Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 18 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: Showdown

1

This is all something I was told about after the fact.

On the fourth day since we were invited to the Sauti settlement, the thirty-first and final day of the indigo month, there was a strange stirring in the forest starting around when the sun hit its peak.

Everyone could sense that something serious was coming.

However, that didn’t change what the hunters had to do.

The hunters from the clans under the Sauti deployed throughout the forest while coating themselves in the scent of giba warding fruit, just as they had done yesterday and the day before. They totaled sixteen, which was their full number aside from the seven who were seriously injured, though roughly half of those going out also had some kind of minor injury. However, they couldn’t just leave the fate of their clan up to the Ruu hunters, with whom they had no blood ties whatsoever.

Those sixteen split up into groups of four and progressed into the forest as planned. Since they had hunted down a staggering number of giba over the past two days, there didn’t seem to be many in the forest. And yet, in spite of that, the atmosphere still seemed unusually noisy. It was as if the very forest itself was stirring.

The hunters advanced into the forest, forcing down their uneasy feelings and the trembling in their chests. Ultimately, it was the young Vela clan head who saw it first. The previous clan head had lost his ability to hunt after facing off with the lord of the forest, and so the youth had taken up the position at the age of just eighteen.

What he found was a massive hole. It was dug out at the base of a thick tree, and looked like the mouth of some giant monster, pitch black and gaping open.

Despite the fact that it had briefly rained not long before the sun hit its peak, a nearby mound of dense soil was dry. On top of that, bits of a gigo-like plant giba loved were mixed into it.

A giba had dug the hole out very recently. However, an ordinary giba couldn’t possibly make one so large.

Having received a signal from the young clan head, one of the hunters gave a brief blow on a grass whistle. Then, a similar response came from far away.

Their nerves even more on edge, they pushed deeper into the forest.

Before long, five hunters approached from the north. Actually, one of them had already retired from hunting—the Rutim elder Raa Rutim.

“There weren’t any signs of giba in the north. If you found traces, then the lord must have moved to the east or south.”

The group then split into two again, and they advanced in both directions. Raa Rutim accompanied the Vela clan head as they searched to the east, while the other group went south. However, he stayed upwind so his sense of smell wouldn’t be thrown off by the smell of giba warding fruit.

“I can’t detect the lord’s scent here either. We should move south bit by bit as we continue heading east.”

“Raa Rutim, you can pick up on its scent that precisely?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t be able to be quite so certain. But since we wiped out the giba in this area yesterday, there are hardly any competing scents left in the area now,” Raa Rutim replied, glancing around with eyes that shined brightly with a light which didn’t seem to have weakened at all with age. “Furthermore, the lord of the forest is always giving off the smell of madness and fury. There’s no danger of me mistaking it for a lesser giba.”

“I see. Then we’ll keep on going and...” the Vela clan head started to say, but Raa silently placed his hand over the youth’s mouth.

Instantly, tension filled the air, and the hunters searched around for anything nearby.

Raa Rutim pointed straight out to the east. One of the hunters swiftly went and climbed up a tree. After a short while, the high-pitch sound of a grass whistle rang out from high above.

The lord of the forest had been found.

The remaining hunters all grabbed the metal objects hanging from their hips—snapped blades and musical instruments made from scrap iron which came from the post town—and took off running east into the forest.

They started making noise with the objects they carried and shouting with all their might. Giba hated both the sounds from those instruments and the deep roaring bellows of humans. Adding that to the smell of the giba warding fruit they were coated with was how they were going to drive the lord of the forest in the direction they wanted.

There were also similar sounds approaching from the south, so that group must have heard the grass whistle signal.

“The hunting ground is to the east from here! Don’t let it escape to the south, no matter what!” the Vela clan head shouted as he ran through the forest. He was raring to take a swing at the lord of the forest if he caught up to it. But no matter how much he advanced, its sinister figure never came into view. Giba could move more agilely through the forest than any hunter.

“The lord is turning a little to the north! At this rate, it’ll miss the hunting ground!” Raa Rutim shouted out from behind. He wasn’t able to run as swiftly through the forest as the younger hunters.

