Arc 2 - Chapter 14: Demonic Encounters
"How the hell did it get to this?"
"Heagh!" King Hunt grunted as she slashed her dagger across the demon's body, the demon in return, let out a cry. She then swung around it and went to hang on a tree branch.
"First, I was dealing with two idiots who waltzed right into our camp, and now I'm fighting a giant ass demon. Great,"
"Just great." She dodged an incoming slash from the demon below, her grapple launching into another tree. She reeled herself in, while the demon chased after her.
"ROOAARR!!!"
"Tch." She could only respond with clicking her tounge. She couldn't care less about this thing. Her entire body was battered out. All she cares about is that fucking green hooded fucker named Kazuma.
"Grr. Just thinking about him makes me- Oh shit!"
"Gagh!" Too busy dealing with her emotions, she was suddenly hit on her side by a huge hand. Even though this thing was large, it was surprisingly quick and agile.
King Hunt quickly fell to the ground. Her body tossing around on the dirt from the momentum of the slap. She soon stopped her rolling.
"Tsk, haaah..." She hissed in pain.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!" The ground could be felt shaking. King Hunt knew the reason why. She rolled her body to the side and looked at her incoming doom.
"Grr..." She got up, a shot of pain went throughout her body. "Ow. Man, Veil better be there to patch me up."
With a shine, King's grapple shot into the air and onto a tree, reeling herself up before the demon stomped and slashed at the ground she was standing on.
A thing that she noticed though, was that when she reeled herself in, it was significantly slower than what she had done before. Meaning that her mana pool was low.
"Hmm, I'm really fucked now. I've never once in my lifetime had low mana. How the hell did I fuck this much?" But the more she thought about it, the more fingers were pointed at that one guy. We all know what she's accusing at.
She gripped her hand in anger while gnoring the pain she felt of her bruised hand.
She saw the demon below her now looking straight at her, before it jumped high in the air with its jaw wide open. Showing off it's razor sharp teeth.
She quickly grappled away. If she stayed where she was just a second later, she would've been demon food by now.
"I need to get away from this thing now. If I fight any longer, I don't think I'll last." She said to herself as she looked behind her. She saw the demon now chasing after her.
Hook after hook, she was steadily getting slower from her exhaustion. While the beast behind her, was getting faster and faster. She didn't show it, but inside, she was panicking hard.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"
Behind her back, the demon opened its mouth. From the side of her iris, she could see an orange hue starting to form from behind her. And with this, she could feel heat as well swelling on her back.
She connected the dots together, and came to one conclusion. A fireball was about to form.
Her eyes grew wide as the heat on her back was getting higher and higher.
Looking behind her, she saw the beast's mouth and jaw wide opened. A glowing red and orange light was emitting from it's throat and onto her. Her face grew in terror as the sparks and flames were starting to be produced from it's mouth.
"... There's nothing I could do."
Indeed, she was right. There is truly nothing she could nor can do. She couldn't go to the sides and dodge since her stamina and mana had greatly depleted, to the point that if she did what she always do, she wouldn't be fast enough to dodge.
Facing it head on would also be a huge mistake. She'll be burnt to a crisp the moment she switches directions and launch at it head on. Escaping won't do either. Her fate would be the same as well.
"Tch, guess this is it then. I'm done for." King Hunt saw her imminent doom approaching, as the fire inside the beast began to form.
She braced for impact. After many long years of heisting and breaking in the most secured safes in the kingdom, stealing countless valuable items from kings and nobles, this is where her journey ends. Not in the way she wanted to nor liked. Humiliated by a nobody, and eaten from the flames of a demon.
She wished she could've gone out with her gang. Maybe they were in their last heist, many of her comrades have successfully escaped, while her and her team had been captured. She wanted to be the one that saves her friends from their ultimate fate, her being a sacrifice to achieve that. But this?
This isn't what she wanted.
"I hate my life."
Suddenly...
"CREATE WATER!"
A giant ball of water was sent flying from the sides and hit the demon's jaw. In turn, it knocked it's head to the side and the fire was then shot out besides the King Hunt.
"HAAAGGGHHH!!!" Letting out a battle cry, Kazuma flew at speeds much faster than he has done before and went straight for the demon's head. Pulling his dagger out, he spun in the air while his dagger was pointed outwards.
He flew past the jaws of the beast. When he did, the blade of his dagger had cut the muscles that connect the demon's mouth to it's jaw. Thus, making it immovable and dropping down.
Psh*
Grappling towards a tree, Kazuma reeled in and rested on its side, trying to assses the situation and plan for his next attack.
"... what?"
While all of that was happening, King Hunt could only utter one word.
What the hell was that? What the heck just happened? She thought as she fell to ground, but grappled upwards and reeled into a tree. Passing the demon as she did.
"What the hell was that? Who saved me?" She began to think as she swayed to the side of the tree, observing the demon below her having a rampage. It's jaw was swaying side to side as it did.
She turned her head to the side to see where her supposed saviour would be. They came around from the left, and continued passing by to the right. Her eyes dotted around from tree to tree, until she finally saw her answer.
And her face went from shock, to absolute horror. Much more than when she almost met her fate.
"No way. No fucking way. HE SAVED ME?!?!"
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT I'VE GONE INSANE!"
Kazuma was internally screaming at himself after what he just did. He had essentially nearly sacrificed his own life for a bitch of a woman who tried to kill him earlier.
