His two axes were filled with explosive power as they furiously chopped out in two beautiful arcs towards the rat king! If this blow landed on the rat king, it wouldn’t matter how tough the rat king’s fur was; not even iron armor could withstand such a strike. The rat king would definitely be cleaved in twain.
Unfortunately, he was too slow! The rat king’s hind legs flexed, sending it dodging three feet back and perfectly avoiding the axe-chops.
Cooke, however, seemed to have anticipated this move. Just as the axe in his left hand descended and missed the rat king, he suddenly leapt three meters into the air off his right leg, and hacked down with his other axe at the speed of a thunderbolt!
The first chop was vertical while the second was horizontal. The two strikes were perfectly linked together and part of one smooth motion. In both speed and power, this double-strike was simply supreme.
Boom! The ground itself seemed to shake! The thick and heavy axes carved out deep gouges into the earth, while the rat king retreated another few feet. It was simply far too fast and Cooke’s furious strikes all completely missed it.
Before the rat king had a chance to find its footing, Cooke once more hurtled towards it while kicking up a sandstorm. Cooke’s twin axes danced in the air like a pair of vipers, spinning like a pair of deadly windmills as he repeatedly struck out at the rat king.
The moment Cooke entered this “arena,” he discarded all hope of surviving. He was resolved to die so he completely focused on attacking and held nothing back. This sort of suicidal, kamikaze attack would cause even fighters significantly stronger than him to be discomfited. Duels between experts could be decided in a single instant. If one side was nervous and afraid of dying while the other had already accepted death, there would obviously be a significant difference in morale that would impact how well each performed!
The rat king’s pitch-black eyes suddenly gleamed with savage light as it came to a sudden halt, lifting up its paws to block.
Clang! Clang! The windmill attacks suddenly came to an end as the two axes came crashing down against the eight sharp claws of the rat king. The terrifying power of the blows kicked up a cloud of dust. The man and the rat stood there, the rat king having elected to use this type of strike to defend against the enemy’s attacks. Both sides began to exert as much strength as they could and for a time, they were evenly matched.
The mercenaries were all shocked by this scene. They could tell from this brief exchange that the rat king was far faster than Cooke and a close match for him in raw strength as well. The difference in ability between the two was quite apparent. The rat king wasn’t just the “political” leader of these giant rats, it was also the most powerful member of the race!
Cooke roared angrily as he once again chopped out with his axe at the rat king’s head, but he hit nothing but shadows. The rat king, after dodging his attack, struck out with a set of claws and tore a bone-deep wound into Cooke’s chest. Cooke endured the pain, turning to deliver a counter-attack when the rat king once again shot straight past him. The creature was simply too fast!
Cooke fell to one knee, an enormous wound having been torn into his upper thighs. He continued to howl angrily as he brandished his hatchet, while the rat king landed on the ground and immediately leapt towards Cooke once more.
This time, Cooke let out a blood-curdling scream. Three of his fingers were cut off, and they went flying away along with the axe they were gripping. The axe flew more than ten meters away before it crashed to the ground.
Not good! Cloudhawk’s heart clenched.
Cooke continued to press the attack with his right hand, while the rat king didn’t let up in the slightest. With the next strike, it tore open Cooke’s chest. Cooke no longer had the strength to lift the axe and it slipped out of his grasp and thudded down to the ground.
He had lost. He had completely lost. He did not expect the difference in power between them would be as great as this!
The rat king maintained its assault, continuously dashing past him and raking bloody wounds in Cooke with its claws each time. In just ten or so seconds, Cooke’s entire body was covered with bloody wounds. The rat king did not, however, aim any attacks at Cooke’s vital points.
It wasn’t trying to kill Cooke. It was torturing him instead, causing Cooke to let out one agonized and enraged howl after another.
