The SSS class adventurer is a divine cleric
Chapter 90: Tyrants [1]

Chapter 90: Tyrants [1]

The forest was huge and dark.

The trees were so tall that sunlight couldn’t reach the ground. There were no bushes or small plants, just thick tree trunks and a floor covered in dry leaves.

But there was no sound. Not a single leaf made a noise.

Everyone in Derek’s team was experienced. They moved without making a sound. They had done this kind of mission many times before.

Suddenly, the scout in front speaks through the communication crystal.

"Enemy incoming. Straight ahead. Estimated contact in 1 minute."

Derek raised his fist and the whole team stopped.

No talking. Just action.

Then they saw it.

A monster came running through the trees. It was tall, more than three meters. Its head looked like a bird, with a sharp beak. It had four strong arms, and bird-like legs with long claws. Its body was muscular and fast.

The monster lunged without warning.

One moment, the forest was still, dappled shadows shifting under the canopy. The next, the beast was upon them, a blur of matted fur and muscle, its four arms scything through the air like cleavers. There was no time to think or breathe. Only time to act.

Derek’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp as his blade. "Spread out and surround it. I’ll hold it off."

His team moved like ghosts, Alira melted into the undergrowth, her footsteps silent, while the others flanked wide, weapons glinting in the fractured light. But Derek didn’t wait for them. He charged towards the monster.

The monster screamed, a sound like grinding bones, and leapt to meet him. All four arms swung in a brutal, coordinated frenzy, one high, one low, two mid-section, a killing storm of claws and talons.

Derek didn’t flinch.

He jumped, twisting mid-air. His sword met the first arm in a shower of sparks, steel screeching against chitinous hide. The other three strikes whistled past, one grazing his shoulder, tearing fabric but not flesh. He landed in a crouch, boots skidding over damp earth, and surged forward again.

The monster was fast. Faster than anything that size had a right to be. Its arms lashed out in a relentless rhythm, each strike flowing into the next, forcing Derek back step by step. But he was faster.

A claw whistled toward his throat. He ducked, felt the wind of its passage ruffle his hair, then his sword flashed upward, biting deep into the monster’s forearm. A metallic screech rang out as steel met hardened flesh, sparks flew everywhere.

Then Derek hurriedly skipped a step back and that was the signal.

Suddenly, magic spells hit the monster from behind. One rogue shot arrows at its head. Another slashed its leg with a dagger. Alira appeared from behind and struck its ankle, then vanished again.

The monster roared in pain and spun around, trying to hit them. But no one was there. They had already moved and they were fast. The attacks hit the monster, but they didn’t do much.

Even with all the effort and perfect teamwork, the most they left were scratches. The monster’s skin was thick and hard like armor. Swords bounced off. Arrows barely pierced. Magic left burn marks, but nothing deep.

Alira landed another hit and vanished again, but her blade only left a shallow cut.

Derek gritted his teeth.

"This isn’t going to be easy at all. Its skin is too tough." Then he commanded again. " Don’t try to break through. Go for weak spots again! We’ll wear him down slowly."

But the monster was already learning. It stopped swinging wildly. Now it fought with control, using its four arms to block and counter. Its sharp bird talons scraped the trees as it circled, faster and more aggressive.

Far from the forest, in the ruins of an old town, Team Sairi was already in motion.

Neal floated above the broken stone buildings, his boots barely skimming the jagged remnants of a clock tower. The air around him hummed faintly with shimmering energy, his blue eyes scanning the area.

Then he saw it, there it was.

The monster was a grotesque parody of an elephant but twice the size of any natural beast, its bulk body slumped against a collapsed tower like a king on a throne of rubbles. Its pillar-like legs, thick with corded muscle, sprawled across the ruins. It has no tusk, instead it has sharp fangs, each as long as an adult man, glistening with slow dripping saliva.

And most unnerving of all?

It sat like a human. One massive foreleg propped up its chin, the other draped lazily over its knee. Its chest rose and fell in the rhythm of deep sleep, each exhale a low, grinding snore that vibrates throughout the ruins.

Neal’s fingers tapped the comm crystal and whispered into it

"Target spotted. It’s massive and.... It seems to be asleep." A pause. " What should I do?"

Static crackled, then.

Sairi’s calm voice replied.

"Attack now. Give it a big blast and relay us the location."

He didn’t waste any time. "Right on it." Neal’s lips curled, " I’m really good with explosions."

He raised his arm. Light gathered around him like the rising sun and golden markings started appearing on the ground beneath the elephant like monster.

<Sunstrike>

A huge blast of condensed solar flare fell from the sky, crashing down on the monster like divine fire. The ruins glowed golden for a moment. The monster took the full force of it unmoving... then slowly it stood up. As if it had just woken up from a warm nap.

The light faded.

The monster was still standing, smoke rising from its thick gray skin. But it didn’t fall. It didn’t even roar. It just stared upward, annoyed.

Then came the boulder cutting through the wind creating a sonic boom.

One of the warriors of the team, a brute with earth magic, had lifted a rock the size of a house and hurled it straight at the beast.

The monster looked at it and smiled. And creepily the monster had a perfect set of teeth like a human.

And then.

Boom!

It headbutted the boulder mid-air. The rock shattered like glass. Dust and pebbles flew in every direction. Everyone watching froze.

Sairi narrowed her eyes.

"That’s no normal tyrant..."