"Yunyun you better repay me with fondling those mountain of yours since I'm never doing that shit again!!"
Though, while what he did was something he would never do again, he was kinda impressed with himself that he could do a trick like that. I mean, it wasn't easy cutting the muscles of a jaw while spinning past it's sharp ass teeth.
Anyways, Kazuma saw the situation unfold below him. The demon, struggling to operate it's mouth, thrashed around the ground like a kid on a temper tantrum. Rock and dirt flying absolutely everywhere.
Gripping his dagger, he was ready to go head on with the demon again. And so, he leaped forward. His head facing down while his legs were close together. The hood of his cloak had fallen back due to the air passing through his hair.
Pssh*
Grappling towards a tree behind the demon, he went and reeled in fast, his dagger at the ready to slash the back of the beast.
Slash!*
The edge of his blade scraped the nape of the demon, startling it and making it more alert than ever. It turned it's head around fast and saw Kazuma flying towards a tree. The person himself looking back at it's eyes.
"Grrr ROOOAAARRR!!!" Roaring in anger, it ran on fours towards him, now occupied with the panty thief rather than the King of the Hunts.
The ground rumbled as the demon rushed towards him, Kazuma's face growing more and more with regret.
"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have gotten it's attention." Kazuma muttered before launching another grapple towards the top of the trees.
Looking behind him, he saw the demom fastly approaching him, it's jaw swinging from side to side. Now fully knowing it's agroad on him, he grapples upwards into the branches of the tree, his front facing towards the demon below.
"Hmph. Create Water!"
Holding his hand out and taking the mana from the air, water began to form from his palm till it reached a size much bigger than him, before launching it down towards the demon.
On impact, it had bruised it's forehead, and covered it's entire body with water. Seeing this, Kazuma continued his ascent, before muttering,
"It's now or never, YunYun."
.
.
.
.
.
"CURSED LIGHTNING!"
Waiting for the right time, she had finally unleashed her most powerful attack. Putting all her mana in, she had created her largest lightning bolt yet, and it was more powerful than ever before.
Large yellow lightning came from the heavens, shining it's arrays throughout the entire forest, and struck the beast in red. Billions upon billions of volts travelled through the body of the demon, frying it's central nerve system in the process. The lightning show lasted for an astounding few seconds, whereas a normal cursed lightning would only last for a mere 1 second.
Kazuma, YunYun and even the King Hunt, all stared in awe at the powerful attack.
Once it was over, the demon, fried from getting struck, collapsed to the ground.
"Holy shit..." Kazuma could only mutter a few words after witnessing such an event. He had settled beside a tree. His grapple hooked to a branch while his legs touched the sides of the tree.
It was definitely effective. Due to the fact that Kazuma had intentionally hit it with a water spell earlier, making the water pour down it's body and covering it with liquid. And with the amped up lightning spell YunYun did just seconds ago, it was safe to say that this thing was fried and defeated.
King hunt looked on with shock in her eyes. After seeing that electrifying event, she was silent. You're telling me that she could've been struck by that moments ago?! She was literally fighting against a sorcerer! She was beyond disbelief that she was fighting and trying to capture a girl who had that much magic prowess.
But another thing popped up on her mind, why? Why would these two, who she tried to kill, help her? She remembered vividly that she was about to meet her fate. Her entire body charred like charcoal, and yet, Kazuma came to save her. And then, this girl went and whooped this sorry demon's ass. She grew confused, and couldn't come up with any sort of answer.
Finally, YunYun saw the damage she had done. What she did was by far the most powerful spell she had executed. And it was
exciting!
From when she was little, she had always dreamt that one day, she would become a powerful mage. Sorcerer even. And maybe, with this one powerful spell, could be the stepping stone to that long journey. She, for the first time, had felt proud of herself.
All three adventures saw the creature still laying down, drew a sigh of relief.
But then...
King Hunt, with her keen and sharp eyes, saw the body of the beast twitch ever so slightly. Her whole body grew cautious, and her sharp eyes earlier widened like plates.
"!"
Psh*
She leaped forward, grappling and reeling in at soeeds unimaginable to anyone. Speed so fast, it was foreign to even the King herself.
"KAZUMA WATCH OUT!"
"Hu-?"
The beast, the demon, laying still on the ground, suddenly lifted its head up fast and breathed fire towards the tree Kazuma was hanging on. Luckily though, he was brought out of harms way just seconds before he was burnt to a crisp. And he was saved by a person he really hadn't expected.
"WHAT THE?!" He asked in exasperation. Seeing the person carrying him was none other than King Hunt herself. She held his body tight against hers. One hand solo carrying him while her other one grappled to a tree.
"Don't you dare ask why! I'm only doing this to return the favor, alright?" She barked when she heard him say those words. Obviously flustered at the fact that they were sworn enemies, one of them trying to kill the other. And knowing the fact that they both saved each other on different occasions, made it quite awkward. None of them were willing to take it.
So now, they were both facing the opposite directions. King Hunt stayed focused on the tree she was reeling on, and eventually made to it. Swinging at its side, and being nearby a branch, she plopped him down on it.
"Tch, thank you." With his sharp tongue, he gave his thanks.
"I don't need your gratitude." She bitterly replied.
Knowing that being petty won't amount to anything, Kazuma moved on from his earlier interaction just now and focused more towards the now energetic rampaging demon.
