Chapter 92
"It is a mutant; be careful not to destroy the line of defense," Paul said. " Raise your weapons but only focus on the defense; if we make a mistake, the creature can easily bite the heads of two of us at the same time. This time let's leave the damage in the hand of the archers and the mages."
Leon was still the only mage in the team, but Paul said that to increase the morale of the troops. Even though they also knew that they only had one mage... Anyway, the front line moved forward as a whole and at the same pace. Only a few of them had a s.h.i.+eld, but most of them were used to blocking the attacks of far bigger creatures using swords, spears, and axes.
However, due to the lack of experience and knowledge of the creature, several soldiers got knocked down when the beast charged forward like the wind. Those survivors screamed when the monster's heads approached them, but Leon attacked the beast's eyes to help them.
Leon's was good, and he aimed perfectly, but for some reason, he only blinded one of the four eyes of the creature. The beast screamed and trembled, giving time for the frontline to recover. Leon attacked again, but just like before, his arrows only slightly wounded the beast's faces.
"Is it using magic to prevent critical damage?"
Leon stopped attacking for a bit, and then he noticed, when some arrows fell on the monster's faces, it always moved to the sides before landing. It was wind magic; the creature was emitting an aura that made projectiles move and even lose power. To make matters worse, his attacks weren't causing as much damage as they were supposed to generate.
" Since it can use wind and earth, it can also resist to those… the wind can decrease the power of fire arrows too…"
There
"Tch… so troublesome."
Leon could just overpower the creature by changing his earth arrow a little, but it would be suspicious, considering that his first attack only caused little damage. To win, he couldn't use brute force; he had to use strategy since that would be more acceptable in everyone's eyes.
Suddenly creating a single lance using the earth would be suspicious, so Leon decided to put the five arrows in a line and attack like that. The first arrow changed the directions thanks to the wind aura around the beast, but the second pierced the monster's eye. Leon successfully managed to blind the eyes of one head, but it wasn't nearly enough.
The beast quickly found the one who caused the pain and tried to attack Leon, but this time the frontline hold the creature. Arrows fell on the two-headed wolf while it was trying to open the path with brute strength, but those barely scratched the beast's thick fur.
The two-headed monster gave up on attacking Leon; it retreated, and then it happened... a sandstorm inside the dungeon. Using both earth and wind magic at the same time, the beast blinded everyone with a huge amount of sand and strong winds.
"I didn't hear that this thing could use two types of magic at the same time... it is because it has two heads?"
It didn't matter; either way, everyone stayed in position, but in the middle of the sandstorm, no one could see anything. However, Leon knew that he was in danger. He was aware that he would be the first target of the beast in the middle of that sandstorm... it wasn't time to hold back. Fortunately, the sandstorm worked in his favor. He could attack whichever way he wanted, and no one would be able to tell what had happened.
Unfortunately, Leon couldn't see the beast. He only saw it when it was already too late. Instead of running, the two-headed wolf jumped over the frontline and landed right above him... Leon only had time two strengthen two earth arrows and shot before he lost consciousness.
When Leon woke up, he was feeling terrible. He was so dirty that he recalled the days on the island. His clothes were a mess, and his body was covered in sand and blood. Then he remembered his last memory, himself being buried by a ma.s.sive desert wolf. Leon got up only to see that he was back in the truck and returning to New York.
"Woah, hold on," Paul said. "Stay still for a while; you almost died. Your body is back to normal, but you lost a lot of blood. So, take it easy."
"... Did the monster die?" Leon asked. "How many did we lost?"
"Not a single soul, thanks to you," Paul explained. "Aside from a few scratches, everyone is fine. It looked like the beast lost its ability to deflect projectiles when it used the sandstorm. That is why you managed to kill it before being devoured. Hahaha, you surprised us when we found you under the corpse of the beast."
Leon frowned, even though he managed to avoid the beast's fangs, its weight alone was enough to crush him. In the end, the blood covering his body was his own blood and the beast's blood. Leon wanted to clean himself as soon as possible, but he would have to endure.
"I hate to hold back my powers..."
"Don't make such a face, we completed our mission," Paul said. "Although you almost died, you defeated a powerful beast. You can rest for a few days because you will be promoted."
Leon almost died, but at least he managed to get what he wanted.