Chapter 42

[ Hunt the Hunters ]

27th day of the 10th Month – HEC, 375
Treitis Pass

"And you're certain about this, milady?"

'Yes. There is no doubt about it.'

There was a thoughtful look on his mentor's face, masking just the slightest hint of disbelief. And hope, he came to realize, as a quiet sigh was expelled, reflecting all the comfort she had found in this reveal.

Eugeo, who knew just as little as he did, made to ask Selena. "The Terra Halcyon… He shares a similar title to yours, Selena. That means he's a dragon as well?"

'Lance the Terra Halcyon. As you know, there was once the four of us, who guarded the four empires from outsiders. Long before the rise of the Axiom Church, mind you, so this was a very long time ago. And, unsurprisingly, our existences aren't even marked down in the books of history. Such is how long time had passed since then.'

"The Cardinal Dragons," Kirito followed, earning a hum. "One for each empire. You guard the north, and this Lance guards the east. Was he strong?"

'Certainly. As guardian of an empire, we were born with immaculate control of a certain affinity. Where mine leaned towards frost, Lance was gifted in the manipulation of the earth, therefore bestowing him the title 'Terra Halcyon', terra itself referring to the earth. And where I leant towards spells, he complimented his might with his control of the «Sacred Arts» and his own «Favour».'

"Hmm. And just the same with you, it looks like his soul's persisted after all these years. That means we'll be able to find him again and bring him with us."

'Indeed. A-And, it's a relief. To know that they're still alive after all this time…'

A wave of sadness, joy and comfort could be felt rolling from her, making him smile. It must have been painful; to survive and have no idea of how the others were like. Not so dissimilar to him, Eugeo and Alice, though they at least had the grace to know that she was dead. Selena would have had to hold out hope for so long, and if they'd truly been dead all this time, the crushing despair would have been too much.

But the goddesses still favoured them after all this time, it seemed. Their selfless service to the empires had seen them fit to have a second chance at life, and knowing that they were soon to reconnect her with her old friend bolstered his determination.

"Unfortunately, we don't have much clues to work with, considering that the silhouette only started speaking when I was close to waking up. But they mentioned north, which is… well, it's not incredibly accurate, but it's better than nothing."

"North could be referencing a lot of things though. Norlangarth, perhaps, though I have a feeling that they're referring to the northern side of Eastabarieth," Eugeo surmised. "After all, they appeared before you again when we came here. Once in Centoria, once here—though we don't know if that'll stay true or not."

Mere hypotheses. And yet… "Think we could uncover the truth behind this intruder if I visit the other empires?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But it could also just be a bunch of smoke. You never dreamt of them back in Norlangarth."

"Yeah. But it doesn't matter. Maybe I'll dream of them again someday. Don't know when, but it'll come if it does. And now, we've got a new objective on our hands."

Charlotte nodded. "Cull the beasts, locate the monster that's holed itself in the southern plateau, find Lady Selena's companion, and speak to Ophilia."

In regards to that last priority, he'd been keeping his eyes open for any person clad in the nun garbs of the Axiom Church—he'd seen and met a few, so he was familiar enough with how it typically looked. Yet most of the people here wore simple outfits, indistinguishable from one another.

Though, to be fair, she was probably wearing simple clothes too. After all, she'd apparently been stationed here for quite a long time, so she would have to have other outfits beyond just her habit.

No matter. It wasn't like they would lose out on their chance to see her again after this. Might as well focus on the upcoming fights, then find her when everything's calmed down.

"Last time we found Selena, we had to fight her corpse," Eugeo's sigh snapped him out of his thoughts. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Certainly. The fight had not been simple, but her blessing had at least evened out the odds. And they were more trained now. More experienced. There would be little trouble to hold themselves in a fight.

Speaking of fights, they were about to have breakfast and meet up with the hunters in the woods after this. The discussion was a private one, and it had forced them to find a secluded area in the market floor, before finally reconvening with Bercouli and Medina in the residential floor downstairs.

