Chapter 174: It can’t be him, right?
[You have slain a Grand Wayerfarer Gale Bull]
The announcent resounded in Eric’s ear as he slowly glided down toward the group, exhaustion written plainly across his face.
Solo hunting was already hard. But flying beasts? That was a different level entirely.
Killing one Wayfarer Gale Bull was a lot of work, even for him. Thirty minutes of nonstop movent, positioning, and forcing openings just to bring one down. His arms felt it. His legs felt it.
He touched down quietly.
"That’s impressive....." To the side, Evil Spirit Lucas let out a slow breath, eyes still fixed on Eric.
Thirty minutes. This kid had solo-killed a Grand Wayfarer beast in thirty minutes.
Lucas said nothing else for a mont.
Taking one of these out in a group required hours of planning and coordinated wearing down before anyone could land sothing final. And here Eric was, landing alone, slightly out of breath, like he’d just co back from a short run.
Eric didn’t seem to notice the weight of their stares.
That was probably what made it worse.
Athen had no shortage of talented arrivals. People with special abilities walked through those gates every day. But this kind of raw efficiency was rare. The kind you didn’t teach.
"That’s his third Wayfarer." To the side, Poison Lilly spoke softly, eyes drifting upward toward Guilliman’s figure in the sky.
Her voice carried a quiet skepticism.
Guilliman was currently wrapped in a strange energy. It radiated A-rank clearly. But the strength behind each individual blow didn’t match. Not fully A-rank. Not yet.
Sothing in between.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
[You have slain a Grand Wayfarer Gale Bull]
5,000 gene points (purple)
Gene: 23,520/70,000 (purple)
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
—woosh
Guilliman pulled his spear free from the back of the falling bull.
The beast dropped beneath him.
He stepped off its descending body without looking down, energy gathering beneath his feet as he floated back toward the group at an unhurried pace.
His eyes found Eric the mont he landed.
"What’s wrong? Are you giving up?" he asked, expression genuinely puzzled.
Where Guilliman ca from, hunters gave everything in the field. Holding back wasn’t discipline, it was waste. You burned through your reserves fast and you ended the fight faster. That was how it was done.
He knew Eric ca from a powerful background. His father was S-ranked. That wasn’t a rumor, it was common knowledge.
A man like that didn’t raise his son empty-handed.
Eric definitely had sothing on him. Treasures. Techniques. Sothing that could tip the scale and dominate the beasts here in half the ti he was currently taking.
So why wasn’t he using them?
"Hehe, of course not." Eric gave a small laugh, waving a hand. "But we can’t hunt every beast here. If not, we might...."
He paused mid-sentence.
The air changed.
It was subtle at first. Just a shift. Like the sky exhaled wrong.
Then a roar tore through the valley, low and massive, and every Gale Bull in the distance suddenly lost its mind at once. The herd erupted in noise, scattering, crashing into each other, fleeing without direction.
Sothing had startled them.
Sothing they feared.
"It ca out on its own."
Evil Spirit Lucas stepped forward, his expression tight.
His voice was flat. No panic, just cold calculation behind the frown.
They hadn’t co here blind. They had been hunting a severely wounded abomination in the area, one they had attacked multiple tis before, grinding it down across several encounters. This outing was supposed to be the final blow. Clean up. Straightforward.
That was why they had been relaxed. Why they had let the B-ranks wander and ss around.
But that roar wasn’t a wounded beast.
It didn’t even sound like an abomination.
The sound was wrong. Too full. Too deep. Too alive.
Lucas’s eyes swept the far tree line.
"Run, everyone run!!"
He didn’t hesitate.
—whoosh
His physical form shifted in an instant as he grabbed the Fire Jackal and Poison Lilly by their collars and launched upward into the air.
Eric and Guilliman moved the sa second.
No words. No questions.
—boom
They blasted upward, cutting streaks of light across the sky, following Lucas tightly as the ground shrank below them.
Then it rose.
A giant beast, shaped like a lion but wrong in every way. No skin. Just dark, wet muscle stretched over massive bone, a maw wide open and dripping red as it lifted into the air with a sound like grinding stone.
It saw them imdiately.
The mont its eyes found the streaks of light tearing through the sky, sothing shifted in its gaze.
Vicious. Locked in.
—woosh
It shot toward them.
.
.
.
"Hm?"
Not far from the chaos, a figure paused.
The shift in the air reached her too, subtle but unmistakable. Her frown ca first, slow and deliberate. Then sothing flashed through her eyes.
"Jemie." Victoria’s voice stayed even. "You’re the fastest. Follow the beast and signal us when you’re in range."
The young man in golden armor seated on the edge of the carriage looked up.
He was smiling already.
"Will do, my lady."
Jemie broke into a full charming grin, his face annoyingly handso even in the middle of all this.
He didn’t wait.
—whoosh
He jumped from the carriage edge and vanished, golden light streaking forward through the air as he burned toward the direction of the disturbance.
He pushed his speed higher.
As he closed the distance he kept signaling back to the group behind him, hands flashing positions, direction, pace. Guiding them in blind.
The beast ca into view.
And so did the figures running from it.
He slowed just slightly.
His eyes narrowed.
’That’s.... no. That can’t be right.’
"That’s.... not possible. That can’t be him."
Jemie muttered under his breath, staring hard at the dark, crow-like silhouette cutting through the sky ahead, running hard from the beast bearing down on all of them.
His frown deepened.
His feet didn’t stop moving.?????????????????????? as he stared at the man flying.
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