"I thought for sure that thing was dead. Turns out, it was just finding the right time." Kazuma got up and stood on the branch while facing it, talking to the King who also faced the demon as well. "Cheeky fucker."
"Yeah, I thought so as well. But then I saw that thing's head twitch, and got cautious." She replied.
"You got sharp eyes." Kazuma commented, rather impressed.
"Yeah well, you'll need it if you want to become an excellent thief." She said, as if she's flexing her skill of stealing stuff.
Kazuma just shook his head. But when he did, something just crossed his mind. Something rather important...
"Wait, where's YunYun?"
"Right, I forgot about the girl that was with him. Where could she be though? Last I saw her was on the the ground launching that huge lightning bolt." The king of the Hunts thought after what Kazuma had asked. "If so, then it means she's panicking and running around at this very moment."
She looked to het side, and saw that Kazuma was already long gone. Definitely because of his friend.
"Well, better go help him." She extended her hand out, and was ready to jump down. But, she stopped just before she could do it. A realization popped up in her head.
"Wait a minute. Why am I helping him?"
She took a step backwards. Her body stopping any movement.
"Just now, I had the feeling of helping him find his friend. But I don't know why. I wanted to kill him. I wanted his head as a trophy moments ago, yet, here I am, having the empathy to help."
The King bit her tongue. What should she do? Should she go and help them? Her body was hesitating her very commands, her mind having an inner conflict with one another.
She was so dead set on killing him, on ending his life. He has made her go to the very edge of her mentality, to the point where she has never been before. Kazuma was the sole reason why she was even in this mess. Yet just now, he still helped her. He was the one who saved her from her impending doom. He was the one who risked his very life, passing the jaws of the demon, and saved her.
And just now, she did it as well.
This dilemma was so confusing to her, she actually had the urge to chuckle. How funny this world is.
"Is this really the decision I'm making? The path that I'm choosing? Man, if my crew saw this, they would think I've gone insane. Heh."
With one final smirk, she finally made her decision.
"YUNYUN? YUNYUN WHERE ARE YOU?"With panic in his voice, Kazuma yelled out for his comrade's name.
"ROOAARRGGHH!!" The demon, hearing Kazuma's call, roared and turned to face him.
"Tch." Seeing this, Kazuma pulled his dagger out. His body heading towards the demon at fast speeds.
Huffing and puffing, the demon drew it's breath in, and swelled up its chest. Due to it's jaw not operating as usual, it hung low and he saw what was actually going on. It was about to launch fire.
Alarmed and panicked, Kazuma quickly changed directions so as to not be burned to a crisp.
And so, the demon fired its flame and fury out, covering the trees in a burning fire. And as it did, it also swayed its head from side to side, covering the trees beside it in fire as well. Like a flamethrower, it had destroyed the surrounding trees ablaze.
Kazuma was luckily out of of the fire zone, but, seeing these trees on fire had put another worry on the list. If they don't control it or put it out quickly, it would spread throughout the other trees in just a few minutes, causing a huge forest fire.
And remembering the fact that the crimson demon village were mostly made out of wood, gave a terrifying scenerio in his head.
"Shit!" That was all Kazuma could think at that moment.
Juggling two problems at once, he needed to choose one problem to solve before the other, because he simply can't handle two of them at once. So, he decided to choose.
"I need to find YunYun." That's right, what was more important to him was the mage girl that is also his comrade.
He knew that he alone couldn't handle the forest fire by himself. If he were to, he wouldn't have enough man power to extinguish the fires, and also the fact that YunYun would be in great danger. He just couldn't risk it.
So now, with his dagger out, he launched a grapple towards a tree, and soared through the air. Keeping an eye out for the crimson demon.
"YunYun! Where the hell are you?" Calling out her name wasn't viable since it can attract the demon's gaze, but it would be much better than staying silent. Since she would be alerted by his call, and raising the chances of finding her.
"Kazuma-san!"
"Hmm!" Snapping his head to his right, he saw salvation. The damsel in distress, YunYun.
Unhooking the hook he grappled before, he quickly changed direction and went straight at her.
"RROOOAAARRR!!"
But in turn, another demon was alerted as well. Hearing their call, it quickly ran on all fours. Shacking the ground as its big footsteps and arms contacted the ground below. Crackling of the ground being just as loud.
"Oh for fucks sake!" Seeing the demon now rushing at them, he had two choices again. Either he swoops in to save YunYun, or battle the demon head on.
If he chooses to save her, he would risk getting the two of them smashed into bits since he wasn't fast enough. And the other one he would only be risking his life. So weighing the odds, he chose the latter.
"I'm sorry YunYun!" Changing directions once again, he went to face the demon head on. His heart beating a million beats per second due to fear.
What? You think he was fearless or something?
"Kazuma-san!" Seeing him swing towards the demon grew absolute horror towards the girl. If he wasn't careful, he could end up hurt. Or worse, dying right then and there.
Winding back time a bit, when the demon was about to launch its flames towards Kazuma, YunYun was still hiding in the bushes. When it got up and threw a fit, she ran towards the opposite direction for obvious reasons. Luckily though, she wasn't hit by any debris or its claws.
After that, she hid in the bushes so as to not be known by the beast and get clawed at. That is until she heard her name being called. Seeing Kazuma so desperately search for her, it made her heart flutter, but now wasn't the time for that. So she got out of her hiding spot and answered his calls.
