Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Hunter Windleaper
Ordy, who had blood running down his face, stabbed his sword to the ground and used it to stand up while holding his shield in the other hand, a few meters away from the Cyclone Golem. As he shifted his gaze to the enemy in front of him, he was chasing his own breath. He swallowed and fought the shivers in his body before raising his sword for another round of combat.
"Oh, you're still standing... cool."
Hearing a familiar voice but with a different tone shifted Ordy's gaze to the person who had just arrived and was standing near him. Ordy's face softened into a smile. "You saved Halini, as expected from you, My lad," he said as he walked forward with his shield on guard.
Hunter's sharp-gazing eyes darted to Ordy, his eyes filled with confidence visible on his seemingly serious face; he said nothing and shifted his gaze to the Cyclone Golem. The golem prepared for the battle by gathering more rocks from the surrounding area and spinning them around its body, making it much more difficult to approach the golem's shell.
Hunter drew the sword from his hip and stared at it with furrowed brows. "A sword? Really? I can't believe you," he said to Gideon, who was unconscious at the time.
The Cyclone Golem roared once more, its glowing blue eyes fixed on Hunter, and unleashed a hail of white boulders in his direction. Hunter moved quickly and ran around, dodging incoming attacks. He ran to the nearest tree and used it as a platform to do a backflip, causing the boulders to collide with the tree, and as he landed on the ground, he sprinted to avoid the incoming boulders. And, without hesitation, dashed toward Ordy, using him as a shield, and hiding behind him.
Ordy stood bravely and deflected the incoming attacks. At the same time, the sound of explosions was heard as Mian and Halini finally began their assault, reducing the attack on Ordy. Despite this, the golem's gaze remained fixed on Hunter, whom the Cyclone Golem perceived as the greatest threat.
"This thing really hates me, doesn't it?" Hunter remarked as he emerged from hiding, capturing the golem's full attention. He walked forward, holding his sword tightly and his face expressionless. "Come at me."
A barrage of stones was launched toward Hunter, which he attempted to avoid; however, his speed was insufficient to avoid all of the boulders, especially since he was deliberately staying in the golem's attack range. Hunter was running around climbing trees and jumping with such agility, but when one of the boulders caught up with him, he waved his sword with the same proficiency and force he learned from Xilgran despite not being the one who was taught by him.
The boulder struck by his sword exploded and landed on the ground in a single strike. Hunter nodded, shifting his gaze to the dented sword as a result of his attack. "It's not bad... but it's not great."
The golem's roar echoed, but before it could launch another attack on Hunter, its attention was drawn by Ordy, who activated his Guardian's Protection, completely disrupting the golem. However, some of the boulders continued to fly toward Hunter.
Hunter sprinted and slashed his sword at the boulders, destroying them with each strike, which resembled how both Xilgran and Dirian waved their swords. Parkouring expertly in every tree, dodging boulders and destroying some with his innate physical strength and sword skill, which he learned by simply watching Gideon train. Such a feat was almost unthinkable in the world they came from, and could only be described as superhuman abilities. Thanks to the skill, Will of the otherworldly hero.
Gideon's vision had come true due to Hunter's ability to carry out what he had planned. The golem's attention was divided into four parts: the explosive stones and woods being thrown by Mian, the mage with the most mana in the party, the tank who continued to forcefully take its attention, and Hunter, who was skillfully dodging the attacks with his speed that even flying stones couldn't keep up with.
Boulders were flying everywhere, but the majority of them were on Hunter's. Hunter wasn't fast enough to get close to the real body, but he didn't have to because it wasn't his job. Hunter performed an aerial cartwheel and, as he landed, waved his sword at the incoming boulder in front of him.
The worst timing of all was when Mian was picking pebbles from the ground, Halini was drinking mana potion from a circular small bottle to replenish her mana, and Ordy's taunt wore off.
A fraction of a second changed the course of events.
Hunter's damaged sword crumbled as it collided with the boulder due to the damage it sustained from Hunter's repeated attacks on the hard boulders. The sword shattered and splinters flew into his face before he could react.
