The beast shivered and recovered its steps, shaking its hide and turning the mana to dust. It remained standing, its neck shining but the hide was almost intact.
It took many of them at one side, at one point, and in one direction. Arrows held poor momentum, which Murai recognized, and figured with naked eyes. He wanted to try his chances anyway and took this loss for an acceptable result. They didn't penetrate enough because of his wrong use of Insta Cast and Heavenly Manifestation, so Murai decided for another round. Moving around, he dodged a bunch of incoming beasts, scratching claws, or piercing spikes. He will find a way inside that one lofty Grand Rhinar in time and numbers.
The first Grand Rhinar growled under a barrage of light and an incredible storm that found it soon afterward. The first blood and hit went from the numerous arrows that Murai aimed at the same spot. Eventually, one went in, and Murai figured there were some tricks in this Insta Cast. It needed a good basic spell and his Mana Arrow was no longer that great. Before this push of Shaping, his Mana Arrow was great because of his timing, control, and many forceful steps.
Now, he had no time for that because his Shaping couldn't do it justice, or he couldn't work with it the way he wanted.
This simple exchange answered and gave him many resourceful ideas.
So he pulled the trigger and pushed his Insta Cast fort, forcing the Grand Rhinar to a halt. It couldn't move. This barrage was far too intense and the rest of its kin was unable to reach Murai in time. This was no duel. There was no shame or pride. These beasts wanted his neck.
It was a war.
Murai won't give them anything.
More Mana Arrows arrived, and some exploded hides later, many found a way to the neck and flesh, finding the first victim in a Grand Rhinar. It barely got a chance and it wasn't a clean kill either.
Its neck ended up in tatters and blood. Its head and neck were terrible and thick, glowing in dozens of arrows inside of it, and azure mist was around it, slowly dissipating in arrows.
That was another thing. Murai had trouble recalling this mana back with this type of Shaping. Pillage said it was inevitable if the wilderness of the Beast Core was put forward rather than inward. Which it did. Murai disliked this lowered efficiency quite a lot and felt this problem came with another shortcoming.
Mana Replenishment. It was an extremely important matter for any mage to have a way to get mana back. Either by a potion, which was a popular practice, or an auxiliary technique. Those were breathing mantras or cycling methods that touched on cores. Recalling his mana was hard, so Mana Replenishment came in handy with its passive cycling method that worked at all times.
Murai figured he couldn't fit his ideas onto it, since all it did was to eat and eat and eat. It was like a sponge, and his mana pool was good, but how long and far he could go with such an extravagant fighting style?
He realized his Mana Replenishment should improve a lot if he wanted to be a crazy magic duck.
The dead Grand Rhinar fell shortly afterward, and its spike was in proper shape. Murai focused on the lethality of his Shaping and Mana Arrow's experiments. It ended up with good results, even if he disregarded some potential injuries if he failed miserably.
Tough hide. Murai thought as he began to dance around the beasts more than thrice his size. My Arrows are good when flowing well and nice. It is about speed, and... Sharpness? I didn't use any, so that is understandable. It took way too many Arrows to kill one of those beasts. Wilderness sends them out much faster, exactly how Pillage said. Heavenly Shaping is really weird but satisfactory when the beginning aspects are cleared up with proper ideas. It seems shortcomings or losses that came after getting everything going are milder if the advantages are massive. I shouldn't be this petty, right?
It definitely felt similar to many techniques at first, but when I see it now and feel mana and changing tides, it feels different from anything that I've carried before. Those Arrows flew with ferocity and lowered accuracy as if they had dozens of meters of travel behind them. It is how one uses the Insta Cast and Heavenly Manifestation, as well as individuality. How I fight is different from the norm. Pillage has his ideas, but he didn't make this technique for ducks like me. I should use it for myself and do it justice.
That is an advantage and disadvantage. And also an option. I can focus on strength and less accuracy, which works fairly well for wilderness, or I can focus on accuracy and squeeze my chances closer. In that view, it isn't that different from before, but efficiency is lowered in a fight. At least Insta Cast is clear to me with this experiment.
