Chapter 44: Decision
’There is absolutely no way we are getting out of this,’ Hajin thought, staring at the four shards orbiting the monster’s head.
The rock wall was right at their backs and the monster blocked the only real exit. It was a four-shard anomaly, and right now, his best attacks wouldn’t even leave a scratch on it.
He gripped his sword tighter, not taking his eyes off the creature.
"Juna," he said, keeping his voice completely steady. "I am going to unsummon you."
The monster lunged before she could process the words.
A massive claw swept horizontally toward them, tearing through the air with a heavy whistling sound. Hajin threw himself to the left, his shoulder hitting the ground and rolling to his feet, while Juna dove under the strike on the right. The claws slammed into the rock wall behind them, shattering it into jagged shrapnel.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, recovering from her roll and glaring at him across the gap.
"You probably don’t remember," he said, dodging another swipe that took the top off a nearby boulder. "But last time you got hurt, I unsummoned you. I found out later that it actually helps summons recover their bodies faster. That is why you woke up feeling completely fine."
She stared at him while the monster pulled its claws from the rock. She still didn’t fully understand the mechanics of the system, but she didn’t need to.
She could feel the intent behind his words, a heavy, desperate kind of resolve that made her stomach drop.
’He is lying,’ she thought, her ears pinning flat against her head. ’He is trying to sacrifice himself.’
The monster slammed both fists into the ground, sending a shockwave that buckled the earth. They both jumped back, the ground cracking right where they had been standing.
"You need to rest that hand," he yelled over the sound of crumbling rock. "If you go back to the Veil, I can stop worrying about protecting you and just focus on escaping."
He was lying through his teeth and the chat knew it instantly.
[ CringeSlayer91: bro what are you doing ]
[ ShadowMage44: DO NOT DO THIS HAJIN ]
[ NewViewer_02: he’s going to try and hold it off alone... he’ll die ]
[ ashley (Mod): Hajin please don’t be stupid, you can’t fight that alone! ]
[ DarkBlade: do not unsummon her man, you need her ]
’I can’t let her get hurt anymore,’ he thought, ignoring the scrolling golden text. ’Her hand is already messed up because of me. If she stays here, she is going to die, and I am not letting that happen.’
Juna landed near the wall, her breathing ragged. She looked at his back, watching him stand between her and the monster, and suddenly the forest around her seemed to fade.
The smell of forest around them turned into the sharp stench of blood and the trees shifted into burning tents. She heard the screams of her tribe, the sound of her elders falling, and the awful, helpless feeling of watching everyone she loved get slaughtered while she couldn’t do a single thing to stop it.
’Is it going to happen again?’ she thought, her body shaking as the memory gripped her. ’Right when I finally found somewhere safe? Right when I was starting to heal?’
Her claws dug into the ground, the pain in her bandaged hand completely vanishing under a sudden, violent surge of refusal.
"No," she snarled, pushing herself up to her feet. "I am not going anywhere."
He glanced back at her, his brow furrowing. "Juna, this isn’t a joke. I can’t protect you from this thing. You have to go."
"I said no," she yelled, stepping forward and standing right next to him. "You don’t get to just send me away and die by yourself. I am staying."
He opened his mouth to argue again, but the summoning tab suddenly forced itself open in front of his face, its text flashing with subtle urgency.
[ Summon Status Update ]
[ Target: Juna ]
[ Notice: Potential is currently trembling. ]
He blinked, almost missing a dodge as the monster swiped at his head. ’Her potential is trembling? What the hell does that mean?’ he thought, pulling his sword up into a guard. He had never seen a message like that before.
He quickly swiped to the main system tab, checking his stats while taking another step back. His eyes landed on the Summoning skill, noticing that the icon was still grayed out and locked.
’Tsk,’ he remembered, ducking under a flying piece of rock. ’Ever since the day I first summoned her, that skill has been completely locked.’
It didn’t matter. The system notifications and locked skills weren’t the issue right now. The massive four-shard monster preparing to crush them was.
He looked at Juna, noting the fierce, stubborn glare in her eyes and the way she held her ground beside him despite her injured hand. She wasn’t going to leave, and trying to force her was just going to get them both killed faster.
"Fine," he said, shifting his stance. "But if we survive this, you are listening to me next time."
She bared her teeth in a fierce grin, her tail whipping behind her. "Only if you survive, Master."
He let out a short breath and looked down at the sword in his hand. It was practically useless against a four-shard anomaly anyway, it would just slow him down.
He opened his fingers and let it drop to the ground.
Juna’s ears twitched as she looked at him, "what are you doing?"
"Getting serious," he said, his golden ring flaring to life and washing the shadows away in a rush of bright heat.
’I haven’t really tested my limits yet,’ he thought, rolling his shoulders as the dense mana of the Goddess Fragment flooded his veins.
He had been holding back this whole time, relying on basic weapons and movement, but this thing was completely beyond that. ’I wonder... just how much damage I can actually do to it.’
The thought didn’t scare him, instead, a strange, electric excitement spiked in his chest, pulling his focus tight until the rest of the world- the sounds of the forest and the pain in his ribs- completely washed away.
His vision tunneled directly onto the massive monster.
The stream panel in the corner of his vision was still scrolling out of control.
[ CringeSlayer91: he dropped the sword! CHAIN TIME ]
[ ShadowMage44: oh shiiii he’s locking in again! ]
[ NewViewer_02: wait but that’s a four-shard... is the chain going to be enough? ]
[ DarkBlade: he’s going to need more than the chain for this one ]
[ ashley (Mod) has temporarily disabled chat for all viewers. ]
[ ashley (Mod): Everyone please be quiet. He needs to concentrate right now. ]
The stream panel went completely still, leaving only the sound of the monster’s heavy breathing.
Hajin didn’t even notice the chat freezing as he suddenly attacked, his golden ring starting to spin slowly around his wrist as he pulled more power from the Fragment.
He kicked off the ground and leaped high into the air, the golden chain materializing in a flash of bright light as he spun it in a wide arc, the links humming with violent heat before he brought it crashing down straight toward the monster’s head.