Seeing him snap his head towards her and already grappling at her direction, felt like prince charming coming in to save the damsel in distress. But seeing that demon also running at her changed her views.
She wanted to engage in battle. She wanted to blast that thing into bits for ruining the moment. But she knew she wasn't able to, due to her mana being sapped away from the lightning spell earlier. So now, she was as useless as a sitting duck, unable to do anything other than low tier spells.
It was painful. Seeing Kazuma having no choice but to battle head on with the demon, and knowing the fact that she could've helped, yet not, gave an unprecedented feeling of uselessness in her.
Only one thought came into her mind at that moment.
"I'm sorry, Kazuma-san."
"Heagh!"
psh!*
"Huh?"
Out of nowhere, she heard a grunt coming from her side, and before she knew it, she was swooped in from the ground and into the air. Obviously confused by the moment, she went to see who had saved her, and the answer (once again) shocked her.
"K-K-King Hunt?!" Stammering her words, her savior was non other than the King of the Hunts herself. Her face looked bruised up as hell and her hair was all over the place. Safe to say that she had seen better days.
"Shut your mouth and don't question it!" With authority in her voice, she had quickly put the crimson demon in silence. "I can't believe I'm saving you and that other shithead..." She muttered under her breath, but it was loud enough for YunYun to hear.
Cowering in fear, YunYun wrapped her arms around herself as the King Hunt soared through the air.
Eventually, they both rest at a tree, plopping YunYun down at its branch.
"There. Stay here and don't move." The leader of the Hunts said before turning her back on her and ready to move out.
"Wait hold on!" But, she was stopped at the last moment. The King turned around to look at her, her face letting her know that she should speak whatever she was about to say.
"W-Why? Why did you save me?"
"I thought I told you not to ask?" Her voice sounded condescending, making YunYun cower in fear again. "Listen, I don't know. I just went on instinct. And I guess this too is instinct as well." She sighs while rubbing her head, before jumping down and grappling towards the demon below. Leaving the crimson demon girl confused and all alone, contemplating on what she should do next.
"What the hell am I doing?"
The king ask herself. She soared through and swung from tree to tree, never missing a hook on every shot she took. She reeled in while still asking herself the same question. Her direction was heading towards the place where Kazuma and the demon were fighting at.
"I can just escape right now and leave them be, and yet..."
Psh!*
"I'm helping them."
She swing down low, before reeling in upwards to gain some air, befire dropping down again and grappling towards another tree. Repeating the process over and over again.
"Fuck. What has gotten into me..."
"Damn it!"
"Roooaaarrrggghhh!!"
Dodging narrowly from its claws, Kazuma was struggling to fight this thing. The demon was angrier and more stronger than ever, and he could only guess why.
"Create Wind! Blade!" The wind blade had cut the beast's hand, but, it was only surface level. His spell wasn't powerful enough to cut through its thick skin.
"Shit!" Grappling towards a tree, he had dodge the demon's claw. The tree that he was hanging onto was cut down.
"Hrr." Soaring through the air, Kazuma turned his head to the side to face and observe the demon.
He now noticed that most of it's skin had not healed, which is a good thing. It indicated that this thing didn't have any healing capabilities. But another thing is that the demon was a lot more swole. It's muscles had drastically changed, making it look bigger and stronger, it's breathing pattern is more faster and uneven. It looked more alert than ever.
Kazuma then focused his attention to the tree he was reeling into, and when he reached it, he rested on its side.
"Damn, we're really fucked now." He saw the trees that were on fire before had spread just like he predicted. Soon enough, this world will experience its first ever forest fire, and a big one at that. Adding to the fact that they were dealing with this demon, they were double fucked.
As Kazuma was thinking about how fucked they were, the demon from before turned its body around, and puffed up its chest.
"Ah great." Holding his hand out, he channelled the mana from the air and into his spell. He knew exactly what this demon was doing, and he knew exactly what to do.
The demon, with its chest puffed up, unleashed a hellish fireball at him. So big and powerful, Kazuma could feel its heat from the tree already.
"Create water!" Countering with a spell of his own, he launched a water ball that was as big as the demon's fireball. Which then, contacted the demon's attack, and thus creating a massive explosion of steam.
Kazuma quickly went to grapple and get the heck out of there since the tree he was resting on before had been turned into a frozen brick. The wood of which turned into hard ice. He looked back at the damge he created and grew a face of horror.
"Holy fuck. Need to be a lot more careful next time." Had he not been quicker, he could've been frozen on the spot.
Looking back at his front, his face was hit with steam from earlier. Emerging from the steam, he looked at his side to see where the demon is at now.
His answer was met when he saw razor sharp teeth, and a huge hanging jaw close to his face.
"Ah crap."
"Huh?"
At that moment, the dagger he was holding before shone a bright red light. "Huh, it's that power again." He thought.
Power surged throughout his body, his instincts went ten folds, and his speed had increased drastically. When he saw the demon about to swallow him whole, his arms and legs went straight into action.
With more speed, he was able to get out of harms way by just a hair. The grapple that he hooked before, he reeled in much, much faster than per usual. With this, the demon had ended up slamming against a tree, confused as to where it prey had gone to.
Resting by the side of the tree, Kazuma inpsected his surroundings, observing and figuring out on what to do next.
"Hopefully YunYun's fine. I did just leave her at the last second." He talked to himself, seemingly worried at the well being of his comrade.
