บท 13: F Rank Hunter (4)

A ground shaking growl resounded, shaking the atmosphere. The party immediately felt the powerful pressure being omitted from within the swamp; their bodies wanted to move, every fibre in their bodies screamed but they were all frozen in place.

Arthur was the first to snap out of his stupor as he shouted at his team mates to flee,"Run! now!"

This seemed to half wake them out of their frozen fear. Leo and Thorin got up, beginning their sprint into the forest. The two Elven sisters followed suit, leaving Arthur at the back of the group.

Another powerful growl resounded, shaking the whole forest.

"That must be a <Uncommon> beast, what we killed were its offspring. We didn't even get the eyes of the alligators we killed, crap." Thorin cursed, although they had met the quota, they had made a grave mistake of not harvesting the eyes of the alligators .

"I think we should head back. We just need to quickly retrieve the eyes of the alligators. We have Thorin, we should be able to push forward and distract it whilst we quickly retrieve the eyes and flee." Surprisingly Aria was the one to offer up the idea. The group halted, all looking at her like she was not right in the head.

"I don't think that's a wise idea. That beast is clearly above what we can handle right now we should head ba-" Arthur was cut off by Thorin once more, who gave him a scornful look.

"Why? You scared? Twerp!" Thorin smiled, mocking Arthur.

This guy was seriously getting on Arthur's nerves!

If he hadn't charged in like a maniac at the start, the group could have made a plan beforehand and cleared over half of that group of <Common> alligators, exerting a lot less energy. They could have retrieved the eyes and left even before the mother alligator awoke.

Arthur shook his head internally when he analysed how horrible the team co-ordination was. Leo, although a decent support water mage, was a pathetic leader. Calling him the leader of the group was an overstatement. In fact there wasn't even a leader in the group. If Arthur hadn't protected the flank and the archers they'd also be long dead. Paired with Thorin's arrogance and refusal to take orders, this added to the atrocity of their team work.

"I don't think it's a good idea either." Leo stepped up with an unconfident posture, he was unsure on what to do. Although he was the one that made the group and was the self proclaimed leader, the part members weren't obliged to listen to him.

"Don't be a wimp too Leo! How strong can that thing be? I'm attacking that thing, I don't care if you guys join me or not." Thorin scoffed heading back the opposite way from the city.

The girls remained quiet staring at Leo before they followed behind him.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to follow us if you don't want to." Leo gave a depressed and forced smile to Arthur before joining his party.

Arthur swore, cursing, 'Those fools!'

Should he let them die?

The rational thing to do was for him to abandon them and head back, but his body said otherwise.

Unwanted Memories of the past flashed in Arthur's head, causing him to bite his lip.

"Young lord just run! I'll hold them off. You did well, this isn't your battle anymore." A young man spoke, his voice pained, as several deep wounds stained his body.

A young boy aged 10, with striking blue eyes, wiped his tears, ready to fight alongside his comrade. He gripped his katana tightly, determination burning in his gaze. The air was thick with tension as the ominous sounds of approaching footsteps echoed in the narrow alley, darkened by the night sky.

"No, I won't leave you, Gareth!" Arthur protested, his voice filled with both fear and determination. The two bound by duty faced the overwhelming number of guards heading their way. Their mission was simple: assassinate their target and leave, but somehow the guards had been notified and their covert mission had become compromised. Was there a traitor in the family?

'What went wrong?! They shouldn't have any awakened so how did they find out about us?' Arthur cursed in his head, feeling overwhelmed by the situation they were in.

Gareth, the wounded young man, managed a weak smile, before saying his final words.

"You have a destiny beyond this, Arthur. A path beyond mindless killing and strife. It's unfortunate our last mission together has to end like this. Thank you young Lord for everything, I enjoyed every moment serving under you. I'll handle it from here. Now go!"

Gareth's body flickered away towards the approaching guards, encountering them in a fierce battle.

Streams of tears ran down the young assassin's cheeks. His heart urged him to not leave his friend behind, but his trained body said otherwise. With a reluctant and forced will, Arthur sprinted away, leaving Gareth to confront the encroaching threat alone. The clash of swords and the grunts of struggle filled the air as Arthur raced through the labyrinthine alleys, his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't shake off the feeling of guilt, abandoning his friend in the face of danger.

