The Animagus: From Hunter to Monster-Chapter 51: Saggitarum Scutum (Shield of Arrows)

"Buji," Instructor Jean called out.

"Huh."

"A high rank didn’t make a hunter a genius in both combat, or put simply, the talent the hunter had awakened. It simply meant that the hunter possessed a great feat of super powers. The talents are only there to help him hone those powers while putting it into action."

Buji didn’t know why Instructor Jean had to start telling him this, but he still had to listen anyway.

"Hence, it’s not a surprise to see a low-ranked hunter who has more strength than a high-ranked hunter. The difference is just that the low-ranked hunter was able to hone the talent with the talent, but the high-ranked hunter has failed in that aspect," Instructor Jean said and halted instantly.

"Did you understand the information I tried to pass to you?" Instructor Jean asked Buji, regardless.

"I think so. I’m an S-Rank Hunter…" Buji replied.

But Instructor Jean cut him short. "Then, let’s see what you’ve got."

Buji reasoned out what Instructor Jean said. If high ranked hunters had more super powers than low ranked hunters, it means they can perform feats far better than the low ranked hunters. Even though these hunters all possessed different talents.

In his own case, Instructor Jean was trying to make him know that he must not have talent to be able to perform like fellow hunters. He can develop one himself, he can hone any slightest skill he has with the rank to become super strong. But how was he gonna do it.

Buji listened to what Instructor Jean said, with his head slightly bowed as the moved deeper. But, now the other hunters seemed to stop moving, they had all halted. He raised his head to know why they had stopped moving.

And he saw it.

In front of them, were numerous monstrous bats, with intense red eyes staring at them. Dozens of them.

So, he gripped his sword tightly, steadying them to face the bats. Other hunters had done as he did, setting themselves in position to set go if they were to.

At the back end of the bats was a staff, with its top calved like a bat. In the middle of the spread wings of the bat calved on the staff, was an orb. The orb emitted a blinding yellow light which sent out rays of yellow energy flowing into the monstrous bats.

"What!"

"If we allow that, they might become stronger."

"The energy flowing into them is strengthening them."

"But it’s going to be a bad idea to make a move fi..r..st," Kira was still in between speech when a sword shot out from behind them to strike the yellow light emitting orb.

"Buji! Buji!"

They exclaimed collectively on realizing it was Buji’s handiwork.

"Their strength giver is down, so what now?" Buji commented.

The bats on realizing what Buji had done let out their ear deafening screech sound. In between the brief chaos, Buji was distracted by the system dropdown notification.

<Ding!>

[The Player has awoken the dungeon boss.]

<Ding!>

[Emergency Quest Activated]

[Kill the dungeon boss]

’What do you mean? With my current self?’

[To complete this quest, the Player has been provided with skills that will help him through the battle.]

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freёnovelkiss.com.

[Skills: Jumper, Swordsman, Counter Attacker.]

[Acquisition: Aetherfang (Long Sword)]

[Time remaining: 00:45:00]

’Are they being serious right now? Like what th…’

As if pulled by an unknown force, he leaped from the ground towards the orb that now flickered its light before going off. Instructor Jean, who was closest to Buji shouted his name and in reflex, held unto his leg.

Instead of pulling Buji to the ground, he too flew with Buji landing in front of the staff.

The monstrous bats glared in anger and instead of facing Buji and Jean, lunged forward to the other hunters.

Seeing what happened, Instructor Jean tried to change position of where he stood with Buji, but he was thrust back with an unknown force.

"A barrier?"

"What?" Buji asked.

"We can’t leave this spot. There’s an enclosure preventing that. Are we trapped?"

"No. The dungeon boss is awake and might appear sooner. We are here to tackle with it, and maybe, only then will we be allowed to leave this so-called barrier," Buji explained.

"So, now I see why the bats couldn’t face us. They knew there was a barrier."

"So now what? Are we just going to sit here doing nothing? Are we just going to watch them…"

"Don’t say that," Buji interrupted. "They can do more than we expected."

***

While Buji and Instructor Jean flew into the invisible barrier, probably created by the magic staff, the array of monstrous bats in their many numbers marched towards the hunters before them.

