image [https://i.imgur.com/XIZL0SH.png]

“Take control…”

Victor looked around himself. The villagers who were left varied between the extremely old and very young. There were mothers holding their crying babies, old men like Mr Kamal, and younger children. They all formed a central group, kneeling and praying.

“Isn’t that…” Victor spotted a youth of about 14 who stood out. He had silver hair and blue eyes. Instead of praying with the other villagers, he sat down on his own, kicking his legs.

“Hey,” Victor said. “You’re Taiyo’s brother, right?”

“Hello,” the boy replied. “Ahh, you’re that foreigner guy from the contest. The name’s Yuuki, by the way, you did really well–”

“Yuuki,” Victor said. “There’s no time. I need your help.”

The boy frowned and muttered. ‘Older people are always like this.’

“What do you want?” Yuuki asked dryly.

“The village is in danger,” Victor said. “I need your help to save it.”

“Not my problem,” Yuuki replied. “Garyu can handle it.”

“Garyu can’t handle it!” Victor shouted in anger. Why did everyone here have so much blind faith in that guy?!

The villagers, who were praying, looked at the commotion with disapproving gazes. One lady who’s baby had just quietened down started crying again.

“Ohh…” Yuuki smirked. “You’re a funny guy. Alright, I'll help you.”

“You will?” Victor asked

Wasn’t this kid saying no two seconds ago?

“Talk to me like an adult, though,” Yuuki said. “I hate being treated like a kid.”

“Got it, Mister Phuli.”

“... That’s too much, just Yuuki is fine.”

They both chuckled at the lightheartedness of the interaction, but Victor’s face quickly turned solemn as he thought of the threat that was approaching.

“There’s a powerful creature in there,” Victor explained. “It’s more powerful than the entire hoard.”

“More powerful than my father?” Yuuki asked.

Victor thought back to the suffocating magical presence Pawan showed. The sheer heat of his magic had felt like it would kill him.

“No,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe. But your father isn’t here, and all we have in the village are powerless villagers,” “Garyu won’t be able to fight it, you’re saying?”

“He’s going to die if he fights it,”

“Never liked that bastard anyway,”

Victor’s eyes widened at the remark. Was this kid really a member of the church? What happened to religious doctrine?

Well, he thought. This is perfect for me.

“There has to be some kind of signal,” Victor said. “If we can figure out what it is, we can call all the fighters back here. This will give us an opportunity to fight back.”

“Then we don’t have much time,” Yuuki looked at the sky. The sun was steadily making its way across the world. “I estimate only a few hours of sunlight remain.”

That’s if we survive that long, Victor thought.

He had only fought a beast king once. They were abnormal, even for magical creatures of the same rank. Even if a beast king started from the lowest of beast species, it could unlock hidden potential in its bloodline, growing more powerful.

The theory of progenitors… Victor thought back to the conversation he had with Taiyo at the Water Tortles.

Thinking of her made the anger within him lessen slightly.

“.... Why are you smiling like that?”

“What–Shut up!” Victor’s face turned red.

Yuuki gave Victor a dodgy look.

Victor coughed to regain his composure. “Any ideas on how we can find that signal?”

Yuuki put his hand on his chin to think, sighing heavily.

Was this kid really a teenager?

“There’s one person here who would know the secret signal,” Yuuki said. “But getting it from him is going to be harder than prying a piece of meat from the jaws of a mud jackal.”

“Who is it?” Urgency gripped Victor’s voice as he spoke.

Yuuki turned to look at the crowd of villagers, his eyes landing on one very particular old man

Don’t tell me…

“Mr Kamal?” Victor cried. His face twisting in agony. “Of all the blasted old codgers…”

“Never liked him much either,” Yuuki said. “Like father, like son, huh?”

“This isn’t the time for horseplay,” Victor said. “How the hell are we going to get him to tell us?”

“Nobody is more devoted than him in this village,” Yuuki said. “I said it’d be hard…”

“I could just beat him up for the information…”

“You want to attack a defenceless old man?” Yuuki asked.

“I’ve done worse,” Victor said. His voice faltered slightly as he spoke.

Though he intended for it to sound funny, the reality of what he said weighed down on him. Not even Yuuki found it amusing. These kinds of jokes landed well with his old fellow adventurers, who had experienced the same level of atrocity as him.

“I guess father saying adventurers will do anything for money is true,” Yuuki said.

“...”

There were indeed some adventurers who would do anything.

“We’re wasting time,” Victor said. “Do you have any bright ideas?”

“I do, actually.” Yuuki smirked. “Getting him to sound the alarm will be easy.”

“What?” Victor said. “You prick, didn’t you just tell me it’d be hard?”

