34 Chapter 34: Monster Hunter

I didn't stop running until a single Ravager finally caught up, pouncing on and knocking me to the ground.

"Kuh!"

Grunting as I twisted around to grapple with the Ravager, I desperately fought to keep its snapping jaws from reaching me. The Ravager ferociously pressed in, its slavering jaws trying to take a bite out of my face, its hot, foul breath causing me to gag. I grimaced when several drops of drool splattered onto my cheek.

"That's disgusting!" I cried and kicked the Ravager with such force that it was flung off. It sailed through the air for a moment before crashing into several of its brethren and unfortunate Phantoms that happened to be leading the rest of the pack.

I wiped my face with the sleeve of my uniform jacket before glancing at the advancing horde. As I did so, I caught a glimpse of the chronometer at the edge of my glasses' lenses. Apparently I had been running for about an hour.

Wait…what? An hour?!

Shaking my head, I double-checked the time briefly, but the numbers did not change. I must have lost track of time while running. Thanks to Dad's training, I had great stamina, so I could run for an hour without slowing down. I was still breathless and tired, though, so I seized the chance to recover my breath before the monsters lunged at me again.

Those guys had been running for an hour as well, so they were just as exhausted as me. Fortunately for me, they had also paused to catch their breath, or to recover after I had kicked their leader right back at them, breaking their lines.

Instinctively, I reached for my smartphone. My GPS was still activated, and I was sure that Bei Pan Zhe and the rest should have escorted the refugees to safety by now. Yet, when I thumbed the speakerphone and dialed his number, the call refused to connect. There seemed to be a signal, so the problem was most likely on the other end.

"Why isn't he picking up?" I murmured to myself, feeling frustrated. I was relying on them for backup, and if they didn't arrive soon, I would be torn apart by the huge numbers of monsters. I could probably run for a few more minutes at most, my stamina having been depleted by my hour-long run earlier. I probably couldn't escape any further.

I had no choice but to make my stand here.

Craning my neck, I peered behind the horde of monsters, my glasses automatically magnifying images in the distance. Try as much, I could see no sign of any backup coming. My GPS was still active, broadcasting my location, but my calls weren't getting true. It was as if Bei Pan Zhe was deliberately hanging up on me.

What's going on?

"Gr…"

The Ravager's growl brought me back to the present. In front of me, the Ravager I had just kicked, and the rest of its brethren that I had knocked over like bowling pins, were rising to their feet, having completely recovered.

"…fuck." I tried to force my rising panic down. Taking a deep breath, I gritted my teeth. "Looks like I'm on my own."

The Ravagers howled, their voices filled with violent bloodlust, as they began sprinting toward me. The Phantoms glided closer, reaching out with their formless hands, as if to grab me. I involuntarily took a step back, but steeled myself for the coming conflict.

"Gemini," I intoned. Twin flashes of light burst through the clearing before intensifying onto my fingers. Twin swords instantly materialized in my hands, one black and one white. Adopting a defensive stance, I pointed Castor and Pollux toward the approaching Ravagers and Phantoms while the adrenaline rushing through my system overrode my fear.

Without waiting, I began dashing toward the demons the same moment they lunged at me. Swinging my twin swords, I cut a swathe of destruction through the howling and moaning monsters, thinning the horde. Four Phantoms went down, their formless figures cut apart into ribbon-like wisps. A single Ravager fell, whining as blood spurted from a huge gash that separated its body into two. Spinning around, I sliced through another Ravager and a few other Phantoms, my short but razor-sharp twin swords whirling around like a deadly tornado and dissecting their victims with deadly precision.

I shouldn't have run for so long. Normally three minutes were more than enough for me to summon Vermillion Phoenix or one of the other Celestial Guardians, but I had been too busily running. Furthermore, I had to remain within the same area to complete the casting. Since I had been running nonstop for about an hour, I had constantly moved out of whatever effective range of the area where I could complete the interdimensional gate used to call forth the Celestial Guardians into existence.

Simply put, if I wanted to summon a creature, I had to make sure I remained within about a hundred or so meters from the location where I began casting the summoning spell. In an arena, that wasn't a problem because it was a small, restricted area, and there wasn't any chance I could wander out of the boundaries set by the summoning spell, not unless I was thrown out of the ring (which would mean my defeat in any case).

When I was coming home from school the other day, I had begun casting my summoning spell the moment the bus reached within a hundred meters of my house. That was why I didn't immediately summon Vermillion Phoenix immediately when I alighted. I had to complete the summoning spell while running toward my house, and it was a pretty close shave. If I had been just ten seconds slower, and the timing had been off, I would have been caught by those kidnappers.

