Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 36: The Last Fire Before Dawn
The man-eater case ended there, more or less.
Lannor could feel the existence of a larger group of man-eaters behind him, but in this world, they did not seem to count as urgent.
All that remained was to take the murderer to Crow’s Perch and collect the bounty, two hundred and thirty Orens in all.
Before leaving, Lannor returned to Auridon and brought along his damaged armor.
He planned to see whether it could be repaired directly at Crow’s Perch.
Ivan did not mention going with him. That, too, was proof that Auridon’s trust in the young man had risen another step.
“So ... you caught the beast?”
Old Aaron stood at the village entrance and asked. Behind him waited pairs of anxious eyes.
“Aye. Caught him. Wasn’t much trouble.”
Lannor smiled as he tied the bundle of armor to Pope’s back.
“A man-eater. But he didn’t actually know what Dunham was, that’s why he committed the crime there. It wasn’t a deliberate provocation against the Goddess. You can rest easy.”
Had it been deliberate provocation, the nearby villages would already have been preparing to maintain patrols of young men.
Because deliberate provocation would never end with one incident.
Now that labor did not need to be wasted, everyone breathed a little easier.
Lannor rejoined Phillip Strenger’s squad, and together they set out for Crow’s Perch in the north.
The journey by horseback would take roughly two days.
As for the murderer, he began running a fever that very night, unsurprisingly.
After all, his feet had been pierced through and dragged out of a swamp. Infection was not a possibility; it was a certainty.
“Tch. Master, have you got some elixir that can keep him breathing? Two days is all we need. Long enough for you to get your bounty, at least.”
Phillip came to Lannor rubbing his hands, looking a little embarrassed.
Sitting beside the fire, Lannor immediately delivered three answers in a row.
“No. Can’t. Don’t know.”
In truth, the alchemy sack held quite a few elixirs and oils.
But their toxicity was too fierce for ordinary humans. If the murderer drank one, he would most likely either die or turn stupid.
Lord Vserad probably would not care whether the man he executed was sane, but...
Those things were expensive.
Lannor hardly wanted to use them on his own hunts. Give one to a man-eater?
Besides, he had no spare attention for Alchemy yet. These were all Bordon’s remaining stock. Each bottle used was one bottle gone.
So, under Phillip’s pleading gaze, Lannor walked straight over to the murderer slumped belly-down across a horse, already half-conscious from fever. He lifted the man’s trouser legs and confirmed that the flesh below the ankles had begun to blacken.
Then he drew the steel sword from his back.
His left hand shifted through a Sign, fingers passing lightly above the blade.
“Igni.”
With a hiss like water striking hot oil, the bright sword turned red in an instant.
Only then did Phillip understand what the witcher meant to do.
“Plague take me, you’re not...”
Squish.
The red-hot blade cut a burning arc through the air and chopped both feet from the murderer on the horse.
There was no bleeding. The wounds were seared shut the moment they opened.
The killer, who had been muddled by fever, snapped fully awake with a howl.
His scream even startled the horse.
Lannor did not bother wiping the sword. Once it cooled, he simply sheathed it.
As he passed Phillip, he patted the big man on the shoulder.
“Successful amputation. Listen to how strong his voice is. I reckon he’ll live at least five days.”
What could Phillip say?
For a man-eater, cheering was enough.
The cavalrymen did not react much either. Or rather, their attention had all fixed on Lannor’s Igni Sign.
A sword glowing with fire.
Who could refuse such a thing?
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