Bab 28: Giant Hunting
Black Howler stared up at the dark tree bark in front of him and wondered what would happen if his plan failed.
He glanced to his left where a second giant pine tree rose not ten feet away. Lyghtning was already painting its bark in the red dye of sheep's blood.
Around them, the trees seemed taller and much darker than the ones he'd seen when he first visited the forest. But this spot they'd found was a place Black Howler had stumbled into before and he'd chosen it because of its one unique trait. This was the section of the Dark Forest that the river Styx cut into which meant there might be double the chance of the Decapitator prowling this area.
"This will work," he said to himself, grinning as he did. "It has to… or Ath3na won't shut up about it."
Black Howler began to coat his tree with sheep's blood in the swirls of patterns that Thorminator recommended — that of a single red eye.
His newly evolved comrade had explained earlier that the eye was an ancient symbol for cyclopes.
"In this game, I've learned that symbols can be powerful," Thorminator had said to his team. "I think drawing a cyclops' symbol with the sheep's blood could empower your lure even more."
It was an interesting idea, one that Black Howler was willing to test now in the hope that Thorminator wasn't just blowing smoke from out of his ass.
"I'm just about done over here, loves," Lyghtning called. "How many more tree trunks am I supposed to deface?"
Black Howler waved his finger around in a circle.
"We want to make sure he crosses past these lines of trees and walks right into the traps," he explained.
Black Howler glanced down and noticed the telltale signs of the thick rope Ath3na had lashed onto the lower half of the tree trunk he was working on. It had been camouflaged in leaves to look like vines on the ground and extended all the way to Lyghtning's tree.
It was lying on the ground now, but he knew a mechanism was in place to ensure this stretch of rope and others like it would rise and stretch tightly across the path the moment their target attempted to cross it. In fact, Ath3na was currently in the midst of laying these ropes across their hunting grounds which they hoped would help to take away their opponent's maneuverability.
"I'm finished with my job, guys," Thorminator called from behind Black Howler.
Black Howler turned around and gave Thorminator the thumbs up. "Good… once that bastard steps into this kill zone… he won't know what hit him."
"Our revenge will be a dish best served cold," Thorminator agreed.
"Then perhaps you guys can finish marking our kill zone," Ath3na chided. "We're losing daylight people."
---
"Can you feel that?" Lyghtning sent a Whisper to Black Howler an hour after they'd finished laying out their trap. "The ground's shaking…"
They were each hiding behind the trunks of the first pine trees they'd marked, crouching under the cover of fallen leaves they'd piled around themselves.
"The target's here," Black Howler he replied, although in his head he wondered if only he and she could see the crows that had sent their messages across to each other. He hoped that was the case otherwise this ambush was about to get messy real fast.
As if tempting fate, a second crow perched on his shoulder and whispered the thoughts of Ath3na into his ears.
"I can see him just past your tree line… Wait for the moment, and when it comes… let loose the berserker," she instructed.
Seconds ticked by as the ground continued to rumble brought about by the stomping of massive feet.
A trickle of sweat dripped down Black Howler's forehead as the thought of their last encounter filled his mind. Dying slowly as the pressure over his body got heavier and heavier until a single breath had become a herculean effort.
Black Howler let out a deep breath as if to push away the haunting memory from his thoughts.
"You can do this," he whispered to himself. "You can do this…"
The sound of a heavy footstep reached his ears. The ground shook worse than before. It was so close now.
Directly opposite him, Black Howler could see Lyghtning through the bed of leaves she was hiding in. The worry in her face was apparent yet her eyes glinted with a resolve that made him feel glad to have her as a teammate.
It was the fingers that made Black Howler look up. Four long and thick fingers that fastened onto his pine's trunk about twenty feet above him.
Then the head appeared — a great, shaggy head with a single red eye on its brow and a pug nose that was sniffing at the air before it.
Sniff, sniff, sniff — the cyclops head cleared the trees as it continued to sniff at the air, almost as if it was trying to catch the scent of something close by.
Us, he can smell us, Black Howler thought, and this thought made him lie flat on the ground for now was not the time to expose himself.
The cyclops' head cleared their tree line, and then came its massive, armored body, and soon afterward, almost unbearably slow, the right leg moved forward.
Black Howler gripped tightly on his claymore's hilt.
A sliver of a moment passed by as he waited with bated breath for the massive creature to step on their trap.
Come on, he thought. Come on.
The cyclops' right foot fell on an inconspicuous patch of grass and finally, the trap was sprung.
Three thick lines of ropes rose up from the forest floor and stretched taut in front of the cyclops' legs but the thirty-foot monster hadn't noticed it until it was too late. Its foot was entangled by the ropes causing the cyclops to trip and stumble to one knee.
Luck it seemed was on the party's side for as its left hand slammed onto the forest floor, the cyclops inadvertently triggered the second trap.
A glowing circular array appeared underneath the cyclops just before it exploded into shards of ice that clung to the lesser denizen's hand and slowly rose up its arm.
