The Dry Graceful Land pt. 4

Seeing me running straight to her, she didn't even flinch nor show any sign of fear. She just looked at me through her animal-shaped mask, as if I don't even worth her time. What a damn alpha.

I don't know whether I should be worried or feel blessed. But one thing is for sure, I need to keep moving forward, neutralize the objective, and lead the team away from this hunting ground.

"Don't regret this, Alpha!"

I jumped towards her, with my [Santi] raised ready to strike her down. My weapon was coated with reinforced fire, even the surrounding air got instantly perished from just being around it.

*Clank!*

Yet as unfortunate As I expected, my attack failed to reach her. And to my surprise, it was not a chaos shield that stopped me, but a chaos-energized long dagger that skillfully deflects my fiery slash.

"Forsaken cinder—"

I look to my right, and standing at the end side of the dagger was a male hyena folk. His size is only second to the Alpha, but from the shape of muscles on his limbs I could clearly tell, this fella is an agile type.

Quickly I jumped back, away from the two hyena folks. Being caught between two strong presences can easily lead to my end. Therefore, seeing how enormous was that male, only one thing came to my mind.

"Is he… the son?"

Hyena's hierarchy is based on their mother line. So that male right there can only be the Alpha's son, not her mate nor anyone else. I guess the mainline rule still applied even to Taanji.

What a pain in the arse.

"Hada! A little help? Fighting an agile fighter is not the specialty of Santi Waraney!" I shouted, called my brother for backup.

"I can easily say the same thing! These trash eaters are too much for me alone to handle!" Hada fiercely shouted back at me.

I took a glimpse at him, and there I saw him being surrounded from every direction in his agenda hunting the Knife Holder.

These Uhndaks are a lot different than what we fought at Kendang. Both them and the hyena folks are clearly fully experienced in three-way fighting. They can maintain their focus on locking us down while keeping on fighting with each faction.

What a monster!

I've trained all my life for man-to-man war, not this hunting game where we are all the prey and extremely outnumbered. Well… we're are always extremely outnumbered when fighting those fuckers from the ocean… but still!

Can we just escape? Before this Althea can easily charge into the center, maybe we can do the same only this time to the outside. Ah, but the hyena folks are present now… I don't know what they might do to stop us.

Blaze me! We need to stop their hunt, that's the only way to escape from this mess. But how…?

"Anna! Act I!"

An idea popped to my head, so I asked Anna to change the phase of this fight.

She heard me, and from her graceful steps, she changed her form into a bit more… lively. Those lovely eyes of her lit brighter, as she changed the act which she's performing.

[Fire Arts]

[4th Level]

"(Fire Butterfly Dance: Act I)"

"Lasirang!"

She harshly stomped the ground, and a red shockwave spread itself across every side of her dome. The fiery fragments began to run wild, spinning violently like a clock on a rush.

Her movement became more sweet and pretentious, her steps turned jumpier, and her body swung flexible and free. She danced just like a butterfly who travel from flower to flower.

I could feel my body turns lighter, as if the wind can easily take me with their flow. The blessing bestowed by [Lasirang] is a speed boost… well, agility boost also included.

"Thank a bunch, my love!"

I jumped back in the direction of the Alpha, where her son stood there to guard her. Seeing me approaching, he moved like a flickering light, fast and hard to read.

I swung my blade to get rid of him, yet he easily dodged it with his nimble movement. He then struck back at me, but I am too can dodge what he threw at me.

We hopped from side to side, slashing, thrusting, dodging. It was a fight between two agile fighters.

However, no matter how good he's at hunting and fighting, at the battle of endurance, no one can outmatch a Genka. We're the master of stamina, speed alone cannot beat us in a long race.

*!!!*

I saw a change, his movement is getting sloppy, he's fucking tired. But I can't just blatantly strike and take him down, the Alpha then will be alerted and my chance to end this would be even slimmer.

So I move the fight closer to her and angle his spot to be as perfect as I wanted him to be.

And when he stood right where I hoped him to, I jumped, and I kicked him right in the chest, turning him into a stepping stone that boosts my attack, charging into where his mother sat.

*Crack!*

I slashed it. The totem-like staff that she used. I fucking slashed it!

With that weapon of her break, her magic became unstable. Her chaos shields which cast all over the places were slowly shaken. Now Uhndak's arrow and javelin began piercing through, wounding some of the hyena folks.

This place is no longer safe for them to hunt.

Realizing this, the Alpha stood from her chair and screamed as loud as she could. The hyena heard her, and they immediately followed whatever order she gave them, and fully retreated from this battlefield.

"Thank the Sun they're smart… if we're fighting an unintelligent creature, this fight might carry on a lot longer."

I saw them slowly disappearing from my sight. It was fast and organized. Even the hyena they brought also came running with them.

Now that I think about it, what is the purpose of those normal spotted hyenas? They clearly cannot go on toe to toe with the Uhndak. Are they even doing anything while all of us fighting?

"Yo brother! If you have finished with your side— can you help me with the Knife Holder?" From afar Hada asked me for assistance.

Not gonna lie their Knife Holder looked somewhat menacing… he's different than all Uhndaks I've seen, with his body fully clothed, and his head covered by a hoodie and mask.

Chiya and Hazana continuously cast their spell on him, but none of them can do anything to him. Even Chiya's curse can easily be purged before even being able to apply its effect.

"What's up with the difficulty on this exhibit…?"