Olivier and the barbarians had to face the Yala, a beast whose strength could be at tier-5 according to Kratos's estimate.
A tier-5 Beasts!
Olivier was optimistic about the incoming battle, it might be heard but it was not impossible to distract the Yala, maybe even slay it but Kratos knew well enough to not have such wishful thinking.
Anyone with tier-5 strength could wield power unimaginable to normal humans. All the practitioner awaken their element after advancing to tier-3 level and gain the ability to manipulate their unique elemental energy in the surrounding. This ability will strengthen when they break through to tier-4 as they will be able to control and weave the elemental energy according to their will and execute high-level martial skills that possess great destructive power. The aftermath of the clash between two tier-4 practitioners could level down fortified cities and change the landscape of the place. However, tier-5 practitioners were on another level. The gap between the two levels was like the mote between the ground and the sky.
Tier-5 practitioners had the ability of creation. They could create something out of nothing. Any tier-5 earth practitioner could produce mountains and palaces with their earth elemental energies while tier-5 lightning practitioners could bring down heavenly lightning of destruction, a tier-5 wood practitioner could grow a sapling into a towering tree and multiply their number thus creating lush forests and tier-5 fire practitioner could turn the ground into flailing boiling hot lava and rain down burning meteors on earth.
Such was the prowess of a tier-5 practitioner!
They were like gods to mortals and invincible to anyone below their level!
But any tier-5 beast was on whole another level. Beasts were naturally endowed with powerful fleshly bodies, gifted with divine bodily strength and defense due to their unique body structure. Thus, any beasts could easily defeat another human on the same level of strength other than some who were extraordinary and termed as a 'genius'.
To fight against such a creature, Kratos could not deny that he was nervous and ..... excited. A little bit.
During his peak, before that event happened causing him to enter into slumber, Kratos could easily fight with this Yali and play ping pong at the same time. However, time had changed everything.
Even a lion had its bad days! The story of the lion and the mouse was famous for a reason. This Yali might awaken the slumbering Lion within him again!
........
Olivier as the young chief of the legacy village, the chairperson of the legacy village taskforce committee, and the acting leader of this mission was ready to be the vanguard in this somewhat impossible endeavor.
Although he acted confident and said some assuring words in front of the team, it was undeniable that he was slightly apprehensive towards this battle. He was sweating profusely, his back was completely soaked in his sweat. His sword arm was a little shaky, his grip on the handle of his broadsword was loosened. But, his eyes were unyielding!
As a person who experienced death and was reborn from the ashes of his previous self, Olivier was not afraid of death. He was just unwilling to accept yet.
In this life, death would have to book an appointment before getting the chance to 'meet and greet' Olivier! Such was his spirit and aspiration!
The tension in the air was also making the hot-head barbarians edgy. Miguel was also among the group of barbarians. Miguel was a firecracker, he was like an open book and a loaded pistol. Anyone associated with this barbarian would know by their heart that as loyal Miguel was, he was just as much a lunatic. He wore his heart by his sleeve on his left and kept his sharpened sword on his right.
Miguel was suffocating in this oppressive atmosphere. Thus, Miguel knew he had to say something to lighten the mood. Thus, he opened his mouth.
"I can eat the hard scale of this Yali and make my poop soft like butter. Hey guys! Isn't that awesome?"
The group turned their head towards him as their expression turned strange. As if by extinct, a picture of the burly Miguel coquettishly pulling his pant and making buttery poop appeared on their minds. The group all felt a shiver running through the body in disgust.
"Fuck it! My mind has been tainted".
"So disgusting! Just picturing it makes my ass clench".
"Beat this disgusting bastard!"
The Barbarians turned lively again after this. Kratos had an ugly expression on his face and judging by his clenched fist, Olivier guessed that he also wanted to beat this disgusting bastard but was holding back to maintain his dignity as a commander.
But Olivier has no such qualms. He unceremoniously punched Miguel on his face and kicked him on his nuts under the cover of other barbarians.
"Fuck! Who kicked me in the balls? I will cut his dick if I find that bastard".
Miguel's painful howl reverberated in the air but Olivier did not care. As much as he wanted to praise him for lighting up the mood, he just could not bring himself after imagining the 'buttery' shit of Miguel.
'Fuck it! I ended up imagining it again. So disgusting!'
.........
After the group quietened down, they turned serious again. Olivier looked at the incoming behemoth. His fighting spirit soared as he said to the group, "let's hunt this elephant down. I want its head hung on the wall of my room. What do you guys say, wanna bring this thing down".
"LET'S DO IT!" The barbarians roared in excitement raising their sword towards the heavens.
Olivier flung his sword to his shoulder and smirked. "Then let's bring this fight to it!" He then dashed towards the incoming Yali and the barbarians filled with high morale followed behind him.
Olivier had not forgotten about the Korkottas lurking in the dark, waiting to bite them in their rear but he was not worried about them. He trusted Aria and her ability to cover their back.