Following the elder’s words, one of the young hunters sounded out a grass whistle a number of times, signaling to not let it escape to the north.

It was around then that the Vela clan head’s group started seeing traces of the lord of the forest. There were thin trees toppled over here and there, clearing the path for an unfamiliar animal trail.

With an upswell of strength coursing through their bodies, the hunters hurried onward. The shouts of their comrades were growing closer from the north and south too.

All sixteen of the hunters were driving the lord of the forest forward. As long as it didn’t break through their enclosure, it would soon reach the first hunting ground they had prepared for it.

◇

“The lord of the forest is approaching!” Dan Rutim shouted from high atop a tree.

The bow unit consisting of Ludo Ruu, Bartha, and Jeeda heard his shout from their hidden position down in the thicket.

“That stench definitely belongs to the lord! It’s coming from the west!”

“The west, huh? Then that’s down this path.”

With that, the three hunters crawled out of the thicket and hurriedly moved. There were a number of traps specially laid out for the lord of the forest, with the intention of using giba warding and summoning fruit to direct it into them.

With hunters converging from the north, south, and west, that only left one path open, so as long as the lord of the forest liked the smell of giba summoning fruit and hated the scent of giba warding fruit, it would definitely come this way.

The three of them moved to another thicket situated south of the path coming from the west. That position would allow them to aim for the lord of the forest’s right eye. Of course, there was no way to guarantee such a precise hit when it would surely come charging at an incredible speed, but the idea was to fire arrows while aiming at the right side of its head.

“Now, bring it on...” Ludo Ruu murmured, nocking an arrow. The bow and arrow was the weapon he was most skilled with. He personally preferred to swing a sword or hatchet, but just as his dad had said, since he was small he was on the weaker side for a hunter. That was why he had been polishing his skills with a bow ever since he turned thirteen.

He didn’t possess the strength needed to break a giba’s neck with the swing of a blade. But he could swiftly slit a throat with a knife, and he wouldn’t lose to anyone when it came to using a bow. Ludo Ruu prided himself on that.

Still, I’ve gotta settle the score with this guy at some point... Ludo Ruu thought to himself as he stole a glance over at Jeeda. The hunter from Mount Masara was Ludo Ruu’s equal with a bow. Even when they had shooting contests for a bit of sport, they still weren’t ever able to declare a winner. Next festival of the hunt, I’ll have to have him participate in the contest of strength. I can’t let myself lose to someone who’s younger than me, and smaller at that.

After that one last thought, Ludo Ruu concentrated intently. He released all the tension in his body, pointing an arrow at what was currently empty space.

After a short while, the roars of the hunters to the west came within earshot. Those shouts were meant to drive a giba forward. And he could hear the clear sound of a grass whistle too.

“It’s coming!” Dan Rutim shouted out.

Not long after, Ludo Ruu felt an incredible presence to the west. He held his breath and drew his bow. Out of the corner of his vision, he spied a massive black figure. Now he simply let his heart guide him, adjusting the direction of his bow and releasing the arrow.

The same sensation he felt when stabbing a blade into his prey was now running throughout his entire body.

I hit it.

Even so, that huge black figure didn’t slow down in the least, and kept on running past Ludo Ruu and the others.

The young hunter placed the bow over his shoulder and leaped out of the thicket, with Jeeda and Bartha soon appearing from not far away.

“We each fired only a single arrow, but all of them seemed to hit the lord’s face. I don’t know whether or not we got its eyeball, though,” Jeeda muttered as he looked off in the direction where the lord had disappeared.

It was around then that Dan Rutim nimbly descended from the tree. The former Rutim clan head landed smoothly on just his right leg, then lifted his cane up in the air.

“Now then, our blades have been sheathed long enough! We’ve just got to chase the lord down and finish it off!”

With that, the three hunters eagerly took off after their quarry.

As he hobbled after them, Dan Rutim gave a displeased shout of, “No fair, leaving me behind!”

◇

The lord of the forest had appeared at last.

The four hunters who had been awaiting its arrival at the first hunting ground—Donda Ruu, Darmu Ruu, Gazraan Rutim, and Rau Lea—stood facing the animal trail, their blades drawn.

