Chapter 59

Promise (2)

I quickly surveyed the battlefield.

One large-class monster had already been subjugated and killed, and in the distance, on the opposite side, I could see the Commander distracting the monsters while his black hair whipped in the wind.

Once I confirmed that he was unharmed, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘He’s been holding out just fine on his own.’

I had wondered how he had endured against so many large-class monsters, but the soldiers were repeatedly firing and retreating under the Commander’s orders, herding the monsters into one place while maintaining a circular formation around them.

This had to be the Commander’s first time facing this many large-class monsters as well, yet his response was far calmer than I had expected.

There was some blood on his clothes, but judging by how freely he was moving, it did not seem to be his own.

Apparently, he had yet to notice me, as he remained completely focused on commanding the soldiers.

‘They’ve held out better than I expected, but…’

This kind of encirclement could do no more than buy time.

Even if they somehow managed to maintain the formation, they would eventually run out of ammunition. Once that happened, the formation would collapse in an instant.

Had I not arrived in time, both the Commander and every soldier here would have been in danger.

Just then, one side of the encirclement broke apart.

“Ugh!”

One of the soldiers stumbled while retreating and knocked several others down with him, giving the monsters an opening.

One of them immediately took advantage of the opportunity and charged toward the fallen soldiers, opening its jaws wide and baring rows of gleaming, razor-sharp teeth.

“A-argh!”

As the terrified soldiers desperately crawled across the snow to escape, I pulled a white flare round from inside my coat and fired it directly at the monster’s eye.

A white flare couldn’t inflict much damage on a large-class monster, but since monsters couldn’t perceive that color, they wouldn’t dodge even if it was fired straight at their eyes.

That made it perfect for drawing aggro.

“Kyaaaak!”

Sure enough, the monster shrieked after taking the flare directly in the eye and turned toward the direction the shot had come from.

At the same time, the gazes of the soldiers and the Commander snapped toward me.

I could see the Commander’s expression slowly fill with horror when he discovered me standing armed on the snowfield.

“Haydam! Why are you here?!”

Well, anyone would react that way after seeing his son standing in a place crawling with monsters.

But it would be equally troublesome for me if my “father” were endangered here.

My illegitimate-child route depended on the Commander watching my back until I had firmly established myself as the heir of this place.

Of course, even if the Commander died right now, Daphne, Meursault, and the military academy graduates would likely support me, so clearing the zone might not become especially difficult.

The problem was that I was still far too young.

If the Commander died now, the person most likely to become the next Commander wouldn’t be me.

It would be Meursault.

Hayden had only been able to become the Commander of the Cola Zone because he married Daphne, the previous Commander’s daughter.

And the person Daphne currently had feelings for was Meursault.

Both Meursault and Daphne were favorably disposed toward me now, but there was no telling how they might change once they reached the pinnacle of power.

‘And anyway, I promised Lunamoon that I would protect Hayden.’

Remembering the promise I had made while retrieving the ring from Lunamoon’s grave naturally brought to mind the portrait of Lunamoon, who had worn my mother’s face.

I forcefully pushed thoughts of my mother aside.

This was no time to let my mind wander.

Even as a player, I would have to stay completely focused if I wanted to face this many large-class monsters alone.

I loaded the rifle slung across my back and ran straight toward the monster charging at me.

“H-hey!”

“You’ve lost your mind! Haydam!”

The people nearby shouted when, instead of retreating from the monster, I charged directly into its path.

Ignoring them, I slid across the snow and slipped beneath the monster’s jaw.

The reason I had gone beneath it was that, after being struck by the white flare, the monster hadn’t thrown its head back.

Instead, as though instinctively protecting something, it had lowered its jaw and pressed it tightly against its body.

‘There it is.’

I fired into the underside of its jaw.

Sensing danger, the monster tried to turn away.

Judging by its reaction, I had accurately located the gem, but the gun I was using had been designed so that even a child like me could withstand its recoil.

As a result, it lacked destructive power.

That was why I had instructed Meursault beforehand.

He was to fire immediately after I did.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out in quick succession from nearby.

Meursault’s claim that he could hit the target as long as I showed him where to aim hadn’t been a lie.

His first shot shattered half of the monster’s jaw.

The second struck precisely where my bullet had hit.

With a brittle cracking sound, something inside broke.

The monster’s body began to tilt.

As I slipped out from beneath its jaw, I shouted at the surrounding soldiers,

“Move back!”

The soldiers had been frantically trying to watch over me while also keeping the other approaching monsters at bay.

At my shout, they hurriedly threw themselves out of the way.

Two of the monsters they had been restraining failed to avoid the enormous body of the collapsing creature and were knocked down with it.

The remaining monsters briefly glanced in my direction, but perhaps because there were so few of us standing here, we didn’t seem to hold much interest for them.

Ignoring me, they headed toward the soldiers who had been forced to gather in one place while avoiding the falling monster.

“Huff, huff… Lord Haydam, please refrain from such reckless actions…!”

Meursault must have run over as quickly as he could, because he was breathing heavily.

Without taking my eyes off the monsters charging toward the soldiers, I held out my hand to him.

“White flare.”

Meursault seemed to let out a massive sigh when I held out my hand without even looking at him.

A moment later, the firm weight of a flare round was placed in my palm.

