham! Wham!

Hardin clung to its head, gripping its feathers, and repeatedly slammed its face.

 Kkieeet! Kkieeek!

The cockatrice shook its head wildly and swung its wings to whip up gusts of wind, but he clung on like a tick, refusing to be shaken off.

‘Huh……?’

‘What even is that…….’

The knights’ jaws dropped at the acrobatic display, and in the midst of that, Hardin, still gripping the feathers tightly, shouted at them.

“What the hell are you bastards doing! Why are you just watching!”

“B-but—”

They hesitated, too bewildered to move easily.

“I said throw the chains! Chains! How many times do I have to say it! We have to capture it!”

Hardin yanked on the feathers irritably as he barked at them.

The knights looked down at the chains in their hands and swallowed hard.

“Uwaaaah! Uwaaaah! Hurry, hurry!”

Meanwhile, even as the cockatrice shook him violently one way and the other, Hardin clung tight to its feathers.

Watching that overwhelming display, a gloomy look appeared on the faces of the knights holding the chains.

‘Should we just run?’

‘This was never possible to begin with.’

Capture that thing with nothing but these chains?

A monster you could barely hope to fight even with swords drawn and your life on the line?

Just as the knights’ hesitation dragged on—

Fwoooosh! Kwooooom!

“Wh-what was that?”

A single cockatrice feather landed and lodged in the ground in front of them, the impact carving out a hole the size of a person.

The feather was imbued with a blue aura—brimming with mana.

Wait… could it be…

‘Did he throw that?’

‘The Young Master?’

The knights, faces full of unease, lifted their heads again.

“Ahhh, for crying out loud! I said do it! Not gonna? If you don’t, I’ll smash every one of your skulls right now!”

Hardin, still clinging to the cockatrice, shouted.

His face was flushed red, his eyes glaring like an enraged demon.

Riiiip!

He yanked out another handful of feathers, then poured mana into them.

If they kept resisting, those feathers would be flying their way without end.

“S-stop, please!”

“Then make me stop!”

In response to Beryl’s plea, Hardin sent more feathers flying.

‘Why the hell is he doing this to us!’

‘God Faeron, please save us.’

The knights’ faces twisted with a mix of shock and fear.

They looked ready to cry, until finally—

“Screw it! Do or die!”

“Fine, we’ll do it! Just stop throwing those damn feathers!”

Vwooom! Vwooom!

Starting with Beryl, they all let their eyes blaze with light, spinning their chains.

“Hup!”

Whiiish!

Over a dozen chains shot toward the cockatrice in rapid succession.

The only problem was—

 Kkieeek!

Taang! Taaang!

The cockatrice flapped its wings and shook its body, sending every chain flying away in vain.

“What the hell are you doing! Can’t you aim right?!”

“N-no, it’s not that—”

“Just tie it up already!”

As Hardin twisted and jerked about, shouting at them, the knights quickly reeled their chains back in and threw again.

Of course, most of them were deflected by the creature’s wingbeats again, and—

Whack!

“Aaagh! Which bastard was that! I told you to hit it, not me!”

“S-sorry!”

“You, I’ll deal with you when we get back!”

One chain had even smacked Hardin right in the head.

“Uwaaaah! Hurry, hurry!”

Hardin kept whacking the cockatrice with his scabbard, doing anything he could to hold its attention.

“Damn it! Just get hit already!”

“Hrrrgh!”

The knights scrambled to get the chains around the cockatrice, dashing here and there to throw from every angle they could manage.

Then, in the midst of that sweaty chaos—

“Hup!”

Fwoosh!

The chain Manton threw looped around one of the cockatrice’s legs and locked tight.

“Ooooh, got it! Got it!”

Manton’s face lit with a mix of surprise and joy—

 Kkieeek!

“Wha-wha-wha?!”

The cockatrice yanked its leg back, and Manton’s body was dragged along like a sheet of paper.

As Manton staggered, about to lose his balance—

Thump!

“Eeeek! Hold on tight!”

“Y-you’re—”

Beryl was there, gripping Manton’s waist and pulling hard.

The veins stood out on his forehead, and a fierce light shone from his eyes.

Thanks to that, the dragging slowed for a moment.

“Now! Hit it when it’s stopped!”

The knights, all at once, hurled their chains.

Whirr! Clang!

Its legs, wing joints, even its neck—

In total, over ten chains wrapped tightly around the creature’s body.

“Grrrrraaaagh!”

“Now! Pull!”

The knights scraped up every last drop of their mana and yanked on the chains with all their strength.