“Listen up! Aim for its legs!”

Just as planned, the two members of the Ruu clan took the right while the other two readied themselves on the left.

Meanwhile, the lord of the forest was plunging forward along the cleared path.

It really was unbelievably huge. With its feet on the ground, its head reached up to around Donda Ruu’s shoulders, and its torso was as wide as a human standing with both arms spread out to the side. Its horns and tusks, meanwhile, looked like they might be as thick as a man’s arm. This giba was bigger than the ones whose pelts were displayed in the Ruu house, or even the one the skull displayed by the Suun clan had come from. In other words, it was the largest giba the people of the forest’s edge had ever encountered over the course of the past eighty years.

“Here it comes!” Donda Ruu shouted, swinging his blade with all his might. He swept low, and his blade flew straight in a horizontal slash.

With a dull thunk, Donda Ruu’s body was sent flying.

And with three other similar sounds, the other hunters were knocked away as well.

One slammed his back against a tree, while another was tossed into the thick grass, left to force down a pained moan as he rose back to his feet.

The lord of the forest was gone.

However, there were drops of blood leading off to the east.

“Damn! That thing is an unbelievable monster!” Rau Lea shouted, tossing his broken sword to the ground.

Donda Ruu’s blade had snapped at the middle as well.

With a snorted “Hmph,” the leading clan head pulled a new sword from its scabbard. They had come prepared, expecting that aiming at the lord’s legs when it was running at full force would be enough to snap a blade.

“So we’ve got two swords left, eh? Nobody’s injured, are they?”

“It didn’t snap my blade, it just took the skin from my palm with it,” Darmu Ruu replied, his eyes blazing bright as he held his right hand up for his father to see. Just as he had said, the skin on his right hand’s palm and fingers had been badly abraded. “I probably won’t be able to hold a sword for a while after today. But I won’t let go of my weapon until the lord falls.”

“Apply some medicinal herbs and wrap a cloth or something around it. That should help at least a bit,” Donda Ruu ordered, his eyes fixed east all the while. “I figure my sword broke its front right leg. What about you all?”

“I wouldn’t go that far on my end, but I think I at least fractured its rear right leg,” Darmu Ruu said.

“Damn! I’m pretty sure my sword just damaged its hoof!”

“Mine cut into its left thigh, and probably did a small amount of damage to the bone.”

“That should be sufficient. Now we’ve just got to wait here.”

Meanwhile, Rau Lea grumbled as he drew a new blade, “Hey, shouldn’t we move to the next hunting ground rather than just waiting? Then we could work together with Ai Fa and Mida in order to come at it from both sides.”

“There are numerous traps set up out there, so there isn’t enough footing to allow this many people to move about freely. If that weren’t the case, I would have been chasing after it myself rather than chatting here,” Donda Ruu replied, a blue blaze alight in both of his eyes. “We just need to wait. Either we’ll receive news that the lord has been taken down, or Ai Fa will lead it back to us.”

◇

“It’s here,” Ai Fa whispered to herself from up in a tree.

She could spy the lord of the forest charging in the distance.

The massive beast was terribly injured. There were three arrows stuck in its face, and though it was pushing forward through the forest at an incredible speed, its footing looked unstable. It surely had a number of broken bones in its legs.

There were also a great number of snapped arrows in its back, and dark red patches of dried blood here and there across its pelt. The lord had been injured enough over the past several days that if it had been a normal giba, it would have died countless times over.

However, there was no sign whatsoever that the wild energy brimming from its massive frame was fading. It was as if the forest itself had taken shape in the form of a giba.

“Don’t let your guard down, Mida. At this rate, it might actually break through all the traps.”

“Yeah... I’ll try my best...”

Mida was down below Ai Fa.

If the lord did manage to escape every single trap, then it would surely be drawn by the smell giba summoning fruit hanging around Ai Fa’s body and charge right toward Mida. Then, if Mida’s club wasn’t able to settle things, she would hop down to the ground and lead the lord of the forest back to Donda Ruu and the others.

