Capítulo 363: Chapter 363: Decisive Measures Taken Resolutely
Five seconds, maybe? That was roughly how long was left until the krakyrn was freed from the prison it stuck itself in and all hell broke loose. It was charging something fierce, and nobody knew what exactly, but what was evident no matter who you were was that it was aiming at the Federation. The fight was about to become incredibly hectic between these two forces but at what cost? There was no way this attack from the krakyrn wasn't going to leave it high and dry on both the mana and stamina front, so it was guaranteed to die after launching this because Ares would just kill it, and the Federation was going to take a massive pummelling here and that was also unavoidable. Only Ares really came out of this looking like a king but everyone else was in line for some suffering first. All because this stupid krakyrn wasn't able to just disregard its losses and swim away! There wasn't a living soul aboard the Federation that wasn't at least a little angry at this vindictive, moronic monster. Take the hint and get lost! Better yet, don't come baring your fangs at the Federation for a problem they didn't even cause! Go pester Ares for answers! He'd probably have hundreds to give and was more than willing to entertain the krakyrn. Unfortunately, however, the creature was dead set on attacking the closest thing to it, and also the cause of all of this as far as it was concerned, and that just happened to be the Federation. It had acknowledged Hunter's group as the biggest threat to it, amongst hose aboard the Federation anyway, and was staring down their location pretty hard right now so it was almost definitely going to make a beeline for them as soon as the bubble was down. Nearby residents were being evacuated to safer parts of the Freefire Federation, further up or down so as to avoid the incoming raging behemoth.
Tick tock the timer on the bubble was up, meaning it was go time and everyone had to prepare themselves. Or, rather, the time for preparing was basically over and now they needed to steel their resolve and be ready to fight the hardest fight of their lives for the next twenty seconds, give or take. They paid close attention the krakyrn as it thundered through the ocean towards the Federation to try and get a proper grasp of what it was charging up but its spiked pit mouth was mostly hidden underwater and so nobody could really see clearly at this range. There was just an ominous red glow coming from under the water and everywhere the monster passed through the ocean boiled in its wake. This was going to be some kind of fire pillar art, presumably combined with its fire breathing ability, so the heat was about to be turned up and dialled to eleven which was a considerable problem given the fact that the Freefire pyramid was stacked the way it was.
Fires were hard to put out at the best of times, hence why the Firestarters revolved their entire plan around it, sort of like budget warlords fighting Cao Cao at the Red Cliffs, but this statement was especially true in the Federation's current pyramidal form. With everything stacked on top of each other the country had basically become a giant pyre waiting to be lit. Plus if the base of the Federation was burnt then it wouldn't take long before the fires spread upwards, leaving those up above with nowhere left to flee. Their only option would be to burn alive or jump however many hundreds of feet down into the water and break every bone in their body if they were a cultivator. If they were a mortal they'd just die from the fall. In summary, a fire was devastating. The Federation did have a dedicated team of specialists to combat fires, who were given an inordinate amount of supplies and money to further improve themselves after the Firestarter threat reared its head, but there was still only so much they could do. If fires spread beyond their control then everything was doomed. Despite thwarting the Firestarters, it was incredibly ironic to think that there was a potential outcome here today wherein the entire Federation burned regardless. Though the krakyrn was not mightier than the Scylla, everyone felt far more afraid of it and this thing would go down in the history books as the greatest obstacle the Federation ever faced, hopefully not its last though.
Geordie took up a position on the layer above where Hunter's store was so he could get a good overview of the battlefield and throw up his magic where it was needed. The krakyrn's attack wasn't quite something that could be understood fully just yet but, if Geordie's instincts were correct, it was going to be a very wide ranging attack. His best bet was to sit in as central a location as possible to get the best coverage so he'd used his magic to create earthen steps and climb. This did mean he couldn't offer the Hunter lot as much support from this range, especially if he didn't focus exclusively on them, but it was better overall in terms of efficiency and protecting life / property. Though he was not the one killing the wyvern, and not the one fighting the krakyrn either, he played arguably the most important role of everyone present and had to take it seriously. He couldn't be careless and run around having fun with everyone else on the front lines, he was a commander and a captain. He was strong enough to be throwing magic offensively but his talents meant he was restricted to making the correct choice and he wanted to anyway. It was less blood pumping to stay up here than run head first at the incoming monster but he cared deeply about the Federation. There was nobody in this country that cared more, actually, so all his actions revolved around it and not his own personal interests. Or, actually, the Federation was his greatest personal interest so that was technically incorrect.
