Chapter 20 - Clara Project: A Formidable Prey

"Look at how the table turned."

The top hunter was mumbling by himself while enjoying the sunset in front of his home. Aslana, the diligent wife of the said top hunter, just finished preparing some stuff in the kitchen, so she was unaware of whatever had happened to him. She approached Maya, who happened to overlook his husband.

"What happened to him?" asked the oblivious lion wife.

"He checked Clara's progress. To be honest, I haven't checked it myself, so I don't know what's really happening," replied Maya, concerned.

The lion male laughed out of loud while squeezing the magic mail from the Town Hall. Alc enjoyed his moment for a few minutes straight until he was tired of it. The woods surrounded his house with his two wives, and he was kind of excluded from the nearby settlement because he wasn't really fond of other people. If Alc's house were nearby, surely his neighbor would be aware of this loud, heavy voice and laugh non-stop.

Even his own wives were sometimes dazed if Alc suddenly laughed loudly like that.

"What's the matter, dear husband?" asked Maya since she was curious about her daughter's attempt at this contest.

"So, I've heard that Clara has outranked us since she gathered around 6.000 golds with her video alone."

"Really? Woah, that's pretty amazing. Right, Maya? I wonder what kind of video she made so she can have that much amount in a short time."

Maya couldn't believe her ears that her daughter had amassed that much gold. Even his husband's party still gathered around 5.000 gold, and there was a significant gap between them. Clara's party will be the winner of this contest at this rate.

"I'm impressed that she has proved herself to finally surpass the amount we gathered for all of our hunts. I was impatient at that time and didn't expect that she managed to do that in the end," commented Alc, smiling proudly.

"Yes, that's amazing, dear husband. Does that mean you'll let her win?" asked Maya, full of hope.

"What are you saying, dear Maya? Since my daughter has given me a big punch in the face like this, I must return it straight to her in honor, don't you agree?"

Aslana had guessed where this conversation would go. "So you're going to hunt some monsters again? May I remind you again of our hunter code, which forbids us from overhunting, which will affect the region's ecosystem to a harmful degree."

"Of course, don't worry about it since I still remember everything about the hunter's code. We will not go by quantity anymore and let the kind of kirins be. We will aim for quality this time and turn the condition instantly in our favor once we hunt this monster."

Both wives looked at each other since they failed to understand their husband's meaning. Looking at this, Alc grinned in confidence.

"We're going to hunt a strong medium-level monster that is almost categorized as a high-level. I heard someone notice a void bull nest around the area. So, we can go hunt it."

"A void bull?" Aslana recalled what she knew about it. It's something that she won't mess with alone.

"That's right. Perhaps none of you are confident enough to take it down? If it's the case, I can go alone."

It went without saying that Alc wanted to hunt this void bull no matter what, judging from his proven abilities. Perhaps it was a euphoria for knowing his daughter could go this far, or perhaps there was an arrogance and pride as a hunter mixed within. Aslana and Maya stared at each other, looking unsure before answering their husband's offer.

"We will go with you. We have to see this together until the end," said Aslana, followed by a weak nod by Maya.

"Thank you, my loving wives. I appreciate your loyalty and affection. Let's take our time to prepare anything for this hunt before we go in the next morning."

In the following days, after Alc's party determined to hunt the void bull at the Resources Guild,

Angga visited the Resources Guild in the evening and only found Clara alone. When he asked about Aleid's whereabouts, Clara said he had a private business to attend to.

"Alright then. I guess I'll have a stroll soon to collect more recordings for my own content," said Angga.

"Okaay! Have a nice time out there, Angga. I want to rewatch your documentary video."

"Again? How many times have you watched that?" Angga didn't expect Clara to like the video very much.

"Hehe, it's because it's pretty amazing. I've never seen something like this before, so I have to burn those scenes inside my mind."

Angga scratched his head, unsure what to say if Clara put it like that. "Well, enjoy, I guess."

