Dark Fantasy’s Extra

After losing both wings, the Guardian Raven’s neck was cut by Hilde’s axe.

The headless body thrashed around briefly before collapsing.

Hilde took out the holy oil to burn the corpse.

“Wait, let’s take a sample of this one too.”

I stopped her and pulled out one claw to put in a pouch.

In Blue Paper Moon, equipment made from the Guardian Raven was decent enough as a sub-weapon in the early to mid-game.

After finishing our work, we burned the Beast and climbed up to the next floor.

As we climbed the stairs, the lamps on the walls lit up one by one.

It was as if they were beckoning us to come in.

“This is…”

“Must be magic. Or a curse.”

Physical and sensory enhancement are at the very bottom of techniques that use magical power.

The true power of magical power lies in the ability to distort reality through complex, higher-dimensional calculations.

It’s a realm beyond the reach of not just ordinary people, but even most hunters.

Of course, I can do a little bit too, but it’s barely beyond the primitive level.

It’s better to just enhance my body with magical power and shoot guns instead.

“Then above this…”

“Whatever it is, it must be important.”

Ahead is where the boss of this ‘Temple of the Western Sky’ appears.

The Temple of the Western Sky was built by followers of Princess Bari, but hundreds of years ago it was occupied by a behemoth named Jack.

While his exact purpose isn’t clear, I can only guess he was trying to negotiate something with Princess Bari.

But Jack was hunted down by Belle before meeting Princess Bari.

When Princess Bari belatedly rushed to the scene, Jack’s corpse was left behind and still remains in this temple.

We finally reached the top of the stairs.

“Well then, I’m opening it.”

I opened the temple’s final door.

At that moment, all the lamps on the walls inside lit up at once.

The weak, flickering light made the ruined top floor of the temple even more gloomy.

Fragments of what were once magnificent statues were scattered everywhere, and human-looking bones were so decayed they were barely recognizable.

And in the middle of the vast, empty room lay skeletal remains clutching a massive axe.

“What could have happened here…”

Hilde said.

The corpse lying there is “Giant Hunter Jack,” which we’ll be hunting this time.

Jack was originally one of the founding members of the Hunting Order that Belle organized, but died in battle.

However, his corpse was influenced by Red Hood’s curse and reborn as a Beast, growing very quickly to reach behemoth status.

Of course, that’s just his corpse that was hunted by Belle, and what we’ll be fighting now is nothing more than a zombie.

And what I want is that axe he’s holding in his hand right now.

“Senior, is that a Beast?”

“Probably. Like that Beast from before, it’s just a moving corpse. But don’t let your guard down. Being in a place like this means it’s no ordinary creature.”

“Yes.”

Jack was the opposite type of boss compared to the Guardian Raven.

Slow speed and no special abilities, but stupidly large health and heavy hits.

I aimed my rifle at Jack’s head as he lay there.

Unlike the Guardian Raven, there’s no worry about ricochets.

Just need to avoid one powerful hit while accumulating damage.

When I pulled the trigger, the silver bullet embedded in Jack’s skull, scattering fragments, and he slowly stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Jack turned his head to look at us.

The gentle purple flames rising from his eye sockets began to blaze more intensely.

“Grr… Raaaaargh!”

Despite being a complete corpse with no vocal cords left, he sure can scream well.

Jack charged toward us.

His speed was slower than even an ordinary person, not a hunter.

But being just a complete corpse moving with curse power, he won’t tire, much less feel pain.

Hilde took her stance and stared straight at Jack.

I had already finished reloading before he approached and aimed again.

Then I precisely embedded another silver bullet into his blazing purple eye socket.

“Oh, ooooh…!”

Jack stopped running and twisted his body, clutching where he was hit.

Could he actually feel pain in that body?

Even in Blue Paper Moon I thought he wasn’t just a simple zombie, but…

No, this isn’t the time for idle thoughts.

Whoever the opponent is, a Beast is a Beast.

I reloaded again.

Still plenty of silver bullets left.

Jack started charging again.

Hilde walked out slowly without rushing.

Is she planning to block him head-on with her weapon?

“Don’t clash weapons right away. Figure out the enemy’s strength first.”

“Ah, yes.”

So she was planning to take him on with her weapon after all.

Still quite naive.

No, just inexperienced probably.

When Jack got within weapon range, he swung his axe wide with one hand.

Hilde watched carefully from her position before barely dodging backward.

Even I could feel the wind from where the axe passed while standing behind her.

“I-I can’t block that.”

Her voice sounded a bit shaken, probably realizing it was beyond her current strength to handle.

“He’s slow. You can hit and run plenty. Remember the fight in the forest.”

“Yes!”

Like the juniper tree, phase 1 had powerful single hits but was slow.

Jack had high killing power with his sharp and solid axe, but was no different in being slow.

“…!”

Jack swung his axe again.

Just like wildly swinging an ordinary wooden stick.