"And this power, I need to study it more." He looked at the prized gift he held in his hand. The power his feeling now is much greater than what he's used to. Just now, he would've been dead meat if he didn't have Chris's sword. "You gotta be a lot more straight forward, Chris."
Suddenly, his instincts flared up. He flipped his entire body upside down. His legs planted at the side of the tree, one of his hand holding on to the rope that grappled the branch of the tree, and his other hand gripping the dagger. His face was both fearful and scared.
"Woah hold on! I was about to say that your friend is fine!"
With shock, Kazuma saw that the person above him was actually the King Hunt, and for some reason, his enemy detection skill didn't trigger? Did he not see her as an enemy?
"What do you mean 'friend'? What have you done to YunYun?" Still cautious, he asked her with full suspicion. His dagger pointing straight at her.
"I didn't do anything to her! I just saved her is all!" The King shouted in plea, though, it was hard to believe.
You're really telling me that the person who tried to kill them earlier, was there to save YunYun when he wasn't able to? Hah! What a sick joke. Does she think he's a fool or something?
Yet, another part of him did believe her. That tiny, miniscule, belief that she would have the heart and empathy to go risk her life and save her enemy. She did after all save him as well, so whose to say that she wouldn't do the same to YunYun?
Very hard to believe. Heck, even the King herself found her own words unconvincing. Yet maybe, he should hear what she has to say.
His eyes told that of disbelief and unconvinced, so the King began to explain herself to him.
"Listen, I know it's hard to believe, but for real, I did save her. She's currently laying on a tree branch, out of that demon's attack." The King explained. "I don't even know why I even did that. Hell, I don't why I even saved you. But..."
"But." Kazuma repeated her words to her.
"But I believe, we should work together. To stop that shit from destroying any more of this forest."
"And especially that fire that's spreading right now."
"Yeah, i guess you're right." Kazuma admitted, his grip on his dagger slowly releasing tension. "But I still don't trust you."
"Honestly, same here." It was true. Non of them trusted one another. Due to what had happened earlier, it was hard to see eye to eye and gain a semblance of belief. But, for now, they will have to work together. Wether they like it or not.
"God I can't believe this is happening." He huffed.
"Alright, so how are we going to kill this thing." Kazuma looked to the side and saw the demon huffing and puffing, its head twitching from side to side to see where it's prey went.
"Kazuma, think you can take the fire out?"
"I think I can." He responded.
"Good. You'll deal with the fire, and I'll deal with the demon."
"What kind of half assed plan is that?" Kazuma complained after hearing her poorly thought out plan. Like, how the hell is she going to deal with a beast larger than a bolder? A demon that is beyond pissed and is wrecking havoc in the area to add.
"Listen, your the only one who can conjure up a huge water spell to extinguish the fires. As for me..." The King looks to the side in thought. "I'll figure it out."
"Huuhh?!" Kazuma let out a sound of astonishment. "Aren't you like, tired as hell or something? What happens if you run out of mana while fighting that thing ?" He asked exasperated.
"Why do you care what happens to me? Just deal with the fire, and when you're done, come and help me." The king said with venom laced in her voice. "So? want to do it or not?"
Kazuma looks at her like she was crazy. Actually, no, Insane. This girl is really risking her life for people she didn't even know. Enemies who she tried to kill before. And now she's helping them by fighting the demon to give Kazuma some time to deal with the fire? What an absolute enigma.
"... Fine, we'll do it." After giving it some thought, he finally agreed to do it. "Don't die, alright."
"Like I said, why do you care." She looks at him one more time, before launching a grapple and swinging away.
Kazuma saw her flying towards the demon, his mind blurred with mixed thoughts. Thoughts about the situation at hand. Why she's helping him now, and the the time where she saved him from harms way. It was all confusing, but that didn't matter right now.
Right now, he was given the chance to save this forest and kill the demon. With the King buying him time, he must not let it go to waste. So with the opportunity given to him, he swung away. His advanced instincts now faded out, his body going back to normal.
"Man, I really need to know what this power is." He mumbled. "Chris, you really do owe me a lot." The hook at the end of the rope, tied against a branch, which he reeled in and unhooking from it once he reached it.
"And I guess I owe you a lot as well."
psh*
Traveling in the forest, whizzing from tree to tree, he was steadily getting closer and closer to the fires. The heat emmited from the flames reached his body, his eyes reflected the light from the burning embers.
His eyes burned with determination and fear as he arrived at the flames of the burning forest. The fire set off from the demon before now spread to multiple trees. It looked like hell, the ground below covered in ash and the black smoke rised to the top and into the atmosphere.
His body felt like he was on fire. He wanted to take all his clothes off just so he could cool off.
"Jesus Christ." He could only mutter the son of god from his world as he saw the destruction of the demon. This wasn't just a few trees burning, this was a full on forest fire.
He remembered back in his world the true horror that are forest fires. A living hellscape sweeping through and wiping out countless houses and destroying the nearby wildlife. Many lives were lost as they succumb to the harsh fires, and many peoples homes were destroyed in result. It was terrifying.
He remembered specifically the fires of California, and the Australian wild fires. A fire which knocked the nation out in a full scale emergency.
And to see it in real life, was something he never knew would happen.
Firefighters would usually handle these disasters. Planes would drop tons of sand and water from the sky to extinguish the flmaes below. But now, he was the only one capable of dealing this huge calamity. It had taken hundreds of firemen and women to deal with forest fires under a week or two, and now there's only one man to fight the fires in just one day.