"Definitely, I will. I liked that you took most of the shots so neatly, and it was fantastic to watch. See! I also look amazing before your camera, gallantly chasing prey that was running for its life. I like everything that you put it there."

Here she goes with her stupid grin, weirdly captivating anyone who has seen this, including Angga. 

"Okay, okay. I get it. Thanks, by the way. I don't know that you'll like it that much."

Angga also thought that the remaining time for this contest was two weeks left. It was a safe duration for him to surpass Alc's achievement. Last time he checked, his video had already reached the amount of Support around 6.500 worth of gold. He guessed that Alc's party probably couldn't surpass his video's number.

Unless?

At another place at the same time, Alc's party was looking at the enormous eerie cavern, which made anyone shiver immediately and go away. Yet, this is Alc's destination after a few days of investigation. Anyone did not seem aware of its existence because it was ridiculously strong. But when Alc met someone who actually encountered it, he was in trauma since most of his party was killed.

Due to Aslana and Maya's tender approach, the adventurer could muster his strength back to overcome his trauma and give them the necessary details to track down the void bull's nest. 

"So, here we are, ladies. We should prepare ourselves quickly since the beast only sleeps one hour daily. So, let's go just as planned before." Alc notified his wives.

Maya and Aslana were on full alert. They were already in their hunting attire, which enhanced their physical prowess. Not only that, Aslana and Maya cast physical enhancement spells for the whole party to prepare before they went inside. Since they both studied only spells that benefited themselves the most–physical enhancement spells–the duration effect would last longer than any other spells they knew.

After that, they carefully sneaked inside the cave. Thanks to their hunting instinct skill, which enhanced their eyesight, the darkness in the cave wasn't a problem. Alc's party smelled a distinctly strong aroma while they heard a heavy grunt not far from where they were. A huge sleeping beast, a nightmare given a form that could no doubt carve deep damage into one's psyche if one met it head-on. It was currently sleeping soundly without any care of the world.

Its sheer size alone made Maya wonder if they had made the right choice to hunt this beast or if they should head back. The medium-level monsters, such as poisonous kirin, couldn't be compared with this one because it was five times bigger than an average person in the Union Kingdom. She knew what this monster was capable of, so a few droplets of sweat were dripping.

Alc gave away a hand sign that notified his wives to act based on what he would do soon. At first, both of them glanced towards the whole nest's condition. Basically, there was only a way out from this cave, and there were no other threats, meaning it would be Alc's party against a void bull alone, just as expected.

Maya gave her husband an okay and swiftly stepped back in with Aslana. A second after that, Alc dashed and landed a direct hit punch on the void bull's face, making a strong suppressed impact that resulted in it screaming in agony. Shortly after, the monsters were standing all in four, staring towards the attacker as if the previous hit had no effect at all.

When it stood proud against the top hunter, the void bull's appearance made Aslana gulp. A thick-strong dark-colored hide protects it from any low-tier type of attack, be it a physical one or a magic one. The obsidian horns of the beast cleaved the air and reflected any light that came into it, if it were any, as if deflecting any hopes away. And its dark brown eyes showed anyone who could bring anyone on their knees who met its gaze.

"Oh, a formidable opponent, it seems. It'll be worth my time," said the hunter with an excited yet intimidating smirk. His hunting instinct irked him so much that Alc couldn't contain his arm to stay still.

Without any specks of fear or doubt, Alc charged straight to seize the opportunity to continue his attempt so the hunt wouldn't be prolonged. The beast easily moved its heavy horn swiftly like a light wooden stick, positioning it at the same level as the hunter so that Alc would crash to death when the hunter continued dashing straight.

His accumulated experience alerted him immediately, and Alc shoved the horn away as far as possible to avoid the danger. He rerouted his run, jumped into the nearby wall, and launched himself to the void bull's lowered neck.

The gaze of the void bull, initially looking at the front, now glanced towards the Alc, who was ready for another attack. Yet, his hunter's instinct kicked in. Something big will appear soon, which would be no good for Alc.