“The hard part isn’t him,” Yuuki said. “It’s… that.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/9s19VLK.png]

“Taiyo, you need to stop him!”

Victor’s words kept repeating in Taiyo’s mind as she followed Garyu’s back. He walked with two other villagers who were a part of their group. Did he know something? Why did he want her to stop Garyu?

“Don’t think too much about what that man said,” Garyu said. “Yiho will lead us forward.”

The two men nodded at him with a determined look on their faces. Taiyo’s frown only deepened.

“Garyu,” she said. “Are we really making the right decision?”

“I’m the leader of Sun Helm in your father’s absence,” he said. “I have Yiho’s backing, so my choice is the right one.”

“Yes, but Victor had said–”

“This is why women are never given leadership,” Garyu interrupted. “You’re too easily swayed by that foreigner.”

Could it be? She thought. Was Victor really wrong?

The two men chuckled as he said that. They were two of the four villagers at Rank 0.3. Ruyi, a boy she knew from her childhood. And Khaang, an older man who had given up on cultivation.

Taiyo clenched her fists in frustration. She knew she shouldn’t feel upset. It was just the way things were. In her father’s absence, she was just like any other woman in this village. She had no voice, no right to have one.

“Temper your convictions,” he said. “Only through absolute faith can we win.”

Taiyo’s heart pounded. She didn’t know if she was angry or anxious. Maybe it was both.

Was Victor mistaken? She thought. Wasn’t she wrong by doubting Yiho’s will in the first place? Just talking back to Garyu was like hearsay, and Garyu wasn’t like her father, who would tolerate the discretion?

Victor’s look of desperation as he called out to her crossed her mind.

No. She shook her head. I trust him.

Steadying herself, Taiyo took a deep breath and tried to squeeze the words she wanted to ask out of her.

“What’s the plan?” she asked. “How are we going to fight them off?”

“We’ll head south. This is the furthest location from the monster hoard.”

“Furthest?” Taiyo asked.

“The weaker villagers will fight off the hoard from the North, east, and west. We’ll stay back to conserve our power.”

Didn’t that mean the weaker villagers were fighting alone? Taiyo thought.

I should say something, she thought.

“We’ve arrived,” Garyu said.

They arrived at the southernmost field of Sun Grain. The spicy smell of the grain filled their noses. It was right when it was driest, after all.

“Protect me.” Garyu sat down cross-legged on the floor. He placed his bow down next to him and closed his eyes.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

This man! Taiyo thought. Was he really using this time to meditate? When there were monsters incoming?

“Hey, Ruyi,” Taiyo said to the younger of the two men. He was about 5 years older than her. “Do you think this plan will work?”

“Dunno,” Ruyi shrugged. “I trust in Yiho. It’ll be fine.”

How could she get more information out of him?

“Think about it.” Taiyo lowered the volume of her voice. “If all 4 of us are here, how powerful are the villagers in the other groups?”

Ruyi frowned thoughtfully when she said this.

Good, she thought. He’s listening.

“Isn’t your family in the centre of the village?” she asked. "Who will protect them if the front lines are breached?"

“That’s not possible,” Ruyi said dismissively. “Garyu said the beasts won’t even be above Rank 1.”

“What?!” Taiyo’s eyes widened. Garyu opened one eye and looked at them.

“Is there a problem?” Garyu asked.

“N–no, nothing.”

“Humph.” he shut his eyes.

Not greater than Rank 1? She thought.

“If there was nothing greater than Rank 1, how was Bronx injured so much?”

“He doesn’t practise True Magic, obviously he’s weaker.”

Did he really not know Bronx’s strength? He was the only one in the village skilled enough to perform the harvest ritual. He was way more powerful than even early stage Rank 1. Why else would my father employ him?

The textbook I read on adventurers once said something about Monster hoards, she thought. She shut her eyes and tried to recall.

Memories of herself sitting happily in a chair with her father and mother while she read her book came to mind.

“Are you still reading that book?” Her mother asked.

“Look, mom!” she said. “Monster hoards always have one powerful magic beast controlling them. Some can even evolve!”

“Stop reading that rubbish,” her mother said.

Taiyo took a deep breath. A deep pain filled her heart, not physical, but one she could feel‌. Recalling her mother always hurt….

Pushing down those feelings. Taiyo thought back to the words in the book.

‘A monster hoard always had one powerful monster controlling it,’

Is this what injured Bronx? She thought. Is this what Victor was so afraid of?

The thought was like a spark, and it ignited a flame within her. Taiyo felt adrenaline rush through her veins.

The village is in danger; she thought.

“Ruyi,” she said. “We need to get out of here. The village is in danger.”

“What?”

