Chapter 27: Day of a Guardsman of Throes

Rain dropped heavily on the farm. Lanon found himself dive rolling to dodge the heavy and fast attacks of the Hob. The creature was bulky and tall, yet it was able to move its club with ease, targeting Lanon's head. Lanon had no time to launch a counter-attack. All he could do was make use of his agility to dodge the attacks.

"Damn it!" he thought. "I can't get near this guy! His swings are too heavy and it produces a shockwave enough to stagger me! One hit and I am dead!"

"Humie stop moving!" the Hob bashed the rice berry paddies, destroying the rice berries. The sight of flying rice berries gave the farmers watching a scream.

Lanon contained his fear. He clenched his spear and shouted. "Run! Go away! Get help from anyone!"

The farmers jolted not because of Lanon but because of the Hob eyeing them with a grin. This made the villagers scatter away from the sight except for the girl that was talking with Lanon before all of this started. She was hiding but Lanon was able to spot her easily.

"What the hell is she doing!" he shouted internally.

"Humie kill then eat other humies!" the hob chortled.

Lanon suppressed the fear in his heart. If he retreats now he would be hanged by his fellow soldiers. If he doesn't retreat he would be killed by the Hob who he cannot even get close. The reach of the Hob was tree-length and each swing was enough to stagger him into freezing for three seconds.

Lanon has no idea how to defeat this Hob. He only had his spear and his armor to protect him. He didn't have any extra equipment and there was nothing around the area other than the rice paddies and the farmhouse that stores all the harvested rice berries.

"I couldn't run into the woods either. If that bastard strikes then I would have to deal with the wooden shards flying everywhere. It is also cramped in the woods, sure I can hide, but can I do it while this monster swings that shit around?" he thought.

He looked at the mud around the paddies. "I might be able to blind this bastard with mud. It'll be effective once and I'll have a ten-second window. I'm fucked either way!"

The hob kept swinging the club around the rice berry fields. Lanon carefully watched the hob's attack and shuffled around the fields while keeping preserving his stamina. The hob wasn't giving him time to scoop some mud and fling it on the hob's face.

The Hob was getting irritated by Lanon's evasive actions. It started to get more violent and its swing was getting heavier and faster. Lanon kept his calm forcibly, he clenched his jaw, tightened his hold of the spear's shaft and watched the steps of the Hob.

Rain poured heavily on Lanon's face. His vision of the Hob was getting blurrier and he was feeling the cold. His heartbeat was getting louder. His breathing was starting to get ragged, and he was starting to get sore. He has been evading the Hob for four minutes. The hob had extraordinary stamina while he was getting slower.

He was already covered in mud, and the mud has already entered his boots. His eyes were dilated and his hearing was getting sharper as adrenaline rushes into his head. If he didn't move into the rice berry field he would have long been put down by the Hob. He was using the rice berry field to slow down the hob and have enough space to dodge the attacks.

"My legs are getting heavier. The Hob's getting angrier and my eyesight is getting blurrier. I can't wipe it or I'll get hit. I should wipe it when I need to do a combat roll," he thought.

"Humie will kill!" the Hob' anger reached a new intensity. The Hob smashed the club on the rice berry field, creating a huge splatter that blocked Lanon's view of the Hob. This unexpected move of the hob startled Lanon. He tried to retreat away from the attack but the tree-like club entered his viewpoint.

He moved his spear. "Shit! I cannot block it! I cannot dodge it at this range!" he thought. "I should redirect it then!"

He placed the tip of his spear and did a pole vault to dodge the attack. This allowed Lanon to avoid the attack but in return, the force of the strike dislocated his left arm. His spear got bent and broken and he landed with enough force on the rice berry field, his head dripping with blood.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" he shouted. He clenched his teeth. He held his tears back as he scuttled back and dodges the strike of the Hob. He treaded the rice berry field and took a distance away from the hob. "My arm hurts like hell! I'll die if that Hob does something like that again!"

The Hob could talk and think therefore it possesses intelligence. Lanon wanted to believe that it was a dumb-witted but clearly that illusion was shattered. "I have to run!" he thought. "If I stay here I will die! I cannot win this fight!"

He started to his feet and run while holding his left arm. The Hob saw this and started to guffaw madly as if sensing the fear inside Lanon. "Run Humie! I kill then tear your bone and eat flesh!"

The Hob got madly excited. Its large legs stomped heavily on the rice field as he starts his chase. Lanon ran to the woods while his teeth clattered loudly. His face was crumpled as he could feel the tremor that was sounding out behind him.

He knew that he did his job. He was weak and the only thing he could was run and drags the Hob away from the rice berry fields. He doesn't know how to deal with Hob at the moment and thus he could only try and make use of the cramped woods to take cover while he tries to find a solution to this predicament of his. Despair was starting to swallow Lanon, yet he his legs didn't freeze or thought of cowering in fear. He rather die than beg for his life!

