"H-hey, that's enough already, please let me go..."
"When an adventurer asks you the same thing, do you think you'd have any intention of helping? Probably not. So we're continuing as is."
People had started dying from not breathing.
"Hey... that guy looks dead..."
"So it seems. In that case, releasing Marionette Chain."
The knight who collapsed with a thud never got back up.
Seeing this, the other knights panicked.
"I don't want to die, I don't want to die..."
"Y-you're not human!"
"Wait, and you guys get to say that?"
I let the knights' words wash over me—insults, pleas of "just save me at least"—as I released Marionette Chain from those who had died from having their life force drained, leaving them right where they fell.
The last one remaining was a knight who looked like a rear-field commander.
Turned out he was actually pretty strong.
I noticed he was carrying a magnificent greatsword.
Curious, I asked about it.
"What's with the greatsword?"
"Haah... haah... I'm not telling... the likes of you... let... me... go..."
Ah, he'd drawn his last breath.
I released the final Marionette Chain and examined the greatsword with my Divine Eye.
Beast Slayer—deals tremendous damage against beast-type monsters.
It also works on Jewel Beasts as targets.
And so.
Well, would you look at that—the answer up ahead has already been decided.
Setting that aside, after the entire knight order was wiped out, I pressed on alone and eventually arrived at a place that opened up before me.
"Grrrrrrrrr..."
There, a beast with blue fur was continuously puffing out blue smoke.
I looked at it with my Divine Eye and learned it was an "overgrown Jewel Beast."
Apparently, defeating it yields gems.
It was like a giant hedgehog you'd have to crane your neck to look up at.
This thing had definitely drained a fair amount of life force.
"Fshurururu...? Gigii!"
The Jewel Beast noticed me, stopped producing blue smoke, and lunged at me with its sharp front claws, trying to tear me apart.
I dodged swiftly backward, and deep claw marks were left gouged into the ground.
The Jewel Beast's claws were hard and sharp.
They'd probably tear through the knight order's armor like paper, slicing them into three pieces body and all.
Well, I'd better defeat it here or gem excavation would be stalled, so let's give it my all.
With that said—one of those, One-Slash Bisection Sword.
"Hah!"
I leaped into the air with my black steel sword, wreathed it in a dark aura, and slashed down at the Jewel Beast from above.
"Ggyaaaaaaah!!"
Split clean in two, the Jewel Beast let out a death scream before vanishing.
That was a pretty mana-heavy killing blow, but I'd needed to use it—that was how tough its hide felt.
Hate to say it, but I don't think even the knight order commander wielding Beast Slayer could have won.
In the end, I was the one who had to handle it regardless.
Oh, and something was missing...
Right—there was no explanatory side character going:
"I-Impossible! A normal Jewel Beast is one thing, but the body of a Jewel Beast grown that large should be harder than anything! And this boy split it in a single strike without even a Beast Slayer—what on earth is he...!"
Since there's no one here but me.
I probably should have brought at least one of the knights along, recovered them, and dragged them here for that purpose.
I'll be more mindful if such an opportunity comes up again.
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Skills: [Rebirth] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Fist God] [Spear God] [Scorching Magic] [Freezing Magic] [Tempest Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Dark Magic] [Spacetime Magic] [Thunder God Sword] [Gentleman Thief] [Ninja Master] [Seeker of Truth] [Monstrous Strength] [Divine Speed] [Pain Relief] [Complete Status Abnormality Resistance] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Super Intuition] [Heaven's Gate] [Abyssal Contractee] [Magic Hand] [Treasure Search] [Temptation] [Incitement] [Eloquence] [Strong Luck] [Growth Speed Tenfold] [Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum