Chapter 87
‘A bull?’
‘No way.’
Climbing the cliff to the mountaintop, a bull appeared.
From its horns to its fur and hooves, it was a natural golden hue, almost oppressively muscular.
“T-The Golden Bull!”
The hunting tournant’s traditional ultimate prey.
The undisputed pinnacle of honor.
The sudden appearance of the Golden Bull turned the ga upside down.
“Catch it! Muller! Shuga!”
Prince Kazaks was the first to charge, drawing and swinging his sword, but the Golden Bull didn’t dodge—instead, it charged head-on.
Startled, Kazaks rolled to avoid its ferocious rush.
“Shoot, Muller!”
“Thanks for buying ti, Your Highness!”
Having prepared his spear, Muller thrust a blue-glowing lance forward.
The Spear of Amulrent.
The only ducal family loyal to Kazaks.
“Amulrent! The record holder for the most first-place finishes in hunting tournant history!”
“Could it be this ti too?!”
At that mont, Shuga, Mary’s sister from the Deminiyan family, cast a spell.
[Spiderweb!]
Sticky liquid coalesced in the air, spreading into a net to block the Golden Bull’s path.
As the bull’s charge faltered, Muller’s blue-trailing spear shot toward it, but…
“What?!”
Muller’s expression twisted.
He’d expected a sure hit, but the Golden Bull was beyond imagination.
“Oh no, my magic!”
“Tch!”
The Spiderweb tore the mont it touched the bull’s horns, and Amulrent’s spear pierced only a distant tree.
“Tch!”
Muller extended his hand, and the blue spear humd, flying back to him.
But the Golden Bull was already far gone.
“We’ll lose it like this!”
“No way we let it slip away!”
They wanted to stop it, but lacked the ability.
As the crowd stirred, a single warrior blocked the Golden Bull’s path.
“Defense Deploy! Frontkeeper!”
A giant’s silhouette surged from Bord’s body—not fully, but its arms erged, gripping a shield.
[Moooo!]
The Golden Bull collided with the giant’s shield and was repelled.
But so was Bord.
“Ugh, what strength!”
“Now’s the ti!”
Kazaks charged at the Golden Bull, but a pack of hyenas rushed in first.
Noble knights, gathered to hunt the Black Knight, seized the opportunity and charged the Golden Bull.
“Get out of the way! What are you doing?!”
“No can do!”
“We were only hired to hunt the Black Knight!”
“Shut up, you! Move, or else…!”
Five hundred gold coins? Impressive, sure.
But that was the bounty on the Black Knight’s head.
The honor of hunting the Golden Bull was no less significant!
“Catch the Golden Bull!”
“I’ll kill it!”
“Tch, move!”
“You pushed ?! Take this—ugh!”
For the first ti, participants began killing each other en masse.
With too many swords aid at the Golden Bull, they turned on one another.
Amidst this, the Golden Bull rose.
Its hide was so tough that it bore almost no wounds.
[Moooo!]
As the bull rampaged, participants scattered in panic.
The first hit by its hind hooves flew off and died instantly.
His armor was crumpled like clay.
“Argh, no!”
“Insane!”
“One hit?!”
The chaos turned into a lee, and even Elisha and Mary couldn’t attack recklessly, forced to evade.
[Moooo!]
As the Golden Bull raged, over a dozen noble heirs and knights were eliminated.
As if judging their excessive greed, those tested by noble honor refused to retreat, dying senseless deaths.
It was grueso.
But… that scene ignited one man’s heart.
“Listen, all of you!”
A shout echoed across the mountaintop.
Not mana, but the golden authority passed down through the Imperium Imperial Family’s bloodline.
The confident golden eyes of a young emperor, always certain of victory.
“I, Prince Kazaks, propose we unite to hunt the Golden Bull!”
Raising his golden sword high, Kazaks drew everyone’s attention at once.
“Hunting the Golden Bull yields 1,000 points! Even split, it’s only 10 points per person! But the honor can be shared by all!”
Those gathered were all nobles—promising young talents.
At an age where they understood the importance of wealth and power, but also sothing greater.
“Is there any noble who wishes to be rembered as the worst generation, torn apart by selfishness?!”
Honor was the foremost priority for a noble.
“For the honor of the Imperium Imperial Family and nobility! Let us fight as one!”
“Well said!”
Once more, a giant of mana surged, repelling the Golden Bull.
Red arrows and a rainstorm herded the bull into the center of the encirclent.
The shield’s master stood firm and shouted.
“Shield of Tauforos! I’ll cooperate, Your Highness!”
“Red Bow of Harmadun, I’m in!”
“R-Raincloud of Deminiyan, I’ll join too…!”
“Hm!”
Supported by the Four Great Ducal Families.
‘I can do this! It’s possible!’
Kazaks aid his golden sword at the center.
“All forces!”
The Golden Bull was a sacred beast managed by the Imperium Imperial Family for generations, bringing bountiful harvests.
Raised from birth for the hunting tournant, it was stronger than most knights.
With no tournants in the past decade, this Golden Bull was likely the finest prey in history.
It wouldn’t be easy.
But the noble knights, who’d been self-destructing in chaos, now aid their weapons at the Golden Bull.
There’d be no repeat of earlier dishonor.
Centered on the prince with golden authority, the heirs of the Four Great Ducal Families united.
Noble knights, loyal to the Empire, set aside personal motives, beliefs, and interests.
“Form the encirclent!”
Like in the dungeon tournant against Sir Dominic, the Platinum Knight, they moved as one.
“Fire arrows and magic!”
The Black Knight, Dominic’s nesis, wasn’t here.
But we, who’d grown since then, were.
Those gathered were the Empire’s strength—pillars of their houses, the nobles leading the future.
