The day is finally here. I've done all that I could and will have to make do with what I have. I've spoken to Rose and Lily that Peter was willing to tutor them on the condition that they were willing to head over to the Eastern Continent. A small price to pay considering that they will be learning directly from one of the great powers. They were indeed thrilled to hear about it and they had considered requesting a favour from him in the first place. I was fully expecting them to head over there immediately but they said that the war had just ended and they wanted to be sure that I was fully healed before heading to the East.
It was early in the morning and I'm eating a small meal that I had prepared the night before. I wished to be as quiet as possible and head out without them knowing. Q appeared from the ground to deliver the papers. Someone is delivering early today. I took the paper from him and lifted him up.
"Q, I'll be going to hunt the person that killed grandfather. I promise you that I am going to avenge him. Please deliver this letter to Rose or Lily if I do not come back in about a week's time," I said while giving him a belly stroke.
He tilted his head while looking at me. Why am I talking to a hedgehog? I guess he is the only one that I know who won't spill the beans. I just hope he doesn't give Rose or Lily my letter too early.
I placed him back on the floor and he tunnelled away. I walked as softly as I could to Rose's door. I wanted to say my goodbye to them before leaving. Hmm? It's partly opened. I pushed the door as slowly as I could to peek in. I hope I do not see them doing something that I do not wish to see. Rose told me it was a joke, but is it really?
Thankfully both of them were asleep and not on top of each other or something. Rose was tucked in her bed while Lily was snoring loudly on a futon. I sneaked over as softly as I could and gave a peck on Rose's forehead. Lily's hair was messy so I had to brush some aside and give her a peck as well.
I headed out the door and steeled myself as I headed for the caravan that awaits me at the southern entrance.
***
Why do you have to treat us so equally? And why do you have to do seek revenge alone? Lily and I sat up on our bed while hugging our pillow. Ever since we came back to the city, he had been treating both of us as equally as possible. We spoke between ourselves that if he were to show any sign of favouritism between one of us then the other will back off. But he said his goodbye to the both of us in the same manner.
Damn it. Lily's idea is starting to sound good now. Forcing him down and rape him so that the both of us ending up pregnant is starting to sound appealing. In doing so, he will be forced to marry both of us. But we know that he will hate us forever by doing so. Sigh.
I looked at Lily. She was also in a trance like state, thinking about him while hugging her pillow. But I shook her to snap her back to reality as now is not the time to be thinking about love. We have to follow him before he leaves the city. We quickly prepared ourselves and headed out. The first thing we need to do is to find out where he went. Where exactly is Tom currently residing in, and how did onii-chan know about it? Is it from that weird entity that he was talking to in the dark alleyway that we could not see?
We came out of the Dark guild's building but onii-chan was nowhere in sight. We thought of going separately to each of the entrance but to our surprise, Q poked his head out of the ground and suddenly began swinging his head in a cute way. Is he.. pointing to us the direction where he went? From where he is swinging, it seems to be.. south!
I said thanks to Q and started running towards that direction. Q is smarter than he looks, to be honest and he definitely understands our language. Lily followed behind me as she asked whether it was a good idea to follow the direction of a hedgehog. I told her to trust him as he is no ordinary hedgehog and he is Zen's favourite pet.
We saw Zen boarding a caravan heading out of the southern entrance. Thankfully we had planned a few things in advance. We had booked caravans on all four entrances for the entire week. We paid in advance so we do not feel bad if they ended up waiting for nothing. We told them at a certain time of the day that if we did not show up then they are free to go or proceed with another job. We brought along basic supplies and whatever medical supplies we can find. If he loses a limb, we have a tourniquet to prevent him from dying. I just hope it doesn't hit any of his vital organs as we have no way of curing that.
Alright, we have done all that we could to prepare ourselves, time to follow onii-chan and find out where Tom is hiding. I look forward to killing Tom who had caused so much trouble for John, Lily and more importantly, my brother.
***
It was night time when I made it to the elven forest. According to the knuckleduster weirdo, Tom is currently residing here. Why though? Who is he hiding from? Is it due to the Queen finally kicking the bucket that he no longer have a place to hide? Or did he failed some assassination that caused him to be hunted? And why are the elves even allowing him to hide here unopposed? Either way, I do not care about his circumstances. If he is here, all I need to do is to interrogate him and kill him. I really hope that he is here though, I paid a pretty penny for this information.
I sneaked around the forest trying to pinpoint the exact location where the weirdo pointed on the map. It should be somewhere around here. I spotted a small light source up ahead among the trees. I crouched and moved as softly as I could towards the source. Someone was there and from the looks of it, seems to be Tom. That blond hair of his that he combed backwards and those scars of his. Hang on, there seems to be even more scars now as compared to the previous time I saw him. And these are just on his back. I hope there are more scars upfront. Finally, I have you in my sights. Target acquired.
