Rebirth Online World

Book 2- Chapter 7- Wild Hunt part 2

“……..” represent dialogue *…….* represent thoughts

Shae.Alpha POV

*Why me?*

After receiving the extermination mission from the prince, Nu went about coming up with a plan in how to go about the mission. Eventually we all decided to split into groups. And lucky me, I got paired up with the most deadpan people out of the group.

Nu argued that I had some of the best. Traus strength rival that of Rumo. Yusei and Kugei were among the quickest out of us. And I was assigned with them by virtue of process of elimination.

*Quality over quantity as the saying go.*

We planned the date of our expedition and we would drive to the designation by carriage.

I was waiting in the carriage with Traus, Yusei, and Kugei. Throughout the entire trip we all sat in silence. I forgot my book so all I did was staring out of the window, counting all the clouds that went by. Truas sat next to me, but scooted as far away as possible, as if trying not to get close to me.

The other sat in front of us, with their eye’s close. They were sitting cross legged, as if in a mediated state. I quickly gave up on the idea of starting a conversation and simply looked out the window.

Time seemed to have slow down to draw out my misery as I was bored. Bored of the silence, bored of counting clouds, bored of looking out the window. Ever since coming to this world, I was quite grateful of my new body. No longer did I need, food, water or sleep. I was self-sufficient but during that initial ride I was in agony.

Eventually we arrived at our destination. I was the first one out as I couldn’t stand another second in the cramp carriage.

Although I became an android I still retained some initial senses. Such as smell and taste. Breathing in the fresh countryside air was refreshing. The other slowly unpacked. While doing so I surveyed the surrounding of the town. Our group was assigned the southern quadrant, the plan was to make it to the middle and meet up there.

Checking that the coast is clear I helped the over and we sent off. The area was a small ruined town with broken down buildings. Walking past the deserted town we headed into the forest.

The forest was heavily dense, trees packed close to one another. Most of the time, we had to maneuver around the trees. But that slow changed as the further in we got. By the looks of it there were some trees unrooted. Trees knocked down, broken or completely uprooted with pockets of soil scattered about.

*Whatever did this, it certainly was strong enough to get rid of these trees.* I made my silent observation as we continued on our trail.

The other looked to have noticed as well. We continued on deeper and deeper in. The further we went in the more uprooted trees were visible.

“Beep”

I immediately stopped and looked at my mini map that just beeped. As a [Support] class my duty was to support the team. One of the branch of the support class was [Observer], that was where my detection skills derived from. One of the advance skills under the class was [Advance Observer].

Back in Eternia the way the mini map work was that it was circular radar. Non-hostile creatures would appear white while hostile would appear red. The range was limited but thanks my class I was able to upgrade my radar to encompass a much wider space. The beeps were telling me that hostile enemies had entered its range.

I quickly opened my map and watched as the amount of dots increased as they made their way to our position.

“Everyone, we’ll be expecting trouble.”

I quickly warned them and got in front. The others got the message and took position next to me. As we waited I continued to look at my radar as the dots piled up. Within a minute or so they arrived.

A stamping sound was heard, rusting of the branches and trees along with loud breathing noise. Soon the monsters came into view. They were odd looking monster, very similar to chimpanzees. their fur was a reddish purplish color. Their body was very bulky, especially their arms which were quite large. Several large canines protrude from their teeths.

“What are they?”

Yusei: “Wilaers.”

Kugei: “They are agile monsters with strength to match their size..”

I quietly agreed with what they said as I try to count how many there were. I counted around seventeen of them, some hanging on the trees while other were on the ground. I always wondered what type of monster we would face, but this wasn’t what I had in mind. Not to mention their numbers was a bit overwhelming as well.

*Maybe I should call Nu and –*

I was about to send him an echo but for some reason I just stopped. My body froze up before bringing my hand down.

*No…This is my fight.*

I shook away the notion of asking Nu for any help. Ever since coming to the Empire, we’ve been following Nu’s decisions. Although I agreed with them, the thought of constantly relying on him bugged me.

I tighten my fist along with my resolve to see this through.

“So anyone got a plan?”

Yusei: “We came up with several but.”

Kuegi: “Their number right now is more than what we had anticipated.”

“I see… What about you Traus?”

