EP.118 Rescue (2)
The student party moved with Ariane as their leader to rescue Nairel.
Following the safe route Ariane guided them through, they could tell the knights and teachers were doing a flashy job of drawing attention.
"...Argh!....Ya!"
"...up! Die...!"
BOOM!!!
BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
The force was enough to shake the entire building.
The children moved silently, exchanging glances and whispering to each other.
'Wow, amazing. Our teachers must be really strong.'
'They're all going all out.'
'I hope the building doesn't collapse.'
'Let's move quickly.'
Shine was at the rear, Vine in the middle, and Ariane led from the front.
Ariane showed perfect party coordination, using stealth to move ahead first and check for people before leading the children forward.
Moving through the torn ceiling and towards the ventilation shaft, they were minimizing their presence using the weight adjustment Suhan had cast on them.
'This is the place I mentioned.'
Ariane pointed out the hole to the kids.
When the children looked down through the hole, they saw dense vegetation.
There were bright red ripe fruits scattered about, while most were still yellow and unripe.
'Is this what that child Nairel grew?'
After passing through the thick vegetation and going a bit deeper, they reached their destination.
There, a child presumed to be Nairel was being forcibly carried away by someone.
"Stay still, will you!!"
"Mmmmph!!! Mmph!!!"
Nairel was struggling to break free from the man who had lifted her up.
But the man was nearly four times her size.
There seemed to be no way to overcome him with physical ability alone.
The man who had been trying to coax the child away was forced to raise his hand at the chaotic sounds coming from outside.
"I'm trying to be nice here! Just stay still!!!"
【 Power Shot 】
Swoosh-! Thunk!
"Aagh!!"
The arrow struck precisely in the man's abdomen.
【 Double Shot 】
Following that, arrows pierced one after another into each of his feet.
Thunk! Thunk!
"Urgh!! Where are you!!!!"
The man had already been hit by three arrows, but he wouldn't let go of the child in his arms.
After looking around to see where the attack came from, he quickly identified the location and began watching that direction vigilantly.
It meant surprise attacks wouldn't work anymore.
"I don't know how you got here so quickly, but you'll regret coming this far! Where are you!!"
Since the man had been trying to escape with Nairel when suddenly attacked, he didn't seem particularly surprised by the attack itself.
After surveying his surroundings briefly, the man noticed the children had attacked through the ceiling hole and shouted.
"You brats, hiding like rats. Come down from there!! If you don't, this kid's life is—AAAARGH!!!"
At that moment, the man's arm was severed with a snap!
It was the arm holding Nairel, and as Ariane's stealth wore off, she dropped the man's severed arm to the floor while simultaneously pulling the child into her arms and backing away.
Whoosh~!
"Gaaah! No! Give her back!!!"
In that split second, the man tried to grab Ariane with his remaining arm, but thanks to her quick movement, she avoided being caught.
"Urrrgh!!"
Having helplessly lost his hostage, the man used his ability.
Crack- Crackle-!
The man's body gradually began to swell.
The arrows embedded in his body were pushed out, and his clothes tore apart.
Stiff gray fur grew as his face transformed from human to a long protruding snout, becoming a werewolf.
'A transformation type?!'
Transformation-type ability users typically had excellent regenerative abilities as physical-type users.
This meant he was a different caliber of ability user compared to the kidnappers who had been exaggerating their minor injuries.
"I'll stop you from moving!"
Sensing danger, Vine quickly used her ability.
Splash-!
Water created by Vine's ability gripped the man's legs like shackles.
She had noticed it would be dangerous if this man started rampaging inside the enclosed building.
-As if this kind of thing could stop me...urgh!!
The man flexed his muscles against Vine's shackles, clearly thinking they were inadequate.
He tried to break the water shackles in one go.
It was true that Vine's water shackles looked fragile compared to the man's thick ankles.
But that was underestimating Vine too much.
-Urrrgh!!! Nnngh!!!!
"Heheh!"
Shine burst out laughing at the struggling man.
The man was bewildered seeing that the water shackles wouldn't break no matter how much strength he used.
-Why won't this break!!!!!!! You little-!!!
Shine aimed her bow at the bound man with an air of certainty.
【 Fire Shot 】
Whoosh-!
A blazing flame formed on the arrowhead as the bowstring was drawn.
Swoosh!!!
The man, defenseless against Shine's attack, managed to dodge the Fire Shot with surprisingly nimble movements for his size.
However.
-No way- Gak!!! AAAAGH!! IT'S HOT!!!!
The arrow that had passed the man made a sharp U-turn and struck him in the back.
"My arrows never miss their target."
Whoosh~! Fwoosh!
The man let out an agonized scream as the flames spread to his fur.
Fire attacks were an excellent weakness against regeneration ability users.
Regenerating burn wounds was much harder than regular wounds.
"Well done, Shine!"
Vine gave a thumbs up to Shine's performance.
Though they hadn't practiced coordinating their abilities beforehand, the two worked well together.
While they kept the man restrained, Ariane took the child towards the passage.
"Are you Nairel?"
"Y-yes, I am."
