Arc 2- Chapter 13: The Hunts

A fool. A fool that he was. To think he would infiltrate one of the most notorious and most powerful criminal organization in the entire kingdom unscathed, he was idiotic. Or maybe even stupid, lunacy, or imbecile. But, some might even call him brave, hardcore and fearless. To stand up and put himself in the front lines, to put justice towards the Hunts for their heinous crimes, it was admirable.

But one things for sure. Wether he was labeled as a supposed fool or hero, only his mind mattered. And that genius but moron thought...

"I'm so fucking dead!"

He was surrounded by all sides. The top, the bottom. His back, front, and from the sides, he had nowhere to run. Especially not from his front since the god damn leader of all people is facing daggers at him. Both figuratively and physically, since she was holding a dagger herself.

He can't use his words, he can't use anything except for one thing - his skills and his weapon.

There was no way he was negotiating. It was too far gone too talk to these guys and have diplomatic talks with. It's killed or be killed now. Or in this case; hunt, or be hunted.

With Kazuma's heart beating a million times more than his normal speed, he was shocked to say the least. His muscle frozen from his brain still processing the information. King Hunt decided to break the silence between them.

"What's going on Kazuma. Cat bit your tounge?"

Luckily, that made him snap out of his thoughts and to genuinely assess his situation. He better think of something quick or else one of these hunters are going to shoot their barrage of arrows at him.

"Damn it, there's nowhere to run! If I shoot, stab or even run at her or something, I'm gonna get shot!" He could already feel the bows cocking up at his behind. "Unless these guys are distracted, there's now way I'm coming out alive."

With Kazuma staring at no one in particular other than King Hunt, and the latter herself staring very intently at him, the situation against him are stacked high. There is no physical way for him to escape. He could only pray that he comes out safe.

Luckily for him, Eris had descended upon him to help.

"CURSED LIGHTNING!"

Suddenly, a loud shout came from his side and came thunderous roars of lighting from the high trees. Smiting down the unlucky hunters to who were in it's way.

"See ya!" With this distraction in mind, he gave no chance for him to just stand there as he took the distracted hunters as a chance to escape. He ran as fast as he could, the adrenaline pumping him up like drugs with his legs working overtime to keep up with the high demands of his mind.

"Wha- He's getting away! Hunters after them!" Slightly confused with his sudden escape, the King barked her orders as they all chased down the escaping Kazuma.

"Hagh!" Kazuma yelled as he jumped between the unconscious hunters who got struck, plunging into the bushes where he met up with a familiar girl.

"YunYun?"

"Uh, hi Kazuma-san." She was about to say something else before she was unexpectedly picked up with Kazuma's left arm. "Uwaa! Kazuma-san!"

"Hold one YunYun!" Before she could process her situation however, Kazuma had told her to stay close as he shot out a grappling hook much faster than before. So much so it basically impaled the tree he was aiming, before reeling himself in as they narrowly dodge the arrows behind them.

They flew into the forest, multiple sounds of rope and metal hitting the trees were heard by all of them. Whizz and zips as hunters try to chase them down using Kazuma's very own technique. Like a swarm of angry bees buzzing around a human who dared to hurt their queen.

Kazuma shot out rope after rope towards trees at blinding speeds. Due to the adrenaline rush he was experiencing, it made his usage of mana manipulation go ten folds as he tries to escape with a girl attached to him. Two grappling hooks passed both their sides, hooking on trees Infront of him. Feeling the hunters were reeling towards him, he let go of his rope and switched to the side. Grappling the tree to his left and reeling in towards it, narrowly dodging hunters in the process.

"Kyaa Kazuma-san!!!" She screamed in terror as they both flew high up in the trees. To Kazuma, it was obviously normal to him, at least, the swinging part, not the being chased thing. To YunYun however, this was all a foreign feeling to her.

Having felt her organs all press together in a unnatural way, and due to the inertia of swinging really fast, it was nauseating to her. She could almost feal herself throw up as Kazuma suddenly switched gears as he pointed his right arm to a tree on their side, swinging to it.

"Sorry about this YunYun!" He apologized to her as he yelled. "If I kept you back there you definitely would've been dead!"

"God damn it!" He expressed anger as he saw Infront of him more grappling hooks and rope being swung to the trees at his front, indicating the incoming hunters to cut him off. He was forced to switch directions.

But that in itself was a problem. Like before, he was surrounded by all sides. Now with the added bonus of hunters at his bottom.

"Hunters! Make sure to capture both of them! I want them alive!" The hunters, including Kazuma and YunYun, heard the leader shout her command.

"Shit, where the hell should we go?" He cussed to himself as he looks around him, only to see more hunters following his way, their ropes in the ready for a good ol' bind spell.

He swung down low, hoping the thick bushes could slow down the remaining hunts chasing him from behind.

"YunYun, do you have any mana left?" He asked as he grappled to another tree and going up to it.

"Yes I do!" She said a bit more frantically than she expected. Though, it was understandable given the tight situation they were in.