“There’s a powerful beast amongst the monster hoard. We need to warn them!”

“How do you know this–”. Ruyi took a glance at Garyu, and his expression stiffened. Lowering his voice, he asked her. “Is what you say true?”

“There’s a powerful creature leading the beast's hoard, I’m sure of it—”

Boom

An explosion rose from the east. Taiyo’s eyes widened as the sounds of beasts and villagers filled her ears.

“Under attack!” an audible shout rose from the west.

Plumes of smoke rose from each side, each explosion was like a flash of light in the sunset. The defenders were meeting the beasts.

Weren’t the beasts meant to attack from the north? She thought. Why are the east and west also under attack?

“So, it has begun,” Garyu finally stood up. He looked at the sky, which had since turned crimson. The last rays of sunlight filtered down onto the darkening landscape, only illuminated by fire and flashes of light.

“Garyu,” Taiyo said. “We need to help them–”

“We wait here,” he said. “We will only move if the front lines crumble.”

What was wrong with him? She thought. For once, she felt frustrated. The elders in the village, her father, nobody ever listened to reason. They just wanted things their way.

If he would not listen, she thought. I won’t wait for him to come round.

“I’m going to help our people,” she said.

“You will do no such thing,” he said.

Magical pressure emanated off Garyu. Pulsations travelled through the ground like an earthquake, and Taiyo could feel her legs shake with every vibration.

Garyu pushed his arms towards Taiyo, exerting all his magical pressure on her. Powerful Sun energy enveloped her. Instead of being warm and Comforting. This energy felt foreign, out of her reach. Taiyo tried to circulate the blood in her body to resist, but she was like a leaf caught in the middle of a hurricane.

The magical blood in her body churned, and she lost control of it. Taiyo coughed, and blood leaked out of the corner of her mouth.

“Damn it,” she thought bitterly.

“Garyu, that’s enough!” Ruyi said. “Need I remind you she is the daughter of the high priest?”

“Humph.” Garyu snorted, and the magical pressure around Taiyo gradually dissipated. Her whole body felt queasy, like she had cramps throughout her veins. Taiyo steadied herself, the taste of iron lingering in her mouth. Despite this, she smiled spitefully.

“Your magic pressure is like an ant’s compared to my father’s,” she said.

“You talk big,” Garyu said. “For a weakling.”

Taiyo clenched her fist. Though she hated to admit it, Garyu was right. He was many years older and more powerful than her. At her level, even taking on someone at Rank 1 was impossible. Forget Garyu, who had nearly reached Rank 2.

Come to think of it, she thought. He had remained on the cusp of Rank 2 for years, hadn’t he?

Garyu was indeed a prodigy, but that wasn’t because of his current level of power. It was because of the short time it took him to reach that far. Nobody had ever taken just 6 years to go from Rank 0 to Rank 1. The average was 20! The village estimated Garyu would reach Rank 2 at 36 years of age, but he was now much later in his 40s.

Taiyo shook her head.

There’s no time to think about that! She thought. I need a way out of here.

image [https://i.imgur.com/XIZL0SH.png]

Yuuki pushed open the door to the Bastodon Enclosure. A strong smell of manure and sun fruits filled his nose.

“Are we allowed to be in here?” Victor asked, surprisingly finding himself to be the voice of reason between the two of them.

“Who cares,” Yuuki said. “Didn’t you say we don’t have time?”

The temple was built in a square around the Bastodon enclosure, which was located in the centre. Inside, there was shiny yellow grass, a winding tree with red leaves, and a woolly boulder.

“This Bastodon belongs to my father,” Yuuki said. “With Bronx down, and my father absent. The only one capable of handling it is Taiyo.”

“So we convince him something is wrong with the Bastodon, and get him to sound the alarm?”

“Exactly.”

Victor walked closer to the creature. It wasn’t his first time seeing a Bastodon, but something was different about this one. It was much bigger than any he had ever encountered, and its skin had a type of shaggy wool growing off it.

The creature looked like a super-sized hippo with two impressive, pointed horns on each side of its head. Thick armoured hide, like that of a rhino, covered its body, and it possessed a dinosaur-like tail with a club on the end, which served as its main weapon.

I’d rather take my chances with the beast's hoard, Victor thought.

The creature flicked its ear as it slept. As it snored, Victor felt the vibrations travel through his feet. The sleeping figure of the beast was almost as tall as him standing!

This thing must be at least ten feet tall, Victor thought.

“Relax,” Yuuki said. “He’s totally safe!”

Victor’s eyes widened as Yuuki jumped on the back of the Bastodon, balancing on one leg

The creature remained sleeping throughout all of this.