Down below, Esme and Nibbler were manning cannons inside Hunter's shop to contribute however possible. It looked like the krakyrn might actually wind up getting close to the Federation but chucking too many people at it was asking to get barbecued all at once, as well as fumble over one another when trying to approach it, and it was better to keep some strength in reserve just in case anything unforeseen cropped up. Plus Nibbler couldn't hold a sack of Shock Beads anyway so that wasn't a role he could potentially fulfil. Esme was just the weakest member of the group so she was asked to stay behind and provide support which she was actually pretty good at if she devoted herself to it. The wind pillar was fantastic at providing temporary flight via Aero Authority or wind tunnels that sped up allies. Wind magic could also be used defensively to divert weaker attacks via strong gales so she was going to be the support this time around. The same was true of Nibbler but he had far less options because he was primarily a combatant who was being relegated to the back. Still, he could keep cheering everyone on and watch his dad fight from afar! Their success and achievements were shared, according to Hunter, so he was contributing too! The occasional water jet or water spit cannonball would come in handy and wasn't anything to scoff at. Esme could deal with the more numerous attacks, that were individually less powerful, while Nibbler could break apart any bigger attacks that the krakyrn might spew. Unfortunately he had no support magic to speak of but that was fine. That being said, Ares was a little surprised this fella didn't have an affiliation for the aspect of cuteness! Maybe he did and he just hadn't realised it yet but Ares was certain there would be morale raising buffs he could learn in due time. It's not like he had anything else to really do in his spare time, other than maybe chasing around the occasional flying squirrel that took refuge on the Federation as they migrated across the ocean, so some training here and there wouldn't hurt.
Then there was the main crew who were all loaded with gadgets and ready to put on a show. Onno was the wildcard here because nobody, probably not even himself, knew what he was going to do just yet because he had a million and one options available to him at all times. He would assess the situation and do whatever was needed of him in the moment, be it aggressively casting arts to distract the krakyrn, defending against anything Geordie wasn't going to be in time to, or even providing support for anyone who was able to make a break for the krakyrn's mouth. Also, no matter what the krakyrn was charging, Onno could contribute to either blocking it or fixing the problem it created. If he needed to use the water pillar to put out fires, he would do it. If he needed to use the earthen pillar, like Geordie, to deal with an overwhelming onslaught, he would be there. Reliability personified. He was incredibly reliable and his business acumen had resulted in a degree of analytical smarts that made him useful in any and every situation as a strategist of sorts. It wasn't his real specialty, being a combatant was just something he was forced into right now, but he could be a pretty mean trickster with his magic. He was everywhere you didn't want him to be in a fight and doing everything you didn't want him to. He knew the odds of success of most moves he took before he made them so exploiting weaknesses in an opponent's strategy consistently was something he could do. Onno wasn't usually in the business of violence but, if you looked at him and thought you saw a profit, you must have seen wrong. Hell you might have been staring down one of his Doppelbängers even.
Aejaz! Aejaz needed no introduction or explanation because he could do... Basically everything! As long as Onno, and his variety cultivation, were around, there was basically no pillar Aejaz couldn't access at a base level. He was also nimble and respectable in close quarters combat but he could really stand wherever he wanted in a fight and still be invaluable. At longer ranges he could just support with Esme's magic or fire off Ares' destruction magic... Or, rather, there was zero reason for Aejaz not to use destruction as often as he could in this fight because it was just blatantly the most powerful tool he had access to here currently. Sure he didn't have a Converter, and sure his magic didn't replicate destruction 100%, but it's not like any other magic here was matching it regardless. If Aejaz were at transition realm he could have very easily killed this monster on his own. Hell, at that point, he could probably take on two or three at minimum by his lonesome. He was powerful! Aejaz was an impressively strong cultivator, he just needed more time to really start climbing the cultivation ranks so he could take advantage of the tools he and he alone had. To that end, he was basically just a better Onno in every way because he also came pre-packed with invisibility, silent casting, and the Nyxian Prowler which Ares had borrowed him a few days back so he could go on a stealing spree without getting caught. Not that he needed it for such purposes, Aejaz getting caught by anyone in this country was near impossible, but he really enjoyed using it and Ares had no need for it back then anyway.
