The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 67: Why hurt me? Part-1.

"N-no... t-thi-this can’t be... thi-this can’t be... it’s not true... it’s not true..."

Seeing that horrific sight in front of him and hearing that bizarre creature talk like a normal human, Antonio started to deny the reality itself.

He refused to believe that it was all true and there was such a horrific being standing right in front of him.

It was as if his entire body was feeling repulsive at the very thought of staying closer to that bizarre creature, and it was sweating like crazy, and his skin was covered in goosebumps!

His eyes couldn’t stop crying, and his mouth was twisted in a weird grin as if his body’s emotion regulation capabilities were broken from the inside!

*ooooohhhhhh~* *ooooooooohhhhhhh~* *ooooohhhhhh~*

The creature had hundreds of mouths, and several other mouths made the noises that Antonio had been constantly hearing since entering this abandoned textile mill.

It was the sound of a pigeon; only now did Antonio understand that it was no pigeon that was making such a sound—it was something far more sinister.

That bizarre creature seemed to have taken interest in Antonio, and it walked on its two hind legs like a normal human being.

And its two front legs were transformed into the shape of weird twisted tentacles that were holding several severed human arms in their grasp.

*SLUUUUURRRRRPPPPP!!*

The monstrous humanoid face of the creature slurped the blood veins hanging from the hand as if it was eating some kind of noodle and gave a satisfied look as it walked towards Antonio.

"YOU.... SMELLLLLL.... SMEELLLLLL.... NICEEEEE.... HEHE... HEHE... NICEEEE... SMELLLL NICEEE.... EHEEHE..."

*ooooohhhhhh~* *ooooooooohhhhhhh~**ooooohhhhhh~*

The bizarre creature talked in a hoarse voice that was very uncomfortable to hear as it smelled Antonio with its disfigured nose.

Antonio was on the verge of collapse in that moment, and he wet his pants the moment that creature said that he smelled nice.

Perhaps it was an attempt to smell bad, but all it did was raise that bizarre creature’s excitement even more.

"HUMAN.... HUMAN... MEAT.... MEAT OF HUMAN... AHHH... IT’S SO SOFT... SO DELICATE.... AHHH...."

*CRUNCH!*

A loud crunching sound rang out in the area as the creature took a bite out of the human hand and shattered the bones in that hand effortlessly with a single bite.

Human bones seemed as fragile as a potato chip to that creature!

In fact, the bones were adding a crunchier and tastier feel to it, causing the creature to feel almost overwhelming pleasure from eating that hand.

*THUD!*

Antonio knees gave way, and he collapsed on the ground in sheer fright; his body froze in shock and refused to react.

He couldn’t even bring out a scream or a single groan in that moment; he was so frightened that his body just kept shivering but refused to move an inch!

"AAHHHH.... IT IS NICE.... SO NICE.... AMAZINGLY NICE...."

The creature ran its tentacle across Antonio’s paralyzed face and smiled with a horrific grin on its face; the dagger in Antonio’s palm became useless when it was needed the most.

Just when Antonio was getting more and more desperate, a twist happened!

*BOOOOOOM!!!!*

A projectile came flying from far away and hit the bizarre creature straight in its forehead, causing a powerful impact that blew the monster away dozens of meters!

Antonio was shocked to the core when he noticed that the projectile was actually a small arrow made of just wood and a blunt metal head!

It hit the creature right in the forehead with such force that the creature entire head cracked and almost blew apart from a single strike!

That arrow was not built for penetration and deep wounds; it was meant for causing pure physical impact so strong that the victim would not even have the chance to get up again!

"Wha-what!?..."

Before Antonio could understand what was happening, the dog-like mutated creature got up from the ground in a slow manner; the deformed eyes all over its body went bloodshot in an instant as it groaned in pain.

"IT HURT!!!!! THAT!!!! HURRTTTt!!!!! WHOOOO!!!! KILLL!!!!! KILL!!!!!"

Due to that severe injury from the first strike, the monster seemed to have entered a berserk state, and the moment it managed to stand up, another projectile came rushing at it with insane speed!

*BOOOOOOM!!!!!*

Although the monster was taken aback the last time, this time it reacted on time; it moved its body to the side on time, and only its right tentacle got hit by that arrow strike!

That arrow strike managed to blow apart its entire right tentacle, causing pieces of meat and thick black blood to splatter all over the ground!

"KIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!!"

