Free Web NovelChapter 67: Steel Wire
As a retired hunter, Victor had plans stored up in his mind for practically all kinds of situations. After all, if it’s normal for an ordinary man to imagine hypothetical situations that will probably never happen, who knows what a man like Victor, who has literally lived through every kind of situation in his life, will do.
What’s more, somewhere in Victor Shieldman’s mind still resided that pre-teen addicted to handheld ARPG games, so he had a fertile imagination and this situation, being surrounded by zombies, was something he had imagined thousands of times and finally being faced with a situation he had imagined so many times was indescribably exciting.
With a nod, the members of the group followed Victor’s orders, moving silently to their designated positions. When they reached their designated positions, Victor raised his hand in a waiting gesture.
Everyone held their breath, anticipating the crucial moment ahead. The silence was so intense that even the sounds of nature seemed muffled.
Suddenly, Elban flew back, signaled to Victor, who gave a not-so-silent signal to Riggilo, indicating that it was time.
"Now, Riggilo!" Victor shouted.
The cleric didn’t hesitate. Channeling his magic into his staff, Riggilo began to recite a few words. He repeated the same chant twice, causing the earth to tremble and shake from all the magic accumulated in his staff, and suddenly a burst of light erupted from where he was standing.
A wave of powerful energy spread forward in a straight line, destroying all the trees and bushes in its path, until it hit the group of zombies in the road ahead. This light magic turned them into pieces, and a shower of blood, organs, guts and other zombie remains began to fall from the sky.
The light produced by the magic could be seen dozens of meters away, and the deafening explosion of its impact echoed through the forest, followed by the distorted screams of the skeletoids who immediately started running towards the light.
The path ahead of the hunters was now clear, but the groups of skeletoids to the left and right of where they stood were attracted by the light.
Pyaxu and Orie remained hidden, because they needed to take advantage to get the maximum advantage at the right moment, but Riggilo, the one who conjured the magic, on hearing the cries of the skeletoids coming from both sides of him, shuddered and didn’t stand still. He ran back and used what little strength he had to make another chant.
"Divine light, chase the night. Glowing grace, in sacred sight!" fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Then, a small light appeared at the top of Riggilo’s staff and this light began to work like a beacon in the middle of the dark forest, attracting all the skeletoids to him. Seconds later, he looked to the side and could already see the skeletons very close by.
The light beam cut through the darkness of the forest in the midst of the chaos as Riggilo ran.
The skeletoids, agile and voracious, followed the light like moths attracted to a bright flame.
Riggilo, panting after conjuring the light magic, ran towards Victor with his heavy footsteps resounding on the uneven forest floor.
"Boy, don’t forget to jump." Victor muttered to himself.
The skeletoids gathered into one large group as they chased after the cleric, who, with fear on his sweaty face, kept running as fast as he could. He wasn’t very athletic, so the skeletoids weren’t that far behind him.
However, Riggilo didn’t need to be very fast, he just needed to be a little quicker than the living dead and jump at the right moment, because Victor had prepared a steel wire between two trees on the way, forming a makeshift trap to stop skeletoids.
The cleric, remembering Victor’s instructions, ran a little cautiously, which limited his speed, not to mention his fatigue and his cloak swaying in the wind and getting in front of his eyes all the time.
However, Victor’s voice came at just the right moment.
"Riggilo, now!" Victor finally shouted.
Luckily, the cleric had saved his strength and made a powerful leap. His body seemed to float for a moment in slow motion and one of his feet almost grazed the steel wire positioned at knee height.
Riggilo landed gracefully on the other side, his magic still lighting the way, and he kept running. He looked back to see the skeletoids, lacking the intelligence to realize the danger, continuing to run ahead, not noticing the wire.
The result was instantaneous and chaotic.
With a metallic sound, the skeletoids collided with the steel wire. The sound of bones breaking and the steel wire being forced by the mass of skeletons filled the air.
Some skeletoids lost their legs, while others fell to the ground in a pile of bones and dust.
The sharp steel wire did its job as a trap, wounding some of the monsters and rendering the others helpless, falling to the ground and unable to continue their advance.
Riggilo, on the other side of the trap, breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped unharmed. He looked back, seeing the skeletoids trying to recover from their disastrous fall.
Victor’s improvised strategy had worked, and the white-haired hunter watched the disoriented skeletoids trying to recover.
"We need to seize this advantage while we can! Orie, Pyaxu, now is the time!" He called the other hunters into action.
Orie emerged from his hiding place on the left with an arrow ready and fired. His arrow cut through the air with a whizz and hit the chest of a skeletoid that was almost on its feet.
The impact was instantaneous, causing the skeleton to crumble into ashes and dissipate into the forest wind.
Pyaxu advanced with his sword and ran it through two skeletoids, killing them simultaneously.
Victor’s plan had been carried out to perfection, and most of the undead in the forest were executed at that moment. Thus, defeating the other undead from Gravisk’s small army on the way to the cave was a mere formality for the group.
