Chapter 118
A Powerful Foe — Part 3
Editors: Sebas Tian, Speedphoenix, Joker
I was on top of Rir"s back, sitting backwards and facing the direction opposite the one he was running in . I had Zaien ready to fend off the manticore"s attacks .
"s.h.i.+t…!" I swore as I blocked one such blow . The beast had used a nearby tree as a springboard and obliterated it as it leapt at us to deliver a heavy strike backed by the weight of its entire body . "f.u.c.k off, fata.s.s!"
My arms creaked . They complained by making unnatural sounds that they were never meant to make, but I grit my teeth and swung Zaien yet again to attack Sir Douchebag in return . The c.o.c.ky son of a b.i.t.c.h fell back and dodged the swing with ease before casting a spell and fired a series of stone spears in our direction .
I clicked my tongue . I couldn"t let even a single one of his projectiles. .h.i.t Rir . The whole chase we had going on would end the moment I let him take damage, so I forcefully twisted my arms and swung Zaien until I destroyed all the lances that had been aimed at him . And in doing so, I completely ignored all the lances that had been aimed at me .
Several ran me through . I cursed, tensed my muscles, and endured as my blood spilled all over Rir"s fur, staining it in crimson .
The Fenrir barked at me worriedly and turned to check on me, but I dismissed his concerns by barking right back at him . “Shut up, keep your eyes in front and run!”
I wanted to open up my inventory and grab a potion, but I didn"t have the time . I couldn"t just stop defending us . The creepy b.a.s.t.a.r.d stalking us would definitely start pus.h.i.+ng even harder the moment I stopped focusing on him entirely . But that was fine . I had accrued damage, sure, but it wasn"t enough to break me . My body was far too st.u.r.dy to fall to a few minor injuries and a tiny bit of blood loss .
After pulling out only the spears that would impede my movements, I once again began to focus on intercepting the stalker"s attacks .
Except he wasn"t attacking .
The smug-looking a.s.shole was still hot on our heels, but it was just staring and smirking as opposed to actually attacking . The look on its face resembled that of someone that had just nailed a good hit or two in a game of darts . This f.u.c.king d.i.c.kwad…
It was only going to take Rir a few more minutes to reach his destination . We were likely to wipe the c.o.c.ky grin off of him once we did, but that wasn"t quite enough for me . I wanted to get him once before we arrived . I felt the urge to take all of his composure and shove it right up his a.s.s . Don"t look down on demon lords, a.s.shole!
Getting attacked over and over had filled me with frustration, so I drew the weapon I had holstered on my hips, my fully loaded magical handgun . I raised Zaien to my face and switched from holding with one of my hands to grabbing it with my teeth . It was kind of heavy and made my jaw hurt, but it was necessary . I used my now free hand to reach into my inventory and grabbed a random c.r.a.ppy weapon I had created in my spare time, one of the many failures I had produced for the sake of practice . I chucked it at the furf.a.g with all the force I could muster, which ultimately caused blood to spurt from my wounds, but I didn"t care . Fixing the look on his face mattered much more to me than a bit of blood .
The son of a b.i.t.c.h dodged it with ease and immediately positioned itself for a counter by leaping towards a nearby tree in a manner reminiscent of a dumb looking monkey . And that was when I struck . I pointed my gun at the tree"s base and pulled the trigger .
A bullet erupted from the barrel, roaring as loud as an entire battery of artillery . The projectile, which contained an entire three thousand mana, cleaved right through the tree"s stem and knocked the whole d.a.m.n plant over . Dumbf.u.c.k was left in midair without a destination and he was going too fast to correct his posture . His face contorted in shock as it planted itself into the ground with all the grace of a beached whale .
"Hah! Suck my d.i.c.k, a.s.shole!" I put my gun away and used the now empty hand to give him the finger whilst flaunting a huge s.h.i.+t-eating grin .
Sir Douchebag"s face twisted in rage as it came to realize that I was actively provoking him . He pumped even more power into his legs than before as he gave chase with renewed vigour .
"Hahah, b.i.t.c.h! Look who"s laughing now! Sure does suck to get a taste of your own medicine, don"t it!?"
Surprisingly, the first response my second taunt resulted in wasn"t yet another angry roar . Rather, it came in the form of a scolding bark . Rir had more or less asked me why I would do something as dumb as provoking the enemy .
"Sorry Rir! Like, you and I both know that I"m a genuine pacifist, but he"s the one that picked this fight!" I laughed my a.s.s off as I explained myself . "And anyone that messes with me gets force fed their own medicine a hundred times over . "
I could tell that I wasn"t exactly in what I would call the right state of mind . I had lost too much blood and my head wasn"t getting quite enough . That said, retaliation had always been a part of my doctrine, as it was key to maintaining a state of peace .
