236 A Hunter's Strength
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Joan was in the frontlines fighting for his village and his family. Since the entire thing began that it has been ups and downs constantly. The battle began with a great advantage, as the large pitfalls he had created with the other villagers worked wonderfully, and many demons died in the spot. But the sheer amount of demons was so vast that even with such large losses of soldiers, they were continuing to move forward without stopping, seemingly as if they were an endless army of demonic fiends.
The young man had been fighting beasts his entire life, since he was a child that he went off into the woods with his friends to hunt monsters and wild animals to eat. The life of serfs was hard, sometimes they would only be able to have a decent meal if they risked their lives in the wilderness to hunt creatures most of the time stronger than him. In the past, Giant Wild Boars had a larger population, and they often stormed the village, leaving houses and plantations completely destroyed. Because of this, Joan and his friends went off to hunt them regularly, pushing themselves to their limits and with the help of many other villagers, the large population of Giant Wild Boars was reduced over time.
However, when the demons came, things became even more problematic, even some of his old friends perished against these demons aside from the wild boars… Over the years, the demons became even more common, and things only became worse as the wild boars turned scarce, the lord of the fiefdom too a liking in their meat, and constantly requested their hunt as well, making things even harder for them… And since that incident where he almost died when a Red Oni emerged in the middle of their hunt that he had been thinking about his life, and everything he had achieved.
How much he loved his wife, his son, and even his wife’s mother, which he already considered as his own grandma due to how motherly and caring the old woman was. He loved them all, they were the pillar of a life of hardships which he had built block by block… it has been a hard life, but without them being there for him, he wouldn’t know what to even do with his life. They were the most precious treasure he had… and he has always been willing to give up his life if he could protect them. Without even doubting it, he ended joining the troops alongiside various other villagers that thought like him, armed with high quality armor and being given weapons other than farming tools, they readied themselves for battle, with even stronger wills to fight than the knights and soldiers. Unlike them, they were fighting to protect the village, which was like their home, the most precious thing in their lives, they couldn’t simply allow themselves to lose.
Joan didn’t told this to his son, Blake, because he knew that the boy would try to stop him. Since he was born that Blake was different than other children, he developed very quickly and always seemed smarter than his own parents, always being several steps ahead as if he was always planning what to do next carefully… Joan, a simple man, was happy to have such a brilliant son, he knew that his child would become someone very important in the future… he couldn’t let him die while trying to accompany him to war. He made this a secret he only told to his wife, keeping the truth away from Blake.
“GRYA!”
A large Imp, an Imp Warrior, a mutated breed of Imps with greater physical strength and muscular body rushed towards Joan as he was delving into battle. He immediately sensed the creature approaching. Even though his Talent was the mere [Farmer] Talent, it came with a few perks that allowed him to sense creatures approaching through the vibrations of the dirt, [Ground Sense]!
“HAH!”
Joan immediately pointed the new spear given to him by Blake. He had not allowed the knights to take it away even if it looked rusty, this spear was crafted by his son using both demon bones and wild boar tusks and was even enhanced with some strange magic. As he gave away the spear that he used for years to his son, which was renamed as “Gluttony” by his mischievous child for some reason, he decided to wield a new spear made by his own offspring, which he named Pride. As he felt pride in his son’s amazing talents and couldn’t help but show off how amazing the spear he made for his father was.
CLASH!
The spear hit the Imp Warrior’s chest, piercing through the wild boar leather and bone armor with ease and crushing through the demon’s demonic core and his heart all at once!
“GRAHHH…!”
BAM!
The Imp fell down in the floor as Joan kicked it, the creature attempted to unleash demon fire against him, but Joan mercilessly pierced the demon’s head with the spear after taking it off the creature’s chest. Demons were not like normal living beings, sometimes even a hit that should be lethal, such as the heart, wouldn’t kill them, the only sure kill was by crushing their heads!
CRASH!
“Hahhh…”
Joan sighed in relief as he killed another demon once more, having killed over fifty himself at this point, he had long ago lost he count of how many demons he had slain… and how many comrades at his side had fallen as well, the frontlines were ruthless, and the demons in the front continued coming out endlessly…
As the young man tiredly gazed into the army of demons, he felt his tired body ache with pain, he was already overexerting himself, but he couldn’t stop now. He knew that if he stopped… everything might be over. At the very least, he wanted to kill some more demons.
“A useless and untalented father like me doesn’t belong in the great life my son will once have in the future… Before I kick the bucket, I’ll make sure to take as many of you down with me!”
Joan valiantly charged forward with soldiers, knights, and the surviving villagers. Everyone drenched in blood and wounds… many lethal already. They knew they were going to die today, but their hearts were inspired by the words of a simple farmer, and everyone was willing to die with glory.
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