35 – WarBull

~1 week later, in a forest near Aeonia kingdom~

Gilbert and Sara were running through the thick forest with the shortest route down from the mountain without even caring it was night.

The light source was the small glitter of [Shine], it couldn't illuminate more than some metres but under the guidance of Sara they were able to run at a high-pace.

"Paa!"

Sara's arm flashed facing the opposite side of darkness. They were being chased by something. Something strong and agile.

"Why did it end up like this? Wasn't this supposed to be just a simple herb gathering quest at night time? The moment we got close to one of the main roads, that shadow figure has been chasing us like crazy."

"Gil-sama, let's take a shortcut. Maybe it will distract it."

Before he could reply, Sara easily took hold of the body of Gilbert though being thin herself.

Even if Gilbert was called weak as a child, he had muscles for being able to swing a sword and his height too almost reached 170 cm. The scene of a 160 cm tall maid holding him in her arms did seem weird.

However, Gilbert neither got scared of Sara's power nor did he complain for getting held up by her.

The moment he was in the maid's arms, both of them jumped towards the slightly-elevated-steep-sloped cliff.

Even while carrying one tall man, Sara ran down without breaking her balance as though she were free falling.

Just like that, in an instant she finished descending and landed on the ground filled with grasses.

"Let's go. That stunt won't buy us much time."

"Yeah."

This was apparently an easy quest that suddenly took a wrong turn. Their attacker didn't reveal themselves.

And once again, their escape started.

They hadn't run for much long, but Gilbert was already near the point of having all of his stamina exhausted and would have fallen on the ground while screaming. But still, he clenched his teeth and kept on running.

"...... Gil-sama…"

Abruptly, Sara stopped.

While gasping painfully, a bad feeling passed through Gilbert's heart. He knew that she wouldn't stop in a place like this for no reason.

"Pant......Pant......W-what is it?"

"It caught up. I will stall it, please run."

"What!?"

Before them stood a giant monster with red skin and black horns.

"It's a WarBull......"

The person who murmured the name of monster in front of them was not Sara, but Gilbert.

"Do you know it?"

Sara knew the names of monsters not only within the surroundings of Aeonia, but also the names of all monsters placed in the monster list, even the latest ones.

But, she wasn't some monster maniac, so she wouldn't know the names of all monsters present in the world.

"It is a rare monster which only appears once every few years."

The monsters which appeared rarely easily meant that people didn't knew about them.

The place they were written was only the specialized books which told the mode of life and discovery of monsters.

Even among the adventurers, only those who do work of information gathering or were studious would have this much knowledge.

The only reason Gilbert knew about it is because he studied various monster books in order to find ways and compensate for his lack of fighting skills. He knew he was weak so trying to find other ways than strength to deal with his opponents was always a priority for him.

The name WarBull might sound strange, given basically it's a minotaur, but minotaurs are actually peaceful creatures of the Beastman race. Male minotaurs resemble their bovine counterparts more, while female minotaurs resemble humans more, only having their lower halves of their bodies resembling bovines. Generally minotaurs are peaceful, lazy and easy-going as a race and rarely resort to violence. It would actually be a miracle to even try getting one angry.

This thing… Its temper was extremely violent, it goes into a frenzy upon getting even a little stimulus. It attacks the person who gave it stimulus and doesn't stop even after the person becomes a dead corpse. It was a monster twisted with rage.

"The strength of this thing… it's definitely an S rank difficulty monster. This isn't someone you can beat, Sara......"

"It will be fine, I can buy some time for you to run."

She must've understood immediately from Gilbert's words that she wouldn't be able to win against that monster.

Even so, Sara declared as though she was just doing her job.

Gilbert didn't have words to stop her. That was because bodyguards exist only to protect the life of their master.

And Gilbert was the 2nd prince of Aeonia, not a person who was meant to die, even if he had to let others sacrifice their lives.

The royalty was something like that.

And Gilbert wasn't a child to not understand that, because he was already a 17 years old adult.

But, he wasn't mature to the extent that he could do the act of living while letting his bodyguard die.

"Gil-sama, hurry up."

In Sara's words, he sensed somewhat impatience.

"I… don't want to leave you! You're my friend!"

"Get moving already. We're not debating this!!"

"D-damn it......Sara......"

Gilbert finally made up his mind, and tried to make a run for it.

It was at that time.

"[Chains of Valhalla]!"

Numerous frozen chains extend from somewhere and twined around the body of WarBull completely immobilizing it.

Just what happened here? Before Gil could even think that question, the situation changed rapidly.

"[Terra Wall]!"

A giant rock wall separated Gil and Sara from the WarBull.

And, in the next moment,

"[Giga Flare]!"

A magic circle of white light formed itself above the monster.

By the time they both understood that the magic system was completely different from what they are capable of, the effect of the magic circle activated.

A powerful pillar of pure flames struck the WarBull, evaporating everything in its path. If not for the wall, it would have engulfed Sara and Gil along as well.

The things just happened in an instant… Gilbert and Sara were only able to look at it absentmindedly from the start to end.

"Sorry you 2, but that one is our prey. Mind leaving this to us?"

A voice echoed behind them, as they quickly turned around.

"Eeh!? You are…?"(Gilbert)

Gilbert's eyes opened wide at the sight of their saviours. Particularly towards a red hair women he knew very well and couldn't forget.