SCREECH! SCREECH!
Several Gibbon Demonic Beasts were climbing through the trees toward me.
But at most, only two or three could get onto this wooden platform at once.
Building the platform had actually made it easier to fight against superior numbers.
[So you can see the grain.]
“The grain?”
[Yes. The grain exists in all things in this world. And for each of those things, the grain is also its most vulnerable point.]
I can see something like that?
“But I can't see it.”
[No. You can.]
“…….”
I really can't, though.
[You aimed every attack at the demonic beasts' grain.]
“That's because I was aiming for their weak spots.”
[Knowing a weak spot does not mean you can strike the grain. You were targeting it instinctively. You were born with a gift.]
So that's how it is.
I have talent, huh?
That's the first time anyone's praised me for that.
[Deal with the demonic beasts first. I shall explain more about the grain afterward.]
“I'll finish up quickly and come back for your excellent lecture!”
I immediately picked up the flying hammer.
That comforting feeling whenever I held it.
It was a tool—no, a weapon—that I could wield as naturally as my own hand, no matter when I used it.
Still, it wasn't a particularly good weapon for fighting.
‘What's the most efficient way to use it?’
There were all sorts of demonic beasts.
The gibbons in front of me were demonic beasts, but they were relatively intelligent.
They could use objects and even set traps to hunt their prey.
And they could launch coordinated attacks, just like now.
WHOOSH! SWISH!
For example, like that.
I leaped into the air, dodging the attacks thrust simultaneously toward me from diagonally opposite sides.
CRUNCH—!
Their attacks struck the tree behind me.
The tree, which even an axe would have had trouble chopping apart, splintered under the gibbons' thrusts.
But the wood was so hard that their hands got stuck in it.
“Can't move, can you?”
I was still in midair.
And their arms had just provided me with somewhere to stand.
I landed on top of their long arms.
The beasts went wild at the sight, but only for a moment.
Unable to pull their hands free of the tree, they were nothing more than easy prey.
CRUNCH—!
[Once again, you struck the grain precisely.]
Donar kept saying I was targeting the grain, but I honestly couldn't see it.
I wanted to argue, but more gibbons kept appearing in front of me, so I couldn't.
[You said you could not see the grain, did you not? Then try attacking somewhere else.]
Right. I need to prove that I really can't see the grain.
Otherwise, he might skip the lesson on it altogether.
‘That absolutely can't happen.’
I watched a gibbon approach slowly, its long arms hanging loosely at its sides.
These demonic beasts were fairly intelligent. After seeing what had happened to their own kind, they didn't just charge in blindly.
It looked as though this one was waiting for more of its companions.
‘I'm not letting you do that.’
TAP!
This time, I charged at the demonic beast first.
I might not look it, but I'm a Barbarian who loves battle, too.
WHOOSH!
Following Donar's instructions, I aimed near its neck instead of its head this time.
The creature apparently hadn't expected me to charge. It was so startled that it couldn't react properly.
CRUNCH—!
The blow struck its carotid artery squarely and shattered its cervical vertebrae.
Its neck twisted at a grotesque angle, and it collapsed with its eyeballs bulging out.
[You struck the grain precisely again. Are you still going to insist you cannot see it?]
“No, I'm telling you, I really can't see it!”
This is so unfair.
Just because I aimed for vital spots, he thinks I can see the grain.
Wait. Could the vital spots I'm thinking of be what Donar calls the grain?
He said weak spots weren't the same as the grain.
But couldn't vital spots count as the grain?
‘Or am I wrong?’
He said every one of my attacks had struck the grain, which would mean I'd hit the grain when I struck their elbows, too.
Does that mean the grain includes places like vital spots and joints?
[Every attack you have made struck the grain precisely. Normally, these are not creatures you could kill in a single blow. Yet you are dispatching them with remarkable ease.]
I didn't know exactly what Donar meant by the grain, but I knew plenty about grain myself.
You had to pay close attention to it when doing carpentry.
Sometimes you needed to cut something along the grain, and sometimes you needed to drive nails or fire staples against it.
Especially when using nails, you had to drive them against the grain.
Otherwise, the wood would split and break along the grain.
That was why the idea of the grain being the most vulnerable part was firmly engraved in my mind.
Every time I killed a gibbon by aiming at a vital spot or a joint, Donar delightedly told me how talented I was.
It seemed my conclusion was probably right.
“Haaah….”
After fighting off wave after wave of gibbons for more than three hours, I had no strength left to move.
I threw the gibbon corpses off the platform and sprawled out on it.