"Okay, I want you to teleport yourself back to the village and get help."

"What?!" An expression of shock tainted her face. What was Kazuma even thinking?! Does he know the huge risk he's taking if he's going to be all by himself with these bandits? She thought in her head.

"Kazuma, even if I wanted to, I won't be able to do it since I need solid ground to perform it." She explained. It was true, the usage of the teleportation spell can only be done if the object and person were on solid ground. That's how YunYun was able to teleport herself and him to the village, and was going to do the same as well with the money. Of course, due to unfortunate circumstances, they had to ditch that last part.

"Shit. How the hell are we going to get out of here?" Kazuma cussed to himself in frustration. What could he do in this type of situation? He was surrounded by all corners. Any type of rest or attack would result in both of them getting binded. The only thing he could do was just run. Or in this case, swing.

While Kazuma was having an internal debate, hunters had slowly crept behind them from all sides.

Indeed, Kazuma was much more experienced and faster than them. To them, he was on par with the King Hunt and her friends. Even if Kazuma had been doing this swinging thing for about two months now. Though, they didn't know it.

Due to the stress and how dire the situation was, Kazuma's usual speed had ramped up dramatically, making catching up to him very hard.

But not impossible.

King Hunt had been maneuvering at incredible speeds inside the forest. She had beaten out nearly every hunter by whizzing past them. Her eyes darted from tree to tree, aiming towards one that would be more strategical and faster, and that process repeats all over again once she's reeled in.

"..."

In silence, her eyes narrowed once she finally sees the duo trying to escape them.

Locking on to the pair, she shot a hook that passed them, and reeled herself in.

Kazuma's senses were of course enhanced and knew about the incoming threat behind him, so he switched directions to not collide with the hunter. But, he had severely underestimated his opponent.

The King Hunt knew about this. She knew exactly what he was about to do. And so, with her other free hand, did the same trick she did before. Only this time, much more faster, and furthermore, used lurk. A common skill used by adventurers in the thief class.

Hunters saw the intersect between their leader and the perpetrators. They knew their leader well, and they knew exactly what she was about to do. And so, they too ramped up their speed, risking their mana reserves just to catch up to them.

Hunters quickly surrounded them, hiding in the shrubbery of the tress, and down towards their stumps. Making sure that King Hunt's plan would succeed.

And so.

"Got you."

With a stern look on her face, she shot an enhanced binding spell towards the duo. It sprung out of her so fast to the point it was all a blur. The ropes were so thick and strong, people would struggle to get out of it. Many unlucky men and women were binded by her, and they recalled their skin burned and scarred due to the friction of the rope tightly wrapped around them.

Hunters were on standby. Just in case that somehow, the King's plan didn't go to fruition. Though, it was highly unlikely it would fail.

With the heavy duty rope hurdling towards Kazuma and YunYun, they foresaw that their fate was sealed. There was no way for them to maneuver out of this one.

Kazuma knew he couldn't escape it. There was just no way with how fast it was going. Especially so since they were traveling straight at it. He knew then that the Hunts leader was much, much more capable than he thought. He had essentially underestimated them.

YunYun thought the same as well. Truthfully, their fate was sealed as soon as they declared that they were going to capture the criminal group of thieves. She knew now that... If only she was stronger, better, and just better at everything than she was now, maybe, they could've escaped. A face of horror grew on her face as the rope steadily approach them.

And so, they braced for impact. Ready to be captured and questioned by the Hunts.

That is until...

"I decided to give you my short sword to you as a gift"

"It's a holy relic so it has powers in it."

"You'll learn how to use it later on."

From up above, the goddess that oversaw the world, gave upon her blessing towards the unfortunate pair. For she was, the Goddess Of Luck.

"I command my sword, Goddess's Blessing."

The moment the words were spoken from heaven above, Kazuma's gifted and prized short sword by his side, the ruby that was on it shown a bright crimson light.

In slow motion, by instinct, Kazuma knew exactly what to do.

"Huh? What the hell is this?" In his mind, he questioned himself. He felt his right arm, which was grappled to a tree, let go of the rope and crept towards his belt which held Chris' then short sword. He didn't know why. It felt like his hand had a mind of it's own. And yet, in his mind, this was all normal.

He felt his hand grabbing on the hilt of the sword and taking in out of it's constraints.

Holding it upside down, he now saw how the red gem that was usually idly sitting in it, was now glowing a bright glow.

In fact, it was the same red hue that Chris would usually have whenever she held it before in combat. He remembered it very vividly when they were fighting the undeads back at the abandoned fortress, and also the time where she ran in a blur, cutting down multiple warriors and shielders to get to Hostis Dei.

"Could it be, that I'm using the same power she did?" It wasn't too far off as a guess. He deduced, that he too will have the same abilities that granted Chris so much power before. But right now, that really didn't matter.