It was fortunate that they were able to face down the lord before any other giba stumbled into the traps...but Ai Fa couldn’t imagine such a ridiculously powerful beast ever losing its life to a simple snare. Only a hunter’s strength would be able to finish off this lord of the forest. Ai Fa firmly believed that to be the truth.

“Hoo...” Mida sighed.

The lord of the forest had entered the hunting ground.

The monstrous giba was charging forward as quickly as ever down the animal trail, trees lining the path on either side of it. Its front legs dug into the ground, and then the first of the boards covered in dirt and dried grass cracked under the lord’s weight. There was a taut rope beneath to activate the trap, which was triggered without a hitch, sending a giant board embedded with grigee stakes flying at the lord from the right. Thanks to the huge boulder attached to the back of the board, those stakes plunged into the lord’s torso with every bit as much force as a hunter’s slash.

However, the lord still didn’t stop its charge.

Even when the same sort of trap came at it from the other side, the result remained the same.

Though the stakes from the traps stayed embedded in the lord’s massive frame for a little while, they scattered to the ground as it continued its rampage.

The next trap was a net to capture the beast.

When the lord reached the point in question, Ai Fa cut a nearby vine. A mass of rocks it had been holding fell downward to raise a net of straw rope that ensnared the lord’s huge frame. However, the net woven by the Sauti women was easily torn apart rather than lifting the lord off the ground.

After seeing that, Ai Fa cut the next vine.

This time, it was a falling rock trap. The bundle of rocks held together with a net came falling down with incredible force.

Those rocks slammed straight into the lord’s back from above with as much mass as the lord’s own huge frame had. If it had been a normal giba, its body likely would have ended up splattered all over the ground.

Ai Fa could hear the sound of its flesh being pummeled even from her high position.

However, the rocks fell to the ground, and the lord didn’t stop moving.

All of that, and it still wasn’t enough, eh?

Ai Fa returned the knife to her hip, as its role was finished.

There was only a small distance left between Mida and the lord at this point. The young man readjusted his grip on his club’s handle.

There was only one trap left.

The lord’s front legs landed on it.

Instantly, the ground collapsed under its massive frame. It was a pitfall, the most common sort of trap employed by the people of the forest’s edge. Giba couldn’t leap above the height of their heads, so it was a trap that used the way their bodies were built against them.

The lord’s body started pitching forwards into the hole, which had been dug extra deep to be safe. But in the next instant, the beast leaped. It jumped with all its might using its rear legs, which were still on firm ground. The pitfall was about twice as wide as the lord was long. However, the lord did not fall.

Dirt, vines, and rocks tumbled down into the hole, but the lord landed on the ground. With the momentum from that leap still behind its charge, it headed straight toward Mida.

The young hunter’s face showed no fear as he swung his club straight down.

The lord’s head took the blow, its snout plunging into the ground.

Even from up atop the tree, Ai Fa felt the impact like an earthquake.

“Did I get it...?” Mida questioned, still holding his club. The metal spikes sticking out of it had plunged deep into the lord’s face.

Just as Ai Fa was rising and wondering whether she should slit its throat to finish it off...the lord suddenly got up. Even with the spikes still embedded and Mida holding the club, it gave a big swing of its head.

The momentum caused the spikes to slip out and Mida to land on the lord’s back with a shrill cry of “Aah...!” before he tumbled down into the pitfall.

The vitality this beast possesses is unbelievable, Ai Fa thought to herself as she leaped down from the tree. Landing on the lord’s snout that it still held high, she kicked off and cleared the pitfall trap.

After that, she just kept running through the forest without ever turning to look back.

Before long, she could sense the lord closing in from behind.

Apparently, it had leaped over the pitfall again without even a proper run-up. Still, that was fortunate for Mida’s sake.

It’s just as Donda Ruu said. Even with its eyes ruined, its legs broken, and its skull shattered, the lord still won’t stop.

Since Ai Fa had been watching from atop a tree the whole time, she had been able to accurately assess the state the lord was in. Its front right leg was bent in a strange direction, and its hind legs had both suffered some sort of injury as well. One of the arrows in its face had managed to steal away the sight from its right eye, and Mida’s blow shattered the bones in its face.

