C44- The Twin Peaks of Aos (1)

The four walked forward. Corvin walked at the back of the group to see everyone, and Noah was in the front with the girls in between. Noah was holding his violin, ready to play it immediately. His violin was reinforced by Clair half a month ago, and it's sound was also improved.

Two ants as big as a 4 year old kid with the same pinkish colour appeared, and with a swift motion were split in half by Corvin as soon as they appeared.

"Those were the same colour as the other one..."

"Are they somehow related?"

"Sometimes similar monsters appear in the same area. It's not that unusual."

"Right..."

The group walked more. Another group of ants came but they were killed immediately by Corvin.

'Are these really normal monsters?..'

Even though he had doubts, it wasn't like he had a lot of experience with different monsters either. He never saw any monster like the pink bugs before, since during his training under the Margrave, he fought with humans more, and when they were hunting monsters, they were hunting them in the plains between the capitol Alaturb and Demice City, not near the Werga Mountains.

Thump Thump

As they were walking, the walking sound of something big reached Corvin's ears.

"Something big is coming. Everyone, get behind me."

Corvin walked forwards and readied himself. Soon, a rhino beetle twice the size of an adult human appeared. The bug's exoskeleton had the same pinkish colour as the other ones from before, except it's horns, which were coloured black.

Corvin checked Noah's condition for a split second, while ignoring the girl's disgusted expressions.

"Noah. Ready your violin but don't play yet."

"Okay."

Noah, who was unusually silent, lifted his violin under is chin and held up the bow. Corvin stared at the beetle which stood there without moving. While he was trying to guess it's power, two bombardier beetles appeared from the sides. They were coloured similarly, and were as big as a human.

The bombardier beetles aimed the back of their abdomen towards the group. Their abdomen started to glow up orange.

"Noah, can you make a barrier?"

"On it!"

Noah started playing a rather calm but strong melody. Corvin could see a thin sheet of magic starting to create a dome around them, but it was thickening too slowly. The bombardied beetles unleashed a big wave of fire, and Corvin saw Noah's barrier getting thinner.

'Not enough...'

He also used his magic to create a wind to counter the fire. After the first wave of fire disappeared, he told Noah to keep making the barrier stronger and he jumped towards one of the bombardier beetles.

Swish~ Clank!

His sword was blocked by the rhino beetle's horn. Corvin stepped back and swung his sword towards the rhino beetle.

Clank!

After retreating once again, he suddenly felt heat and instinctively covered himself with winds. One of the bombardier beetles was targeting him. Before he could check if the others were safe after the fire scattered away, he was greeted by a horn flying towards his face.

Clank!

He blocked the horn and jumped with the assist of his magic. He raised his sword and slashed towards the beetle on the ground at a high speed. The sword he used magic on to move faster, now had a faint light green trail behind it.

Clank!

Before he noticed the change in his magic, Corvin's sword was blocked by the rhino beetle's horn. The sword was stuck between the two tips of it's horn, and Corvin smiled to the beetle.

"Heh, you are stuck with me, aren't you?"

He pulled out something from his belt. It was a gun prototype they made. He pointed towards one of the bombardier beetles getting ready to fire once again. As he pulled the trigger and a bullet was fired accompanied by a loud noise, the rhino beetle lifted one of it's elytras that covered it's wings and shielded the bombardier beetle from the bullet.

Corvin saw the bug's wing under the armour.

'Armour... Ah!'

Corvin dislodged his sword from the beetle's horn and jumped back towards the group.

The four of them were fine because of Noah's barrier, but his barrier was holding barely against the strong firepower of the two beetles.

"Sorry Corvin, I can't help you. I didn't train much on making a barrier with this so there are a lot of things missing from my barrier."

"It's okay. I am not here for that. Clair, take out a gun."

"Huh? Okay."

Clair took her gun from her belt. All of them were equipped with a small gun for emergencies.

"Aim for the beetle closer to the big one, and wait my signal. You don't have to be accurate, just make sure you fire at it."

"Okay."

Corvin nodded his head and jumped towards the rhino beetle while attacking. His sword was blocked by it's horns usually, and when he could hit it's armour, the armour would be scracthed a little bit. 

He continued attacking the beetle for a while, looking for an opening. He hit the beetle's head downwards. As the beetle raised it's head, he kicked it from the bottom and tangled it's horn with a bunch of branches.

Seeing this opening he jumped up high and as he started to fall down, he shouted.

"Clair! Now!"

Clair shot, and Corvin used his magic to attack the beetle when it lifted it's elytra to protect the other beetle.

But Clair missed the shot, and the beetle never lifted it's elytra. Corvin's attack was met with the strong armour of the beetle and it only made a long crack along the elytra. Before he could retreat, the beetle swung it's elytra open and threw Corvin towards the group. While in mid air, he was attacked by a wave of fire and he had to use his magic to stop it.

"Corvin! Are you okay?!", shouted Noah.

"I am alright. Amy, Clair. Ready your guns and aim at the small ones. I will fight the big one again."

The girls nodded their heads and Corvin jumped towards the beetle.

Whirr~

The rhino beetle lifted it's elytron and flew up with Corvin. Appearently it didn't want to give Corvin the same opening. Seeing this, Corvin smiled and used more magic to fly higher. He was running out of mental strength to use magic at this point and he could already tell whatever attack he was going to pull off was the last one.

He held his sword tightly and moved it to the side of his shoulder horizontally. He looked at the backside of the beetle where it had no armour anymore. He squined his eyes and shouted.

"Fire, now!"

Boom! Boom!

Two shots could be heard. Corvin didn't have the time to check the results as he swung his sword and threw it to the side of the beetle in the air.

Swish~

The sword flew past the beetle and went behind it. But before it went further away, the sword suddenly change trajectories and pointed itself towards the beetle's weak back. The Beetle was flying towards Corvin and didn't notice the sword. The sword started to gain speed and started to faintly shine light green as it got faster.

Squelch

Before the rhino beetle could reach Corvin, the sword stabbed it from the back and got out from the other side of the bug, beheading it while doing so. The sword flew towards Corvin's hand and he gripped it again.

"Good job..."

Corvin slowly lost his consciousness as the mental burden of using too much magic overwhelmed him. He saw two dead beetles on the ground while falling and he hit a bunch of branches before falling on the ground and passion out.