I didn’t exactly know how far away the presumed fight had happened, but I thought I was about halfway there when I saw something that I hadn’t before. There was a group of young fire salamanders, really young. They were running like death was after them and I guess it was as older-looking fire salamanders hunted them down while they were trying to run somewhere safe. I didn’t interfere in their fight, just circled around and continued my run.

I knew that I had made it when I saw a lake that was teeming with life. Fire salamanders in every stage of their development seemed to inhabit this lake. It was hard to find covers, as there weren’t a lot of trees around here, but I was able to sneak close enough to get a better vantage point.

The lake was filled with cannibalism as that was the only way that they could get food. Every so often a group of fully developed but small fire salamanders broke out of the lake and tried to make a run for it.

When they made a run the first thing they had to worry about was a huge fire salamander monster the size of a small apartment building. Currently, it was feasting on a fire salamander that was one of the largest ones I have seen. It was probably defeated in combat last night and that was the battle that produced the plumes of fire I saw.

It seems that the other monster had tried to claim its spot as the ruler of this place, but it didn't succeed. If it wasn't feasting on its prey, it would probably be trying to eat any salamanders who were escaping.

The fully grown fire salamanders didn’t approach this lake and stayed well away but a lot of them still waited close enough to hunt the younger salamanders who were trying to run past them. It was probably the easiest source of food for a long distance. The last significant beast was the mother who was laying eggs at a ridiculous rate. Almost half of the lake was filled with similar eggs that frogs lay in the water.

I spent watching this dynamic for half a day. The most interesting was the mother. It didn't consume enough food to keep up with the egg production, so I am assuming she had some sort of an evolution that allowed her to use energy as a source of nutrients for her young. She was protective of them and even tried to keep the huge male fire salamander away from the lake so it wouldn’t eat the young. She always failed.

You can see that she once was a regular salamander as only some parts of her skin have turned into scales. Her skin and scales are shades of red but there are also yellow spots on her back, and she was the biggest beast-class salamander I have seen. She almost always seemed to be in the lake, and I could see how the lake water seemed to warm up near her meaning that she was trying to keep the water warm for her children.

She definitely needed to be stopped otherwise there would be millions of fire salamanders that would try to consume all that surrounds us and eventually make it to United Freeholds lands. The mother salamander had to die.

I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish that without engaging the huge male fire salamander. Then there was the problem of how I was going to be able to fight two of them at the same time and if I even would have enough energy to even finish the fight.

There didn’t seem to be any good strategic choices. This was a good time to test out how powerful my call of the ancestor’s ability could be. To use this ability at its maximum strength I would need to use 3/4 of my core energy. This would leave me incredibly short on it and fighting that huge fire salamander was going to be a problem even if I had my entire core energy reserve. The biggest problem was that the monster was close to the second rank. It was brimming with strength, but it wasn't currently overwhelming just damn near to it.

I have to hope that my call of the ancestor’s ghosts can finish the female salamander before I’m overwhelmed by the big monster. If the female is dead, then I will have two options left. To run or to fight but either way at that point I have won. Without the mother, the salamander population will start to stabilize, and other beasts will start to claim back their lost land.

I received 15 human ghosts in medium armour wielding a large halberd for their fight with the female salamander. I spent so much energy that absolutely everything living around us was looking towards me. Only a moment later the huge monster let out a mix of roar and hiss. It then charged at me and I started to send flying slashes towards it while moving away from the lake and letting the ghosts move there so they can begin their own battle.

I was able to get its attention but only because my aim was good enough to hit its nose or around its eyes otherwise its scales were so strong that I was barely leaving a mark. Of course, I wasn’t using my core energy which would have made the situation better, but I needed to conserve it.

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Now I have seen large tanks driving at stupidly fast speeds trying to smash our defensive lines but nothing I have seen prepared me to see an apartment building-sized monster running towards me at the speed a horse could spring.

The deafening noise and bone-shaking vibration that you felt from the constant stomping made me dig deep so I could overcome the fear and instincts that told me to run as fast as I can away from the death that was racing towards me.

I wasn't able to get him as far as I originally wanted before the female salamander’s battle cry rang out. The monster stopped and tried to turn around to see what was happening but the moment he wasn’t focusing on me I used my core energy in a flying slash and was able to damage one of its eyes quite badly.

