Chapter 23

Giant Salamander Once Again

  Sierra thought she couldn't get surprised anymore, but Hans was breaking her assumption right and left. There was no way a child could deal with a TwinHeadedPanthera, but the beast didn't even get the chance to retaliate.

  Hans also realised that too, and that was the reason for his joy, ignoring the fact that he was puking his innards out because of the gore. Having this attack was akin to having the bragging rights which he wanted to smear in Rudolf's face. Feeling his absence once again, Hans got worried and his sudden downfall of the mood confused Sierra.

  In the Genas, TwinHeadedPanthera was considered a class four beast and required a lot of higher-level people to take down, but Hans achieving that in one shot was a terrifying thing on its own accord.

  They found something suitable which Hans hunted with VeganBind and SeedBullet with perfection, but the experience became bland after witnessing the power of Mutilate. As they came home, they saw the old man waiting for them.

Hans ran at him, almost hugging the old man, but stopped and hastily inquired,

Did you find it?

Rudolf frowned and remarked,

So much for my well-being, you cold-hearted brat.

Hans thought a little and then asked again?

Mhm… So did you find it or not?

  Rudolf gave up and showed Tubula and BladeLeaf plant to Hans. He had returned after twenty long days and this kid of his didn't even show gratitude for the man's troubles. Rudolf was missing those days when Hans used to follow him around like a puppy.

  With a miserable expression on his face, he looked for Sierra and spotted her smiling at him. Rudolf approached her and embraced her passionately, which Sierra returned warmly. Hans didn't know that he sent his grandpa on a very dangerous errand. Rudolf was hiding a grave wound on his back from the kid, but her wife knew better.

  She dragged him inside for healing, while Rudolf glanced at the ungrateful child, who spared no time in idle chatter and started perfecting the VeganBind. After learning SeedBulet, Hans’s control over raw mana improved significantly.

  He became busy changing his VeganBind vines by combining all types of seeds, and after two months of hard work and continuous training, he optimised his hunting perfectly with more advanced VeganBind of metallic black colour and sharp long leaves sticking into the thick tubular stem.

  The whiplash of the vine was strong enough to shallow wound anything and instead of strangling with the vines could behead any beast by coiling around the neck. The paralytic poison made it deadly, and the watery liquid inside the vine made it fire-resistant and heavy to some extent.

  After training for five more months, it was time to take his revenge on the giant salamander. This was the seventh month of 1064 and in just six months, they had to leave this place, so Hans had to become strong enough to stand on his own.

  Sierra tagged along, this time to see Hans’s progress. As usual, Rudolf banned him from using Mutilate and Carnage so he had to use his non-gory spells: VeganBind and SeedBullet.

  They were looking for the giant salamander on the fringes of the inactive volcano and soon reached the hot gaseous geysers. there was no way to predict when a geyser of hot gases could explode at them which made traversing more difficult.

  The geography of this place changed in a few months. Hans spotted a giant salamander and Rudolf alerted the beast, so Hans could not assassinate it because, ideally, carrying out a successful assassination was a really tough thing and things barely worked as planned in real life. He wanted Hans to experience the element of surprise that the boy was an expert in giving others.

  The couple vanished and Hans found himself staring the beast eye to eye. He summoned the newly created vines which he was calling Orca vines. And the black metallic vines surrounded Hans.

  This was the only Giant Salamander around this area and the beast seems to recognise the brat. He stood on his hind legs and mocked the boy to try his best. He was still believing that this human couldn't stop him.

  Hans replied to the mockery by spawning an orca vine near the beast and whipping it. The attack left a shallow wound on the giant salamander and the beast came down to four legs again. The beast got annoyed because Hans had managed to attack him with this stupid plant.

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  On the contrary, Hans was wrecking his brain to exploit the environment, but it seems everything was in favour of the giant salamander. The beast furiously started gushing towards him after receiving the whiplash.

  Hans created a mana path quickly, and since the giant salamander was running straight to him, he targeted the spot where the beast would be present in the next moment and stretched the mana path as hard as he could. With the perfect timing, Hans shouted.