[I will at least acknowledge your perseverance.]
“Perseverance is how I've always managed to survive.”
[Get some rest. It seems the demonic beasts here are no longer suitable for your training. We will have to venture farther into the forest.]
“Yes. I think so, too. I don't feel like these lousy monkeys could kill me.”
Fortunately, the gibbons had all fled in terror of my madness.
They probably wouldn't come anywhere near me for a while.
[In truth, the next stage of your training was to learn how to see the grain. But after watching you, I believe we can skip that. By any chance, do you know how to manipulate natural energy?]
“Natural energy?”
Natural energy was a special power in this world.
The energy of this world was divided into three kinds: mana, aura, and natural energy.
There was also an affinity for spirits that allowed certain people to use them, but so few possessed it that it wasn't worth considering here.
These energies granted powers beyond those of ordinary people. They were special forces that let you slice through boulders as though they were tofu or cast magic.
Mana and aura were the powers people generally used.
Of course, that didn't mean just anyone could acquire them.
Even talented people could go their entire lives without ever awakening either ability.
And then there was the natural energy Donar had mentioned.
It was a power that manifested only in races that lived in harmony with nature.
It was more efficient than mana or aura and could even produce greater power.
It was a power that manifested in elves and dwarves.
But I'd never heard of a Barbarian acquiring natural energy.
How could Barbarians, who loved nothing but mindless fighting, possibly be in harmony with nature?
“Can Barbarians even awaken natural energy?”
[Hm? What are you talking about? What race lives in greater harmony with nature than we Barbarians?]
“……?”
That's the funniest load of bullshit I've heard since being reborn in this world.
If anything, Barbarians would destroy nature, not coexist with it.
[What is the matter?]
“Lord Donar, I haven't heard of a Barbarian wielding natural energy in hundreds of years.”
[What did you say?!]
Donar shouted as though I'd just said something utterly absurd.
Then again, a Barbarian wielding natural energy really was an absurd idea.
[Could that be why no truly powerful warriors have appeared all this time? How could this be…!]
Donar continued muttering to himself.
He seemed more shocked than I'd expected.
Well, I might as well rest while he was occupied.
Moonlight fell over the forest, which had now grown dark.
Just lying here and looking up at the sky felt as though it could soothe my soul.
BZZZZ.
“Hm?”
I thought I'd heard a sound that sent shivers down my spine.
Surely not?
BZZZZ.
“No. That can't be.”
That horrifying creature exists here, too?
Impossible.
BZZZZ.
The sound was getting closer.
I swallowed hard.
Praying that I was wrong, I turned toward the source of the growing noise.
And at last, the creature revealed itself.
BZZZZZZ!
“Damn it!”
The moment I saw it, I cried out without thinking.
Mr. Cockroach, the creature with such monstrous survival abilities that it could probably survive a nuclear strike.
And the mosquito, the lowest of the low, a piece of trash that lived by feeding on other people's blood.
A demonic beast that looked like a combination of those two creatures had appeared before me.
‘So what I read in that book was true?’
Its name was the Mosquitoroach.
When I'd studied the demonic beasts inhabiting the forest, I'd seen its name and thought it couldn't possibly be what it sounded like. But it really was a hybrid of those two horrifying creatures.
A sharp, pointed snout protruded from its face, and it was smacking its lips as it looked at me.
It had probably smelled the blood from the fighting here and come looking for a meal.
‘Does this mean I'll be tormented by Mosquitoroaches all night?’
Absolutely not.
I'd rather die.
These bastards ruined my precious sleep every summer. Even being thrown into hell wouldn't be punishment enough for them.
There was only one now, but who knew when more might arrive?
Should I move somewhere else?
No. The sun had already set, and it was too dark.
Many powerful demonic beasts were nocturnal, so moving around after sunset was sheer madness.
Think. At this rate, I'll spend the whole night getting bitten by mosquitoes until they suck out every drop of my blood and leave me dead as a mummy.
I need to build somewhere they can't get in.
“Good. Time to get moving.”
Donar was still talking to himself. I picked up my hammer and smashed the Mosquitoroach to a pulp.
Then I immediately climbed down from the tree.
I'd upgrade the platform into a small cabin.
That was my plan.
Once I built a cabin, the Mosquitoroaches wouldn't be able to get inside.
The demonic beasts in this part of the forest couldn't destroy its trees.
Even the gibbons' powerful attacks had done little more than get their hands stuck in the wood.