It was a huge toll to carry, and Kazuna was definitely not ready to deal with it. But, if he didn't do anything now, the village may be in great danger, and so too did the wildlife that inhabit the forest.
Kazuma, with his body full of adrenaline, knew the responsibility he had. And so, grappling towards the burning embers, he held out his hand and soared through the air.
He went up, higher and higher, till he reached above the trees and into the smoke. His mouth and nose covered with his cloak so as to prevent the smoke from entering his lungs. He immediately shut his eyes as the smoke burned his iris's.
"Create!" The hook from before was let go from the branch and was reeled into his hand. His body then spun to turn around and face the fires below. His hand streached out as mana flowed through his body and into his fingertips. With mana flowing through, he executed his powerful spell.
"WATER!"
The air around him changed as large strings of water began to collect as one giant mass. The mass of water got bigger and bigger as water from around him went in. Until finally, it went to size larger than a boulder, which was then launched from his palms.
The smoke around him dispersed as the mass of water went down and into the fires, making Kazuma able to breathe and see clearly.
The waterball slammed into the burning embers and exploded, flying water droplets everywhere, and extinguishing half of the trees on fire. Steam began to rise as the water evaporated from the heat of the charred wood.
Kazuma's body began falling down due to gravity, and he quickly caught on by hooking towards a tree that wasn't on fire.
As he did, he saw the result of his labor, and was somewhat satisfied. Though, there were still some trees that didn't get hit by water. Since the the spell went downwards, it didn't have enough area to spread out its water droplets. Had he shot it upwards, it would be the equivalent of rain. But for that to happen, he would need something to make it explode and spread out.
"But what do I hit it with?" Kazuma reeled in towards a tree and rested on its branch. He oversaw the the remaining trees that were in flames. The heat of which still radiating and reaching his body.
"Maybe I could hit it with an earth spell? But would that even work? It wouldn't really explode if something just punctured it. Wait, it would work! That water spell is like a balloon. So if I shoot something at it, it would surely explode, right?" Well, it did make some sense.
He remembered when he was a kid, he watched a video about a balloon exploding in slow motion. He recalled vividly that the creators hit it with a bullet and it exploded, causing the water to go all over the place. Physics in this world is basically the same as his old one, so if you put two and two together, it should have the same effect here.
"Well there's nothing wrong in trying right?"
Kazuma then launched a grapple towards a tree and jumped down like tarzan before reeling in to do the same stunt as he did before.
Soaring through the leaves and into the smokey sky, he faced the fires from down below. Extending his hand out to fire another water spell.
"CREATE WATER!"
The same effect happened just like before. Water from the air came to collect at the front of his palm, and it grew larger and larger, till it was much bigger than him. Before launching it into the fires. Yada yada, same old same old.
But another spell was executed right after, Wind and earth began collecting in his palm. The earth forming a bullet of sorts, it size being as big as his forearm. The wind was there to help accelerate the bullet so that it was fast enough to make the wateball explode. Keep in mind, this all happened in just under 5 seconds.
Finally being sure that it was enough, Kazuma launched his make shift bullet.
"CREATE EARTH! CREATE WIND!"
The desired effect was met. It launched at blinding speeds, and hit the water spell he did before. It exploded just like he theorised (Or hipothesised). The water droplets have successfully spread out to extinguish the last remaining trees. Hooray.
But, another effect was made. Something he had forgotten. Something very important.
"AAAHHH!!!" Kazuma screamed in pain as he fell back to the ground. His back was covered in frost bites. His lower back wasn't badly bruised as much as his shoulders, which was frozen like ice.
Luckily, his arms and legs weren't effected. So fighting through the pain, Kazuma moved his arm to launch a grapple at a tree to rest and heal.
"AH SHIT! FUCK IT HURTS!" Kazuma shouted as he crouched on the branch of a tree. He tried to turn his neck around, but quickly regretted it as the pain got unbearable.
"HOLY FUCK! HEAL...!" He steadily put his arm out on his back and healed his injuries. Slowly, his wounds were starting to heal, but it will take some time for the frost bites to go away and heal fully. "Man I fucking hate this shit..."
He got too cocky. He forgot at the last minute that taking too much mana from the air quickly would result in it getting really frosty. He thought that he would be able to fall down fast enough for him to escape the icy clutches of the cold air. Turns out, he was dead wrong.
So now, he was hunched over with his back in grueling pain from having his blood turn into ice crystals and puncturing his inner organs.
"Tch, this is gonna take a while..."
On the other side of things, The King was maneuvering from tree to tree, dodging the multiple swings of the beast.
"RROOOAAARRR!!" The demon drew its arm out and slashed at the tree which King Hunt hung onto, the latter immediately dodging and going to another tree.
"Damn it!" The King cussed to herself. "This thing's really testing out my skills huh?"
Her mana and energy were steadily depleting. After fighting and chasing against Kazuma and YunYun, and now the rampaging demon, her mana reserves and overall stamina grew small and tired. She could already feel her body about to collapse at any moment.
"But,"
"Why do I feel so alive?"
As she swung around a tree to grapple at another, her body refused to grow tired. She knew that at any moment, nothing will come out from her palms and she will fall down into her doom, and yet, that hasn't happened. At least, not for now.
Now, it felt like she refused to grow tired, refusing to fall and collapse. She didn't know why. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush she was getting. Maybe it was because of her will and instinct to not die at the hands of the demon. Or maybe it was because...