Because right now, without even realizing it, his body had begun to feel stronger. Power surged through his body as he felt his instincts increase ten fold. His body gave a faint golden glow, though, it was barely noticeable, even he didn't realize it. His body emitted such holy energy that the entire forest was blessed by the luck of the goddess.

And as he began to realize this, so too did his action.

His eyes darted towards the rope that was about to bind both of them. Before, he saw this as defeat. A fate that was sealed. But now, he was determined. Determined to get out of this once and for all.

"Hieagh!" With a grunt, he began to spin his body using the momentum of him pushing forward before. His right arm streched outward with the sword in hand, while his left arm was still holding the oblivious YunYun.

Just like Chris, he too flew at speeds that were just a blur to the outside world.

With his hand streched out, and the spinning motion they were in, Kazuma easily cut through the rope like it was butter. Once was a heavy duty and thick rope, now turned into itty bitty bits of string. Kazuma and YunYun, had successfully escaped their doom. At least, for now.

To the outside world, it was all too fast to even process and register.

They saw their phony hunter and assistant cut through their leaders most fool proof trick. And he did it so fast! They all thought, "How the hell did he do that?!". It was all a blur to them since Kazuma had essentially cut through that rope in the blink of an eye.

King Hunt too was flabbergasted. She saw it all. Their imminent doom, and their frustrating escape. All she saw was that the bind spell she aimed towards the pair had pretty much been cut into millions of pieces, rendering it unusable. While it was happening however, herself and the hunters saw a red light shine bright before them, and in the next moment, the duo had essentially teleported from their original spot. Figuratively of course.

The Hunts can only look on with wonder.

Though, poor YunYun must've endured so many g's with that little trick Kazuma did. She really did feel like throwing up when he spun so suddenly like that.

Now then, back to the action.

With Kazuma successfully cutting through the rope, he instinctively launched a grappling hook towards a nearby tree to escape. This action however, was much faster than his previous one. In addition, the reeling action was also faster. But, even if they were faster, they were still noticed by thr hunters.

"Everyone!" Snapping out of her initial thoughts, the King Hunt shouted loudly to grab her fellow hunters attention. "Snap out of it and get those two!"

With that, continued back the chase.

As hunters began to restart their pursuit, Kazuma was still holding the pale YunYun and swinging from tree to tree. His mind clouded with thoughts about earlier.

"Did I... really do that?" He remembered very vividly on what he just did. The whole taking his sword out and cutting through rope thing. He remembered how powerful his body felt, how his instincts were on par like a roach or fly, able to detect foreign enemies from a distance and fly away quickly.

"Actually, that's not really a good comparison. I'm not a god damn roach!" Let's just say his instincts were so good that he could easily dodge attacks. How about that?

But one thing Kazuma was really hung about, was that it all felt natural. It felt so normal. Like it was a thing he always did since coming to this world.

He had never had that feeling of power. It was all a surprise to him. A surprise that came at the right moment to add. But still, it just felt like second nature.

Though, he did have his theories, and one theory that sticks out, was non other than the gift his previous teammate gave.

"Chris, you really should've told me more about your god damn dagger." Indeed, his thoughts were caught up with the dagger that was now sitting on his belt by his right side.

It was his best theory yet since, well, it glowed. To add, this little event had never happened before. For the last three months since Chris left him, the dagger she gave never went off or activated. And the final nail in the coffin, was what she said on the letter she left behind.

"It's a holy relic so it has powers in it. You'll learn how to use it later on."

"Chris, are you like, a psychic or something?" Kazuma thought. "So that was the power she meant. I basically did do what she did. Huh, I never thought she'd teach me her ways. Thanks Chris!"

"But still, how do I activate it?" To activate or not to activate, that is the question. Kazuma remembered that before Chris would go super speed and mow down those swordsmen, she'd put her dagger close to her face, more specifically, her mouth. He theorised that she must've whispered some incantation to the sword for it to have activate. The question however is... what did she say for it to trigger?

"Come on Chris, you really could've lend me some leeway at least." He was a bit frustrated at how his previous teammate left little to no clues at all on how to use her god damn weapon. Can't this world be more direct with things?! Why's everyone got to be so cryptic?

But no matter, at least now he had a taste on the relic's true power. If he could crack the code, maybe then could he finally achieve his ultimate goal soon enough.

"Ugh..." His thoughts were then cut off by a grumble from below. He looked down and saw YunYun looking a bit paler than usual.

"Oi, YunYun, you good?"

"I-I'm fine... Kazuma-san..." She said weakly, before placing her hand on her mouth. She looked like she was about to barf.

"Shit, sorry YunYun. I guess all that spinning finally got to you." He apologized, though, while he was sincear about it, it really didn't sound like it at all. He should fix that someday.

But, their little moment would not last any longer as the whizzing sounds of rope and grappling hooks were steadily vibrating behind them.

"Looks like they finally caught up."

"Tch, this fucking guy..." On the other side of things, the leader of the Hunts was slowly but surely getting more and more frustrated. As she shot another rope from her hand, swinging towards the tree she was hooked at, she thought back on how this little shit had escaped her grasp.

