I'm a farmer, not a hero : Chapter 25

The day before.

Just when the farmer and the young cleric resumed their journey from the spider queen's domain, the rabbit just brought the horse general to the swamplands from the eastern mountain regions and is now relaying the orders of the dog general.

"I want to fight him alone." The horse general requested firmly.

"Are you sure? We're talking about a human who's capable of killing the boar general, the strongest general in the demon king army, and possibly the goat general." The rabbit general asked.

"If so, then all the more reason why I should fight him alone." The horse general argued back.

"I'm not following." The rabbit looked confused.

"While it's true that I am not as powerful as boar, I am confident that I can fight evenly if it's a duel. Boar may have brute strength but I have techniques…"

"Even if I fail to defeat him, you who have been ordered to gather to observe will be able to gather combat data to devise a way to defeat him." The horse general said to the rabbit general.

The rabbit general let out a sigh before responding to the horse general's request.

"Look, I don't really care what you do… I'm just a messenger after all…"

"But, you do realize that what I relayed are orders from the right hand of our king? Which means you're not disobeying my orders, you're disobeying his." The rabbit general looked at the horse general seriously.

"I understand. I will take responsibility for whatever may happen." The horse general replied with a determined look.

"Well if you understand then you are free to do whatever you want." The rabbit general, going back to his laid back attitude, said before walking away.

"Sss-Be careful with the Cudgel… It can extend and retract indefinitely at hisss will." The serpent general warned the horse general before slithering away to hide and prepare an ambush in secret.

*****

Present time.

"Nooooooo!" The young cleric shouted as soon as she saw the puddle of blood forming at the farmer's feet.

"F-father of all… please… h-heal–" In panic, the young cleric tried to chant a healing miracle spell but was stopped by the farmer, who's holding his hand up towards her.

"Don't worry about this…" The farmer said.

"Ho? Your reflexes are very good." The horse general said in amazement.

Though the farmer was taken aback at the horse general's sudden dodging of his attack, the farmer tried to back away to avoid the attack but was too late and the tip of the centaur's halberd got through his thigh.

"Are you sure you're just gonna stand there?" The farmer starts to emit an intimidating aura that causes the horse general to pull his polearm and retreat.

"What was that?" The horse general looked bewildered.

Despite suffering an incapacitating attack, his enemy seems to become more dangerous, like a wounded wild beast ready to launch a "do or die" assault.

"You think that this little scrape is enough to stop me?" The farmer said while applying pressure on the wound on his leg with his left hand.

Smoke starts to appear from his leg followed by the smell and sound of skin being burnt. The farmer used Fire magicka to quickly cauterize his wound. He then touches the puddle of his own blood mixed with the soil to create a tower shield, mimicking his opponent and entering a phalanx.

The horse general, upon seeing this, realized something.

"That thing you're wearing on your left arm… I see… So it was you who killed the goat general!" The horse general exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about but if you're referring to the one at the top of the black tower, then yes, I killed him." The farmer replied.

Wielding the tower shield in front of him, the farmer tackles the horse general, with the latter trying to deflect the attack by bashing it with his own shield but fails to do so.

"What of it? Are you gonna cry for vengeance now?" The farmer taunted.

With their shields clashing, the farmer was able to use his enemy's blindspot to his advantage by kicking the centaur to the leg. The horse general, however, was able to keep himself calm and tried to block the attack by bending his leg but could not fully mitigate the damage, making him stagger and retreat.

"Normally, people would get heated up upon learning the person who killed their friend or loved one is right in front of them." The farmer said.

"I'm not one of those 'people'. I'm not here to avenge their deaths, I'm here to stop you from reaching our king." The horse general exclaimed before returning to his stance.

"That's quite admirable…" The farmer uttered before quickly dashing towards the horse general, this time, to the side of the centaur's weapon.

The farmer was so quick that the horse general could only react through instinct, swinging his halberd to the side to try and get the farmer to lose his momentum, but it became a fatal mistake for the centaur.

"What the?!" The horse general uttered in disbelief.

The farmer stopped just as the horse general could finish his attack, leaving the latter open for an attack.

"Never seen a feint before?" The farmer taunted before using his cudgel to attack.

The horse general tries to deflect the thrust but the farmer retracts the cudgel before it could connect.

!

In a blink of an eye, the horse general's right shoulder was blown off from the cudgel's attack. He thought he could dodge the attack like before but he couldn't, the way it extended was completely different than before; it was so fast that it seemed to just appear rather than extend, like magic.

-Klang, klang, klang!-

The horse general's tower shield fell to the ground along with some of his armor that's no longer connected.

"You should've finished me when you had the chance!" The horse general said as his shoulder started to bleed.

"I don't just kill willy nilly, I'm not a psychopatic murderer. Like I said, if I can avoid a fight, I would do so." The farmer replied.

"That's not what I meant…" The horse general said.

From her hiding spot, the serpent general emerges, slithering swiftly to get to the young cleric.

"Sss-Don't move!" She shouted at the farmer.

The farmer turns his gaze towards the young cleric, where the voice came from.

"Sss-I sssaid… don't move!" The serpent lady repeated in a threatening tone.

"Okay, now what?" The farmer replied upon seeing the young cleric held up by the serpent lady with her sharp talons over the cleric's throat.

"Sss-Your ssshield, throw it!" The serpent general commanded.

Complying to the serpent general's demand, the farmer threw his shield made with magicka in front of the naga and the young cleric, just before the latter's feet. The shield then starts to melt rapidly as the mana running through it, and keeping it together, is cut off.

