No.7: Harder They Fall

In theory, Plan B was actually quite simple.

Should the Thorn Howlers turn out to be far more coordinated and difficult to handle than anticipated, it would mean they were secretly under the command of an Alpha.

As such, all they had to do was find it and kill it, no matter the cost.

Simple!

But like most things in life, things weren’t always as easy as they seemed.

Not only was the Alpha extremely difficult to locate, but they also had to find it before the group was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the pack or killed in the process.

Making the elimination of the Alpha their top priority now.

Having located the Alpha through his Attribute, Felix shouted toward Hans, his voice partially drowned out by the snarls and growls of the surrounding Thorn Howlers.

“I found its location, but it’s a bit further from here. So should we clear a path to get to it, or will you-...”

Before Felix could finish speaking, Hans immediately interrupted after noticing the faint bloodstains still lingering on Felix’s face from where he had wiped his nose earlier.

“Not enough time! Which direction did you see it?”

Seeing Felix glance toward a small mountain in the distance while keeping his eyes shut due to his still-active Attribute, Hans simply replied.

“Perfect. Then all that’s left is bringing you along.”

Not giving Felix any time to protest, Hans effortlessly scooped him off the ground before tucking him beneath one arm in a smooth motion, leaving Felix speechless as his Attribute immediately cancelled itself upon losing contact with the ground.

[Flora Echo has been Deactivated.]

Casting a quick glance toward the group still battling the Howlers, Hans casually called out.

“You guys can handle things here, right? Awesome, you’re the best!”

Without giving anyone time to process his words, Hans immediately launched himself into the air with Felix still tucked under his arm, propelling himself higher using bursts of flame beneath his feet.

Following soon after, the Vice-Leader dissolved into the shadows and headed after them as well.

Stunned, the group took several seconds to realise they had just been abandoned to fend for themselves against an entire pack of hungry Thorn Howlers, causing some of the already injured members to faint upon realising how utterly cooked they were.

Luckily, however, the moment Hans departed with Felix, the pack immediately redirected its attention toward the fleeing pair.

Ignoring the remaining group members entirely, the Thorn Howlers all charged after Hans and Felix instead.

The group froze once more, mentally tossed from despair to relief so quickly that it took them a while to process what had just happened. So they simply stood there in silence, staring blankly at the retreating pack.

Flying through the sky while propelled by the concentrated flames beneath his feet, Hans headed toward the small mountain Felix had pointed out.

“So where exactly is the Alpha? The faster we finish this, the better.”

Facing forward, Hans didn’t bother looking toward Felix as they flew, his eyes instead scanning the forest below for anything suspicious.

“I can’t really tell from up here. Everything looks different from above.”

Trying to match what he was seeing with the mental image from Flora Echo, Felix kept one thought to himself instead.

‘I need to touch grass.’

...Or plants in general.

Realising Felix wasn’t used to navigating from this perspective, Hans decided to land somewhere near the mountain instead.

Squatting down and placing his palm against the ground, Felix prepared to reactivate his Attribute when a sudden thought crossed his mind.

‘Huh? Why does this place look famil-...’

The instant his hand touched the ground, a sudden chill shot through his body, causing every strand of hair on his body to stand upright as he instinctively jerked his head upward.

Hurtling toward them from above, an enormous object rapidly descended faster than he could react.

*BOOOOMM...!*

A deafening explosion echoed throughout the forest as the object violently smashed into the ground.

Gasping as he stared at the crater where he had been standing moments ago, Felix’s heart pounded violently against his chest as he struggled to regain composure.

Just before the attack landed, Hans had instantly activated an Attribute, grabbing Felix by the scruff of his clothes and narrowly escaping the impact zone.

Staring at the destruction in slight disbelief, an awkward smile appeared on Hans’s face as he muttered.

“Well... that explains a lot.”

Stunned speechless, Felix could only stare blankly as he absent-mindedly mutterd.

‘‘It’s huge.’’

Towering before them stood a gigantic Thorn Howler unlike any of the others.

Its massive size about the height of a two-storey building, standing well over twenty feet tall.

Jagged, bark-like skin resembling a withering tree trunk, visible through patches of greyish-white fur.

