Depthless Hunger

Chapter 106: End of a Rivalry

It seemed unbelievable that Fhazi would really fight him alone, so Kai waited suspiciously. The young noble had an entire gang of cronies with him, though they weren't enough to take him down even if they worked together. Only the Tonjin brothers had progressed meaningfully, which meant all the rest had power in the 20s or 30s.

Could his confidence actually lie in his own skills? The young Lantrian noble was certainly swaggering as he crossed the deck. Kai tried to open his spiritual sight using all the skills he'd learned.

Name: Fhazi Lantrian

Total Power: 22

Grandfist Class: 3 (13)

Physique Level: G-3 (8)

Soul Level: 1 (1)

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As far as he could tell, Fhazi had barely grown stronger. The bulky armor he was wearing wasn't even mana-charged, so he was weaker than any time Kai had fought him before. His Grandfist Class was still barely out of Novice - Kai could probably take his punches directly without much harm.

There had to be something more to it. Kai realized that the assassin woman named Yerinna was nowhere to be seen in Fhazi's entourage. He hoped that she had been sent to do something more important during the battle, but it was always possible that she was waiting for the moment to strike while he was distracted.

"Come on, are you a coward?" Fhazi began summoning his Class mana and it seemed unbelievably slow after fighting Inafay. That almost made Kai attack simply because the window of opportunity was so large. Just in case his opponent had a clever trick, he held back.

Finally, when Fhazi was just a few steps away from him, he let out a burst of laughter and new power flowed within him. Kai's eyes widened and he looked more carefully at the strange heavy armor he was wearing.

Name: Fhazi Lantrian

Total Power: 47

Grandfist Class: 3 (13)

Physique Level: G-3 (8)

Soul Level: 1 (1)

Supreme Lantrian Armor (25)

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Apparently it was the "Supreme Lantrian Armor." It certainly flowed with more mana than Kai had seen in a piece of equipment that wasn't part of someone's essence, but the fact that it more than doubled Fhazi's strength didn't mean much. With his low Physique and Soul Levels, it would be like a child trying to swing a greatsword.

"Too late, you fool!" Fhazi raised a fist. "This armor comes from our deepest vaults and possesses power beyond anything you can possibly-"

Kai grabbed Fhazi by the collar of his breastplate, lifted him into the air, and tore the armor off him. His spiritual claws could probably have ripped through it, but he focused on breaking the straps. Because it was formed of several large pieces, it wasn't hard to break it apart. While he did, Fhazi swung at his arm and head, but the blows glanced off.

Once Fhazi's strength had drained back to normal levels, Kai tossed him back into his flunkies. They were all staring at him, so Kai made a point of collecting the pieces of armor. He could give them to someone who might actually use their strength. Once he was done, the only sound on board the flying ship was the hum of the mana keeping it aloft.

"We're not going to abandon Monskon City," Kai told both the hunters and the crew. "If any of you have a problem with me, state it now. Oh, and someone put Fhazi back in his room before he embarrasses himself again. Anyone object?"

No one did. His order regarding Fhazi didn't seem particularly necessary, as the young man was still staring at Kai with an expression of horror. Since everyone was finally listening to him, Kai began giving orders. He started by pointing to an official from the Corinin clan.

"You, take care of Inafay. You over there, clean all this stuff off the deck. Someone who can pilot, take us low enough so we can drop into the city."

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"Uh... Kai?" Raghi Tonjin was standing beside the railing and now gestured below. "Things look bad."

Kai went to stand beside them and immediately understood. From above, it was obvious just how overwhelmed the defenders had been. An enormous armored monster had apparently broken directly through the main gate, ruining their plans for an organized retreat. Now monsters and humans fought desperately in the lower city.

The only reason that the upper city hadn't fallen was that the largest monster was moving very slowly. It lumbered down the central street, occasionally demolishing a house by accident. When Kai tried to get a read on it, his spiritual sight distorted. That thing was definitely not meant to have made it so far from the Frontier.

Just when he thought he understood the battlefield, he saw something flash over the rooftops. The strange four-winged monster was fast and apparently smart: it tucked its wings to dip between two rows of buildings and scattered the humans who had been retreating there. It was only a matter of time before it entered the upper city to terrorize the defenders.

Fortunately, his orders were being obeyed, so they were drifting closer to the second wall of the city. Kai peered over the edge and then turned back to face the group.

"We're going to need to jump. If the monsters get to the inner wall, it won't last long. We need strong hunters to defend it."

