Chapter 53 Unexpected Reinforcements

The Barroth possesses a robust physique and thick armor, a bodily structure that grants it immense explosive power and resilience against impacts, along with considerable stamina.

Conversely, its agility is inevitably compromised as a result.

After its previous charge missed the mark, the Barroth overshot by thirty to forty meters before coming to a complete stop, and its turning speed was rather sluggish—therein lay his chance of victory.

Realizing this, Or朗 quickened his pace, taking the initiative to charge straight at his opponent.

The enraged Barroth seemed utterly unprepared for this tiny creature, which barely stood higher than its shins, to actually dare charge right at it, causing its reaction to be a fraction of a beat too slow.

By the time it snapped back to its senses, Or朗 was already less than half a body's length away from it.

The Barroth let out an angry bellow, rearing up its head and ramming forward.

Such a head-butt was far quicker than attacks like the charging dash that required prior wind-up, but for an agile hunter, there was still ample reaction time.

A split second before that shovel-shaped head-shell was upon him, Or朗 deftly ducked and executed a sliding tackle, darting beneath the Barroth's lunging head and arriving right underneath its body, near the chest and belly.

In a position like this, weapons like a great sword could hardly be deployed to their full potential, but a sword and shield were different; he had plenty of room to swing a blade that was still shorter than his arm.

Sliding Slash!

Without a single moment of pause upon rising, and without wasting an ounce of momentum, Or朗 swung his left-hand blade, delivering a diagonal slash across the Barroth's chest.

He had learned this move from Senior Se尔; integrating attacks into evasive repositioning maneuvers was exceptionally practical.

However, the moment his blade made contact, a bad feeling washed over him.

It wasn't the hardness of striking solid rock that would bounce a blade away; truth be told, he couldn't even be certain whether he had truly landed a solid blow on the Barroth's body.

That thick layer of mud armor had trapped his blade, making it difficult for the strike to penetrate deeply. It felt precisely as though he had slashed his sword into soft, muddy ground.

He had to bypass the areas coated in mud!

He rolled to adjust his position, dodging the sweeping claw of the Barroth's forelimb, and delivered another strike the instant he got back to his feet.

This time, he aimed for the Barroth's knee joint.

Mud would inevitably shed away; after its previous movements, only about half of the Barroth's body was truly covered in mud armor, and areas that moved frequently, such as the joints, had scarcely any mud clinging to them at all.

This strike finally carried the tangible feedback of a hit, yet the destructive effect remained poor.

Setting aside the mud armor clinging to the exterior, the Barroth's natural shell and hide were immensely tough and thick, far beyond the comparison of monsters like the Great Jaggi.

He hadn't pulled his punches with that swing, yet not even the tiniest speck of blood was visible.

This meant his attack had utterly failed to pierce the Barroth's defense!

"So tough! If I'd known we'd be fighting this battle, I should have prepared a heavy weapon with much higher destructive power in advance."

Or朗 muttered to himself in silence, though he well knew this was merely a meaningless complaint; whistling wouldn't magically cause a heavier weapon to fly over and find him.

What genuinely needed consideration right now was how to drain this giant beast's stamina and create an opening to escape.

Feeling the wave of heat radiating from behind him, Or朗 rolled once more, narrowly dodging the Barroth's downward snap.

The chest and belly region remained far too perilous. Finishing his roll, Or朗 seized the momentum to dart forward in a sprint, squeezing right between the Barroth's legs and arriving near its tail.

He scrambled up to deliver two more strikes in succession, slashing first at the inner thigh of the Barroth and then at its tail. The defense here was indeed fractionally weaker, which offered Or朗 a glimmer of hope.

The Barroth roared, hastily spinning around.

The hunter's current location was both its blind spot for attacks and its visual dead zone. Having a creature scuttling between its legs to launch assaults—even if those attacks felt like mere mosquito bites—disturbed its peace of mind.

The Barroth's reflexive reaction brought a sense of relief to Or朗.

He would have been troubled if the creature remained as immovable as a mountain; since it showed a reaction, it meant his choice was correct.

By continually circling behind it, he could wear down the Barroth in a war of attrition, steadily draining its stamina until the beast grew fatigued and exposed an opening!

