Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 436: Impossible Odds

Chapter 436: Impossible Odds

If Booker was planning to fight, then as Matty said, doing so alone was foolish.

"Hold on."

Kazi stretched an arm forward and proclaimed, "Summon: Anos!" From the palm of his hand was a dark glow—and the extraction of a monster from his Inner World. The Anostos Bird, the monster he caged in his mind. A bronze beak, bronze feathers, and a loud KA-KAW!

Not one, not two, but three. Level 27, the lot of them.

"They’re not much but..." Kazi winced. The mental strength it took for summoning three wild monsters was agonizing. Luckily for him, he was able to muffle the pain and agony in its entirety through Ultra Divine Healing Circulation. He let out a breath, then a smile, then gave a nod. "They should serve as excellent distractions."

"You sure they’ll last the journey?" Booker questioned.

"I’ll be meditating," Kazi said. "So they’ll be fine."

Jules appeared shocked. Monster Tamers subjected creatures through force of will. Animal Tamers did not—and Mythical Beast Tamers likely was a mixed bag. Kazi could not imagine Jules of all people forcibly holding a phoenix she affectionately named "Feenie" as a servant.

"Meditating and helping me out when your arms are fucked up like that?" Booker shook his head. "Try not to die."

The adjusted plan was set. Booker Davis Jr would go alone and lead the Bake-Kujira over to the north with monsters hot on his tail. While he was chased, he needed to make for the perfect pace in order to launch step two: disrupting its magnetic sensor. Remmy would also assist and act as back-up to protect Booker.

The bombs would stay here.

The timing had to be perfect. Too early and the metal weapons would pointlessly sink to the floor. Kazi recommended Remmy to lead the men on the boats and the archer came through. With a team of a hundred strong fishermen, he was going to hurl weapons and disrupt the Bake-kujira’s magnetic weapons, and while doing that, protect Booker.

A minute later, Jules summoned the Ibong Adarna. Citing that it was her most used mythic beast before she acquired Feenie, she told him it would be reliable and take good care of him.

"I will," Booker said.

The legendary Ibong Adarna had grown a bit bigger since Kazi last saw it. It took at the same height as a human and its wings were more colourful if that was even possible. The mythical bird didn’t seem entirely comfortable with Booker and glanced at Jules and even Matty.

Unfortunately, this was the best choice in order to maximize Feenie’s healing prowess and to ultimately rev Kazi back to full power.

’My left eye still isn’t responding. The circulation of healing water isn’t enough.’

So it was up to him—Booker Davis Jr alongside the Ibong Adarna and three Anostos Birds.

The Ibong Adarna let out a harmonious cry, and with one powerful beat of its wings, it soared into the air, casting a rainbow-like glow over the scene. The Anostos Birds followed. Kazi started meditating. He had to focus. He had to recover. He had to do both.

Seeing the rainbow bird, Remmy and the hundred fishermen shoved their boats off the shore. Metal weapons were carried in bags. Step two was beginning at the same time as step one.

Booker climbed higher, the wind tearing at his dreadlocks, which were bound in a tight ponytail. His sharp eyes scanned the lake below. The seal Kazi had crafted was fracturing, faint fissures running across its smooth surface. The water around it churned violently, waves slamming against the shore. The Bake-kujira was waking up.

No, it was already up. The seal shattered.

It fell.

The sea churned around it, not with life, but with the taint of death—the waters boiled and foamed, teeming with ghostly fish and skeletal marine life, as if the Bake-kujira had brought the underworld in its wake.

’What the hell...?’

How in the world had Kazi sealed this monster?

Booker saw no openings. Its bones had small gaps and yet he also saw no organs or innards. No vital points to target with his gun.

Empty eye-sockets. All bone.

The Bake-kujira saw him.

The sheer pressure it laid down on his shoulders caused his bones to quake.

The sheer pressure as it changed directions nearly accelerated his heart from his ribcage.

What was this thing—

Oh. Oh no. It felt him. The echolocation found him. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and his stomach did flips.

The Bake-kujira moved for the first time. It did not disappoint. Its massive form dragged a tidal wave of water and monsters in its wake.

His lips moved almost as fast as his hands. "Showtime," Booker muttered, drawing his two pistols and snapping them into his hands. A modified Colt SAA, the bullets made of Cold Iron. Excellent against malevolent creatures.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

He killed plenty with his first forty bullets. All of them made their mark after all.

The Anostos Birds descended like streaks of bronze lightning. Individually, they could kill one monster bird. Even two, they were stronger than. Three or four pushed the Anostos Birds to their limit. So, Booker covered them with precise shots, each bullet finding its mark. He didn’t hurry, he didn’t rush, he held a steady pace.

His innate humanity was ordering him to flee. Run, run! Do you not see what is under you! Hundreds are flying after you! Run!

He did not give that order. He wasn’t sure he could give it even if he wanted to. He was stuck here, faced with a whale a hundred feet below him and with a hundred monsters coming after him.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Oops. Two hundred. One fin slapping on the water, the Bake-kujira casually flung out dozens of more monsters for him to kill.

Booker aimed his guns and had one bullet kill five and six—going all the way down to the fin and where they spawned. If he was alone, this wouldn’t have been a stalemate.

Luckily, the Anonstos Bird made it a stalemate. They dove, they killed, and they did their damn job.

Kazi Hossain. What awesome powers he possessed.

"Keep a distance, keep a distance."

Booker stood proudly with the Ibong Adarna acting as his flooring. He did not move but the famed rainbow-winged bird did. It could have gone faster. It didn’t.

For the mission, they had to taunt the Bake-kujira. They had to reel it in. On top of that, he couldn’t go too fast right now—Remmy and the fishermen needed time to deploy their weapons—but he also couldn’t afford to let the monsters overrun him.

Not to mention this was but one part. He was fighting for his life JUST to rendezvous with Remmy.

’I’ve had worse odds.’

His razor-sharp eyes did not miss a thing. Bang! One bullet. Seven kills. The angle, the prediction, Booker saw it all. He grasped it like it was nothing.

Bang!

With a slight adjustment, one bullet killed eight birds. They were not intelligent creatures.

’They are freshly created and freshly ordered to kill. No time to learn and adapt.’

To not attack him in shitty formations was impossible for these Japanese monster birds.

In the thick, however, were the Anostos Birds. Ant attack, any fire ball, whatever it was, it was all inflicted on them. Sooner or later, this stalemate would end.

Booker checked his watch with a flick of his eye.

Only two minutes had gone by. Thirteen more to go.

Booker Davis Jr laughed.

"How the hell did Kazi fight this thing?"