This sight thoroughly enraged all of the mercenaries and their eyes spat hatred at the rat king. In a duel, it was normal for the victor to live and the loser to die; this was true in both the wastelands and in the outposts. But… the rat king’s true purpose clearly wasn’t to challenge the humans. The real reason it had chosen to fight a duel against a human was to instigate and enrage the other humans into voluntarily charging out of the cave and be engulfed by the endless waves of rats.
Damn this creature. It actually understood psychology and manipulation!
“Graaaah! Damn you!” Cooke was covered in dozens of giant, bloody wounds. His body had been turned into a mishmash of blood and gore, almost as though a butcher had gone to work on him with a cleaver. He could also tell what the rat king’s intentions were, and he howled in rage and grief, “Go ahead and kill me, you sackless sonufabitch! Kill me if you have any balls!”
How could Cloudhawk accept this? How could he possibly withstand this type of torment? How could he ever be able to endure this type of humiliation?
A wild animal was tormenting and torturing one of his brothers, right in front of him. Was he supposed to just sit there and watch without doing anything, to just stick his head in the sand and pretend that nothing was wrong? And in truth, Cloudhawk wasn’t the only one enraged. Mad Dog had an even worse temper and it exploded when he saw what was going on.
“Attack them! Wipe these motherfuckers out!”
“Boss! Boss! Don’t go!” Five mercenaries had to work together to hold Mad Dog back. Tears shone in their eyes as they called out, “It’s a trick! Don’t fall for the bastard’s trick!”
Mad Dog bellowed, “I don’t give a flying fuck if it’s a trick or not! Let go of me!”
Cloudhawk shared the same rage and grief the other mercenaries felt! This was a grim, callous, and preposterous era they were living in. In times like this, trust and faith were more valuable than anything else. To the mercenaries, the Tartarus Company was their home and every single brother was a treasured family member!
A rat actually dared to torture one of their family members to death? Nobody would be able to endure such a sight… but right now, Cooke was in more agony than anyone else.
“Don’t come out! Don’t come out!” Cooke had been tormented to the point where he looked inhuman. He knelt there on the ground, resembling a butchered corpse. Blood mixed with tears on his face as he called out in agony, “Let me die! Let me die! LET ME DIE!”
Cooke wasn’t just suffering mere physical agony; the humiliation and mental agony he was suffering was far greater than the fleshly pain. He wasn’t afraid of death; if he were afraid of death, he never would’ve walked out to accept the duel. But he never imagined that his resolve would be used as a tool to manipulate his brothers.
At a time like this, to a valiant, tough-as-nails man like him, death was a form of release! He was a proud, intrepid wastelands warrior… but at the end of his life, he was kneeling on the ground, screaming for death. His overconfidence, his resolve, his wish to protect his fellows… they had all transformed into endless torment and humiliation.
Crack!
The utterly heartbroken Slyfox fired a shot, but the rat king seemed to have seen it coming. It immediately dragged Cooke into the rat swarm and the countless rats immediately covered Cooke, making it impossible for the mercenaries to see him. The only thing left was Cooke’s unending, miserable screams.
The screams were filled with resentment, shame, rage, and grief. Every single scream stabbed into Cloudhawk’s heart like a dagger.
Cloudhawk’s hands slowly curled into fists as he stared at the brut
al scene before him. He could no longer hold back the furious rage that was building inside his breast. As the mercenaries were all focused on holding Mad Dog back, Cloudhawk immediately rose and charged outside.
“HEY! What are you doing?!” Slyfox was stunned. “Stop him, quick!”
Cloudhawk had never been as furious as he was right now. He leapt forward with the speed and grace of a panther, giving the two nearby mercenaries no chance to catch up at all as he charged out of the cave. As soon as he did so, the rat swarm surged forward to welcome him.
“FUCK OFF!” Cloudhawk let out an enraged bellow. The murderous aura emanating from him caused even the dire rats to pause momentarily. In this moment, they felt as though it wasn’t a human in front of them but rather, an utterly enraged wastelands beast!
“I’ll fight you! I want to fight you!” Cloudhawk lifted his tri-bladed staff up high, then pointed it directly at the rat king. “I know you can understand me. Come and fight me, if you dare!”
