"Huizen!" yelled Maeyurai. "You're finally here!"
He somewhat felt some of his energy returning upon Huizen's arrival. Now, he could push himself further and continue fighting, motivated by the arrival of his master.
Maeyurai immediately ran back, heading towards Huizen. He trusted that Shienne and Huizen would arrive, but they took a little longer than he imagined.
"Where's Mhiya? Is she with you?" he asked, looking at Huizen.
"No," Huizen answered. "We're not with her. We don't even know where she is. But she should be safe if she's not with you; I trust that she knows how to handle herself in this situation."
Standing behind Huizen was Shienne. She had a smile on her face, seeing as Maeyurai managed to hold off on his own against the Shrieker.
"I didn't think you'd try to face it head-on," she said when Maeyurai was only a few meters away. Even though the way she spoke was light, there was an undertone of anxiety in her voice.
"I'm sorry, Shienne. I couldn't find any survivors, only one," replied Maeyurai, head lowered in shame.
"Better than going back in to die, at least you saved one. Where is the person?"
Shienne's eyes searched around to look for the survivor but couldn't find him.
Then, to their left, Ugina came out of the bushes, limping. "Ugh, Maeyurai! You left me behind!"
"Dummy, you couldn't get up in time. It's your fault for being so weak," Maeyurai replied.
"Huh?! Your lightning bolt didn't even do anything to the Shrieker!"
"Shut up! I didn't have a medium!"
Huizen chuckled as the two guys argued. "Okay, okay, come on, you two. Save the argument for later; we have a threat in front of us," said he, tightening his hold on his bow.
"Maeyurai, I didn't think you were the type to argue with someone you just saved," Shienne butted in, smirking.
"This guy didn't save me," Ugina interrupted.
"Shut up and go get your bow; we're going to fight the Shrieker, the four of us," said Maeyurai in a solemn voice, turning his attention to the Shrieker up front.
The Shrieker was slouched, holding its face. It seems that Huizen's fire arrow dealt some painful damage.
"RHYAAAA!!" it shrieked loudly, its voice louder than it ever was.
The four covered their ears upon hearing its loud screech; it was almost unbearable to the ears. Unlike earlier, this time was even fiercer.
"Maeyurai," Huizen called. "Did it do anything out of the ordinary?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Maeyurai asked. "No, I don't think so...? It only charged at us and shrieked when it got hit."
Huizen nodded upon hearing Maeyurai's answer.
"This time, you better be careful whenever it screeches."
"What do you mean?"
"It was going easy on you. This time, it won't be," Huizen answered. "A Shrieker isn't only called that just because it can screech, but it has a special ability that makes it so difficult to fight—"
Before Huizen could even finish, the Shrieker leaned forward, opened its mouth, and let out an ear-piercing wail, sending out a focused shockwave in their direction that tore everything in its path.
"SHRREEEEE!"
"Crap—!" Huizen exclaimed, pushing everyone away to save them from the attack.
He took it head-on and blocked it with both of his forearms. However, the shockwave was incredibly powerful, launching him back with a powerful force, tearing off the skin of his forearms.
"Rgghh!" he groaned in pain, landing on a boulder.
"Huizen!" Maeyurai yelled out as he watched Huizen get blasted off by the Shrieker.
He immediately charged a fire arrow and shot it towards the Shrieker. Around the same time, Shienne charged her own fire arrow.
Looking closely, Shienne's fire arrow was different from Maeyurai's. It was much finer and hotter, a clear result of her months of training. But nonetheless, Maeyurai was still doing a great job with his conjuration.
The two of them fired simultaneously, both aimed at the head of the Shrieker.
The fire arrow flew like a flaming bird, hitting its target directly, exploding afterwards.
"Nice hit, Shienne," said Maeyurai, already moving ahead to get a better position.
"Not bad," Shienne replied, also trying to find a good spot.
Near Maeyurai, there were a lot of corpses and also a lot of bows. Ugina didn't have his bow due to Wency borrowing it, so he decided to borrow one from the dead people.
"Sorry," Ugina said to the corpses as he took the bow. "I'll borrow this for a while; your death will not be in vain."
Running behind Maeyurai, Ugina drew the bowstring, conjuring a triple wind arrow.
He jumped to the side, his back facing the ground while aiming the bow towards the Shrieker. He released the string and shot the three wind arrows.
Huizen finally recovered and was running towards the Shrieker.