Truas: “…”

“Well then since no one has any good plan we’ll go with mine then. Currently there’s around seventeen of them so it’s doable. Yusei and Kuegi, you two are the fastest among us. You two are in charge of quickly damaging them and then running away. Traus and I will be the one to finish them off. Everyone on board?”

 

Yusei: “What about you? We’re armed with our legendary weapon but you’re unarmed.”

 

Kugei: “We know you’re strong but that doesn’t mean you can get hurt.”

“I didn’t realize that you care so much about me. Jokes aside, I’ll be fine. You worry about your jobs.”

Kugei: “Very well then. |Agility| |Flash Strike|”

Yusei: “|Agility| |Quick Blade|”

The two silently nodded in agreement and readied themselves before quickly charging towards wilaers. Their sudden speed caught me off guard for moment. Their speed also surprised the wilaers as they got hit without registering it for a couple of seconds. I quickly shook away my daze and charged at them.

As a supporter my role wasn’t on the front line. My offensive skills were very limited compared to Nu or Drakus but my role didn’t end there. One benefit was that I was able to use my own support spells on myself, easily making up my weakness. I silently activated some of my support spells to go against the monsters.

“|Heavy Armor| |Easy Mobility| |Enforcement Arm| |Machine Gun Punch|”

I easily covered the distance with my support spells and quickly finished them off. Using my skill my fist flew like a machine gun, rapidly hitting the wailers. Multiple bloodied punch wounds appeared on the chest of the wialer before dropping dead. I quickly turned around as one roar in anger as it tried to punch me.

“|Heavy Knuckle|”

Using my skill our fist collided and I won our conflict. My fist easily broke it’s arm, going in deeper as the sound of crushing bone and ripping flesh accompanied it. I didn’t let up as I cupped my hand together and brought it down on it’s head. A loud cracking and thump noise was heard as I beat it into the ground.

It’s head smashed against the floor as blood spilled from it like a coconut. The mere sight of it caused me to stopped for a moment. I quickly snapped out of it as two were coming my way. Two of them paired up and used a fallen tree as a weapon. Catching them a bit too late I could only defend against it rather than dodging.

Thanks to my additional defense I didn’t take much damage but I was pushed back quite a bit. retaliating I was about to punch the tree back but Traus took care of them. He appeared behind and cleaved them in half with one horizontal slash.

“Thanks.”

The only replied I got from Traus was a silent nod before he ran off to attack the remaining wilaer. In most situation a person would at least say ‘you’re welcome.’ I wasn’t so much angry as more a bit annoyed. Brushing away the thought and I got back to work.

The plan went well until we finally dwindled their numbers back to around five remaining. We had them on the ropes and was closing in to finishing them. We were about to finish them off until we were interrupted by a loud roar.  

Everyone was taken by surprise and was looking around to see what caused it. A loud rumble noise could be heard until a whooshing noise could be heard as well. The next second something landed just in front of the wialers. We all backed off as dust and leaves blew everywhere.

The thing that suddenly appeared looked very similar to the wialers. It was significantly larger than the rest, about 1½ times larger. It’s arms were massive and hairy. It snout was sticking from it’s face with odd looking symbols on it. The fur remained the same with a more ruby color.

“Considering it’s size and overall differences, guess we found the Rank E monster.”

The other agreed without taking their eyes off it.

The beast came at a rather inopportune time. Although we were mopping up the wialer we were still exhausted dealing with their numbers. We could still take it but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be difficult.

I racked my brain to think of a way to get us out of the situation before another clamor caught our attention. Another large wialer dropped down next to the recent one. This one was a bit bigger than the other one with a different hue in color.

It started to talk with the remaining wilaer, as if ordering them. During that time I used my |Identify| skill to learn more about the larger wialer. To my surprise it was named similar to how Eternia would name a monster. In Eterina there were monsters of the same type that were known as champion versions. Essentially larger and more powerful version of their base counterparts.

But what caught my attention wasn’t the champion but the other one. I had to double check just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it. If I was correct then the other one was a mother, Wilaer Queen as it was called.

I quickly took note of everything that I could of the champion wilaer and the queen while trying to formulate a plan. The monsters apparently wrapped up their conversation as the other scattered and it brought its undivided attention towards us.

