Sighing to himself for his ill fortune, Alnea cursed several generations of the Oren Beast hiding within the stream. He did not move rashly though. Acting as if he had not noticed the Oren Beast, he dipped his hands into the stream once again, letting the cold spread into his veins. Within his Spirit though, he had already borrowed two strands of Oren, circulating them on their predetermined route, stopping just before he completed their third round.
Thankfully, the Oren Beast did not jump at him within that time. Not that he had no way of dealing with it if it had. But that would have made things very troublesome to handle. The Oren Beast, lurking just within the range of his Spirit Sense, was shaped like a turtle. But instead of having a turtle’s shell on its back, its back was full of scales, and razor sharp protrusions that ran all along the way of its spine, turning into ugly, similarly sharp, and ferocious teeth, that a turtle should not have. Even its size, nearly two metres in length, and a metre in width, was not something that normal turtles could have. But it was not a normal turtle anyway.
It was a Razorback Black Water Turtle. Supposedly descended from the Black Water Turtle, these Razorback Black Water Turtles were ferocious Oren Beasts that liked living in the freezing depths of oceans, and rivers. The Night River probably had quite a few of these turtles. This little stream though… it should not have had any such Turtles. It just did not have enough chill in it. Yet here it was, staring at Alnea, ready to pounce at him at any moment… His master…
Suppressing his unnecessary thoughts in the Serenity of his Heart, Alnea put all of his concentration onto the Beast, staring at him silently. Razorback Black Water Turtles, although not the overlords of water, or oceans, were still ferocious beasts. Their jaw strength alone was enough to rip apart even the sturdiest of ordinary metals like twigs. And that was when they were still in their Infant Stage. At their higher Stages, the turtles would become even more ferocious. Especially with their Innate Abilities.
Normally, Oren Beasts had a couple of Innate Abilities. Some, such as the Eight Armed Blood Monkey, could even have eight, or ten Innate Abilities. However, some Oren Beasts, like Lightning Armored Rabbits, and Razorback Black Water Turtles, had only one Innate Ability. Yet their Innate Abilities were so strong, that they made up for lack of numbers with their quality.
Although, technically, the Razorback Black Water Turtles did have another Innate Ability, that was their last resort, which they used only if they were in mortal danger. At other times, they used only one Innate Ability, Water Domain. But just that one Ability was enough, for it allowed them to manipulate all the water in a certain area around them. Coupled with their enormous size, and exceptional physical strength, only the true overlords of water, like Black Water Turtles, or the Ocean Devouring Snakes could subdue them in raw strength.
Furthermore, when pushed to their very end, where they would start losing hope of even their survival, these Razorback Black Water Turtles could become frantic, and use their second Innate Ability, shooting out the razor sharp protrusions on their backs like flying daggers, and even manipulate them up to a certain extent. Furthermore, these blades even had a certain paralytic poison added to them. It was the last resort of the turtles after all.
Fortunately, judging from the size of the turtle in front of him, and the light blue hue of its blades, it was probably still at its Infant Stage. At the peak phase of the Infant Stage, but the Infant Stage, nonetheless. That would make things much easier. After Alnea was ready with his Three Turns Spirit Piercing Needles, he cupped his hands, and scooped water from the stream once again, pretending to drink from it, completely oblivious to his surroundings.
And just as he had expected, right in the next moment, when it saw its chance, the Razorback Black Water Turtle jumped at him from the stream, ready to swallow him whole. Alnea Oathkeeper, however, was not so easy to swallow. The moment that the turtle jumped, Alnea jumped too. Towards his back, of course. At the same time, he raised his hands, and let the Spirit Piercing Needles fly into the turtle’s body.
On the Turtle’s end, it knew that its sneak attack had failed. At the same time, it had also been counterattacked. As such, there was no need for it to hold back in fear of alerting its prey. Releasing its first Innate ability, with a light blue glow covering its body, it urged the water around it to surge from the stream, and drown its prey. However, since the turtle was just an Infant Stage Oren Beast, the most amount of water it could urge was roughly around five to ten times its weight.
That was still a terrifying amount of water, enough to heavily injure Alnea. Thankfully, the low Rank of the turtle meant that its Innate Ability was also of a lower Rank. Had it been at its Adolescent Stage, it might have had some fine control over the water it was urging. At the Infant Stage though, even urging such copious amount of water was a heavy burden to its body. Or else, it might as well have started its attack by launching water arrows.
So, even if the attack was dangerous enough to shake his organs, with the turtle unable to completely control the water’s path, Alnea managed to dodge the mass of water being hurled at him. The turtle though, busy in launching its Innate Ability, and preparing for its second volley of attack, had no time to dodge the Spirit Piercing Needles. Or maybe, it just did not care for them. It had tough skin, after all.
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But the Needles were not a physical attack in the first place. Even the turtle’s thick skin was not able to block their advance. Next, things followed as Alnea had expected. Howling in pain, the turtle lost focus, and in consequence, its control over the mass of water it was controlling. It did not lose its senses like the Eight Armed Blood Monkey had, but the pain had distracted it long enough.