And in spite of all that, the lord of the forest was still chasing after Ai Fa.

As she ran full tilt through the forest, Ai Fa stole a quick glance behind.

Thanks to all those injuries, it was indeed moving less swiftly than it had a few days prior. At this rate it wouldn’t be able to catch up to her, even without her needing to plunge into the thickets. But though there was no danger of it catching her, the lord remained hot on her heels despite the fact that she was running with all her might.

Its face was coated in blood, and mangled such that it was somewhat distorted to the right. There was blood gushing out of the red holes where its eyes had been. However, among the few parts of its body that remained undamaged were its horns and tusks, ominously jutting outward even now.

Since the lord couldn’t see and no longer had proper control of its legs, it smacked into the trees on its left and right as it blundered through the forest with enough momentum to topple them over. If Ai Fa were to get her foot caught on a tree root or the like, she would either be trampled flat by those thick legs, or otherwise skewered from behind by its tusks. Even so, she kept on dashing through the forest without the slightest hesitation.

Eventually, her ever-reliable comrades came into view. Three of them were off to the side, while one stood right in the middle of the animal trail: Donda Ruu. As he gripped his blade with one knee on the ground, the leading clan head’s blue eyes were blazing wildly.

With the last of her remaining strength, Ai Fa sprinted directly for Donda Ruu. Every moment she shaved off the time it would take to reach him decreased the danger he was in.

Ai Fa leaped right toward Donda Ruu, planting her foot on his cloak-clad right shoulder. Naturally, the leading clan head rose in response, and Ai Fa used the boost he provided to leap up to a branch on a tree to the left.

Donda Ruu threw himself into the grass on the opposite side as the lord of the forest dashed past him down the trail, just barely scraping his body. But the lord didn’t turn as the animal trail started to bend, and it smacked its head right into a tree. As the lord passed by, the hunters on either side used the opportunity to once again slash at its legs.

As Ai Fa clung to a branch high up in the tree, she was left breathing heavily. Though the path to get here wasn’t all that long, she still felt as if her lungs were about to burst.

Donda Ruu and the other hunters readjusted the grip they had on their blades as they rose once more. But as they did, a hearty shout rang through the air. “Raaah!”

The newly appeared hunter thrust a long sword straight into the lord’s throat from the side as the beast tried to rise. It was Ludo Ruu, who had finished his task with the bow. He had come running from farther down the trail, and used his momentum as part of his attack. As a result, nearly half of the blade ended up buried in the lord’s neck.

The hunters rushed over, wondering if that had finished it. But before they could encircle it, the lord suddenly let out a bellow. Giba rarely ever made a sound. However, that deep, rumbling roar would surely frighten even other giba.

As the air trembled, the birds hidden in the forest all suddenly took flight at once. If there were mundt or giiz around, they surely would have fled as well. That frightening roar seemed as if it had come from an awakened god of calamity, revived from the deepest depths of the world.

“Whoa!” Ludo Ruu shouted, leaping away beyond the thicket.

The lord bellowed yet again, despite the blade still buried in its neck. As it did, it turned Ai Fa’s way. It was seeking her out through the scent of the giba summoning fruit. The red holes that its eyes had become seemed to glare her way, which was enough to send a chill up even her back.

“You damn monster!” Darmu Ruu shouted as he slashed at the beast. His blow came from the side and was aimed at its right rear leg. However, the lord’s head turned and a huge horn deflected Darmu Ruu’s blade. That alone was enough to snap the steel, and Darmu Ruu fell to the ground shoulder first.

Gazraan Rutim also swung at the same time, but the lord avoided his assault with a swift leap. And before Gazraan Rutim could correct his posture after stumbling, a tusk surged at his flank. Though the hunter at least managed to dodge a fatal blow, the side of the tusk hit him in the chest, and he was sent flying through the air like a pebble.

“Impossible! How can it still fight so well when it’s lost both eyes?!” Bartha shouted from somewhere Ai Fa couldn’t see.

In the same instant, fresh arrows shot into the lord’s massive frame. But even so, the huge giba showed no pain, instead coming after Rau Lea, who was the next closest.

“Damn!” Rau Lea dropped down to the ground and rolled in order to avoid the charge. As he did so, he drew a knife and thrust it into the lord’s neck. Naturally, the lord didn’t collapse to the ground even still.

Darmu Ruu and Gazraan Rutim used their swords as canes to slowly prop themselves up. Donda Ruu shouted at them, “Don’t go near it! It’s using up the last of its strength! If you approach carelessly, it’ll gouge a hole in you!”

All four of the lord’s limbs were bent in strange directions. Blood was gushing around the sword that Ludo Ruu had thrust into its neck. But even so, the lord hadn’t lost its strength. It was possible that its life had already been exhausted... Like Donda Ruu had said, it was expending all the strength left in its body in one final burst.

“The next time it stops moving, swing your blades with all your might! We’ll settle things then and there!”

“Is it even possible to get that damn monster to stop?!” Rau Lea questioned, sounding utterly bewildered.

As Donda Ruu held his sword in both hands, he adjusted his posture. “I’ll make it stop!”

Donda Ruu was standing right between the lord and the tree Ai Fa was clinging to. He had realized that the lord was once again aiming for her. As Ai Fa got her breathing in order, she drew her own blade up in the tree. A strategy had suddenly come to her, like some sort of revelation from the heavens.

With yet another monstrous bellow, the lord of the forest took off running.

It was heading straight toward Ai Fa, which meant it was charging at Donda Ruu first.

“Fall!” Donda Ruu shouted, swinging his blade horizontally from a low posture.

Blood gushed forth, and two front legs flew through the air.

And yet, the lord’s charge hadn’t stopped.

One of the beast’s tusks had dug into Donda Ruu’s right shoulder.

In that very instant, though, Ai Fa leaped down to the ground from the tree.

She swiftly closed the distance between her and Donda Ruu’s back, and the lord’s snout on the other side of it.

Ai Fa thrust her blade straight ahead, aiming for the gap between Donda Ruu’s right arm and his torso.

The sword plunged straight into the lord’s throat. But naturally, such an attack still wasn’t enough to stop the beast’s charge.

With the lord, Ai Fa, and Donda Ruu all still entangled, they crashed into a tree. There was an ominous cracking sound from within Ai Fa’s body. In all likelihood, she had broken some ribs. But even so, she didn’t let go of her blade.

Even when the butt of the grip was pushed back into the trunk of the tree and the blade was forced into the lord’s neck all the way down to its base, she still kept holding on.

“You’re being utterly reckless...” Ai Fa heard Donda Ruu say from above her as they were pressed against the tree.

She had wanted to reply that she had hit upon the idea of using the force of the lord’s charge against it to inflict a serious injury, and that she would at least not lose her life as long as he blunted its strength, but her voice just wouldn’t come.

“Hey, you two are still alive, right?! We’re moving it now!” Rau Lea called out from the other side of the lord’s massive frame.

Ai Fa wanted to reply “No, not yet!” but before she could, the lord’s rear legs kicked off. In an unbelievable display of strength, Ai Fa’s body was tossed into the air. And out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Donda Ruu had met the same fate.

As her hand slipped from the blade, the forest, sky, and ground all tumbled about in her field of vision.

For what felt like an eternity, Ai Fa flew through the air, wondering just how high she had been thrown.

If she fell on her head, there was no way that she could possibly survive.

And so, almost without thinking, she moved to cradle her head and curled her back as best she could.

She would return home alive, without fail.

It was that thought alone that Ai Fa clung to as she nearly lost consciousness.

And then...

Ai Fa’s fall was gently halted by the embrace of someone’s warm, powerful arms.

“Hmm. I hurried over here as quickly as I could, but it looks like the job’s already finished!”

It was Dan Rutim.

As Ai Fa stared up at him, she found him smiling back at her with a blue sky behind him.

“Well, it’s all good as long as everyone’s still alive and kicking! Let’s head on back to the Sauti settlement!”

Still unable to reply, Ai Fa glanced around.

The lord of the forest’s massive body had collapsed there on the ground, both its front legs missing, a sword piercing its throat, and the last of its strength finally exhausted.