All I had to do was build one cabin, and I'd be free of the Mosquitoroach, the number-one demonic beast that deserved to go extinct.
Well, I had no choice.
I'd have to work the night shift.
“Night shifts pay double, you know.”
Humming to myself, I gathered the wood I'd need to build the cabin.
I only needed enough space for one person to rest comfortably, so rather than choosing large pieces, I selected wood that would be easy to carry back up the tree.
BZZZZ.
Mosquitoroaches began appearing around me, one or two at a time.
If I didn't hurry, the mosquitoes would bite me to death before I finished building.
“Those damned mosquito bastards.”
No matter where you went, mosquitoes were a problem.
If only I had some insect repellent.
The real work was getting the materials up onto the platform.
I stacked several pieces of wood together, hoisted them onto my back, and climbed the tree.
It was such a brute-force method that I'd never even have considered it if I weren't a Barbarian.
When your body's strong, you don't have to use your head as much.
“I'd better hurry, hadn't I?”
The ground beneath the tree was littered with gibbon corpses.
And swarms of Mosquitoroaches had gathered to feast on them.
The speed at which those things devoured their food was no joke.
At this rate, they'd finish the corpses before long and come up to my shelter.
I climbed onto the platform and began shaping the materials.
I couldn't make every piece the same size, but I made sure they were all the same length.
SCRAPE, SCRAPE.
Carpentry really does put me in a good mood.
Isn't building your own house and living in it every man's dream?
It might be a small cabin, but it's still the first home I've ever built with my own hands for myself to live in!
Just imagining it makes me happy.
“I'll have to make it with interlocking pieces, won't I?”
I didn't have any other materials on hand, so I could only build it using wood.
That meant making a cabin by cutting grooves into the wood and fitting the pieces together.
It wasn't difficult. I should be able to finish quickly.
Right, first cut a groove in the wood.
Then fit another piece into it.
And secure it properly so it wouldn't slip out.
All I had to do was repeat the process.
An assistant would be really useful at times like this.
I could have someone handle the simpler tasks and save myself some time.
I'll have to find one later.
Using Donar, who was still lost in his own world, I finished building the cabin in no time.
I made the entrance in the ceiling, overlapping two differently sized pieces of wood so that the hatch wouldn't fall through.
“Perfect!”
Light filtered in through the gaps between the wood, enough for me to see inside.
With gaps that small, a pigeon-sized Mosquitoroach couldn't possibly squeeze through.
It wouldn't even be able to poke its snout inside.
“Lord Donar, I'm going to get some rest now.”
[…….]
Ignoring Donar, who still hadn't come to his senses, I flopped down.
BZZZZ.
Apparently, there wasn't much left to eat below, because a few Mosquitoroaches began targeting me instead.
But there was nothing they could do.
All they could do was fly around the cabin in circles.
“The noise is annoying, though.”
Still, at least they weren't sucking my blood.
They'd probably give up and leave after a while.
I closed my eyes.
Trying to think of the Mosquitoroaches' buzzing as white noise, I attempted to fall asleep.
After about ten minutes of tossing and turning to that white noise, the buzzing stopped.
‘What? Have they given up already?’
That quickly?
What a bunch of quitters.
Might as well check.
I opened the hatch and looked around.
Every last one of the Mosquitoroaches had disappeared.
“That's strange.”
Of course, maybe they'd simply given up quickly.
But those creatures never abandoned food just like that.
Beneath the tree lay heaps of gibbon corpses that the Mosquitoroaches had only partially eaten.
There was only one reason demonic beasts would abandon their food.
When a demonic beast overwhelmingly stronger than themselves appeared.
I climbed all the way out of the cabin and looked around.
“There's nothing here….”
Had they really just left?
Those horrible creatures?
I was certain that couldn't be the case when, suddenly—
SCREECH! SCREECH!
I heard the deafening cry of the gibbons I'd fought during the day.
But there was something different about the energy I felt in that cry.
SCREEEECH!
And then it appeared.
It was enormous.
Judging by its size alone, it was more than four times as large as an ordinary gibbon.
‘A Gibbon Queen?’
Demonic beasts could evolve.
And the final evolutionary form of the gibbons was the Gibbon Queen.
I get that she wants to see me, but coming to visit so late at night without any manners?
I'm not fond of clingy women.
But the energy emanating from her was no joke.
I didn't think I could possibly beat her.
‘Should I run?’
I slowly started moonwalking backward.
CRUNCH—!
She smashed apart the cabin I'd worked so hard to build.
“…You goddamn bitch of a monkey bastard?!”