35 Chapter 35: Rescue (1/2)
Panic stabbed me in the heart when I realized that the monsters had found another target. A helpless target at that, judging from the desperate cry for help. Sprinting after the retreating monsters, I left the rest of the horde still lingering in the clearing to my small army of hunting hounds, teddy bears and crows.
It didn't take me long to pursue the monsters into another clearing, which was thankfully less than a hundred meters away. I could see a wall of wood keeping the Phantoms and Ravagers at bay, but judging from its rapidly crumbling exterior as the latter gouged huge chunks out of it, I knew it wouldn't hold them off for long.
”Taurus!” I yelled. A gigantic metallic bull materialized from the heavens and smashed down onto the entire pack of monsters with the force of a meteor crushing and vaporizing a good number of them. I had been holding the stronger Taurus in reserve when I realized that I didn't need him to deal with the F-rank and E-rank monsters, but I was glad that I had completed casting his summoning spell a few seconds ago.
Diving in after him, I proceeded to finish off the few stragglers that were fortunate enough to not be in the vicinity of the crash. Backing toward the disintegrating wall of wood while fighting off a couple of Ravagers and a few Phantoms, I risked a glance over my shoulder and called out. ”Are you okay?”
”Y…yeah. Thanks.”
A shaky voice spoke up nervously. After slashing through a persistent Ravager with my Gemini twin swords, nearly beheading it, I whirled around and spotted the last of the wooden wall disappearing. I was surprised to see the young kid standing behind his fading barrier, looking no older than twelve. He had wavy black hair over a babyish face, and was dressed in a red sweater over blue jeans. The poor kid was trembling from fear and shock.
”Don't worry, kid,” I assured him as I cut apart a couple of Phantoms, dispersing their mist-like bodies. ”I'll get you out of here.”
I swung my swords and unleashed another blast of Castor and Pollux to annihilate any enemy still lurking nearby. Gesturing to the kid, I issued a terse instruction.
”Stay close.”
I then executed a standard fighting retreat, slowly moving out of the reach of the monsters while escorting the kid to safety.
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”Taurus! Buy me some time!” I commanded the giant bull that was busily stomping around and head-butting the pesky little monsters who could do little more than irritate him.
Taurus grunted in reply before tossing a whole cluster of Phantoms and a single Ravager high into the air. He rose on his hind legs before falling onto a crushing stomp that obliterated a few other monsters that were unfortunate enough to be beneath him.
”Follow me,” I told the kid. He obeyed quietly, his eyes still wide. At least he wasn't panicking and breaking away. He would be able to preserve his life as long as he listened to me.
Then I mentally ordered my army of Canis Minor, Ursa Minor and Corvus to return to me. I had made sure there was a safe distance between me and the melee between emerged monsters and summoned monsters, my cute little critters leading the surviving interdimensional creatures of the pack toward me as I commanded.
Good. The Phantoms and Ravagers still hadn't noticed anything amiss. They had stupidly followed my retreating army of Constellation spirits back toward my location.
Dismissing Gemini twin swords, I raised my hands to summon a new Constellation weapon.
”Sagittarius,” I intoned softly. A huge black bow materialized in my left hand. ”Alnasl.” A flaming arrow appeared in my right hand. I lifted the blazing arrow and fitted it to my black bow, the pulled the string as far back as I could. Aiming at the advancing pack of monsters, I waited until they came within range before I smiled.
”Thanks, guys. You've done more than enough.”
I nodded my head gratefully, and my entire army of corporeal animal spirits disappeared instantly, as if they had never existed in the first place. I then took a deep breath and released the bowstring.
Alnasl – the star that formed the arrow tip of the constellation of Sagittarius, and the astrological sign of Sagittarius bore the element of fire. Accordingly, the arrow carried the bright, blazing flame that best represented it in the night sky.
As well as the destructive power of a star.
I watched as the flaming arrow streaked forward like a comet before exploding upon impact, the inferno washing across the entire clearing and enveloping the entire pack of monsters in flames that not even these denizens from a hellish dimension could survive. I watched as they burned away into nothing more than black, charred bodies and dying gray cinders. I watched as the inferno began to consume the surrounding trees ravenously, licking up their trunks and reducing them into ash instantly.
”Phew…”
As the bow disappeared from my hands, I allowed myself to relax for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, the tension dissipating from my sagging shoulders. A quick, cursory glance, combined with the hi-tech sensors installed in my glasses (they came with the recording device) confirmed what I had expected.
That all the monsters were dead.
Hell, my glasses even recorded the tally of monsters slain. 536 Phantoms and 102 Ravagers. That was insane. Apparently it also counted the ones that my summoned beasts had massacred. What an incredible recording device.
”Amazing.”
The kid was ogling at me as if I was some kind of god.
”Not really.” I waved my hand dismissively, embarrassed. ”I've seen far more impressive spells. Anyway, how did you end up here? Did you get separated from the convoy?”
”…convoy?” the kid asked blankly.
”You're not from Bi Nan Village?” I asked. Evidently he wasn't part of the line of refugees fleeing from the Ravagers and Phantoms. Come to think of it, he seemed a little too well-dressed for that.
”No, I'm not.” Looked like I was right. The kid surprised me, however, with his answer. ”I'm from Southampton City.”
”Southampton City?!” it was my turn to gape at him. Wasn't Southampton City one of the wealthiest and biggest metropolises in the Global Federation? It was a commercial hub for countless conglomerates, and home to expatriates and billionaires. ”Isn't that pretty far from here?”