Finally the Hunter had bought Susanoo enough time to try to put his technique to good use. Releasing the heat ball orb, it collided with the cool air the cool ball created and a cloud began to form.
"Hahaa!" He exclaimed as his field test actually paid off and worked how he hypothesized it would.
"One final touch." He flipped the Clima-Tact section that had the heat rod and thunder rod on it, so the thunder rod was in front. Producing a Thunder Ball out the rod, the ball flew into the ascending cloud's mass and electrified it turning it into a storm cloud.
"Alright I'm ready!" The Hunter jumped back narrowly avoiding a sweep from the beast, but wasn't ready for the secondary attack. Slamming its large arms against the ground, the earth buckled and collapsed from the force of the impact. With the ground crumbling from the beast's monstrous strength and the Hunter about to land from his hop step, when he did land his feet sunk in the rubble and he was buried up to his waist.
"Ahh!"Poising to finish the Hunter off, the bear reeled its arm back for a swing that'd probably knock the man's upper half clean off his lower half.
Fuck! Quickly he wasted no more time to launch his attack and he commanded the cloud he conjured up to fire off three thunderbolts at the Triple Eyed Yokai Bear. One thunder bolt was aimed at the beast's prepped arm, while the other two hit the monster in the back. The arm fell limb at the monster's side, numb and temporarily unable to be controlled from the nerves being frazzled. As for the back it caused the monster to have what looked like back spasms from a double dose of the electricity flowing through its body. Roaring out in pain and probably irritation, it reared up on its hind legs while turning to face Susanoo.
"That's right come at me." He didn't have anything up his sleeve really, but he felt a bit like hot shit right now since his thunder cloud was up and running.
As the bear came back down on its front legs, it showed Susanoo that the numbness already faded in the shocked limb as it was stable and using it. The teen scoffed at this, a bit disheartened, but temporary numbness was still helpful. Connecting all the sections of his Clima-Tact he swung his weapon forward into empty air as the beast came charging at him. Again the thunder cloud fired off bolts of lightning at the monster. One of which hit it in the shoulder causing it to buckle and fall down, the other two hit it in the back again, Susanoo deliberately attacking near the spine thinking it'd cause it to get permanently paralyzed or something. That probably wasn't true, but it is what he believed. With the beast falling and struggling to get up it grunted out at Susanoo, its blood red eyes holding nothing but hostility and hate in them.
"Don't hesitate. Finish it off!!" The Hunter was pulling his lower body out of the rubble as he shouted at Susanoo from behind the bear. Nodding to the man's words, he put the Clima-Tact back into the war fan and drew his slingshot. The beast began to rise again, the numbness wearing off even quicker than it did before.
"It's too late he's back up. Fall back!" Susanoo's mind was drawing a blank with the shadow of the beast being cast over him. The darkness literally swallowed him up and he began to get overridden with that same fear he felt earlier. By roaring with tremendous force the beast was actually able to blow Susanoo's thunder cloud away dispelling it. Haphazardly, it brought the youth down to his knees, his hands protecting his delicate ears from the intensity of the shout that seemed to shake the forest. Lifting both hands as if clasping them together, the bear prepared to slam them both down onto Susanoo, but he could do nothing to move as he was melted by the demon's presence alone.
"Kid, you gotta move!" The Hunter had made it just in the nick of time and pushed Susanoo out the way in a body slamming fashion saving his life. Rocks and rubble showered them as they skid against the ground getting scraped up as they did so.
"You can't afford to crumble like this in combat. You got to overcome the bloodlust and fight back." Bloodlust, that's what that was. The amount that was flowing forth from this thing was enough to be actively felt and bring a person to their knees? Susanoo knew he wasn't the bravest person there was, but to have that amount of aggression was unimaginable for the teen. With shaky legs he came to a stand and saw the beast was walking on its hind legs to the two humans. Its red eyes gleaming in the shadow it casted over them, the sun to its back beaming on it like it was a God, but there was no way such a foul creature could be regarded as even remotely holy.
I can't let them down. He didn't know if it was true, if he truly was favored by the Divines and Deities above, but at times it felt like he was. He couldn't risk it being true and throw away their favor by dying like some coward. He'd probably be tortured for his entire existence in the afterlife if he did and that was way worse than this. His breaths were heavy and labored from how exhausting the whole situation was, but his resolve and courage had returned.
"Lets do this." The Hunter glanced over at Susanoo and gave a small nod. He probably felt like now was a little late to get the balls to fight, but late was better than never. Though his hands were still trembling he confidently gripped his slingshot and fished out five marbles. Prepping them all in the sling, he already knew what his plan of approach was. He also knew his foe was dumb enough to fall for it.
"We just gotta keep the exterior face of this thing in tact right? I'm assuming its for a mantle piece." The Hunter looked at Susanoo with a shocked expression.
