My Death Flag Shows No Sign Of Ending

Episode 23

「Don't go from the front! Split to the sides and counter-attack!」

In one corner of the normally quiet and peaceful vast expansive grassland, a loud bellow resounded as though tearing through that atmosphere.
The owner of the voice was a robust man, wearing an armor with white as its undertone, who was issuing orders without any break to about 40 soldiers under his command. But the Horn Head's roar easily drowned out his voice.

'Guoooon'- Ringing out through the ground, it was a low and heavy cry which shook the core of the body. The lead colored body was 5 meters long and even it's height exceeded 2 meters, and moreover its feature was the long, thick and rustic horn emerging from its head, from which its name originated. Horn Head was a frenzied monster which would charge using its horn and head hardened to resemble stone, as its weapon. It's appearance was similar to a large rhino wearing iron armor.

Although it was omnivorous, it didn't have any preference to prey on other animals including humans and other monsters. However, it was extremely territory conscious and since there were no monsters which could rival the Horn Head in strength in the surroundings, it had rapidly increased its influence and had extended its territory close to the sphere of human livelihood.
This was the reason they were currently confronting the Horn Head, wanting to subjugate it.

The biggest threat which was it's rush had enough power to easily destroy a single house. If humans were to receive it directly, they probably wouldn't remain alive.
Due to that, although they were trying to finish it by attacking from the sides the Horn Head was preventing them from doing so by swinging its long horn and tail to intimidate the surrounding soldiers.

Although it had suffered some wounds, they weren't enough to dull its movements. And as the combat dragged on, some of the soldiers also started getting injured.
Fortunately, there was no one who got an injury serious enough for it to become an obstacle in the fight, but if they continued to fight in the current condition, eventually even casualties would occur. The captain of the soldiers was pondering about what to do. Suddenly, a small shadow noiselessly passed by beside him.

「P, please wait! It's dangerous!」

When the captain noticed this, he tried to stop the small shadow, but the boy's legs didn't stop.
Without even turning back, the boy addressed the captain.

「Anymore than this is a waste of time. Make all those guys fall back. They'll be nothing but a nuisance」

Listening to that indifferent tone, the man couldn't speak.
The employer of these soldiers was Hayden Stokes. His son, Harold, drew out the sword from the scabbard hanging at his waist. Different from the soldiers whose defense was strengthened by iron armor, Harold stood in front of the Horn Head while wearing a jacket, tight leather pants and boots which came up till his calves.

As the Horn Head stopped receiving attacks from all sides after the soldiers fell back, the Horn Head's eyes captured Harold's figure.
Against Harold who was calmly closing the distance with unfaltering footsteps, the Horn Head gave out a loud roar. Finally, there was a change in Harold's expression.

「It is said that weaker the dog, louder it howls」

It was neither fear nor nervousness but ridicule. Those eyes were completely looking down on the Horn Head.
That might have provoked it. While wildly howling again, the Horn Head charged at the existence which was much smaller than itself. The large figure drew near but Harold wasn't perturbed and didn't show any movement to indicate dodging it.

And the instant the distance between the 2 reduced to just a few meters, Harold moved forward.
Immediately a shrill sound resounded. The origin of it was when Harold's sword and the Horn Head's horn collided the instant they crossed by. The things that conveyed the result of the clash were the Horn Head's cry, different from before, which was filled with pain and the horn, which symbolized it, that had been cut off at the root.