"Bravo 6, going dark" I thought to myself as I casted Conceal. Odd, I swore I heard this before somewhere. Why does my brain keep thinking of weird things that I cannot remember?
Tom stood up and unsheathed his dagger as though he heard something. His instincts is certainly off the charts to be able to detect me using Conceal in the cover of night where it is at its strongest. And true enough, he had plenty of scars on his chest and other parts of his body. A whole lot of it, to be honest. Is it because he had grown too weak and he is forced to hide like a coward? Let's not get too carried away, this man is still one of the four great powers. I will need to use everything at my disposal to kill him. I do not have any support from a light guild member that helped me in my previous fight against the Queen. I am on my own.
Tom continued to scan his surroundings cautiously. He knows something is nearby and he is aware of it. Should I remain hidden or do I take the first strike?
"I know you're here. You can't fool me with your spell. I've fought plenty of Dark Knights before and I know when one is using Conceal. Come on out!" he shouted.
I guess he is called the fourth great power for a reason. Not point in hiding anymore. I shall take the first strike then!
I appeared behind him and swung Tengu-kaze. Even with my sudden attack, he managed to block it with his dagger almost instantly. His reaction speed is off the charts. No matter, I swung Tengu-kaze once more using wind pressure but he dodged it out of the way skilfully.
"Another moron trying to kill me, eh? I'll show you people not to underestimate… wait, I know you. You're that kid from that time," he said.
"I am surprised that you even remembered me when we only met for a short while," I told him.
"I made sure to burn all you brats faces into my brain. Your fucking old man caused me a fuck ton of problems," he raised his voice.
"Really? That is music to my ears. Now… where is he?" I gritted my teeth.
"Puhahaha!! You think I kept him alive? I took my time torturing him, slowly ensuring his slow death. I do have to give respect to him though, he refuses to budge even under his dying breath. If only he told me which one of you two was a Hawthorn, I would had gladly hunted you down," he spat.
So he did not know whether it was me or John who was a Hawthorn. Obviously he had ruled out Lily seeing that she is an elf. But what was stopping him from hunting both of us in the first place?
"Why bother? The Queen is already dead. You won't be getting any bounty money anyway," I told him with a sarcastic tone.
"She's dead? Puhahahaha!! Bitch finally got what she deserves. That sly snake had always been a pain to deal with. Only giving me contracts that is close to impossible to complete yet giving me shitty rewards for it. Humour me, how did she die?" he asked curiously.
"Roasted by lightning," I told him with a shrug.
"Lightning? A bit overkill for a human, isn't it?" he chuckled.
"She's not a human," I glared at him.
"Hah! I had my suspicion. Only a monster would order genocide on a single bloodline. I would had ordered to eliminate everyone instead! Hahaha!!" he laughed loudly.
"You're mad, but what would I expect from someone who is willing to take contract from a monster," I said bluntly.
"Anything for money. Only thing I trust in this world," he said.
"Such shallow thinking. I guess that is the only thing that you deserved in this world," I spat.
"Watch your words. You don't know me and what I had to do in order to survive in this world," he gritted his teeth.
"Nor will I care. You made me your enemy by killing my grandfather. Now, just await your death," I summoned Inazuma.
"I look forward to it then, Hawthorn. You are not the first dumbass seeking revenge and died," he said with a smile.
We clashed weapons. He summoned his bow to stop my swing. His bow is made of metal and had blades on the entire section of the limb. Maintaining close combat is what I must do to prevent him from shooting his arrows.
As I attempted for another swing at him, he tossed a small looking ball at me. Is that poison? I held my breath and expected the worst. If it can be absorbed through the skin then I hope the antidote that I had crafted works. Smoke erupted from the ball. As I guessed, it is just a smoke bomb. Using poison is not his forte as there was no evidence of him using it in any of his assassinations before.
I charged ahead ignoring the smoke but Tom was already missing. Such quick reaction to disappear in such a short amount of time. I hid myself as well using Conceal. I must find him. A blue glowing arrow flew right at me and I managed to dodge at the last minute. How did he know where I am? I stopped moving entirely and it was eerily silent. Conceal is supposed to muffle my movements entirely but he can still hear me? Or perhaps he can see me?
I crouched and scanned the possibility of where he is hiding. Just when I was about to pinpoint his position, another arrow came flying towards me in front of my vision. I parried the arrow and ran to where Tom was hiding with Conceal still activated. He is in a strategic position on top of a tree. I climbed up using the same method I used to climb the castle. It was not long until I reached the top. Expecting Tom to be there, I was greeted by a bomb instead with the fuse about to run out. Shit, it's a trap!