Employing the Turbulent Current Style, an Auxiliary Type Intermediate Grade Martial Style specialising in Agility, working on the same principle as the Turbulent Water Flow Style, and the Five River Flow Style, Alnea quickly dodged the giant body of the turtle hurtling towards him by riding the waves of the water crashing all around him. At the same time, unsheathing the golden white dagger from his waist, he poured a copious amount of Oren into its Glyph Arrays, before throwing it right towards the turtle’s mouth.
The turtle, of course, would not let its enemies attack its weak points so easily. Even though fiery pain raged in its head, it still shut its mouth before the dagger could venture into its body. The resultant clash between the scales on its lower jaws, and Golden Yearning, with all its Glyph Arrays activated to their limits, left a deep cut on the turtle’s jaw, causing a few of its scales to fall off. But that was it. Along with the turtle’s scale, his dagger also fell to the ground, leaving the turtle infuriated.
Glaring at Alnea, the turtle let out a loud growl, before charging at him. It did not care that it was no longer in water. From the clash it had with its prey, it knew how weak its prey was. There was no need for it to rely on the water to destroy its prey. And Alnea knew that as well. Thus, he immediately gave up the Turbulent Current Style, and adopted the Black Wind Style, channeling his Oren into his legs, as he ran through the dark world of the Night Canyons, with the turtle right behind his heels, snapping at his back every few moments, trying to end its prey in one bite.
Fortunately, in the month that he had spent in the canyon, he had gotten quite accustomed to its terrain. He had no other choice. Facing these Beasts, whose bodies were so ridiculously large, and powerful, was he to try punching them with his pitiful hands? Though his body had grown much stronger than before, it was still not to the point that he could take on Oren Beasts, especially ones like the Razorback Black Water Turtles, with his bare hands.
As such, he had gotten quite a lot of practice, and experience of running through the dark, and sinister world. In a sense, he knew the dark world better than even the turtle. After all, the Beast had probably been caught by his master, and brought over to these border regions of the canyons. It knew nothing of its surroundings. Or the dangers that lay hidden around it.
Feeling the stench of rotting bones assaulting his nose, and blade like winds, trying to cut through his robe, Alnea paused for a moment, letting the turtle almost catch up to him, before jumping to the side, allowing the giant beast’s own weight, and momentum to carry it towards the den of Bone Rotting Plants, the overlord of this region of the canyon.
Catching his breath, Alnea looked towards his front, where the amiable, and inanimate plants, with gourd like fruits, had turned into ferocious Oren Beasts at the peak phase of their Adolescent Stage, that tore apart the Razorback Black Water Turtle’s flesh like they were tearing through paper. The turtle, on the other hand, had gone from chasing its prey, to becoming a prey itself, roaring in pain, and indignance. And a bit of defiance.
Knowing what was about to come, Alnea quickly tugged on Golden Yearning, calling for it. Though the distance between him and his dagger was large, it was still within the range of his connection. And so, the dagger came flying to him, reaching his hands in just a couple of moments, right before the Razorback Black Water Turtle used its second Innate Ability, launching all of the blades on its back at the plants tearing through its flesh, making sure to direct one of the blades at Alnea.
Blocking the blade with his dagger, Alnea sighed in relief, as he saw the indignant turtle breathe its last breath. But his work was not done yet. Though the turtle’s last desperate attack had not hurt him, it had managed to inflict some injuries on the Bone Rotting Plants. Thus, the plants were rather angry, taking out their frustration out on the poor beast, forgetting all about him. Not for long though.
Even though the turtle’s body was large, there were too many plants. It would not take them long to be done with it. And once they were done sating their anger, and hunger, their anger would definitely turn back to him, raising their guards. After all, they had quite a bit of past between. Just as he knew how the plants worked, the plants also knew how he worked. They were just a bit too engrossed in their meal at the moment.
So, taking advantage of their negligence, Alnea threw his dagger at the plant nearest to him, or rather, to the gourd like fruit hanging from it, cutting it off from its stem. Consequently, the fruit fell down, and rolled over to him. But his actions also alerted the plants.
Almost immediately, the plants began shrieking in anger, and for a moment, forgot all about their meal, reaching towards him with their roots, and stems. Alnea had already expected the rampage of the plants though, so he grabbed the gourd before their roots could reach him, and ran back towards the stream, calling for his dagger at the same time.
“Stingy, as usual,” Alnea said, laughing along with his steps, as he sheathed the dagger that came flying right into his hands. “I will be taking the Rotting Blood Essence as my payment. You work on the Razorback Black Turtle, and get more essence ready by tomorrow.”
As if understanding what he was saying, the Bone Rotting Plants became even more enraged, and kept thrashing their roots around themselves, venting out their frustration on the poor Beasts that mistakenly came within their range. Their anger was of no use though, for Alnea had already forgotten all about the plants, and went about his day as usual.