Chapter Forty-Four

Despite having the blazing sun hanging right above their heads, Yuri and Sooyoung still found themselves engulfed into semi-darkness right after five steps they made into the forest.

The trees around here were tall and huge. Their barks were almost as thick as the size of a common well and their leaves were very concentrated. It made people wonder if these trees were more than a hundred years old, but that question was temporary put aside by the hunters who were eagerly following the stinky odor which appeared out of nowhere.

Sooyoung swung her axe for the umpteenth times as she leaped across the air by tapping her feet on the tall grasses and bushes below her.

“These leaves and branches are seriously getting on my nerves!” She swung her large axe at the thick branch which was blocking her view.

“Quit complaining!” Yuri replied with a shout without turning back. “We’re about to reach them soon. And perhaps you should change your weapon to something smaller and lighter after we’re done with this.” The only reason those branches were blocking Sooyoung’s way and not hers was because Sooyoung’s axe was too large to get through those little gaps in between them.

“Hell no!”

They continued to leap across the air and through the forest, following where the odors led them to for the next ten minutes.

The two hunters began to feel the presences of the mutants. The odors were a lot denser than before and even the atmosphere… though the forest remained in its same semi-darkness, but it was definitely different from where they were at ten minutes ago.

“Sooyoung!”

Yuri shouted at her partner as she pulled out her other gun from the holster and jumped high up into the air by tapping her feet on one of the bushes as support. Sooyoung was only two steps behind her. She did the exact same thing as Yuri, except that she leaped further into the patch of darkness rather than going into the sky.

Sooyoung rose up her arms high up above her head with her large axe in her hands. “Combat smash!” She swung her axe diagonally downwards. An invisible force was released from the edges of her weapon and it sent explosion to the ground when her attack collided with the soil.

It immediately brought attention to the creatures that the hunters were here. A large group of mutants, which escaped unhurt from the explosion, lunged at them. Yuri quickly fired her shots at the mutants before they could come too close to her, but there were too many of them (and not to mention, these creatures were more nimble than the ones she last met at the village when she saved Jessica the other day), it is rather impossible for her to keep up with their speed with just two guns.

“Damn.” Yuri cursed under her breath. She ejected one of the guns’ magazines and replaced it with the other one which she kept the hidden pocket of her jacket.

She seldom used this during battles because most of the mutants she met so far were not as fast as the ones she was dealing with right now, but this time round, this magazine of bullets finally had to come on stage.

Yuri loaded the magazine into her gun and aimed at the feet of her targets.

“Slime Explosives!”

Bullets containing green solution flew from the outlet of her gun and hit the mutant’s legs directly. The tiny container exploded into green slimy object as it touched the mutant’s legs. It wrapped itself around the mutant’s feet, slowing down the creature’s movement and eventually got it permanently stuck to the ground.

“Say goodbye.” Yuri fired her other gun, which contained normal bullets, right at the mutant’s skull.

On the other hand, Sooyoung’s situation was similar to Yuri’s.

“Cyclonic slash!”

With her axe held in front of her chest, the blades facing sideways, Sooyoung twisted her body in an anti-clockwise direction and rotated her body 360 degree multiple times, along with her weapon, creating a tiny whirlwind around her. Many mutants were unable to avoid her attack in the nick of time. The twirling of wind them towards its core and the edge of Sooyoung’s axe pierced through their torsos, dissecting their bodies into halves successfully before they got the chance to realize what was going on.

Sooyoung stabled herself on the ground and looked up to see how many more mutants had escaped her attack. However, she unintentionally noticed a mysterious figure – which resembled a human – running in the background right before her.

“Yuri!” Sooyoung shouted at her partner who was dealing with a couple of mutants surrounding her. “I saw someone! I will go after him! Take care of these mutants!” Without waiting for Yuri’s reply, Sooyoung quickly leaped off and chased after the suspicious figure while killing a few more mutants which were blocking her way.

*

Far away, but not too far from the battle scene, a figure wrapped in cloak from head to toes was sitting on one of the thick branches. She was observing the two hunters – specifically Yuri – battling with the mutants which she had brought with her after sneaking away from Sunny’s vision.

“Kwon Yuri…” Taeyeon narrowed her eyes at the gun hunter as she mumbled the three syllables name underneath the scarf that was covering half of her face.

She does not have the intention to kill Yuri certainly, but neither does she have the intention to let Yuri off so easily.

Nobody gets away from getting too close to her girl. Tiffany is hers and she allows no one but herself to do anything she wants with her.

“I’ve finally found you sorcerer! Return my father and friends now!”

Taeyeon was too immersed with her thoughts of Tiffany, and the battle between Yuri and the mutants that she failed to notice the uninvited guest who had just broke though her invisible barrier. When she finally noticed the person’s existence, she was already lying on the bottom of the tree trunk after a strong blow was delivered across her left cheek.

