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His gaze, beneath the straw hat, swept back and forth, silently calculating the distance between the two monsters. As the two Jaggi closed in to within a three-meter range, Ethan squinted slightly.
He took one step forward with his right foot, planting the shield in front of him. His left-hand blade was inserted into the mechanism at the center of the heavy shield. Accompanied by the extremely faint click of vibration, he sharply pulled back on the sword hilt. His body spun to the left with this force, the sliding mechanism on his right arm detaching from the shield's clip. The inertia caused by the shield's heavy weight made it slide outward along the blade, eventually locking into place at the tip and using that momentum to fully expose the sharp axe edge.
By the time Ethan's body had faced forward again, the Sword and Shield had merged, transforming into a long-handled axe, which he swung fiercely toward the Jaggi on his right, utilizing the rotational power.
Both Jaggi had their attention focused on Ethan. The sudden lengthening of the opponent's "claws and teeth" startled them, but their reaction wasn't slow. The targeted Jaggi quickly back-hopped to avoid the sharp edge, watching wide-eyed as the heavy weapon slammed into the ground in front of it.
With the opponent's strike missing, the two Jaggi immediately leaped forward in excitement. But Ethan did not assume a dodging or parrying posture. Instead, he gritted his teeth and drove his right foot forcefully into the ground. The power traveled through his core into his hands. His right hand pulled back in a powerful arc, and his left hand gripped steadily. The heavy great axe slashed upwards at a speed not much slower than its previous downward slam, striking the vulnerable abdomen of the Jaggi that was mid-air, directly sending it flying.
The sharp axe blade sliced through its skin without resistance. Blood and intestines spilled from the air, raining down onto the ground. When the Jaggi landed, it could only produce a weak whine, no longer having the strength to stand up.
But Ethan paid no attention to that Jaggi, because the other monster had seized the opportunity to rush right in front of him, its mouth aiming straight for his throat. He dared not be distracted for a second.
Lowering his head slightly, he used the wide brim of his Yukumo hat to protect his vitals. Ethan immediately leveraged the upward momentum of his previous attack and swung the great axe horizontally. As the Jaggi's teeth left a few tiny nicks on his hat, the middle section of the axe handle—extended from the shield's internal mechanism—smashed into the monster's spine, forcing it to stagger back two steps.
However, it wasn't over. The momentum accumulated from the initial swing of the axe blade was still barely within Ethan's control. Even though his arms were aching and weary from the rapid, consecutive bursts of power, Ethan desperately used the inertia to continue swinging the Charge Blade in a spin.
The midsection of the axe handle, formed by the shield's morphing mechanism, was not sharp, so the first rotational swing didn't cause much damage. But because the Jaggi had retreated two steps, the axe head on the second rotational swing sliced perfectly across its neck.
The sharp axe blade, boosted by both the heavy weight and the high-speed swing, passed through the Jaggi's neck as easily as a knife cutting through pork jelly. Meeting almost no resistance, it cleanly severed the neck, sending a stunned head flying upward and creating a small fountain of blood.
But at this moment, Ethan had no mind to focus on the Jaggi he had just beheaded. The forced effort to control the swing had failed to contain the weapon's accumulated momentum. First, his right hand went slack, releasing the axe handle. Then, his left hand's attempt to hold the end of the handle also failed. He only managed to redirect the Charge Blade's trajectory backward.
The heavy Charge Blade flew out of his hands, its axe head embedding deeply into the dirt, nearly halfway in, finally shedding its kinetic energy and lying silently there, waiting for its owner to retrieve it.
Ethan's sore and powerless arms hung by his sides. A close look would reveal they were still trembling slightly.
He gasped for breath, a flash of lingering fear visible in his eyes.
It wasn't fear of the Jaggi's attack, but fear of killing himself.
Ugh. Thankfully, he had managed to control the direction of the Charge Blade at the last second, allowing it to fly outwards rather than continuing to spin. Otherwise, he would have likely become the first Hunter in history to be killed by his own weapon.
It was truly a close call. He had only used the Second Discharge (Elemental Discharge II), and he was already losing control. The subsequent, more powerful attacks—the Super Discharge (High-Powered Elemental Discharge) and the Ultra Discharge (Ultra High-Powered Elemental Discharge)—would demand even greater physical strength and resilience. He probably shouldn't even think about them for a while.
When he first got the Charge Blade, he had practiced all the various moves and felt he was doing a decent job, but actual combat exposed the problem. His physical stamina simply couldn't support the continuous use of powerful moves when fighting at full strength. It was lucky that he was only facing Jaggi this time. Discovering this flaw while fighting a large monster would be fatal.
Once his heavy breathing finally subsided, Ethan silently pulled the Charge Blade from the ground, pressed the mechanism to split it back into Sword and Shield Mode, and slung it back on his back. He made a firm decision: he must start intense physical training when he gets back. Once he fixes the weakness in his stamina, using the Second Discharge would never leave him in such a wretched state again.
He looked up at the moon, which seemed close enough to touch, and the twinkling stars in the night sky. Ethan hurriedly carved the valuable, still-intact materials from the corpses of the few Jaggi, then rushed straight to the nearest stream.
Learning a valuable lesson from being chased by the Jagras pack after killing the Bullfango, he knew he couldn't travel in the wilderness covered in the stench of blood. Although being drenched and hit by the night wind brought a penetrating chill, Ethan meticulously washed every bit of blood from his body and weapon before rushing back to the Hunter's Camp halfway up the mountain.
Even though he hadn't reached the required number of kills for the quest, Ethan decided to temporarily retreat and rest. Hunting in his current state, with his stamina near empty, was simply too dangerous. If he were to run into the Great Jagras leader again, he could only pray for the same lucky outcome as his last leap from the cliff.
Returning to the sheltered camp, he restarted the bonfire. To avoid catching a cold, he stripped off his waterlogged Yukumo gear and set it aside to dry, sitting only in his shorts, soaking up the heat from the fire. His thoughts immediately drifted back to when he sat by the campfire with Bear Bro, eating grilled fish.
He wondered how Bear Bro was doing. When he completed the quest, he would try to gather some honey and then go see him by the lake…
Pulling the second ration from his pack and chewing on it laboriously, Ethan felt an even greater sense of longing for that time. Waaah… The grilled fish tasted so good, and the honey smelled so sweet…
(Playing Charge Blade is all about discharging!)
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