The mission, as Bercouli recounted, was simple. Take the bridge on the market floor to reach the forest on the opposite side, and join the hunters in slaying the monsters. There was no limit as to how much they could hunt, though he had a feeling that they were meant to erase their numbers steadily to a point that the hunters, who would know the safe limit for the ecology, would then see fit to calling an end to their job.

The remaining jobs—killing the dangerous monster in the south, and finding Lance—would be handled at another time. Today was meant for one thing, and it was exciting.

He wasn't necessarily enticed by the idea of killing wild animals. This was mere duty and nothing more. It was simply the idea that he'd finally be putting to use many of the skills and techniques he'd picked up over the years; a self-assessment to witness his personal growth, and outline areas for further improvement or correction.

It was after their meals had concluded did they make to gear up, making for the forest west of Treitis Pass to find the hunters that they would be working with.

"Watch your step. We're quite high up, so if you want, don't look down."

"S-Sir Bercouli, please don't say that…"

Even despite his warnings, Kirito couldn't help himself, taking in the sheer drop and the beauty of the area with delight. That this was a hanging bridge meant that it swayed with every step they took, but he couldn't help but enjoy that as well. It was a brand-new experience, after all.

When they reached the opposite side, it was to a group of four hunters that they joined up with, their field leader a man named Gaius, whose black hair ran down to his shoulders, knives lined up in his belt with a spear grasped in one hand. Off in the back of the group, Rogu idled about before spotting them, waving at them with a smile.

"Sirs and madams. It'll be an honour to work alongside you."

"Pleasure is ours too. Let's get to work."

With nine people, there would be three pairs and a group of three. Seeing that Bercouli and Charlotte were more than capable, and that Eugeo had a powerful weapon on hand, he and Medina opted to pair up together, accompanied by Rogu.

Kirito knew he was a hunter, but it was surprising that they opted to let him join their mission. Although, from the lessons he'd taken from Charlotte in learning how to read a person, he could tell that Rogu was a powerful combatant. Unlike the other hunters who preferred lighter weapons like bows and knives, he spotted a battleaxe holstered to his belt, with a buckler attached to his left forearm. That told him right away that, perhaps, the young hunter held a level of bodily power much greater than his fellows.

"We'll be in your care, Rogu."

"Same here! Looking forward to working with you."

"Alright, gather 'round everyone. We need to decide which area we shall each cover. The forest here isn't as massive as the one in Tannleni Gorge, but if we want to finish by today, we'll need to split up to cover the entire area."

Geographically speaking, the forest covered only a small portion of the area, separated by a river that runs downwards to join the lake. It was almost ridiculous to imagine that there could be so many monsters holing themselves up in this one place, but then again, secluded areas that would make for the perfect hiding spots, so the hunters wouldn't be able to properly kill their numbers.

With three people, his group was tasked with the isolated forest patch a little far out to the west. Charlotte had seemed ready to protest, their location much further away than the rest, but calm reassurance from Medina served to help her reconsider.

"Even so, I won't have anything happen to any of you. Look after one another, alright?"

"Of course. I won't let a single monster touch even a hair on Medina's head."

"K-Kirito, you don't need to go that far…"

"No worries, I'll do my best to protect the both of you!" Rogu proclaimed, grinning. "After all, I'm the hunter here, so I'll make sure to lend you my strength and my expertise!"

"That's reassuring. We'll be relying on you, then."

And so, with all preparations made, they set off for their destination. Aptly called the Evergreen Wedge due to the shape of the area it covered, the hunters frequented that place only to harvest fruit. Rogu told him that the area used to be safe, but for the past few weeks, maybe up to a month, the monster infestation had seen an increased presence of dangerous creatures holing themselves in that area, discouraging hunters from going there. Even the ordinary people had just kept away from the forest area, opting to scale their mountainous home to find other places to gather resources.

Rogu guided them down the river, following its trajectory. There was a lack of forestation along the river, making it easier to spot any monsters, though it seemed like that there was never any need to worry in the first place. The path was a calm one, and their walk saw them besieged by no monsters. He almost mistook this moment as a simple trek through nature, but the look of worry on Rogu's face was enough to remind him of the fact.

