The Hunter's Odyssey-Chapter 65: Fearful Roar.

The Troll King’s right arm was gone.

It was an impossible sight. Moments earlier, that limb had smashed through shields, crushed hunters beneath its weight, and shattered vehicles as if they were toys. Now it lay severed on the rain-slick asphalt like discarded meat, a grotesque monument to the impossible. The massive hand twitched sporadically, thick fingers spasming with dying nerve impulses that had not yet realized the body they belonged to was gone. Black blood poured from the stump in violent pulses, each surge splattering against the cracked pavement and mixing with rainwater into thick, oily streams that crawled through fractures in the street. Steam rose from the wound as the monster’s unnatural vitality tried and failed to close the damage.

For three long seconds, the battlefield froze.

Rain continued to fall in relentless sheets. Fires crackled from overturned vehicles. The distant cries of injured hunters and survivors echoed faintly between shattered buildings. Yet no one moved. Hunters from Bastion and Bloodclaw alike stared at the impossible sight before them. Their chests rose and fell in shallow breaths. Some lowered their weapons without realizing it. Others simply stood there, eyes locked on the enormous severed limb that had once been their executioner.

The Troll King lowered its gaze toward the stump. Its massive chest heaved as if something deep inside its enormous body struggled to comprehend what had been done to it. Then the silence was shattered.

The monster opened its jagged mouth and unleashed a scream that did not belong in the world of the living.

It was not a roar of pain. It was a shriek of absolute, incandescent fury.

A system notification burned into every hunter’s vision.

[Troll King has activated Fearful Roar!]

[Troll King has gone into a Feral state.]

The sound that erupted from its throat was more than noise. It was a force that seemed to ripple through the world itself. The air shuddered violently. A pressure wave ripped outward from the monster’s lungs, hammering the ruined street like an invisible explosion. Water pooled in the cracks of the asphalt, bursting outward in thin geysers. Loose debris rattled violently before lifting from the ground and skittering across the pavement. Windows in nearby storefronts vibrated violently before shattering, spraying shards of glass into the rain.

The shock of the roar crawled through bone and marrow, clawing into the deepest instincts of every living thing that heard it.

[Fear has been inflicted!]

The effect was immediate. A Bastion ranger froze mid-draw, arrow half pulled back on the string as his eyes widened until the whites showed all around the iris. The bow slipped from his fingers as the primal terror seized control of his limbs. Nearby, a Bloodclaw berserker dropped his massive axe with a dull clang against the pavement. Moments earlier, he had been laughing as he charged into monsters. Now he stumbled backward, hands trembling violently as the bravado drained from him, leaving only raw animal fear behind.

Across the battlefield, hunters faltered. Some turned to run while others stared, minds locked by the overwhelming instinct to flee.

The moment of hesitation was enough.

A mist of black and red particles of light began swirling around the Troll King’s enormous frame, drifting through the rain like embers carried on a violent storm wind. The creature lowered itself slowly, its massive body compressing inward as it dropped into a crouch. Its single remaining arm slammed down against the asphalt to brace its weight, fingers digging into the fractured road. Muscles coiled beneath its scarred green flesh, swelling and tightening like enormous pistons preparing to unleash devastating force.

The ground beneath its hand cracked.

Then something began to change.

The jagged spikes protruding from the monster’s back and shoulders started to grow. At first, the change was subtle, but within seconds the bone-like protrusions lengthened rapidly, twisting outward from the creature’s flesh like black iron spears being forced through living skin. They thickened and hardened beneath the rain, stretching into vicious barbs that gleamed darkly in the firelight.

The Troll King curled inward even further. Its massive head lowered toward its chest as its legs coiled tighter and tighter beneath its bulk.

Then it jumped.

[Troll King has activated Earthbreaker Leap!]

Shin Lu and Reika were among the few hunters who had resisted the Fear effect, and they reacted at the same moment.

"SCATTER!" they roared in unison.

The command cut through the battlefield like a blade.

Everything exploded into motion.

Kade and Deck disengaged instantly, boots skidding across rain-soaked asphalt as they pulled back from the Troll King’s previous position. Jane grabbed Porpo by the shoulder and yanked her away from the front line.

"Move!" she shouted.

Porpo staggered as she was dragged backward, still dizzy from the strain of her Grand Ring technique.

"LYNIS!" Jane yelled.

Lynis was already moving.

The massive Bastion tank surged forward instead of retreating when he saw a panicking Bastion hunter frozen directly in the path of the impending impact. He grabbed the man by the collar and hurled him backward with brute strength before spotting Zaila several meters away.

