The Bald, Muscular Hero

The Rock Lizard, with a stick shuriken buried deep in its eye, let out a sharp hissing sound and thrashed around wildly like child throwing a tantrum.

Until Al and Kimon could regain their footing, I had no choice but to keep its attention. I sprinted toward the Rock Lizard.

As I started running, I realized that I had lost my knife. It must have fallen when I was knocked away.

I still wasn’t used to fighting with weapons in hand. In my panic and confusion, I’d completely forgotten about the knife.

There was no time to search for it now. And besides, with my skill level, I wouldn’t be able to deal any real damage to the Rock Lizard anyway. If all I needed to do was dodge, I was better off fighting barehanded, something I was more familiar with.

I reset my focus and closed in on the Rock Lizard. At close range, I threw another stick shuriken straight at its remaining eye.

The Rock Lizard shook its head, deflecting the shuriken aimed at its eye. It made a clinking sound as it bounced off the rock.

It was clearly on guard. While it had blocked the shuriken, it seemed to have realized that I was the one who had blinded it.

All its attention shifted to me, and I became its target. The Rock Lizard lunged at me.

Its neck, once moving in a straight line, now slithered and twisted in a way that made it much harder to dodge. I kept dodging desperately, and when I couldn’t avoid it, I used my arms to redirect its head.

In karate, some defensive moves can cause damage to the opponent’s body, but this thing was made of rock. The impact was so strong that I could feel the shock down to the bones in my arm.

I wasn’t dealing damage to it. In fact, it felt like my arm wouldn’t last at this rate.

Just when I thought I had avoided its attack, its neck extended again and it lunged for me. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down for even a moment.

The Rock Lizard’s attacks grew more ferocious, and it slammed its head like a hammer.

The head swung down from above with incredible force. I lowered my posture and slipped under it to avoid the blow.

I heard the sound of its head hitting the ground with a loud thud I understood immediately that if I had taken that hit, it would have been the end for me.

Taking advantage of the recoil from slamming its head into the ground, the Rock Lizard raised its head again. Caught off guard by the unexpected movement, I was slow to react.

Realizing I couldn’t dodge its head in time, I decided to face it head-on.

I met the head with an upward palm strike. The energy from my palm clashed with its downward force, deflecting its trajectory.

The massive jaw forced shut, making a terrible crunching noise as its teeth collided. It felt like I was trying to push a giant rock.

But the deflection wasn’t enough.

The muscles in my left arm, which had absorbed the brunt of the strike, were tearing apart. I gritted my teeth and put every ounce of strength into it.

“Rrraaagh!”

The head of the Rock Lizard veered off course, narrowly missing me. I leapt forward and pounced on its now defenseless neck.

I wrapped my arms around its thick neck and held on tightly.

It shook its head violently, trying to throw me off, but I managed to hang on. As it slowed down, I pushed the shuriken even further into its eye.

The Rock Lizard kept thrashing, but I held on for dear life, making sure it didn’t throw me off. As its movements slowed, I kept pressing the shuriken deeper.

After a few more violent struggles, it seemed like the monster’s stamina was running low. Its movements became sluggish. I had drained its stamina, but I couldn’t let my guard down just yet.

My arm, still aching from the palm strike, was on the verge of giving out. I had to hold on, but my muscles were burning, and I was starting to feel like I might run out of stamina before the Rock Lizard.

I didn’t know what to do. Still clinging to its neck, I struggled in silence. I had intended to take out its other eye, but the Rock Lizard had grown extraordinarily cautious.

Whenever something got near its other eye, it began thrashing wildly. If it started thrashing again in the current situation, I might not be able to hold on.

Honestly, I didn’t even have confidence that I could dodge another bite. Surviving this long was already a miracle.

I wasn’t holding on to its neck to attack, I was simply looking for a safe place to stay attached. I wanted to drain more of its stamina, but if it kept thrashing, I might get thrown off.

Stuck in a desperate stalemate, I focused on my sensory perception. While I had no room for any movement when dodging its bites, I could feel a slight opening now.

I focused on my perception and noticed that Kimon had secretly circled around behind the Rock Lizard. What was he planning?

Kimon drove a knife into the Rock Lizard’s body. Because of its rocky exterior, I wondered if the knife could even penetrate it. But then, the Rock Lizard shuddered.

“KREEEEEE!”

