Chương 28: [BL] 28. Logic [2]

"This will keep happening, won't it?" Willow asked as her golden hair whipped like a banner.

"What does?" Josha shouted over the strong wind.

"Duck!" A duck? A low branch came into her vision, and she yelped, but at the very last second her Dexterity came in clutch as she slammed her head to Josha's back. Oh duck.

"Shit, sorry," Willow said.

"Thank the light you're still level one," he chuckled.

"And yes, this will keep happening."

"Do you mean what you said back there!" Shera shouted. Beside them, she forced the guard in front of her to ride closer to Josha and Willow.

"That the Lich invaded because of us?"

"I do," Josha said in a low voice, but Shera caught that.

"That's stupid!"

"Blight Goat!" Before Josha could reply, a horseman burst through thick foliage with his sword drawn up. He was the scout whom they had sent ahead.

"Five of them!"

"They follow you?" Blight goat, huh? How dangerous could a goat be— A sizzling pain sliced through Willow's head, and she let out a small wince. Her eyes settled as an icy wind splashed against her face. Something was missing, a connection of some sort that tied her to her class. [Hunt Party 2/3] [Hunter—Level 1] [Berserker—Level 1] Shit, she gripped Josha's shoulder hard and shouted in his ear.

"Josha! Wes is dead!"

"Dead? Stop! Everyone stop!" He screamed and pulled Enzo's reins, forcing the horse to crane upward and turn. Half of the horsemen behind them were left several dozen paces back, fighting something—a group of goats with bodies clad in darkness, marred with blood. The monster's curling horn ended up in a sharp end. One goat impaled a horse through its side.

The poor horses whinnied, tried to kick around, but the smaller goat wrestled it down with its horn deep into the horse' flesh and its strength pinned down the guard's ride even though the horses should have weighed at least three times of the goats. The Blight Goats raised its head, blood flowing down its horns, and it faced the rest of the horsemen. Six sinister red eyes greeted them, and darkness swirled by each of the goat's feet. [Blight Goat—Level 5]"Down! Everyone down!"

A senior guard screamed, his sword coarse with electricity to gain everyone's attention.

"The horse will be just butchered; we fight on foot—" The goat zoomed through the space, breaking a random log on its path with a loud creak. Its feet slammed down again, and in another leap, it sped up. Dark Wind burst every time its legs touched the ground, and the old guard let out a yell and fell as his horse's body rammed and hurtled onto a tree where it whined, pinned between the goat's head and the stout trunk. The impact sent the tree shuddering, swaying down gleaming leaves that fell upon them.

Removing its horn, it licked the blood around its cheek and turned again, building another dark wind around its hooves. Its hind leg raised, once and then twice before it lowered its gravity. Willow leaped off Enzo's back and drew her bow as around her chaos ensued. The horsemen did not know to whom they should give their rein to.

"Lowest level! Lowest level, take it except for the lady!" The fallen guard commanded. The goat zoomed again, and this time everyone was ready. Two guards leapt out of its way, and the goat did not stop as it rushed through the pool, into the open grass, and crashed its head onto another tree. The impact shuddered the ground for a bit. It struggled to remove its stuck horn. Willow huffed. She aimed at the goat and released.

Her arrow struck into the tree's trunk, and she let out a frustrated hiss, quickly drawing again and releasing. This time, somehow her arrow freaking fell by the tree's pool. By the time she drew her third arrow, Josha had already mounted Enzo again and charged across—Enzo's feet glowed white as the horse ran across the pool without submerging into it. The speed did not bother Josha as he leaned down and stabbed his sword into the goat's neck.

The other guards were about to charge toward Joshua when, out of nowhere, three shadow blurs and one poor guard suddenly slammed into a different tree's trunk. Behind Willow, Arades shouted, and the young [Berserker] knelt, his hand bleeding. To the right, two goats pinned two horses to a tree and threw them down into the pool. Willow cursed, and she leaned forward to catch three horses' reins.

"Don't let them go!" She shouted at Arades, who battled through his pain and lunged to grab the rest of the reins.

"Shield! Shield wall around the horse!" A guard shouted. They formed right in front of Willow, who knelt and tied the horse's reins to a nearby dangling branch, hoping it would be enough. She grabbed her bow and quiver again, and drew, standing above the kneeling guards, and this time took her time.

"Don't use your mist, Shera!" The senior guard ordered. Beside her, Shera gave a nod and prepared her mist hand to shoot forward. As the goats turned on them again, Willow released, and the arrow flew through, hitting one goat who stood by the tree's pool right across its chest. She smiled and drew again, but too late—the other one charged, leaving a burst of dark wind behind its trail. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

With a new Spell she had never shown before, Shera summoned a large hand of mist above her, and she punched downward. A small blast of misty cold expelled right into the charging goat, who stumbled from the wind pressure and tripped all the way right in front of the guards. Spears and swords greeted it, lancing at its underbelly. The goat whined, but the guard had no mercy as one man cut its throat in a down struck, killing it for good.

Willow ignored everyone else, and she held her aim at the already injured goat, which was still alive and had been building dark wind under its feet. She held her draw for five seconds. A long time, maybe, but she focused still. Only she and the goat existed. When it moved toward her, she released, and the arrow flew right at the moment the goat began its charge and plunged right into its head the moment it leaned down for a gallop. The goat stumbled and collapsed forward.

[You grow stronger] [Enhancer] [Steady Draw]—let the Hunter draw steadily despite external or internal pressure.