"Sss-son of a–" The serpent general, visibly angered by the farmer's slight act of rebellion.

"What? You told me to throw it right? I thought you would want to keep an eye on it to make sure that I won't be able to use it for any sneak attacks." The farmer explained.

"Tch! Sss-Fine!" The serpent general, annoyed, replied.

"I suppose you want me to throw my staff as well?" The farmer asked.

Even though he is at a disadvantage, the farmer seems to be calm, with no hints of panic in his voice nor actions.

"Sss-Yesss! But throw it gently and towardsss that centaur over there…" The serpent general instructed. She'd seen the farmer create shockwaves by slamming the cudgel to the ground, hence her being cautious about it.

The farmer takes a glance at the horse general, his eyes didn't look defeated yet his face was emotionless.

"Something's not right…" The horse general thought to himself while trying to stop his shoulder from bleeding.

The farmer then gently throws the staff towards the horse general, landing beside his injured leg, creating a strong shockwave from its weight and staggering almost everyone around except for the farmer who quickly dashes towards the young cleric.

"Sss-Shit!" The serpent general cursed.

Before she could regain her footing, the farmer was able to touch the puddle of blood that used to be his shield, and using Magicka, was able to create a barrier separating the serpent general from the young cleric to protect her.

"Although that caught me off guard, but what kind of a fool would throw his weapon on his opponent?" The horse general thought to himself as he tried to pull himself together.

"It's as if he's asking his weapon to be used on–" Upon grabbing the Sacred cudgel, the horse general realized why the farmer was being compliant to his enemies; but it was already too late.

"Sss-Khaaaaa!!!" The serpent general screamed. From the barrier that's protecting the young cleric, the farmer quickly turns it into icicles that impale the serpent general, then freezes her.

"No!" The horse general shouted.

The centaur grabs his halberd before charging at the farmer, like a knight in a joust.

"Isn't he supposed to be the one at a disadvantage? It was two against one, and we had a hostage!" The horse general, still, could not believe what happened. Victory was in their grasp yet it managed to slip away so easily.

Just as the horse general was about to enter his striking distance, the land suddenly collapsed causing him to lose his footing and fall to his knees. As he tries to make sense of what just happened, his head suddenly jerks in a very violent manner with a loud "ringing" echoing through his ears.

"Submit, or I will kill you." The horse general, as soon as the ringing in his ears stopped, heard. It was the farmer who punched him when he fell to his knees, destroying half of his helmet.

"I'm a warrior…" The horse general said.

"I would rather die fighting than surrender to my enemy." He added.

"I see…" The farmer said before walking away, only to stop a few meters from the centaur.

"Then get up." The farmer continued, giving his enemy a chance to stand up once more to continue fighting.

The horse general, using his halberd as a support, tries to stand up once more.

"This is the last chance that I'm going to give you… fight and die, or walk away and live." The farmer stood his ground. Though barehanded, the horse general had long realized that there was no chance to beat him, yet he still chose to fight.

"Do not regret this." The farmer warned.

"The only thing I regret is not being able to fight you for the sake of just pure fighting." The horse general replied before charging at the farmer.

The horse general swings his halberd, trying to slice through the farmer, but the farmer dodges by ducking at the right moment. From the momentum, the farmer attacks with a powerful blow to the centaur's body, destroying his armor and his internal organs.

"Blaarrghhh!" Blood spews from the horse general's mouth as his body falls to the ground.

"Thank you…" The horse general, with the remaining strength he had left, uttered before succumbing to his fatal injury.

"Hey…" The farmer said in a very serious voice.

"Do you mind if I take your things?" He asked, not knowing that his opponent has died.

"Oh…"

*****

The farmer buried the remains of both the horse general and the serpent lady, who was still encased in ice, at the spot where the horse general etched the line that indicates the border between the swamplands and the wasteland.

Marking the horse general's grave with his halberd and tower shield, giving him an honorable burial for a warrior; as for the serpent general, just the tip of her frozen tail sticking out as there was nothing of hers to use as her marker.

"What does centaur meat taste like?" The farmer wondered while he was burying the warrior. He would've butchered the remains if it was just a wild beast, but it was a warrior he fought that deserved a decent grave; instead, he just took the sword and buckler that he just saw, after having a good look at his entire body and not just the front which was mostly covered by the tower shield, dangling at the centaur's side as a trophy.

The rabbit general who was spectating from a distance was about to leave when a figure emerged from the shadows.

"Oh, it's you." The rabbit general, unsurprisingly, said.

"Sss-so? How wassss he?" The serpent general asked.

"Well, he's definitely overpowered. I can't see any way for us to beat that kind of a man… except for our King, I guess?"

"Ssss… " The serpent general was left speechless, knowing full well the enemy's capabilities after experiencing it first hand twice.

"How are you still alive anyway? I thought you were killed." Though the rabbit general considered the possibility that the serpent general would still be alive, it's still a mystery for the rabbit as to how she could escape from, what seemed to be, a certain death.

"Sss-After getting impaled, I immediately sssshed my ssskin, leaving a clone of my body before he could fully finish me off… It wasss just pure luck that he decided to encassssed me in ice rather than completely desssstroying my body, otherwisssse he would've realized that it was jusssst an empty husssk." The serpent general explained.

"Luck huh? I guess that's one way of putting it…"

"So, what will you do now?"

"Sss-I plan to recuperate in my village for now… try to sssstrengthen the young onesss now that the ssstrongest in the village is dead."

"I see… I'll pass it to the dog general then…"

"'til next time."