They didn't travel more than three meters. I was barely a few steps before it died though. For the amount of mana I just spent, it felt like a nice kill.
Murai nodded to himself, and before he knew it, growling noises were all around him, followed by gruesome steps, and Lisa's voice.
“You old fool! Carry your head straight or you will get swarmed.”
He ignored her and felt there was no time for her chirping annoyances when he had experiments to run. It was weird. It was a long time since she annoyed him midway in his fight. He almost... didn't mind it after after his nearly hundred private fights in the previous Gate.
Strange.
More Grand Rhinars pounced down the wall from above and around the bottom of this chasm. Some tumbled on the way down, falling to some injuries, or some other beasts. One even ended up pierced to the ground with its spike, and one broke its neck when it failed with its landing. That was funny. Murai almost regarded its life like his own.
But with nearly twenty Grand Rhinars that Murai counted, he had no place to hide or regard them as simple beasts.
He didn't want to hide.
Lisa kept being the light of his life in this depth of a chasm. Not even the returning fog pestered their sight. With her around, Murai was in the center like a fine target.
“Fucking seventh hell!” Murai squeaked when fourteen Grand Rhinars pounced from every direction. Each brandished their spike, pointing at his various weaknesses. No spell in his arsenal could help him, apart from...
Murai crossed that one immediately. It would be shameful to go that far in this simple experiment and hunt. He turned toward his Heavenly Manifestation.
Fortunately, someone had enough of this madness. From above, the light closed and a terrific voice echoed.
“Murai!” Lisa suddenly shouted, her body went above him, glowed in the light, and her voice screamed with wind and shuddering vibrations. “Hisagi!” A screaming banshee-like cry sent shivers down Grand Rhinars's spines and Murai's alike. He barely winced for half a second, which was like a lightning-fast change in comparison to those poor shuddering beasts.
All Grand Rhinars stopped their advance. Few even backed away, wary as if afraid of that screaming ghost. They were a bit stupid and instinctual beasts, so they were afraid of things that many animals observed, instincts feared, and life hated.
Most of them stopped moving for seconds, eyeing the situation behind the others. The closest Grand Rhinar was two meters away from Murai, enough distance for Murai to kill it.
They were temporarily stunned by fear, or under some spell that Lisa used. She didn't use much but voiced her race ahead, which was essentially all made of her flesh. Soul and mana, everything about her was magical, so everything could become a tool or a weapon.
Imagination wasn't a rule. Not for her. Her race was far too special to work with normal rules of beasts and men. She wasn't that good at utilizing anything yet, nor had she grown within her current Soul Render body. But she was getting somewhere, as the situation more than five hours ago suggested something important, and her voice and options broadened.
A lot of her internal conflicts lessened since new Helpers came over, helping her out a little. Now, still glowing, her eyes looked most notable and magical. They were deep white, surrounded by an azure haze of her flesh. Everything else was colored like azure mana, but waves of white were all over the azure waves, giving her some glinting shine and outlines. As for the eyes, they were crisp and glowing white circles that left veins of white all over her.
“You are unbelievable.” She complained to Murai below her. “Swarm like this is terrible. Can't you see their level?”
Murai couldn't.
A couple of seconds later, Grand Rhinars changed and shook the fear away, but didn't pounce again when the source of fear was above their target.
Lisa was angry, impatiently clicking with her finger on her forearm as she folded her arms over her chest.
“You... Are a piece of work.” She said to Murai without hiding her annoyance. He looked at her as if he had done nothing wrong. “Don't tell me you had a way out of that pincer attack? I wonder.”
“I had,” Murai said, suspending his Heavenly Manifestation over him like a sea of mana. “You stopped my fun, but I heard you before. No worries. You can be useful if you want, so call me impressed.” Murai nodded and almost cheered her on. Then, instead of clashing against her new voice, he rather went back to work. He could have done just fine, but Lisa thought of herself as useful one more time, so it was not worth yapping for nothing. Perhaps she wanted some experiments and resume from where she left off hours ago, but she wasn't as honest in this idea as Murai.
