Adira ran away. A creeping sensation scratched at her chest, telling her she was weak. The girl ran because she hated this feeling. It was like a drive at this point. To stop feeling so useless, to prove herself. By no means her decision was wise, she knew that much. In the worst case, Salgos would find and kill her without any consideration. He now learned how her abnormal class worked, she was a useless burden for him. Yet Adira ran with her weapon squeezed tight in her fists.
It was also a good way to clear her mind. She needed that. Not a handwalk with Galen, where the archer saved her should things become dangerous. She had to have something she could vent her anger on, something she could destroy in a fair fight. The girl felt the invigorating thrill of a real hunt. She took the old hero as an example. The man was not always this powerful. He trained and gained levels like a madman, and risked his life in multiple desperate hunts like the one Adira attempted right now. She needed to be like him.
Earth trembled as something big came her way, the huntress found her prey. She locked on the sound and ran towards it. The mountainous path did not leave many places where she could look for her enemy. There was a cliff with barred land leading downwards and a steep hill on her right with patches of rocks piercing the ground.
The enraged stomps that shook the earth stopped suddenly. The girl froze in caution and listened in. Something this big could not simply stop and make no sound. The only way that was possible was when… above! Before Adira finished her thought a huge maw eclipsed the sun over her head. She barely evaded, as the huge chunk of earth where she stood got destroyed by the giant beast.
Another earth dragon. Smaller than the one she fought when she first met Galen. They loved to live in the mountains and were very territorial. earth dragons used to attack armies on the march crossing through their territory, even when the odds were not in their favor. These monsters never went down without inflicting heavy casualties. That’s why these roads were so rarely used.
Adira only smiled in the face of the danger. She was better, stronger, higher level, and angrier than the last time she fought one of the earth dragons.
The creature roared its challenge and charged forward. Adira readied the glaive and met it head-on. The creature primarily attacked with its maw. At the last second the girl ducked under its chin. The air pressure from the huge beast passing next to her almost made her lose footing. Her feet burrowed into the ground but she held on.
As soon as the attack skipped past, she ran under the monster’s belly and slashed it all the way through. The thick scales reduced the damage, but they were much softer from below. Her attack did not do enough damage to threaten the monster, but it began to bleed.
The dragon jumped to the side and swiped its front leg towards the girl. Adira anticipated the beast’s reach and moved out of the distance, easily dodging the slash. As soon as the claws swiped the air in front of her, she rushed in a close distance again. She drove her glaive into the monster’s chest. It jerked back, and let the girl pull her weapon back easily.
It was a game of maneuvers. The large creature jumped at a small girl, if it caught her, she would not survive, but she could slowly grind it down. All the training Adira underwent helped her now. She knew the reach of the monster, she anticipated attacks and she used its momentum against it. The girl danced like a flying leaf around the dragon, always evading as if the wind carried her away from its claws. Slowly but surely, the battle was in her hands.
Claws swiped within a palm reach of the girl’s head. Adira began to grow confident and narrow down the margins for her attacks. She immediately counterattacked, ducking under the monster and aiming at the soft parts where its leg connected to the body. The dragon quickly jumped on its back legs, pulling itself out of her reach.
The beast was not stupid. Its front legs went back with all its might, as Adira deliberated what to do next. With a powerful stomp, the whole section of a cliff cracked. Chunks of earth flew in the air taking the young huntress with them on a date with the dragon's maw.
The jaws closed on the girl. She pointed her glaive towards the teeth in the hope that it would serve as a stopper. Her glaive stuck in the beast’s mouth. The metal weapon, combined with rocks was just enough to prevent the monster’s jaws from closing. Adira hung with one hand holding the shaft of her weapon. The dragon’s teeth stopped inches away from snapping her in half. The moment stretched to an eternity as if all motion ceased. The huntress just tricked death.
The attack caught her off guard. She promised herself to be more cautious even if the battle was in her hands. Turnarounds like this happens often on a battlefield. The monster still had some tricks up its sleeves, and she would have to respect that.
The girl pressed her legs onto the teeth. In one quick motion, her weapon twisted and slipped through the teeth before the dragon’s jaws snapped through rocks. Feeling relieved, Adira jumped towards the ground.
That was the moment the earth dragon waited. Before she reached the ground a huge claw swiped her out of the air like a fly. She flew across the whole field and crashed into the cliff on the other side. Everything darkened and the girl fell to the ground unconscious.
She painfully hit the ground landing on her elbows and stomach, and that feeling got her back up. At least she did not pass out completely. Before her lungs recovered, after the air got punched out of them, she jumped back onto her feet and rushed towards the monster. The fight was not over. Adira had to keep up the tempo and continue the offense. The earth dragon backed down preparing to take her charge. She saw hesitation in its eyes. It clearly did not expect such a small creature to continue the fight.
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On the run, the girl pulled out a healing potion and gulped it down. The blood stopped pounding in her head and her vision focused. As she approached the dragon snapped its jaws towards her. Such an obvious attack had never worked before. The movements of the monster were sluggish, as it dragged its body across the ground. It was bleeding from multiple cuts. Adira easily evaded the attack, and her glaive pierced the chest of the earth dragon. The beast roared in pain.
