Chapter 25 – Hunt (4)

"Mahara, a question for you as someone who studies poisons. How long until she passes out?"

At the edge of the canyon, three cloaked figures calmly observed the fight unfolding below, between the Tiefling and the giant scorpion. It was a dramatic scene, where both combatants were gravely wounded and teetering on the brink of death.

"I have no idea. Given the amount of venom this rock scorpion has, she should already be paralyzed and unconscious. But Hendrina is very skilled in using aura for healing and physical fortification, so the timing is uncertain. If I had to bet, I'd say ten minutes is her limit," Mahara, the tallest of the three, replied to the question posed by the shorter, voluptuous figure.

"It's a level 2 rock scorpion, but in the next four months, it would likely reach level 3. She's lucky to still be standing after taking a dose of venom to her thigh," said the third figure, who had yet to speak.

"So, shouldn't we interrupt the hunt and get her out of there?"

"Sonia, would you like to lose the chance to train with the Young Lord? Because that's what will happen if we interrupt Hendrina's hunt."

"Even so, Anya, she might die if we can't intervene in time if the situation gets more dangerous… I'm sure the Young Lord would understand."

"Yes, I'm sure he would understand. But you know Lady Nala wouldn't, don't you? She would probably strip Hendrina of her merits and keep her away from Aura Tuning training for a few months."

"…"

Facing the harsh reality laid out by Anya, Sonia had no response. Even though the desire remained, she couldn't betray her friend, who was giving everything she had to pass the imposed test.

"We could at least contact the Young Lord to explain the situation and inform him of our position…" Sonia said, making a final attempt to help, hoping to prevent the situation from worsening.

"I already did that," Anya said, holding up a glossy black sphere in her hand.

"When did you…" Surprised, Sonia quickly voiced her doubts but was interrupted before she could finish.

"When I went to check Windor's command receiver. I noticed that Hendrina already used her command and didn't have time to recharge the command wire. We can't count on his help unless we access the command wire with Hendrina. Given the situation, informing him of our position is an effective precaution."

"Hahaha, Anya isn't captain for nothing, Sonia. Even Lady Nala acknowledges her skill," Mahara said, smiling while teasing Sonia with her eyes.

"…" Sadly, Sonia couldn't deny the facts, especially when it came to questioning Anya's undeniable leadership abilities. She had no choice but to stay silent and continue watching the fight in silence.

"AAAAhhhhhh!"

Running and leaping toward the creature, Hendrina thrust her spear into one of the scorpion's eyes, inflicting severe damage but doing little to diminish the massive creature's resistance.

KIKIIIKIIIIIII

However, the accumulated injuries and exhaustion caused the scorpion to lose much of its physical resilience and pain tolerance. With this new wound, the number of eyes injured and pierced by Hendrina's spear reached five, more than half of the creature's total eyes.

Even so, its senses remained largely unaffected, as it could still detect Hendrina through her heat and vibrations as well as before. For her part, Hendrina had also suffered numerous injuries from the creature's relentless attacks.

Large purple and yellow bruises were visible on her arms and legs, along with swelling and cuts scattered across her body. One of her eyes was unusable due to the swelling of her brow.

The worst wound was on her right thigh—a gaping hole that went clean through, oozing a mix of blood, pus, and venom injected by the scorpion.

Additionally, sand and dirt clung to her body and her wounds, forming a kind of crust. It was a sight that would evoke disgust and agony in anyone unaccustomed to such brutality.

KIKIIIKIIIIIII

Thunk Swooshhh Boommm

Responding to her spear attack with sheer violence, the scorpion began to lash out with its stinger. It missed most of its strikes, but two managed to come close enough to batter Hendrina with its telson, though not enough to pierce her.

Even so, the force of the tail strikes was enough to throw Hendrina back to the ground upon impact. The scorpion then took advantage of the moment to launch a series of crushing blows with its pincers.

Boom Thump Bommm Booommm

Twisting, rolling, and leaping backward, Hendrina managed to dodge all the blows deftly. But her vision was growing blurrier, and her body felt heavier with each passing minute.

