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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Legendary Weapon (3)
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Having confirmed the secret letter from the spy planted in the tribe, Breda was satisfied that things were proceeding exactly as he had anticipated.
'They really do plan to hand Muhul over to Attila.'
Breda moved swiftly to execute his plan.
He led his own subordinates and the archers borrowed from Gundika toward the Grizzly's cave.
Things went more smoothly than expected.
'Fortune favors me!'
The Grizzly was heavily pregnant.
Which meant.
'It can't help but move sluggishly. Not when it has to protect the cub in its belly.'
Thanks to that, Breda was able to lure the Grizzly far from the cave without suffering any losses.
And once Attila had entered the cave, leaving Munjuk alone, he presented the frenzied beast—riddled with dozens of arrows—right before the chief.
Moreover, Munjuk held neither the Dragon Jaw Axe nor the Tiger Jaw Axe.
"What in the world…!"
Munjuk quickly assessed the situation.
The guardian was completely berserk now.
If it charged into the cave like this, not even the reincarnation of the Great Martial God King would recognize him.
Attila would be in danger!
"Hold fast! Guardian of the forest!"
Munjuk drew the hand axe from his belt.
At that moment, a shower of arrows rained down from the trees all around.
* * *
Okhtar, immersed in his personal training, spotted an idiot sprinting from the direction of the village and shook his head in dismay.
His anger toward them had long since faded.
Since his duel with Attila, his mind had been filled with countless insights.
"Oh, Okhtar!"
But before the fool who had run right up to him could finish speaking, Okhtar dropped everything and bolted toward the village.
The screams growing clearer by the second, along with the clamor of clashing weapons.
The village was burning.
* * *
"Fancy seeing you again after just three days, brother."
The axe in Breda's hand was buried deep in Munjuk's back.
"Br-Breda…! You bastard…!"
"You should've handed the chieftain's seat over to me and stepped down long ago. Then brothers bound by affection wouldn't have to shed blood like this."
Blood gushed from Munjuk's mouth.
Facing the berserk Grizzly and the arrows raining from all sides, Munjuk fought valiantly.
He had to protect Attila.
He couldn't let the maddened guardian enter the cave.
That restriction proved fatal to his movements.
"To think you'd bare your back so easily. Hardly befitting the Warrior King."
At Breda's signal, the archers trained their bows on the Grizzly's belly.
"Let's see how you endure this."
Dozens of arrows pierced its abdomen, and upon seeing it, the Grizzly let out a roar that shook the forest.
"The rage of a mother who's lost her cub."
With a mighty kick, Breda sent Munjuk sprawling toward the wailing beast of calamity.
* * *
Every sense in his body on high alert as he ran, Attila heard a roar unlike any before echoing from outside the cave.
'What's this…?'
Just then, the cave opened to the light, and as Attila burst out, he was greeted by a swarm of black arrows flying straight at him.
Through them, he caught a glimpse.
Munjuk, vomiting blood from his back and mouth, being shoved toward the enraged gray bear.
"Father!"
With a thunderous crash like a bolt of lightning, the bear's blow sent Munjuk slamming into the ground.
It didn't stop there.
It swung its claws once more at the prone Munjuk's chest.
"Stop!"
Attila's thigh muscles bulged taut.
Snatching the Dragon Jaw Axe and Tiger Jaw Axe from his back, Attila charged the bear, using the massive twin axe blades as shields to deflect the onslaught of arrows.
"Wh-what the hell!"
"What is that thing!"
The archers recoiled in horror at the monstrous sight of him barreling forward like a giant iron shield in human form.
But no matter how fast Attila's feet carried him, he couldn't block the bear's forepaw that was already swinging.
'Then!'
Attila's left arm whipped forward.
With a sickening *splat*, the Tiger Jaw Axe left his hand and embedded itself in the Grizzly's shoulder.
*Roooaaar!*
Clutching its mangled arm, the Grizzly twisted its upper body.
Undeterred, Attila leaped high and slammed the Dragon Jaw Axe's flat side against the embedded Tiger Jaw Axe's back, severing bone and muscle in a visceral sensation as the limb thudded to the ground.
The sight froze not only the archers but Breda as well.
"Sh-shoot! Turn that bastard into a pincushion!"
Yanking the Tiger Jaw Axe from the earth and raising it alongside the Dragon Jaw Axe, Attila shielded Munjuk from the arrow storm.
In the chaos, a few more arrows lodged in the Grizzly's body, and gripped by terror at Attila's horrifying might, it finally realized who had brought it to this state.
The ones who had attacked its unborn cub as well.
"Father!"
Attila scooped up Munjuk and carried him back into the cave.
In that brief time, not a single inch of his body remained unscathed.
Seeing the blood pouring from him in spurts, Attila bit his lip.
"Damn it…!"
Confirming Munjuk still breathed, Attila stripped off his upper garment to bind the wounds before standing.