How? How the hell did this measly, pathetic guy, able to escape her most powerful skill so easily? It was her trump card, and yet, he just cut through it so fucking easily!

She shot a grappling hook to a tree so fast, it had shot through it and hooked on the other side.

"Grr." She shook her head. She needs to calm down, or else that fucker and his girlfriend will, for the first time, escape from the Hunts.

With more precision and calm, she shot another grapple. Following her were the hunters still behind her.

"Is it just me, or are they getting farther away." The leader thought. Indeed, Kazuma and YunYun were getting farther away from them. But how? Why to be more accurate.

"Tch, no matter. I'll just be more faster." With a heated breath, she sped up. Her grapple shots being more faster. Her reels became the same as well. She was all in all catching up to them. But, one caviate it did have was that it was taking a toll on her mana capacity.

No one had the special skill that Kazuma had, where he had basically infinite mana if done right, but with someone like King Hunt or the hunters, they would have to rely on their own mana pool. Which, was limited.

Thus, many of the hunters began to fall back. Too little mana to keep up, and too tired to even bother. They weren't blessed with such large mana like their leader did, so some had began to take breaks midway the chase. While others, had collapsed due to tiredness and desperation for any chance of capturing their target.

Though, while it was tiring, King Hunt still had the determination and mana to keep up and hopefully capture these scoundrels. Shot after shot, she was slowly getting closer and closer to them.

Back to Kazuma and his damsel in distress.

"Hey YunYun, are you good now?" Kazuma asked as he was passing through the trees of the forest, his speed never faltering.

"Y-yes, I'm fine Kazuma-san." With a small nod, she affirmed his worries.

"That's good to know." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry YunYun, were losing them, which means were almost at the village."

"We can get help from there."

With him stealing mana from the air, it was easy to lose the ever tiring hunters chasing behind them. He knew that, if he didn't have this skill thaught by the chivalrous thief Chris, he would be a dead man thr moment he encountered King Hunt. Or, any of the moments he faced after teaming up with Chris.

Though, while he was swinging away, he noticed that his enhanced instincts, strength and speed were gradually getting muted out and returning back to normal. He guessed that was just a caviate of the relic.

Phshooooosh*

His thoughts were the cut off by a stray rope and grapple flying past his head, the rope itself being stuck to a tree Infront of him.

He looked behind him and saw one lone girl, whose face was exposed, flying straight at him.

"Ah shit." It was non other than the King Hunt herself.

"Hold on YunYun." Kazuma turned his directions by going towards his left side. There, he glanced his eyes to his right and saw that many of the hunters had in fact fallen back. The remaining ones are the leader herself and some of her underlings.

"Hey YunYun."

"Y-yes Kazuma-san." Finally recovering from her motion sickness, she was back to normal now. "What is it?"

"Think you're mana is recovered now?"

"N-not really Kazuma. I don't think I'll be able to cast any advanced or intermediate spells at the moment. Sorry."

"Okay YunYun, here's the plan." wrapping a grapple around a tree, he swung around out it. "I'm going to give you some mana and you'll be on the ground helping me beat these fuckers. Got it?"

"B-but Kazuma-san, how are you able to do that?"

Suddenly, YunYun could feel body's mana fastly regenerating. "Huh?" She gasped out of surprise.

"There, that should do it." He said. "I used drain touch on you. Draining my mana to you so that means you should be all-" Barrel rolling downwards, he dodged multiple bind spells coming his way. "Charged up."

"I'll leave you with ground combat, while I focus from above, got it?" With a swift spin, he changed directions towards his left since his front and right were cut off by hunters.

"I- uh -um okay! I'll do it!" Thinking it through under pressure had jumbled her words, but she eventually decided to agree.

"Alright, good, get ready. I'm about to drop you..." Looking at his surroundings, he guessed which time was right to drop his subordinate down. "And..."

"Bind!" With a shout, the King Hunt was back to her same position as before, right Infront of them and a heavy duty rope flying straight at them.

"Now!"

Dropping YunYun to the ground, Kazuma pulled out his golden short sword and cut through the bind spell with ease. This time, without his advanced instincts and strength. King Hunt herself could only click her tongue in frustration at this. "Grr..."

"Wah!" YunYun yelled as she landed on her feet, her body nearly falling but she was able to correct herself. "Phew."

"YunYun watch out!"

"Huh?"

Looking behind, she saw multiple hunters were coming their way towards her. With her quick reaction, she pointed her hand towards them. "Fireball!"

"Shit!"

"Watch out!"

"Holy fuck!"

Many of the hunters yelled in surprise and fear as they hastily dodge the fireball. Some were thankfully uninjured, while there were a few unlucky ones mixed in who had succumbed to the fire.

"Alright, time to knock these fuckers down." Kazuma saw how YunYun had easily handled the threat, now, it was time for payback.

