[China・Leo Garcia――]
We received shocking news on the morning of our 4th day in Suzaku's Headquarters.
One of Suzaku's members came rushing into the room just after a seemingly large crow that appeared to be a summoned beast arrived at Headquarters.
"Wan!We found it.We found the BOSS!!"
Hearing his words, everyone in the room froze.
"Are you certain?"
"According to the guy who appraised it, its level was definitely not ordinary."
Wan didn't seem completely convinced, however she still ordered the other members to get ready.
"Wan, I can have Gress appraise it. That way we'll be certain whether that monster is really the BOSS or not." I said.
"Got it."
With 20 members from Suzaku and all of The Sanctuary Knights' members, we headed off for a mountain district in Sichuan where the BOSS was supposedly seen.
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Alongside Leo and my men, we headed towards one of Sichuan's mountain districts. We would need 5 hours by car in order to get there.
Typically the monsters of China would appear in either mountain ranges or forests, after which they would head towards human settlements.
In a way, having had Suzaku's base be situated right in the middle of the road between the mountain range and the human settlement was just perfect.
"Wan!Freya will go ahead.Carlo do your thing." hearing Leo say that, Carlo struggled to free his right hand from within the narrow space in the car and raised it.
"Freya I'm on it."
"I'm counting on you!"
"Summon――"
A magic circle appeared in mid-air and from within it a single Flying Dragon showed itself. Freya exited from the car's window onto the roof, after which she proceeded to jump on top of the dragon that was gliding right next to us.
Following which Carlo deployed one more magic circle.
From the second magic circle a white bird appeared that flew up, joining Freya and her Dragon and flying off into the distance.
"With this we'll be able to know what's going on." said Leo, seemingly believing that we would win this fight… However that wasn't the case for me…
After all, the memories from when I last encountered China's previous BOSS were still haunting me. It was an enemy that wielded a speed that even Gojo had a hard time against.
'Will we really be able to win this time?'
With worry in my heart we slowly approached our destination.
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I looked down towards the ground from mid-air.
'According to the report they saw the BOSS right around here…'
Just as I thought that, I saw that there was definitely something strange going on within the forest below me.
A cloud of dust rose to the sky and I could see something similar to a pack of beasts moving.
"Rinto, get closer!"
It was the name I had given my Flying Dragon. I hadn't had the chance to say his name after leaving The Sanctuary Knights, that's why being able to say it like this made me happy.
Rinto flew down, getting closer to the pack of beasts――
"Are those wolves?"
There was a single, slightly bigger wolf that was leading the pack of several hundred wolves.
'Is that the BOSS?But Wan told us that it looked like a lion…'
[Did you find it?]
I heard a voice coming from the white bird that was flying right next to me. It was Carlo's summoned beast that was used for communication.
"I did.It seems like it's heading towards you.I'll get its attention and lead it to you. Prepare the ambush."
[Got it.I'll tell everyone.]
'Well then, now we only need to make sure that we don't make any mistakes and we'll have the advantage.'
"Let's goRinto!"
Rinto responded to my command and headed towards the pack's leader.
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We had taken our positions at an open space of land within the mountains. If Freya really managed to bring the pack here, then we'd have the advantage due to our preparations.
I thought that we would have even more time to prepare more, however I was naive.
"Master Leo!They're here.They're way faster than we thought!"
I could also see Freya flying towards us.
'They might turn out to be annoying opponents.'
Just as I thought that, Wan spoke to her men.
"Everyone get into positions!No matter what, don't let your guard down!!"
Even though it was a pack formed from hundreds of wolves the only one we had to focus on was the BOSS leading that pack. I turned around to look at Luke and signalled him.
After seeing my signal, Luke picked up an arrow with magic power embedded into it and shot it towards the wolf BOSS.
The arrow split the air and flew straight towards the BOSS. Just as we thought that it would hit it, the wolf BOSS dodged it by a hair's breadth and charged towards us.
"Shining Meteor!!" said Freya, following which countless arrows of light fell to the ground, piercing the bodies of tens of wolves, however the rest of the arrows were swiftly dodged by the remainder of the pack.
'To think that they could dodge those arrows… This definitely won't be an easy fight.'
I steadied myself and drove away the charging wolf BOSS with a wind slash.
Afterwards Freya got off from her Dragon and joined us in facing the wolf BOSS.
According to plan myself, Wan and Freya, the three of us, were going to face the wolf BOSS. The rest of the pack we would leave to Suzaku as well as the remainder of The Sanctuary Knights.
"Gress!How is it?"
"There's no mistaking it Master Leo!Its level is 2962.It's definitely a BOSS.Its name is: Starving Wolf Type 'Fenrir'. It's a monster specializing in speed."
The so called Fenrir slowly lifted up its leg and began walking. Before I could even realize it, it was already right next to me…
*gulp!*
I immediately clenched my sword and tried slashing upwards, however just as my slash strike occurred Fenrir was already gone.