"Where'd all that energy from earlier go?" His words dragged Rogu back to reality, surprised as he took in the other boy's words. Kirito smiled. "Don't worry so much, man. The three of us are strong enough to handle the job. I'm sure it'll go smoothly."

"R-Right. Sorry. Just the nerves getting to me, you know?"

"Understandable. But again, we're in a pretty good spot here. It's not a do-or-die situation for any of us. If things get too bad, we're more than free to pull back and regroup. No need to charge in and do something foolish."

"Yeah. I understand. Thanks, Kirito!"

"Actually, that last part was directed more at myself," he chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I'm rather hot-headed, and that sort of translates into my fighting style as well. Gotten enough flack for that."

"But you're so strong, Kirito, so it's fine!" Medina said cheerily.

"Sure. But right now, we're meant to be fighting together. So if I do something stupid, call me out on it, okay?"

And that was a strange thing. The combat scene in the Human Empire had ever always been prioritizing one-on-one fights. The tournaments, the training sessions. That clearly hadn't been the case three years ago in the skirmish, where he and Eugeo had teamed up in the belly of the beast.

He'd never had the opportunity to fight side-by-side with anyone else ever since. Even when Medina had joined their group to travel to Centoria, they'd never fought together, so there was no knowing how good they would be able to mesh together. Guess that was something they'll discover soon enough.

Eventually, they broke from the forest, where a valley could be spotted far in the distance between a triangular mountain and the elevated lands from the south. He turned his attention to his right, however, where the Evergreen Wedge could be spotted. Though the map depicted a much smaller area, being here on foot translated that miniscule size to a fairly wide coverage for them, the trees tall and the foliage dense.

His gaze took in the soil and the air. And no less than a second did he register all of that did it finally strike him.

'The scent of blood.'

'Indeed. It's fresh.'

Judging by the expressions on Rogu's and Medina's faces, they'd noticed it too. And that wasn't a good sign; they hadn't even entered the forest proper, so the chances of the monster being fairly close to the border and ready to greet them was a very likely prospect.

And, like a prophecy fulfilled, he could sense the incoming presence of beasts, quiet steps upon the earth as paws pressed upon dirt and sand, twigs snapping apart. Shortly after, throaty growls filled the area, and from the shadows, grey heads emerged.

Wolves. And yet, they weren't normal; they were much larger than the average canine, with bright yellow eyes and purple fur arising from their chests, sort of like a bib. Their claws looked far too crooked, and a single claw poked out from their forearms, resembling a hook. What should have been a furry tail was instead more closer to a scorpion's, barbed at the end and swerving left and right.

Two, then three, then seven in total. With blood running down their chins, they must have just finished a hunt, making use of their poisonous tails. Such strange creatures… He'd seen his fair share of wild animals, but to think that the many empires could house such unique species of animals he thought he was familiar with was pretty cool.

Now was not the time to appreciate their unique biology, however. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Rogu, are these guys native to this area?"

"N-No. They usually frequent Tannleni Gorge. And their sizes aren't usually this big… What's going on?"

Worrisome. But there was nothing that could be done about that. Running away might not even work because they might just catch up to them and shred them to bits, or that they would accidentally lead the beasts all the way back to town, so their only option was to slay them here and now.

Mind made up, the boy drew his weapon, spurring his friends to wield theirs as well. The wolves took notice, bodies lowered and fangs bared in preparation for a fight.

"Realistically, we should gang up on one and focus on the next, but their numbers are greater than ours. We'll have to fight as hard as we can to overpower them. Get ready to cover one another if the situation gets bad, guys."

"R-Right!"

"Yes, Kirito."

"Mm. Let's go!"

It wasn't he who initiated the charge first. As one, all seven of them rushed his group down. Kirito huffed, rushing forth and unleashing a sweeping «Horizontal». Willing his «Incarnation», it projected a shockwave that blasted them all away, and he used that opportunity to follow-up on his first target, converting his momentum into a «Sonic Leap», propelling him forwards to stab into the beast's exposed belly.

The first thing that registered in his mind was the momentary resistance that he felt when his blade contacted its skin. And then, there was a sudden loss of that as his weapon carved straight through. Through its belly, then out through the side. A sharp howl pierced his ears as its blood sprayed all over him, and then the next moment, it fell back onto the ground with a heavy crash, spasming as it died right in front of his eyes.