“Than kill these foolish beasts, master impressed.” She mocked him, knowing that the situation above wasn't stable either. Bagus was there alone, crashing against a storm of beasts all over the foggy plain and starting forest.
More beasts could come down any moment, but Bagus was stopping every possible intruder by taking hits, killing them like an utter beast, or shielding everything that could come into the chasm like a true Helper.
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Some were close, others far.
Yet Bagus was enjoying himself much more than finding fun in lack of hope. He kept his smile on his broad face, bright eyes shined in cold luster, and some bloody losses won't end his life.
He barely bled. His defenses and feathers were far too great against beats that served this Beast Master who touched upon some unique Law.
That was a bit weird. How did his Law work when one worked with Beasts that had their individual lives?
Bagus knew it. They influenced the beasts by boosting them to a new life, while Taming Laws essentially cut into the Will of others, causing the Beast Master to become one with a beast.
It had various limitations, though what kind of Level 70 being was weak?
Hardly any, which Bagus understood.
He fought with his beak and feathers alike, cutting beasts to pieces with his wings, but Beast Master was far, calculating that spending the lives of his beasts to slowly chip away his target's health or feathers was a good idea.
It wasn't working yet.
Perhaps it won't.
Down in the chasm, Murai had no small amount of prowess or options. His Sharpblade was a perfect way to counter so many opponents around him. A single flick of his twin blades would slash at all sides around him without trouble. Perhaps he would have some space left over, if he swung even wider thanks to his smaller side and useful wings.
Two dozen targets were still a large number of fools. It meant a good practice. Shaping improved by usage or learning. Nothing greater gave it a better edge than practice in any form. The training was usage. The battle was the same. Perspective differed and worth could increase.
Well, the leveling process described by this world might be something else, but leveling up the Shaping was rather peculiar and it adhered to self-inflicted talent, rather than something artificial.
Murai was good at it, so it was no wonder it went so far in levels. It increased and changed according to his self-found progress.
At one point, Murai wondered if Shaping levels mattered like some form of upgrade, or if a new level meant a corresponding increase that moved up according to his own learning.
Lisa was able to answer that. She wasn't sure how far it could go, but she would often describe her guesses whether they were half correct, or correct. She said it wasn't accurate and levels in Shaping meant only a reading, a glimpse, or a number to take as an improvement. Murai was creating that number.
She was clever about her wording. Murai acknowledged that long ago, whether in a bad or good way. It didn't mean her personality and words were always clever. She frequently went forward, especially now when some nostalgia and David was around. She didn't change much if Murai was honest and clear about his intentions. Some things about her simply moved up a notch because she was that sort of person.
His opinions won't change much just because of some readings of a Shaping Manual she got for him.
However, it was true that it held an interesting concept. In some forms, it was as far from the standard examples of magic that most beasts should be able to use. If one thing described it the best, it would be practicality. Simply put, it was a hard technique to follow and master.
And that was coming from Murai, who experienced a lot in his lives.
No wonder Pillage said not many followed this technique. Not even his students did, as they either gave up or prioritized something else or better. Shaping was inherently complicated, needing extensive research, where even a teacher would go a long way. Murai acknowledged that by listening to Pillage on more than a few occasions. How he said that there was extensive practice ahead wasn't an exaggeration.
Murai had months ahead for basics in the slightest, and the whole technique had around a dozen stages.
For the Insta Cast, followed by Shaping and Conjuration which made the basic course of magic, Heavenly Manifestation was the start, which made it a mixture of wilderness in the mana and Conjuration.
Insta Cast was the most normal thing so far, as it was about efficiency and pulling attention to Shaping, which followed many principles from all sorts of shaping techniques. Lowering the delay was important in magic, but with wilderness in sight, it turned rough, wild, and hard to flow. It was much quicker, thus Insta Cast had some concepts Murai had to recover and understand.
He also accepted how it felt. It wasn't wrong if he had to adapt first and master questions later.