Lucky enough, the bats were not attacking in crowd. They came in less numbers, easier for the hunters to handle.

Emra, unleashed a wave of fiery mana toward the monstrous bat that had flew up and swooped down again towards her. The bat roared as flames licked at its wings, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down.

Before the bat could regain balance, a dagger stabbed its back, bringing it to the crowd with a great force, producing a loud thud.

"Not strong enough." The voice was Instructor Gib’s.

Emra looked behind her to see that some of the monstrous bats were already down.

"How?" Emra asked.

"It just happened to be," Gib said. "The light orb was sipping energy into them to give them strength and become stronger. Unlike the one we had battled out there, these ones are still weakling."

"I see. It only meant that the bat from before only had artificial energy it gained from this staff."

"Exactly," Instructor Gib attested, bringing out her right hand to expose her palm.

"Kpam!" She exchanged a ’high-five’ clap with Emra, and together, they dashed forward to join the others.

Zain’s short axe sliced through the air as he parried a bat by its wing. As the bat fell like a lifeless object, he swiftly countered with a strike to its throat. The bat collapsed with a gurgle, adding to the growing piles of dead bats on the floor.

"Is it just me?" Zain said. "These bats are nothing like the previous ones out there. They are relatively weaklings."

"Same here," Kira said.

"I guess no one would be needing my healing magic," Rose commented. "Let’s go."

Before she could dash out, she heard the scream.

"Ahhh!" Doris cried out, the pain was unbearable, but the adrenaline that rushed through her veins did the work. With her sword, she retaliated with a desperate thrust, piercing the bat’s chest and ending its life.

"Over here, please," she cried out, as blood seeped out from her wound. She staggered back, pulling out the fang of the bat that stuck in her shoulders.

Rose rushed to her, carefully helping her to relocate to a safe open place by the side of the cave. Placing Doris on the floor, she produced her healing magic and concentrated it on her wound.

"Why am I sensing the bats are getting stronger?" Kira said, flipping her cord to slice through the bat that was against her in attack.

It seemed everyone was busy at the moment as no one replied her comment.

She conjured arrows with her left hand and tossed them up in the air. Then with a horizontal slash of her cord, sent them firing with precision and speed at the bat before her.

"Kekeke—" the bat screeched and fell to the cavern floor, dead.

"Pair up and face the bats," Instructor Gib instructed. "They’re getting tougher."

She was already fighting alongside Emra. Zain, who was closer to Kira joined her, while Lobby and Dave joined to form their own pair.

One of the monstrous bats, sensing their new approach, let out a loud screech. It sent a shockwave through the air, knocking the hunters off their feet. They all hit the ground hard, with their weapons skittering out of reach.

"Good thing we landed together," Emra said, struggling to rise from the ground, same as others did.

Now up to their feet, weaponless, Emra placed her hands on the cavern floor. Realizing what she wanted to do, Kira joined her.

The ground around them lighted with an otherworldly energy, gradually protruding with outwards to form a canopy. They had conjured a shield, and from what it seemed, it was going to be stronger than previous one they created.

"Kira, hold up the shield," Emra said. "I will do the rest."

"Huh, it won’t last longer if only I should this shield created with two mana forces," Kira said.

"You too, do the job, let me take on the rest," Instructor Gib said, standing out from other hunters.

She untied the two dagger holders that were tied to her legs and joined them. Surprisingly to on-lookers, it tightened with a click sound. Following, a hook like mouth protruded from the top of the joint dagger holders, forming a staff.

"A gift," Instructor Gib said, with a smile, and muttered some words.

She raised the staff high, and muttered, "Saggitarum Scutum."

A bright light shot out from the staff to form an impenetrable shield, covering the one that had been conjured by Emra and Kira. Arrows of pure energy materialized around the shield, spiraling in a dazzling formation before locking into place.

"Shield of Arrows?!" Emra lamented in surprise.

With a determined glare, Instructor Gib thrust her hand forward and shouted, "Telae Munimentum!"

The air shimmered as countless projectiles formed, layering themselves into a glowing fortress of magical arrow directions, steadied at the monstrous bats fast approaching, ready to strike.

"Strike!" Instructor Gib commanded, and the arrows from the shield escaped, following the projectile motion formed earlier.