Chapter 19: Protected... By The Boss?!
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Riven smiled quietly to himself. The massive boss was not even considering him as a possible meal. If anything, she had coiled her enormous tail around him in a clearly protective manner!
How?
How was this even possible?!
The cultist’s face twisted in pure disbelief. He vomited a thick mouthful of blood onto the stone floor before slowly forcing himself back onto his feet with shaking legs.
Daniela, who stood safely by Riven’s side, remained completely unaffected by the Tyrant’s aggression.
"W-What’s going on?" she wondered aloud, her voice filled with confusion. "Eh? Ew! What is this?!" She suddenly noticed a nasty, foul smell rising from her back. "T-This is... EEEK! POOP?!"
"The Tyrant’s babies have an extremely fast metabolism. They start pooping the moment they begin to eat," Riven explained with detailed, almost scientific knowledge. "Their droppings carry their unique scent, and that is how their mother, a completely blind beast, can detect them even from a long distance."
She gasped in absolute horror. "Y-You put poop all over... us?!"
"No, just our armor," Riven replied in a calm and matter-of-fact tone.
"It’s the same thing!"
"GRRRR?"
The Tyrant turned her massive head and glared in their direction with her milky, blind eyes. She sniffed the air carefully, her nostrils flaring as she tried to make sense of the strange noises.
They were making far too many unusual sounds.
Riven quickly covered Daniela’s mouth with his hand before their entire careful plan could be ruined.
"Keep it cool, Daniela," he whispered firmly. "You don’t want her to think we’re not her chicks, do you?"
"Eek..." Daniela whimpered softly as the giant beast’s enormous face leaned closer and sniffed her thoroughly from head to toe. After a tense moment the Tyrant finally dismissed her and turned back toward her original prey.
"Now, how about we help mama dino get her meal?" Riven wondered with a slight, mischievous grin as he took a careful step forward.
"Y-You damn...! Are you a tamer?! What is your class anyway?!" the cultist screamed while staggering upright once more. The Tyrant continued to chase him with relentless determination.
A sea of intense blue flames blazed behind his back, burning through what remained of his clothes and searing his entire body once again.
"Kuuaaagghh!"
If it had not been for his high stats as a C Rank Hunter, he would have likely turned into a charred corpse by now. Unfortunately for the Tyrant, this particular prey was proving to be quite the tough nut to crack.
However, when she saw that her babies were still eating happily in the distance and that only these two curious little ones were watching closely, she felt a deep wave of relief that they were safe and unharmed.
Then, without further delay—
RUMBLE!
She enhanced her massive body with a potent Mana Aura. The pressure became so thick and overwhelming that even Riven felt sharp pain spread through every muscle in his own body.
With her giant jaws opened wide, she loomed over the desperate cultist like a living mountain of death.
"Oh, Lord Fenrir! In exchange for your dark power, I offer to you my Heart and my Humanity! Turn me into the vessel of your dark, voracious hunger!"
In a desperate final move, the cultist stabbed both of his daggers straight into his own chest. The weapons melted into the open wounds and fused completely with his flesh and bone.
BOOOM!!!
An explosion of dark energies and black flames erupted outward with tremendous force, pushing both the Tyrant and Riven away with a violent tremor that shook the entire cave system.
A massive werewolf-like figure emerged from the swirling darkness and flames. It threw its head back and howled loudly, sending powerful shockwaves rolling in every direction.
A pair of glowing crimson eyes locked onto Riven from within the shadows.
"RIVEN... CLAYMORE...! YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFEEEEEE!"
With another thunderous howl, the transformed beast charged forward at terrifying speed. It reached Riven in an instant, grabbed him tightly by the neck, and slammed him down onto the hard ground with a massive amount of force.
"R-Riven!!!"
Daniela panicked and tried to rush to his aid, but the Tyrant stopped her with a careful yet firm sweep of her massive tail. The giant then turned and walked toward the werewolf with clear anger burning in every heavy step.
"ROOOAARRR!"
With a ferocious dinosaur roar that shook the cavern walls, she swung her giant claws and crashed them against the massive pitch-black werewolf whose true appearance was now fully revealed through the thinning smoke.
"Y-YOU DAMN...!"
The cultist, now fully transformed into a Werewolf after sacrificing his own heart to Fenrir and gaining an exponential boost in power, swung his razor-sharp claws in return and crashed against her with equal fury.
They seemed to possess almost equal levels of raw power now. If it had not been for the Tyrant’s massive body and overwhelming vitality, she would have already lost the exchange.
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