The Shrieker dodged the wind arrows and ran forward to where Huizen was. It recognized that Huizen was a much stronger opponent than the others and targeted him.
As soon as the Shrieker charged towards Huizen, a fire arrow pierced through its right calf, shot by Shienne. It was then followed up by a shot to its neck fired by Maeyurai, to which the Shrieker screamed out loudly.
"Shraa!"
It was getting annoyed. It turned its head towards Maeyurai and shrieked, sending out the same shockwave that sent Huizen flying.
"SKREEEE!"
Bam!
But its head was turned over by Huizen's fire arrow, making the shockwave miss. Its attack caused destruction, breaking the trees that it hit.
"That was close!" Maeyurai exclaimed, conjuring another fire arrow.
I only have two minutes left...
After that, I'll faint!
We better finish this soon.
After drawing the bowstring, Maeyurai pressed the hot tip of the fire arrow with his finger, and its fletching transformed into waving flames that stretched out as long as two meters.
"Firecracker."
He fired, and the arrow flew for 0.5 seconds before exploding into chains of weak explosions, creating several flashes, lighting up the Shrieker on fire.
Firecracker was a technique that Maeyurai developed recently, so it was unpolished and weak. But it was effective enough to cause burns to the Shrieker.
After the Firecracker made its hit, Ugina conjured a single wind arrow and shot the Shrieker, the wind making the fire burn worse.
The Shrieker paused, not bothering to deal with the intensifying fire. It bent down and anticipated an action.
It shrieked.
The loudest it ever did.
Everything within a 5-meter radius was destroyed from the shockwave, the sheer volume itself making the ears of those who were around bleed.
Shienne, Ugina, and Maeyurai closed their ears once more, feeling their ears ring from its sharp screech. It just kept getting worse.
The only one who didn't close his ears was Huizen. He endured the pain, blood spewing out of his ears. It's possible he'll go deaf soon.
Huizen walked forward firmly and calmly, conjuring a fire arrow while he drew the bowstring.
Stopping in his tracks, he turned his body and pulled even further, using his shoulder as his anchor point.
As he pulled further, the fire arrow grew thicker. Not because it lost concentration, but because its density and power increased.
The heat radiated.
It was intense.
As the Shrieker continued to wail, Huizen fired.
"Burst Flash," he spoke of the technique's name under his breath, releasing the bowstring.
Tsiiii!
Bang!
The Burst Flash pierced through the wind and through the Shrieker's head, creating a large hole on its forehead.
Its whole head burned.
Everyone watched as the Shrieker cocked its head, kneeling down.
Frozen, not one of them took a single breath.
"Inhh," Huizen inhaled.
"It's not dead yet!" he yelled out right after, charging his bow again with a fire arrow.
Immediately, the Shrieker went on all fours and charged forward, tackling Huizen with its head, dragging him away.
"Grhh!" Huizen grunted in pain, feeling the fire from its head burning him.
The other three reacted quickly, running towards the Shrieker while conjuring their own arrows.
"Where the hell is its heart?!" Maeyurai yelled out in question, jumping over a bush to catch up to the Shrieker.
"We've already tried the chest and the head!" said Ugina.
After landing, Maeyurai felt his knee almost giving out. He wobbled, almost stumbling forward.
"Guh—!" he gasped, finding that he was out of breath.
Crap! I only have one minute left!
This can't be it... Where is its heart located?!
His mind snapped as he came to a realization. Among the other known critical areas where the heart could be, there was one existing spot that he forgot could be where it is located.
"Wait—I forgot about the navel!"
Maeyurai swerved and finally tripped.
"Huizen, Shienne, Ugina!" he called out. "The navel! Target its navel!"
The two, Shienne and Ugina, who was running ahead of Maeyurai, turned their attention towards him as they heard his words.
"Alright! Let's try that!" Shienne yelled out.
Ugina nodded his head and sped up to catch up to the Shrieker.
Huizen, weakened by the heat of the Shrieker's burning head, accidentally released his grip on his bow.
"Arrghh!" he groaned, trying all he can to get off the Shrieker. Punching and prodding, he tried pushing away with all his strength, but the Shrieker merely adjusted to his movements, continuing to drag him through the forest.
In an attempt to slow it down, Shienne and Ugina stood side by side, aiming their bows at the Shrieker's legs, and shot their respective fire and wind arrows.
The wind and fire arrow combined, creating a bigger fire arrow that burned the grass on the ground. This is essentially a Fusion-Mana, though an incomplete one, as it's only a combination of two Affinities, not technique.
