The Achievement Junkie 121 Jack's Weak Hear

When Jack had finished his chant, his body remained tense. As the lightning and thunderclaps grabbed everyone's attention, Jack finally relaxed, bu the was confused.

Somehow, the wind blade he was anticipating would destroy his body, had only stopped after breaking his skin. Unsure what had caused everything and happy to know that someone had found a way to save his life, Jack smiled and opened his eyes.

That smile instantly vanished, as if it had never existed.

"No… How… B-but why?" A few weak words escaped Jack's sorrowful face.

"Jack, you're okay," said Slivia with a smile.

She stood in front of Jack with the massive wind blade impaled through her chest and gut. As the wind blade quickly disappeared after dealing its damage, Slivia collapsed into Jack's arms.

"B-but--"

"Jack, I'm glad you're okay," Slivia smiled warmly. Tears were present in her eyes and a faded teleportation scroll was in her hands.

"Sliv, why did you--"

Slivia didn't let him speak, not wanting to waste the little breath she had left. "You're okay Jack… That's all that matters. Keep fighting. Do it for me, okay?"

When those last words left her mouth, her hands went limp. Her smiling face didn't match her now lifeless eyes. Though she had taken far more damage than any lv. 15 adventurer could endure, she passed with a smile on her face, happy to at least have Jack's face be the last thing she saw.

"No… No…" Jack was in disbelief. She was wearing her femme feline armor, but he wasn't even aware of it.

He hugged Slivia's body tightly, trying to feel her warmth again. Blood covered him, falling from both his wound and Slivia's, but he didn't even notice. Jack was too busy trying to find some sign of life in her body, despite knowing the truth.

By no means was Jack in a mental state to defend himself, let alone fight.

By then, Zariff and the others finally noticed Jack's misery. Maynard wanted to run to Jack's side but Zariff shouted his orders, "Men, hurry up and kill those pestros! Tomas and Tridon, rush to the docks to help Leo! Rydel, protect Jack and all costs! Maynard, you're with me!"

Without a word, everyone sprang into action. Tomas bolted towards the pier as if he was gliding across the water on the ground. Tridon wasn't any slower, taking on the image of a beast and running through the streets on all fours.

Maynard took a deep breath and joined hands with Zariff to face the hooded man, now that he was lv. 38 and Zariff was lv. 41.

Rydel launched one volley of arrows after another, dashing toward Jack around the perimeter. He had some trouble since one of the four mystery men rushed him, but other adventurers helped contain him.

While Rydel was being held up, another syndicate member forced his way to Jack. All of the syndicate members had strange shadowy abilities, making it hard to hit and contain them.

As that syndicate member squeezed past the adventurers with the help of his comrades, an evil smile appeared on his face. "Die!"

Just then, a fireball appeared and hurled itself to the shadowy man.

Knowing that he couldn't take such a spell head-on, the man turned into a shadow. The fireball destroyed the shadow, but the man reappeared five meters further back. He looked at the hooded woman and asked, "Who are you?"

She had appeared not even a meter away from Jack and instantly launched a peak-tier spell. The man wasn't stupid and knew that the woman possessed special skills. Based on that alone, she shouldn't be from the Reinolt Kingdom.

All the syndicate members were surprised to find out that the adventurers somehow got outside help so quickly, especially someone with such skills. With their information network, they should've known who she was, yet they were clueless.

The woman looked up with her cold eyes. Her bloodlust sent shivers down the syndicate member's spine, it was even stronger than his.

"Die!" Flames danced around her until they became a vortex of fire at her control. It was then launched towards the shadowy man.

Though the man was lv. 36, he feared that flaming cyclone. He could feel it's terrible energy and understood that he might lose his life to such a high-level spell. He couldn't even ascertain if it was peak-tier or possibly higher.

Not wasting time with his thoughts, the man dashed back towards his fellow syndicate members in fear. Though the cyclone was more powerful than him and could threaten his life, the shadowy man's speed was too much for the cyclone to catch him easily.

