章節 23: Chapter 22 - Siblings
"Woah, finally on land! Hey Ren, let's hit up our favorite buffet!"
"Fine, but we have to go tomorrow the latest." Ren said, helpless, though his stomach agreed with Nora.
"Yay!" she said with a grin and bumped Ren before speeding off.
Although this place was so small that no one included it on the general maps. The traffic was undeniable.
And with traffic came people.
Coincidentally, it also brought one of their favourite food spots. For more than one reason.
"Hey uncle, we are back! Give me your best dumplings, at least five baskets!" Nora said and magically appeared on the chair.
Few moments later Ren appeared too.
"Haha, you've all grown up! Coming right up!" said an older looking man with a big beard and a shiny bald head. He held in his hand a cleaver so clean and sharp that light bounced from his blade straight to his head and beyond.
"I'll take two baskets, please." Ren said and sat down next to Nora.
He fished up his wallet, but a large hand denied him.
"You think I'll make you pay? Tsk, tsk all grown up and independent. Tell me about your journey instead! Much better than listening to those drunkards all day!" The bald man said and disappeared again.
Few minutes later, he arrived with ten baskets full of dumplings.
Nora's eyes shone with incredible luster, and even Ren gulped.
"Whoa, how do you always make them so fast?"
"I keep telling you, it's our trade secret! You better bring a story of you two slaying a huge Grimm before you get it." He said and rebuked Nora.
She didn't process the information, one ear in the other out. Instead, she picked up chopsticks and turned into an instant master. The dumplings began to disappear at robot level accuracy.
Both of the men were defeated, looking at her speed.
Ren savoured the dumplings and began to tell the story of their journeys. The older man listened seriously and Nora sometimes bumped in.
Compared to the days where he seldom talked.
Ren didn't stop and even had a foolish smile on his face.
"And it wash this biiiig. I keep telling you! Gulp. It was kraken himself!" She said with the last dumpling in her mouth.
"Nora, that's just a legend." Ren said and bonked her.
While he did savor the dumplings, he didn't exactly eat slowly and yet he managed to only eat two baskets before the rest vanished.
"I'll make you some more to go." The older man said, reading his mind.
"You are the best!"
"Leave some for Rennie too."
"Tsk."
The duo bid the man farewell and left. He waved for a while before catering to his other customers properly.
This time with a much wider stride.
At a hotel they booked for the night, Ren and Nora shed their casual appearance.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked.
"Don't worry, I can always mask us if we can't win. But at least we need to know its strength." Ren said and rolled up a crumbled map.
Various red circles laid in the middle accompanied by one large one.
The lair of the Nuckelavee.
Over the years of their traveling, they didn't only fight and temper their skills, but also got ready to confront Nuckelavee.
It took away too much. Ren didn't know about the ever so cheerful Nora, however, the dreams of his family haunted him to this day.
Especially when he was in Mistral.
Unless he avenged them, he couldn't sleep well at all while on this soil.
They had the strength of a more or less of a general professional huntsman and their abilities complemented one another.
He created the space for big attacks, and Nora delivered them.
While he knew defeat was certain. The entire thing didn't hold much danger with their level of preparation. He was confident of not endangering Nora.
Otherwise, the entire revenge thought could be thrown away.
The thought of Nora being in serious danger just for the pathetic thought of revenge dispelled the thoughts.
However, he couldn't run.
They would always come back. He had to know what is the thing, that wiped his village. Its power and level of danger.
For the family. And to stop others from suffering the same fate he did.
Ren exhausted a lot of their accumulated funds to get ready. Even during the evening, he kept getting ready, going over stuff and making sure they work.
Nora watched, but decided to be silent.
She knew the pain he felt. But to try to stop him from it would only hurt him.
She'd rather kill it at the expense of her limbs than forcing him to forget about what happened to his family.
Eventually, they went to sleep.
Ren kept tossing around and Nora couldn't fall asleep either.
The next day, they departed for Shion. Instead of taking any kind of caravan, they knew it was faster to just run.
Even without their aura, they could run almost 250 kilometers without a hitch.
And with it.
It wasn't a problem to run way further.
They arrived in Shion a few days before the arrival of people going to take a look at the painting.
The two readied their materials, gathering a few rare things before traveling to Higanbana. Their journey took only a few days.
There, they took a two-day break and stalked the movement of the Nuckelavee.
Checking their resources for the last time.
The two ventured into the wilderness the next day. Emergency food for a month, plus they foraged and killed animals for food.
Right now, it should be around its main lair. A place where they would avoid at all costs.
The cave only gave benefits to the Nuckelavee and none to them. Maybe they could bury it with enough explosives, but to fight there was impossible.
Too enclosed, and the only explored cave went through the mountain.
One where the Nuckelavee resided.
Either they'd wait or they would need to provoke it out.
Ren decided to wait.
While waiting, he scouted the surroundings properly and even prepared some traps. Although useless, one would never know for sure.
He managed to make only a few poor ones. For some reason, most of the vegetation just died off near its dwelling, making it hard to make hard to spot traps.
After some days of waiting, their chance came.
Accompanied by a shriek, its huge body. At that moment, Ren's body froze.
The size of that thing. It felt even larger than he remembered.
He concealed himself and Nora. With some hints of their existence remaining, the Nuckelavee approached them.
The closer it got, the more its terror shone.
A huge horse that was a giant compared to a conventional one and a grotesque creature resembling a human. Its large horns carried a dead man.
His blood still dripped, and his face of agony told it all.
The upper body twitched erratically and the weight of this monstrosity left behind clear footprints.
Ren tapped Nora twice on her back.
Then it began. He unconcealed himself and ran towards it. His left gun hurling bullets against it just for them to fall down.
Like shooting peas against metal.
But it did its job. A hand broke the speed of sound and hurdled itself towards him.
He didn't see anything, however, his instincts saved him.
At the last possible moment, he rolled right before it landed and regained his foothold and ran towards it again. This time, it attacked with both hands.
They shut off any ways of escape.
Like a fly, it tried to swat Ren to pieces. He finally used his right gun and began to shoot. Translucent blue bullets flew across the air.
Spikes of ice drilled themselves inside the arms of the Nuckelavee.
Stopped in its tracks. It shrieked, hitting Ren straight on. He felt the pain of being drilled and burned from the inside out.
His arms almost gave out, dropping the guns to the ground.
Aura, like crazy, began to work. His body shone in pink as he began to run once again. A few meters separated him and the menace.
By the time he moved. It shook off the ice and launched its attack again.
Ren negated the movement of its limbs by a hair's breath and took out something from his inner sleeve. When he was about to throw it at it.
The horse opened its mouth.
Cries of the dead and a rancid smell escaped its mouth.
The ground withered and even trees not far away began to shed their leaves. A deep purple bordering on black rushed towards Ren in the form of a mist.
"Ren!" Nora couldn't help herself.
She didn't wait for it to go off and rushed in.
That thing exceeded their wildest predictions, and she directly executed Plan B.
Retreat.
While running, she took out an inconspicuous ground, cute looking sticker. With a bit of aura, it began to shine and zaps of lightning appeared.
Her entire body transformed.
The grenade launcher threw her forward as she transformed it into a hammer. Landing right beside the horse, her feet dug into the ground shattering it to pieces.
BOOOM
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票