PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Chapter 31: Chapter 31 Hunters and explosions have never gotten along.

Thoomb Thoomb!

The loud sound of footsteps echoed from deep within the cave, Desmond calmed his breath, going over all the steps of his plan in his mind; only when he was sure that everything he could have done was done did he take the bow from his back.

Thoomb Thoomb!

GIIIIRRRR!

A furious roar could be heard from the cave entrance, alerting Desmond that the Skyr Ventis had most likely fallen into the trap set inside, being aware that the combination of multiple factors made this event highly probable; Desmond didn’t seem surprised in the least, he just kept waiting for the Skyr Ventis to emerge from the cave.

And there it was, that creature that looked like a strange combination of a gorilla, a mantis, and a streamlined design on its sturdy exoskeleton that seemed to mimic the appearance of airplanes from Desmond’s world. Its huge scythe-shaped claws on each arm gleamed reflecting sunlight off them, its dark green exoskeleton looking sturdy enough to break Desmond’s steel daggers on contact; the only thing that seemed to diminish it’s intimidating appearance was the large number of cobwebs that covered a large portion of it’s body.

These did not do much to limit the Skyr Ventis’s ability to move, but they were firmly attached to its exoskeleton and some to its joints.

.....

Watching his prey emerge from within the cave, Desmond quickly lit the arrow in his hand, placed it steadily on the bow, and fired without waiting for the bow’s mana to permeate the burning arrow.

The Skyr Ventis seemed to somehow perceive the projectile that was fired in its direction, but the slight decrease in its agility due to the bindings on it seemed to be enough that it could not avoid the arrow, the arrow completely failed at the moment of penetrating the exoskeleton from Skyr Ventis, But that was never Desmond’s goal.

When the arrow made contact with the Skyr Ventis, it completely ignited the rest of the cobwebs in the body of this; fire spread around his body at unheard of speed.

GAAAARRRG!

A roar full of anger and pain was emitted by the Skyr Ventis as it felt it’s body burn in flames, it began to move it’s body violently in an attempt to put out the fire; as it did so, it’s body gradually moved closer to the top of the cave.

Knowing that Desmond would have to move out of the way before the Skyr Ventis caused structural damage to the cave, he guessed that he might as well land a good blow before retreating momentarily; preparing a shot with his bow this time charging the arrow with a massive amount of dual mana.

SWIIIFFFT!

Hoping at least to see the outcome of the attack he had just carried out, Desmond this time made a big mistake in judgment; Until now Desmond’s ignorance of mana and magic, in general, had ended up benefiting him in unexpected ways, but this time his lack of knowledge on these issues ended up exploding in his face. . . literally.

KABOOM!

A strong explosion resulting from a backlash between the elemental affinities of the dual mana imbued in Desmond’s arrow, the fire attribute mana that now burned in the Skyr Ventis fueled by the wood elemental mana in the cobwebs, and the wind-type elemental mana that the Skyr Ventis was trying to use to put out the fire.

The collision of all these unsupported mana types and some usually compatible when used in offensive spell combinations; created an explosion that was expected neither by Desmond our ignorant hunter nor by his prey the Skyr Ventis.

CHIII!

A buzzing was all Desmond could hear now, his body ached in multiple places that were hit by shrapnel from the rocks that were dislodged from the cave by the explosion; dizzy and confused Desmond looked around him.

′′ Holy shit cough cough. . . What the hell was that ′′

The Skyr Ventis was nowhere to be seen, but that made sense, at that moment it was about 5m away from the entrance of the cave where he was standing; it had completely collapsed and only a large amount of smoke could be seen beyond it.

Desmond was too confused, unable to check the status of the Skyr Ventis or Kyuru; he could only crawl over to the bow that was only a few feet from him and check the situation.

Once with the bow in hand, Desmond felt more confident that if necessary he could give Skyr Ventis a good fight; of course, assuming it′s as injured as he thinks from the previous explosion.

All his worries were unnecessary when he finally managed to leave the upper area of ??the cave and approach the source of the smoke; all he could see was the corpse of the Skyr Ventis still on fire.

Half of it’s head had disappeared leaving behind only the other half heavily damaged with shatter marks and the shell on it full of fractures; The damage from the blast seemed to be enough to defeat it’s powerful defense, but if the arrow hadn’t hit Skyr Ventis’s skull it might have survived.

Although seeing the burning corpse of Skyr Ventis filled him with pride for the achievement it represented, especially because it could prove to that part of him that it still felt guilty for his actions in the past; that he was not only capable of atrocities that should be judged for the cruelty in them but that he was also capable of praiseworthy feats as the heroes who were now worshiped in his world. He was also feeling a bit unsure about what the hell caused the whole damn explosion that took everything away from the devil.

Seeing the multiple wounds on his body, some cuts, and burns, he could only smile bitterly at his achievement.

′′ I guess asking for a phoenix tear to fall from the sky right now and heal me is too much to ask, isn’t it? . . Aaah shit if it hurts, I wonder if fairies know how to heal; I hope so′′

Quickly, checking that the backpack Kyuru was in was perfectly fine, Desmond was able to relax a bit; although he was speechless from the fact that the explosion did not wake the fairy.

′′ Damn, how is it that the characters in the movies never get hurt by the consequences of the explosions? damn liars; I’ll make a mental note not to play pyromaniac in the future. . . this is not my thing.′′