Though the risks were immense and any single mistake could cost him his life on the spot, he had finally managed to carve out a viable escape route!

"Whew—!"

A sharp whistle echoed by his ear. Distracted for a split second by the sound, Or朗 was nearly trampled by the Barroth.

Hastily correcting his footing and raising his shield, Or朗 mustered the energy to divert a sliver of attention, casting a glance out of the corner of his eye toward the direction of the whistle.

He had originally assumed it was Sa-ji, who, worried about him, had abandoned the caravan and sneaked over to help, but that wasn't the case at all.

The newcomer was another hunter.

With the night dim and dark, and lacking the leisure for a close inspection, he couldn't even tell whether the person was male or female, only managing to deduce their identity as a hunter from the long blade slung diagonally across their back.

After using the whistle to issue a warning, the person quietly approached from the Barroth's visual blind spot.

Or朗, who had previously been content with simply making a safe escape as a grand victory, felt his mind stirring with new possibilities.

Unable to see the equipment clearly, he couldn't gauge the stranger's strength, but the fact that the person dared to join the battle without the slightest hesitation proved they were at least no one-star rookie; their hunter rank was most likely higher than his own.

If they were a three-star hunter, the two of them cooperating should make driving off this Barroth fairly reliable. If they were a powerful hunter of four or five stars, or even higher rank, he could probably just lie down right now and rest easy.

To be honest, though, the likelihood of the stranger being a high-ranking hunter wasn't very high.

If they truly were an expert capable of effortlessly suppressing a Barroth, they would simply charge straight in and launch a fierce assault; there seemed little need to sneak around like this or take the trouble of greeting him to coordinate their efforts...

Regardless, he was already endlessly grateful that someone was willing to lend a hand; how could he possibly afford to be picky?

Or朗 took the initiative to go on the offensive, drawing the Barroth's attention from the front to create an opening for the unfamiliar hunter approaching from the flank and rear.

That person's reactions were swift as well. Realizing that Or朗 was drawing the target's aggro for them, they immediately picked up their pace, reaching the Barroth's rear in the blink of an eye.

Without the slightest intention of slowing down, reaching the optimal striking position three or four meters away from the Barroth, the figure took a fierce, large step forward to plant their stance while unsheathing their blade.

"Hah!"

Amidst the light, sharp shout of what was unmistakably a female voice, the hunter's katana flashed downward in a vertical slash.

A textbook-standard draw-stance stepping slash.

The momentum of the charge was converted entirely into the power behind the swing, the blade's trajectory firm and straight without a single deviation.

The bone-crafted blade smoothly cleaved through the tough armor and resilient hide, carving a nearly one-meter-long, narrow laceration from the Barroth's tail up to its thigh.

"Gya-a-oh!"

The sudden, excruciating pain wrung a miserable howl from the Barroth, interrupting the head-butt attack it had been halfway through executing.

"Nice!" Or朗 couldn't help shouting out in praise. Seizing this opening, he pulled back his sword-bearing left arm and tensed his body.

After a brief, one-second wind-up, he lunged forward, swinging his blade in a slash that landed squarely on the Barroth's cheek.

Unlike when hunting the Great Jaggi—where a charged slash could send the monster staggering backward—the exact same charged blow landing on the Barroth's face failed to even shift its head off-center, and the rebounding force nearly knocked the sword right out of his grip.

His rhythm shattered, Or朗 had no choice but to abandon his plan of executing a full charged deadly combo; the Barroth was no Great Jaggi, as their size, strength, and bodily fortitude were entirely in different leagues!

Or朗 clicked his tongue and prepared to shift his strategy.

Meanwhile, the unfamiliar katana user operating behind the Barroth also noticed the situation. She immediately raised her voice: "I'll hold the front! You harass its weak spots!"

"Got it!"

The other person's voice was surprisingly young, but Or朗 had no leisure to pay attention to that now.

Once again utilizing a sliding tackle and sliding slash, he evaded the Barroth's counterattack and circled behind it, while the katana user, dragging her weapon diagonally, stepped up to the front and swung her sword to block the Barroth as it attempted to turn around.

The two of them simultaneously launched a fresh round of offensive maneuvers.