"No, that's impossible."
It can't be. It couldn't be. She just couldn't fathom the possibility that she was doing all of this for those two. Her face grew in anger as she swung through a branch and falling down to the ground, before grappling towards another tree to lift herself up. By that anger, wasn't really towards them, it was more towards herself.
"Why can't I decide on things." She grumbled as she soared through the air.
"RROOAAARRR!!"
She looked to the side and saw the demon's head looking right at her, its mouth emitting a red and orange glow. She just clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Unhooking from the branch she lanched onto, she instead grappled to a branch up above her and reeled in. Her body flying up and she unhooked that as well.
"I don't know where this feeling came from. Saving the two very people that I swore to kill earlier, and then helping them at that. Man, I've really gone insane haven't I."
She soared through the air from the momentum of going up. Her body passed the branches and leaves of the tree, and she popped up above it. She turned around, facing the demon once more. Fire and red were beginning to form in its mouth. It would only take seconds later for it to release its fireball.
"I really do wonder what my friends would think if they saw me in this state. Oh well. I don't have time for that."
"That fire. That was the very thing that caused the trees to burn. It won't be long before I meet the same fate as well." Her eyes grew a cold glare, pointing daggers at the demon below.
She quickly went to her belt to pull out her dagger. The length of the blade being as long as her forearm. The sound of metal was heard as it was pulled out of its scabbard.
The dagger shined under the bright sun as she extended it outward, her face full of rage and determination.
"Tch,"
Fwooom!*
The demon finally launched its powerful attack. The mass of fire coming staright at her. Her body felt like it was burning in flames, and her eyes reflected the fire that was heading right towards her.
"I refuse to die!" She screamed, before launching a grapple towards the tree below. Her speed was unmatched as she narrowly dodged the fireball. She passed the flamng ball ad she falls towards the ground, the rope she held reeling in to help her go down faster.
She reeled in at full speeds, her mana depleting fast. The hat she wore now long gone, freeing her blonde hair to flow in the wind. Her eyes narrowed as wind came rushing into her face. The cloak she wore flapped as she unhooked from the tree branch she grappled on, before reaching her arm out and grappling towards a tree at her side.
She reeled in as she swung below the trees, swinging around the back of the demon, before unhooking again and grappling towards the tree in front of it.
She clenched her teeth down as she reeled in towards the back of the demon, passing under its giant wings. Her eyes focused on her target: the eyes.
"EAT SHIT YOU FUCKING DEMON!"
She passed its neck and unhooked her grapple. With the momentum from reeling in fast, she spun around while extending her dagger out, planning to slice its left eye.
Shink!*
It worked as intended as she rotated around at fast speeds, faster than the demon reacting to where she was. It was too late as blood spouted out from its eye, and The King grappled out of there before it could react.
"RRROOOAAARRR!!!" It roared in pain as more blood came out from its socket.
The King quickly grappled towards a branch up above her, before reeling it in to escape the demon's harsh slashes. Her body flew up before unhooking her hook, the momentum carrying her as she ascends.
She looked down at the damage she's done, her face giving a scowl. "..." Nothing came out if her mouth, only a silent breath was heard.
"One eye isn't going to be enough. I have to take out its second one, and from that..." She didn't know what to do next. She had run out of ideas. For a demon at that big of a size, it was hard for a person like her to distract or defeat.
No matter, she will do her plan now and think of something later. She still has fight in her. So she unhooked the grapple that hooked on the branch before and turned around, her body now facing the demon once more. This time, not as high as she previously was.
As she fell, she saw how the demon was twisting around its head from side to side, unpredictable and hard to keep track of.
"Crap, this is gonna be a lot tougher than before. Earlier it was easy since it wasn't moving around a lot, but now, I gotta be more accurate."
It was hard, but not impossible for her.
For her entire life, she had been much stronger and more precise than her colleagues. She didn't know why that is though. She remembered all the times when she and her friends got into a fight, she would undoubtedly come out on top. Or the numerous times she saved her fellow hunters from swarming guardsmen. Top that with her large mana pool, which makes her last up to a full mission. Even then, shhe wouldn't feel so tired by the end.
It was unexplainable. Even now, she has lasted throughout her fight against Kazuma and YunYun, with the demon to add. Grappling from tree to tree at great speeds, surviving a lightning spell, beeing able to fight this large demon, yet she has not fallen down yet.
As she fell, she looked closely at the shacking of the demon's head, before launching a grapple beside it and reeling in to get the kill. Her body swinging in through the forest and into the demon's vicinity.
She gripped her dagger, as she approached the demon closer and closer, her mana pool now at its limits. Before...
"What?"
She had stop reeling in.
Her face grew in shock and horror.
She froze in thought, not knowing what to do in this situation. But as she was processing the new information however, she began to fall down. Her body swinging since she was still hooked to a tree.
The air hitting her eyes made her snap out of her frozen state and began to access the situation at hand. Though, more frantically than what she would prefer.
Her rope was long, and the tree she hooked onto was far away. Meaning that as she swung down low, she will eventually crash and tumble on the ground.
She embraced it however as she swung down low and extended her legs to touchdown. Her feet touched the ground and she began running, she let go of the rope soon after since it was useless and she couldn't reel it in anymore.
Now that she was on the ground however, she really felt the rumbling of the demon infront of her. Since she was always up above the trees, she didn't feel the huge vibrations this thing was creating by stomping on the ground, but now she did.