Next up were the strange two man group that had disappeared during the Scylla incident!... They weren't here because they were still healing and the headache hadn't gone away. It was actually getting worse, apparently, as the Federation neared Xasca so that was all unusual and strange... Ares really wanted answers about those two...
Then there was Massai! He was a fake monk. Moving on.
You would think, then, that Aejaz had the best chance of getting a Shock Bead sack into the krakyrn's mouth what with Voidwalk, invisibility, and extreme adaptability... But actually it was Hunter. He too possessed similar traits, although slightly worse in the case of the former two, and could just as easily accomplish the mission if he spotted a chance. That right there was the main difference between him and Aejaz, years of experience. Aejaz was an assassin, so he was getting well practiced in discretely dealing a killing blow, but it was a slightly different ball park to what hunters did against monsters. An assassination was a quick affair but a monster hunt was a slow, calculated tango in comparison. It required a lot more thought put into it over the course of a longer duration, although arguably less precision, and Hunter was particularly gifted at analysing a monster's habits and patterns compared to Aejaz who might just get stuck thanks to repeated, unexpected, flailing by the krakyrn. Maybe a flame breath would singe Aejaz as he tried to get in close. Maybe a tentacle would come up from an unexpected angle and swat him away. That was the real issue, assassination targets usually didn't get to fight back to this extent. Or, rather, the assassination target didn't come to you with the intent of picking a fight and murdering you at all! You'd be a pretty terrible assassin if your mark felt so safe around you they sniffed out your position and launched the first attack instead of escaping. That was a terrible sign and this krakyrn, though stupid, was no different.
Hunter, on the other hand, had already proven he could get stuff inside that monster's gob back during the auction house incident so he was the reliable one here. That's not to say any of the people active on the front lines, other than him, couldn't do it, just that he was the most likely to keep his eye on the prize and spot an opportunity that others would miss or be unable to act on. Hunting was his territory and he was familiar with the krakyrn to an extent greater than everybody else. This was not his first rodeo against this thing and, despite the water pillar enabler, as well as this charging magic he'd never seen before, he felt like he knew all of its tricks to keep him at bay and how best to manoeuvre around them. Others would just have to go about it in a trial and error kind of way while he could just go straight for the killing blow. He wanted it too as he hadn't really contributed much to the Scylla fight before. He was raring to take part in his final Federation hunt, most likely ever, and so a part of him was actually glad about this result what with Ares being stuck in the bubble. Of everyone here, he had the highest chance to shine bright in this fight and he wanted that spotlight! Not the attention or admiration that came with it, he couldn't care less, it was just for his own personal pride as a top class hunter. Sure he had to rely on Ares' tools to get the job done but, really, he was the one doing all the hard work here and so he deserved the credit if he was the one to make this sack goal happen!
SPLASH
The krakyrn leapt out of the water and took to flying, shaky though it was. The wounds Ares inflicted earlier weren't healed fully but it was enough such that the krakyrn could maintain a hover for maybe five or so seconds before falling back into the ocean. It seemed to be ok with that, however, because its attack was finished charging and it was about to spew it down at the Federation without mercy. Now that everyone got a clearer look at it, the art itself seemed to be a meteor spewing art of sorts. There had been a lot of meteors as of late! Still, these were a little different as the krakyrn was going to act like an erupting volcano, spewing out ashen chunks of rocks that would burn everything they touched to a crisp. Sure enough, a second later, the parade of heated rock rain began and, from the monster's mouth, hundreds of meteors, each about half the size of a small house, were thrown every which way. It didn't have control over the direction, seemingly, but the catch here was that this spew was going to be near endless. It looked like it could keep this up until either A; it ran out of mana, or B; it was killed. The former was an impossible ask because the Federation would not last that long. CRASH. Teh first meteor proved that without a shadow of a doubt because it alone was enough to destroy an entire row of shops and set the entire ship it hit on fire. If the monster was allowed to keep firing until it exhausted itself there would be nothing left of the Federation and fighting back with an army of dead and burnt soldiers was impossible for obvious reasons. Unless there was a very proficient necromancer around, anyway! Still, people wanted to live so that option wasn't in the cards even if one were truly here.