The cyclops roared in pain just as a second explosion reached its ears for its left foot had also stepped on another ice mine.
"Game on!" Black Howler yelled as he jumped out of his hiding place and brandished his claymore forward.
Likewise, his companions each appeared out of hiding so that their assault on the Decapitator could finally start. They each lobbed metallic cylinders the size of a Coke can at the cyclops.
The grenades exploded on impact, but instead of flames, they released a layer of white dust that morphed into shards of ice that clung onto the cyclops' skin.
"Keep attacking and don't let it get up!" Ath3na ordered.
"I think we're a little late to the party, love," Lyghtning replied. "This blighter's already bloody and scarred."
Lyghtning had pointed out a fact that they all had just noticed. The Decapitator was already wounded. Its lone eye was red and irritated. Drops of blood fell down its nose. Fresh, bloody wounds appeared all over its body.
"It looks like some other teams have roughed it up quite nicely," Lyghtning pointed out. "We should thank them for making this easier for us!"
"Don't get cocky, Lyghtning," Ath3na chided from somewhere in front of the Decapitator. "Cyclopes are known to get enraged the closer they are to death… expect things to get rougher the more we hurt it!"
"Less talking more attacking!" Thorminator cut in.
The cyclops swung its free hand down on the spot where Thorminator's voice had come from, but before its massive hand could smack the ground more thick ropes sprung up from the ground and entangled the Decapitator's raised arm.
"Like the martial masters of old, your power I'll help to mold!" Thorminator chanted. "Focus!"
Black Howler felt strength pouring into him. It arrived just in time too as he'd just swung his claymore sideways at the cyclops' left leg.
Giant's ichor sprayed out of the deep gash he'd cut into his enemy. A second slash across the wound he'd just opened drew even more blood spewing out of the Decapitator's leg, causing the lesser denizen to roar in pain.
With its giant's strength, its left hand broke through the ice that bound it to the forest floor. No doubt it would have sent this freed hand barreling toward Black Howler like a thick tree log were it not for the column of fire that was spewed onto its face at that exact moment, forcing the cyclops to cower away.
"Nice timing," Black Howler called.
He watched a second more as Thorminator spewed fire from his mouth and aimed his breath in the direction of the cyclops' face.
"Lovely, he breathes fire now," Lyghtning laughed.
Black Howler glanced up. He watched Lyghtning climb up the Cyclops' back and race all the way up to its upper back just so she could stab her two shiny bronze gladius' into the free patch of skin between its neck and its armored back.
"Ripping Fangs!" she yelled just as her blades penetrated into the Decapitator's back.
The monster roared again. It began to raise its left leg.
"Oh, no you don't!" Black Howler roared back. "Furious Blow!"
With the muscles in both his arms tensing up, he swung his claymore down on the cyclops' ankle cutting deeply into it and effectively forcing the cyclops to stay on its knees.
At the same time, he heard Ath3na yell, "Soul Pulse!" and watched as a volley of spiritual blasts exploded onto the Decapitator's form.
"Hell yeah!" he roared in delight. "We've got it on the ropes now!"
That's when the unthinkable happened.
A chant he'd never heard before filled the air around him almost like an echo bouncing off the trees, and he heard the spell that was cast, "Entangled Vines!"
Not only did the voice sound unfamiliar to him, but the fact that the Decapitator wasn't the target was readily apparent. No sooner had the spell been cast when Black Howler suddenly found himself entangled in vines that had sprung up from the ground beneath him.
And he wasn't alone. Lyghtning, who'd just dropped down on the ground beside him had also been entangled by these magical vines.
"Dammit!" he heard Ath3na yell. "What the hell are you guys doing?"
"All's fair in love and war, dear Ath3na," he heard a man reply.
"How are you even doing this? PvP isn't allowed!" Ath3na fired back.
There was a chorus of laughter that made Black Howler's skin crawl.
"But we aren't attacking you and your friends," the other man protested. "We're simply holding you down long enough for us to kill the Decapitator which you so graciously served up on a platter for us."
"You're such a goddamn cheater, Don Coyote!" Ath3na screamed.
Another chorus of laughter resounded that was barely drowned out by the indignant roar of the cyclops that was still imprisoned by their traps.
Ah, Black Howler thought as he now understood what was going on. They were being robbed.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
GD_Cruz
GD_Cruz Greetings, fellow reapers!
I'd like to apologize for the long delay in chapter release... last week was a busy week where my house was being renovated and I was in charge of overseeing our workers. It was very hectic considering the Covid19 situation and it left no time or energy for writing... That said, everything's finally finished and I can finally go back to sharing the tale of the Game Master of Souls with you guys!
Working hard on the next chapter as we speak. I estimate that volume 1 will last about two to three more chapters then we can move on to even more cool stuff! :D
On that note, the party's teamwork is really shaping up, right? I'm actually considering making them a permanent group should Black Howler consider not wanting to play solo anymore. Also, what the f**k is up with Don Coyote? What a sleaze ball, right? :p
Enjoy this chapter release and look forward to the next one!
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
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