She quickly turned around since she couldn't fight anymore. Her mana now completely drained if any, and the only thing keeping her standing was her adrenaline to survive.
She ran quickly. Her chest huffing and puffing as her legs used the reserved energy to escape. She hoped that the demon behind her didn't notice her present, and just left her alone.
Unfortunately, Eris was not on her side.
"RRROOOAAARRR!!"
"Ah for fucks sake!"
The King heard the mighty roar of the demon, before she felt the rumbling under her feet growing more and more erratic. Meaning the demon was now heading her way. Guess with that one eye was still enough for him eh?
She ran even more faster, pushing the limits on what her body can do. She grew desperate as she felt the presence of the demon got closer and closer. The loud noises of earth shattering under the fists and legs of the demon growing more loud than ever.
She turned around. Curious to know how close it was, and immediately got her answer.
"It's over."
A giant hand with claws as sharp as a sword were meters away from her face. The demon with its jaw hung open, and blood spewing out of its left eye.
She saw her imminent doom. There was no way for her to escape this. She had been drained to the bare bones after flying through the forest and fighting this thing. She couldn't fight anymore. She felt tired, really tired. She guessed the adrenaline rush from before is now gone, and the feeling of no mana finally caught up to her.
"No, I don't want to die."
Indeed, it was over. She had to accept her fate. She was the one after all who chose this path. She could've just left Kazuma and YunYun since they were distracted with this demon earlier. She had plenty of mana to go back to her base and heal up, meet up with her friends there and leave to Elroad.
Yet, she chose this one. The one that went against all her morals. She swore to herself that any enemies towards the Hunts would be captured or killed. That any enemy they made will stay that way forever, and not change. But now? She essentially sacrificed herself to buy Kazuma time so that he could wipe out the fires. She risked her life earlier to save him and YunYun.
There was no doubt about it. She couldn't back track now. She didn't have the power to rewind time and do the path she wanted. All of this, was set in stone. All of this, was her choice. This was the story she chose.
"Life's fucking unfair huh? I didn't even get to know my father."
Her eyes glared in hatred. To who exactly? A lot of things actually. To Kazuma, to YunYun, to her father that abandoned her years ago. Her choices, her life, her outcome. The demon in front of her, the enemies she's made along her journey. But the most she hated - was herself.
Why? Why did she choose this? Why did she help them? She hated herself for this idiotic decision.
She asked all of these questions, feeling like she picked the wrong path. Yet for some reason, she didn't feel any sort of regret at all.
She was confused. She always was actually. It felt kinda funny. How dumb she felt that all this time, nothing has changed. She was still the clueless kid that somehow ended up in the middle of the forest, under the shadows of her supposed father.
The hand got closer and closer, and she felt such hatred towards life and her father. She held her dagger out, hoping to go out with one last fight.
Until...
"BLAST!"
*Kaboom!*
A mini explosion erupted from the sides of the demon's arm, the one about o grab and kill The King. This explosion caused the demon to recoil its arm back and see what had caused it. It also made The King snap out of her dreaded thoughts and see what had happened.
"Bottomless swamp!"
The shout came from the sides. The demon and The King both looked at the direction and saw a brown haired girl with questionable clothing choices. It was non other than the crimson demon YunYun!
"... What?" The leader of the Hunts could only look on in confusion.
The spell which YunYun had done made the ground under the demon form a dark and eary mud, causing it to sink down. The creature of course, panicked in confusion.
"Kazuma-san now!" YunYun yelled out her comrades name, before the man of the hour himself came swooping down from above and headed stright for the King Hunt.
"THERE!" Kazuma grabbed the King by her torso and swung upwards, before turning around to swing back towards YunYun, swinging towards her.
Kazuma swooped in and unhooked his grappling hook to run on ground instead of swinging in the trees. Since, well, you really expect this man to carry two girls at once? I mean, it would be the dream but, Kazuma knew he wasn't strong enough to do so. But if he did...
Anyways Kazuma ran while carrying the King on his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. With YunYun running beside him as well.
"Run fast YunYun! Before that thing comes out from your spell and chase our ass!" Kazuma shouted as he was fully using his leg power to carry the girl, while also escaping the terrifying creature that could chase them down at any moment.
"I am running fast Kazuma-san!!!" Her face screamed in terror, tears coming out of her eyes.
"... What? What is... all of this?"
To be continued...
Author's Notes:
Well then, this one took way longer than I intended it to be. Sorry about that.
I guess the reason why is that I really wasn't into writing this chapter. I'm not saying that I've lost interest in this book, heck no, but I just felt lazy writing this.
I have many plans for the story in this book. Kazuma's fight with this drmon thing will end in the next chapter, and we'll finally get some rest at the village.
An interesting note is that the demon encounter was actually supposed to conclude in this chapter. But I felt it got way to long and I just wanted to update this book after two months of nothing.
I'm also planning to update this chapter again with the inclusion of Ferdinand's side story since, well, its been a long time hasn't it. Don't know when that's happening though.
Also I want to say, thank to everyone that has been following and favorite this book of mine. I never thought my shitty writing would capture people's attention. It really means a lot to me.
And also the comments. I love reading the comments. They're probably the only thing keeping me from stopping,. And my will if course.
Anywho, that's all from me. Expect to get slower updates, and I'll see you later. Bye!