"Umm..." One of Fhazi's flunkies raised a trembling finger toward the monster casually flattening buildings.

"I know," Kai said, "but it's moving slowly. If the inner wall is broken, everyone will be dead before it can even arrive. Now, who's with me?"

There was a pause, and for a moment he thought that they would all ignore him. But eventually Raghi and Lofgan Tonjin stepped forward. He clapped them on the shoulders and then stepped to the railing.

It wasn't far for him at all, but he needed to wait a while longer so the brothers' Physiques could survive the drop without injury. The anxious defenders on the wall had already been watching the ship, but cheered when they saw hunters coming to join them. Thankfully none of them had the spiritual sight to look at him very carefully or they wouldn't have been cheering for long.

He saw Rallia Orgoron, sporting several new wounds but still moving. Before he could talk to her, the monstrous eagle flashed by them again. She unleashed another one of her mana arrows, but the monster's body distorted around the bolt. All she accomplished was making it pull away instead of plowing through the defenders.

"That fucking thing..." Rallia rubbed her injured shoulder and grimaced. "I haven't hit it once. If we don't take it down somehow, there will be no one to defend the gate."

"I don't know about it, but have you tried to attack the biggest one?"

"Completely invulnerable. Maybe Hannagan at his full strength could crack it, but I haven't seen him since we argued."

"Wait..." Kai thought back to the moment when he'd felt the attacks behind him and made the connection. "Did he try to attack me? And did y-"

"Yeah, I did. You wanna thank me, find out a way for us to survive this."

When the eagle came around for another pass, Kai swung his arm as broadly as possible. He could practically see the claws slice the air, but the eagle twisted to the side and he barely clipped a wing. Given that the monster was clearly tainted, that wouldn't be close to enough. It was so fast, too... he could only think of one way he might hit it.

Before he had a chance to tell anyone the plan, Juray was suddenly at this side. No embrace now, she just shoved a potion into his hands.

"Kai, this is for you. But there's something else." She thrust out a hand toward the lower city, where he noticed a group of hunters defending themselves inside a damaged building. "If we leave them out there, they'll all be dead, but if we get them back here, I have enough potions for all of them. The defenders are getting thin, can we afford to rescue them?"

"Absolutely not," Rallia snapped. "We can't risk opening the gates again, and you can see how many injuries they have. If you try to limp back here with them, you'll be cut apart. They're dead unless you're willing to go out there yourself."

"I would, if someone would guard me!"

As Kai looked over the city, he didn't think the area was swarming with too many monsters. Not yet, anyway. He stepped in between the argument and focused on the Tonjin brothers instead.

"Raghi, Lofgan... are you willing to go down there?"

They swallowed, but nodded, so Kai shoved the bundle of Supreme Lantrian Armor at them.

"Use this if it helps. Juray... all I can say is be careful."

"You aren't coming with us?" she asked. He wanted to focus on her, but he was still keeping one eye on the monster eagle as it circled for a better angle.

"I will if I can," he said, then turned back to the Tonjin brothers. "You two better keep her safe, you hear?"

Before he could say more, he saw the eagle fold its wings for another dive. Kai turned away from the group and began running toward it, even as it plummeted toward the ground far faster than he could move. It was too fast for him, so his only chance was to hit it while the beast was diving along the wall.

He leapt just before it struck the first defenders. It slammed into him like a brick wall and his momentum redirected instantly as it swept him along. As he clawed into its flesh, it rose again, striking at him with strange talons and trying to knock him away.

No matter how he tried to strike it, the tainted body kept distorting away from his claws. He was losing his grip even before it began to spin, then he realized that he couldn't hold on. Before he fell, Kai opened his mouth and clamped down on the nearest wing.

Something gave way and he tasted monster flesh, then he was hurtling through the air. He crashed through a building hard enough to daze him and skidded across the street. All he wanted to do was lie down and groan, but he forced himself back to his feet because he had no idea where he was or what he was facing.

He'd fallen in the middle of the lower city, near the central street. Monsters surrounded him and he could see even more in a line all the way to the outer wall, where the giant creature continued to stomp inward.

With hardly any defenders remaining on the outer walls, charging into that horde was lunacy. But behind him, he knew that there were hunters struggling and even in that moment Juray might be venturing out on her desperate mission. Given the state of the defenses, he was the only one standing between them and the rest of the horde.

The enormous monster let out a bellow. Kai growled back and started running.