Free Web NovelChapter 36: The Lady’s Prologue [2]
36 - The Lady’s Prologue [2]
The Hell Hound was a mighty beast in its right.
Ferocious as it was fearsome to behold.
’How? How are we going to kill this thing?’
That was my first line of thought.
My only line of thought.
The Gate was no more level 0.
Right now, we were faced with the beast of a matured Gate that we did not know what level it was.
—Step!
The Hell Hound took a slow, measured step forward, still growling with drool dripping from its eager jaws.
Without a doubt, its main goal was to shred all of us into pieces of meat for its meal.
That couldn’t happen. Of course, it couldn’t.
That would mean the end of all of us. The end of me.
What was the point of being reborn in a new world if I was going to die before even spending a complete week here?
As I stepped back slowly like the rest, I recalled that bone-chilling yet calm voice that had rung in my head.
The voice spoke directly to me like it knew me. I could feel it.
There was a deeper connection to that short, one-sided interaction.
’Was it responsible for this?’
As I considered the possibilities for a Hell Hound appearing, the beast’s entire body was already emitting a shroud of orange flames.
Its jaw parted largely, allowing a small ball of flames to form at its centre.
The flame started growing as more fire was poured into it.
I moved my head sharply, predicting the line of the attack.
’Wendy!’
It was no ordinary beast.
The Hell Hound could already detect that Wendy was healing us through the small tendrils that were glued to a part of our bodies.
Taking Wendy out meant taking out the medical aid of the team.
That was a smart move for a beast.
"Wendy!"
Instinctively, I called out to her.
Instinctively, I moved.
No. Did I?
It was more like my body moved on its own... against my will, to protect Wendy.
That was foolish.
What did I have that I could protect her with?
That fireball that the Hell Hound was about to release was about the size of three basketballs back on Earth.
My sword was no match, and I still had no level of mastery towards Absolute Zero.
My attack capability was meager.
Did my body act, hoping to rely on the healing effect of Heaven’s Touch thereafter?
No. No way.
Something prompted me to rush to Wendy’s side, damning all consequences that came with putting myself in the line of fire.
Was it the old Link Remington?
Did he love this druid so much that his body just gets eager to sacrifice itself?
I couldn’t answer.
Before I could realize myself, I was in front of Wendy, a few metres in front of her, standing like an impenetrable wall between her and the coming ball of flame.
My sword was raised vertical in front of her, my grip shook evidently but I stood.
"Link!"
Brian moved as fast as his body could allow him, dashing towards me.
A glance at him and I noticed that his gauntlets had been charged with Essence.
’What a fool,’ I thought, smiling inwardly at the thought of what Bran wanted to do. ’What do you think that will do, Bran?’
Bran was going to probably attempt to challenge the fireball with his Essence-enhanced gauntlets.
What were the odds?
As the fireball travelled fast towards me, I strengthened my grip around the handle of my sword.
Raising my blade above my head, I was ready to slash down.
Was it going to work?
Hell no! That was a stupid idea even. Geez!
But why did I do it? I don’t know.
Maybe it was better doing that than simply standing to be consumed by flames.
’What is that bastard doing?’ Eris thought, flashing out of sight with her hand placed on her sword’s hilt.
She was fast but not fast enough to take a swing at the fireball.
Fortunately, she didn’t need to.
She was as much a long ranged fighter as she was close ranged.
The surrounding air instantly chilled.
The once hot Gate started to feel cold.
Almost as if things played before my eyes in slow motion, I noticed ice crackle and form in thin air, standing sturdy before me like a hard mirror. frёeωebɳovel.com
I blinked.
All I could see in that single moment was my reflection glistening off the smooth surface of that icy mirror.
My eyes fluttered again.
’Eris.’
One name. One word.
It came to my mind without much thought.
And then...
—Boom!
An explosion of ice and fire rocked the entire Gate, sending me flying backwards like a projectile while pushing everything around the area of impact away.
A plume of chilling smoking blanketed the area briefly, allowing us a moment to do one of two things.
Firstly, with the screen of smoke, we had an option of retreating or hiding.
Secondly, we could launch a surprise attack.
However, the effectiveness of our surprise attack was questionable since it wasn’t pre-planned.
’We have to do something.’
I’m certain the rest also thought the same as I did.
Cecilia’s crows couldn’t deal any significant damage.
They fit more for intel gathering and surveillance.
Jeremy’s arrows couldn’t crack through the thick skin of the Hell Hound.
Jasper was nullified by the sheer fact that he was a close ranged fighter.
Engaging that beast in a close range battle without a formidable defensive ability was suicide.
’Three out of seven are nullified.’
Eris was our strongest frontline. Her ice against the hound’s fire.
A perfect counter!
However, the strength of the attacks came into question.
Her ice mirror cracked against the power of the fireball.
I’m certain that was not all the beast could do with fire. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
—Swoosh!
With one swing of its flame-shrouded tail, the blanket of smoke vanished at that moment.
Our cover was blown.
The beast took a few measured steps, growling even more harshly.
Its eyes shone with disappointment as if it intended to take us out with that one attack.
—Shing!
Eris raised her sword, now standing beside me with Wendy behind us.
"Be ready, Remington."
I gave her a sidelong glance, my eyebrow arching with curiosity.
Eris turned to me, no iota of her gaze withheld as she spoke.
"Be ready to use it. That’s our only option."
