Overdoing It

“I’ll buy us some time! You guys follow the plan!”

““Yes, sir!””

“Over here, you pig bastard!”

Kadin stomped forward heavily, his footsteps loud.

It looked like he intended to provoke the Sand Boar.

“Buuuuuhhh!”

The Sand Boar took the bait perfectly, charging at Kadin in a frenzy.

Whoa, that was fast.

If it hit head-on, he’d be minced in one strike.

“Even if you get minced, I’ll still love you.”

“In that case, I’d rather you try to avoid being minced in the first place.”

Kadin reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

That was… a Fire Marron?

“Has he learned to control the explosion?”

It seemed Aira was right.

Kadin threw the Fire Marron to the ground.

He had already removed the husk, leaving only the nut itself.

He tossed it directly in the line between himself and the Sand Boar.

Charging straight ahead, the Sand Boar stomped right on the Fire Marron.

DOOOON!

With a thunderous blast, the Sand Boar flipped over.

Kadin immediately drove his sword into its eye.

“Pugiiiiii!!”

I had heard the Sand Boar’s hide was too tough for a sword to pierce.

Apparently, Kadin and his men weren’t trying to kill it with swords alone.

While the frontliner pressed the downed Sand Boar, the two behind pulled something from their packs and began preparing.

“Those are… Wind Muscat vines, aren’t they?”

“Yeah… but since no magic’s coming out, right now they’d just be ropes that don’t cut. Wait—huh?”

I noticed something strange.

Kadin had thrown the Fire Marron as if it were normal, right?

That would mean it had been drained of its magic effect over time.

So why had it still exploded?

“Boss, it’s ready!”

“I told you to quit calling me ‘Boss’!”

Kadin twisted his body nimbly and hurled a Fire Muscat.

The flaming grape struck the Sand Boar’s head, raising a big lump.

“Buhhhiii!!”

It looked like it was completely blood-rushed now.

The Sand Boar locked entirely onto Kadin and charged like mad.

“Come and get me…!”

Kadin’s path led to a simple trap made from vines.

Between two rocks, the vine had been stretched taut.

It was set at the height of the Sand Boar’s legs, clearly meant to trip it.

Kadin sprinted forward, leapt, and cleared the Wind Muscat vine to rejoin his men.

“Do it!”

““Yes!””

At his command, the two soldiers pulled something from their belts.

That looked like… sticks?

They tapped the vine lightly with them.

Then—wind began to gust out of the vine that had shown no effect earlier.

The Sand Boar charged in.

“Pugi… pugiiiiiii!?”

It tripped cleanly into the trap, crashing violently.

Looking closer, its legs were slashed with wind blades.

The three didn’t waste the chance—they pulled out something else.

Those were—Fire Mulberries?

The three smashed the flaming mulberries straight into the Sand Boar’s face.

DODODODODO!

The mulberry buckshot shredded the Sand Boar’s face.

“Pugii…”

And with its strength gone, they slashed it down… The three of them defeated the Sand Boar unharmed.

Tap tap tap tap—like a dog returning with a frisbee thrown by its master, Nadja came running toward me.

Smiling as if she wanted me to praise her, she beamed.

“How was that, Woody! I did great, didn’t I!”

“Y-yeah, you sure did, ahaha…”

All I could give her was a dry laugh.

Nadja… you might have overdone it a little…

This was practically already a special forces unit…