My power is released automatically to my left arm as I raise up my enchanted hammer over my head. Tightly strapped and secured beetle horn handle to my forearm gives me confidence.
*Whosh*
My feet are moving fast as I abruptly start to run over the area.
"He.. Hey! Mark!"
Harald has his second combat dagger in his right hand and his glock in his left, as a backup.
The Astrid-Mike contraption is moving forward steadily like a tank. I bet they could move fast, but Mike is saving his energy.
I stop right before the spot I remember and watch the surface. As the wind calms down, the grass moves the same as the first day we fought.
“This will be easy,” I act cocky and prepare for the smash, raising the hammer once again. Strong sun reflects from my shiny hammer head like a mirror.
*Swoosh*
“Fucking hell!” I grunt right away.
A nutria, about four times the size as before, jumps right out of the grass and surprises me with its massive volume, teeth, and massive health bar.
Cropfield Guardian, Level 49
*Bash*
*Chomp*
I’m knocked down in an instant, lucky enough the thing bites my hammer handle close to the top, teeth leaving marks right away.
I would probably be torn to pieces already.
My only protection on my body is Harald’s bulletproof vest. Its long yellow teeth are munching over my hammer handle and I’m lucky it''s sturdy enough, if it was my left arm, it would be gone already.
*Bang, bang*
Harald shoots two consecutive rounds into its head, it starts to wiggle and shake.
He waits for a second, but for me, it seems way longer.
As the beast almost completely ignores the bullets, he continues to shoot and move forward, aiming precisely at the head.
*Bang*
*Bang, bang*
*Bang*
It is indeed heavy, and I feel trapped underneath.
The last round he shoots hits an eye, and it starts to spill out.
The heavy, fluffy beast finally stops shaking, and I push it to the side using my Focus in a hurry as I want to avoid getting covered in that fluid.
“You fought this on day one?!” he asks, terrified with a raised voice.
“No! They were small, like an average dog."
"This thing is massive, it has evolved!” I answer him in distress.
“What do we do, Astrid?” Mike asks her, strapped to him.
“Give it a shot,” she answers eagerly, and they continue moving steadily.
“Oh boy!”
“Look at those three waves. Get ready!"
"They jump straight up! Maybe we can step aside and dodge,” I warn them and prepare myself in a combat posture.
The wind starts to blow, and the traces blend with it.
“Fuck! All the odds are against us!” I move my head chaotically, figuring out where they could be now.
“I see them well, don’t worry,”
Mike looks back at me with his headband switched.
"Old man! Now, in front of you!" He points his sabre.
*Fwoosh*
*Bang, bang*
"Raargh!"
*Tschk*
A huge one jumps out right at Harald and he dodges it like a boss finishing elegantly with a quick epic combo.
Two rounds hit its neck, followed by a deep stab with his combat knife. As the thing stops its momentum right away, he turns the knife inside ninety degrees, pulls out and stabs it a second time close to the spine.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The beast dies in an instant as its health bar is depleted and disappears.
<hr>
"Raargh!" *Tschk*
Mike, on the contrary, stabs his saber into the grass field.
The saber gets stuck instantly, and he lets it go. The weapon moves away with the beast.
No hesitation he transfers his second sabre to his right does the exact same thing.
*Tschk* following a wild screeching.
Those two nutrias are still sprinting under the tall grass, we only see two sabers drifting in between the grass blades, like a shark''s fins on the surface of water.
"Turn!"
Astrid orders Mike to turn around, and she tries to shoot the moving target with her bow.
One arrow lands near the saber, the beast drifts with both the arrow and the blade attached, not slowing even for a second.
*Fwoosh*
She keeps shooting arrows, one after another.
The drifting beast, with dozens of arrows and one saber, looking like a porcupine, finally turns back toward them.
*Fwoosh*
It jumps out from the cover and the duo is terrified as their attacks seem to haven''t hurt the beast at all.
But the health bar is not lying.
Flying nutria dies mid-air and ragdolls into the grass, close to them.
"Impressive." Old man notes.
Now it’s finally my turn.
I watch the third one closely as the saber tells me its position. Harald notices that I am preparing and steps away, leaving this for me.
"Focus!" My arm thickens but the seatbelts are compressing it.
"Harden!"