Out here, in the wild, however, it didn't matter. My running had meant that I covered a few kilometers of distance, and so I was never in one place to complete my summoning spell. I could only begin right now.

So before I brought out my big guns, I had to make do with my Constellation magic. Which, to be fair, was more than holding its own against the pack of monsters.

I danced a deadly tango with dozens of different partners, all of whom ended in pieces after a brief exchange. Dancing to a tune only I could hear, I weaved through my surrounding posse of overly enthusiastic audience, my swords darting out to a mysterious beat and plucking the life-strings from the monsters' hearts. More of them fell at my feet, blood flowing freely from grievous wounds as they paid for witnessing my performance with their lives.

However, as the battle dragged on, I was beginning to tire. I was already slightly exhausted from running for about an hour earlier, so my stamina was not at its peak. Panting, I channeled magical energy into both swords and swung them both in opposite arcs.

"Castor! Pollux!"

Twin waves of energy, one black and one white, blasted out in a 360 degree circle around me and decimated nearby monsters. The rest of the horde was blown back by the impact, which earned me a small reprieve.

"Huff."

I heaved as I knelt down from exhaustion. Despite taking down dozens of monsters, there were still hundreds of them lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on me. Right now, while I was winded, they were emerging into the open, taking advantage of my current moment of vulnerability.

Fortunately, I had finally finished my summoning spell that I had begun ever since I stopped in this clearing. To counter this almost endless tide of monsters, I had to call forth an army of my own.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated and channeled my magical energy into a single summoning spell to complete it.

"Canis Minor! Ursa Minor! Corvus!"

All around me, a dozen hunting hounds, seven teddy bears and an entire flock of black crows materialized. The dogs growled ferociously, baring their immense teeth at the Ravagers and Phantoms. The teddy bears marched forward, their cute, furry forms belying their incredible strength. The crows soared above, screeching deafeningly as they streaked toward their targets.

Just in time too.Any later, and I would be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of monsters. Even though my army of Constellation spirits were still somewhat outnumbered, I had succeeded in evening the odds.

They would buy me enough time to summon a bigger summoned monster, at the very least. If necessary.

I charged into the fray, assaulting the disarrayed and beleaguered monsters along with my aggressive canine and cuddly army. While I cut into a crumbling line of Phantoms and Ravagers with my Gemini twin swords, the Canis Minor and Ursa Minor tore into the majority of the horde, ripping them into shreds with their claws and teeth, or pulverizing them with their superior strength. A Canis Minor tore the throat out of a nearby Ravager, its teeth clamping down and severing the vital blood vessels in the monster's neck, while an Ursa Minor pounded another Ravager into oblivion by smashing its skull into the ground with brute force. A Corvus sailed past me with a screech, its clawed talons slicing deeply into a Phantom's non-existent face and taking its head off cleanly.

Within seconds, the hunters turned into the hunted, and the clearing was bathed in the blood of monsters.

"Oh, wow."

Even I was surprised by how effective and powerful my Constellation spirits were. It seemed that I had vastly underestimated them, despite being the one who conceived of and summoned them. Often people had told me to have more confidence in myself, but triple that number mocked me and called me a useless failure, and insisted that I would never amount to anything (telling me to delete my stories and to leave writing websites, for example)

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I honestly never knew which group to believe, but obviously it was easier to assume that the vast majority was correct.

"…?"

I didn't have much time to savor my relief at turning the tides. The surrounding Ravagers who had yet to join the fray suddenly jerked up, sniffing the air as if they had caught some peculiar scent. Growling, they bounded away, the remaining Phantoms trailing behind them. The latter was too slow, the stragglers being picked off by my aggressive Constellation Spirits who stubbornly dogged their trail.

Frowning at their sudden change in behavior, I made to pursue them. The primary objective of this mission was to escort the refugees safely to Jing Tian City, but the secondary objective was to exterminate the monsters. I couldn't let them get away. At first I thought they were turning tail and running after seeing their brethren slaughtered before their very eyes, but I remembered their unusual action of sniffing the air, as if catching the scent of something.

Did they perhaps find some easier prey to hunt, especially now that they had found me too formidable a foe?

…it couldn't be the refugees from Bi Nan Village, could it? I was pretty sure I lured them extremely far away from the convoy…

Then I realized it might be the backup. So Bei Pan Zhe and the rest had returned for me, after all. I felt stupid for doubting them…

"Help!"

…until I heard an unfamiliar voice screaming for help. Then I realized that I was mistaken.

This particular horde of monsters wasn't breaking off to face fresh reinforcements. They had found a weaker, helpless target!