"You're right, how'd you know?" "Just a good guess, I guess." It was all he needed to know though. Clinching down on the marbles, he shattered them a bit and hopped back.
"I need you to hit it with an arrow. Anywhere works, just get its mouth open." The Hunter now hopped back to and he nodded as he drew an arrow in his bow.
"Roger that."Firing off the first arrow, the bear swatted it away, then began to attack. Slamming down on both its front feet, the whole clearing seemingly collapsed and crumbled from the force of the stomp. Susanoo had jumped back, but couldn't possibly jump back far enough to not get caught up int eh scope of the attack. Not only was the landing an issue, but it sent rocks and rumble showering everywhere. One of the rocks sailed and struck the teen right in the head causing warm blood to trickle down.
"Agh!" Despite the events that unfolded he kept his shot ready, even as he sunk in the pit of debris created by the beast.
"Are you ok!? Susanoo didn't know if he was alright, for all he knew his brain was showing, but it didn't hurt too bad and he still felt like he was functioning alright, so he was good for now.
"Yeah, just stuck in the rubble."He shouted out as he saw the bear marching towards him, its fangs gritted and it grunting a bit.
Damn its mouth isn't opening enough "I'll pull you out, hold on!" Susanoo looked over to see the Hunter had found a larger piece of rock to land on effectively avoiding sinking. Drawing his bow he shot at the bear between its plates of armor, but the bear ignored the arrows and just took the shots and kept walking towards Susanoo.
"I hit him, what was your plan!?." Susanoo grunted as he tried to wiggle a bit to free himself, but only found himself sinking deeper.
"I need it to open its mouth. I thought the pain would make that work, but I guess not." He couldn't do anything now, but wait for his death.
"Hold up, I got one last gambit." Fishing something out of his garbs, Susanoo saw the man pull out a leather bag, then tear it open with his teeth. Instantly the bear stopped in its tracks. Restlessly its nostrils began to open wider as it sniffed the fresh scent. Digging his hand in the bag, the Hunter pulled out a single fish as big as a minnow. He dangled the small thing by pinching it with his index finger and thumb. With his other arm he covered his face, apparently the odor was powerful to him, still something Susanoo couldn't pick up on.
The bear now turned from Susanoo and was walking to the hunter while grunting greedily.
"We only got one chance with this, so you better not mess up." The Hunter's voice was muffled, but Susanoo still understood him. Lowering his arm, the bear lowered its fram a bit as it kept walking forward, its demeanor completely different now.
"Like a child in a candy shop" The Hunter grinned, before launching the fish directly at Susanoo. It shocked the teen, he honestly didn't expect it, but it made sense to do it. The bear would undoubtedly come straight at him and open its mouth at one point in time giving the teen a clear shot. Like a dog the bear went to fetch the fish, Susanoo wondered if the thing even knew Susanoo was there anymore, but that was insignificant right now. Its mouth agape, Susanoo fired his five cracked marbles into the bears mouth and as they hit the back of its throat they'd shatter. The whole journey down they'd fuck up the monster's esophagus, as it literally swallowed glass shards at this point. Yelling out in pain, soon it began to leak blood out its mouth and paw at its own throat.
"Nows are chance!" He pushed himself up and out the rubble now while the bear was dealing with its own personal ordeal and began to fire marbles one after another at the beasts chest. Armored or not, all armor could break and Susanoo was determined to prove to the Divines that he deserved their favor. The Hunter joined him with his assault and fired arrows at the bear, albeit at its vulnerable points.
"Hitting the armored parts won't work!" To be honest the Hunter's arrows were hardly working because the bear was moving around so much and had its arms up at its neck. Its outer arm armor was blocking a lot of his shots.
"These aren't regular shots." It was true. Each shot Susanoo fired was encased in a sphere of wind that was nearly as hard as iron and he noticed the armor it was hitting was beginning to give in.
"Are best bet is to make it die from blood loss." While Susanoo felt like he was getting somewhere, it was best to work smarter as opposed to harder and that plan sounded smarted, though it'd take some time.
"Gotcha." He readied another marble in the sling.
"Are marbles all you have?" Susanoo hated that question.
"I've never been in a situation where something requires more than these. Sorry." Now mildly irritated he drew the slingshot back a bit more than usual and fired his shot. The result was a marble speeding through the air with a shell of wind on it, but this time it was shaped like a bullet from a gun. With all the arm swinging, the marble hit the outer shell of the beast again, but this time it pierced through the armor and went into the bear's arm.
The bear shouted out violently in pain, now with a wound possibly more grievous than the first one.
"I pierced it!" The Hunter stood there with his mouth agape this time, amazed at what he just saw.
"That's unbelievable. What kind of marbles are those? Susanoo fished out another marble and tried to revisit the feeling he had when he shot the last one to produce similar effects.
"Just regular old marbles." He grinned before firing it and he got the same effects, this time it hit the beast's chest and penetrated its armor.