I was far less concerned with that right now, however, and much more entertained by the obvious seething rage on the furf.a.g"s face . Just looking at it was enough to refresh me . Of course, the fact that he had sped up wasn"t exactly in our favour, but it didn"t matter . Our destination was in sight . It was only a few hundred meters away .
We were headed straight for one of the traps that I had set earlier in the day . Unlike the spells that Rir and I had casted, traps didn"t use magical energy or create magical phenomenon for the most part . Rather, they used the mysterious substance known as DP in order to create physical phenomena in a manner that one would be tempted to label as magical . I didn"t see the rhyme or reason behind the distinction, nor was I even a hundred percent sure that my plan would work, but all the evidence seemed to point to the fact that the s.a.d.i.s.tic manticore"s automatic AT Field-like barrier reacted solely to magic, and that traps that did not explicitly cast magic would ultimately cause physical damage .
In other words, our stalker was more likely than not susceptible to traps .
The only thing I really had to worry about was getting the timing right . I couldn"t activate it too early else risk him realizing . And I couldn"t activate it too late else risk it not popping at all . Everything was riding on me pressing the right b.u.t.ton at the right split second .
"Looking pretty desperate there, huh? Sure must suck to get your a.s.s kicked by someone way weaker than you, don"t it? Get rekt, b.i.t.c.h!"
I dodged the attack it aimed at me before continuing to insult it in order to cloud its judgement . In the meantime, Rir kept running and kicking up ma.s.sive dust clouds behind him while dodging any trees in his way . Almost there . Just a bit further .
It leapt at us again, and once again specifically targetted me, but I twisted my body to dodge its bite before smacking its dumb-looking face with my fist . Almost! Come on, come on!
The sensation of being struck by me caused it to momentarily flinch right as Rir leapt over the point .
Everything was perfect . The trap was right between us and it . It looked at us with an even greater expression of rage and charged in a straight line . Now!
I activated the trap the moment the a.s.shole pa.s.sed over it . He wasn"t paying attention to what was underfoot, so the c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d stepped right on it and popped it .
A deafening boom a.s.saulted my ears as the landscape before me was dyed a deep shade of red .
There had been an explosion, an explosion powerful enough to take the living out of the term living thing . And yet, I doubted that it would be able to kill the douchey manticore . It was level 96 . I felt as if the a.s.shole would likely survive it and get back to his feet if we let him be . And I wasn"t about to sit around long enough to find out if my hunch was correct .
I knew that if I wanted to end the battle, then I"d have to do so right this instant . I jumped off Rir"s back, raised my arms to protect my face, and dove straight into the inferno with my blade at the ready .
Pain a.s.saulted me . I could feel the ma.s.sive explosion burning me all over as its shrapnel dug into my flesh . But I kept moving . It hurt badly enough for me to think I was going to die . But that"s all it did . That"s all it amounted to .
"Die!"
I loosed a determine shout as I fought against the winds expelled by the explosion . I pushed back with as much force as my legs could allow and carved my way through to the centre of the blast . And as I reached it, I discovered that I had won my bet . His AT Field had failed to activate .
Plunging through the explosion rewarded me with the sight of an injured manticore . He was burned all over and parts of him had even carbonized . Most importantly, his eyes were rolled back in their sockets . The sudden explosion had knocked him out cold . Fortunately, force-feeding him a single trap had been enough to stop him . I didn"t have to resort to my backup plan: running all over the Wicked Forest and showing him the dungeon"s newly established full course meal .
I dashed in front of it and swung Zaien .
The beast recovered right as I did . Its eyes spun back around in their sockets and immediately focused on me .
Crisis detection started to go off . It filled me with an incredible sense of danger and dread .
Time slowed .
Its foot slowly moved towards my face and threatened to tear my skull from the rest of my body .
But I didn"t stop .
Because, this time, I wasn"t alone .
A burnt looking Rir, who had also leapt into the inferno, dug his fangs into the manticore"s shoulder and stopped his attack in place .
His actions allowed me to complete my swing .
Zaien sunk into the furf.a.g"s neck .
I felt the sensation of the blade severing the creature"s bone and rending its flesh . Blood sprayed everywhere . There was a literal shower of the stuff as the manticore"s head spun through the air . Even more of the sanguine liquid rained down from the headless stump that was its neck .
And then, after a brief delay, it finally collapsed .
Never to move again .
"It looks like we win . "