The foliage's allowed Lanon to have a cover. He could tell that the Hob was getting angrier. It was smashing the trees around and shouting infuriating words towards Lanon. Lanon's face was covered in water and sweet. He was biting a cloth while aligning his dislocated arm.

He pulled his right arm forward and shouted in pain. Balls of tears appeared on the duct of his eyes, his lower mouth trembling badly as he squeezes his left fist. He calmed himself down by patting his chest. "I should be okay. Think, I have no advantage from the start. I have only the woods and I have no equipment in me. My spear got broken, and I have no dagger to speak off," he looked at the area. "Twigs, sharp rocks, vines, branches, and wide leaves, I can make a sling out of these materials."

He noticed a beehive. "I can use that to throw it at the monsters." His eyes darted to the branches. "I should make a stake and try to stab the monster in the eyes. That way I could blind it. There's a chance that it will blindly swing its club. I'll use that chance to gather some rocks and use the sling to break its fucking skull."

"Think, adapt and overcome this somehow!" he took a deep breath through his nose. He crept towards the materials and built himself a makeshift sling. He then used the sharp rocks to sharpen the ends of the branches. He listened in to the angry roar of the Hob and crawled towards the beehive and carefully wrapped it with the wide leaves. He used the vines to make a leaf bag and crawled through the thickly overgrown faunas and eyed the Hob carefully.

The Hob was swinging the tree-like club around the trees. The trees shook and the leaves fell down on the ground. Lanon made use of the sounds to move from cover to cover. He positioned himself to where he could throw the beehive. But before that, he threw a rock and distracted the Hob who then smashed the area where he threw the rock. Lanon readied and waited for the Hob to turn around. When it did, he flung the beehive right in the face of the Hob and quickly retreated as the thumb-size bees started to sting the face of the Hob.

The hob started to panic. The tree-size smashed through the trees. Lanon quickly picked up the rocks and started hitting the Hob in the head. The action did nothing but infuriate the Hob. The Hob charged to where Lanon was. Thus, he quickly climbed the trees and drew the two wooden stakes he hung on his belt and threw himself at the shoulders of the Hob. The Hob tried to fling him away. Lanon gritted his teeth, warm fluid in his pants, he climbed the top of the head of the Hob and stabbed both stakes right in the ear holes of the Hob.

Lanon drew the sharp stone he picked up and clung to the head of the Hob. He carved the stone across the eyes of the Hob. Blood poured out and the Hob started to roar loudly as it finally drops the club that it was holding to blocked the blood dripping out of its eyes. It roared mightily and it echoed loud enough for people to hear it.

Lanon wasn't done. He pulled the stone back and smashed the top of the Hob. His hands hurt but he kept on hitting the Hob's head until he dropped the sharp stone. He took the coil of vines and tied on the stakes he stabbed on the hob's ears. He held the vines like reins and use it pull the stake towards the brain of the Hob. He was shaking badly as he arcs his back to drive the stake deeper. Blood flowed like faucet water out of the ear of the hob. The Hob, in its last desperate attempt to survive, grabbed hold of the vine reins and flung Lanon away to a nearby tree.

Lanon's back smashed heavily against the tree. He slid down the tree and landed on his four limbs, vomiting blood. He was shaking badly as his vision blurred badly. The Hob reached out its stubby hand towards Lanon. Its face was swollen and its eyes were bleeding profusely. Lanon crawled away from the Hob and gritted his teeth. The Hob wasn't able to grab Lanon, and it could only fall face first in the ground with a loud thud. Lanon stared at the beast without a word for a second. He blanked out and lost all feeling on his body.

He woke up with the rain continuously pouring above his head. He stood up from where he was standing and neared the fallen Hob. He looked at the beast angrily before he grabs a sharp stake and started stabbing the sinews of the Hob. It took him a while and before he knew it he was covered in Hob's blood. He took the bloody head of the Hob and tied it around his belt with the vine. He was hurting all over. He was suffering from internal injuries and he knew that if he doesn't have any medicine he will die.

He trudged the forest and marched back to the farm where the peasants stared at the rice berry fields in despair. All of them looked at Lanon with sneers on their faces. He already knew that he won't get thanked for doing his job. The Hob destroyed the fields after these peasants waited for months to have a good harvest. That's why he took the Hob's head with him in case they want to point their fingers at him and blame him for being incompetent. The farmers could see the head of the Hob tied around Lanon. They could not rush at him or blame but inside their heads they were cursing him for doing what he did. If he didn't lure the Hob their fields won't be destroyed. They expected a guardsman of Throes to do his job magnificently and guard them. Yet, they were disappointed by what happened. Lanon could not blame their sneers and jeers. He was not a monster slayer. He was just a nobody who did what he could to live.