NOVEL WEB Chapter-54 First Hunt
Ewan squatted on the rooftop railing, squinting at the Bloated Buffalo roaming on the streets, headbutting the streetlights and scratching its bulky neck. It was still beyond his or his Astylinds’ range, he was waiting for it to come over.
“You’re already dragging me down….,” he said, glancing at Nana who struggled to climb the pipe. She finally latched onto the roof edge with trembling arms, her face drenched in sweat, wet chestnut hair sticking to her forehead.
“You….can….help….” She dragged herself up, her ample chest heaving in quick rhythms.
“I’m keeping an eye on our prey,” Ewan said, staring at her bosom, gulping. Her ivory top really did her curves justice. “Why’d you wear that? Are you trying to expose us?” The color of her clothes was a beacon in the dark night, Astylinds could spot her from a distance. But most of all, what it accentuated distracted him.
She sprawled on the floor, panting.
“Stay there and don’t make any noise. I’ll deal with this one on my own,” Ewan said, focusing on the buffalo again; it was almost in his range. Frost strolled out of the vortex beside him when he triggered Dekoth, glancing at Luna then turned to Ewan.
“Come over, it’s not that high.” Ewan reached out and gave him a helping hand. Frost grabbed on and stood by him on the edge. His grip clutched when he looked down and his tail clamped up, but he didn’t back out.
“Imp?” Nana asked, coming over. Luna chirped, tilting her head.
“Shh…” Ewan shushed her with a gesture. “It’s close,” he said, eyeing the buffalo.
Astylinds were always pictures and texts in the books, so the closeup view was a new experience. The bloated lumps all over the charcoal buffalo’s body made it look diseased, but the water they contained brimmed with lethality. Apart from that, these buffaloes also had their thick horns to attack and defend. A close-to-mid range battle with them contained risks.
Fireflies!
Its path was easy to predict. Ewan cast <Fireflies>, aiming at a certain distance from the Astylind. Half his Fire-Anima suffused the spell circuit and crossed its minimum threshold, yet it was nowhere near saturation. The spell had a high max point, five Novas for it was a bargain.
The spell took effect in a while—one of its negatives—and armed a circle of area in the buffalo’s path. Now the only thing left was to lure it there.
Boom…
Even calling the name in his mind was embarrassing, but this wasn’t the time to squabble about it. He used a pebble with the spell and hurled it at the armed <Fireflies>. It popped above it with a small flash that lit up the dark streets for a moment. The buffalo mooed and shot a thin but rapid stream of water in that direction. The water stream rent the concrete and left a deep but wet gash, and one of its bloated water-sack shriveled at the same time.
Ewan glanced at the fissure and waited for the buffalo to move. Yet, it only huffed and stared at where it attacked. It must be testing its opponent; he took out another pebble and threw it at the <Fireflies>.
The flash and the pop riled the buffalo this time. It huffed again and darted ahead, its head down, the horns ready to tear its enemy apart, and its hooves clomped on the asphalt.
Get ready.
Frost fashioned two icicles on Ewan’s command, they floated before him. It was for contingency, in case the <Fireflies> wasn’t enough to finish it off.
The buffalo raced, and the moment its front hooves thudded on the armed area, pea-sized fireflies gushed out of the ground and glued to its head, shoulders, front legs, and stomach. The buffalo mooed and thrashed around, knocking down the streetlights, but the milky fireflies clung to it, glowing. And a second later, they all exploded with a roar.
Nana yelped and backed off; Luna fluttered her wings but stayed put.
The expanding cloud of dust soon took over the fleeting fireball. Chips of concrete, stones, blood, gore, and body parts rained in the area.
Ewan squinted, the dirt cloud blurred it, but the buffalo was missing its front parts, he was sure.
Still, he waited to confirm it and only jumped off when the buffalo thudded over. His Ryvia expanded and hovered him down when the ground reached his range. It also created a shield around him and kept the dust at bay when he moved close to the exploded area. Yet, the sight he expected to see didn’t match the reality. The buffalo died; it better had with its head missing. But the ground sucked all his blood and its body withered away.
This was how the new Crown gathered the blood for the rite, the whole colony was his playground… Ewan took a deep breath; this was out of his control. At least, the cerulean Astylind Core survived. The buffalo was a Level-2 Astylind, its core would sell for around two Novas. It wasn’t a great amount but was a start. And it signified the success of his first hunt.
……
“Jump already!” Ewan hollered in a hushed voice.
“You will catch right?” Nana said, hanging by the roof edge.
“I will, just jump.”
“Okay,” she said and scrunched her eyes, yet her hands only gripped the edge harder.
“Fuck! Will you jump or not?” he said, wanting to punch this woman’s head. The blast was loud, it must’ve attracted others. They needed to leave this place as soon as possible. “Frost.”
The little imp, dead scared himself, grabbed Nana’s collar, and amidst her widened eyes and blood-drained face, jumped off together. Both screeched at the top of their lungs as they fell.
Ewan caught them in his Ryvia and let them down gently. Their knees buckled and they collapsed on the floor, panting.
“You’re really dragging me down….”
