“Run!” Don’t know who shouted first, but I didn’t stay around to find out.
I fucking hate insects! First came the mosquitoes, then the giant centipede, and now wasps! Or hornets! Or whatever the heck they were! We ran as fast as we could while our Seniors took care of the problem. For some reason, the swarm of insects ignored them and instead went after us, the young ones.
I guess they liked fresh meat, haha.
No, but seriously, fuck them! Why did they have to go after us? I pretended to fight back and shot a few weak Fireballs at them, but they did absolutely nothing except making the beasts buzz angrier. Also, for some reason, they mostly targeted me!
[Fuck you! Leave me alone!]
I whacked the closest of them with a stick, expecting to bonk it away like I did the Bloodflies, but no. My weapon got snapped in half as the damn hornet-like creature, only it was about a meter tall, snapped it in half. I didn’t care if they were considered Class I, and thus not very dangerous, they were still way too strong to fight with a handicap.
But, as we ran further away, I noticed the screams and shouts of others gradually get lost in the dense jungle. Only the buzzing remained as the hellish creatures chased after me, their thousand compound eyes reflecting my sorry running figure.
I looked to the left and saw nobody. Even with Magic Eyes, there were no people in my vicinity. Same when I looked to the right. Or to the front, or back. I was alone! Oh, what… luck! Mwahaha!
I went with my hand up my large sleeve and rummaged through the Space Pouch until I found what I was looking for.
My scared expression turned into a grin as I spun around, flooding my flesh with Qi, and brought the enchanted glaive out with speed, the upward cleave splitting the insect in twain.
[You guys just fucked up!]
The twenty or so giant hornets didn’t even blink, because they physically couldn’t, and continued like nothing happened, attacking me.
I gripped the blade with both hands and spun around, splitting even more of the oversized insects to pieces. One of them managed to narrowly avoid the blade and opened its mandibles as it attempted to take a bite out of me.
I released the glaive with my left hand and brought it in front of my face to defend, palm spread wide.
[Perish!] A Wind Blade practically exploded outward, tearing the creature to pieces. Its chunks were pushed back together with its companions while I steadied my footing.
[Like a fortress I shall stand, and like a demon, I will fight, all to see the sun’s last light.] A short poem to express how I felt at that particular moment.
“Sun’s last light? Wouldn’t you have to be immortal to see that? That’s quite arrogant.”
[Oh, shut up!] What did the old ghost know? All would die who stood on the path to my goal. And at the moment, my opponents were those bugs.
With an angry buzz, they swarmed at me again. I consider blowing them up with Fire magic, but then I remembered that attracting attention was probably not a good idea.
Instead, I reinforced my skin and threw caution to the wind as I gripped a tiny Spirit Shard. My hands became coated in a golden glow that rapidly formed 20-centimeter claws.
[Come at me you pricks! On today’s menu, giant hornet steaks! Haaah!] With a warcry on my lips, I hurled myself into battle, slicing and dicing as if my life depended on it. It didn’t, but sssh! That was our little secret.
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The forest was… well, I wanted to say it was quiet after I slaughtered all the giant hornets, but it was really not. I heard screeching, roars, desperate cries, loud calls from wild beasts, something that sounded like two cats fighting, and many other things I couldn’t describe.
I collected the cores of slain beasts and stuffed them into my pockets. The creatures were in the middle of Nascent Soul Realm, so their stuff would bring me plenty of cash once I sold them. Though the price would probably drastically fall since there were more goods coming in.
Having contained my Aura to near nonexistence, most strong beasts ignored me as I slowly sneaked my way back toward where the Predator’s Bane camp was. I noticed a lot of blood on the plants and the floor. Small drops were basically in every direction and sounds of fighting were coming from all around me. I took a few large branches full of leaves and fastened them to my body to gain +20% in camouflage.
I suddenly felt the ground shake and dove to the ground as some kind of a massive woolly rhino, at least four meters tall, charged through the thicket, trampling small trees and shrubs underneath his feet. I held my breath as it rumbled past me, followed by a pack of large black shadows. They kept their Auras contained, but I knew it would be a bad idea to act.
The creatures quickly left and I was once again alone, surrounded by the constant sounds of life and death.
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[What the hell… This place is getting dangerous!] I sucked in a breath of cold fall air and quickly ran, as quietly as I could, while avoiding the fights that were getting increasingly aggressive all around me.
I soon heard human voices in the distance, as well as loud explosions, and at the same time felt ripples in the air from powerful magic. As I ran quickly towards that place, I nearly stumbled after jumping through a large bush.
Hearing a groan, I noticed it was one of the Senior Disciples. One of the Core Disciples. I didn’t know his name, but he was alive… for now. The only problem was… I could see his exposed spine, and his legs were gone, with organs spilling on the floor. Blood was pooling around him and he seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness.
My heart suddenly filled up with dread and I remained rooted in place as my eyes went wide at the sight. Then came another explosion, and an ancient Ironbark, easily five meters at the base, came crashing down not far away. Panicked shouts and screams came from that direction.
My legs felt like noodles from the fear I felt, yet I still stumbled toward the sound. I had to see it!
I burst through the greenery and was met with a grisly sight.