Geordie could have blocked that first meteor but he wanted to get a feel for the devastation this art could cause so he left it to its own devices as a sort of experiment. Put simply, after gauging the devastation, he was not a happy camper. The Federation, at this rate, might actually be in an irreparable state if they had to wait however long was left on Ares' bubble for him to stop this. To make matters worse, the krakyrn wasn't holding its current position over the ocean, it was angling itself to fall straight onto the Federation and cling to it while spewing meteors everywhere. it wasn't giving up, it was doubling down. At point blank range, a meteor spew like that would absolutely sink this entire country in a matter of seconds. Each meteor had penetrating power too so the Freeride form, aside from the cannons firing at the beast right this very instant, was backfiring horrendously. Had it been the regular Federation, each meteor would have pierced it and sunk into the ocean. Now, though, every meteor that hit had a chance of damaging multiple parts of the structure and even killing innocents in the very centre. It was bad. Atrocious even. The situation had become quite dire because of this one art and it was entirely possible that both the Federation and the krakyrn died together here.
The krakyrn was going all in on this strategy and accepting death from Ares, it seemed, so it was looking to take the Federation responsible for bringing him here to its watery grave along with it. Geordie sighed, took a deep breath, and concentrated like he never had before. There was only one shot to make this all work, he couldn't slack and expect better results next time. It was do or die, there was no 'next time', and the tension in the atmosphere as the Federation was slowly set alight was peaking. Some of the weaker sailors were running around scared like headless chickens and people were breaking down into tears all over the place. Still, Geordie filtered them out out and directed all his attention to intercepting and blocking whatever he possibly could. He strained himself to fling earthen chunks at incoming meteors, detonating them away from the Federation while also containing wildfires spawning all around him with pop-up rock labyrinths. It wouldn't snuff out the fire but it would contain and delay them long enough for the anti-fire squad to arrive and do whatever they needed to. Of course Geordie was also setting up hundreds of walls per minute to act as a first line of defence but they were being knocked over like bowling pins one by one and leaving the Federation exposed.
Geordie could not keep up with this art and was starting fall behind even though he'd yet to provide the assault team with any real support. Though he hated it, the correct response here was to give up on defence and spend all his mana aiding Hunter and co. They were the only way to stop this thing for good and managed decline wasn't cutting it. Geordie would defend the Federation and extend its slow and painful death, or he could accept momentary carnage to end this nightmare spreading all around him before it grew into an unstoppable inferno. The choice was a painful one but he knew it needed to be done. With gritted teeth, he raised another set of earthen walls before looking down towards the front of the Federation, near the bottom of the pyramid, where Hunter and his team were jumping down layer after layer and charging towards the krakyrn's landing point. Nobody amongst them had expected the fight to come this, to have to rely on the Shock Bead sack after all, but this was just what was being asked of them so they valiantly accepted and were heroically dashing towards their goal now with Geordie's full support behind them.
Their group easily had it the worst and were directly in the firing line. They had the least amount of time to dodge any meteors that came their way and so the struggle on their end was far greater than anything the cry-baby sailors up here, clinging to Geordie's safe leg, had to fret over and yet they showed no fear and neve slowed down for even a second. Aejaz Shifted away from a giant explosion caused by a meteor striking a shop selling lamp oil while Onno created an ice slide to redirect a falling meteor in another that was about to crush him into paste. Massai was lucky enough not to have to deal with anything so he just kept running while throwing up the occasional lotus barrier around nearby civilians to help them escape unharmed by the raging fires burning everything down. As for Hunter, he'd taken more showy measures and was wielding a grappling hook gadget currently, flinging himself between meteors by clinging onto them and utilising their momentum to swing himself further forward. If he targeted the underside of a meteor passing above him as he swung forward, after the grappling hook hit, the meteor would fly behind him and swing him upwards and forward, giving him a massive burst of speed. By chaining this movement repeatedly he was the first to arrive down by the lowest point of the Federation to the surprise of no-one. Once there, he began setting up stake shooters in safe locations, those not yet lit up by meteors and fire, and had them fire on auto at the krakyrn. Normally they wouldn't be any more effective than the cannonballs were but he'd laced these stakes with numbing poison that would take effect quickly, This poison was designed to knock out elephants in under a second flat so it's not like it wouldn't add up over time against this monster if they could keep firing uninterrupted!
The stakes were missing more often than they were hitting but that was to be expected given the fact that the krakyrn was still currently in the air. That was about to change, however, as the pain of its holed wings finally became impossible for its body to bare and so it crashed downwards in a messy spiral. The krakyrn kept firing its art, though, and never let up which just led to even more pandemonium because the spread of meteors had become that much more random and unpredictable. Some arced up into the air and hit the backside of the Freefire Federation directly where it was completely unguarded and that was particularly disastrous. CRASH. That was the sound of the krakyrn destroying a chunk of the Federation after landing directly on it like a whale throwing itself onto a rickety couch. It collapsed onto the third lowest layer of the Freefire, destroying the foundation hidden underneath the boats it landed on, while rolling downwards towards the bottom-most layer. When it arrived, it sunk its lower half back into the ocean while leaning its front half onto the Federation and craning its neck upwards to carry on spewing meteors at the country it despised down to its core. It wanted to watch this whole thing burn down for what happened to its mother so it was escalating the fight to a point it had never reached in any prior scuffles. Previously, the krakyrn didn't know if the Federation secretly had a method to kill it tucked away somewhere but, now, it no longer cared even if that were true as it was willing to go all the way. Everyone and everything could die and be destroyed today! Plus, Ares, the real monster, was going to be let out of the damn bubble in about ten seconds so the time limit it had to run amok was sparse and running out.
While the krakyrn was spewing countless attacks, one meteor was sent rocketing towards Hunter's store but thankfully Geordie blocked it, giving Esme room to create a wind tunnel for Hunter's squad to help them catch up to him. Nibbler fired water cannonballs at the krakyrn and managed to smack away a lot of the encroaching tentacles looking to make the situation even more troublesome. It seemed this would be his goal from now on and he was already learned in this regard as it wasn't the first time he'd squared off against these appendages. Back in the auction house he'd been on tentacle duty so, like Hunter, he was adept at analysing this monster's traits. In this case, he was aware of how the tentacles drifted side to side when not actively controlled by the krakyrn and he was hitting pot shots with surprising accuracy considering the whole no thumbs thing! With every bark, a pesky tentacle terrorising civilians was felled and he was just happy to be actively taking part! Go Nibbler!
Aejaz, Massai, and Onno had finally caught up to Hunter and were just in time to combine their magical efforts and destroy a meteor about to take out his stake launchers. Aejaz used a Grand Annihilation while Onno casted a support pillar aspect art that buffed magic for allies for a short time period. Aejaz didn't hear the name, unfortunately, because his ears, much like everyone else's, were ringing like alarm bells right now. The whizzing and crashing of meteors, the flaring blazes encroaching deeper onto the federation with every passing second, the sound of the krakyrn's mouth was like that of a hell portal, and the explosive arts Aejaz himself was unleashing all served to make the battlefield impossibly difficult to pinpoint any specific sounds. The fighters here were just going to have assume they were all acting in line with one another and casting beneficial and situationally correct arts and go with the flow. Hunter had prepped for this, to some degree, and everyone had noise cancelling earplugs if they thought it necessary, but that would mean they might get snuck up on by a meteor they didn't hear coming if they weren't careful and so nobody immediately opted for it. To be fair, not much could be heard here anyway but it was better to be deafened by the noise on the off chance they did hear something than get accidentally crushed by something they didn't. That being said, the peace and quiet the earplugs would offer might raise the user's concentration so it was actually a very difficult decision... In the end, only Massai chose to wear it because, as a self-proclaimed monk, he preferred complete quiet to whatever this abominable ensemble of madness was. His arts became noticeably stronger the second he did this but, in spite of it, none of the other members of the team chose to copy him. They didn't value the raw power of their magic because it was going to be more consistently defensive in nature going forward. It was mostly going to be a lot of utility coming out of them and power, in that sense, meant little because the Shock Bead sacks fulfilled that role all on their own. Any potential courts from teammates they could hear would do wonders in organising this chaos so they had to bare with the cacophony that was making their ears bleed a little the hard way.