Elisha’s red arrows, Mary and Shuga’s raincloud magic, led a barrage of arrows and spells bombarding the Golden Bull.
The red arrows made even the Golden Bull writhe in pain, and sharp raindrops began tearing its hide.
[Moooo!]
With a pained cry, the Golden Bull charged to one side, clearly aiming to break the encirclent.
“The Golden Bull’s heading southeast! Stop it!”
As knights extended spears and swords, forming a phalanx, the sharp, cutting montum made the bull hesitate, but it continued its charge.
Dangerous, yet it judged it could break through.
It might have.
“Leave it to , Your Highness.”
If not for the blue spearman faithfully executing Kazaks' orders.
At that mont, a blue-haired knight, who’d broken off to observe, circled the encirclent.
Boasting superior mobility, the blue spear knight thrust a deep blue lance at the Golden Bull’s charge point.
Seeing the spear’s tip, the bull startled and veered.
Cheers erupted from all sides.
“Nice!”
“It worked! It’s back in the center!”
The most elite among them—Bord, Muller, and Prince Kazaks—stood in three directions, ready to support defensive points.
As the Golden Bull returned to the center, arrows and magic bombarded it again.
It charged once more to break the encirclent.
This ti, a sword aura from Kazaks' golden sword fiercely threatened the bull.
“This is it!”
“Everyone, focus!”
Then it happened.
“What?!”
Taking Kazaks' sword aura, the Golden Bull charged forward, its hide tearing.
It struck Kazaks with its horns, sending him flying, and nearby knights collapsed in a heap.
“The Golden Bull’s breaking out!”
“Catch it!”
But the accelerating Golden Bull seed beyond even Muller’s reach, despite Amulrent’s speed.
Bang!
A gunshot rang from an unfathomably distant place.
The Golden Bull’s left eye burst, blood spraying.
The bull let out a heaven-shaking, mountain-crumbling scream.
“T-The Black Knight! He sniped it!”
“Now! Press the attack!”
Everyone, without distinction, sward the Golden Bull.
An ignorant noble, arriving first, was kicked by its hind legs and eliminated instantly.
More fell to the bull’s desperate struggles.
But in the end, the Golden Bull collapsed, its life extinguished.
“We… got it.”
Muller sighed deeply, spinning his spear to flick off the blood.
Mary, beside him, scowled.
“Flick the blood sowhere else! It stinks!”
“Co on, how can a hunt not sll of blood?”
Muller and Mary turned to one person—their lord, Kazaks.
“…Your Highness?”
“Your Highness?”
The wind blew.
Kazaks' golden hair fluttered as he gazed beyond the cliff.
‘Black Knight…’
Guilt gnawed at him as he looked toward the bullet’s origin.
‘I tried to kill you.’
He, who should be the noblest, was so dishonorable.
‘Yet you prevented my failure.’
The masked Black Knight, so honorable.
***
“What a ss.”
If I hadn’t sniped when the Golden Bull tried to escape, they’d have lost it.
I wasn’t confident I could take it alone, so I helped.
‘Letting it go might’ve been fine too.’
As the Princess' Black Knight, I contributed for the sake of honor and glory.
Otherwise, I’d have helped the Golden Bull eliminate Kazaks.
‘A pity.’
Sniping Kazaks right after the Golden Bull fight was an option, but the public would decry the Black Knight as dishonorable.
Such were the tis.
Bang!
A gunshot rang, and blood sprayed from a distant kobold warrior’s head.
‘There’ll be another chance.’
The tournant was ongoing.
My earlier sniping spree eliminated many hyenas, so I could move freely for now.
With a wrist snap, the shotgun broke open, ejecting the spent casing.
I caught the smoking casing mid-air and stored it in my ammo pouch.
No trace could be left.
‘Still, I racked up a lot of points.’
The score in my vision showed 79 points.
While Kazaks and the elites faced the Golden Bull at the mountaintop, and as they rested afterward, I hunted relentlessly.
‘Not enough. I want to hunt rare ga, even if it’s risky.’
Wild Instinct (Lv 3) guides the way. It feels like a good on.
I leaped, following Wild Instinct’s lead.
I traversed trees, passed rocky cliffs, and swung across rivers using vines.
[Beep-beep!]
“?!”
A human-head-sized golden parrot with a rainbow crest perched on a tree.
‘Rainbow Parrot!’
One of the few capture-not-kill animals in the tournant.
Capturing it granted a whopping 50 points.
Of course… it was that difficult to catch.
Know-It-All (Lv 3) analyzes the Rainbow Parrot. It takes ti to climb to high altitudes when flying, a weakness. But it’s sensitive to presence and has superior flight speed, making capture difficult if it escapes.
‘Erase my presence and move carefully…’
But the parrot’s head snapped toward , our eyes eting.
I lunged, but it flew deep into the forest.
‘Pursue!’
Movent (Lv 3) assists in navigating the dense forest with ease!
I chased the Rainbow Parrot at breakneck speed, vaulting through tightly packed trees.
‘Fast!’
A winged creature, yet so swift.
With my system, mana, and Hound armor boosting my physical abilities beyond most warriors, I could barely keep it in sight!
‘This won’t do.’
The parrot was heading toward the mountaintop where the Golden Bull appeared.
I might run into participants targeting .
‘This won’t work… Fine.’
Raising my shotgun, I fired a shot.
The bullet, missing the parrot, spun, disrupting the air.
As the parrot faltered in the twisted airflow, I seized the mont.
“Got you!”
I snatched the Rainbow Parrot and landed.
There stood…
“Black Knight!”
Prince Kazaks, Muller, and Shuga, his right and left arms, stared at in shock.
‘Oh, crap.’
Reviews
All reviews (0)