The shriek was so piercing it hurt my ears. The Rock Lizard thrashed around violently. I was thrown off, but I managed to regain my balance and stand up.

It’s working like crazy! What the heck did Kimon do? I see, that position…

Normally, it would be too risky to approach, but I had been clinging to its neck, my focus completely on that, and with the lizard’s stamina running out, Kimon, despite saying he was bad at it, always practicing his archery, had mastered the art of hiding his presence.

With all these factors aligning, an attack became possible. A very… sensitive spot, though…

Kimon, you’re terrifying.

The Rock Lizard, writhing in agony, suddenly stops. When I look at its eyes, I can tell its will has completely broken.

Slowly, it moves, attempting to flee.

This is bad! I need to stop it from moving somehow… but how? As I’m still hesitating, Al, now revived, jumps into action.

“Aaarghhh!”

Al throws down his shield and sword and clings to the Rock Lizard’s legs. For someone like Al, usually so intelligent, this is a surprisingly rough and instinctive action.

It’s impossible to pin it down with strength alone. I know that in my head, but when I saw Al’s actions, my body moved before I could stop it.

“Urrrghhh!”

At this point, plans and strategy are out the window. I clutch the Rock Lizard’s head to my side and desperately pull its neck. Kimon also clings to its legs, pouring all his strength into holding it down.

There’s no way we can win in a strength contest with a 5-meter-long lizard. In my head, I’m thinking of calling Gonz, but my body just keeps moving.

As we struggle to hold the Rock Lizard down, its movements stop.

Did we actually win the strength contest? It doesn’t matter why, now’s our chance! Our hearts unite in a single moment.

“Gonz!”

“Got it! Leave it to me!”

Gonz raises his Blacksteel axe high, and with the sun at his back, leaps off the rock.

The sunlight reflects off the shining Blacksteel axe. A 2-meter-tall muscular man looks to me like the hero of some epic tale.

“Haaaahhh!”

With a mighty swing, Gonz’ axe strikes the neck that I had been pulling on, hitting the softer, unprotected part that’s normally hidden beneath the rock armor.

Thwack! A loud sound echoes through the air. Gonz’ axe impacts the ground with a thundering noise.

A few seconds later, a red line appears across the Rock Lizard’s neck. I release its head, and it falls with a clunk.

The Rock Lizard’s body convulses, twitching violently for a moment before the spasms stop. A heavy silence fills the air, the rocky terrain now peaceful.

We exchange looks without speaking. Kimon quietly mutters,

“We did it.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“We did it! We really did it!”

“Woohoo!!”

We high-five, throw our arms around each other, and explode with joy.

“We did it! We broke through the level wall!!”

“We did it, we actually did it!”

“Nngh—YEEEAAAH!!”

As someone new to this world, all I feel is the thrill of defeating a tough enemy. But for Gonz and the others, who’ve struggled for so long, it’s something much deeper.

Tears well up in their eyes, and they release their joy in an eruption of emotions. Even the usually cool Al and the silent Kimon are ecstatic. Gonz is bawling his eyes out.

Though I want to stay in this happy moment forever, we can’t afford to linger.

We’re in the Rock Lizard’s territory, so it’s unlikely other monsters will attack, but the scent of blood could draw them in.

The rest of us are in bad shape, and we can’t afford another fight. After a quick patch-up, we start dismantling the body.

By the way, where did my knife go? I scan the area but can’t see it.

“Any chance you’ve seen my knife, sir?”

I asked in the low-ranking underling tone that naturally came out whenever Gonz was around. Kimon pointed at the Rock Lizard.

What’s that about? Looking more closely, I see his finger pointing toward the back of the Lizard. Could it be…?

I circle around to the back of the Rock Lizard and check its rear end. A large amount of blood is dripping out. Could my knife be inside?

That explains why it wasn’t able to move properly. The knife, with its razor-sharp edge, must still be lodged there.

No wonder it couldn’t put up much of a fight. Our success in overpowering the Rock Lizard must have been thanks to this… “gift” it left behind.

I don’t know how to feel about this. Sure, it helped us, but…

When dismantling prey, sometimes we take care to avoid getting feces on the meat, making sure not to harm the rectum or intestines.

Normally, the thought of a rectum wouldn’t faze me. But when something’s jammed all the way in, it’s hard to ignore that… unsettling feeling.

My beloved knife has been… soiled.