บท 39: The End Of The Hunt
As expected, the Wild Brute reacted to the attack as if it was its first time being the receiving end of it.
Instead of brute-forcing forward like it often does, this piece of the Wild Hunt tends to react cautiously against something new that was introduced to it.
Especially after we had inflicted numerous amounts of damage to it despite its invulnerable armor.
Was it an instinctual act of self-preservation, or a mere mindless marionette taking on a role? Nobody certainly knows the objective truth.
Regardless, it tried to avoid it by side-stepping a great distance, using its tendrils to drag its body fast and far.
And then after it, it should be attempting to perform a desperate counter attack.
As I hurled the Bloodthirst Sword forward, the Wild Brute hastily swung both of its weapons in a cross-section pattern.
There was no further plan beyond it, it didn't even use its tendrils since it expected that I would be dodging its initial attack to give it more time to comprehend the situation.
So I ducked as low as I could while maintaining my momentum, turning my former attack into a feint. Right after I closed the distance, I accumulated every bit of my muscle memory and cognitive pattern that I knew about this monster into this very moment.
Utilizing the extended strength of the Wraithgrip and my beloved hands, I danced my arm and started a chain of laceration on every possible gap of armor that was reachable by my sword.
The first one was the one between the gauntlet and the elbow protector, and then the neck, then the other hand, and so on—cycling it again from the start with maximum speed.
With every slash and cycle, the Bloodthirst Sword accumulated enough blood to launch its blood-wave projectile on the next attack, empowering itself with every cycle that I performed on this Wild Brute's body.
In less than a second, I had already cycled the pattern of my attack for an exact amount of 7 times, before finishing it with bold thrust from the neck to the skull, ripping the helmet away from its skin and flesh as it was pushed away by a concentrated blast of the blood-wave projectile.
As the pitch-black fountain bloomed in the air, the loss of the helmet revealed a heavily damaged and deformed face of a former human-like entity.
The pungent smell of the rotten yet desiccated flesh, as the abyssal tendrils cried and flailed around like an uncontrolled beast.
Not wanting to make the same mistake, I decided to push my body further and recover the momentum of the sword.
I placed the weapon on reverse grip.
And proceeded to jam it through the deformed head and into this bastard's torso.
I jammed it so hard that my hand would be severed from the edge of the neck guard if not for the Wraithgrip being there.
With every inch of my being that wanted to stay alive and retaliate, I twisted the blade inside the debilitated torso.
And with it, I performed a final motion of thrust to activate the blood-projectile attack.
This time, using all of the blood within the Wild Brute's torso as the catalyst.
"Take it-"
Shredding the hunter behind the armor, inflicting the greatest amount of pain and destruction that I could possibly give to this monster.
Even in this situation, not a single emotion tried to overwhelm me.
It made me recall that time when I was still inside the vision of Yaria and Elisi.
Their emotions hurted me, but I no longer felt like an empty glass.
This might also be related to my Sanity as well, since it was one of the thing that didn't thoroughly explained by the info dumping session I got.
"Please, rest and die."
Before anything funny happened, I immediately extracted the sword and took a great distance away from what was left of the Wild Brute.
It was still moving, but it was dying.
The Wild Brute might actually be dying for real this time.
And then all we needed to do was to preserve a little while longer until dawn arrived, and everyone would be safe.
With this, I could pride myself for managing to survive the whole Ordeal.
I could also try scavenging back to the bastion and retrieve some remains of Calamity Objects from there, utilizing them and turning them into something useful.
I needed to become more powerful, more resilient, and more capable to survive in this world.
And maybe, finally, with this face that soothes my obsession for facial perfection, I could finally live a better life full of emotion and expectation.
Just like the first vision I saw about Yaria and Elisi, the timeline where they managed to conceive a child and prepare for their future.
"... Something is wrong."
No, the shadow within it was moving radically, as if it was about to unleash something—as if it was about to erupt…
There was still that translucent sheet of sea-surface on the sky.
This whole thing wasn't over yet.
"Narcissus!" Lupina shouted. This time, there was a hint of celebration and excitement in her voice. "You did it, you absolute powerhouse, you did it!"
Wait, was she approaching us?? Didn't she see sense that this whole thing wasn't over yet??
It could be… Maybe she had deactivated her Feral Rage after keeping it for such a long time, that her mind was put in a shallow and passive state. Just like an overworked office man that had just finished their work after 8 hours overtime…
To put it simply, she was beyond tired! That was why she couldn't sense it!
Was she carrying Verina with her as she approached? I couldn't attempt to look back, as my eyes were forced to be glued to the remains of the dying Wild Brute, anticipating any kind of event that could happen at any millisecond.
I couldn't afford to let another incident occur.
"Lupina, don't come here!"
"What, why?"
"Stay there! And slowly move back while keeping an eye on the surroundings!"
"S-Something wrong?"
"Are you holding Verina on your back right now??"
"Y-Yes! She is extremely exhausted right now, and she could barely muster to talk. Even her temperature is lowering, at the same time as the temperature-tolerant spell that she cast on me."
"Are you saying all of that while moving backward?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Be careful of your surroundings, there might be a stray Calamity Object."
"A-Alright, I'll try!"
"Don't try, give your best!"
"Yes! I will!"
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