Hilde barely retreated outside his range again.

Then she quickly slashed at Jack’s exposed waist when his posture was awkward after the attack.

Whether it was enhanced with magical power or not, even that small motion made Jack stagger despite being a light hit.

When Jack was completely defenseless, I shot his knee.

The silver bullet lodged between his bare bones, scattering bone fragments again.

Then I backed away and reloaded.

Hilde followed me without getting greedy.

Jack walked toward us again.

But he was even slower than before with his leg hit by the silver bullet making him limp.

“Senior.”

“What?”

“There’s something I’d like to try, would that be okay?”

“…As long as you don’t get hurt.”

“Yes!”

After getting my permission, Hilde walked toward Jack again.

Jack swung his axe wide at her again.

Hilde took her stance and waited carefully before deflecting the incoming axe with her own axe, twisting its trajectory.

“…!!”

That was a parry!

A technique to create openings by deflecting or disrupting the opponent’s attack.

It’s a technique with tricky timing that I rarely used even in Blue Paper Moon…

When Jack’s posture completely crumbled, Hilde swung her axe wide to strike his skull.

The impact knocked Jack completely to the ground.

Hilde raised her axe high, seemingly trying to finish him off in that opening.

But the fallen Jack swung his axe again.

The axe handle hit Hilde’s left leg and knocked her down.

“Ah…!”

Hilde fell, and Jack stood up again.

The purple flames in his eye sockets blazed high.

And I embedded another silver bullet into those eye sockets.

“Oh… Ooooh…!”

Jack dropped his axe and staggered backward, clutching his face.

Meanwhile, I used magical power to run as fast as possible, grabbed Hilde, and pulled back.

“Can you stand?”

“Th-that’s…”

I looked at her leg that was hit by the axe handle earlier.

Fortunately, her bone didn’t seem to be twisted at an odd angle.

Hilde touched her leg and tried to stand carefully.

“Ah!”

But she couldn’t stand properly and nearly fell again.

I supported Hilde from behind and carefully sat her down.

“Take off your boots and wait here. I’ll look at the wound a bit later.”

I walked forward while reloading my rifle.

“I-I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine.”

“But…”

“Getting hurt is an everyday thing.”

“But the Beast is still…”

“Trust your senior.”

Jack stood up again.

The purple flame in one eye socket was gone.

But the remaining flame on the other side was blazing more fiercely than ever before.

I could feel clear hatred directed at me.

“Your spirit is good, but.”

He walked toward me.

But Jack was already in tatters.

His eyes, which I hadn’t known were a weakness, were shot twice, one knee was creaking, and his head took a heavy hit from Hilde.

I aimed at Jack’s eye again.

This time he seemed prepared as he turned his head and raised his axe to cover his face.

Right at that moment, I drew the pistol from my waist and fired repeatedly at Jack’s knee where the silver bullet had hit earlier.

Three out of four initial shots hit the knee, and Jack’s leg came off.

Jack fell like a tree cut down by an axe and thrashed about.

I stopped a short distance from the fallen Jack.

Then I put the pistol back in place, took out my rifle again, reloaded, and shot at the back of Jack’s head.

I could see bone fragments scatter as the silver bullet embedded in his skull.

When Jack tried to crawl toward me, I kept backing away while repeating what I was doing.

By the time I’d used about half the silver bullets in my pocket, a large hole had opened in Jack’s skull and he stopped moving.

But I fired three more times after that to make sure he was dead.

Then I turned around and went to Hilde.

“Let me see your leg.”

I examined where Hilde was hit.

“Doesn’t seem broken…”

“Senior…”

“What?”

“Am I really not cut out for this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like last time, and this time too, I get careless and end up pathetically like this…”

“I told you earlier. Getting hurt is an everyday thing.”

“But… This way I’m just a burden. I really can’t fight perfectly like you, Senior.”

“Perfect?”

I sighed and took off my hat and coat.

“Senior?”

Then I took off all my upper clothes and showed my bare body.

“Look carefully.”

My body was covered in countless scars accumulated over the past 10 years working as a hunter.

Scratched by claws, skin peeled by poison, pierced through, broken bones, bleeding wounds, and burn marks everywhere.

“This scar here is from when I accidentally stabbed myself while falling. This discoloration is from when I stupidly approached what I thought was a dead Beast and got poisoned. Does this look perfect to you?”

“…”

“There’s no such thing as perfect. You learn by getting hurt and making mistakes.”

I picked up my discarded clothes and put them back on.

“I was someone else’s burden too. I don’t feel any resentment or annoyance about carrying you. Because it’s natural.”

Then I held out my hand to Hilde.

“I’ll help you. Stand up.”

Hilde hesitated before reaching out.

I grabbed her hand and helped her onto my shoulder.

“Let’s just get what we need and go.”

“…Is it over?”

Just then, Sancho came up the stairs we had climbed.