Shuja shot her arrow true, gliding in the air with the grace of a dove and the fury of a hawk. Wings made of mana spread open wide, and it cast a large shadow over the river floor. Rook stood proud and tall and accepted the arrow into him with open arms. His thick armor shined brightly under the hot sun, and it too was eager to receive the arrow.
The bird-shaped arrow slammed against Rook's body, and it pushed a few feet back. Olhos leaped and landed on Rook's gigantic shoulders and tried to tear his helmet off. Rook grabbed Olhos by his tail and threw him to the ground.
Then he got on top of him and proceeded to beat him with his fist. "Olhos!" Shuja ran to them with an arrow in her hand. She jumped on his back and stabbed him on his shoulder. The arrow exploded and the blast pushed Rook off Olhos' body. "Are you ok? You need to be more careful." Shuja helped him get back on his feet, "Just because you're an oversize bipedal wolf monster doesn't mean you're unstoppable."
"Sorry," Olhos blew out blood from his nose. The wounds on his face started to heal rapidly.
"Woah. Your wounds are closing up without a healing spell. How are you doing that?"
"Probably part of the curse." Olhos shrugged his shoulders.
Rook tackled Olhos and punched Shuja away, "Curse?" He wrapped his arms around Olhos' neck, "You have no idea! That power you wield is a blessing among the Askal Clan. The power to turn into a werewolf is a guarded secret, with only the main branch of their family have knowledge of this technique. And yet here you are, a werewolf among the goblins."
Shuja landed on her back on top of a boulder. She pushed herself up and shot another glowing arrow. It landed on Rook's side, and it pushed him away. Rook rolled on the floor, stopping once he hit a stone pillar protruding out from the mud.
"Olhos, get up!" She yelled.
"I'm up. I'm up!" Olhos got back on his feet and shook the wet mud off his fur. "I don't think our plan is working. That helmet is glued to his head."
"Quit standing there and run!"
Rook got back up. He turned around and grabbed the pillar and used it like a lance. Rook ran to Olhos at top speed, accelerating faster than he ever had before. Olhos jump to the side, but Rook shifted his body and changed direction despite the extreme angle and impaled Olhos with the stone pillar. And he shoved Olhos on the mud, with the pillar on top of him. "How did you get their power. Did they give it to you with the hope of you killing my King."
"What the hell are you talking about," Olhos yelled.
"They've been jealous of my King ever since he became the Church as a patreon. They sent their so-called best assassins, but many perished by my fist. And you will be no different."
Olhos tried to push the pillar off, but the crushing weight was too much for Olhos. Rook pushed the pillar down slowly, letting Olhos' agonizing scream grow louder. Shuja drew out another arrow and concentrated her mana at the tip. "Hold on just a little longer, Olhos," She whispered.
A swirling wind begins to surround the arrow, and blue light grew in intensity. Rook saw the light reflected by the pillar's polished surface. He relocated his mana to the side of his armor facing Shuja. When she released her arrow free, it flew to Rook and shattered on impact against Rook's impenetrable armor. Shuja quickly shot another one, with short wings forming out from the arrow. The arrow used the wind and its wing to guide itself in the direction of the pillar. It pierced the pillar's surface, and it created a shockwave that pushed the pillar out.
And while he was distracted, Olhos used his claws to slice through the armor, but just as before, it did not cut it open. But Shuja, with her keen eyes and mana strings attached throughout the battlefield like a spider's web, noticed Rook's chest break just a little from Olhos' attack. Rook did not notice the measly attack left a mark so small that an ant could barely fit in. And that small scratch was the target.
"Olhos, aim for the chest plate!" She yelled.
Olhos roared and struck against the magical armor, but suddenly, a loud explosive sound erupted far away from them, at the top of the tower on the dam blocking the river from the central lake. And what followed was a bullet that grazed Olhos' thick fur, but still hot enough to burn it ever so slightly.
Shuja fired another arrow. When it reached Rook, dark blue clouds exploded from its tip, obscuring Rook's vision. "Olhos, fall back!" She yelled at him.
Olhos sprinted away from Rook and the two met behind a large boulder. "What was that?" Olhos said. He poured the cold black mud on his fur.
"There's a marksman aiding him." Shuja took out her arrow and raised it over the boulder with a shard of glass tied on its head. She looked through the reflection and saw flashes of light on top of the tower. "It looks they're on the tower."
"You think you can shoot them down?"
The mirror was shot to pieces by the sniper. Shuja threw the arrow away, "No, I don't think my arrows could reach it fast enough. They'll just dodge it once they see it a miles away."
"Maybe I can tank the shots."
"Your fur can't block everything, Olhos."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Olhos pulled the fur on his head, "I wish Sum was here. He'd know what to do."
"You act like you weren't one of the best hunters in the tribe."
"Well, I wasn't. I can track an animal and shoot an arrow to kill it, but anything else is too much for me. There were times when I became the prey, and I could never dig myself out of those situations. It was Sum that dug me out of the hole. The best I could do was to just follow orders. I don't have the power to think of a way out of this mess."
"You talk about Sum too much. And rely on him too much, too." She turned to Olhos, "Remember when that juvenile troll attacked us. Cala and his dick-suckers ran away while everyone was getting crushed under their destroyed homes. But you stayed and fought."
"What?"
"Yeah, I saw you! You stayed and helped beat the troll. Why do you think Sun wanted you to stay? You're a good man and even better hunter."
"More like a monster" Olhos' stared at his paw.
"And that's what makes you the best hunter!"
Suddenly, a flash of blue light appeared in front of them. And walking out of the light was Dawn, "You tell him, girl!"
"Dawn!" Shuja clapped her cheeks. "What are you doing here?"
"Dawn! That's Dawn!" Olhos was even more shocked than Shuja. Dawn's cherry blond hair brought life in the middle of the dark empty river bed. She had an hourglass figure, but with a visible muscular physique. The soft consort of the Chief became a beautiful hardened woman.
"What's wrong Olhos? Is my transformation more unbelievable than your own?"
Shuja grabbed her by the shoulders, "Why did you come here, how did you come here, and what happened to your hair? It used to have a nice goldish color, but now it's almost like redhead's hair color."
"Calm down, I just dyed it a bit. Also, I used this," Dawn showed them a small gemstone wrapped by a metallic ring. "It's a nucleus that Pagasa lend it to me. It's programmed to let me teleport wherever I need to go."
"And why come here? I can take care of that marksman easily," Shuja said with a smug look.
"You can?" Olhos asked in amazement. Then another shot was heard and the sound of the bullet's ricochet startle Shuja.
"I sure you can Shuja," Dawn smiled. "But I also came here because Pagasa sensed something was wrong after Mari collapsed. So he teleported here and I tagged along. And we found him."
"Mari collapsed?"
"Yes and when we got here, we found Sun's dying body."
"What?" Shuja and Olhos yelled.