“Die!”

A clearly angered voice rang from above her. Taeyeon saw the person, who they were tracking since forever, rushing down to her from the top with her fist held high up in the air. She was ready to deliver another punch to Taeyeon as soon as she reached the bottom.

Taeyeon gritted her teeth tightly. Knowing that creating another barrier would not prevent this assaulter from hurting her, she immediately teleported herself to the branch of a tree nearby as fast as she could. The fist of her assaulter missed her body merely by a second and landed on the soil instead.

However, that did not stop the assaulter from attacking.

The assaulter withdrew her fist from the soil and ran towards the tree, which Taeyeon was standing on, with lightning speed. She jumped into the air and grabbed the lower branches, using them as a tool to bring her up to where Taeyeon was right now. The whole procedure only took her less than five seconds. Taeyeon was about to receive a punch on her face again when she teleported to another tree which was about seven trees away from the one she was standing on before.

Taeyeon squinted with a frown as she watched the assaulter charging towards her again. This assaulter wasn’t someone who could be easily deal with. Taeyeon and her companions had been hunting her for the past three years, yet she always managed to get away from them with the help of her subordinates, who had all become mutants already.

But now that she is alone, Taeyeon clenched her fists and spread her arms open wide.

Let’s see how you get away this time.

“Bombard fire!”

Several flames were lit up in a blink of an eye, floating in the midair, tracing the outline of Taeyeon’s body. Taeyeon loosened her clenched fists and crossed her arms together. The flames, now grew into fire balls, flew hastily towards their master’s target.

However, “Tsk.” The assaulter sneered with despise. She didn’t seem to care about those fire balls that are about to burn her down the very next second. She continued to make her way towards Taeyeon without showing any hint of dodging or stopping.

“Foolish!” She shouted suddenly, raising her arms in process. “I’m immune to magic.” With a smirk on her face, the assaulter punched her fists like a machine gun directly at the fire bombs that were about to hit her.

“Gatling blows!”

All the fire balls were put out instantly under her touch. The assaulter flashed a victorious grin at Taeyeon. “You’re next sorcerer!” The assaulter was only a tree away from Taeyeon currently. She kicked her legs hard on the tree trunk, making use of the momentum to push her flying towards Taeyeon’s direction in the speed of light.

“Impulsive Punch!”

Taeyeon hurriedly teleported herself to another location again. The branch, which she stood on just a second ago, broke away from the trunk due to the enormous force enforced on it and fell right to the ground with a loud thud.

Darn! Immunizing Gloves!

Taeyeon pressed her lips into a straight line as she flicked her fingers. At the click of her fingers, a yellow orb glowing in black appeared hovering above her hand.

There was no way she could defeat her assaulter when magical powers were useless against her and she was weak in physical attack herself. Taeyeon held the orb in front of her and commanded, “Retreat!” She drew an invisible semi-circle vertically upwards around orb as soon as she gave out order to the mutants and the orb vanished into thin air.

Seeing that the assaulter was coming at her again, Taeyeon quickly teleported away before the assaulter could reach her.

Kwon Yuri… counts yourself lucky this time!

Taeyeon took one last look at the faraway Yuri and disappeared from the assaulter’s sight.

“Tsk!” The assaulter halted herself to a stop and leaped back to the ground. “Sorcerer, I’ll kill you with my own hands the next time I see you!” The assaulter swore under her breath. Her family and friends… they all became mutants for the sake of protecting her and putting hopes on her to stop this crisis. She couldn’t let them down, even if they might not be able to return to this world again. She had to kill those sorcerers before they mutate all the human beings into mu––

The assaulter jumped forward suddenly and threw her body to the ground. A large axe came out of nowhere, flew from behind her and chopped down the tree down in front of her before landing with its edge stuck to the ground, its handle facing the sky. It could be clearly understood that she hadn’t reacted fast enough, she would be the one in two pieces now.

“Stay where you are!”

The assaulter pushed herself up from the ground swiftly and landed firmly on her feet. She spun around to find a tall and skinny woman with short hair standing a few feet away from her.

Hunter.

“It’s you!” Sooyoung paused on her track when the assaulter revealed the face behind the shoulder length brown hair as she turned to face her. That was the exact same face she saw during one meeting when they were talking about Satron.

Sooyoung pointed her finger at her and ordered, “Kim Hyoyeon, you’re coming back to Aurales with me!”

The assaulter, who was addressed by Sooyoung as Hyoyeon, raised an eyebrow in amusement. Hah, she snorted inwardly. And she thought the hunters nowadays only focus on killing mutants, hadn’t the competition between Satron and Aurales stopped since everyone, except her, had already gone?

A smirk was formed on her face. Hyoyeon returned her stare at Sooyoung as she lifted up her chin slightly with arrogant.

“That is if you defeat me, hunter.”