It rode through the air and caught up to the Shrieker, hitting it directly on its leg, the tip piercing through the back of its thigh. It didn't have enough force to pierce through, but it was enough to distract the Shrieker.
The fire that burned all throughout the Shrieker's body intensified, fueled by the new arrow that landed on its thigh.
The Shrieker stumbled, tumbling across the floor, releasing Huizen.
Huizen rolled after being thrown off and managed to get to his knees—supported by his elbows.
But the Shrieker was not giving up; it reached out and gripped Huizen's left ankle, not willing to let go.
"Tch!" Huizen uttered, kicking its hand away, but he couldn't shake it off. "Get your hand off of me!"
Huizen kicked with his other leg, trying all he could to weaken its grip.
The Shrieker had recovered, pushing itself up with its other hand as it tightened its grip on Huizen's ankle.
"No!" Huizen exclaimed; he felt his fibula breaking, the pressure making his left foot feel like it was exploding.
The Shrieker stood up and lifted Huizen off the ground, spinning him across the air before slamming him back down.
Huizen hit the ground with immense force, coughing out blood.
It continued to slam him on the floor several times, trying to break him into pieces. Then, it spun and threw Huizen.
Huizen flew, most of his bones broken. He landed on Shienne and brought his momentum with her; the two of them are now both rolling across the floor.
"Urghh!" Shienne muttered, trying her best to lessen the impact on the floor to reduce the damage that Huizen receives.
While the two were on the ground, Ugina had already charged a wind arrow.
"I can abandon these three... But I know that the Shrieker will only end up targeting me," said he. "I'll protect those two on the ground with all I have so we can kill the Shrieker!"
The Shrieker released a shockwave to Huizen and Shienne.
"RHYAAAA!"
Bravely, Ugina stood in the shockwave's way and tried to repel it by countering with his wind arrow.
The arrow dissipated from the shockwave and continued on.
Ugina took it, his upper body being torn apart. But he kept standing, conjuring another wind arrow.
The Shrieker wailed another shockwave. At the same time, Ugina kept shooting.
Behind Ugina were Huizen and Shienne, who were struggling to stand up. They watched in fear as Ugina stood in their way, determined to take all the attacks.
Ugina felt each hit from the shockwaves, how it would vibrate his bones, how his eyes would flash white with each hit, and how his arms wavered due to exhaustion.
"Is this it...?" Ugina muttered.
He felt the last of his innate mana being released through his hands.
With one final draw, he shot.
The wind arrow persevered forward despite being crushed by the shockwave.
It hit the Shrieker's face, but it was merely a soft breeze.
The shockwave hit Ugina and pierced a hole in his upper body. His left side, left shoulder, and parts of his face dissipated like ashes.
He no longer had mana to keep his physical form intact and was easily torn apart.
The spark in his eyes faded. However, he was smiling, satisfied with his work.
He let out one last breath, "Maeyurai... I'm sorry..."
He fell forward and died—protecting Huizen and Shienne.
At the very back, Maeyurai watched it all while walking slowly, limping.
His eyes widened.
"UGINA!" yelled he, forcing his body to move forward.
Maeyurai sprinted, using the last of his energy. If there was anyone who could defeat the Shrieker, it was Huizen.
Huizen finally managed to stand up with Shienne's support. To help, Shienne rushed forward to distract the Shrieker, giving one last glance at Maeyurai.
Looking at Maeyurai, Shienne nodded. It was a silent message.
Of course, Maeyurai immediately understood. He ran with all he's got, and when he was close to Huizen, he threw his longbow before falling on his face.
Thump!
Maeyurai was lying on the floor, watching as Huizen took his bow.
"Nice one, Maeyurai!"
Huizen immediately took aim and drew the bowstring, creating a fire arrow. He pulled even further, using his shoulder as his anchor point.
The flames of the Burst Flash shined brightly.
Bright like hope.
Yet before Huizen could even shoot his technique, an arrow pierced through the right side of his head.
Blood spilled, Huizen staggered, and the Burst Flash flew in the sky, completely missing its target.
Huizen fell to the ground, lifeless.
Wha...
Huizen...?
Huizen?!
Huizen!
Maeyurai immediately turned his gaze to the right and saw the shooter. The one who shot Huizen was expressionless and unfazed.
His eyes widened in surprise, his heart skipping a beat.
"Mhiya?"