Chapter 118
A Powerful Foe — Part 3
Editors: Sebas Tian, Speedphoenix, Joker
I was on top of Rir's back, sitting backwards and facing the direction opposite the one he was running in . I had Zaien ready to fend off the manticore's attacks .
"Shit…!" I swore as I blocked one such blow . The beast had used a nearby tree as a springboard and obliterated it as it leapt at us to deliver a heavy strike backed by the weight of its entire body . "Fuck off, fatass!"
My arms creaked . They complained by making unnatural sounds that they were never meant to make, but I grit my teeth and swung Zaien yet again to attack Sir Douchebag in return . The cocky son of a bitch fell back and dodged the swing with ease before casting a spell and fired a series of stone spears in our direction .
I clicked my tongue . I couldn't let even a single one of his projectiles hit Rir . The whole chase we had going on would end the moment I let him take damage, so I forcefully twisted my arms and swung Zaien until I destroyed all the lances that had been aimed at him . And in doing so, I completely ignored all the lances that had been aimed at me .
Several ran me through . I cursed, tensed my muscles, and endured as my blood spilled all over Rir's fur, staining it in crimson .
The Fenrir barked at me worriedly and turned to check on me, but I dismissed his concerns by barking right back at him . “Shut up, keep your eyes in front and run!”
I wanted to open up my inventory and grab a potion, but I didn't have the time . I couldn't just stop defending us . The creepy bastard stalking us would definitely start pushing even harder the moment I stopped focusing on him entirely . But that was fine . I had accrued damage, sure, but it wasn't enough to break me . My body was far too sturdy to fall to a few minor injuries and a tiny bit of blood loss .
After pulling out only the spears that would impede my movements, I once again began to focus on intercepting the stalker's attacks .
Except he wasn't attacking .
The smug-looking asshole was still hot on our heels, but it was just staring and smirking as opposed to actually attacking . The look on its face resembled that of someone that had just nailed a good hit or two in a game of darts . This fucking dickwad…
It was only going to take Rir a few more minutes to reach his destination . We were likely to wipe the cocky grin off of him once we did, but that wasn't quite enough for me . I wanted to get him once before we arrived . I felt the urge to take all of his composure and shove it right up his ass . Don't look down on demon lords, asshole!
Getting attacked over and over had filled me with frustration, so I drew the weapon I had holstered on my hips, my fully loaded magical handgun . I raised Zaien to my face and switched from holding with one of my hands to grabbing it with my teeth . It was kind of heavy and made my jaw hurt, but it was necessary . I used my now free hand to reach into my inventory and grabbed a random crappy weapon I had created in my spare time, one of the many failures I had produced for the sake of practice . I chucked it at the furfag with all the force I could muster, which ultimately caused blood to spurt from my wounds, but I didn't care . Fixing the look on his face mattered much more to me than a bit of blood .
The son of a bitch dodged it with ease and immediately positioned itself for a counter by leaping towards a nearby tree in a manner reminiscent of a dumb looking monkey . And that was when I struck . I pointed my gun at the tree's base and pulled the trigger .
A bullet erupted from the barrel, roaring as loud as an entire battery of artillery . The projectile, which contained an entire three thousand mana, cleaved right through the tree's stem and knocked the whole damn plant over . Dumbfuck was left in midair without a destination and he was going too fast to correct his posture . His face contorted in shock as it planted itself into the ground with all the grace of a beached whale .
"Hah! Suck my dick, asshole!" I put my gun away and used the now empty hand to give him the finger whilst flaunting a huge shit-eating grin .
Sir Douchebag's face twisted in rage as it came to realize that I was actively provoking him . He pumped even more power into his legs than before as he gave chase with renewed vigour .
"Hahah, bitch! Look who's laughing now! Sure does suck to get a taste of your own medicine, don't it!?"
Surprisingly, the first response my second taunt resulted in wasn't yet another angry roar . Rather, it came in the form of a scolding bark . Rir had more or less asked me why I would do something as dumb as provoking the enemy .
"Sorry Rir! Like, you and I both know that I'm a genuine pacifist, but he's the one that picked this fight!" I laughed my ass off as I explained myself . "And anyone that messes with me gets force fed their own medicine a hundred times over . "
I could tell that I wasn't exactly in what I would call the right state of mind . I had lost too much blood and my head wasn't getting quite enough . That said, retaliation had always been a part of my doctrine, as it was key to maintaining a state of peace .