It turned around so fast that the wind generated almost pushed me back. It was now enraged and fully focused on me. I was not certain if this was a positive outcome. The thing that kept me from being trampled or swallowed was my movement ability as it allowed me to keep ahead of the powerful monster. What was surprising was that it hadn't used any fire, but I guess most of its strength has gone into making its body as powerful as possible.

It was at that moment that one of the ghosts returned to me having been killed. The female salamander used its fire breath and one of the ghosts wasn't able to get under the water or out of the way. It wasn't all bad as this allowed the others to get a few good strikes in while it was breathing fire. I continued to run around which was made increasingly easy as the huge beast was trampling the ground solid giving me a more stable footing.

I activated my heroic stand and started to consume my regular energy at an alarming rate. With this, I was just barely able to stop it from breathing fire when enough flying slashes were delivered into its mouth, but it was a close thing. The monster should still have some control over fire and the amount it could spew out could mean that it could blanket the entire area even before I could run into safety. It also seemed that it was now bleeding quite badly but it was even more enraged.

The ghosts were slowly able to weaken the female salamander so that she tried to escape by leaving its tail behind but that would only work with stupid creatures. Not allowing it to escape, however, cost two more lives but they were able to wound one of its legs quite badly, meaning it was only a matter of time until it was going to die. Now came the question, was I going to be able to keep my opponent occupied?

We had already fought for an hour and the female salamander still hadn’t given up. My body, however, was on the verge of giving up. I had never kept up my abilities for this long and my entire body was hurting like I had been thrown from a three-story building.

The monster hadn’t laid a finger on me but simply trying to escape and attacking has almost cost me my life multiple times. Even now dodging it is becoming harder and harder as keeping my vision focused is becoming almost impossible.

There are only six ghosts left now. The female salamander seems to be a lot smarter than she looked. The scariest part was her ability to learn. Over the last hour, it had learned how to use the ghost numbers against them and wield its limited supplier of fire to deadly effect. Eventually however even she had to give up. Killing it wasn’t easy or fast as the ghosts continued to chop her up even while she was still alive.

Her death cries shook the male salamander out of its engaged state but only for a moment until he saw the state his female was in. When the female salamander finally died, I could hear rumbling coming from the male salamander. Its entire chest was vibrating like a shirt in the wind. When it started to open its mouth, I could already see the glow of powerful fire. It was going to torch the entire place. I channelled all my core energy into my sword and ran up the monster.

Usually, it would have just shaken me off leaving me heavily hurt but now it was concentrating on killing whoever killed his female. During the run, I was manipulating energy inside my sword making it a lot better at piercing attacks. Even before I reached its head it started to spill out its powerful fire. All my remaining energy was pushed into my armour but even then I felt like I was burning and the fire wasn’t even directed towards me.

I reached the monster’s neck at the same time the fire reached the lake. If the monster’s head wasn't protecting me the blast of steam from the instantly vaporized water would have flown me a long distance away. But I didn’t stumble or lose my opportunity. I channelled everything I had and envisioned myself plunging my sword deep into the skull and then the energy expanding outwards destroying the brain.

The sword itself only pierced about one foot into the head but the rest of the energy pierced all the way through its skull and destroyed its brain. Instantly the monster started to fall, and I had to brace for impact while I used the sword that was stuck in the skull to keep me stable and trying not to pass out from the exhaustion I was feeling. The impact did make me pass out but this time I didn’t stay like that for long. Passing out after fights was a bad habit.

I honestly have no idea how I kept myself awake or even moving but after a short moment of struggling to get my sword out, I was on the move again. None of the ghosts survived and the entire lake and all of its inhabitants didn't leave any evidence that they had ever existed. It was a good thing that this monster hadn’t focused more on intelligence otherwise my only choice would have been to try to escape.

Running without my movement ability was slow especially when my body was in bad shape. When I found a thicket of trees that seemed to have enough vegetation that I would be able to hide. I struggled to climb it but eventually, I was able to make myself secure enough that I could fall asleep.

Just before sleep claimed me I looked at my notifications saying that I had levelled up twice in all my classes. Meaning I had accomplished the training mission set for me almost four days ahead of schedule.