Swinging around a tree, he went to intersect any incoming hunters still pursuing them. He saw Infront of him the hunters who were burnt by YunYun's spell, and a few more to the sides. With King Hunt nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, I'll just have to focus on these guys for now." With that out of the way, Kazuma sprung into action.

"Create wind! Snipe." Producing a wind blade, Kazuma shot it towards a lone rope which was held by a stray hunter. The rope snapped into two as the wind cut it, making the hunter fall towards the ground by the unexpected action.

"That's one." Moving on towards the others, Kazuma swung from tree to tree, finding the remaining hunters.

"Dustcloud!" YunYun meanwhile, was stationed at the ground, not moving. Some hunters were coming her way, and she retaliated by hitting them with a cloud full of sand and dust. With no time to react, their eyes burned as the dust hit their eyes, blocking their visions and making their bodies frantic. Unable to do anything about it, the fell and hit the ground hard.

"Hunters, get her!" Three hunters had caught up and saw the lone girl standing in the middle of the forest. Seeing their target so easily in sight, they went straight at her.

Sensing danger being imminent, she produced another dustcloud and ran away.

The hunters dodged it easily by going around it. The spell itself wasn't that strong and was only used in close range combat, making it fade out the moment it touched the hunters cloak.

"Bi-"

But before they could initiate the spell however, they were met with a kick in the face, all three of them actually.

"Hagh!" Kazuma grunted as he felt the impact of his leg mowing through three bodies, knocking them out of their path and pummeling down to the ground. As their bodies fell, Kazuma's was swinging upwards.

"You're welcome!" Kazuma thanked aggressively as he swung around a tree, disappearing into the trees. YunYun breathed a sigh of relief.

After swinging around a tree, he swung upwards and perched up on a branch.

"Okay, it looks like YunYun is able to handle them now." Down below, he saw her engaging spell after spell, distracting and disabling any hunters that came at her.

He noticed now that while yes hunters are still coming in, they are far smaller than before. Before, it felt like a swarm of bees were chasing after them, but now, they could handle a small number of them.

Just then, he heard a noise coming from behind.

"Haggh!"

He looked at his behind and saw a devil in disguise. It was the King Hunt, and her eyes were now full of fury. And currently, she was coming straight at him in blinding speeds.

"Shit!"

Clang!*

Quickly taking his chunchumaru out, he blocked the incoming attack by just a hair. Sparks were produced as their weapons clashed with one another. Their eyes being a direct contrast with each other. King's eyes were tainted with malice and vengeance, while Kazuma's looked at her with fear.

"I'm going to kill you!" She screamed as she pushed her dagger off his sword, essentially pushing him off balance. The result - Kazuma fell from his spot.

Seeing him fall, she too fell as well.

With her dagger pointing straight at his abdomen, she said no words, but her face told many.

"Create fire!" With quick thinking, Kazuma launched a large fire spell towards her, and then, pulling himself away with hooking towards a tree above his head.

With alarm and surprise, King was able to escape by hastily launching a grapple towards the ground below and reeled herself in. Though, some parts of her body did catch the hair of flames from the fireball, like her cloak and her pants. But all in all, she was fine.

She landed on the ground, and rolled over. Standing up straight, she saw Kazuma flying away and swinging around a tree.

"..." With a stern look, she swung around the opposite of his to try and intercept him.

As Kazuma swung by, so did his thoughts. "Man, that was close. Too close. I need to be more careful next time."

But, he underestimated how close that 'next time' was, since he was met with a kick to the face.

Smack!*

A dirty boot had implemented itself onto Kazuma's face, and his body was then knocked off course and went backwards. Since he was still holding his rope, it had stop at a length where it was too short for him to fall to the ground, which meant that, when his body was flung backwards, it stopped and made him swing towards a tree, smacking his body against it's trunk.

"Oof!" He geunted. His face was experiencing a lot of pain, so too did his body, but, more pain was soon coming.

Behind him, King Hunt had also swung downwards, her leg promt up to kick him again. This time, much stronger than before.

He tried to escape, but somehow, when he tumbled towards the tree, his right hand, which held his rope, and tangled his hand, making him unable to ungrasp his hand to escape. It probably occured when she kicked him earlier. He did roll over a few times.

But, before she could even impact his body...

"Cursed Lightning!"

A large yellow lightning bolt descended from above and struck the King Hunt, knocking her out of her course and felt her body experiencing never before waves of pain. She fell shortly after.

Seeing the leader fall, and the fact that there are no hunters left, YunYun rushed in to check on Kazuma's well being, who was currently hanging down a tree.

Hearing footsteps and some bushes rustling, Kazuma looked tto his side and finally saw salvation. "YunYun."

His voice was coarse, still dealing with the pain of his face getting kicked and his body slamming against a tree. But, it seems his vocal chords are still fine so that meant he could speak, albeit, a bit straining.

"Kazuma-san! Are you alright?"She caught up to him, and shouted.