Kirito watched it die. And, without pause, he moved for his next target.

'Everything has to die. No other way to it.'

The combat wasn't beautiful by any means. There was a lot of poking and retreating before taking the finishing blow. It was just impossible to make a single attack. Not when they were beset by the wolves left and right, turning it into a chaotic frenzy that forced them to try and distance themselves from one another as much as they could.

One swipe forced him to parry with an «Uppercut», though he could only back away when another attempted to lunge upon him. Another approached him from his periphery, but for the shield that slammed into its face, Rogu had clearly caught it by surprise, and looked to do more.

In fact, he did do more, as he took blow after blow upon his shield before slamming it into his next oppressor's teeth. With how massive the beast was, it would have been hard to break anything, yet the force behind his blow actually shattered its fangs, drawing blood and dazing it—and that was the time for him to deal the killing blow. Firmly planting his feet in the ground, he proceeded to swing his axe towards its muzzle.

For an ordinary human, swinging an axe into a body would usually cause the axe to be lodged into the flesh. To carve straight through would require an impressive amount of force poured into the motion; something that he could confirm in the days when he himself had weld the Dragon Bone Axe for combat, forced to maximise his force output to complement its weight and injure the enemy.

Rogu surpassed such expectations. Held in just his one hand, his axe tore straight through skin and muscle, perhaps catching onto its spine and snapping it. The large creature's body practically folded in the direction of his attack, becoming limp as its entire feet carried off the ground and was sent flying away, crashing into two others.

But that left him open for an assault from his back. "Rogu!" He yelled, pushing past his awe at such a display of power and charging in for a quick «Sonic Leap». "Duck!"

"Eh? Whoa!"

He managed to lower his head just in time for Kirito to vault over him, cleaving downwards into the wolf's head. It wasn't enough to kill it, but Medina put the finishing touch by driving her katana into its side, slashing outwards in one beautiful stroke before cleaving into another, that translation of her force in one single motion packing enough power to cut down two at once.

"Kirito, if you would!"

Her blade burned crimson as she slashed at the throat of her target, followed by a reverse swing. He charged past her, ducking low to stab upwards through its chin and out of its head. A momentary twitch before it collapsed to the side, thick blood pooling beneath its corpse.

Two more remained. And yet, despite the sight of its kind being mercilessly cut right before its eyes, they weren't deterred in the slightest. They were determined to kill them, even if the probability of that was abysmally low.

He met his friends' eyes and nodded. He proceeded to charge at one, while the other two took on the remaining one. His target snarled, running at him and jabbing its tail straight for him.

His body moved on its own. He parried the incoming swing of its tail, leaning his body to the right to let it pass him. He carved into his side with a quick flick of his sword, drawing blood. It hissed, and though it turned to attack him, he was already unleashing a «Vertical», slashing into its face at the exact moment it turned. Its pained howl did not save it from the finishing blow, upon which he danced around its tail frantically sweeping around, jumping onto its thrashing body to plunge his weapon right into its brain.

A single point of resistance, and then a smooth, gross shove as he penetrated bone and brain matter.

The creature twitched weakly to throw him off, though the moment was clearly over, and it toppled forwards like crumpled paper. Kirito sighed, drawing his weapon out and flicking off the blood, sheathing his weapon in time to see Medina decapitating the wolf with a beautiful «Tsumujiguruma».

He looked around, and once Selena confirmed his suspicions that there was no more of them, he leapt off the wolf's body to join his friends. "Guess that's that. Good work everyone," Kirito said, surveying the field. It wasn't a pretty sight, and he had a feeling that so many carrions would draw the attention of the local animals. "Is anybody hurt?"

"Nope! We're all good," Medina said happily. "Looks like we've managed to handle that horde. Quite nicely too, I'd say."

Rogu laughed happily. "You got that right! I never thought we could have fought as smoothly as we did back there, but it was like we knew each other's movements! That was darn beautiful, if I do say so myself."

"Yes! It was incredible."

