Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 294: Night 8

Chapter 294: Night 8

Kibiwott did not return for the ambush. Concern washed over the players.

"Brother?"

"He’s hiding," Kazi said as if it was obvious. "An arrow must have hit him. The Archer is getting away."

Pauline gulped. "D-do we abort the mission then?"

Kazi opened his eyes and got up. "No." Stormedge slipped into his grasp. "Jackson, you’re going to have to fight without Kibiwott. Can you do it?"

"Can I do it?" The capped man swung his sword over his shoulder. "Them monsters are all hat and no cattle. Let’s go the whole hog."

"Yeah, what he said," Emma added. "If too many of those birds come, then I’ll be sure to zap them."

"I’m counting on you." Kazi’s gaze lingered on Pauline as if to say, "You too. You can do it."

It was time to fight in the woodlands. At this point, Kazi couldn’t sense Kibiwott or the Archer. The ambitious swordsman was on his own. This time, there was no messing up. If he did, it would mean death.

Kazi decided to go with Jackson and the Yumboes for the ambushes. He knew the location of every one of the wire traps. When one went off, there was a stir in the air. A shriek from the stone partridge. After that, it was a matter of killing them.

They waited. They waited...

"Um, sir," said one Yumbo. Since Kazi was tagging along, only three Yumboes were with them. "Do you have gum?"

"Has Emma been giving it to you?"

"Yes."

"Unfortunately, I don’t have any. You’ll have to make do."

"Aw." The cute dejection on the little elf’s face forced Kazi to smile and hand him something else.

"It’s candy," Kazi said. "You’ll like it."

The elf opened it up and beamed. "Thank you, sir."

They waited. They waited. They waited...

Until finally, there was a scratchy echo through the woodlands.

"There," Jackson hushed. "Let’s go!"

They did and they found two hurt stone partridges there. Kazi purposely slowed himself so that Jackson could reach and kill the stone partridge first. One hit, two hits, three hits, four hits, five hits. Finally, the bird broke apart. As for the second stone partridge that was nearing flight...

’Spark Strike Thrown!’

Kazi hurled Stormedge and smashed the stone bird into pieces. Mercy was not given. Not against monsters willing to hurt innocents.

[ Receive:

12,000 XP ]

"That’s the first ’em!" Jackson raised a hand for Kazi to high-five. Grinning, he slapped the hand.

"Many hands make light work," Kazi cracked.

"Truer words have never been said!"

He kept slicing and dicing, always granting Jackson the first hit. The swordsman’s confidence and building up and by the time an hour went by, he said he was halfway to levelling up.

"There are more monsters than usual," Jackson noted. "Lucky us, eh?"

"Yeah, lucky." It wasn’t like this was a forest. Woodlands were fundamentally different where there was less cover and more ground to run through. Without thinking, Kazi stared at the sky above. The night of battle tended to end after two hours, never more, never less.

’One more hour,’ he thought.

"I hope Kibiwott didn’t break a leg," Jackson suddenly said. "Would be a darn shame. I can see the effort he puts into fighting. Must be one big wish he’s asking for."

"And you?" Kazi asked.

"Me? Well, ya know...stuff." Jackson looked away and gestured to hide behind a tree. "Come on, let’s go. We have to hunt, don’t we? Let’s talk later."

Talk later? Or talk never? Then again, he wasn’t obligated to tell. Kazi was about to follow him until a chill went down his spine. The hairs on his arms stood up. A strange sensation choked the back of his head.

"Ugh." Jackson backed away from the tree, a hand waving, blanched. "What in tarnation is that smell? Smells like perfume mixed with shit!"

A terrible aura? An even worse smell?

"I-it’s here!" The three Yumboes cried out in simultaneous panic. "It’s here!"

"Screeeee!"

A screech. A bat-like screech that caused the world to freeze. Jackson suddenly felt nauseous and he tripped into the nearby tree. "Lord, have mercy, what is that—!"

Kazi’s left eye pulsed.

[ Boss in vicinity! ]

The monster of night zero was here.

Blip.

Red pupils possessing intelligence. Thick white fur behind the ears. Appearing in the space in front of them without qualm or reason, without real logic, spreading its wings wide as it stood on its two legs. The Guiafario’s hands unsheathed its black claws and struck at Jackson.

Blood splattered.

The Yumboes screamed.

That was going to be the future. As if sucking up the world, Kazi Hossain returned to the present. He returned to the moment before blood was spilled. Kazi charged forward, to the confusion of Jackson, and was already swinging his sword.

Blip.

’I knew the Guiafario would respawn! That’s what I was afraid of. That was why I was always patrolling!’

The Guiafario was here.

The Guiafario was dead.

Twang!

It should have been dead if not for the arrow that whizzed through and forced Kazi to backtrack and deflect for Jackson.

’The Archer,’ Kazi realized. ’Kibiwott! What happened!?’

Twang! Twang! Twang!

’The arrows are faster! The Archer must be closer!’ Block, block, block! Jackson couldn’t do anything here!’That must be why his arrows are so accurate—!’

"Screeeee!"

He expected an attack. Instead...blip! The Guifaro disappeared. That left Kazi to deal with an enemy that could reappear at any item and an archer that was sniping him from a kilometre or so away. The arrows kept coming. Kazi kept deflecting.

’If it was just me, I could kill these two with ease. But Jackson and the Yumboes...!’

The capped Southern man behind him had dropped to his knees, nose exerting black mucus. Weakened and coughing.

"Hey, can you get up!?" Kazi yelled. "Any of you!?"

The Yumboes were frozen in fear. Their instincts were forcing them to bow to the apex predator of the woodlands. The smell did not affect them the same way it did humans. They were magical creatures, after all.

"I-I’m trying...!" Jackson struggled to his full height, struggled to move his muscles.

The smell. That fucking smell. It was poisoning the player, paralyzing him—restricting his movements. Kazi felt like he would have been affected if not for his Mastered Flow of Mana. It was like cleaning out the dirty laundry.

Blip.

The Guifaro was back. Coordinating with the bat monster, the number of arrows increased. Two at a time became four with two seconds intervals between. Two seconds that the Guifaro used to slash at the Yumboes.

Block claws to protect the Yumboes, deflect arrows to protect Jackson, dart back to protect the Yumboes...

This couldn’t go on.

"Everybody up!" Kazi grabbed and tossed the three Yumboes high into the air, blocked the swipe of claws with one sword, then muttered and pointed a finger, "Fire Dart."

Boom!

The single spike of fire nearly blasted the Guiafario’s head off. Blip! But it managed to teleport before the full portion of the dart struck. Kazi sensed it in the sky, far higher than where he threw the Yumboes. Its screech was damaged, its wings barely hanging onto the air as it fled.

The Yumboes were screaming as they fell. Kazi jumped up and caught all three of them.

Several arrows launched toward him mid-air. ’Knew it!’ With a single hand, with a single blade, he blocked them all, darkness of the night be damned. The distinct, sharp presence of the archer—it was all too clear. Kazi’s muscles tensed up. With Mastered Flow of Mana, he was going to land, blast forward with the Yumboes in his arms, and kill the Archer in a single strike.

’...huh?’

Or so he thought. But then, as if answering the questions in the back of his mind, he sensed Kibiwott.