The hooded man was busy facing both Zariff and Maynard. Though it was two against one, neither side had the advantage. Daliea's high-level spell caught everyone's attention and shocked the hooded man. 

According to his knowledge, no powerful mage should've been on the adventurers' side. Not enough time had passed for the high-level adventurers to arrive and King Leodoro should've been the only one.

However, the man's information was clearly wrong. Not only was Daliea a powerful mage, but she had peak-tier spells to boot, not to mention her powerful, mysterious shadow goblin bloodline. 

But he wouldn't know that. Not even Arnole had recognized the goblin queen as a shadow goblin, and he saw her personally. According to their knowledge, shadow goblins went extinct a long time ago. For one to show up in Reinolt on the edge of the continent was impossible for them to anticipate.

*****

On the north end of the city, the soldiers were doing battle with the cetuses. Lucky for the king, Jack had guessed that most cetuses were around lv. 25 and not lv. 30 like the first batch. Jack assumed that the lv. 30's from before were some of the strongest of the cetuses, and he had guessed correctly.

Almost all of the cetuses attacking the city were between lv. 20 and lv. 25, and only a few were over lv. 30. After the first two waves, most of the pride's strong cetuses were killed, including the pride lord's mate, which Arnole was forced to kill to maintain his reputation.

Though most of the soldiers were able to participate in the fight this time, there was also one monstrously large cetus that had emerged from the stormy sea soon after the cetus army.

King Leodoro, Tomas, Tridon, and one of the king's most trusted lv. 30's were facing the behemoth cetus together. They had all drunken boost potions but were still only able to fight the creature equally. It was a shocking sight for all to see.

"Tridon, what do you think we should do?" asked King Leodoro as lightning launched from his fingertips onto the giant beast. He was clearly the most effective against the creature. Without his lightning, the beast would've killed them all rather quickly.

"It's underbelly is the weakest part of its flesh. Open a hole under its right armpit and blast him with everything you've got. That's the easiest way to try and attack the beast's heart directly!" Tridon yelled for them all to hear.

With a nod, the four men took action. The high up soldier and King Leodoro took turns feinting attacks and creating openings while the Tomas and Tridon attacked brutally, trying to carve out the cetus' flesh.

Realizing what its opponents were up to, the pride lord became more defensive.

It was a beast under the control of the hooded man. The man was a beast tamer and he had somehow tamed the cetus pride lord, even though the man was six levels weaker than the cetus. It may not have liked having a master, but having the master see what was happening through the cetus' eyes also allowed the master to give telepathic aid to the cetus, helping it adapt far quicker than it usually would.

The battle continued to drag out. Neither side was able to overcome the other, but it was clear to everyone that the cetuses would win if it were a war of attrition.

Almost out of nowhere, an electrifying claw flew into the cetus' underbelly as it let out a pained roar.

The high-leveled soldier and Tomas were spooked. Suddenly, a lv. 33 Thundercat had appeared and joined the fight, attacking the cetus without hesitation or fear.

"Don't worry, it's here to help us," stated King Leodoro. He wasn't surprised in the least.

Tridon smiled. "Finally, they're getting serious!"

*****

A bellowing roar filled the air around the association building. 

Facing one of the syndicate members single-handedly was a tall, stout gorilla. With every roar, the earth would shake beneath the syndicate member's feet. Each punch from the beast felt like a mountain crashing down on him.

"An Earthen Ape? How'd that get here?" The hooded man glanced at the creature that was suppressing his men. He wasn't happy, in fact, he was furious. Destroying Reinolt City should've been easy, yet so many complications had changed everything.

The hooded man thought to himself as he questioned how so many things could've gone wrong. It felt like his enemy had guessed his every move and fully understood his strength, as well as the cetuses' strength before the battle had even begun.

'How could they have known so much?' thought the hooded man.

Then, he remembered Jack's incantation. Such an incantation was an ancient spell used to reveal Skaryn's spies during Ancient Kartonia. How could a young hero know such a ritual and perform it perfectly? He wondered if he should kidnap Jack instead of killing him.

Chapter end