"The usual, Cayous, Elliott and Noah up front, I'll provide air support."
The girl with Asian features gave the orders, which was unusual considering she was the smallest of the three.
Yukio Ivanov, a former Russian-Japanese special forces soldier, wore her long black hair tied back in a ponytail, a trait she inherited from her Japanese mother, and had blue eyes like her father's sky-blue eyes.
She was expelled from the army after the mysterious death of one of her superiors, who was shot in the head while attending a gala dinner, the blood and brain matter staining the rest of the guests. She fled Russia after the government put a large sum of Russian roubles on her head.
"Right, let's get this shit over with quickly."
Yukio took a few steps away from her companion and executed a flawless military salute, her thick black boots making an audible thud. Immediately, her body shot into the air a couple of hundred metres high.
"I think that's high enough."
Yukio spread her feet apart after deciding it was a good height to see the whole panorama. Her small body anchored itself in mid-air, floating as if she were standing on an invisible platform.
*Pat*
The pleasant sound came from Yukio's heavy sniper rifle. She checked the condition of the magazine and the chamber; she didn't want any mishaps in the middle of a confrontation.
"Well, this isn't the best way to face something that big."
Noah began to change shape again. His slender body soon expanded in size, his height, weight, and muscle density increasing by leaps and bounds until he reached Cayous' size.
"It's huge!"
Cayous was the first to see the Beast, a huge black bear as dark as night, with large deer antlers decorating its head like a crown of bone.
"Let's see how tough you are first."
The Bear stood still after sniffing the group and tilted its head in confusion; these four humans were not its prey.
Elliott was not going to wait for the Bear to resolve its doubts. He disappeared from his position, and in the next second, his long sword pierced the Bear's eye socket.
The Bear screamed in pain and shook its large body all over the place, breaking the remaining trees into pieces. Elliott pulled out his sword and jumped off the Bear's head with quick, elegant movements, descending to the ground.
*Rrrroooaaar!!*
Elliott would not stop, his agile body swayed between the Bear's enormous body, his sabre splitting the thick fur in two and long bloody cuts began to cover the Bear, the cuts were so deep that fat and bones were visible.
"Looks like you weren't so tough after all!"
Elliott smiled sadistically. None of his cuts were lethal, only extremely painful.
Far away from the confrontation between the TACS and the Black Demon.
"This should be far enough."
It took a few minutes, but William's left arm bones finally healed completely. It was very painful, especially when putting the bone back into its original position, but it was within his pain threshold.
"Now let's try my bow in actual combat. If I don't have to worry about external factors like distance and air, that should ensure a perfect shot."
William scraped the snow off his black boots, took his position, and after a golden flash from the ring on his left hand, a gleaming wooden bow with gold detailing appeared in his hand.
"It really is very convenient not to have to carry all my weapons around with me."
The Fairy Rings, the object he obtained in return for the favour he did for Lihor and his sisters, an object with the ability to affect space and time, its main ability was an exchange of space between rings A, B and C.
You cannot affect space without affecting time, and it was this secondary ability of the Fairy Rings that allowed the three fairies to remain alive for hundreds of years, eagerly awaiting the ripening of the golden fruit.
As affecting time was not the main characteristic of the rings, they were not strong enough to stop the physical and bodily degradation suffered by the sisters. At the end of their lives, they were just a sad residual image of what they once were.
"Now let's try the power of version 2 of my explosive arrows."
William placed one of his only four arrows modified with a fragment of the runes that make up a Greater Rune. Unfortunately, it was cumbersome to carry a carcaf with him all the time, so he only had the four attached to his bow.
Lake of the Fireflies - Site of the confrontation between the TACS and the Black Demon.
"Stop irritating the beast, Elliott."
Cayous angrily complained about Elliott's disgusting behaviour. Hurting an animal to see it suffer was the lowest thing a hunter could do to his prey. It was a pity that neither of them were really hunters.
"Go to hell, Cayous, you're not my boss to tell me what to do."
"Stop arguing, girls, Elliott, get out of my way."
Yukio, high in the sky, was able to hear their arguments through the communicator that each of them wore in their left ear.
(Tsk, conceited bitch.)
Elliott grumbled at Yukio's orders and stepped aside; he didn't want another hole in his body today.
*Breath*
Yukio took a deep breath and adjusted his telescopic sight.
*BANG!!!*
A 12.7 mm x 99 NATO calibre bullet shot out of the 737 mm barrel at a speed of 854 m/s. The powerful roar and recoil of such a devastating weapon blew the fringe of black hair from Yukio's face.
One would think that given his small stature and slim build, Yukio would suffer damage to his bones, muscles, or joints when firing his sniper rifle, and that would be the case if it weren't for his designated item, the Golden Feather Gloves.
If the effect was simple, any object lifted by its user within a range of half a ton would feel like a feather, and the fusion of such an object and a talented sniper resulted in a terrifying soldier.
*BANG!!!**BANG!!!**BANG!!!*
Each of Yukio's shots tore the Black Demon's fur to shreds, and bright red blood splattered the grass.
*Rrrroooaaar!!*
The Bear roared in pain, each explosive round was torture, leaving visible holes in its flesh. Four bullets hit it directly in the chest and the last one went straight to its skull.
*BANG!!!*
"Oh!!! That must have shattered his skull. He asked me what happened."
Yukio's expression did not change. His last shot hit its target squarely but failed to penetrate the thick bone.
"Maybe he got lucky!"
Yukio smiled as he began to change his magazine. Five bullets, five perfect shots.
"Go ahead, Cayous."
"It's about time!"
Cayous barely heard Yukio's words. He ran towards the black demon, a bronze-like material covering his entire body. His skin was already hard, but with its outer coating, it would be almost impenetrable.
The black demon was fed up with being attacked, and when he finally had Cayous within reach, he embraced him with his enormous paws, his sharp claws attempting to tear the flesh from Cayous's back.
"It won't be that easy, buddy!"
Cayous also embraced the enormous Bear, fully confident in the hardness of his bronze skin. He was a type of Outcast called "Talos," named after the Bronze Giant built by Hephaestus to defend the island of Crete in Greek mythology.
*Rrrrooooooaaar!!*
The Black Demon now screamed from a pain different from that of bullets or blades. He could feel Cayous' arms squeezing his ribs and pressing on his internal organs.
This pain came from humiliation. How was it possible that the claws he was so proud of could not tear apart the insect that was slightly larger than normal in front of him? Humans were his prey.
"Now who's playing games, you bloody shithead!!!"
Elliott smoothed his moustache with two fingers, looking with disgust at Cayous, who was locked in a battle of strength with the enormous Bear.
"Hmm, is this an arrow?"
Elliott felt a slight pain in his lower chest and when he looked down, the golden tip of an arrow had pierced his heart. The strange thing was that there was no blood, only a mud-like liquid that closed the hole in Elliott's chest.
(What kind of idiot attacks a mud man with an arrow?) - Elliott -
"What's that in your hand? And why is it glowing?"
Noah looked away from Cayous. The golden and red light coming from Elliott's hands caught his attention. It was dazzling in the dark night.
"Glowing?..!!!"
"BOOOOOM!!!"