The spear in her hand was dim. Given to her by Anya as a spare weapon, it was heavier and sturdier than the first spear, still lodged in the scorpion's stomach.

Weighing down her hand, Hendrina struggled to channel aura into the blade as she had at the beginning of the fight. Her focus and aura were devoted to suppressing the venom she had gambled on enduring, leaving her unable to inflict more significant damage.

With a precise sting to her thigh, the scorpion had injected an incredibly potent venom, strong enough to paralyze another level 2 beast or even level 3 creatures.

Yet, thanks to the natural resistance of a Tiefling, amplified by her aura, Hendrina was still standing—at least for now. Fortunately, her opponent wasn't agile enough to keep up with her movements.

Boom Thump Thump Thump

Once again, a series of blows rained down from the scorpion, pursuing her each time she tried to create distance. Thankfully, she remained cautious to avoid being cornered like before.

Observing every movement of the scorpion, she calculated the best moments to strike. After several attempts, she started to understand the creature's patterns, which gave her enough confidence to be patient and attack only when the opportunity was right.

Then, after skillfully—though with increasing difficulty—dodging a sequence of crushing strikes, slicing attacks, sliding lunges, surprise assaults, and stinger thrusts, Hendrina finally saw her chance to retaliate.

"Wwwaaarrggghghhh!"

With a fearsome roar, Hendrina summoned immense strength to leap and drive her spear into the scorpion, gravely wounding another of its eyes.

KIIIIIIIII!

With six of its eight eyes now damaged and rendered useless, the creature collapsed, writhing on the ground in agony, desperately resisting the pain.

Perhaps due to the pain, exhaustion, loss of stamina, accumulated injuries, or all these combined, the scorpion's defenses visibly crumbled.

This was the perfect opportunity to end the fight. Hendrina prepared her final strike, pulling the spear from where it had been embedded and channeling what little remained of her aura into it.

She aimed to plunge the spear with all her might into one of the scorpion's remaining healthy eyes. The goal was to pierce through the membranes and tissues to reach the scorpion's brain, delivering a fatal blow.

Zuiimmmm!

Pushing herself to her limit, Hendrina drove the blade forward.

Shluuuck Squish Crunch Crunch Crack!

The force behind her strike was so immense that the blade not only tore through the soft tissues of the eye, veins, and muscles but also sliced through layers of cartilage and fibers. The spear only stopped after it was almost entirely embedded in the creature's head.

KIIiiiuuu!

The scorpion had no chance to resist and didn't even retaliate. It let out one final scream of pain before falling silent forever.

"Ahhh… Haha… Hahahaha *Sigh* AAAAARRRRHGGGGHHHHHHH. I DID IT! I… did it…"

With a mixture of emotions coursing through her veins, Hendrina screamed and laughed in ecstasy before collapsing unconscious atop her prey.

KKYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!

Up above, Windor suddenly took flight, startling the three women who had been closely watching the end of the battle.

"This isn't good… This isn't good…"

Despite the strong wind whipping her cloak, Anya's expression wasn't one of surprise—it was one of panic.

With her heightened senses, she detected the cause of Windor's sudden movement. It was a rhythmic, rough, and persistent sound, echoing like grains of sand rattling inside a small drum. It was the worst sound she could hear at that moment.

Tsss Tsss-tsss Tsss-tsss-tsss

With each passing second, the sound grew louder, and Anya's expression turned even paler. In the sky, Windor had already located the source of the sound.

Kyaaaaaaa!

"Quick, grab Hendrina and the command wire…"

Hurriedly, Anya pulled three different types of bombs from a pouch on her belt.

"What are the explosives for? What's happening?" Mahara asked, surprised at the objects and confused about the situation.

"It's a Crotalus Desertignis. It was probably camouflaged, watching the fight… We need to get out of here… NOW…"

Anya lit the fuses of all three explosives and threw them into the canyon toward the source of the sound.

BOOMM! BOMM! BOOOMMMMM!

"Damn it… We can't catch a single moment of peace," Sonia muttered before leaping into the canyon right after Mahara.