BOOOOMM!!!
I fell to the ground. I landed on my left side which hurt my arm. I hope it's not fractured or broken as it hurts to even move it. I scrambled to hide myself as Conceal was deactivated after the explosion. I am a sitting duck right out in the open. No arrows came while I hid behind a large tree. He must be repositioning himself. I reached into my potion pouch and took out a painkiller potion. While the after effects are not desirable, I don't really have much of a choice but to take it if I need to continue fighting effectively.
I took a peek out of the tree and immediately an arrow came flying. I quickly hid back to avoid the arrow. I need to assume that he can see me using something. Possibility by using heat. Then it must be that weird visor of his. Now, how should I play this? My main objective is right in front of me, it is the final quest.
Main Objective: Eliminate Tom Snapdragon with extreme prejudice.
Should I assume that he had set another bomb up top where he is hiding right now? I should assume the worst. Alright then, you're willing to sit next to a bomb? I'll make you regret that.
I summoned my fully juiced up favourite gauntlets and rushed towards where he is supposedly hiding. Arrows flew at me with precision as I ran towards him with the cover of trees and bushes. I deflected the arrows or used the tree trunks as cover. Not too far now and he should be getting ready to run to another hiding spot. Not that I will let you.
I ran as fast as I could to where he is supposedly hiding and call forth a lightning to my right gauntlet.
BBBBOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!
The explosion was even worst than the previous as the lightning destroyed the entire tree along with the bombs that he had set-up. I hope that had injured him in some way. That is for detonating a bomb in my face. Now, where is he?
I heard some sort of flapping sound above and looked up. Damn it, he can fly? It looks like his Rend is some sort of armour that gave him wings along with some minor light armour on his chest and hands. And the triangular shaped visor that he is wearing. I will forever remember that damn thing even in my dreams. I launched Lightning Strike at him but he protected himself with his wings.
So, Rend is capable of blocking a spell from a legendary equipment. No wonder Peter was so unhappy that his treasured spell was being misused by quite a number of beings out there. Who did these people even learned it from? He flew down and took a good look at me. I see a part of him arm had charred a little, possibly from his own bombs. Serves him right.
"Bloody hell, colour me intrigued. A Dark Knight capable of using lightning? Now that is certainly unheard of. I thought you were joking earlier when you said that the Queen had died by lightning but who knew that it would be you. Now things are getting interesting. I WANT that gauntlets," he said while licking his lips.
"I am a Dark Wanderer, mind you. As for my gauntlets, you want it? You can only dream of having it when you're dead," I spat.
"Oh ho, I will be prying them from your cold dead hands. I am looking forward to it!" said Tom as he readied his bow and wings.
Why do I end up fighting beings that can fly? So troublesome and annoying. Why can't I fight something that solely plant their feet on the ground? But at least Tom has no regeneration unlike a demon. Perhaps in a battle of attrition, I might be able to win.
Tom flew backwards and shot consecutive arrows at me. I deflected all of them with Inazuma and charged directly at him. Sometimes I tend to forget that Inazuma being as light as a feather really gives me good reaction speed. Tom tossed several bombs at me but without the element of surprise, I avoided all of them. He then tossed a couple of smoke bombs on his feet but I used Tengu-kaze to blow the smokes away.
Tom replied with a huge "Tsk!" and decided to fly upwards. Damn it, I wish I can fly too! He started spamming his arrows at me which I either deflected or dodged them. He has the advantage of height and range against me. No wonder other beings had difficulty in killing him. With his infinite bombs and arrows, not to mention with Rend and Sunder, it is certainly one of the most bullshit bosses that I ever have to fight. Might as well throw in a large health pool and infinite stamina for him then.
He drew his bow and held it. I thought he was going to shoot immediately but blue particles started to accumulate at the tip of his bow forming a huge large ball. Then he shot it into the sky and grinned at me. That cannot be fortification magic, that is real magic!
I started running as I somehow predicted what that ball is going to do. And true enough, shower of arrows started pouring over me. He started chasing after me while flying, adding more arrows among the showers of it. I'm so glad my agility skills are high as it allowed me to dodge and react fast enough to all of those arrows.
I felt some resistance from my boots. It was as though I had snapped something. Immediately I started hearing loud hissing sounds all around me. SHIT!!
BBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Showers of arrows continued to pour on me until the dust settled. I stood up from my crouching position with my purple spectral cloak. Bloody hell that was deafening. Glad I managed to cover my ears before all the explosions occurred. I glared at him above while he made a whistle being impressed. This guy is going to be such a chore to fight against.