Muscles swelled taut, veins popped on foreheads, and sweat dripped down.

Then…

 Kkieeet! Kkieeet!

The cockatrice, which had been thrashing like a fish out of water just moments ago, now trembled in place, unable to move.

For the moment, the balance of strength had been met.

And when its movements stopped—

“Ssshhh! Stay still, you bastard!”

 Kkieeet!

Hardin climbed up toward the cockatrice’s beak and began winding a chain from his waist tightly around its mouth.

‘He’s trying to seal its jaws?’

‘If he can block the petrifying poison, we might actually have a chance.’

A spark of hope appeared on the knights’ faces—

 Kkieeek!

Perhaps sensing the danger, the cockatrice suddenly twisted violently again.

“Uuurgh!”

“Damn it!”

Maybe they’d relaxed just a fraction too much.

The knights couldn’t withstand the shock and were shaken.

They tried to brace themselves by lying low and planting their feet—

“Huh?”

Thunk!

Mikkelsen’s ankle caught on a stone spike—one that had sprouted earlier from the poison the cockatrice spilled onto the ground.

‘N-no!’

Thud!

Losing his balance completely, Mikkelsen toppled over—

“Uwaaaah!”

—and with that, the tight balance collapsed. Several other knights staggered, dragged forward, then collapsed in a heap.

 Kkiiiik! Kkiik!

With the restraints loosened, the cockatrice thrashed even more violently.

The problem was… Hardin was still on top of its beak, trying to tie the chain.

Clatter!

The chain, still not fully secured, unraveled completely.

 Kkieeeeeeeek!

At the same time, the cockatrice flung open its beak, as if unleashing all the fury it had been holding back—

Splash!

—and spewed that violet liquid in all directions again.

“Ah……”

“God above.”

The knights, their sighs filled with despair, dropped their chains and fled in all directions.

“W-wait aaaaaa minute!”

And the prone Mikkelsen—

Shhhhhh!

“Aaagh!”

—was drenched in petrifying poison.

Smoke hissed up, and in his place stood a stone statue with a vacant expression.

“M-Mikkelsen?”

“Huuuuuuh……”

“M-Mikkelsen’s gone too!”

Just as everyone was stumbling in shock—

“You bastards! You can’t even hold onto a single chain? And you call yourselves knights!”

 Kkieeek! Kkieeek!

In this world, nothing ever goes smoothly. Please, just once, can’t we have it easy?

Thwack! Thwack!

“Ahhh! I said stay still, you birdbrain!”

Hardin roared as he smacked the cockatrice irritably on the temple.

---

A few hours later, deep inside a cave in the rocky mountains.

“Huuuuuuuh……”

“S-safe… we’re safe.”

The Daphne Knights slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.

Their faces were pale, their bodies drenched in sweat—it wasn’t hard to guess what they had just gone through.

Meanwhile, in one corner of the cave—

“Haaah, haaah, haaah… What’s got you all acting like you went through hell, huh?”

“……”

At the sound of Hardin’s voice, the knights all turned their heads.

Hardin—the instigator of this entire affair—was lying spread out like a corpse, pale-faced and looking as if he might collapse at any moment.

He truly looked like half a man, wheezing so hard that it wouldn’t be strange if he passed out right then.

After spending hours clinging to the cockatrice, beating it, wrapping it in chains, and thrashing about, he’d ended up in this state.

But…

‘That’s a disaster he brought on himself.’

‘Because of that damn man, I almost died.’

Rather than sympathy or concern, every knight’s gaze was filled with resentment.

Especially—

“No, it’s not about being tired, I’m telling you I almost died! How can you talk like that?”

Crack! Crack!

Mikkelsen snapped back as he broke off the bits of stone still clinging to his body.

“Haaah… haaah… Die, my ass. I saved all of you with the antidote, didn’t I… huhhh.”

“Yes, yes, thank you ever so much.”

Was that supposed to be gratitude…?

Wrinkles formed on the knights’ foreheads.

‘That damned man.’

‘If he weren’t the Young Master, I’d punch him.’

Their expressions toward Hardin made their irritation painfully clear.

Feeling the sting of their stares, Hardin gave an awkward cough, then pointed with his finger to one side.

“Ahem! Ahem! Still, huh? We did capture it, didn’t we? That’s what matters, right?”

“……”

Everyone’s gaze followed his finger.

There…

 Guuuuh… guuuuuuuuh…

…was the cockatrice, its entire body tightly bound in chains, blinking pitifully as it let out a sorrowful cry.

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