Rage, grief, shame, hate! Although the rat king didn’t have the vocabulary necessary to express these things, he could keenly sense the presence of these emotions. It had spent more than ten years being tormented and experimented on by humans and had seen its parents and siblings die in front of it. It understood these feelings quite well.
It let out a shrill screech, and the rat swarm slowly began to retreat.
In truth, it could tell at a glance how strong or how weak the humans were. It could tell that Mad Dog was just as strong as it. Even though Mad Dog had already suffered heavy injuries, the cautious rat king wouldn’t dare to challenge him to a battle. Cloudhawk, however, was clearly an underage and undersized youth; there was no need for the rat king to worry about him.
Cloudhawk held his black tri-bladed staff up high as he charged forward, moving faster and faster as he sprinted towards the rat king so quickly, he looked as though he were flying.
Right now, Cloudhawk only had a single thought in his mind:
Kill it!
Kill it!
Kill it!
Whether for Woola’s sake or for Cooke’s sake, or for the sake of the others… Cloudhawk had to kill it!
44 Betrayed
Cloudhawk was a rookie who was taking part in a mission for the very first time. He was completely inexperienced and had never before battled against dangerous creatures like these. In front of him was a freak that even the experienced mercenaries had never seen before, a freak far crueler and more sadistic than any ordinary beast. Not only was Cloudhawk not terrified… he actually went out to challenge the thing!
The kid had gone absolutely stark raving mad!
True, during the past two days, Cloudhawk’s performance in battle was far superior to what the mercenaries had expected, but he still ranked at the very bottom in terms of ability. If even Cooke had been completely unable to fight back against this freak, how did the kid think he would stand a chance at all? This sort of behavior was absolutely suicidal!
“Slyfox, what the fuck are you afraid of?” Mad Dog actually knocked down two of the people in front of him. “Even the newest rookie has more balls than you, you spineless pussy! If we die, we die. Mad Dog ain’t no bitch!”
Slyfox stared at Cloudhawk as the kid charged out and let out a long sigh. “Fine, then. Let’s charge together!”
“We were waiting for you to say that!”
“Rookies! Follow my lead!”
The other mercenaries were burning with the desire to do just that. Men, by their very nature, were filled with stubbornness and defiance. They weren’t going to be able to escape today… so if they had to die, they were going to die with a bang! To die while hiding in a mountain cave like turtles hiding in their shells was far too fucking pathetic!
As soon as the mercenaries began to move, the rats began to move in unison as well. The two sides were instantly locked in yet another bloody battle!
Cloudhawk focused all of his attention on the opponent in front of him. When the rat king noticed how the mercenaries were attempting to surround it, it felt no need to waste time; it would first kill this small human before wiping out the others! It leapt off the ground with its four paws, sending itself straight forward in a straight line charge.
Even though Cloudhawk’s reactive instincts were better than Cooke’s, the rat king was simply far too fast! There was no way Cloudhawk could dodge… and so he didn’t. Instead, he barreled straight towards the rat king!
When the rat king was ten meters away from him, Cloudhawk’s black tri-bladed staff began vibrating slightly.
When the rat king was five meters away, it once more leapt off the ground towards Cloudhawk. It launched eight incredibly sharp claw-strikes straight at the puny human’s critical organs. Its claws were like eight lethally sharp knives stabbing straight at Cloudhawk!
Here it comes… here it comes! Victory or defeat would be determined by this strike!
Ignoring everything else, Cloudhawk struck out with his exorcist rod! The tri-blades had already begun to spin rapidly, reaching an incredible rotational velocity in an extremely short amount of time. Cloudhawk had poured all of his energy and his very being into this strike. Sparks appeared from the dancing exorcist rod as it exploded with tempestuous might, generating streams of energy that caused the dirt and pebbles in the surrounding area to fly into the air.