That was for the Shaping. With Conjuring, there was this barrage and thud when mana flowed like a tidal force. A good start to magic was important for most Shapers.
Mana would flow, while time and delay could lead to life-and-death situations. Murai was plenty good at Shaping in this life, but Conjuring had bigger shortcomings than most curses from his pasts. Beast Core was far too savage. Especially when he felt it in the last Gate.
It was like a wild beast that had instincts on its own. It wanted to eat, absorb mana, and improve. It wanted much more Affinities, Murai thought, but he couldn't give that. He was its master. He was the Shaper.
That sort of concept wasn't as odd when a beast like him came to mind, or it became weirder under his memories, histories, and concepts lost in time or worlds. At first, cores were just accumulated energy that touched upon some Laws of Creation, giving some cycles a motion, and living some flow. There were fewer rules in the previous Epochs. That was the greater truth, so who and what made the rules? The universe itself? The mana?
Murai didn't like how some things happened as if it was the natural order. His Beast Core hadn't been with him since the beginning. It emerged through evolution, which meant what exactly? That wasn't normal or natural, but as far as he could tell and feel it, it worked and acted like it should because not everything was meant to follow some feasible lines and Order.
Right. Murai found some familiarity in the madness and feelings of despair. He didn't want to drown in them. He wanted to master his beast and inner self, and if the matter of fact was uncomfortable, savage, and hard to deal with, it better adapt instead. It was his choice that gave this beast to him. It touched upon his Bloodline, so it was very pure to his flesh, unlike his soul.
To this day, he wondered what Peniscula or Anatidae of the Death would be like. Perhaps he would have more fun?
He would never know the bliss he had forsaken.
He had different problems ahead and what had been lost, waited for nobody. Murai had no doubt that if he had created a core through some core creation method, he would've influenced it and made it better.
It was far too late to cry over spilled gold. It was bliss in disguise, acting like a terrorizing power that was hiding massive potential.
At least he managed the Core Defying Fusion Technique, so that was good. More chaotic aptitude in his mana was a tool according to Pillage. A good thing. Murai would dispute such a claim.
Anatidaes were wild in more than mana aspect. Their lives were defiant, meant to go further, wilder, and go against the odds. Murai didn't like how Pillage talked about that, and from the little he had seen in Murai, he began to doubt some factors. Pillage had never taught an Anatidae in his life. He tried, or so he said. They refused him, telling him that a dog should get lost before them and bark in his backyard.
Murai almost laughed at him when he told this sorry story. He knew that these sorts of aspects made his experience and progress worse and slower than he would have liked. Even though he still killed his foes and progressed with what he had, it never came with relative ease.
There were some situations, against foes he couldn't defeat or face; that no one would get. Be it Gods, meeting friends, luck, or Fate, there were mysterious spaces and faces everywhere.
Murai quenched his distrust and started slowly against those incoming Grand Rhinars. Arrowheads with bullet-like tips gave his Mana Arrows faster speed and less stress in their travels. Strength was relative since speed was often enough to let sharp objects reach deeper.
That had a surprisingly good side. Working with less mana made his Conjuring faster, and Shaping them was easier relative to the Insta Cast and Heavenly Manifestation.
Improvements in all of these things could mean faster practice speed, precision, flow, depth, length of reach, and use of spells. It wasn't about arrows alone. This should be plenty enough to work with this Insta Cast.
The wind swayed when dozens of Arrows flew all around Murai's head. Grand Rhinars surrounded him, so his accuracy didn't matter. He decided to do another test at perfect timing. He wondered how much mana could push onto his Insta Cast.
Accuracy didn't matter in this test, so he let the mana flow out of his Heavenly Manifestation.
And Blood followed. Necks of the Grand Rhinar were still protected by thick hide. Most of their upper body was like that, forgetting their belly, feet, and some sides on their back and ass. It was clear that from their backs, protection didn't matter.