It jumped to the side, creating more distance between itself and the girl. The creature turtled on the ground, not letting the girl move under it so freely. It changed tactics completely. The huntress charged it from the side. The dragon sprung its claws in a quick motion, hoping to swipe its enemy away.
Adira avoided the hit before she was able to move into the opening. The earth dragon pivoted on its belly towards her. She was forced to jump back to dodge the maw that sprung burrowing the ground where she stood. The monster rearranged itself on the ground and waited for another attack. The huntress tried to get to the beast a couple of times, but always backed away avoiding the bite.
Still, Adira did not relent. She grew more irritated by the earth dragon turtling tactic. The girl circled around the beast, forcing it to rotate and always face her. Another attack, another claw strike followed by a bite. If she had committed to the attack, she could get through the defense. It was a risky gamble. The monster was heavily wounded. Tire it down and it will lose eventually. The huntress had all the time in the world, but no patience.
The earth dragon turtled again waiting for Adira to attack. The girl charged to its side, avoided the claws, and did not fall back. She just needed to outrun the bite of the monster. What she failed to anticipate was how fast the dragon could move even in such an injured state. The maw sprung at her and before she could raise her weapon the jaws were already all around her. The monster’s mouth closed in from all sides. The dragon was not stupid. It knew how to capture such prey. Its jaws crushed the ground around its agile opponent and snapped close, taking a bite of the earth along with the human.
The monster’s neck tore open. A large cut circled from one side to the other. The girl had already escaped. Adira stood by the side of the monster on her knees, panting, holding onto her glaive for balance. The beast slowly lay on the ground as it was bleeding in its last moments. The earth dragon's eye moved as it looked at the girl that defeated it before closing forever.
The huntress had to activate “Odium Steps” to avoid the last attack. She overestimated her abilities, rushed, and underestimated her opponent. Twice even. The first time almost cost her life.
Galen rushed towards the girl. He just arrived having tracked Adira from the camp. He jumped through the destroyed road. The whole field now resembled a site after mages' bombardment.
“What were you thinking?” The man scorned her immediately. He was mad that she ran away, and then risked her life in such a fight. As if risking the Demigod’s wrath was not enough.
“I failed to kill it without using my abilities.” Adira stood up, clearly disappointed. The fight was in her hands until the very end, even though the beast was much higher level than her.
She wanted to prove herself, to have a punching bag. That certainly worked. Despite the sour taste of triumph, she was relieved. The young huntress raised her face towards the waking sun. Beads of sweat sparked on her bloodied face as the first light touched it. Galen was expressing his worries in his usual lecturing tone, but she did not listen. She fought and won. Here, high up in the mountains, marrying the first lights, Adira was enjoying such rare serenity.
It took one more week before they finally crossed the borders. North of them lay the realm of free states. People here were mostly united under one ruling family. Some still were living as tribes, roaming the rich lands, some gathered in big cities along the trade routes, but all of them were proud to have no affiliation with any kingdom.
“-Yeah, they were angry. An old dumbass Correon didn’t understand he was abandoned. He realized it when the king ordered their family to resettle, essentially taking the lands for himself.”
Adira returned from her scouting. It was mostly unnecessary in these parts. She walked into this conversation, which was somewhat of a regular thing now between those two.
Galen and Skreetha began to find more and more in common. Their long travels across the Kingdom. The arachne enjoyed listening about internal politics and the history of the regions she passed on her path of destruction, mostly asking how she affected it, and what were the consequences.
It started with the archer explaining the best ways to hunt.
“If the animal got scared before its death, the meat would taste worse.” He argued that the killings must be done with one deadly strike. Skreetha countered with her usual devilishness.
“Fear is the best sauce for meat.” After that, they began to exchange information more and more. Eventually, they found a topic they could not agree more. Their hatred towards the Kingdom of Verdania. The more they walked through the land the more open he became about his desire to kill the king and destroy the “Lightning Hunters.”
Adira was forced to listen to them discussing their plans. This day was no different.
“If you speak of killing Lightning Hunters, then I will be ally. They wrecked too many of my nests.”
Galen smiled in satisfaction. Despite their alien nature, they had similar goals. The young huntress knew the archer might just pretend, but their budding alliance seemed too natural to be fake.
“Actually, where do you build nests?” The hunter seemed genuinely curious in arachne. He asked questions like these and enjoyed learning more about the intelligent monster.
“Forests. It has more ways of escape.”
“That’s what I’ve heard about you. But aren’t arachnes usually settled in caves and underground dens?”
“My kin do, yes. But they are not smart as me. They just wait. I am stronger and smarter.”
“Have you tried to settle in a cave?”
“Yes, I was born in cave. Learned there not to go around without having thread leading home.”
Their friendly chat made Adira twitch in an attempt to wave it away like an annoying fly. She wanted to approach Galen multiple times, and yell at him to stop making friends with their enemies. Of course, that would be too stupid to do directly. Instead, she walked in the front, working as a scout, and avoiding listening to them. Out of sight, out of mind.