Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 155: The Heroine's Party

Zuzia takes a breath as she flexes her fingers. Wulfsten gave her a gauntlet for her right hand, which doesn't fit very well. But, it gives her protection for her palm for what she's going to do, as well as a firm grip edge to keep her from falling off.

Of course, Wulfsten thinks she's going to use it to protect her fist, but she's afraid she'll ruin the gauntlet if she uses it for that. She'll have to move fast, and this is the craziest and most dangerous thing she will have tried to date.

She looks at her left hand, which has her basic fingerless gloves she used when she expected to have to climb small amounts -not actual rock-climbing, but over logs or up onto boulders or small cliffs that she can reach the lower ground and the top with her height-. They're also handy for handling hand tools like her camp shovel, ax, or saw.

The hit will possibly damage her glove, but her knuckles should be fine, considering she shattered a large boulder bare-handed.

She looks at Wulfsten, Halkadon, and Verbert, who are in position near the flank where they'll ambush the rakehorn with some makeshift bolas she lashed together with some rope and rocks. She usually uses the knots she made to create a sort of sling-grapnel to tie a rope to something out of reach, but it is also handy if she has enough rope to make bolas.

In this case, they'll have a very brief window of time, and they have to snare the rakehorn's antlers, with ropes tied off to a big tree, which will hopefully distract the beast long enough for Zuzia to rush it from behind.

The three agreed to her plan, since she will be able to dislodge a part of the antlers -hopefully- and do so with the large palms off to the sides. This will allow the titanic deer-like beast to still use its antlers to pull branches and fruits down from trees, defend itself if it needs its antlers against other rakehorns or threats, and will still serve as a sizable portion for what they need.

Zuzia has hunted and prepared squirrels, birds, and other small game while out on a hunt, because it makes her packed rations go further, and it keeps her closer to nature in a certain way. That said, she would never want to stoop as low as to take away an animal's ability to survive, such as taking both claws of a crab or lobster, or worse, cutting off a shark's dorsal fins.

This is a different world, though. They haven't gone through all of the same moral awakenings that Earth has, as they don't seem to survey the populations of animals to determine whether or not they're endangered, the impacts of predators on balancing the food chain, and preventing invasive species from overtaking an ecosystem. Here, they look at the immediate profit, which is understandable, even if there are better ways.

Wulfsten is in a unique position because of his magic bag that he could take the whole animal, and if they needed several tons of meat to get them through their journey, Zuzia would consider it. However, they'll never make use of that much meat, meaning the animal would go to waste as a whole if they were to slay it.

Lumbering away from the tree it was making a meal out of, the rakehorn is finally relaxed enough for them to spring their attack. The compromise will spare the rakehorn's life, preserve its ability to feed itself, and won't harm Zuzia's conscience, while allowing her to repay her mercenary companions for their escort.

She bolts forward as the three spring up, launching their bolas into the rakehorn's antlers. It stutter-steps as it snorts and lowers its horns, all but using them as a shield against attack. The antlers pierce into the ground at first, like a guillotine attack meant to catch surprise predators that try to rush for its throat. However, this works to the advantage of the mercenaries, allowing the bolas to ensnare the branch-like bone protrusions from the beast's head. When it tries to retreat in a back step, the ropes tighten. Wulfsten, Halkadon, and Verbert dive clear of the ropes to avoid getting tangled. Once taut, a guitar-like twang and tamber rings out from each of the three ropes, and the moose-like creature bellows and snorts, trying in frustration to pull backwards by force.