I fired it into the back of the head of the monster turning away from me.

The Commander had realized that I was deliberately drawing the monsters’ attention and was glaring at me from across the battlefield as though he wanted to devour me alive.

Still, this was the best option available to both of us.

I withdrew my brief glance from the Commander and focused on the monster charging toward me, drawn in by the flare.

The gem glittering on the bridge of its nose immediately entered my vision.

‘If it’s still alive despite having its gem in such an obvious place, it must be a relatively intelligent specimen.’

It seemed the creature had been avoiding bullets by raising its head.

Anyone could see where the gem was, so the others must have aimed at it as well.

Yet while the bridge of its nose was still relatively intact, the underside of its jaw had been reduced to a ragged mess.

A monster like this was actually more troublesome than the previous one, whose gem had been beneath its jaw.

Unless humans could fly, they would always be standing below a monster’s head.

That was why conventional subjugation operations relied on pouring overwhelming firepower into a monster until it collapsed, then locating and destroying its gem afterward.

‘But I’m different.’

When the target was somewhere my current body couldn’t reach—

I could simply leave it to “luck.”

Before doing so, I glanced past the charging monster toward the Commander behind it.

‘There’s enough distance between us. It should be fine if the title’s effect is interrupted for a moment.’

Once I confirmed that the Commander was far enough away, I changed my title from Friend of Lunamoon to Magic Bullet Shooter.

The last time I had counted, I still had around three shots remaining before reaching the seventh bullet.

Using one on this monster should be fine.

When I raised the barrel, the creature lifted its head as though to mock me.

But such a cute little trick didn’t work against the Magic Bullet Shooter.

The bullet I fired without hesitation pierced the weakened, heavily damaged section beneath its jaw and traveled straight through the gem on the bridge of its nose on the opposite side.

The monster collapsed on the spot as though someone had pulled its fuse.

Unable to overcome the momentum of its charge, its corpse slid across the snow and came to a stop directly in front of me.

Meursault had moved closer so he could follow my shot, but when the monster fell to a single bullet, he stared at me in shock.

“You…”

“Waaaaah!”

Whatever Meursault was about to say was drowned out by the cheers erupting around us.

Several large-class monsters still remained, but after I appeared without warning and eliminated two in succession, the soldiers seemed to forget their fear and stared at me in amazement.

Thanks to me taking down two so quickly, the other teams had regained some breathing room as well.

The two monsters knocked down by the first creature I killed had already been finished off by the soldiers who rushed in without missing the opportunity.

‘That leaves four.’

After I killed two monsters in a row, the remaining four had all fixed their aggro on me.

I checked my remaining ammunition and shouted toward the soldiers,

“Take the wounded and fall back!”

The soldiers hesitated for a moment, as though unsure whether they were permitted to obey me.

Then they noticed Meursault following behind me and began supporting the injured as they withdrew from around me like a receding tide.

Once the soldiers had cleared away, I could clearly see three people approaching from beyond the charging monsters.

The Commander, who must have handed command to another soldier, was walking forward with his gun aimed at the monsters.

Beside him was Plato, his face flushed with excitement.

And, for reasons I couldn’t understand, Stay-at-Home-Wifey was running toward us as fast as his short legs could carry him.

‘I can’t use Magic Bullet Shooter anymore.’

The Magic Bullet Shooter was a title that ensured the seventh bullet would strike someone precious to me.

It would be a problem if one of those three were hit by the seventh shot.

And if I encountered the Commander while not wearing Friend of Lunamoon, he might sense that something was wrong with me.

The moment I changed my title from Magic Bullet Shooter back to Friend of Lunamoon, something strange happened.

“…Hm?”

The four monsters charging toward me suddenly shuddered with their enormous bodies.

They hesitantly backed away, then began fleeing from me as I walked toward them.

The Commander was approaching directly behind them, yet the creatures ran straight past him and disappeared beyond the snowfield.

Afraid they might attack the Commander as they passed, I had hurriedly raised my weapon.

Now, I lowered it in bewilderment.

“What was that?”

It was hard to believe, but the monsters had fled in terror as though they were herbivores being pursued by a fearsome predator.

‘Why?’

Of course, some of the titles I possessed could intimidate monsters and drive them away.

But Friend of Lunamoon was nothing like that.

Even if it had such an effect, as far as I knew, no title in the Safe Zone was powerful enough to terrify four large-class monsters into fleeing.

Besides, I had been wearing Friend of Lunamoon from the moment I arrived.

I had merely changed it to Magic Bullet Shooter briefly before putting it back on.

If the monsters had fled because of the Friend of Lunamoon title, the effect should have activated the moment I appeared.

‘This… needs to be investigated.’

What exactly had caused them to run away?

And was it connected to the fact that all the monsters had already fled from our team’s assigned area?

This was something I would have to examine properly.

‘Still, their retreat saved me for now.’

Even for me, facing four large-class monsters simultaneously would have been difficult.

As I stared in the direction they had disappeared, I heard the soldiers shouting in astonishment from behind me.

“D-did those things just run away after seeing Lord Haydam?”

“As though killing two monsters with two bullets wasn’t enough…”

“He drove away four large-class monsters with nothing but his presence?!”

Looks like another strange detail is about to be added to the legend of my birth.