"Ha! Now you're going down." Again he shot and again the beast yelled out in pain, until he got to shot number five. Exhausted to the point he was winded and feeling a bit weak, he fired off the last shot and this one silenced the bear, by piercing straight through it.
"I think you did it!" Eagerly they both watched as the beast stumbled back in silence, then to the side as if it were drunk, then finally straight forward face first into the ground producing a loud yet satisfying crash.
"We did it!" Susanoo chuckled as the Hunter exclaimed over their victory. He head was still bleeding and his eye had been haphazardly closed to avoid getting blood in it.
"Heheh. Can I get bandaged up now?" The Hunter walked over to the corpse carefully and drew out his dagger.
"Not yet, we have to make sure its dead and secure what we came for." Plopping down on his ass, he watched as the Hunter carefully fabricated the bear and beheaded it. It was gruesome to watch because the thing was so big. So much blood and watching the Hunter butcher through the spinal cord with the poor little dagger was quite the sight. Putting his knife away he left the headless corpse there in the rubble of its destruction as he lugged the head over to Susanoo with both hands by its hair.
"I was wondering . . . since I helped out, if I could get a cut of your reward." The Hunter's head tilted to the side unknowingly at first, blood on his face and hands. But then his face lit up with contentment.
"Of course. I definitely would have been dead if it wasn't for you. You're pretty strong kid!" Susanoo thought that was ironic, because he felt exactly the same way.
"You should consider picking up Hunting." Susanoo wasn't against the idea actually. It was hard work, but it beat killing people.
"Maybe, this shit was pretty hard though, so I'd need to get a lot stronger first." The Hunter laughed out very loudly at this.
"This was a B-Rank Hunt, there are easier ones than this you can take." "B-Rank?" Susanoo put his slingshot on his waist and pushed himself off the ground, his eye still forced closed, but his head had stopped bleeding.
"It's a lot to explain, lets talk about it later yeah?" Susanoo nodded. That sounded great, he wasn't in much of a talking mood anymore anyways.
[Exit]- Spoiler:
Skill Name: Thunder Bolt Tempo
Tier: 2
Type Standard
Range: 25m
Speed: 3
Description: Suasnoo uses "Cool Ball" to make the air cooler while he uses "Heat Ball" to suck up the moisture. The heated air then rises and collides with the cold air. The air then condenses and creates a cloud. Susanoo continues to enlarge the cloud by producing more "Heat Balls" and "Cool Balls." Finally, he uses a "Thunder Ball" to electrify the cloud. Soon after, a powerful lightning bolt strikes at his opponent. The production of the cloud takes one post, but it remains present for 3 post after it is electrified. For the cost of a Tier 2 Skill 3 Thunderbolts can be produced from anywhere in the cloud. The cloud is up to 25m in diameter while the thunderbolts themselves are propelled at Tier 3 Speeds. A strike from a Thunderbolt can cause numbness in one body part struck by the thunderbolt for a single post along with 2nd degree burns. Upkeep for the cloud's presence does not have to be paid for, just the firing of Thunderbolts. The cloud can be produced up to 10m away from Susanoo and ascend up to 50m high.
Skill Name: Pow (5x)
Tier: 1
Type Standard
Range: Range of Weapon
Speed: Speed of Weapon
Description: Susanoo readies five marbles in his slingshot for fire at one time. He can shoot these marbles all at the same time, but with trajectories as if he had fired them one by one.
Skill Name: Bug Spray
Tier: 1
Type Standard
Range: 1/2 Range of Weapon
Speed: Speed of Weapon
Description: When readying a marble for fire, Susanoo applies enough pressure with his fingers to weaken its structure. When fired at any time during its flight it can shatter into a 5m diameter spread of shrapnel. The shrapnel's fineness can vary from two halves of a marble to fine as grains of sand. With marbles being glassy, the shrapnel is incredibly hard to see. Luckily marbles are small so the shrapnel lacks density. In turn, the wounds caused are mostly just glorified paper cuts. Can be used on 5 shots per use.
Skill Name: Serious Shot No.1
Tier: 2
Type Standard
Range: Range of Weapon +25m
Speed: Speed of Weapon
Description: Susanoo fires a marble with a little extra mustard on it. Instead of just being a typical shot, the marble is encased in a shell of wind that's up to five inches in diameter. Damage dealt is now blunt damage, but intensity of the damage remains the same. Can be used on up to 5 shots per use.
Skill Name: Serious Shot No.2
Tier: 2
Type Standard
Range: Range of Weapon
Speed: Speed of Weapon
Description: Susanoo fires a marble with a little extra ketchup on it. Instead of being a typical shot, the marble is encased in a shell of wind that is shaped like a round of armor piercing ammunition. Damage dealt is now piercing and damage dealt is increased by a tier. Can be used on up to 5 shots per use.