*Looks like we’re just going to have to wing it.*

“I’ll distract that thing and keep it busy while you guys do most of the damage.”

The others looked at me as if I was crazy, and I don’t blame them. To them I looked like a strong girl who knows how to fight. If you were to superficially compare it to the champion, of course their reaction would be the way as it is.

Before they could try and argue with me I shut them down immediately.

“Right now we don’t have the liberty of coming up with a full plan. I just need you all to trust me on this.”

The others looked at one another with nervous reluctant before readying themselves. The first one to charge was me. My previous support spells ran out so I added a new layer of spells, |Light Mobility| and |Reinforce Body|.

The monster roared and charged at me as well, just I had hope for.

“|Heavy Knuckle|”

Even if it was larger and more powerful than the base version I was sure I could beat it in a direct fight. If it matched my strength then I had a back up plan. I played out several possible scenario in my head to prepare myself…all except for one.

“Huh?”

The monster was nowhere in sight, one second I was running right at it, the next it was gone. It couldn’t have just disappear or gone invisible. The only option left was for it to jump.

Just as the thought formed I felt an enormous pressure hitting my body, it was the champion wialer. I didn’t consider the possibility of it dodging my attack and retaliating when I was open. It fell down, using its feet to slam me into the ground.

The wind was instantly knocked out of my body as it body was crushing me against the floor. Although I became an android and most of the body was now mechanical I still felt pain from the attack. I didn’t take much damage Hp wise but the pain hurts like hell.

“Get off of me!”

Using my skill I attempted to punch the leg but like before it dodged it by jumping. Seeing an opportunity I quickly rolled to the side to avoid him coming down but that left me open for another attack. The moment I stopped I was hit from behind by what I assumed was its tail. I was sent rolling until Truas stopped me.

Yusei: “Are you alright?!”

The others ran towards us to check up on me. I tried to stand back up but immediately fell to my knee but Traus quickly grabbed me.

Kugei: “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine. Just give me a moment.”

Putting up a front I gently pushed Traus away and silently activated my support spell again to heal my wounds. Taking a step forward but I ended up stumbling instead. Traus once again had to support me.

*What’s going on? My wounds are healed and my Hp is at max already. So why do still feel so weak?*

I couldn’t think anymore about it as the wialers charged at our position. They both jumped at us as we scrambled to dodged it.

Kugei: “We need to retreat…”

Yusei: “Right now we’re at a disadvantage.”

“Thank you for that wonderful insight. Easier said than done.”

I responded in a low moan as they were doing their best to keep us separated while keeping us from escaping. Our best strategy was to regroup and escape with everyone. If we separate separately then they’ll just hunt us down one by one.  

I gathered as much strength as I could and psyched myself up.

“Traus follow my league and don’t slow down!”

Screaming my order I rushed forward. Hopefully Traus payed attention and followed my order. We were across from Yusei and Kugei with the two wialers in the middle. The plan was to make a mad dash straight through, of course it wouldn’t be easy.

It saw us coming so it charged in retaliation, just what I had hoped for. It came rushing right at us just as I used |Boost Jump| and propel myself up into the air at the wilaer. Using another skill I flew toward it with my fist at the ready. It was smart enough to know that it couldn’t attack back in time so it brought up its arm to defend. I smashed against it arm, pushing it back, giving us enough leeway to get pass it.

The mother that was guarding Kugei and Yuesi turned around as we were making our way over. I readied myself again and performed the same action as before but just as I did so a loud scream permeated the air.

“Noooo!”

It took me a moment to find out that Traus was the one who screamed. The reason for it was because the pitch of the voice was so high, like a girl’s voice. I almost mistook it for another person. But I didn’t delved much into that as I felt a something hitting my backside. I was launched forward and hit the ground while bouncing a bit. I finally stopped when my body hit a tree.

My body was wrecked, I could barely move my body after the beating that it withstood. I count my blessings that I was android as the pain was mitigated. I slowly looked up as the two surrounded me like a fallen prey. I stood up while leaning against the wall. Racking my brain I thought of a way to escape until Traus came to my rescue.

Traus: “Activate!”

His sword glowed a brilliant yellow and white glow. Moving in a fluid motion he quickly slashed at the two. The two screamed and started swinging all over the place. To my surprise their attack was wild, not even hitting anywhere near us.