“GO DIE!!!” Cloudhawk bellowed, pouring all of his rage and hatred into this strike. The rat king’s eight claws, impervious to normal weapons, were instantly shattered by the terrifying destructive force of Cloudhawk’s strike. The shockwave generated by the clash was simply incredible, with the exorcist rod releasing its full, pent-up, tornado-like power onto the body of the rat king.
The rat king let out a miserable squeak as it was sent flying ten meters away. Its body actually separated into two pieces in midair. Blood splattered the ground as its two halves finally landed.
The rats were all stunned. Even the mercenaries stared, stupefied.
The weakest-looking human had actually just unleashed a strike of incredible power. There was no way an ordinary person could possibly possess such strength. This power, this savagery… it defied all science and all common sense!
The rat king didn’t instantly die. The upper half of its body struggled in agony, seeming to want to reconnect with the other half. It wanted to stay alive. It didn’t want to die! But its body had been completely torn apart and its innards had been completely splattered. Even though the rat king didn’t know exactly what was going on, it knew that it wasn’t going to survive this.
The rat king turned its increasingly-blurry gaze towards the youth. The youth had unleashed all of his rage and hatred in that strike. Now, he simply stood there while panting and gulping.
So the brat succeeded. He gained revenge for his friend. But what about me? What about my vengeance? I haven’t even found that damn madman! I haven’t torn him apart, haven’t ripped him from limb to limb!
These humans… they might view me as “evil”, but in my eyes these arrogant and ignorant humans are the true definition of evil!
Why did you capture us? Torture us? Why did you barge into my territory? Why did you kill my children? You even skinned our dead and ate our flesh. You tore our bones out of our bodies!
Why? Why?! WHY!!!
The dying thought of this intelligent animal was that it suddenly envied its fellows. It truly wished that it was like them, incapable of rational thought or planning. If they were hungry, they ate. They survived on instinct alone. The rat king didn’t want to die. It really didn’t want to die!
The rat king let out one final terrified, agonized squeak… and then everything went dark.
Now that the rat king was dead, the dire rats instantly lost their cohesion. No longer under control, the hundreds of dire rats entered a state of chaos. Some turned to flee. Some ran back and forth, while a few continued to press the attack against the mercenaries.
Cloudhawk was completely exhausted after
having used his tri-blade staff to slay the rat king. His head was woozy and his ears were deafened. He was barely even able to stay standing… and it was this moment that seven or eight dire rats surrounded and attacked him.
Cloudhawk was completely out of energy. He was able to feebly swing his staff a few times before the dire rats knocked him down with ease. Right at this moment, a machete flew past him and sunk deep into the body of a dire rat.
Mad Dog’s muscular body was covered in blood. He had charged over to Cloudhawk and with but a single chop knocked that dire rat flying. He then pulled his machete back and growled, “Got any fight left?”
Cloudhawk struggled to nod.
“Good. We’re gonna carve a path outta here!”
With the rat king’s death, the rat swarms had lost their cohesion. The majority of the dire rats began fleeing in various directions. Although a few hundred continued to surround and assault the mercenaries, they were now under much less pressure than during the previous battle. Despite that… it was still a brutal fight.
The mercenaries were completely spent and all of them were covered in wounds. They had to battle for over ten more minutes before the dire rats finally and fully retreated.
Six more mercenaries had died during that last battle, leaving just twelve of them alive. This mission had caused the Tartarus mercenaries to suffer catastrophic losses. They had lost half of their combat power… but thankfully, the other half made it out alive. Otherwise, the Tartarus mercenaries would’ve been a mercenary company in the hells of Tartarus.
Mad Dog turned to stare at Cloudhawk as if the latter were a freak. “How the hell did you do that earlier?”
Cloudhawk knew that there was no way he would be able to hide this any longer. He briefly told the mercenaries part of the story regarding the Bloodsoaked Queen and the exorcist rod. All of the mercenaries were stunned by what they heard. None of them had imagined that Cloudhawk was someone capable of wielding supernatural abilities like the Bloodsoaked Queen!
The Wastelander Page 34