The second strike only seemed to have angered the monster even more, and it didn’t even care about eating or anything anymore; its eyes fell on the closest alive creature, and it attacked instantly!

Unfortunately for Antonio, the closest alive creature to that monster was him!

*BOOOOM!!!*

The monster stomped the ground and launched at Antonio with speed faster than the speed of sound!

Just its bodily movement itself broke through the sound barrier and blew half the old building of the abandoned mill apart with the power of the shockwave it created in that moment!

"KILLLLLL!!!!!!"

The monster reached close to Antonio in a matter of mere milliseconds and attacked Antonio with the giant left tentacle!

Its tentacle muscles tightened to create a biological spear with a sharp pointed tip at the front! 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Just when that sharp tentacle was about to pierce Antonio’s head and blow it apart into pieces, a sword strike got in its way!

[Lunar-Fall Sword Art: New Moon: Absolute Parry!]

*Clang!!*

The sword strike moved in a perfect curve as if it was representing the appearance of a ’New Moon,’ and it hit the hardened tentacle from the side, parrying the attack and redirecting its power in the wrong direction!

*BOOOM!!!*

The monster’s tentacle hit the ground beside Antonio and pierced right through the concrete floor, creating a hole in the ground instantly!

Before the debris from the ground could hit Antonio, he noticed that someone grabbed him by his shirt’s collar and dragged him away from the monster!

Everything happened so fast that Antonio could not understand, but the moment he finally came to his senses, he found himself sitting far away from the main door of the collapsing old mill.

"How odd... this ’beast’ class monster is stronger than we expected... has it mutated to the next level due to consuming too many humans?"

A calm and gentle voice brought Antonio out of his daze.

He looked in front of him and found a man in heavy paladin armor standing close to him.

His silver-white armor had gold patterns and designs of books and ancient scrolls all over it.

His bright red cape swayed along in the wind along with the man’s brownish hair.

In his left hand was his armor’s helmet, and the right hand was holding a double-edged sword.

The sword looked extremely beautiful as it shone brightly in the sunlight.

Antonio could even see the intricate and beautiful silverish-golden patterns shining, engraved on that sword’s blade.

"Thankfully, I made it here in time..."

Just hearing that man’s calm and gentle voice was enough to put Antonio’s anxious heart to rest.

He felt as if he was suddenly embraced by warmth, and he almost cried once again as he felt grateful that someone came to save him.

"S-sir Ethan! T-thanks for coming to save me! Thank you!! Thank you!!!"

The powerful savior was none other than Ethan Schild himself!

Hearing Antonio’s words, Ethan only gave a slight nod as he immediately donned his helmet and took his stance.

"Stay back here; don’t try to move from this location. that ’Beast’ is tough... hmm, no, it would be more accurate to call it a ’pseudo-monster’ class creature from the amount of ’aura’ it is radiating..."

"I might have be able to go all out today after such a long time..."

*Shhhhhhiiiiieeeee!!!!* *BOOOOOMMM!!!*

An arrow flew past from far away and hit the monster right in the chest just when it was about to throw some broken debris in Ethan’s direction, breaking its stance and causing it to stagger and fall!

"As expected of the strongest archer in the city of Ilma... even those blunt arrows are quite strong..."

"He’s not called a ’Knight Killing Specialist’ for no reason, after all..."

Ethan didn’t come to this monster-hunting campaign alone; Alex had negotiated with Zeil and asked him to arrange a strong enough ally for Ethan’s help.

Ethan was the strongest person under Alex’s command at the moment, and Alex wanted to reduce any possibility of permanent harm being inflicted on Ethan’s body.

Thus, he made sure that Ethan won’t have to fight this battle alone; Zeil had arranged a teammate for him!

The person was a veteran Pathwalker and a powerful archer capable of killing knights donning heavy armor from afar!

His blunt arrows were powerful enough to create shockwaves and physical impact so strong that even the heavy armor wouldn’t be able to protect a person!

Those powerful arrows were extremely ideal for doing damage to monsters that had tough external defenses like thick skin or bone armor!

This was the main reason the other party was given the nickname ’Knight Killing Specialist’ of the city of Ilma!

With such a good teammate providing support, Ethan didn’t need to worry about Antonio’s safety or the monster escaping mid-battle!

It was a rare opportunity to fight a powerful monster head-on for the first time in a long while!

’Lord Saint, last time I let you down by not being able to deal with that monster, but this time for sure I will prove my worth!’

’I am not just a ’Little Ethan’, I am the strongest paladin in the city of Ilma!’