Chapter 59: The Hunter and the Hunted (5)
Alas.
Vikir scrambled to his feet.
His bones screamed at his unhealed joints, but he had no choice.
If he didn't move now, he would be killed.
Boom!
The tent I had built shredded like tissue paper.
It was the Oxbear's powerful claws that tore through the night.
Aiyen chuckled in amusement.
"You were lured, weren't you, you sneaky thing?"
A male oxbear. Even if he was only half the size of the female, he was still a very large carnivore, standing over four meters tall and weighing over a ton.
This seasoned beast already knew it was being tracked.
That's why it had waited to strike while it was weak.
Aiyen quickly grabbed his bow and arrows and retreated to the outside of the tent.
Bakira, the wolf, crouched low beside her master, snarling.
Aiyen studied the oxbear before him.
"I see you were chosen by the old female for a reason."
The giant female Oxbear before him had been very picky about her second year, and he was a little puzzled as to why she had chosen this one, who was unusually small among the many males, to be her mate.
If it was simply because she didn't want to be attacked after mating, there were plenty of other smaller males available.
But now I understood.
She wanted his cunning intelligence to complement her superior physicality.
[Grunt!]
The oxbear lunged at her with two massive horns and both front paws.
Aiyen climbed onto Bakira's back and quickly nocked an arrow to his bowstring.
Ping-!
Two arrows fly, aiming for the Oxbear's face.
The oxbear ducked his head and lifted his horns up, so they couldn't hit him in the face.
The arrows then deflected in midair as if they were alive, striking Oxbear in both shoulders.
Indeed, Balak's archery was the best on the continent, and Aiyen's was the best of all.
Karak- Karak- Karak- Karak
Aiyen strung multiple arrows from a single bow.
Unusually, Balak's bow has multiple nocks.
The arrows on each of these nocks can be staggered and fired back-to-back, or they can be fired all at once.
Puff, puff, puff!
Ai Yan fired arrow after arrow, barely pausing to breathe.
The time it took for the first arrow to fly, followed by the second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on, was a blink of an eye.
A truly monstrous rate of fire.
Of course, pulling five arrows at once requires a ridiculous amount of arm strength.
The enormous tension required was covered by Aiyen's low-level Gradient mana.
[Grrrr!]
The rain of arrows slowed Oxbear's charge.
Each of Aiyen's arrows was so powerful that even the oxbear's thick muscles and furry hide could not defend against them.
What's more, Aiyen's arrows didn't just travel in a straight line.
She shot them upward, sideways, and sometimes even backward.
Arrows that went up would fall in a parabolic arc and hit the top of the head, while those that went sideways would curve back and hit the side.
Arrows that flew backwards even hit trees and rocks, sending grenades flying.
Moreover, the arrows carried a powerful aura.
Oxbear had no idea how troublesome this aura would be.
...Puck! Puck!
Oxbear ducked behind a bush to avoid the flying arrow.
The brambles were quite thick, and he thought they would block the arrows.
But.
"A good arrow will pierce steel if it wants to, but it will not pierce a leaf if it does not want to."
Aiyen recalled a lesson she had heard from her mother and chief, Aquila.
Next, she let loose an arrow, which struck the high bush where the oxbear was hiding.
Poof!
Surprisingly, the arrow, traveling at such high speeds, didn't hit the bramble and bounce back.
Instead, the arrow's aura left the arrowhead and soaked into the brush.
And then.
Boom!
The oxbear hiding behind the bramble spewed blood from its neck.
[Crunch!]
Penetration.
The intangible energy from the arrowhead went beyond the barren tree and gouged into the oxbear's body behind it.
Vikir gasped at the sight.
"Indeed, that is the archery of the Balak!
A ridiculous archery skill, capable of killing even an enemy behind cover.
But the skilled hunters of Balak actually do it.
Vikir had moved mana to shatter a table and the glasses on it without destroying it, but he didn't know if it could be applied to flying arrows.
"If it can be done... it would allow for more precise aura control.
Vikir lifted his head again and looked at Aiyen.
Seventeen years old and a Gradient junior.
Even in Baskerville, where only geniuses live, I've never seen a prodigy this young.
In terms of talent alone, he could probably rival or surpass even Morg's camo.
...But.
It was the oxbear that made even Aiyen nervous.
An immature, small male, weak after a prolonged mating.
But even so, the Danger Rank A beast was strong.
Aiyen gritted her teeth as she realized she was almost out of arrows.
Vakira, the wolf who had been his steady companion, was also exhausted.
It's cold, the terrain is simple, and it's a moonless night, making visibility difficult.
Now, with all the advantage, Oxbear is ready for the final blow.
The oxbear's typical attack pattern consists of a horn charge followed by a large swing of its front paws.
But it's the tooth attack that follows these two moves that really makes the difference.
[He-aaaah!]
The oxbear charged with all its might, opening its wide arms to embrace both Aiyen and Bakira at once.
Its dagger-like jaws were lined with teeth, ready to rip Aiyen's head off.
"What do we do, we're running out of arrows, do we retreat, or do we make one last gamble...?