Kratos had remained silent the whole time. He knew that it was impossible to take down this creature unless a miracle occurred. He chose to not say anything as he too marched into the battle.
..............
The Yali walked in its slow and unhurried steps, its big beady eyes were droopy. In its muddleheaded state, it just walked, thumping the ground with its foot leaving deep marks on the lands it trespassed unaware of the destruction it was causing. Its snout moved like a snake tossing trees in its way to the side and it the snort it released from its trunk created a gale that blew the leaves and dirt flying in the air. The streaks of lightning danced around its curved tooth like a slithering snake.
This was a Yali! A creature of destruction! Even without discharging lighting, it wreaked havoc around the world. Unintentionally it could uproot trees and alter landmarks, what could awake and mad Yali do? The world would drown in its lightning!
When the Yali arrived near the goblin village, the team struck!
Olivier took the lead and jumped up in the air reaching the eye-level of the Yali and struck down vertically with his longsword. The barbarians spread out as they similarly launched their best attack against the Yali.
Cling! Cling! Cling! Cling!
A striking sound resounded as sparks flew in the air. Olivier felt a jolt in his hand after his sword came into contact with the scaly surface of the Yali, the pain of the backlash caused him to draw a cold breath. There was not even a stretch in the area where Olivier struck! Not even a scratch!
Other barbarians were also facing a similar situation. The Yali, however, snorted with his trunk and moved like their attack scratched an itch, completely ignoring the team. This caused the barbarians to shout in anger as they attacked with greater ferocity.
Oliver launched a few more attacks before stopping. He noticed that his attack was only causing harm to himself. He needed to find a weak point before attacking!
As he observed more closely, he noticed that the Yali was covered in hard scales all over its body except for three areas.
1. The area where its head connected with its body but was protected by lightning.
2. The asshole of the Yali but it was covered by its tail.
3. The inner part of the trunk but gales were generated with its every snort blocking the entry point.
Oliver knew he had to target these areas but his measly tier-1 strength might not even create a bruise. However, the barbarians had the strength of tier-2 level and most of them could use the infernal energy. Olivier thus shouted towards the barbarians.
"Attack its rear!"
"What rear?"
"Fuck! Drill your sword into its asshole".
"Oh!"
The barbarians were enlightened as they acknowledged the command and moved to the back to attack the rear of the Yali.
Olivier started to creep towards the neck of the Yali, hoping to attract its attention and buy some time for Bjorn and Mina to rescue the archers. As for the lightning, he was confident that his 'life-preserving' shield could take at least one of its hits.
Kratos had not made any move until now. When he saw what Olivier was trying to pull, he dashed towards him shouting urgently. "STOP!"
........
Meanwhile, in the forest, the archers were like fish in the sea. They drifted like the wind as they jumped from one branch to another, their eyes locked on to the Korkottas like a hawk eyeing the snake crawling on the ground. Their movement was lithe and quiet as an assassin.
The archers were spread out drawing circles around the Korkottas. Whenever they noticed a Korkotta, they would circle around it from the trees. Then, under Aria's command, arrows would rain down from all sides.
The Arrows were also quite special, fired using a different style of archery than the one Oliver knew. Before the arrows were released, the archers would channel their energies onto their bows. The small jewel attached at the handle of the bow would shine and a golden light would spread out from the jewel to the body of the bow and gather towards the bowstring. The thin bowstring would then be coated by the golden light making it more elastic and harder to pull. This caused the archers to exert more strength to pull the bowstring but each arrow fired was more powerful, faster, and more precise. The golden light also had the mysterious property to cancel the noise produced when the arrows were released making it difficult for the target to pinpoint the direction of the arrows and the time of release.
The sound of Kortkotta's pained howl started to resound in the forest in the night from all directions making the sly Korkottas hiding in the shadows restless.
........
Bjorn and Mina found themselves in a closed tunnel-like space after they landed on the ground. The tunnel was lit brightly with burning torches hung on attached to the wall. They silently moved forward and after walking for a while, they arrived at an open circular space.
It was bright in the space like it was day due to the flickering torches hung all around the area. In the center of the space, there was a pile of gold and other valuable things. One thing was common among all the things that were all gathered there: they were all shiny and polished.
Bjorn and Mina hid and observed the situation. They noticed several goblins guarding this place. In the corner of the space where the light was the dimmest, they noticed a few naked females crucified on the wall. Their hands and feet were bounded by an iron chain, their bodies bruised and scarred as blood leaked out from those wounds. A quiet sound of sobbing was echoing like a piece of background music that was usually ignored.
However, Bjorn and Mina heard those noises ever so clearly causing their anger to boil. Just at this moment, the underground tunnel started to shake causing small pieces of rocks to rain down from above.
"That enormous beast is here". Mina whispered to Bjorn with worry.
"Then we better clean up here fast". Bjorn said as he dashed towards the goblin.