Seeing him still hanging from the tree, she lifted her hand out and chanted, "Windblade." A small scale blade made of wind was shot out of her hand and cut the rope restraining him, he fell shortly after.

Seeing him fall, she quickly rushed in and caught him in her arms.

Thump*

As a side note, while she may be a 15 year old girl whose class is an arch mage, she is quite capable in the strength department. Due to her adventure level, her strength grew over time, and could easily carry some heavy load, and in this case, the heavy load was Kazuma.

"Woah." Still processing in his head, Kazuma realized where his body had ended up. He felt two hands. One on his back, and the other underneath his ankles. This meant that he was currently getting bridal carried. And by whom he thought? He looked up, and saw his savior.

"Kazuma-san..." Her eyes glimmered crimson. She looked worried. Maybe because he was currently experiencing pain in two different places. But why? He thought.

"YunYun..." Kazuma could only say one word right now, and that was her name.

The way he said it, both in pain and relief, gave YunYun such a dopamine rush and lovestruck. She could feel her heart about to burst from out of her chest, her stomach having the feel of butterflies flying in them.

She shook her head. No, this isn't the time to admire the man you love currently in distress, laying on your arms. She needed to tend to him, and fast.

"Don't worry Kazuma, I'll get you back to the village and get you all healed up." She said to him, her red eyes now turned to fiery determination.

She clutch his body close to her, and jogged towards the village.

Though, just behind her, with undying and unbridled hate, a lone girl with golden blonde hair, slowly lifted her head up, and saw the pair disappearing in the distance.

She slowly got up, her body still ached from the electrifying feeling of getting struck by lightning, but, she fought on. She fought through the pain and stood tall. Her back slightly leaning forward.

"..." She gritted her teeth as soon as she sees duo in the distance. Her attire had now look disheveled. Her once groomed hair had now fizzled and twisted in odd directions. She had essentially been humiliated. And that feeling will never leave her for the rest of her life.

Unless...

She took a step forward, then another, then once more. In a span of seconds, she ran towards the pair, her hand now lifted upwards, and aimed towards the tree ufront. She grappled on to it and flew once again.

While injured, severally, her intense hate for Kazuma was the only thing fueling her till the end. No matter how little energy she had, no matter how much she was battered from all sides, she will still presist, still fight, for the sweet-sweet feeling of vengeance. And the thought and capability of killing him will fulfill that undying lust for revenge.

Now pumped full of adrenaline, she flew upwards, higher than the trees, and dived down into the forest, her eyes now locked onto YunYun and her prince in distress. It was only her and them. No more hunters were at the vicinity, so that meant only she could get the kill, which further fueled her determination to kill him all by her hands.

Getting closer and closer, she took her dagger out, and aimed towards the oblivious victims.

In the outskirts of the forest, a large wave of holy energy spread throughout it, blessing the inhabitants and life living in it. Such holiness was hard to come by, which made this blessing from the gods much more valuable.

Though, it spread much more than in the forest, it had some what reached to the village as well, and also pass that as well.It wasn't an obvious feeling. People didn't just suddenly feel something pass through them, but they did get the feeling of calm and ease when it did.

But, one object, one creature, had felt the blessing of holy, and felt not at ease, but at disgust. It made it's stomach want to puke, a pumping headache spread throughout it's head, and most importantly, fueled it's fire that burns it's emotions.

Anger, anger towards the gods above, it would be describe as the polar opposite of holy; Unsanctified, impure, cursed. These are all the traits that a demon would posses.

Indeed, this creature was in fact a demon. His body was large in mass, muscle and veins popping out. His skin had fur that was black, one horn that sprouted out from his head. He had large wings that extended as far as it's body length, hands that housed huge claws that were as sharp as a sword. He had bright yellow eyes, and a jaw that could swallow humans whole.

He was the very definition of demon. What type of demon he was is unsure, but a demon nonetheless. He let out a huge roar that spread throughout the vicinity. The pumping headache grew more painful. He wanted it to stop. No, he wanted to kill who caused it.

Sniffing the air, and recoiling in disgust, he now knew the very source of where the holy energy came from. With this goal now set, he got on all fours, and ran. His arms and legs making the ground rumble as he ran towards the source. His eyes looked bloodlust. For sure, when he gets to the source, he's going to wreak havoc and destruction.

Kazuma was resting closely towards YunYun's yunyun, such heaven he was in. Though, while tired, he kept his eyes open. Just in case if there was anyone behind them.

And as it turns out, his caution had saved them, because up above, he saw the King Hunt raining down upon them with a look of the devil.

With instinct, he quickly pointed his left hand upwards and shouted, "Create Water!"

A large body of water excelled towards her at fast speeds. With no time to react, the water splashed right against her face and knocked her out of momentum.

Seeing Kazuma produce the spell, she halted and asked him with alarm. "Kazuma-san what's wrong?"

"Looks like that bitch of a leader came back from the dead." He said. "Put me down YunYun."

