Hunter Of The Six Realms

Chapter 22

The giant beast didn't hesitate before making it's first move. Its arm swung back, then with an earth-shaking roar, it hurled the massive stone mace forward. It tore through the air like a meteor, aimed directly at the squad.

"Incoming!"

The earth realm B-rank hunter threw both arms forward, slamming his fists together. A surge of mana rippled out from him and the ground responded. The mace exploded mid-air as a thick wall of earth shot up and splintered it into thousands of sharp pebbles.

"Scatter!" someone shouted.

But the earth user wasn't done. With a sharp twist of his palms, the broken pebbles floated midair for a second. Then, all at once, they launched toward the beast like a shotgun blast. Dozens struck its stone hide, pinging and sparking, but barely left a scratch.

"Tch. Dammit. This thing… it's built like a mountain!"

Crystal stepped forward. Her gaze was locked on the beast, analyzing it. It was slow, but the force it carried with each step made up for its speed. If it reached them, even a graze would be fatal.

"Move in formation," she barked. "Water and Ice, slow its legs. Earth, control the terrain. Healer, stay back, I'll take the front and end this."

No one dared question her.

She raised her hands, and the ground beneath the beast began to bubble. Her fire mana surged through the rocky soil, turning it red, then orange, then molten.

Lava.

The beast stepped forward and instantly began to sink, one leg dropping knee-deep into the lava as its stone foot began to melt.

"It's working!"

The squad started to press their advantage. The water realm hunters summoned pressurized blasts of water aimed at its joints, while the ice user shot frost lances toward the creature's core to slow its movements.

The ground beneath it groaned. The lava hissed and steamed as more of the beast melted into it.

But then, to everyone's surprise, the lava stopped bubbling. Then it hardened, fast.

Their eyes narrowed.

"What..."

Crack Crack Crack.

The beast lifted its leg. The hardened lava broke away cleanly like dried mud. It stepped out of the trap with no trouble, steam pouring off its partially melted limb.

Then it slammed both fists into the earth.

A shockwave burst out from it. The terrain shifted and cracks formed beneath their feet.

One hunter stumbled, nearly falling into a crevice that opened up. Another was flung off balance, barely catching himself.

"Did that thing just control the earth?!" someone yelled.

"Impossible... Beasts don't use elemental magic."

But this one just did.

Everyone seemed shocked except Crystal.

The giant roared again, and this time, its hands sank into the ground. Moments later, massive pillars of stone burst from the ground around the team, separating some of them.

"Regroup! Stay in pairs! Don't get isolated!"

The fire B-rank hunter rolled under one of the pillars, launching himself forward. Flames trailed behind him as he slashed at the beast's legs, leaving burn marks. The water realm duo focused their combined efforts on freezing its joints while the ice user tried to aim for the eyes.

The earth user kept raising stone barriers to protect anyone who got knocked back, and the healer weaved through the chaos, dragging the injured behind cover to heal them.

Crystal moved fast. Blazing steps carried her forward as she dashed straight at the beast, dodging falling rubble and slamming a fire-coated fist into its chest. Stone cracked, but the beast backhanded her midair.

She hit the ground with a thunderous impact, dust rising everywhere. One of the hunters gasped.

"Captain!"

But Crystal got up slowly. Her lip bled, but her expression remained the same.

She cracked her neck, then wiped the blood away with her thumb.

"Guess that hit harder than I thought."

She drew her full-length blade this time.

"Let's end this."

She charged again, this time aiming for the knees. Fire burst from her feet as she zipped under its swing, slicing into the same melted joint from earlier. The fire intensified.

The beast staggered. Roared. Raised its mace arm.

But before it could bring it down, Crystal jumped, flipped midair, and drove her blade straight into the center of its face. Flame surged down the length of the weapon, deep into the beast's core.

The red glow in its eyes flickered.

Then, like an avalanche, the creature began to fall apart.

Chunks of rock rained down, forcing the hunters to shield their heads as the beast collapsed in a thunderous heap.

Dust filled the air, and silence followed. Everyone stared at Crystal in awe and admiration. She had single handedly killed that giant, it was both impressive and scary.

A smooth red glowing stone core dropped from the remains of the beast. Crystal caught it with one hand. Without a word, she tucked it into her coat pocket.

They all saw her put it away, but no one dared question her. Usually, gems are gathered and taken back to the guild, the weight and value of the gems are kept in record, and eventually, at the end of the month, hunters receive their pay based on how much gems they could retrieve during raids.

The gems are sold at high prices, can be used for making jewelries, weapons, and even protective stone, depending on the amount of mana the stone contains.

Everyone knows, the higher the beast rank, the stronger the core, which means more expensive and valuable.

Hunters weren't allowed to keep gems for themselves, all had to be submitted to the guild directly after each raid. So what Crystal just did was considered illegal, but she didn't seem to care if everyone had just seen her do that....she knew, they wouldn't dare report her, because they knew exactly what she could do to silence anyone who snitched.

The rest of the squad slowly gathered. One of the C-rank hunters, a younger one with short black hair and nervous eyes, stepped forward, hesitating.

"C-Captain... That core... you..."

Crystal turned her head slowly.

"I what?" She asked with a cold expression.

He immediately froze, "N-Nothing... nevermind." He got the signal, Shut the hell up and pretend nothing happened if you wanna keep living.

Crystal looked at each of them, eyes narrowed.

"Find the hound stone. The rest of the Beasts are dead so we're safe. Activate it let's get out of here."