Chapter 28: Gadenalt

When Naomi took a few steps away from Rudy, a demonic beast appeared right in front of her.

“Wow, this is surprising. I never expected such a ferocious monster to be near my house…”

Naomi widened her eyes in astonishment at the sight of the creature.

The name of the monster was Gadenalt. It stood close to 3 meters tall, with a body resembling that of a bull and a face like a bat. Sharp fangs protruded from its mouth, with jagged teeth peeking out from the gaps.

On either side of its head were curved horns resembling those of a sheep, and a thick tail, almost 2 meters long, wriggled like a completely different creature.

Gadenalt possessed immense strength, capable of charging with its bull-like body and toppling even large trees. It also had a fair amount of intelligence. Additionally, the sheep-shaped horns granted it resistance against magic, making magical attacks less effective.

Even seasoned adventurers would be committing suicide by attempting to face it alone. Gadenalt was feared as a man-eating monster.

“Now, magic didn’t seem to work on this one. Let’s go for a physical battle.”

Naomi chanted a spell and her staff transformed into a large scythe, reminiscent of the weapon wielded by the Grim Reaper. Holding the scythe, which was as tall as her, she poised herself in preparation for the attack.

“Come at me!”

Naomi’s provocation signaled Gadenalt to charge towards her.

“Shine, O light!”

As Gadenalt lunged forward, the blade of Naomi’s scythe emitted a dazzling light.

Gadenalt’s vision was impaired, but the momentum of its charge remained unbroken, sending Naomi flying as it collided with her.

Propelled through the air, Naomi’s body collided with a large tree behind her. The tree was partially snapped in half, and she slumped down to the ground.

With her vision slightly restored, Naomi saw Gadenalt approaching her with an air of confidence. Suddenly, her body jerked upright, and she swung the scythe down.

Though Gadenalt hastily leaped backward, it narrowly hit and the scythe grazed his forehead.

With a diagonal gash on its forehead, blood began to flow down Gadenalt’s face, and its bat-like visage displayed a perplexed expression. Naomi smiled as if reveling in the cruelty of the moment. She slammed the blade of her scythe into the ground, causing it to sink into the earth as if melting away, and from the ground, blades emerged, racing towards Gadenalt.

Gadenalt attempted to dodge the blades by moving sideways.

Seizing the opportunity, Naomi swung the scythe horizontally. The blades of the scythe split into eight and flew in various directions, relentlessly assaulting Gadenalt.

Realizing that his escape route was blocked, Gadenalt disregarded the incoming blades and ran towards Naomi.

Six of the blades pierced Gadenalt’s body. One blade lodged into its left hind leg, causing blood to spurt from its body. Another blade sliced through the base of its curved horn, sending the right horn flying.

Nevertheless, Gadenalt did not falter and bit Naomi’s left shoulder. Twisting its body, it slammed her to the ground, then twisted its head and tore her shoulder apart.

This time, she thought she had been killed. Convinced of her victory, Gadenalt suddenly succumbed to drowsiness and swayed before collapsing to the ground, closing its eyes.

“Sorry about that. Illusions are my specialty.”

Standing beside the sleeping Gadenalt was Naomi, completely unharmed.

Naomi revealed what she had done, explaining that she had used her initial light magic to blind her opponent’s vision. At that moment, she concealed her own presence and created her golem using earth magic.

Naomi cast her magic with a triple incantation, a feat that ordinary mages couldn’t achieve. But Naomi, who was even called a demon, was capable of incanting up to five times.

Afterward, she remotely controlled the golem to fight Gadenalt while she watched from a distance.

Then, when the golem broke Gadenalt’s horns, reducing its magic resistance, Naomi chanted a dark magic spell to intrude into its mind and put it to sleep.

“Never appear before me again.”

Naomi chanted dark magic once again and cast an enchantment spell. Gadenalt woke up and obediently followed her orders, disappearing into the depths of the forest.

The reason Naomi didn’t kill Gadenalt was that she didn’t favor needless killing and didn’t want to deal with disposing of the corpse. However, from the perspective of others, it was unthinkable for her to spare a monstrous beast that should be exterminated.

“Now, shall I return to Rudy’s place…”

As Naomi began walking back…

Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom!!

A different sound from the chainsaw-like noise that had been heard before echoed through the forest, and after a while, the forest fell silent.

“…I have a bad feeling about this.”

Naomi muttered, her face contorted.

When Naomi returned to Rudy, he was covered in blood.

At Rudy’s feet lay another Gadenalt, torn in half, drenched in blood, different from the one Naomi fought.

“Rudy!”

“Master! This thing suddenly attacked us.”

As Naomi rushed over, Rudy pointed at the dead Gadenalt, wearing a displeased expression.

Looking at Yosaku Caliber-chan in his hand, also covered in blood, Naomi could somewhat understand the situation.

“You used Yosaku Caliber-chan to cut it?”

In response to Naomi’s question, Rudy nodded with a puzzled expression.

“When I was cutting down a tree, this thing just popped out from the front. I got surprised and swung Yosaku Caliber-chan forward, and it got split in half… It’s a gory scene, not good for a hangover.”

“…I’m not hungover, but it’s certainly gruesome enough.”

“Thanks to that, I’m all bloody, and today’s work is canceled.”

Without noticing Naomi’s grimacing face, Rudy sighed.