It was a green giant as tall as a five-storey building. It looked like a forest just rose from the ground and turned into a humanoid.

Opening its mouth wide, it let out a deafening howl. The sound rippled Hikaru’s cloak who was almost a kilometer away. The river swelled; the ships rocked.

「You damned monsters…」

Hikaru smiled despite himself. Now that the monster was within the range of his Mana Detection, he saw a mass of mana even bigger than the monster itself.

Wait, mana? Grucel and his men don’t have any at all… Hmm… Let’s think about that later.

Hikaru couldn’t find Duinkler. The man must be in the bridge giving orders. He could hear voices coming from the voice pipes. Bells rang, indicating an emergency. Soldiers ran about the deck, shouting, preparing for battle. Deena weaved past them to get to Hikaru.

「It’s dangerous here, Sir Silver Face.」she said.「Please return to your room.」

「There’s no guarantee we’ll be safe in there. What’s that thing, anyway?」

「We call it the Yamamaneki. It shouldn’t appear around these parts.」

The Yamamaneki was sinking its teeth on the walls surrounding the outer edge of the city. The walls were as high as the monster’s shoulders and five metes thick. The Yamamaneki raised its arm overhead and slammed on the wall. Dirt flew in all directions. The wall should buy them some time, but they couldn’t wait too long or it would get destroyed.

Hikaru gazed at the city. The first thing he noticed was the cityscape was completely different from that of Ponsonia or Vireocean. Houses closely resembled each other and were built on grids. Light gray walls and wide roofs were the notable characteristics.

Canals ran throughout the city, drawing water from the river and pouring it back. In the hundred-meter of space between the edge of the city and the mud wall, Hikaru could see soldiers shuffling about, attacking the monster.

Don’t they have an effective weapon to use against it?

Hikaru expected something amazing since they possessed cannons.

「What the…」

What the soldiers brought out was a catapult, a ballistic device used to launch rocks at a target. The weapon bent, and a rock as big as an armful went flying towards the Yamamaneki, hitting it square on its head.

「Doesn’t look it’s working.」

Pieces of greenery scattered from the head, but that was it. After standing blankly for a bit, the Yamamaneki howled once more, blowing the soldiers away.

Residents began evacuating. This looks bad, Hikaru thought. In the meantime, the head ship of the fleet was getting closer to the city’s edge and from there, the blast cannons let loose their barrage of attacks, each boom sending vibrations to his whole body. Shells—which were also explosive magic items—were flying straight at the Yamamaneki. Out of the ten iron balls, only about three actually hit. Others hit the wall, some fell to the ground, a few shot past the monster and into the forests.

One shell scored a direct hit on the Yamamaneki’s left shoulder. More green scattered in all directions, like blood spattering out. Underneath was a brown skin—most likely soil—where a deep red line seemed to be running down. It must be a vein of some sorts, Hikaru thought.

「Do you know what that is?」Hikaru asked Lavia, who was standing beside him.

「I haven’t seen a monster like that before. That red color is too eeire.」she said as she shivered.

While the ships’ bombardment proved effective, the difficulty of aiming was causing trouble. The shells scraped off part of the wall, creating a path for the Yamamaneki to pass through.

The monster eyed both the city and the warships and decided to attack the latter. With huge, heavy strides, it headed their way. The crew screamed.

Why are they panicking so much? Is a monster that strong really rare? Their ships are equipped with blast cannons, but they don’t have those in the city?

Hikaru had too many questions.

「L-Lord Silver Face. Can you do something about that?」Deena asked, her face pale.

Judging by her reaction, a Yamamaneki attack was beyond expectations. How do we kill that thing? It didn’t take long for Hikaru to realize that Deena was hinting at the revolver that he used in sinking one of their ships.

Uh, I don’t know…

Hikaru’s weapon would be ineffective. Assassination only activated when he was close to his target, but approaching the Yamamaneki would be a hard task. Flame Laser could reach the monster from where he was, and the shot would have a Sniping buff. Burning a part of its body might not do much at all, however. He only managed to sink the ship because he knew exactly where the source of power was. In fact, sinking it was merely a bonus; he simply wanted to silence the crew.

If I have to do it, I might as well get close and fire a few Flame Gospels at it. But there’s no guarantee that will be enough to bring it down.

「I think using the blast cannons is the right thing. Grucel knows that, that’s why he’s firing them.」

「That’s true, but…」

The soldiers felt fortunate that the Yamamaneki wasn’t heading towards the city. The ship at the vanguard retreated, and one after another ships moved forward, continuing the bombardment. Most of the shells missed, but the accuracy gradually increased, shaving off more of the greenery on the monster, exposing the dark skin and red lines underneath.

The Yamamaneki wouldn’t give in, however. With a bellow of rage, it launched a counterattack. The attacking ship tilted sideways, sending most of the soldiers on deck overboard.

『Stand your ground!』Grucel said, using a magic megaphone to issue orders.『The blast cannons are working. Use all the shells we got! We will protect Dream Maker!』

Hikaru couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but they were enough to give life to his men, and they started preparing the blast cannons.

More cannonballs were fired. The ship Hikaru was on didn’t move, as it was positioned all the way back. Shells fired from here might miss and hit the city.

The Yamamaneki pressed on towards the fleet. It was now less than a hundred meters away from the river. Half of the green from its body was gone, one of its eyes destroyed. Of course its eyes were nothing but hollow caverns.

『Ready the main guns!』

As of the moment, it was Grucel’s ship facing the Yamamaneki. A remarkably huge iron ball shot from there, sinking into the monster’s stomach before exploding. Cheers erupted. The Yamamaneki wobbled forward. They thought it was dead.

「No… This is bad!」

Hikaru realized the monster wasn’t toppling because it was about to collapse. It was preparing to run. One leg pressed hard on the ground, it pushed its huge body forward, then another leg.

『Take cover!』Grucel bellowed, but it was too late.

「Lord Silver Face!」Deena shouted.「Commander Grucel is over there!」

Hikaru, however, was staring at something else. What’s that? he wondered.

The warship nearest to the Yamamaneki was about thirty meters away from the riverbank. Ten steps from the monster would be enough to reach it. The soldiers’ faces twisted in horror.

I see a blue core.

The main gun had ripped off the greenery around the pit of its stomach. Hikaru could see a blue light. He double checked with Mana Detection, and indeed, mana was concentrated there.

No time to hesitate.

Hikaru drew his revolver and aimed it at the target. He loaded it with a Flame Laser bullet. So long as he knew where to shoot, there was no better option than this.

The Yamamaneki kicked the water from the river. Its huge shadow loomed on the warship. Deena screamed.

Bang.

A beam of scarlet light surged out, piercing the Yamamaneki’s solar plexus and right through the middle of the blue core.

The recoil pushed Hikaru backwards, sending him rolling on the deck.

For a moment, the Yamamaneki froze. Then a second later, black soil started dripping down its fingers, disintegrating into the air.

Soldiers on the commander’s ship started screaming. While the Yamamaneki had crumbled into a million pieces, a mass of black soil, leaves, and branches rained down on them. Fortunately, the ship held on, barely.

Soil fell to the river, creating waves that rocked the other ships. Only silence remained after.