Abiding his order, she settled him down and he stood up, albeit, his legs a bit wobbly.

"Be careful YunYun. She might just come out at any moment." He cautioned her. With how persistent the leader of the Hunts was, it didn't hurt to be safe than sorry.

They looked Infront of them, steadily surveying their surroundings. And then...

"HAA!" Out from the bushes, came the feral King Hunt. She lunged straight towards Kazuma, her dagger being held by both her hands.

Kazuma quickly took out Chris's short sword to block the incoming attack.

Clank!*

Like before, sparks flew as their blades clashed with one another. Kazuma being more prepared this time, held out and tried to kick her with his leg.

But, being more faster than him, she jumped away from the kick. Landing a few feet behind, she lifted her left arm and pointed a fist towards them, her right arm, which held her dagger, rested atop her left forearm.

"Finally, it's just you, and me." She spoke with venom, finally uttering something after having her ass handed to her.

"Jesus Christ! Why the hell are you so persistent?!" Frustrated by the recent events, Kazuma expressed his emotions towards her. The latter getting confused, but her anger not fading away in the slightest.

Actually, that just made her even more mad. Does this guy really think that all this time, she was just an annoyance to him? Not even a threat? That all of this was just a game?

"..." She said no words. Usually, she would speak a quip or two towards her enemies, before binding them for questioning. But this time, she was silent. She had no time for quips or little jokes right now. Infront of her wasn't a victim or her prey, he was now her enemy.

"Jeez, you gonna stay silent or what?" Honestly getting tired from the silent response, Kazuma tried to edge on her. Egg her on to at least do something.

And it seemed to do the trick.

"BIND!" With such anger in her voice, she shouted her spell, and immediately ran in.

Clenching his teeth, Kazuma initiated his own trump card.

With the rope and leader getting closer and closer to them, he lifted his hand up. And then...

"Create fire!"

With King Hunt's bind spell just inches away from his hand, a large mass of fire erupted from his palm, and engulfed the rope. Burning it into ashes.

King Hunt stopped just in time. If she had ran a few seconds more, she too would have the same fate as that rope Infront of her seconds ago.

"Grapple!" In a flash, she grappled upwards and reeled herself in, dodging the firebal which Kazuma had released.

Seeing the leader of the Hunts asecnd above him, he shouted, "Stop being a bitch and fight me already!"

"Tch." She clicked her tongue as she perched on a branch. "For the first time, I've met my equal. I don't think I could defeat you, nor could you defeat me."

"..."

"For now, let's call it-"

"RROOOAAARRR!!!"

Though, before she could utter another word, a huge roar had cut her off, startling the three people.

"What the hell was that?!" "Huh?" "AAAH!"

All three of them, shouted different things in response. But all of them had the same feelings: fear and surprise.

Just what was that? Kazuma had met and fought a lot of monsters before. Heck, he even fought a god damn necromancer at one point. But this, it was on par with that Hostis. He didn't think he remembered fighting a monster with a huge and scary roar like that before.

Underneath their feet, was silent rumbling. It wasn't too obvious, but if you focused just enough, you could feel it. King obviously didn't feel it, but the vibrations were felt in her hand as the rumbling from thee ground travelled through the tree and onto the rope she held.

And one things for sure, the rumbling was getting bigger.

and soon enough...

"HOLY SHIT!!!"

Trees were sent flying in the air as Kazuma grabbed YunYun and grappled out of the way. Rocks and debris flew past the spot they were standing on as the three now saw what had caused all that commotion.

It was in fact a demon larger than any of them, heck, the largest demon they had ever seen, wrecking havoc and catastrophy in the area. All three adventurers opened their mouths in awe at the spectacle that is the mass of this monster. But their wonders were cut short as they remembered what just happened literal seconds ago, and went into action.

The demon roared as it grabbed a huge chunk from the ground and threw debris towards Kazuma and YunYun, the latter in return dodged hastily to the left.

"Shit what the hell is that thing? And why is it so pissed?!" Kazuma asked frantically to particularly no one as they dodged even more rocks and debris from the demon below.

"I-I don't know Kazuma! But let's try and escape it!"

Just then, a massive tree was flung infront of them. Kazuma had no time to react so the two slammed their bodies into the tree, knockout them down to the ground.

"Gagh!" "Agh!" The two yelped in pain as their bodies hit the floor hard.

"ROOOOAAAR!!!"

"Could... that motherfucker get any quieter?" Kazuma struggled as he tried to get up. It's no surprise he's dealing with so much pain as his body got hit twice in a row. But he presisted, and soon got on top his two legs and saw the commotion.

"Huh?" mumbling out in confusion, he saw Infront of him the demon from before not aggravated by them anymore, but rather on the King Hunt herself.

"Hagh! Yagh!" In the distance, he could hear battle cries from her as she combat the rampaging demon.

"oooh... Kazuma...san..."