Hunter was progressing forward nicely thanks to some optical camouflage device he'd created a while back. It wasn't perfect invisibility but it did also mask his natural odour somewhat so, against monsters and not humans, it might have actually been better overall. That was a major drawback of Aejaz' invisibility in that certain beasts might be able to sniff him out if they had a high enough cultivation and a good enough sense of smell. Plus Hunter was currently backed by Esme's wind tunnel, his grappling hook, and the stake launchers which were still the main target of the krakyrn currently as it had yet to notice the more dangerous hunter stalking it from the shadows. Errant meteors did occasionally come Hunter's way but well timed defensive magics from Onno and Geordie took care of that problem. Nearby tentacles, on the prowl for random citizens to murder, were all shot dead by Nibbler so it looked like his path was crystal clear. To make matters even more favourable, Aejaz was casting Perish Wheel here and there to draw the krakyrn's mouth in his direction. The meteor spew meant he would never get the full cast off but if Aejaz could angle the monster's head towards him then the chances of a meteor flying off at Hunter were drastically lowered.
Everything had come together nicely and now Hunter was currently lurking in the rubble of a burnt building right beside the krakyrn's left cheek. From here, it would take about two seconds to reach the krakyrn's mouth and get the job done... But that was still troublesome. The mouth is where all the meteors were originating from, after all, so a poorly aimed and timed throw would mean the sack was destroyed right as it was entering the mouth. If that happened, the blowback would only really kill Hunter and not the krakyrn who would probably then go on to destroy the Federation anyway before Ares arrived. The time limit here was tight because the fire was spreading rapidly and the Federation did not have long left before it was fully engulfed in a raging flame that could no longer be put out... Ares was good at what he did but saving a burning country was beyond both him and Garmr. Garmr could actually maybe clap the fire away with massive gusts of winds but the damage would be too severe at that point and the loss of life would make his efforts worthless. Unless someone was able to get their hands on the water pillar enabler, and take to it like a fish to water so they could dowse the entire country without harming anyone, then this country needed to stop burning essentially right now and it was all coming down to this. Hunter had one shot and needed to make it count so he signalled to everyone else that this was the golden opportunity they'd been waiting for and it was time to lay all their cards out on the table. This ended here and now, one way or the other, and so he steeled himself for the worst while praying for the best!
The camouflage gear, and a lot of the other unnecessary gadgets he'd brought along, were heavy so Hunter removed everything one by one to prepare himself for the final sprint. He didn't need defensive options or utility because that would be provided by everyone else during his run up. All he needed to do was believe in these comrade in arms, and run straight like his life depended on it. CREAK. The wooden floorboard he was standing on bent under the pressure of his heavy foot as he took off like a lightning bolt, alerting the krakyrn to his presence. The krakyrn attempted to turn its head but a quick wind and water cannonball from the support duo, Esme and Nibbler, slowed it down. This did cause a couple meteors to go barrelling towards them and their location, though, which was problematic because Geordie was too busy keeping an eye out on Hunter to help them. A meteor struck the shop they were in clean and caused a small explosion as some of Hunter's gadgets must have caused a chain reaction and detonated on the spot. It was impossible to tell what became of Esme and Nibbler but everyone soldiered on knowing they would likely be ok. They could have rushed down into the underground segment where the blast shouldn't have spread too far and, though it would be painful for both, they would live on and that was what truly mattered...
