Chapter 256: Summer Lion
The beast chose to attack Junk first.
Taking down the knight appeared to be the first and only option.
"Something tells me that this is not a regular lion, at all…" Junk grunted as he pushed himself out of the way, just in the nick of time before he was crushed by their new enemy.
BOOM!
The lion generated a mini-earthquake as he stomped right on the spot on the beach where the knight still was a second ago. It was close. If Junk didn't have time to perform this maneuver, he would without a doubt have been dead by now.
"I've never seen any lion like that," September readied herself for a battle. She set herself in position, and she raised her staff in the air, pointing it right in the monster's direction.
It was too bad that both September and April had begun undressing themselves because now this meant that they had a lot less protection than they used to a second ago. This was especially the case in the chest area.
"How about you, April? Know anything about a monstrosity like this?" Junk knew that she was a lot more knowledgeable in beasts because of her background as a ranger. She used to live and work every day in the woods before she joined the party, so encountering strange beasts was not something new to her.
"As a matter of fact… I heard about Summer Lion beasts, but I never encountered one before…" April admitted.
"Are they hard to kill?" That was the only thing Junk wished to know at this point.
"They are said to be extremely dangerous," that was the only thing April mentioned at this point.
"That clears it up," the knight grunted before…
Thump!
Before he was once again attacked by the Summer lion! Once again, he managed to narrowly avoid his claws as it came down to the ground right above his head. Junk struck back immediately, summoning his ax and hitting his left front leg with it. It, however, barely scratched his skin. It was important to mention that Junk was going up against this larger-than-usual lion without his knight's armor, without any protection, and without the typical Autumn powers that he was used to fighting with. This time, it was only his human ability and no Minotaur powers whatsoever.
Mere seconds after Junk struck back at the beast, the lion turned back to him to bite his head off. It was too late for him to jump out of there and avoid this attack this time… The knight about to have his head bit off…
"JUNK!"
April called out to him as she quickly shot a green arrow right in the direction of the lion's head!
Thump!
April hit him right on the chin! This wasn't anywhere near enough to seriously hurt him, but it was more than enough to distract him.
"RED WIND!" Then, it was the witch's turn to distract the Summer lion some more. September proved once and for all that, she was a powerful wind-based witch and not only a spellcaster who had mastered fire mana over the years. Wind was a big part of her. The wind was the biggest part of her magic, and she showed it right this second by waving both of her arms in the air and focusing her mana so that she was able to fire an outstandingly powerful wine-red-colored elongated whirlwind, and she shot it right at the beast. The red-colored whirlwind sent the lion back, not only hurting him quite a bit, but also physically moving him away from her knight. Thanks to September, Junk now finally had some space to operate to think of a new game plan before the Summer lion was liberated and ready to attack again. The ranger and the witch bought him some time, but the lion wouldn't be neutralized forever, and he knew it perfectly.
Okay! Now, it's my turn!
It was, indeed.
He might have been without his armor, but that didn't mean that he was now looking in terms of offense. With his ax in hand, the knight rushed toward the beast and prepared to swing right at him, hoping to slice his throat open with his weapon.
Swing!
Junk swung at him, but right before he could hit the Summer lion…
Shoom!
He disappeared.
The beast avoided his attack and vanished.
…
Five seconds later, Junk spun around and there it was. The lion had gotten behind him, not to attack, but rather to assault the other members of the team. September and April were in danger. The lion stood tall behind the both of them. The ladies didn't see this coming. It was much too late for them to move and accomplish any action to strike back against the beast. They were both taken by surprise, unfortunately, however, Junk had the privilege to see the lion before he ultimately attacked the two women from behind. It was going to be tight if he wished to save them, but the knight preferred not to think about what could happen if he failed because he had no intention of failing.
Their lives were on the line, and the knight wasn't going to give up on saving them. Never.
The claws of the Summer lion were quickly coming closer and closer to September and April. His front right paw dangerously coming for September and his front left pay coming for April.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Junk raged as he rushed between the witch and the ranger.
"Knight…" September uttered.
"Junk…" April whispered his name.
Everything was moving so slowly, like everything was unfolding in slow motion now.
Right before Junk finished passing between the both of them, September and April both observed something strange, to say the least… During his intimating rage, September and April witnessed that the human knight was changing before their eyes. There was a fiery red halo manifesting itself over his body. That red halo showed a twisted version of Junk's Minotaur armor that he used to have. That new version was a lot more organic than the metallic armor he wore before. It was a lot more like a real Minotaur. September and April weren't the only ones to see it. Junk saw the same thing. He witnessed the red halo all around him, surrounding him as he moved between them and rushed toward the beast!
"He's changing…" September mentioned.
"No… He's evolving…" April corrected September.
"MINOTAUR SLASH!"
Junk swung his ax at the Summer lion and cut him in half this time!