The arrow fire had ceased.
The Grizzly had turned on its new targets, smashing the archers' skulls one by one.
Humans screamed in flight, pursued by the bear, while Attila eyed them all and tensed his thighs.
* * *
Watching his men's heads explode like pumpkins, Breda felt a pang of doubt amid the desperation.
'Why is it suddenly attacking us? Has it regained its senses? No, that can't be.'
Breda's eyes scanned the Grizzly as it pulverized another archer's head.
Right at the center of its spine.
There, a blood-red arrow emanated a dark, ominous aura.
'Batory's arrow hit true. Damn it, I don't get it. Did losing one arm really drive it completely mad?'
Batory's arrow.
The cursed shaft Breda had painstakingly acquired, handcrafted by the infamous southern witch 'Batory Erzsébet' herself—a demonic artifact.
'Its eyes are still bloodshot. The curse holds.'
As Breda thought, the curse still gripped the Grizzly.
But Breda could never have imagined that an overwhelming terror of Attila had suppressed it.
'Damn.'
Fleeing without resolving his doubts, Breda's eyes suddenly widened.
Something had leaped onto the Grizzly's back from behind, using its shoulder to spring even higher.
Breda shouted.
"Attila!"
Attila soared like a bird, his gaze sweeping over the fleeing men.
His shoulders blurred for an instant—then an archer hiding in the brush was bisected at the waist.
Almost simultaneously, a subordinate running beside Breda was cleaved vertically with a *rip*.
'Th-that madman!'
Breda was speechless with disbelief.
Attila had hurled the Dragon Jaw Axe and Tiger Jaw Axe, shredding two seasoned warriors like paper.
'He threw two-handed axes that most warriors can't even lift—like throwing axes!'
Next came two one-handed axes.
They buried into the napes of two archers fleeing in tears, killing four warriors in the blink of an eye as their guts and brains spilled out.
Landing on the ground, Attila kicked off again to retrieve his axes.
Then he began hunting the terrified fugitives one by one.
"Eeeek! Sp-spare…!"
"Kaaaaah!"
A hellscape of blood and flesh unfolded.
The Grizzly no longer terrified them.
Fear of Attila erased all else.
"It's a monster! That thing's a real mon— *gurgle*!"
"Gurgle…!"
Some broke ranks to flee, but none escaped Attila's axes.
The echoing screams gradually faded, then vanished entirely.
Breda alone survived.
'Shit. Useless bastards.'
Breda's eyes cautiously scanned the surroundings.
No sign of Attila.
Instead, the enraged Grizzly's claws slashed toward him.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Breda spun, dodging the claws.
Drawing his twin hand axes with expert precision, he tensed his ankles and waist.
He struck with all his might at the Grizzly's remaining arm.
'What the…!'
But the axe inflicted no mortal wound.
The beast's muscles, hidden beneath loose hide, were rock-hard—beyond Breda's strength to shatter.
'He severed something like this? Attila…!'
*Roooaaar!*
The furious Grizzly swung its arm at Breda again.
But Breda was the second-greatest warrior of the mighty Black Wolf Tribe, after Munjuk.
"I'll tear you apart!"
Spinning like a top, Breda launched into the air.
Drawing the hand axes from his waist, he scaled the Grizzly's shoulder with panther-like agility, raining down blows.
Flesh tore like fireworks exploding.
"No matter how tough your muscles, your throat's another story!"
Where Munjuk wielded overwhelming physical power, Breda excelled in sharp, precise technique.
They had complemented each other perfectly, dominating tribal battles.
Now, all for naught.
"This ends it!"
Breda's axe surged toward the Grizzly's blood-smeared throat.
He was certain of victory.
'Got you! I've single-handedly hunted the forest calamity…!'
Until its forepaw seized his lower back.
"*Gurgle*…!"
Ribs cracking under the impact, blood sprayed from Breda's mouth.
Slammed to the ground by immense force, he gasped and thrashed his limbs.
"*Grah*… *gurgle*…!"
A heart-shaking rumble approached.
The massive forepaw rose, blacking out Breda's vision.
"Heh heh heh… Looks like I'm going first, brother."
Breda cackled like a madman as he stared up.
That was when.
With a *crack*, the Grizzly's elbow snapped at an unnatural angle.
Its severed forearm flew meters away, impaling a tree trunk. The now armless beast howled as flashes glinted beneath its jaw—then its decapitated head dangled from Attila's grip.
*Thud.*
The headless bear dropped to its knees.
Drenched head to toe in blood, Attila's cold gaze shifted from Breda to the slumped carcass.
His arm plunged into the stump of its neck.
Moments later, he withdrew a sword gleaming pristine amid the gore.
'That's… the Great Martial God King's…!'
Attila roared.
One hand clutching Muhul, the other hoisting the guardian's severed head, his face twisted into murderous fury as he turned on Breda.