Kirito felt the same, even if the gruesome sight around them wasn't something meant to be celebrated. Still, there was no point in worrying about that now. Not when there was still much more work to be done.

"Okay. Let's keep looking for more. Our job to clear out the Evergreen Wedge isn't yet over, after all. Rogu, lead the way."

His friends nodded, the greenette taking lead once more as the swordsmen followed from behind. Kirito paused, however, looking back in the direction of where they'd come from. Nothing was off, per se, and yet, he felt something tugging in the back of his mind… What was it?

"Kirito, is something wrong?"

"…It's nothing," he shook his head, rejoining his friends. "I hope so, at least."

Blood sprayed into the air like a geyser, soaking the ground as the massive beast eventually fell, its head rolling a distance away. Behind it, Medina flicked her family's heirloom before moving towards another, all as he did his best to push a beast towards Rogu, who promptly hacked at its chest and allowed it to bleed out.

The ravenette clicked his tongue. Eyes moving to count the stragglers, he mentally cursed to himself when there was still a fair number of them. Some looking for an opportunity to pounce, some too injured to directly confront them, and a few more already dying for the injuries they sustained. He'd thought that would have been enough, but it wasn't.

At his fifth kill, he was beginning to wonder how many of them there were. The supposed oddity behind their migrations had been noted by the people of Treitis Pass, but he never thought it would be this bad!

A footstep back, an oblique slash. There was no time to hesitate in his kill, and with his prey expiring, he had to quickly duck below a wide swipe, allowing Medina to take the kill next with a swift thrust of her weapon into its eyeball, hilted to the base of its head and slamming it down to the ground.

Uttering a quick incantation, he discharged a burst of hot energy straight at a wolf to his right, searing into its skin and eliciting a howl of pain. That was just the distraction Rogu needed, allowing him to finish the job with a firm swing of his axe into its neck, less decapitating it and more ripping its head off, bone and all, and leaving its body to collapse.

"One's on your left!"

"Got it!"

With a «Sharp Nail», he parried the tail strike and the following claw, the last motion of his attack tearing right into its left eye and down through its face. It howled as it stepped back, and he sought to end his kill properly, moving underneath it to slit its throat in a single motion, slick and quiet. Its body twitched, and eventually it, too, collapsed like the rest. Yet another corpse in the forest.

Taking headcount, Kirito sighed, resting his stance. Eighteen so far. He hadn't thought that their fight would be this numerous, but he supposed that was the way hordes worked. There was always going to be more.

'I sense a couple more to the north. Three, I believe.'

'That so? Okay then. Shouldn't be too bad,' shaking his head, he looked back to the rest. "Let's just catch our breath for a bit. Drink up, and then we'll continue exploring."

"Sure thing…" Rogu immediately fell upon a tree root, pulling out his canteen. "Gotta' say, though, our hunts are never meant to be this exhausting. You guys don't look worse for wear. Used to it, huh?"

"More or less. Fighting other swordsmen can get pretty long at times, so stamina's just as important to work on. But you're not half-bad yourself. Hell, out of the three of us, you're pretty much built like a brick house. The strength in your attacks are insane."

"Hehe… Yeah, well, I did a lot of hard work growing up. They physical ones, obviously. So I guess it helped me build muscle."

It certainly did. He was thin, but his build was firm, and every flex of his arm showcased the muscles that had been honed over the years of honest yet gruelling work. It was little wonder that he'd been so capable of dealing so much damage despite using his axe with one hand.

That was something that Fanatio had brought up in one of their lessons. Just as one's will could fuel the strength of one's «Secret Technique», it was also a fact that using both limbs to swing the sword could transfer more force than compared to using just a single hand, with the added benefits of more control.

But to him, it was slower. Using his weapon in just one hand, he instantly realized that he could swing much faster, and he could rely on his free hand for martial techniques or discharging spells. Then again, it lost the precise control that a double grip could offer, so there were pros and cons to either style.

'Well, guess it's turned out to be a blessing that we've had Rogu to be with us. Not only has his navigating been great, but he's also a powerful fighter.'

