Chapter 209 - 209. Strength
They were a bit put off seeing Barry take his two axes in his hands and rush towards such a large group. Walker immediately stopped and started to make earth walls. He made a very similar tower that he used before, however his high earth sculpting allowed for it to come together much faster and lifted up the whole party to the top. They were all looking at Barry who seemed to be charging to the center of the horned rabbit horde. They had noticed him and most were on their hind legs watching, some had even started to run at him as well. Through out the group many were waking up a bit sluggish from sunbathing for the afternoon. "So should we help him?" Remey was the only one to speak, everyone had been so surprised that he had just rushed in.
"I don't know, it seems like he can take care of it himself, but…" Su shared their feelings of wonder and curiosity with how Barry acted.
"Isn't his nickname something along the lines of berserker? Should we really risk being to close to someone with a fighting style that sounds dangerous like that? Plus Walker and I are long range attackers, we can help from here if he needs it." Gil spoke with reason but he reminded them that Barry was well known for his brutality in combat, something they would most definitely be witnessing here.
The first horned rabbit to reach him was sliced cleanly in half with a single swing of his ax. This was much more impressive than they had expected, yet the rabbits reacted violently seeing their brethren destroyed so easily. The screeching echoed around waking up any other horned rabbits that had yet to sense the incoming enemy.
Walker could swear he saw Barry smiling. The man was really getting in to the more horned rabbits that reached him. His axes were able to cleave through two or three in one swing, any rabbit too close to him had already been taken by death to the afterlife. The scene was one that not many would witness, a high ranking adventurer using pure strength to dispatch over a hundred weak monsters. This was the goal any adventurer dreamed on, to have the strength and fortitude to follow a cause start to finish.
The larger amount of horned rabbits had gotten near Barry, the first part had just been a warm up for him. Now that he had his blood pumping he let out a yell, halfway between a growl and a shout it struck fear in to every horned rabbit and even the party when they heard it. "I can't believe that's Barry, he's so nice but now he's so brutal." Gil was lost, the disparity was just too great here.
The fear had frozen most of the rabbits which seemed to make Barry move faster and faster, he ran slicing rabbits up more and more. Some had been so afraid of his yell that they ran away heading toward the party's tower. "Gil you take that one on the right, Remey you take it out when he stops it. Midnight you will do the same to the rabbit fleeing on the left, I will be sending some fire bolts at it." Walker knew that this was an extermination quest and as much as he did not want to be sidetracked making it home he thought it better that the less rabbits escaped.
Working in their pairs, Midnight and Remey ran off toward the two opposite side. Gil had already sent an arrow using a quick shot at the rabbits back leg. It landed perfectly at the closer distance causing the rabbit to tumble and squeal. Gil fired another arrow aiming for the front leg to incapacitate it more. By the time the second arrow had landed Remey was already there. Her spiked knuckles brandished in a heavy right hook. The horned rabbit took the blow directly to its head causing it to slam in to the ground with equal force to Remey's punch. Since the first hit had not finished it Remey tried her newer combo, using her left hand her defense breaking palm was striking down on the horned rabbits ribs. The palm landed causing three ribs to shatter and fly in to the internal organs of the rabbit. The system showed her victory, making Remey grab the leg of the rabbit and start dragging it back.
Midnight was moving furiously as she watched two fire bolts hit the horned rabbit in the face. Walker had really improved his aim and judge of distance while they had been on the plains. The attacks singed the rabbits fur and stunned it. While it tried to recover from the burns if felt in it's eyes the rabbit was instead greeted by Midnight claws. She shredded in to the rabbit which had left its soft side belly open. Upon feeling the pain it reared up trying to kick but instead gave Midnight the perfect chance to bite down on its throat. The Rabbit's high pitch squeal was cut off instantly as it lost the ability to breath and died almost instantly. Midnight started to drag back her prey as well.
Walker was very proud of their efficiency and of how well Barry was drawing the attention of the large group of rabbits. He had already defeated forty of them easily, however it was very hard to count since so many were cut in to pieces. There were some other rabbits running away from Barry at this point due to sheer terror but they were heading away from the party so they would not pursue them.
Watching as Barry gained more and more red spots on his clothing and armors the party saw not the king vice guild master but a brutal beast. Barry continued to show this side of himself when he threw his axes toward a cluster of rabbits and they slid through them like butter. Miraculously the axes then turned like boomerangs and came back, that was one amazing skill that made everyone's jaws drop. Before they returned Barry used his fists and kicks to continue his absolute extermination of the horned rabbits.
The party watched the battle for another half hour, in that time Barry had single handedly taken out the entire horde, it was an amazing feat to say the least. Not only that but once he started to walk back to the party the blood on him seemed to start to evaporate. Another amazing skill.
The ferociousness that Barry had just demonstrated was long gone and replaced by a refreshed look. He was walking away as if all the stress in the world had just left him. "Ah sorry for taking so long, I was being a bit lazy since I wanted to train a bit more." His greeting put them to shame, He was being lazy? His moves and strength were well above what any of them even imagined yet he insisted he was just being lazy? This was too much for the party to handle and instead moved to start gathering and storing away the defeated horned rabbits. They refused to even think on how much experience this battle had just brought Barry, mostly since it wouldn't even be considered a drop in the bucket for him at his level.
Barry watched as the party left him without saying a word, he felt a little bad that he may have put them off but he hoped more so that he had encouraged them to push for more strength. Sending a quick notification to the guild master, his system had counted that Barry had defeated one hundred and fifteen horned rabbits, this was most certainly and outbreak worth their attention.
Realizing that he was being rude Barry started bringing Walker the horned rabbit pieces, "That tower over there is really something, did you add stairs of anything on the inside?"
Changing the subject gave them a chance to get back in to the swing of things. "Well I made something similar to this and unlocked a high earth sculpting skill that works with my elemental manipulation skill. So as long as I can spend some time learning about the elements I should be able to make better things. There may be stairs in it next time, I will have to think about it. I am even considering memorizing a few blueprints so I can copy simple structures."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea, I can have some battle towers and defensive wall designs sent to your mansion, I have a decent few that are long since retired from the army. They still should give you good use though, you are battling monsters most of the time." It was strange that Barry would have blueprints from past army tactics.
"Were you once part of the army? If you don't want me to pry I will let it be." Walker was worried he was being too forward and interrupting Barry's privacy.