"YunYun!" Hearing her faint words, Kazuma immediately directed his gaze onto the wizard currently on the ground in pain. "YunYun are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Kazuma-san." Obviously, she was not okay.

"Don't lie to me YunYun. We'll get you healed up. I'll find a way." Kazuma showed geniune concern to his friend in distress, something YunYun barely saw. But whenever she did see it, it just warmed her heart ever more. "No YunYun! This isn't the time to admire him!"

"Let's get out of here while that thing is distracted." Kazuma tries to pick up YunYun, but he struggled since his body is so badly hirt and weak from the previous fights, he wasn't able to do it. "Come on Kazuma, you can, do it!" He said to himself.

"Argh!" Suddenly, he yelped in pain as his back arched forward due to his arms being to weak to lift her body.

"Kazuma-san!" With how sudden it was, YunYun yelped in concern. "Kazuma-san don't push yourself. I could heal myself." She said to him as Kazuma looks at her in awe yet disappointment, to himself.

"Kazuma-san? What's wrong?" She saw his disappointed face and asked about it.

"O-oh it's nothing really! Phew, good thing you know healing magic huh?"

YunYun just looks at him in confusion, before responding with, "Right, I can heal you and myself." She then started healing him through his arm.

"You, really should be healing yourself first y'know?" He smiles nervously as he felt his body feeling much better than before.

"I know. But you take priorities first... Wait-"

"Hmm?"

"I-I mean, you take priorities first because you're so injured and I took pity on you so that's why uh..." With her cheeks matching the colour of her iris, she stammerd out after realizing what she had just said earlier. Hoping there was no misunderstanding with the boy infront of her.

In an ironic way, Kazuma had always seen himself as the guy who is above the rest of the classic isekai protagonist he read back when he was on earth. He always scoffs at how ridiculously dumb and dense the protags were when they missed romantic cues or little hints their harem makes. But now, without realizing it, he himself was that guy.

But anyway...

As YunYun stammerd on and Kazuma looking pretty weirdly at her, a rumble and a roar was the one to break their little moment.

Right, he had forgotten. There was a literal demon the size of a building throwing a temper tantrum nearby. Now, they could just leave right now since it was preoccupation with the leader of the Hunts, or if he was crazy, he could help her in fighting it.

Obviously, he chose the former.

"YunYun, let's get out of here." It's not surprising, really.

"But Kazuma-san, won't that demon chase us?"

"It won't since that bitch over there is keeping the demon busy. I'm taking this chance as a way to escape. Now come on." Kazuma got up and tugged on her arm, but was tugged away. He looks behind him in confusion. "What's wrong? You want to die here or something?"

"Kazuma-san, you can't possibly suggest on leaving her right? That demon looks really strong, and she's all alone. It's not impossible that she would die from it." He could not possibly fathom on what this woman was saying right Infront of him.

"YunYun, are, you, INSANE?!"

"Wah!" She jumped in surpise.

"That bitch literally tried to kill us! She tried to kill me! Are you really suggesting that we help her?!"

"... yes."

"AAAGGGHHH!!! Why the hell is this happening to me?" Kazuma crouched to the ground as he yelled in pure agony. Figuratively speaking.

"Kazuma-san please get yourself together! We have to take action now!" YunYun yelled as the beast beside them was thrashing around rock and debris everywhere. If they don't move now, one or two of them would be hit.

"But YunYun, she was dead set on taking my head!"

"But we also can't leave her. It's the right thing to do. Also, after that demon is done with her, it will probably chase after us. It's better to deal with it now than later."

"Grr..." Kazuma looks to his side and saw how the commotion was steadily getting closer to them. "... Fine." He huffed, finally agreeing to help.

"But I'm only doing this so that thing doesn't chase after us got it?"

"Yes, I do." YunYun said.

Kazuma slowly got up, his back aching and just being really tired. He sighed and took his dagger out. "Alright, let's do this. One more fucking time."

"ROOOAAARRR!!!"

"Tch, could this thing shut up for one second." Kazuma commented, before running head first into battle, with YunYun following suite.

Kazuma shot a grapple towards the trees above, and sored through the air, while YunYun took the grounds and ran below him. While King was still focused on the demon rampaging, the trio will try and defeat this monster, even if they didn't ask for it.

To Be Continued...

Author's note:

Well, that took forever to write.

I really hope this fight was well written and you could imagine what had actually gone on. With how inexperienced I am with writing fight scenes, my fear is that you readers would get confused or even skip some of the dialogue and summaries. But hey, it is a learning experience after all, so hopefully in the future, my writing would have improved by then.

So hey, what did you all think? What would happen next? Now, Kazuma has tto deal with two threats now. Don't think that demon I threw in was just a random side plot, it's very, very crucial for the next few chapters. Which I hope I get done by the end of the year.

My plan is for the arc to at least end by January, or even February. Then after that, starts the third arc.

Anyways, that's all from me. If you have anything to comment on, please do. It is highly appreciated.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!

September 24: HOLY SHIT I'M SO LAZY