After their short moment of respite, the party continued onwards in search of more monsters to cull. Even if they wandered in uncertain pathways, they were guaranteed to come upon at least a pair of wolves, their presence clearly unwelcome in their newly-formed territory.

He'd expected other bodies. Perhaps of the local animals that lived here, hunted down by these new trespassers. And certainly, they'd found some, and Rogu was more concerned by how this could affect the local ecosystem. Eradicating these newcomers might solve the immediate issue of the hunting, though it would take time for the wounds to heal and their numbers to repopulate.

As they came upon a fallen tree, Rogu had them come to a stop, crouching low to take in any possible trails that were left behind. It didn't take him very long to find one, however, as he called them to join him.

And whatever it was, it was not good.

"This… This is a footprint. But it's massive."

"Y-Yeah… There's never been anything this big before, though! What is this?"

Calling it big was not doing it justice. In fact, when they peered over the fallen trunk, it was visible right away, the demarcation separating damp, dark soil from untouched grass. Judging by the outline, it was clear to him that it had to belong to some kind of mammal. In fact, it was clearly belonging to a wolf. And yet, where a typical wolf's paw would more or less be equal to a person's footprint, and these invader wolves' paw size was more or less twice the average wolf, this one was almost four times the normal wolf's size.

Beside him, Medina frowned. "Are there wolves that can grow up to this size?"

"No! Since I received my calling, I'd been diligent in joining the older hunters in exploring Eastabarieth's land to learn of its inhabitants. These trespassers are large, but that's the extent of which they could grow to. This?" He shook his head. "This is not normal."

"Then it looks like we'll need to be careful for a dangerous fight. Keep your guards up. Let's see where this trail takes us."

The distance between each print indicated that it had been in a light stride; not necessarily a full run, yet it was clearly moving faster than a simple walk. It was equivalent to a human jogging, then, and with how obvious each print was, they had no trouble in following one after another, wondering where it could possibly lead to.

And this thing certainly didn't care for the damage it left behind. Multiple trees had been pushed aside, haphazardly uprooted and crashing against other trees, a path carved forward. It would have been impossible to miss all this damage.

Their short trek finally brought them to an opening, where the forest parted in a circular fashion to allow Solus's light to bathe the grass in a gentle yellow hue. There was a single, isolated boulder in the very centre, and little to no cover elsewhere.

His eyes took in the surrounding area as he walked forwards, trying to figure out if any of them were lying in ambush. He couldn't sense anything. None of them had tried so far, but that didn't mean it wouldn't change anytime soon—

"Kirito, get out of the way!"

"Huh?"

Even if his brain had frozen for a second, his body was already in motion, throwing himself to the side to avoid the boulder being thrown his way. It travelled overhead and crashed into a tree, bringing it and a few more down in a loud, messy tumble, loud groaning as rock and soil was undone.

A great, bestial sound filled the air moments later, the three of them arming themselves as the wolf had finally made its presence known. Its thundering footsteps broke the earth with every pace, a great pressure he hadn't felt all this while exuded from the source as it approached them with a throaty rumble, its gaze filled with a promise of death. Kirito took in its appearance, and a sense of awe overwhelmed him.

It was completely unlike any of the other beasts that they had come upon. It was massive, easily thrice the size of the previous mobs, and there was something strange about it. From its skin, crystals and rocks poked out, practically coating the surface in a layer of brown, stony crust. Its eyes gleamed with greenish energy, its maw a hardened tree material, and he was shocked to find plantlife growing out of the orifices on its face; be it from its ears or its nostrils, or even hanging from its jaws, vines and flowers bloomed without a care. As if nature itself had infected the creature, and its mindless vessel was fuelled by pure aggression.

"Oi… Are there actually monsters like this in the empires?"

"N-No… I've never seen anything like this…"

Well, that wasn't reassuring whatsoever. This was a whole new breed of an enemy, and it felt much more dangerous than anything they had ever dealt with. But if there was one thing that struck him as peculiar, it was the faint trace of magic emanating from the beast, that which he could only sense through Selena.

'It's… like it's been cursed by a spell. And it feels… familiar.'