The next second I felt my body being picked up. I looked up to see Traus holding my body close to his while he ran away with me in tow. Kuegi and Yuesi waited for us before sprinting alongside us. Eventually the wilaer cry became indistinguishable as they came out of view. We continued sprinting for an unknown amount of time before finally stopping.

We seemed to have travel quite some distance as we were back in the dense forested area. Traus slowly helped me to my feet before finally relaxing. Even Kugei and Yusei seemed exhausted as they collapse against a tree as well.

We simply sat there, in awkward silence from what just transpired. I was grateful that I was an android as my face remained a stoic expression as I was frustrated. At myself and my reckless behavior that endangered all of us. I hit the ground while muttering silent curses at myself.

I quickly reminded myself to calm down and after a couple of deep breathes I finally calmed down.

Kuegi: “Where do you think you’re going?”

I was already before any of the others were and was about to head out.

“To fight those things again.”

Yusei: “Are you crazy? We barely escaped the last time.”

“That’s why I’m going by myself. I have an idea on what to do.”

Yusei: “Bu–”

I didn’t let him finish as I walked out on them but I didn’t get far as Traus this time stopped me.

Traus: “You’re not going out there. Not after how you almost died back there.”

Now that I was free of distraction I had time to comprehend Traus voice. At first I thought I was just hearing things but after listening to him again, it confirmed it. Truas whom I always assumed to be a big and distant person has a semi-high pitch voice similar to a girl. But of course I didn’t had time to dwell on it.

I tried to walk around him but was met with the same resistance.

“Get out the way.”

Traus: “No. You’re only going to get hurt again. Please think this through.”

“I did think about it. I can tak–”

Traus: “No you can’t!”

He screamed those lines at me. I was honestly shock that he did something so out of character.

Traus: “Right now you’re being driven by your pride. You have the same eyes as Rumo. What exactly are you trying to prove!”

As if something click inside my brain, a memory rose from the deep conscious of my mind. It was back in Eternia when we were among the top guilds. The specific scene that played out was just after a guild war with a warring guild, Blue Comet.

I was walking through the guild building, while doing so I listened in into the different conversation of those that participated in the war. Most talked about how fun it was or how they died to a random attack but what everyone talked about was Nu.

“If it wasn’t for Nu-Ru’s plan we would have lost.”

“Yeah. Did you see those guys faces when we caught them at the canyon?”

“That’s the ‘Genius Tactician’ for you.”

Everywhere I go, it was always Nu this and Nu that. Before the actual raid we formed a planning group to formulate a plan for the war. I was part of the committee. We two were the head tacticians whenever it comes to large scale event. But it was always him.

A joke among the others was that my title was the ‘Back-up Tactician.” It was always Nu that received most of the glory. I’ve never really been one to greedy when it comes to praises. I’ve mostly ignored it, believing that I was better than that.

But that doesn’t seems to be the case.

The memory suddenly end and I was back in the present. I looked up to see Traus with a concerned expression. Suddenly I bursted out into laughter.

The others suddenly looked at me with a mixture of a confused and scared expression.

“I’m…I’m sorry. A..mom..ment please.”

I laughed for a good minutes before finally calming down.

“Sorry. Had to get something off of my chest. Thank you Traus for making me realize just how stupid I was.”

Traus: “Ohh…well. You’re welcome.”

Truas gave a look of surprise at my sudden change in attitude. For the first time ever I watched him showing a genuine smile. Albeit a shy smile

“I must say I didn’t expect your voice to be like that. No wonder why you’re always silent.”

His smile was now gone, replaced with a nervous and shy expression.

Traus: “Go ahead and make fun of it. The others always tease me about it?”

“Why would I do that? Your voice is lovely, especially coming from a girl. Not to mention I like this more than your quiet and distant personality when you aren’t talking.”

Apparently my compliment was too much for him as he covered his face with his hands, trying to hide the blush and the grin that he was forming. It was quite cute. I slapped my cheeks and told myself to focus.

“Alright. I’m fine now. Anyway I have a plan to take them down.”

Kugei: “How?”

Yusei: “With those two rank E monster together, we can’t get a hit on them even with four of us attacking?”

“That’s the thing. We’ll be fighting with only three of us?”

The other looked at with extreme confused expression.