If only he had strength.

Arthur cursed out loud, his body instinctively moved as he ran back in the direction of his party members.

His heart pounded in his chest as he sprinted back toward the chaotic scene, where his party members clashed with the colossal mother alligator. The distant roars and clashes of metal against scaly hide reverberated through the air, intensifying with every step he took.

As he approached the battleground, Arthur's eyes quickly scanned the scene. The dwarf, a stout figure with a sturdy warhammer, swung with unyielding anger. His armor harbored countless dents and cuts in it, and blood dripped from his face and hands. His warhammer swung slower with each strike, each blow carrying the weight of accumulated fatigue.

A quick glace revealed the grim reality. It didn't take much analysis to guess why this was happening. Leo was unconscious, his body limp by a tree and only one of the sisters was still healthy enough to fire arrows, Lauren had injured her ankle and lay unconscious whilst Aria looked in a no better situation. She fired arrows endlessly, her movements sluggish.

The colossal mother alligator on the other hand, showed no damage as the tired party hadn't managed to penetrate its impenetrable scales even once. With a powerful claw swipe, the alligator finally swiped at the dwarf, breaking through his defence, causing the stout figure to crash through several trees and also fall unconscious.

Arthur blitzed in front of the mother alligator, taking it by surprise.

Click!

A swift and clean slash cut one of the eyes of the alligator deeply, causing it to roar in pain.

"Arthur you came!" Aria's surprised cry reached Arthur's ears and he turned to see the relief on her face.

Arthur ignored the culprit that had caused this mess, and continued to dash around the beast dodging and counter attacking. The large alligator snapped with its large jaws several times, in desperate attempts to crunch the mere wasp that was bothering it.

"Give Lauren first aid, both of you get the other two out of here." Arthur ordered quickly, leaping back as the large beast smashed shut with its jaws, in retaliation once more.

Suddenly, an arrow pierced through Arthur's shoulder, taking him by surprise. He stumbled from the sudden damage to his shoulder, his vision shifting towards the elven girl only to find her smiling devillishly. It took a moment to digest what was happening but then it all came together like a messed up puzzle.

"Traitor." Arthur winced, not from the pain, but from the betrayal of someone he deemed a team mate.

Maybe he should have just let them all die.

Aria fired several more shots, this time the speed of the arrows being much faster than what she had shown all this time.

Arthur's pupils contracted as an intense bloodlust was unleashed from him. He charged towards Aria but the large alligator swiped with its large tail, causing him to stop his direct attack.

"Hahahaha! Yes! Struggle in front of my prowess. Dance for me. I'll feed you all to my baby very soon!" Aria cackled, shooting more arrows at Arthur maniacally.

[Bookmark Activate: 'Rise of the Nobody Soldier']

[Sword Qi]

Arthur's mana core was shaken into a frenzy as his mana was drained to provide him with the necessary power for his intentions to kill. A blue aura shrouded his body, boosting his stats to that of a D rank.

He blitzed towards his first target, in a trained manner, his breathing completely controlled, his emotions neutral and his focus laserlike. Not a wasted movement was executed, as years of muscle memory were all coming back to him.

Arthur sliced 3 times, sending dense powerful blue arcs of 'sword qi', each arc connected with the tough scales of the large alligator, penetrating it with ease and causing deep gashes to form.

'30 seconds. More than enough time.' Arthur calculated the remaining time he had left before he would pass out from exhaustion. He flickered around the Aligator, dodging its attacks and countering with his own.

"No! No! You're not meant to hurt my baby!" Aria screamed seeing her 'baby' reaching death's door.

She continued to fire arrows at Arthur frantically, her arrows missing horribly.

A final slash of Arthur's sword with all of his remaining mana was the checkmate, as the colossal mother alligator stopped moving, its brain cut into pieces.

Arthur didn't rest as he blitzed towards the shocked elven girl, slashing horizontally.

"Disgusting." Arthur flicked the blood of the traitor off his blade, before sheathing it.

A light thud followed as Aria's head had finally hit the floor.