As Aiyen contemplated his next move.
Something happened that neither Aiyen, Vakira, nor even Oxbear saw coming.
"Move."
Vikir. He had appeared.
Vikir, an unwelcome intruder into the battle.
He was perched on top of a tall branch.
Then Vikir kicked off the branch and leaped, falling straight down to Oxbear.
"Ow! What are you doing!"
Aiyen was horrified. What Vikir was doing seemed to her to be nothing less than suicide.
But then.
As Vikir leapt from the tree, he clutched a handful of arrows.
And surprisingly, Oxbear didn't react much to the sight of Vikir falling.
That's because Bikir's jump was to the left.
Not long before, the male Oxbear had received a slap on the cheek while moping around in the female's den after mating, and his left eye was swollen shut.
It was an exquisite dig to fill the blind spot.
And then.
...Poof!
Several arrows in Vikir's grasp pierced Oxbear's left eye at once.
Chiiiit-
The sound of fat boiling, the smell of burning meat was unmistakable.
The arrowheads had been loaded with Aiyen's mana not long ago, and were heated to the limit.
The hot shards of iron tore through the oxbear male's swollen snowball flesh, popping his tender eyeball and sending the bundle of nerves inside scrambling.
[Aaahhhhhh!]
Oxbear's scream changed slightly.
Its roar, once a mixture of hatred and contempt, was now tinged with fear.
Vikir snatched the arrows out of her hand and dropped to the ground.
"...thud!"
The mere act of landing on the ground seems to shatter his entire body.
The oxbear loomed in front of him, its enormous body looming over him.
Aiyen gasped in horror.
"No!"
She quickly fired an arrow, but it only pierced some of the oxbear's strong back muscles.
Vakira the wolf lunged and bit her hind paws, but Oxbear was unperturbed.
[Argh!]
Blinded by rage and fear, Oxbear opened his mouth in a guttural roar.
No horns, no front paws, just teeth! The Oxbear's true breath attack flew toward Vikir.
And the expression on Vikir's face as he faced it could not have been more serene.
"...."
This is not a death wish.
He's gauging whether his body can handle the technique he's about to use.
"Come out."
Bikir ordered in a low voice, and the faithful hound bared its teeth.
...Poof!
A black awl pierced the artery in Vikir's wrist.
The magic sword, Beelzebub, had been unleashed!
Whirring.
With the sound of a fly's wings, Beelzebub revealed his appetite for the giant hunk of meat in front of him.
And with that, one of the powerful forces trapped within Beelzebub's three orbs exploded through the tip of his sword.
<The Gluttonous Fly 'Beelzebub'> / Awl
-1 slot: Burn – Cerberus(A+)
Cerberus. The three-headed dog that symbolizes Hell itself.
Roar!
The oil-based flames, which could not be extinguished by water, combined with the aura of Beelzebub's blade and exploded.
Fueled by the oils of hell, the flames burned endlessly unless their master's will was extinguished.
The fiery hound's teeth sank back into Oxbear's gaping mouth.
[Cackle!?]
Oxbear stopped charging.
His eyes, blinded by rage and fear, finally opened to the reality of the situation.
...What the hell is that?
I thought it was just some human blood, but it wasn't.
What you see before you is a gigantic apex predator, the presence of a high-ranking demon that you dare not compare to, the fangs of a monster that belongs in the deepest hells of the Netherworld.
Wherever it has been lying in ambush, the creature that has just bared its teeth is upon you, bringing untold pain and terror.
...Quack!
A short, guttural sound.
The awl that sprouted from Vikir's wrist shot out and pierced the oxbear's mouth.
First, it pierced the hanging tongue, then the gums, then the palate, and finally the brain in the skull.
To make matters worse, the tip of the awl emitted a terrifying flame.
The most terrible pain in the world: burning pain.
It was boiling the brains in Oxbear's skull to a crisp.
[Gah!]
Oxbear let out a near-terminal scream.
Vikir's attack was short, but intense.
The oxbear was still clinging to life with its characteristic toughness and regenerative powers, but that was all.
No, that wasn't all.
In the last moments of its life, Oxbear leaned its massive body toward Vikir.
Vikir struggled to move from the pain he felt throughout his body.
Even in death, Oxbear intended to use his massive body to crush Vikir to death.
But.
Pow!
At that moment, Aiyen threw his whole body and grabbed Vikir.
Bakira the wolf scooped up Aiyen and Vikir with her fluffy back and stepped back.
"Are you okay!?"
Aiyen's eyes widened, scanning Vikir's entire body.
Vikir nodded with difficulty.
At the same time.
...thud!
The Oxbear giant's head slammed into the ground.
The last words of a male who, only moments before, had been frantically mating with a female in the cozy confines of his den, could he have imagined such an end?
In the jungle, where looting, death, and love mixed together.
...The downfall!
Aiyen pulled Vikir into a hug.
She hastily tore off the few strips of cloth that covered them, shouting, "Tell me!
"Tell me if you're going to die! We need to get the seeds out of ...!"
Vikir couldn't help but sigh at the success of the hunt.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l