Before he could even ask her what she meant by that, the wolf was suddenly charging straight at them, its maws wide and fangs bared to eviscerate whichever unlucky bastard would get caught. "Shit! Spread out!"

Rogu and Medina threw themselves to the right while Kirito diverted leftwards, allowing the wolf to rush past them and crash into the trees. Its eyes left a trail of light as it snapped towards him, and its howl broke through the forest, frightened crows taking flight to escape its wrath. It was a testament of its majesty, and he dared imagine that it would have been king of these lands if they weren't tasked with slaying it.

As he took a step back, Selena suddenly yelled in his mind. 'Careful! It's accumulating resources to attack!'

'What? Monsters can use «Sacred Arts»? That shouldn't be possible. To use them, they'd need to have an appropriate «System Control Authority», and they need to manually chant the words. There's no way they'd be able to do that!'

'Then explain to me what it is doing now?'

Any monster that would attempt to launch a ranged attack would either use a projectile like poison or fire, generated through biochemical reactions. There was none of that here, as resources were being actively siphoned into the creature's tail, barbed like a scorpion's but with a bright red flower bud at the tip. As it drained energy, the flower began to swell up, blooming as the petals spread open and the entire structure looked no smaller than a barrel.

Said flower aimed straight at him, glowing with energy—

'Move!'

And a single beam of pure energy blasted straight at him, too fast that it had swallowed the entirety of his vision.

With no chance to move and dodge, the swordsman held his ground and slashed at the beam with an exertion of his «Incarnation». It was a test of imaginary power against a spell, and only one could succeed.

His willpower won out in the end, cleaving the beam right in the middle and causing it to split, setting the trees behind him alight. His attack, on the other hand, continued its trajectory and cut into the earth, ripping apart the soil. The wolf was agile despite its size, sensing in the incoming attack and manoeuvring out of the way, allowing the imaginary attack to carve through the forest.

A sudden pang of pain reverberated through his body, his teeth gritting as his hold over his weapon weakened. 'Damn it… Forced to use my «Incarnation» twice now. I've got to be careful.'

"Kirito!" Rogu yelled from afar. "You okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Again, another wave rolled over, but he shook it off. "Be careful! This thing's no joke! We need to play smart if we're going to kill it!"

It was especially necessary in this case, as the wolf was upon him once more, forcing him to duck into a roll to avoid its lunge. His hope to parry its next attack was disregarded in favour of another backpedal to avoid the tail that smashed the ground where he'd previously stood, and he kept to putting distance between them to avoid any follow-ups.

Another beam, weaker than the previous, shot off to the distance. Rogu took the attack straight to his shield, the imminent explosion and dust cloud almost putting his heart in his throat, but the greenette emerged from the greys in a second, running towards the beast.

No progress without any offense. Kirito charged the beast's flank, shouting: "Medina, cut off the tail! Rogu, let's draw its attention!"

"You got it!"

"Understood!"

It was a frenzy of a battle, dancing left and right to stay out of the range of its claws, which tore through the soil and sprayed dirt everywhere. Each time it fired, they had to dodge, not willing to risk a direct attack—not if it burnt straight through their flash and would leave nothing behind.

It spun quickly, alerted of Medina's presence as she tried to cleave its tail. The beast swept at her, and she took the impact on her weapon, pushed back. Kirito used that moment of distraction to move in and slash across its torso, yet his weapon simply bounced off its body, akin to having struck rocks. He gritted his teeth, quickly backing away before it swept him away.

Another attempt, no matter how many is needed. He kept his distance and approached to slash at its torso, yet every swing only clanged uselessly against its shell. It reminded him of trying to slash at the Million-Eyed's body, reflecting every physical blow with ease and forcing him to waste both time and energy.

Its body had truly been converted. It had become a living embodiment of the earth, making it far too sturdy to actually injure. Perhaps the flesh beneath was vulnerable, but with an impenetrable exterior, how the fuck was he supposed to cut into it?

As his mind delved on that thought, as had to move away before the great monster caught him underfoot, followed by consecutive swings. He parried two blows with a «Horizontal Arc» before moving away once again, watching it bodily roll on the ground towards its right to crush Medina. She yelped in surprise, moving away as well and blocking its tail whipped at her, sending her skidding backwards.