"Maya!" The lion male hunter shouted.

From another direction, Maya dashed and determined the point between the void bull and her husband and grabbed her husband to bring him away together in another direction. When Maya was just a few meters away from the void bull, a void space appeared out of nowhere, right beside the beast, damaging its surrounding ground and stones. 

Alc knew very well what would happen if he didn't move away at the last minute. 

Maya's leg helped Alc land, and she slid on the ground while carrying her muscular husband, so both tried to put their weight on the ground to stop. When Alc regained his footing, he analyzed the situation as if the void bull had moved to face them.

"I see that we need a coordination attack to make more feint. Its void ability is no joke. What do you think, Maya?"

"If that's what you need, then I'll comply."

"Thank you, dear. Aslana! You and Maya will go together!" Alc shouted.

"Okay, on it!" replied the voice, probably from behind where the void bull stood. She hid well so that the void bull couldn't detect her.

"Alright, Maya. Go," commanded her husband.

As Maya dashed away, Alc started to walk calmly to approach his prey while maintaining his gaze towards the beast. When he was confident he could launch another attempt to hit the enormous beast, he dashed in a zig-zag manner to confuse the beast. He also tried to circle the beast and combine more movement by leaping on the walls to make the beast lose track of him, and when the chance was present, Alc quickly changed his direction to attack.

The void bull noticed that the hunter would aim for its front legs, so it moved back the said legs and getting prepared to parry him with his heavy horns–and the two lionesses hit the back of the void bull's neck without warning, followed by quick movement to keep their distance again.

The prey swayed a bit, and Alc saw his opportunity wider than before. So he reached its front legs and launched three punches; the last hit pushed away the giant beast and hit the walls, the proof that the physique enhancement spells cast before. And yet, something else was coming–

A sudden void spiral almost hit Alc's head if he wasn't evading it by parrying it with his gloves-enhanced hands. He regained his footing after leaping back to avoid and checking his claw gloves. It was working, and its claws were ridiculously sharp as usual.

"No damage to be considered, so I can punch you more and more to subjugate you. And look at you, void bull. So it's proven that you're almost invincible, just like the rumors said," commented the hunter.

The beast shook its head off to clean some of the dirt from the cave's ceiling. Its hide was thick enough that it withstood three clean attacks from Alc without any trouble, and only a few minor wounds could be seen, which barely affected the beast. 

Maya, who observed her husband's battle beside Aslana, grimaced. "As if our surprise attack is an insect bite, the void bull still standing strong after receiving our husband's attack."

Aslana nodded. "Yeah, this hunt will be like no other. A formidable foe, and one wrong step, its horn will pierce our stomach."

"Let's continue to support our husband, Aslana."

"It goes without saying."

When Alc launched himself away to give another punch, the beast activated his power by casting another void at the head or body level, which hindered Alc's way to go close. His wives saw this coming and threw a rock big enough to cover the said void while giving their husband new ways or spots to evade while coming near. Stones and chunks of dirt of any size would do, as long as they covered the void, and attacks appeared aimed at the male hunter. Alc appreciated this, calculated every jump he made to approach the beast, and leaped towards its head.

The hunter aimed for its head so he could punch it directly and gave it significant damage because Alc saw that the hide around its head was thin enough. To hit that spot might have a great impact on the beast.

And yet, the obsidian horn blocked the attack when he threw his hand, which was equipped with claw gloves. The void bull continued its response by moving its head quickly so the horn hit Alc's body. It was a direct hit.

The hunter held it with his endurance and made an acrobatic move to somehow swap his hands on the horn with his feet, and used the said horn to launch again and finally hit the void bull's head. It swayed somehow, almost losing its strength, and bellowed with its weird voice.

Alc leaped back and landed. The void bull seemed agitated this time. The attack on the head was quite a success.

"Let's fight each other to death, shall we?" provoked the hunter.

He dashed again, followed by his wives, to continue to hunt his prey.