"Whew, that's a relief. Big sister came to rescue you. I know you probably don't want to be alone, but given the situation, you'll need to hide here for a bit. Can you do that?"
"Yes, I can."
Nairel answered more maturely than expected.
"If things start going wrong, follow that path straight ahead. You'll find an entrance, and if you wait around there, someone you know will appear. Do you know the general store owner?"
Nairel's eyes widened at the mention of someone familiar.
"I do... but is he here?"
"Yes! He followed us here because he was worried about you."
"But it's dangerous here..."
"Even so, he said he couldn't just sit still worrying about you. He's waiting for you right now, you know? And your friend Haeshi too. Though it was too dangerous for her to come this far, she's waiting for you to come back."
"Haeshi..."
When talk of her friend came up, Nairel began to tear up.
Realizing her mistake, Ariane grabbed Nairel's shoulders and said, "You need to stay quiet. You have to hide well so you won't be discovered, okay?"
Nod nod!
"Are you unable to use your abilities?"
Nod nod!
"Alright, I understand for now. I'll come back as quickly as I can."
She needed to hurry back while Shine and Vine were buying time.
When Ariane ran back to where the battle was taking place after safely hiding Nairel, the man had already put out the fire on his fur and was attacking the children while breathing heavily.
Whoosh~! Whoosh~!
"Ugh!"
BOOM!! BANG!
Shine barely managed to dodge being caught in the man's grasp.
It was thanks to Vine continuously interfering with the man's attacks.
Water shackles bound the man's ankles once again, but having grown used to them, the man broke the shackles with his fist faster than before.
Clang!
"These tricks won't work on me anymore!!"
It was difficult for two ranged and magic-type Awakened to face off against a close-combat transformation type in a building with limited space to escape.
Moreover, they were struggling to control their power since they weren't used to using their abilities against "people."
'Should I put in a bit more force?'
Vine bit her lip as she put in more strength, wrapping a water hook around the man's neck and lifting him into the air.
"Grkk! Urrrghk!"
Seeing him suffering to the point of barely being able to breathe, Vine's whole body broke out in goosebumps.
'Ugh.'
She realized that if she applied any more force, she could break his neck.
That horrifying sensation made Vine's power dissipate.
Splash-!
The water Vine had created lost its power and wet the floor.
Ariane, sensing that her friends were barely managing to hold off the man, moved quickly.
【 Stealth 】
First, hide herself.
Then approach the man and apply poison.
【 Poison 】
She needed 5 stacks of poison to use her ultimate skill, Deathblow.
While Vine hesitated, this time Shine took over facing the man.
Vine and Shine continued their coordinated attacks, passing the man back and forth between them to keep him from rampaging freely.
It was truly a fantastic display of teamwork.
Though they themselves were too caught up in the moment to realize it.
That's when the man, who had been targeting Shine, suddenly changed direction at incredible speed and dove in front of Vine.
"Ah! Vine!"
"Ugh!"
After being toyed with by the two of them continuously, the man had started using his head.
Vine, suddenly becoming the target, hastily used her ability to try to blast away the man who had closed in instantly.
【 Water Power Shot 】
Pwooong!!
"Kuheok!"
A thick stream of water burst from Vine's magic wand.
It hit the man's abdomen directly, sending him flying back.
Shine, also trying to stop the man in her own way, followed up by embedding arrows in his back with a thud!
Though they succeeded in knocking the man down, a moment of carelessness had dealt quite a bit of damage.
Vine covered the blood dripping from her forearm with her hand.
"Ugh..."
"Damn it! I'm sorry. I should have blocked that!"
"GRAAAHHH!!!"
The man who had been knocked far back suddenly stood up and charged toward Shine and Vine again.
But the man's charge didn't reach the two of them.
While Vine and Shine were struggling, Ariane had managed to stack all 5 poison effects.
Shhh-rk!
【 Deathblow 】
With a chilling sound, the man's body split open.
-!!!!!!!!!
The man realized something was wrong but couldn't get any words out.
Drip-!
The wound from Ariane's Deathblow split open slightly later, blood flowing out.
If Ariane hadn't held back her strength, the man's body would have been cut clean in half.
Since she hadn't intended to take the man's life, she had shown mercy by using only half power.
However, her ultimate skill 'Deathblow' was a technique focused on instantly killing monsters.
Swoosh-!
From chest to groin.
The flesh split further and blood gushed out from within.
The man's body slumped to the floor.
THUD!!!!
The man's body fell heavily.
His werewolf transformation undone, the man's body went limp as if dead.
"Ariane?"
"Oh!!"
Vine and Shine, frozen in shock at the suddenly collapsed man, spotted Ariane and let out cheers.
Gulp-!
Somehow feeling scared, Ariane tightened her grip on her dagger.
The feeling of cutting a person was far more horrifying than she had imagined.
Even if that person was a worthless criminal.
'I definitely held back... but what if he's dead?'
She felt an intuition that something was wrong.
If left like this, the man would lose his life.
Shine approached Ariane and hugged her tightly.
"There, there, you did well, Ariane!"
Vine also came over with quick steps and patted Ariane's head.