Front did. So Murai let the floodgates open, letting hundreds of Mana Arrows in various efficiencies, shapes, and speeds fly around and cut and pierce. Some succeeded in going deeper into their targets; others didn't. Grand Rhinars panicked when lucky shots arrived at their necks, or multiple arrows hit their softer spots at the same time.
In those cases, blood flowed, but not many of them were lethal.
That changed when Murai started to tighten his focus, no longer attacking all over him. He began to test his Arrow Heaven Barrage, or so he called it at the moment. It was no spell for sure; it was just a move within the perception of Mana Arrows.
Or, it could be something more if real arrows and a bow were in question. It was a simple imitation of some masters within the bow Paths. Nothing worth mentioning. Magic was full of such imaginations, as there were very few boundaries in minds and magic.
Four arrows went deep into one of Rhinar's necks, cutting deep and severing arteries. Some couldn't bear such a wild attack that disregarded the means of Shaping and mana and began to howl. No one sane would put so much mana out in a few heartbeats.
Hence, Grand Rhinars began to move, flock, and attack in a much better way. They closed up soon enough when they moved into rough formations like some military dogs. Murai sneered, focusing on those that moved closest, unleashing dozens of attacks to their faces while running away. His little feet were simple, and his wings flapped in support. Nearly all of his mind focused on the magic at the moment. Some Arrows turned to mist because of that, or via bad angles or spikes, but with enough numbers, he was killing them before they even reached him.
All the while he was checking how much mana he was spending, how far his Replenishment went, and where his Heavenly Shaping lacked or changed. There was one quick finding.
His Replenishment worked only when he wasn't pulling mana out of his core, which was extremely hard at the moment, or when using Heavenly Manifestation, which was like being bathed in his own suit of mana and feathers. There was some trick to make it work, or so Murai thought briefly at the moment.
It was about a quick push of Heavenly Manifestation, cutting onto it via Insta Cast, and letting Replenishment snatch the surrounding mana and passively eat.
That was much harder than one would think. It cut into many advanced things that Pillage wouldn't recommend trying. It was far beyond his current stage in Heavenly Shaping.
And it was true.
Murai couldn't make it work.
After a couple of fallen beasts, they circled him and began to dodge instead. Murai didn't even have a chance to cut their paths with strikes of his new Sharpblade.
This was the power of numbers. Murai had his strength, though his Beast Core turned half-empty in less than half a minute.
He couldn't cut Rhinars in the most reasonable position, so he had to control their move, angle, or storm them with arrows, or come to their faces. Their defenses turned to be more sporadic when moving like a team, which was kind of weird, considering his Mana Arrow wasn't all that strong on its own.
It was a low-class beginner spell. The best motive he had behind its usability, compatibility with Insta Cast, and long-range was a good choice because of his small size. Then, his massive mana pool and Heavenly Shaping gave it much more strength, even though Mana Arrow was a Grade F spell that wasn't that close to evolving.
Lisa saw his act above him, figuring that the sole reasons he was able to kill them in this manner were his sharp senses, Heavenly Shaping, and the fact that she was there, above him, acting as a vital sign of danger. Some Grand Rhinars eyed her with fear, leaving a passable number battle Murai instead.
The neck was the weakness, similar to fear. That could run deep into the instincts, putting them to tests or cracks. Sides, legs, or eyes were next. Murai easily discerned weaknesses even when more Grand Rhinars fell from the chasm. For now, their numbers were yet to reach their starting swarm. Murai killed a lot of them already, while Lisa watched, thinking that sooner or later, she had to get involved because Bagus had no easy time.
Floating there, looking at her open palm and soft fingers, waiting and wasting her time, wasn't she?
Following the weaknesses was the path of a hunter, and not the other way around. Murai was no prey. Not anymore. He began no dance of the death. He largely stayed on the spot, using Mana Arrows to crash those dancing Grand Rhinars that often backed away, stumbling against their fallen kin, or to the walls.
There was one surprising benefit in this place with its limited arena, which turned into a great advantage for Murai, who had perfect conditions to turn his wilderness into a terrific force. His Mana Arrows had a perfect distance for efficiency and fast speed, and some missed shows didn't matter.