SeedBullet

This time, Hans chose the heavy bullet which penetrated the solid bedrock in front of the charging beast. The sound and vibration of the impact stopped the salamander in its tracks.

  Hans was aiming for this because it was an area full of geysers. A new one came out, tearing the hole created by him, and throwing the Salamander in the air. The heat released by geysers was harmless to the beast, but Hans wanted the salamander to stay put in one place.

  Just as the salamander reached the final height and started descending. Hans straightened out another mana path and was waiting for the falling Salamander to come into his (crosshairs) sight of the projectile.

SeedBullet

Just as it touched the drawn mana path while falling, he launched another seed. It was penetrative in nature and could pass through solid rocks. It served its purpose by passing through the tough scaled skin of the Salamander from belly to the back, severely injuring the arrogant beast.

  Hans could finish it off with another one of SeedBullet because the injured beast could barely dodge now, but that beast had made fun of him and the boy couldn't let that go. He summoned the orca vines around the fallen beast.

VeganBind

The orca vines spawned in a second from beneath the beast and quickly crawled and coiled the beast. Giant Salamander's experience this time greatly differed from the past, because these vines were shaving its skin as it moved.

  The giant Salamander started burning the vines but, to its surprise, the vines were intact which made the beast more lethargic. Salamander started burning the vines with everything he got. Hans knew that these vines were not fireproof, but the time needed to finish the salamander off was in the frame of survivability for these orca vines.

  The vines coiled around the beast’s neck and with a swift movement beheaded the salamander. Rudolf was very pleased with Hans’s success, he praised the boy for finally becoming a hunter.

  Hans was not showing, but he was very happy inside. It was the first time that Rudolf had praised him instead of criticising his mistakes and arrogantly showing the better way to do it. Seeing Hans using the geyser as a way to make the target flustered for earning the golden chance to slay it precisely was the reason for Rudolf’s praise. Sierra was happy to see both of the men in the house not bickering for once.

  They were not always like this. She remembered how much Hans clung to Rudolf, but everything changed when he started learning the sword from her husband. Rudolf left no remark and physically incorporated his teaching to Hans at his every mistake.

  He wanted to make sure Hans learned everything perfectly, but his act of tough love led their relationship astray.

With the compliment boosting his arrogance, Hans finally said with a sneer,

Watch out, old man, your days are numbered.

Rudolf laughed aloud and replied to the child,

As if dear squeaky.

She said to both of them,

Now, now, let's go back home. I don't like this place, it's too hot.

Hans shouted in excitement,

Yes, let's go.

MEANWHILE IN CONCORDIA

  In the boardroom of directors, the chairman’s proxy was asking about reports from the executives. The Concordia was like a corporation where the chairman was at the top and the eight directors under him controlled the whole place.

Aredhel Winters, who was director of the economy, asked the proxy.

When is the appointment of new deans?

Walter, the director of information, responded to her back,

Aren't you close to them?

I am not asking you, director Walter.

  The proxy replied before this became another fish market. Both these directors were like an old couple who were always trying to have an upper hand on each other.

Their terms start next year.

She asked back,

And what are your preparations regarding the troubles they would bring?

The proxy replied in a clear tone,

No one in their right mind would go for sir Rudolf’s head, and touching the high priestess is a matter on another scale.

Aredhel replied,

But I have heard about the conclave of the Indu high priest, Lady Sierra’s resignation and the deal between Grimgar and Indu is finalised. They became political allies in these volatile times when Parv is rumoured to be opening its borders.

It is not our business director. Concordia has never interfered with the world's politics and it will remain the same. These are the words of the chairman.

  Everyone became silent. No one knew the chairman personally. He lived on the highest island of Concordia and was a mystery himself. Finally, Aredhel said,

But you can't exclude some morons from attacking the deans.

Concordia will follow its policy. No one can touch what belongs to us.

Walter added,

Of Course, our Director Aredhel wants someone to come after Sir Rudolf and Sierra, right? So she will finally have an excuse to kill her kind, right?

Aredhel just smiled, and that was enough to acknowledge what Walter had just said.

***