I could see that he had suddenly appeared to Wan, who tried attacking him, however he once again dodged swiftly, getting behind Wan and embedding his claws in her back. Before we could even react, Fenrir was already in the distance walking leisurely.
"This…!" yelled Freya, jumping towards Fenrir with the speed of light, however even so he once again managed to dodge by a hair's breadth.
If one were to see Freya's light speed attack first and then try to dodge, it wouldn't matter how fast one was, it would be impossible. Which means that Fenrir anticipated Freya's attack and began evading even before she charged.
"Wan, it's way worse than I thought.Did Gojo really defeat something like that?"
"The BOSS that Gojo defeated was even faster than this.We couldn't even notice its existence… Compared to that, this wolf is nothing."
'Gojo managed to beat something like that…'
I was once again reminded of how out of the ordinary Gojo was.
Looking towards the side I could see Carlo's group facing the pack of wolves, however their opponents were just too numerous. It didn't seem like the wolves' strength or life force were that high, however their speed was abnormal.
Suzaku's members were also unable to land any attacks and were only continuing to suffer wound after wound.
If it continued like this it would definitely take a turn for the worse. The only one that could keep up with Fenrir's speed was Freya. However, she was starting to run out of breath.
Fenrir once again closed the distance and charged at us. I poured magic power into my sword and shot out a number of wind blades.
One of which somehow managed to land onto Fenrir, cutting off his right, front leg.
"One down!With this he shouldn't be able to move around as much!"
Is what I thought, however in the next instant I saw Fenrir getting close to the body of a dead wolf. Suddenly the dead wolf's body turned into pieces of meat that began being absorbed by Fenrir's cut off leg.
In just a matter of seconds Fenrir's leg was back to normal.
"You must be kidding me…"
It was a depressing sight.
'To imagine that he has such a means of healing… If we don't first defeat Fenrir then we'll have no chance of turning this around.Even retreat will pose to be difficult at the moment.What should we do…'
As Freya went to the back to catch her breath a single wolf jumped out of nowhere and dug its teeth deep into Freya's leg.
It had completely taken her by surprise, however Fenrir didn't miss the slight opportunity to charge towards Freya.
"Damn it!"
I immediately jumped in front of Freya trying to protect her.
Thankfully instead of landing on her, Fenrir's claws embedded themselves deep into my left shoulder. Due to jumping to the rescue without even thinking I suffered a serious wound.
Freya immediately cut down the wolf that had bitten her leg and rushed to me.
"Leo are you okay!?"
"Yea, somehow…Still…"
Looking around I could see that we were completely surrounded by wolves. It seems that a number of wolves had rushed here from the surroundings.
Wan and the other Suzaku's members looked extremely tired as well.
'We underestimated China's beasts… Currently we're just awaiting our deaths…'
I looked down towards my unmoving left arm.
I could use Healing Magic to try and heal it, however since I wasn't that good at it, it probably wouldn't do much… It would take a lot of time to heal a wound such as this.
Freya also had her wound as well. With it she probably wouldn't be able to dodge Fenrir's attacks any more.
Wan was also surrounded by numerous wolves and had her movements restricted. Fenrir slowly began narrowing the distance between us.
I once again grabbed a hold of my sword and tried to force myself into position.
'I'm going to counter him when he goes in for the charge.'
Thinking that I took my stance, however instead of coming from the front, Fenrir fainted me and jumped towards the side, charging from there.
Knowing that I wouldn't be able to dodge, I prepared myself for the worst.
"ROAR!?"
As if having noticed something Fenrir suddenly backed off.
'What the...?' Thinking that I noticed that blood was dripping from one of Fenrir's legs.
'He's wounded?Why?We didn't do anything!?'
Just as I thought that
I heard an explosion. Looking around I could see that the wolves that were holding the advantage just now were being blasted one by one.
"Gyaa!"
"Grawrrr!?"
Several of the wolves cried out in pain after which they just fell to their deaths. I couldn't figure out what was going on at all, however it seemed like the situation was turning in our favor.
"What is going on?" said Wan, her face full of shock. However, I wasn't able to answer her as well… As all of that was going on I felt some kind of presence coming from the sky, so I looked up.
In the sky there were 5 Flying Dragons that were forming a circle.
"See, it's just as I said.I was sure they were going to come here on their way back from Bangkok."
"….You were right… That's a-amazing…"
Turning my head once more I could see that there were currently two kids standing in front of Fenrir.
One of them was a boy holding two silver pistols, while the other one was a girl that was holding a staff that was almost as tall as me.
'Why are these kids here?'
"I'll guide you Emily, you just take care of the rest."
Noah Smith
Sage Lv 99
[Class Skills]
Magic Library Rank SSS Title: "Sovereign of Wisdom"
"I-I'll do my best Noah…"
Emily Simon
Demon King Lv 99
[Class Skills]
Darkness' Protection Rank SSS Title: "Darkness' Guide"