A majestic mane framed its enormous body, while two crooked branch-like horns extended from its head, sparse leaves still clinging to them, having withered with time.

Its eyes resembled giant crimson gemstones glowing eerily within the darkness.

Behind it, three long jagged tails swayed threateningly.

It took Felix a while to realise that the object which had nearly crushed them earlier had merely been one of the Alpha’s tails.

Staring upward at the colossal beast, Felix finally understood his earlier mistake.

While Flora Echo had allowed him to pinpoint the general direction of the Alpha, he had pushed the Attribute far beyond what he could currently handle, leaving the information vague and incomplete.

As a result, he had mistaken the Alpha for being near the small mountain, as opposed to actually being it instead.

Replying to Felix’s quiet comment, Hans tightened his grip around his sword as his usual confident grin returned.

“That’s a good thing. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. ”

Snarling as though offended by the provocation, the Alpha raised its enormous paw before smashing it downward toward the humans in one swift motion.

The impact, causing tremors to ripple throughout the forest.

Hovering a safe distance away with Felix still tucked beneath one arm, Hans landed atop a rocky platform nearby.

“It should be safe here for now, so stay put. It’ll only take a few minutes to deal with this oversized tree pup.”

Placing Felix down after saying this, Hans immediately shot back toward the Alpha before Felix could respond.

Dashing through the air, Hans activated an Attribute as over a dozen flaming serpents shot toward the Alpha.

Scoffing at the attack, the Alpha casually swatted them aside with a swing of its tail, the devastating force tearing through the air and destroying the snakes instantly.

Even from a distance, the pressure generated by the swing nearly knocked Felix off balance.

Only then did he fully realise just how terrifyingly powerful the Alpha truly was.

‘It has to be at least a Grade-8 Monster.’

The thought alone finally explained how it had been capable of commanding such a massive pack of Thorn Howlers simultaneously.

And the implications of that fact caused Felix to subconsciously question what a weak F-Rank like himself was even doing anywhere near a battle like this.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run for his life.

Yet he remained where he stood.

Because he knew that if either Hans or the Vice-Leader died, his own death would inevitably follow shortly after.

He probably wouldn’t be able to even make it far enough before the pack eventually caught up to him.

So despite knowing there was little he could really do, Felix stayed.

Placing his palm against the grass once more, he activated Flora Echo again, his perception of the world shifting instantly.

[Flora Echo has been activated.]

And upon doing so, something unexpected occurred.

‘I can keep up with their movements?’

Indeed, having attempted to use the Attribute during a battle like this, Felix wasn’t aware of this aspect of it.

Yet despite barely managing to follow the Alpha’s attacks, or Hans’s split-second evasions that narrowly avoided death, he could still perceive them.

He even spotted the Vice-Leader appearing from beneath the Alpha’s shadow to slash at its ankles before immediately dissolving away again to avoid retaliation.

More surprisingly, Felix began noticing patterns.

Within Flora Echo’s black-and-white perception, certain parts of the Alpha’s silhouette glowed with a faint orange tint moments before it attacked from that area.

Allowing Felix to anticipate its attacks several seconds in advance.

Similarly, the Vice-Leader’s entire silhouette radiated an ominous crimson hue, while the shadows he emerged from subtly darkened with a reddish tint moments before he appeared.

Hans, meanwhile, possessed only a faint red glow concentrated at his core while the rest of his body remained mostly monochrome.

‘Hmm?’

Before Felix could think further about what he was witnessing, he realised the battle was reaching its climax.

A dreadful thought immediately crossed his mind upon noticing something.

‘Oh no!’

The once-lush forest had been completely devastated, deep craters and shattered trees littering the battlefield as tremors repeatedly shook the surroundings with every strike from the enraged Alpha.

Yet Hans and the Vice-Leader’s coordination remained nearly flawless.

Hans continuously attacked from above, drawing most of the Alpha’s attention, while the Vice-Leader repeatedly targeted its legs and tendons whenever openings appeared when it came close to dealing with Hans.

Now visibly weakened, its grey fur stained greenish-red with its own blood, the Alpha viciously snapped at the Vice-Leader after another deep slash tore through one of its ankle tendons, causing its massive leg to buckle.