The shop would be destroyed in its entirety, however, and Hunter, though his sprint was uninterrupted, felt hollow all of a sudden. His life's work had just gone up in flames and there would never be another Federation hunt ever again after this... It was a devastating blow to his heart and mind, and the fact than Nibbler might have been injured only made it worse, so he was in a foul mood. His mind was surprisingly clear, though, and what he had to do was becoming more and more apparent. He was still receiving support but the Federation was burning out of control now and he really had to guarantee this strategy paid off without fail ot it was all doomed... Luckily, Geordie and Onno were on point in terms of blasting away the meteors with their earthen magic. Onno focussed more on hitting the meteors in the sky while Geordie created walls on Hunter's path to act as cover he could move between during his sprint. These walls crumbled all around Hunter, as he blitzed past them, due to he meteors crashing into them hard and splintering earth everywhere. Some pointy shards pierced Hunter's skin, and some fire danced along his clothes too, but he kept running nonetheless as his goal was in sight and he had no room to stop now. Aejaz threw out a Grand Annihilation to batter the krakyrn's head, somewhat blinding its vision, and this was the final measure needed to allow Hunter to arrive right where he needed to be, directly in front of the creature's maw...
...
...
He let out a small smile and begun moving forward. This was where he should have stood if he were merely chucking the sack into the mouth before him but such a choice wasn't just wrong. It was selfish. He could never guarantee a meteor wouldn't come soaring out of the mouth at the last second and break apart the sack... He'd known this since he started his sprint but the only way to guarantee everything went well was for him to become a martyr.
No one had ever planned for this.
Not Ares, not any of the group he worked alongside, and certainly not Hunter himself... But he'd been ready for it. Ever since he received the sack from Ares, in the back of his mind, he'd envisioned going out in a blaze of glory a few times. He never wanted it to come to this, obviously, and he still had some lingering regrets as he stepped within the spiked pit maw, but there was no other choice. He dodged a last second meteor, one that would have ruined the sack had he lazily chucked it, thus proving this action he was taking as mandatory for success, and looked back towards the Federation one last time. He would miss it, and maybe it would miss him, but what he really regretted was leaving behind his family. Not Cash, never him, but Onno and Nibbler would feel betrayed by this selfishness. He had to do it, though. They would prefer to have him around but if he was truly their role model then he would have to do this to keep being one in their eyes.
Preserving his life at the cost of the things he truly cared about was not the man he was, now or ever, so he would rather die for his beliefs than live like a coward with the lost lives of millions weighing on his conscience. It was this very type of person he was that was why he was so respected and beloved by those who knew him and so he didn't have it in him to give that up. Not that, not the Federation, nothing. He chuckled to himself because, really, other than Nibbler and Onno, there wasn't much left for him here anyway. He'd said it to himself a couple times now but this really was his final Federation hunt. There would be no future glory greater than this and no way of making a name for himself as a legendary hunter after. HIs life would still have meaning via his family but, as a hunter, it all ended here and going out like this was a fitting end. He'd lost his shop, his creations, and his career so this was a good enough ending to his story that would just meander about pointlessly if he chose to live. He couldn't help but mutter and apology under his breath, though, as he knew Onno and Nibbler would be distraught for a long time to come... But, again, this sacrifice was necessary and he was the only real candidate who could get it done. He wouldn't ever thrust this responsibility on anyone else because he, in his final moments, believed it was his and his alone to bare. And so, with resolution unmatched by just about anyone else in all of Sheryashkan history, Hunter tuned back towards the abyss and leapt bravely in. Something about this being such a thrilling conclusion and climax to his hunting days drew out his fervently blazing soul so he grinned and taunted the monster as he disappeared inside a cavern of teeth that were shutting down on his frail body.
"GOTCHA!" After all the years of this stupid monster taking out its anger on the Federation, payback was finally being served. This one was for the Federation and all the lives that were lost.
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PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
TWC_Guy
TWC_Guy Merry Christmas eve and an early merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. As mentioned previously there will be no new chapter until the start of the new year but there should be two at that time, one of which being an extra to make up for the missed chapter a few days back, so that will hopefully start the new arc off in a good way.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder