Lancer's sudden attack startled the entire group of guards.
What he didn't expect was that several of them immediately swung their weapons toward him.
There was no princess, so he was already in a bad mood—but these people were actually ignoring the enemies right in front of them to point weapons at him? Wasn't he here to help?
In truth, the guards hadn't wanted to do this either—circumstances forced their hand.
Earlier that day, His Majesty had suddenly decided to go "hunting." Since it was only hunting, nothing dangerous should have happened. General Budo was personally escorting them, and more than three hundred Imperial Guards surrounded the area. The Imperial Guard leaders all wielded Shingus. Under normal circumstances, there should've been zero risk.
But who could have predicted that His Majesty's Danger Beast mount would suddenly go berserk?
And after they finally put down the crazed mount, they'd been besieged by a wave of Danger Beasts. Only General Budo's overwhelming strength—slaughtering most of them in a single strike—had given them room to breathe.
It was then that General Budo reached a shocking conclusion—
Whether it was the mount's frenzy or the sudden encirclement of Danger Beasts, someone had definitely been controlling everything from the shadows.
It sounded unbelievable, but with Teigu—objects that defied all common sense—it wasn't impossible. And because General Budo had never been wrong in matters of battle, they believed him.
After giving the order, "Protect His Majesty even unto death," General Budo went to eliminate the Teigu-user behind the beasts. In the meantime, the guards had already killed more than ten additional Danger Beasts, and they'd clearly noticed that after the first few strong ones, the later beasts were getting weaker—likely scraped together at the last minute by the enemy.
But in the middle of such a crisis, an armored man with a lance suddenly appearing in a remote forest… no matter how you looked at it, that was suspicious. The only reason they didn't attack outright was because he had just helped kill one of the beasts.
But the uneasy standoff didn't last. Once Lancer killed the ape-type Danger Beast, the controlled beasts immediately marked him as an enemy. Before he could even open his mouth to explain, they charged again.
Well, whether he was offended by their "repaying kindness with hostility" no longer mattered. He was already caught in the mess, and judging by their expressions, even if he didn't help, this group wouldn't let him walk away.
Unfortunately for the mindless beasts—stripped of intelligence by the Teigu's control—they had no idea what sort of opponent they'd provoked.
Anyway, they're just walking piles of XP. Guess I'll farm some points.
That's right. At this point, he was already seeing them as mobile score counters.
The Lance.
Not a rare weapon, but one most people understood very poorly.
On the battlefield, knights often used lances as their primary weapon. The tip was usually replaceable, since it often snapped after the first charge—intentionally, to keep it from getting stuck in a corpse. But that didn't mean a lance stopped being dangerous once the tip broke.
The terrifying part of cavalry wasn't the lance point—it was the impact of the mount's charge. Even if the splintered shaft slammed into you, it could leave you crippled—or dead. And if you fell off your horse…
In the chaos of battle, you'd likely end up trampled into paste by your own allies.
That was the common understanding. But Lancer was here to rewrite it.
Holding the lance in one hand and a shield in the other, he demonstrated a completely different fighting style.
Facing the charging Danger Beast, he raised his dark red bone shield. He leaned in. After absorbing the hit, the horizontally held lance snapped upward in a vicious thrust. Over the beast's screech, he whipped the weapon back and followed with relentless strikes…
Every guard present was confident in hunting the Explosive Bear-type Danger Beast charging Lancer—because they wielded Shingu—but none of them would choose to meet it head-on. It simply wasn't worth the risk.
Yet Lancer stood his ground behind his shield and forced the kill.
In less than a minute, the Explosive Bear collapsed, panting heavily as it bled out.
"Could he really block an Explosive Bear's palm strike with a shield?"
"Highly unlikely."
"Then is he using a Shingu? Or an Imperial Arms?"
Still masked, Lancer remained unaware of the whispers behind him. His focus was locked on the remaining beasts encircling him.
Back in the MH world, he had already fought with a lance. But to be safe, he'd only taken on lower-level monsters like the Yian Kut-Ku. Now that he'd finally encountered monsters stronger than Yian Kut-Ku yet still manageable, there was no way he'd pass up the chance for a proper "weapon test."
With only a sliver of attention on the people behind him, he focused almost entirely on the Danger Beasts attacking from all sides.
He couldn't deny the previous "world" still lingered in his veins.
Compared to the constant fear of being cut down by Ghouls, those three days in MH had been bliss.
Full stamina? Hunt a monster.
Tired? Collapse and sleep.
At camp, the bold hunters not only took turns keeping watch, they offered meat and drinks.
That hearty lifestyle had seeped into him in just a few days.
Now, surrounded by Danger Beasts, he felt the same fire he'd felt in MH when hunting monsters.
Let me grant you the honor of becoming my spoils of war!!
Though Lancer still didn't fully understand what his status sheet meant by "Lancer's Fate," he was undeniably different from ordinary people.
Facing a pack of Danger Beasts, he felt no fear—none at all. If anything, his blood burned hotter.
…
When he finally drove his lance into the heart of the last beast, he pulled off his mask and exhaled sharply. Only then did his battle-fueled brain begin to cool.
Clap—clap—
An abrupt round of applause sounded behind him.
"!!!"
Lancer spun around, startled. The blond middle-aged man applauding wore no particular expression.
"Not bad."
Just two simple words—yet everyone who knew his identity wore the same astonished look. Even His Majesty stared at Lancer with a strange expression.
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T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, i was too focused on something elseeeeeeeeeeeee ive been playing 7daystodieeeeeeeeeee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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