I was far less concerned with that right now, however, and much more entertained by the obvious seething rage on the furfag's face . Just looking at it was enough to refresh me . Of course, the fact that he had sped up wasn't exactly in our favour, but it didn't matter . Our destination was in sight . It was only a few hundred meters away .
We were headed straight for one of the traps that I had set earlier in the day . Unlike the spells that Rir and I had casted, traps didn't use magical energy or create magical phenomenon for the most part . Rather, they used the mysterious substance known as DP in order to create physical phenomena in a manner that one would be tempted to label as magical . I didn't see the rhyme or reason behind the distinction, nor was I even a hundred percent sure that my plan would work, but all the evidence seemed to point to the fact that the sadistic manticore's automatic AT Field-like barrier reacted solely to magic, and that traps that did not explicitly cast magic would ultimately cause physical damage .
In other words, our stalker was more likely than not susceptible to traps .
The only thing I really had to worry about was getting the timing right . I couldn't activate it too early else risk him realizing . And I couldn't activate it too late else risk it not popping at all . Everything was riding on me pressing the right button at the right split second .
"Looking pretty desperate there, huh? Sure must suck to get your ass kicked by someone way weaker than you, don't it? Get rekt, bitch!"
I dodged the attack it aimed at me before continuing to insult it in order to cloud its judgement . In the meantime, Rir kept running and kicking up massive dust clouds behind him while dodging any trees in his way . Almost there . Just a bit further .
It leapt at us again, and once again specifically targetted me, but I twisted my body to dodge its bite before smacking its dumb-looking face with my fist . Almost! Come on, come on!
The sensation of being struck by me caused it to momentarily flinch right as Rir leapt over the point .
Everything was perfect . The trap was right between us and it . It looked at us with an even greater expression of rage and charged in a straight line . Now!
I activated the trap the moment the asshole passed over it . He wasn't paying attention to what was underfoot, so the cocky bastard stepped right on it and popped it .
A deafening boom assaulted my ears as the landscape before me was dyed a deep shade of red .
There had been an explosion, an explosion powerful enough to take the living out of the term living thing . And yet, I doubted that it would be able to kill the douchey manticore . It was level 96 . I felt as if the asshole would likely survive it and get back to his feet if we let him be . And I wasn't about to sit around long enough to find out if my hunch was correct .
I knew that if I wanted to end the battle, then I'd have to do so right this instant . I jumped off Rir's back, raised my arms to protect my face, and dove straight into the inferno with my blade at the ready .
Pain assaulted me . I could feel the massive explosion burning me all over as its shrapnel dug into my flesh . But I kept moving . It hurt badly enough for me to think I was going to die . But that's all it did . That's all it amounted to .
"Die!"
I loosed a determine shout as I fought against the winds expelled by the explosion . I pushed back with as much force as my legs could allow and carved my way through to the centre of the blast . And as I reached it, I discovered that I had won my bet . His AT Field had failed to activate .
Plunging through the explosion rewarded me with the sight of an injured manticore . He was burned all over and parts of him had even carbonized . Most importantly, his eyes were rolled back in their sockets . The sudden explosion had knocked him out cold . Fortunately, force-feeding him a single trap had been enough to stop him . I didn't have to resort to my backup plan: running all over the Wicked Forest and showing him the dungeon's newly established full course meal .
I dashed in front of it and swung Zaien .
The beast recovered right as I did . Its eyes spun back around in their sockets and immediately focused on me .
Crisis detection started to go off . It filled me with an incredible sense of danger and dread .
Time slowed .
Its foot slowly moved towards my face and threatened to tear my skull from the rest of my body .
But I didn't stop .
Because, this time, I wasn't alone .
A burnt looking Rir, who had also leapt into the inferno, dug his fangs into the manticore's shoulder and stopped his attack in place .
His actions allowed me to complete my swing .
Zaien sunk into the furfag's neck .
I felt the sensation of the blade severing the creature's bone and rending its flesh . Blood sprayed everywhere . There was a literal shower of the stuff as the manticore's head spun through the air . Even more of the sanguine liquid rained down from the headless stump that was its neck .
And then, after a brief delay, it finally collapsed .
Never to move again .
"It looks like we win . "