"Fuck!" he screamed, quickly covering his bloodied face with his palm.
That fraction of a second was more than enough for the golem. A hail of boulders rained down on Hunter, slamming him into the tree behind him. Leaving a pile of rock with no indication of whether or not the target survived.
Then a chain of stones slammed into Ordy, causing him to fly away and fall to the ground. Despite the attack, Ordy simply groaned and stood, holding his sword as a support.
A white boulder flew toward the golem's body, but was instantly stopped in mid-air, bringing the golem's shivering eyes to the sender of the boulder.
"That's why you shouldn't buy cheap gear," Hunter said, putting his hands on his knees and chasing his own breath. His face was covered in blood from the wounds caused by sword splinters landing on his face. He groaned as he forced himself to stand due to the pain all over his body from the boulders that had fallen on him. Gideon, who was not endowed with greater pain tolerance and durability, would not be able to withstand the attack.
"You're tougher than I thought, My lad!" Ordy laughed.
Hunter did not respond, instead raising his hand, which was holding the broken sword that had cut his face. As he walked forward, slightly limping, he shook his head and threw the broken sword's handle. However, after a few steps, he resumed normal walking. "Should I smack you in the head, Gideon? You already suspect I exist, but you still bought a sword? You idiot."
Hunter came to a halt and exhaled before placing both of his hands on the opposite waist of the tunic he was wearing. He ripped the tunic top off, exposing his bare torso and only his leather cuirass. Everyone stared at him, as if his unexpected action had brought the entire world to a halt, their confused shivering eyes trying to comprehend the reason for his sudden action. Halini's jaw dropped, Mian lowered her hands, and Ordy cocked his head, furrowing his brows. Even the golem came to a halt for a brief moment, its shivering eyes fixed on Hunter.
Ignoring everyone's reactions, Hunter walked forward while wrapping both of his fists in his destroyed brown tunic, revealing the massive tattoo on his back. His gaze was drawn to the Cyclone Golem. "Shall we continue?"
A football-sized boulder flew straight at Hunter, but he didn't even try to avoid it, instead launching his fist with such force that it instantly destroyed the boulder. Having such power that was greater than when he was using a sword. Hunter, on the other hand, jumped and screamed in pain while holding his bleeding fist as the boulder pieces fell to the ground.
"Damn it! I'm still too weak to punch a boulder!"
The brawn to Gideon's brain.
"Ah..." Ordy, Mian, and Halini all exclaimed at the same time, looking at Hunter in disbelief due to the insanity of what he had just decided to do.
Hunter was a himbo.
The Cyclone Golem roared and unleashed yet another barrage of attacks. Hunter dashed away from the attack, backflipping and cartwheeling around as if he were dancing in the middle of the battlefield. At the same time, Ordy was assisting him by repeatedly drawing the golem's attention, while Mian and Halini remained completely safe in the backline, thanks to Hunter's agility, which completely halted the golem's movement.
And they got to the point where the golem's mana started to run out, turning the battle against the Cyclone Golem.
The Cyclone Golem roared, knowing that this battle was no longer worth risking for, and the boulders around it spiraled in every direction, encircling the area like a stone hurricane.
"It's attempting to flee," Ordy declared. "We should go into hiding now because, unlike the Gravel Golem, the Cyclone Golem will cause more destruction when it explodes. And there's no way to catch it at that point because it'll launch its body far away."
"And let other people go through the nightmare we've gone through? No. And what made it think we'd let it go after trying to kill us all? We're not that forgiving—I'm not that forgiving. That thing wounded my face... and broke my hand," Hunter said as he dashed inside the floating stone walls.
"Gideon, hold on! It's dangerous!" Ordy exclaimed, taken aback by Hunter's sudden recklessness.
Hunter dashed inside and was met with a hail of boulders, which he avoided by sprinting toward the golem's true body, which could be seen in the middle of the massive cage of boulders, preparing to launch like a rocket.