Engrossed with killing the shadow-wielding human tormenting it from below, the Alpha seemed to have failed to notice Hans descending from above.

Muscles bulging as he tightened both hands around his sword, Hans activated another Attribute.

“Time to end this.”

The barely audible whisper escaped his lips as the sword ignited with blazing crimson flames, rapidly expanding to nearly three times its original size as Hans descended to sever the Alpha’s head in one decisive strike.

But just as he closed in...

Something unexpected happened.

With speed far exceeding any of its previous attacks, the Alpha’s three jagged tails suddenly shot toward Hans simultaneously.

The fur on the tails, stiffening like blades as each transformed into a deadly spear aimed to split Hans apart from different directions.

Unable to react in time while still airborne with both hands gripping his sword, Hans could only watch helplessly as the tails closed in.

Before they connected, however, the Alpha suddenly recoiled violently as hundreds of tiny glowing pod-like orbs abruptly assaulted its eyes.

Caught off guard, most of the tails ended up missing Hans completely.

Taking advantage of the opening, Hans instantly activated another skill, extending a flaming serpent toward a nearby standing tree.

Grabbing the serpent’s tail with his free hand after it wrapped around the tree, Hans immediately retracted the flaming construct, violently pulling himself away and narrowly avoiding the final tail strike.

Glancing toward a certain direction afterward, Hans looked genuinely surprised.

Still standing where he had been earlier, Felix struggled to remain upright, his face paled from nearly exhausting his Mana reserves completely.

Yet despite this, he had still activated another Attribute the moment he realised Hans was about to be turned into a human sushi.

[Hallow Pods has been activated.]

Having already consumed most of his Mana maintaining Flora Echo while observing a battle far beyond his level as he was forced to realise that using the Attribute in such fashion cost way more than usual, Felix had used the last of his remaining Mana to activate Hallow Pods.

Enraged that such a weakling had interfered with its victory, the Alpha immediately turned its hatred toward Felix and charged at him, even ignoring an attack from the Vice-Leader in the process.

But before it could reach him, a gigantic flaming spear suddenly pierced through its chest before the Alpha could even react.

A pained howl escaped the beast as molten red vein-like markings rapidly spread from the wound toward its heart, killing it instantly.

Standing atop a nearby tree branch, Hans struggled to catch his breath, having exhausted nearly all his remaining Mana creating and throwing the massive flaming spear after realising the Alpha was distracted with Felix instead.

Dropping to the ground with a thunderous crash that shook the forest, the Alpha finally collapsed dead.

Unable to hold himself up any longer, Felix dropped heavily onto the ground while gasping for breath just as another notification appeared before him.

[Hallow Pods has been Deactivated due to insufficient Mana reserves.]

Already expecting this, Felix was about to sigh in exhaustion when another notification suddenly appeared.

[Congratulations! You have defeated a Grade-7 Monster.]

[You are now eligible to receive the following rewards.]

[Generating rewards...]

Stunned, Felix froze.

As an F-Rank, he had never once received rewards from defeating Monsters before, as it was impossible for someone like him. Or at least, that was what he had always believed.

However, before he could even entertain the thought, something else drew his attention.

Stepping out from the forest, multiple Thorn Howlers slowly emerged and surrounded the exhausted group.

Their numbers still far exceeded what the weakened survivors could currently handle.

Worse still, both Hans and the Vice-Leader appeared to have finally reached their limits, struggling just to catch their breath.

And Felix himself had completely exhausted his Mana reserves, leaving him unable to activate Hallow Pods again.

Watching the creatures slowly close in around them, Felix couldn’t help but curse beneath his breath.

“Shit!”

........

A/N- Damn. This chapter ended up taking much longer than I expected, but I’m glad with the way it turned out.

Anyways, if you enjoyed it so far, kindly leave a comment or a like, it really helps motivate me to keep writing, and I hope I was able to keep you guys entertained a bit.

Thanks for giving this book a chance. (⁠づ⁠｡⁠◕⁠‿⁠‿⁠◕⁠｡⁠)⁠づ.

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