I activate the second one to maintain the first under better control.
*Bonk*
I smash the area with the peeking saber, and it stops the movement right away.
My hammerhead smash, with a lot of power released, is too strong to withstand the impact over the skull.
The beast is in mild shock, stunned.
*Tschk*
I bury my knife deep inside its neck right after.
The blood starts to pour out over the thick white fur, coloring it dark red.
I’ve probably hit an important vein. Quickly pulling out Mike''s saber by pressing my dagger against the blade guard it sets it flying.
Mike is watching me perform, barely catches his saber, not paying attention to his back.
His backup is now put to great use.
Another beast jumps from behind and almost mauls them altogether, but Astrid reacts fast and precisely.
The shield materializes in the blink of an eye, collecting light dirt and grass blades. Her fist closes too tightly, as I notice her hand starts to shake.
The beast jumps right through the shield.
It disintegrates at the impact, but at least the nutria is distracted and disoriented for a moment.
Harald and I are standing there, waiting to see if it needs interference or not.
Mike turns on the spot and stabs the creature right after.
But his stab is weak, and he looks exhausted, so I assume we need to interfere.
I look at Harald, and he nods at me, showing me to go first with a hand gesture.
"Another skull to crack."
I mumble under my breath as I want to experience smashing the thing once again. It was the most satisfying bonk of all of the bonks.
The skull and fur on it are so thick and dense they muffle the sounds and protect well, but against my power level and fury they are no match.
I love how loud the thud resonates without all the bloody mess.
Mike barely dodges with Astrid as counterweight, and I’m already in the scene. I let a lot of power go more freely to my left arm as I don''t need to worry about bursting.
My shoulder is bloating like hell, but combined with a weak form of hardening is a perfect combo.
I can feel my arm getting numb for half of a second, but it’s not bad enough to make my hand go loose, and I continue my swing.
*Smash* *Crack*
My hammer smashes the beast right on top of the dome with slightly more power than I’ve ever used.
It cracks on the first smash, and the sound of it is glorious and satisfying, like a nutcracker. The beast screeches for the last time and I gaze on its ugly huge yellow incisors.
I enjoy it a lot but I decide to pass on using the dagger.
The powerful hammer smash sucks almost all of the life out of the beast, leaving it open for finishers.
No need to be greedy for points now, I have something better in sight and Astrid definitely needs to level up more than me.
While relocating to another one I gesticulate to Astrid to finish stunned one freely.
The next beast is barely able to counter.
*Bonk*
*Smack*
My second swing is as powerful as my first one.
The skull cracks and the final nutria lies on the ground, kicking its legs.
I turn away and let them finish what I’ve started.
As I walk toward Harald, I can finally feel my stamina levels dropping.
Enough of the fight for today.
“Let’s retrieve the armor,” I tell Harald while grasping for my breath.
He nods while checking me out after my furious spree and joins me on the way toward the pile of corpses.
<hr>
“Dear god,” he shakes his head in disbelief.
“So you’re telling me you lured all of them into one place and burned them while they were tangled?”
“Yeah,” I answer him with certainty and confidence.
“Genius, indeed.” He shakes his head.
“And so we are looking for an armored knight?”
“Yes, he was on top of the pile, strangled in between these,” I point my finger up.
“I don’t think there’s another way than breaking this pile down bit by bit,” he answers, looking at the top and covering his forehead to block the sun.
<hr>
I use my attached hammer and start to pull the corpses.
It’s a disgusting process, but I really want that armor so badly.
Harald avoids touching the bodies too, he rather stabs his big knife in between the bones and tries to drag them out.
I have an idea of how to brighten his mood.
“None of us three would use the two-handed longsword he was wielding. I think it should be yours.”
“Oh. Erm, well, really? It’s your boss, after all,” he acts surprised, but I notice a spark in his eye.
Did I just make him excited?
His gray stubble and gray hair—if he left his mustache longer, he would look glorious in that armor too, but I can imagine him just with the sword.
He would still look badass.
<hr>
He eagerly steps up the corpses with his outdoor shoes and climbs the bodies up.
Grabbing the black charred sword by the hilt he cleans it over his sleeve.
His combat black clothes, with a bulletproof vest, make it look as epic as it can altogether as he holds it up victoriously.
The sun reflects brightly from its blade!