"Where do you think you're going?" Hunter screamed as he ran and jumped toward the golem's real body, lunging his uninjured left hand. But as he flew through the air, he was stopped by rushing boulders that collided with his body.
He landed on the ground, groaning, along with the boulders that hit him. But, before another wave of boulders reached him, a massive image crouched next to Hunter, Ordy, who was blocking the golem's final assault, smiled at Hunter. At the same time, Mian threw rocks at the floating stones, causing explosions, and Loafy bombarded the golem with fireballs.
"You were right, we should never let anyone experience what we did; I was too focused on how we would survive to think ahead—you broke your own hand, though," Ordy said as he stood up.
Hunter stood up and spat blood on the ground as he walked forward with a solemn expression on his face, while Ordy smiled and looked at him.
"Let's end this battle right now," Hunter declared, his face devoid of hesitation.
The golem roared repeatedly, filling the air with terror, as it struggled to find its way out as its mana depleted as it tried to defend itself from Hunter and Ordy approaching it while remaining within its spiraling circular field. The space was cramped, and neither Hunter nor Ordy had much room to move. Both of them were repeatedly knocked to the ground by boulder attacks and sustained significant damage, but they insisted on standing despite shivering and blurred vision from exhaustion.
They fell, and again, and again, but they never gave up. They were exhaling heavily as they forced their bodies to stand. Blood on their faces, shivering bodies from numerous wounds. They'd fall twice and then get back up, running, walking, and crawling toward their gradually weakening adversary. Their faces were filled with determination, and they had only one goal in mind: to eliminate the dangerous monster in front of them.
The last time they both fell, they both spat blood while attempting to get back up. However, their attention was drawn when the golem roared loudly as its body lit up in blue light, ready to explode and decimate the area before flying away to flee.
The bright light inside its body died instantly as a clean slice of dagger passed through it, severing it in half. The orb's light flickered repeatedly, despite the fact that it was no longer inside the golem's body and being held by a hand.
Vien landed on the ground, holding the blue core in her hand, and the blue shell slowly vanished into thin air. Because the entity manipulating the boulders was no longer present, the boulders fell to the ground.
Ordy and Hunter looked at Vien, their bloodshot faces filled with relief.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so long; the golem didn't let down its guard until that very moment," Vien explained as she reinserted her dagger into its sheath.
Ordy smiled as he raised his thumb from the ground. "No, Vien, you did fantastically well."
"Ordy, Mian, Vien, Gideon! You're all okay!" Halini screamed as she ran through the piled-up boulders toward them and hugged Vien. "I thought we'd lost."
"I'm glad to see that everyone is okay," Mian said as she approached them, and Halini immediately hugged her.
"Mian!" screamed Halini as she shoved her face into Mian's chest.
"How about me?" Ordy asked, raising his bloodied arms.
"Come here and I'll give you and Gideon a hug," Halini replied, wrapping both Vien and Mian in her arms.
Ordy laughed. "Did you hear that, my lad? Our little Halini will give us a hug if we stand up—" his words came to a halt as he turned to face Hunter. "Gideon?"
Gideon's face was buried to the ground while soundly sleeping due to the extreme exhaustion his body had experienced. Hunter finally succumbed to exhaustion and fatigue and fell asleep after ensuring their victory.
"It appears he became very exhausted," Mian said, staring at Gideon. "It can't be helped, this is his first dangerous battle as an adventurer, and he did a lot," she said with a smile.
They were approached by Halini and Vien. Vien stared silently at Gideon, who was lying on the ground with his injured right hand exposed, while Halini approached Ordy.
"Oh my, Ordy, you can't stand? It's unavoidable, here's my hug," Halini said as she hugged Ordy, who was sitting on the ground. "Hmm... I hope Gideon is all right."
Ordy laughed. "Yes, he's fine, and thank you for the hug, it healed all of my wounds," he said before shifting his gaze to Mian and smiling gently. "He is extraordinary," he said, staring at Gideon's sleeping face.
Mian gave a nod. "He is."
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