The archer’s face was pale, her arms trembling violently from mana exhaustion. Without slowing, Lynis slung her over one shoulder like a dead weight. At the same time, he reached out with his free hand and snatched a young Bloodclaw hunter who was trembling in place, barely moving as fear locked his limbs.

The kid’s legs dragged uselessly behind him as Lynis hauled him away.

"RUN!" Lynis bellowed.

Across the battlefield, the same desperate cry erupted from dozens of throats.

"RUN!"

"RUN!"

"RUN!"

Reika had not moved during the initial panic.

She stood on the edge of the shattered fountain, blue hair plastered to her face by the rain. Then the stone beneath her boots cracked as she launched forward with a burst of speed.

As she ran, both hands dropped to her sides.

Energy gathered in her palms, swirling into existence as a weapon began to form.

The handle appeared first. Long and blood red, polished like fresh lacquer. Next came the crossguard, thin and elegant, extending outward like a pair of crimson wings. At either end of the guard, two small gemstones glowed faintly through the rain.

Then the blade manifested.

A massive greatsword formed in her grip, silver steel streaked with pulsing veins of deep purple energy. The weapon was almost as tall as she was, and its tip scraped across the asphalt as she ran.

Sparks exploded behind her as the blade carved a glowing line through the pavement like a hot knife through wax.

Shin Lu moved in the opposite direction.

He turned sharply toward the mall entrance, where Ren and Ken stood with a small group of hunters they had just finished escorting the survivors into the building.

"REN, KEN BARRICADE THE DOORS NOW!" Shin Lu shouted.

The two men reacted instantly, dragging metal barricades and shattered furniture back into place across the entrance.

Shin Lu turned back toward the battlefield.

The Troll King was already descending.

Its leap had carried it nearly thirty meters into the air, and now its enormous, spiked body plummeted downward toward the center of the ruined street.

Shin Lu lowered himself into position, feet planted firmly against the slick asphalt. His legs bent as his body dropped into a balanced stance. The spear in his hands rotated slowly between his fingers in a familiar, almost meditative motion. Rain ran down the scar carved across his face, tracing the line of old battle and hardened resolve.

For a moment, everything seemed to slow.

The falling rain.

The shouts of hunters.

The distant crackle of fire.

It felt as though the world itself had paused, granting everyone a final chance to run.

Jagger stepped out from behind the overturned bus.

His boots splashed into shallow water pooled across the broken road. His left arm no longer resembled the grotesque ruin it had been minutes earlier. The worst of the shattered bone had pulled itself back into place beneath the skin, and muscle fibers had begun weaving themselves together again. Even so, the limb still throbbed with deep, constant agony. Each movement sent sharp pulses through his nerves.

He barely noticed.

His eyes were fixed on the battlefield.

He saw everything. The coordination between Shin Lu and Reika. The desperate scramble of Bastion and Bloodclaw hunters alike. The raw terror etched across the faces of fighters who had once been full of confidence.

Something cold moved through him.

Not hope. Not courage.

Something harder.

A grim understanding of what this battle meant.

Then the Troll King hit the ground.

It landed back first.

The impact was apocalyptic.

The street erupted as the force of the collision pulverized the asphalt beneath the monster’s body. A massive shockwave burst outward in a perfect expanding circle, hurling shattered rock and debris into the air. Overturned cars flipped like toys while storefronts along the street imploded as glass and steel collapsed inward under the pressure.

The ground itself seemed to liquefy.

Concrete buckled.

Asphalt split open.

The entire street cratered under the force.

Hunters who had been too slow to escape vanished into the destruction. Three Bastion tanks stood directly in the monster’s landing zone, their shields raised in desperate defense. The metal, which had deflected countless blows earlier in the battle, crumpled like thin sheets of foil beneath the impact.

The men disappeared without a sound as the ground collapsed beneath them.

Nearby, two Bloodclaw assassins were caught mid-dash by the expanding edge of the shockwave. The blast lifted them off their feet and hurled them to the side at devastating speed. Their bodies slammed into the side of a bus with such violent force that they burst apart on impact.

The roar of destruction swallowed everything.

A deep grinding crash shook the foundations of the surrounding buildings as dust and steam erupted upward from the crater in a massive churning column. Black blood sprayed into the rising cloud while fragments of asphalt and shattered glass spiraled into the darkness.

For a moment, the entire street was swallowed by swirling shadow.

Firelight vanished.

Rain became invisible within the thick cloud.

The battlefield fell into a horrifying twilight.

Then the noise faded.

The dust began to settle.

And silence returned.

Heavy and oppressive.

The only sounds left were the hiss of rain striking superheated stone and the low groan of twisted metal under impossible strain.