There was a creature, towering over the rest, easily recognized as Class V, a late Golden Core monster. It somehow reminded me of a silverback gorilla with its long arms and short legs, just much, much larger. Its long dark brown fur covered its entire body, save for the face that was completely black, including the skin, with small yellow eyes and countless pointed teeth inside its gaping maw.
White tusks like swords grew from its bottom jaw and curved upward, with black horns like those of a wildebeest on top of its head.
It was currently bleeding all over yet still stood strong, battling with a man I barely recognized. It was Senior Tai Rash, Fyuka’s man.
I once wondered where the name Myriad Beasts Sect name came from since there weren’t many beasts around, but this battle told me everything I needed to know.
All Core Disciples, every single one, stood transformed into some kind of golden animal or monster, most of which I have never seen before.
Senior Tan Gong was some kind of lizard, a Drake if I had to guess. With horns, and tail, and all.
His right-hand man, Weh Chu, stood beside him snarling at the beast while in the form of a large spiked tiger. Shadowbeast? It looked similar.
I saw something circling in the air. It was one of the girls, the one I didn’t know the name of. She was some kind of bird, or, humanoid creature with wings. I had no idea.
I looked back at Tai Rash. His avatar had a humanoid shape, some kind of ape or a giant, yet for all the size it gave him, he was still half smaller than the monster he was battling against. And it appeared he was maddened with rage as he was clearly focused completely on the attack while roaring like mad.
I didn’t understand. He was bloody all over, yet he didn’t retreat. Why would he be doing that when he still had his girl-
[Oh…]
I noticed Fyuka laying on the ground, eyes half open but not moving. Her once bountiful chest was smashed flat like a pancake, blood, bones, and organs like a paste pooling around her. One of her legs was missing, seemingly violently torn from her body and nowhere to be seen.
My blood ran cold as I looked at the monster. Senior Tai was still battling against it, his blade striking and cutting as the beast defended against it, with some difficulty, as it was getting blasted from all sides with all kinds of Mystic Arts by the remaining seven…
[Huh?] I looked around. Where were the rest? I was barely gone for maybe an hour, and back then they were all still laughing…
I noticed the corpses. Mangled, torn corpses, one of which was splattered against one of the massive trees, the trunk having completely caved in from the force of impact.
“AAAAAAH!”
I jerked my head towards the sound. It was Senior Tai. His avatar got caught by the beast, and the barrier around his arm shattered like glass. The monster laughed with a deep guttural sound and smashed him into the ground. A crater was created where his body collided with the earth, yet he only sustained a minor concussion it seemed.
But then he was slammed down again, and again, and again… Suddenly his hand snapped as he was shaken around like an old rag. The beast then slammed him on the ground one last time and held him down with both hands while getting pelted by magic. New wounds opened on its chest, arms, and legs, but it didn’t seem to care. It opened its gaping maw and bit down.
“NOOOOOO!”
I had to avert my eyes as the man was torn in half at the waist, his bloody corpse already beyond recognition.
“YOU BEAST! DIEEEEEE!” I heard a hoarse shout and then a beam of yellow light, after which the monster’s chest exploded and its right hand fell limply to the side. Its roar of pain was deafening.
Tan Gong collapsed to his knees as his golden avatar disappeared, his skin bloody and cracked, and smoldering all over.
Telltale signs of possibly fatal Qi overuse. He completely burned out his body in that last attack. Yet the monster was not dead! Its eyes turned red instead and bloody foam began leaking from its mouth as it stood strong on its feet, and then jumped.
“KILL IT! USE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!” I heard Weh Chu shout, his voice panicked and desperate.
The monster soared toward the sky, its outstretched left hand aiming for the girl up there.
“STOOOOOOP!”
Four beams of light pierced the heavens and the black ape just as its hand caught the woman. It released one last pained roar, and then its giant body crashed to the ground in large chunks amid a rain of blood.
The remaining members quickly ran, walked, and crawled toward the left arm that still held the woman. She was, fortunately, unharmed.
“AAAAAAH!” She fell to the ground and began to shake, tears of blood running down her cheeks as she held Tan Gong’s burnt body, his skin flaking off and turning to dust.
He whispered something to her, but I couldn’t hear it. I was too far for that, still, half hidden beneath the plantlife, and completely frozen. A dark shadow was moving in the distance, a large creature, approaching fast!
[There is another…] I gasped, my words so quiet even I could barely hear them. My eyes went wide as a roar shook the earth and ancient trees began collapsing in rapid succession. A massive monster burst onto the scene, this one just as big, if not larger than the previous one.
The world seemed to still. The humans looking up at the beast in horror, and the beast looking down at them amid the remains of its kin, eyes full of bloodlust and rage.
The standstill lasted for a few seconds. Then the beast released a deafening roar. I did not stay to see the result. I burned through my Qi, my Aura shining like a sun as every single bit of my energy was used to twist space. Light warped around me and I felt my body stretch painfully from the humongous acceleration, eyes nearly popping out of my skull.
I don’t even know how I did it, I just knew that after I came to, I was already soaring through the sky, high up and away from the cursed forest. The air quickly started becoming cold and thin and my body began shivering, yet I couldn’t bring myself to stop. My mind was full of panic and fear, but there was something else inside my mind. A Soul. A powerful foreign Soul. And it was awake, and angry!