“I want you all to promise me one thing. That no matter what, you will never speak of this to anyone.”

The other looked at one another with confused expressions at my request. Of course they would act that. The way I made it sound, I was asking them to swear secrecy to me. The gamble was that would they deep their promise, should they get suspicious if I showed them.

Traus: “I, Traus David, first of my name and heir to the third grand family swear. I swear to uphold your secret till my death!”

He took a pose and knelt down with his sword standing up. I hadn’t expected him to take it seriously enough to do it in the fashion of taking an oath. I looked to the others that were in the same position. Checking that they agreed I filled them in on the plan.

“Here is how this will go. You’ll be the one fighting while I stay back and support you all.”

Kugei: “Support? What do you mean?”

“It’s just like I said I’ll support you guys.”

Yusei: “That stil–”

Truas: “If she said she’ll support us, then that will what she will do. She wouldn’t suggest this strategy if she wasn’t confident.”

The other looked at one another before finally agreeing. We finally picked ourselves up and headed out to look for them again. We mostly retraced our steps until my radar ping again. I quickly turned towards that direction of it. Within a couple of minutes they were in sight again.

They seemed to be resting against a pile of uprooted tree. Hiding behind some trees I went over the plan with them one more time before charging out. The moment we came into view they instantly charged at us.

“Traus hit that thing head on!” Locating the champion wilaer I ordered Truas to charged at it.

Without so much as looking back he charged in without any hesitation. The act alone showed that he trusted me. Traus ready his sword just as the champion reeled in for a punch.

“|Mountain Force| and |Warrior Determination|”

Just before they made contact I finally used my support spells on Traus. The moment they did made contact, Traus easily won the conflict. The creature cartoonishly was knocked back, surprising everyone.

Traus: “Shae…What did you do?”

“I can explain later. Right now we need to focus, Kugei, Yusei, you’re up! |Swift Acceleration|, |Lion’s Pride|”

The two sprang into action immediately. Their speed was boosted significantly, charging at the mother wialer.

The two distracted her while I split my effort in supporting both them and Traus. Yet I didn’t felt any pressure from it, I felt at home. I knew where to divide my attention and how much support to provide before shifting my attention. It felt like I was back in Eternia again.

The tides of battle easily shifted towards our favor. Combined with my support spells and their fighting ability we had them on the rope. The wilaer that Traus was fighting was almost done but Traus was just as tired as well. Kugei and Yusei had the mother covered so I sprinted in to support Traus.

Either it was desperate or it somehow saw a chance of escaping it charged directly at me. Of course this time the roles were reversed, I held the advantage.

“|Iron Guard|”

I stood my ground and activated my skill, encasing me in a white and shining light. I brought up my hand to defend against it’s attack. Its fist hit me but the only one that was hurt was it. The sound of cracking bone filled the air along with with a deafening cry. Sensing its defeat it decided it finally run.

“Traus! Jump as high as you can where I am!”

Once more all he did was nodded in response and sprinted into action. As he was in the air I completed all the preparation. Just as he was falling I activated my skills on both him and me, then I punched him. He quickly caught on as I punched his leg, propelling him forward.

He caught up with the wilaer in no time and ended it. With one swing using the momentum, he decapitated its head. With a huge thud, its body hit the ground.

I resisted the urge to jump up and down, screaming at our victory. But I couldn’t help but smile at how smoothly it went. It was just like back in Eternia, being part of a team and working together to take down a challenging foe.

I pushed those nostalgic thoughts away and focused on the main issue. We quickly grouped up with Kugei and Yusei. We continued to battle the mother until it ultimately retreated. We gave chase until we ultimately reached an almost barren area of the forest with almost no tree.

Eventually we had the wilaer mother cornered but not only that we also meet with Nu’s group. We only chatted for a moment before finally taking down the wilaer. After confirming it was dead we finally started to relax. Nu and I chatted regarding the hunt to which I pointed Nu towards the wilaer.

While he was off inspecting it I decided to join in with the others. But our conversation didn’t last long as my radar pinged once more. I only turned my head just in time to see Nu’s body flying across the sky.

I was the first one to actually say anything, namely screaming. The other looks around in a panic at my sudden action. However that didn’t last long as everyone stared behind me. I slowly turned around to see the monster that threw Nu.