"Behind! Behind!" Josha came charging with Enzo, and he pointed his sword behind the guards and Willow. She barely turned when Arades roared and opened wide his arms like he were about to hug something. The [Berserker]'s outfit only gave him bear fur to cover his body and head like a hood and a strap across his chest where his axe hung. The next instant, a goat slammed right into Arades' chest, and the Berserker tried to wrestle the riftborn down while screaming, his feet skidding backward against the grass.

His back touched the back of another guard. Willow dropped her bow, unsheathed her short sword and lunged onto the goat's side, throwing her body into it. Her right arm tried to pin the goat's body down as its legs thrashed against her chest, and she guffawed when it kicked her stomach, but she kept the pressure on the sword with her left arm and looped her right around the two legs and bit down onto its thigh. The Blight goat bleated, its voice hoarse until it died down.

[You grow Stronger] [Enchancer] [Hunter's Mark]—A Hunter's focus needs to be absolute. Assign one mark to a target with the 'Mark' mouth command. The Hunter's accuracy, damage, and absolute tracking will follow the target. When the Hunter takes down the target, additional experience will be granted. Grant +1 Bright Rune. An experience boost enhancement! Her second one.

Willow shook her excitement off and checked on Arades, who had somehow stood up with blood running down two large punctures across his chest and one nearly piercing his heart. His barbarian pelt kilt was drenched with blood that sent the metallic taste to sting Willow's nose. No man should be able to stand after that wound, so why… Arades let out a thunderous roar that knocked Willow backward. A wind pressure sent her rolling. [Barbarian Rage activated!] [+10% Strength to nearby Allies] [Hunt Party 2/3] [Hunter—Level 3] [Barbarian—Level 2] Arades lost his mind and ignored all pain. He charged right into another two Blight Goats that saw him and accepted his challenge.

"Oh, come on," Willow grunted—she clawed at the earth, her finger gripped a tall blade of grass, and pushed herself up, chasing after the [Barbarian] who kept charging with his axe raised.

"Wait! Lass! Don't go!" A strangled cry came behind her, but she ignored it. Josha and Enzo passed by Willow and galloped like the wind. They were fast, but not fast enough to save Arades. The [Barbarian] slammed his weapon down; his axe-head crunched one Blight Goat's back, but at the same time, the goat pierced the [Barbarian]'s chest and threw its head up, sending the barbarian body flying through the air.

[Hunt Party 1/3] [Hunter—Level 3] Josha, angered by the death of his fellow villager, spurred Enzo to trample the injured goat, crushing its neck and swiping his sword to decapitate it when the goat craned its neck up in pain. Willow also intended to join the revenge." Mark." A translucent, gleaming blue arrow mark appeared above the other goat, which lowered its horn and was about to attack Enzo. But Willow had already switched to her bow, and she released an arrow that caught the goat right on its neck.

The arrow's impact did not just impale the goat, but it sent it rolling sideways as if someone had kicked it. When the goat's body stopped, a small hole had gored open where Willow's arrow had struck. She gritted her teeth and took in the crisp, clean air, trying to calm herself, but no, screw this.

"Mark!" Another mark appeared, this time a bit far away from her, right at the spot where the other guards were fighting, and they formed a shield wall.

"Charge! Charge and kill them!" Willow shouted, and she ran. Behind her, the Guards scrambled to their horses and galloped past her, no doubt trying to keep her safe. Shera ran alongside her, but Willow was faster; she even caught up to the horses that descended toward the group of Blight goats that engaged the shield and were trapped by Josha. The goat bleated in agony as the horse's hooves crushed it under, and the guards' spears stabbed down at it mercilessly.

Willow followed and shot an arrow when she found a space between the horses at her mark. She blew a part of the goat's hip, and it wailed or perhaps even begged, but she did not care. [You grow stronger] [Grand Hunt] (2)—Grant an additional hunt party slot. The butcher continued, and Willow caught blood fever as she unsheathed her short sword and searched for another one of these abominations. The spears of the guards, however, took every single kill left.

Willow's mind was still in a haze of bloodlust until the shield wall opened, and five bodies that had been impaled through their chests lay bare for her eyes to see. And perhaps for the first time, Willow truly saw the reality of the world. This whole time, it had been a fantasy to her, but now the Bright Rune inside of her wailed at this sight. The death. A tear slid down her cheek, and a sob caught in her throat. What is this?

She cried, closing her mouth, and tried to wipe her tears, but instead she smeared blood across her face. The taste of death lingered, and her knees grew weak as she found herself stumbling forward toward the corpses and let herself fall. Inside her, an unfair feeling told her that she was to blame for their death and that they deserved better and she could have gotten stronger to protect them. She put a hand on their face and closed their eyes. Why? Why couldn't she be stronger?

"Willow? Are you all right?" Josha asked, softly putting a hand on her shoulder. Shera, beside her, looked more taken aback by Willow's tears than the death.

"I could have protected them—" The words were hers, but it wasn't hers at the same time. Yes, she said it, but it tasted like a lie. She knew enough that there was nothing she could do with the Blight Goat charging at them like that…

"You couldn't have protected them," Shera said, squeezing her hand around Willow's.

"Listen to me," Josha's grip tightened.

"That is the instinct of heroes that caused you to act like this. You hear me?"

"Instinct?"

"Yes! Like—""Like I want to keep fighting when I'm using the Wind Mage class," Willow finished. Josha nodded and whispered.

"Don't lose yourself to it. Don't believe what your brain tells you. Don't believe what your heart tells you. Hold on to logic, Willow; that is how you resist the pull of an Instinct."

"Y—yes. I got it." But this one is much harder.