All too focused on the both of them did it miss Rogu running right at it from the side, gripping his axe in both hands and held high. With one leap forwards and a firm battle cry, he swung right into its chest.

Rogu had incredible body strength. If that hadn't been established before, it was this very moment that erased any doubts, his axe smashing into its rocky exterior and knocking it off to its side, staggered. It howled in shock, its armour now cracked apart by the impact of his blow.

The redhead recognized her chance when she saw it, sweeping her katana to her side and lowering her stance. It lit up in a flash of green light as she readied herself to execute «Tsujikaze», her eyes narrowed as a look of pure focus wrote itself upon her expression.

And, like a mirage, the little girl disappeared.

His eyes could only keep up with the light that trailed behind her as she darted forwards, almost like a shooting star. It was so fast that the wolf couldn't even get up properly before she swung.

Metal rang peerlessly throughout the open space, as if it had cut air. Shortly after, however, the tail was sent flying as it was severed at the base, the crimson flower rotting away.

"We might need to finish this fight in one single motion! Medina, can you try and sever its head?"

"I can try, but the neck seems hard! We might need to break its shell!"

"Leave that to us! Come on, Kirito! Let's see what we can do!"

They were working in tandem now, their goals determined as they circled around the monster before finally closing in. Rogu blocked the first attack with his shield, and Kirito batted away the second with a «Slant». The force behind its swing had him tensing his arms, but he allowed the proceeding one to shove him away, gaining distance to draw its attention onto himself.

Medina approached from its side, leaping to slash down onto its neck. Her weapon caught on rock, and she swiftly kicked away, right in time as it crunched where she last was, hoping to catch her in its fangs.

Willing 'Thermal' energy to his call, he discharged a blast at its body, setting it to burst upon impact. The mild explosion did nothing more but annoy the beast, and though the wood of its body caught on fire, it quickly went out, leaving behind a black scarring.

Bracing itself, it launched itself into a flurry of swipes, claws blurring left and right as it tore through the ground. Kirito knew better than to be caught in that, and he swiftly moved back to avoid the combo, Rogu following suit.

A window of opportunity presented itself as the beast overextended its right swing, and the greenette moved in to topple the monster, swinging his axe right at its left arm. It struck true and broke right through it, exposing bestial skin.

"Kirito!"

"I'm on it!"

The greenette took the next attack to his buckler, knocked back and skidding on the earth. It almost continued its assault until it noticed Kirito in its periphery, its tail whipping against the soil as it braced itself to cut him down.

And yet, unprepared for how much faster he was, Kirito was upon it like a fired arrow, memories of the day he and Eugeo felled the Gigas Cedar fuelling his attack as he planted his feet into the ground, his sword alight in blue as he executed a «Horizontal» into the exposed flesh.

"Fall!"

The flesh of the beast could not hope to match the tenacity of its accursed shell. Metal tore through it all in one swift motion, cracking through the final resistance and spilling dark, green blood upon the earth as it was suddenly sent toppling, incapacitated.

Once more, he distanced himself from the thrashing beast as it whipped its tail about to ward off any further assaults, yet it could do nothing but remain limp on the ground as Rogu moved to aim his next attack for its neck. A simple downwards slash befitting the axe's equivalent of a «Vertical» broke through its hardened shell, exposing the neck.

Just as it made to prop itself up on its good legs, Rogu was backing away already. "Medina!" He called out. "Finish it!"

"Will do!"

Once more, she rushed in to enact the killing blow, her katana bursting into a white shine. «Gengetsu», where her katana would move in the pattern of a half-circle, likely to be directed downwards to cleave into the back of its neck.

The monster made one last attempt to stand, pawing desperately at the dirt. Its eyes glared hatefully at her, and the roar it exuded was intended to intimidate her.

But the end was inevitable. And they, the victors, were the ones who dictated the ending.

With a single breath taken, the heiress of the Orthinanos family subjugated the beast with a final swing, and the silence that reigned upon the Evergreen Wedge would only be a temporary calm preceding future danger.