Victor had fought bastodons that were definitely much weaker than this one, but even they were dangerous. One swing of the tail could easily crush the skull of someone at equivalent rank.

This was the problem when fighting magical beasts. They all had certain weaknesses, but also all had certain strengths. And if those strengths matched your weakness, you were lucky to make it out with your limbs intact.

Yuuki stood on the back of the creature and tried to reach for some of the red fruits dangling from the tree above them. Yuuki jumped up and down on the back of the Bastodon.

“Up! Basto, I can’t reach the fruits!”

The Bastodon opened one of its eyes and grunted. Was it awake this whole time? The creature stood up, and Yuuki wobbled as he stood on its back.

“Steady!” Yuuki said. “You stupid thing, I almost fell!”

The creature grunted again.

Yuuki plucked some fruits, bringing them down.

The fruits looked like giant chilli peppers. They shone crimson from magical sun energy, and some of them had grown so long they swirled inwards, forming spitals.

“You can’t eat those,” Victor said. “No matter how strong your stomach is, you’ll get explosive diarrhoea if you don’t cook it.”

“Hue hue hue.” Yuuki smirked. “They’re not for me.”

Yuuki handed the fruits to the Bastodon. It smelled them and opened its mouth. Though it was a herbivore, it definitely could chomp down on smaller creatures for some extra magic or calcium.

Yuuki dropped the fruits into the Bastodon’s wide mouth. It chomped down on fruits, making satisfying crunching sounds.

“Is it going to work?” Victor held his breath.

The bastodon made a sour expression, as if it had just eaten something unpleasant. Huffing, it plumped back down and shut its eyes.

“What–Hey! Get up and poop yourself!” Yuuki jumped off the creature and tried pushing it. The Bastodon raised its tail.

A sense of danger made Victor’s hairs stand on end.

“Watch out!” Victor shouted.

His instincts kicked in. He dashed behind Yuuki, shielding him with his body. He enveloped Yuuki’s tiny frame with his arms and shut his eyes tightly.

Thud

Victor felt like a door had smacked his head.

“...”

Victor opened his eyes, the back of his head felt sore.

“I’m… alive?” Victor rubbed the back of his head. He could feel a large lump forming where the Bastodon smacked him.

It didn’t kill me? He thought.

“Can you get off me now?” Yuuki’s muffled voice came from under Victor.

“Oh, sorry.” Victor said.

Yuuki huffed.

“I thought you were gonna suffocate me!”

“I thought it was going to kill you!” Victor said.

Victor looked back at the creature. He was sure he sensed danger earlier.

Was the creature actually being playful? He thought.

Yuuki looked at the Bastodon, frowning.

Yuuki climbed on the shoulder of the beast.

“It didn’t work,” he said.

Victor smacked his forehead.

“Obviously not!” he said. Why did he trust a kid to come up with a decent plan?

“It’s a magical beast,” he said. “To even give it food poisoning, you’d need to feed it a hundred of those fruits, and now that you’d pissed it off, I don’t think it’ll eat anymore!”

“W–what do we do now?” A worried expression covered Yuuki’s face.

This kid actually thought his plan would work, He thought. Victor was more than annoyed. He believed it for a moment, but we’ll omit that part.

Victor sighed. What did they do now? He looked up. They had wasted nearly half an hour on this plan already.

Victor’s heart raced. They were running out of time. Every second that passed, they were fighting against the clock.

“Take control of it,”

The same sharp pain came back to Victor. He could feel the scars on his abdomen burning.

Boom

An explosion came from the west.

Boom

An explosion came from the east.

The beasts had arrived.

“Ack, what’s… happening?” Victor said.

Memories of his fights in countless wars came to Victor. Watching his team mates slaughtered, killing men who begged for their lives.

Victor screamed in pain, dripped down his face, and his expression twisted.

“Vic, you okay?”

Purple mist emanated from Victor’s body. It swirled around him, gradually filling the room as if it was searching for something. The Bastodon opened its eyes. It yelped in fear and tried to back away from the mist.

“W–woah!” Yuuki clung to the horn on the side of its head.

The mist stopped swirling and paused. It almost looked like a pair of eyes and mouth were looking at the Bastodon and smiling from within.

The Haze enveloped the creature; it roared in pain, stomping its legs to fight off the haze. But it was futile, and the mist penetrated its body.

“Hahahahah, Rampage!”

The Bastodon’s eyes turned purple, and it howled piercingly. Victor could feel destructive emotions filling his body.

“Destroy it all,”

The Bastodon stood up, kicking its hind legs, Victor felt the vibrations through the ground.

“Victor! Help!” The Bastodon bulldozed through the back wall, sending chips of wood and dust everywhere in the enclosure. Its tail whipped back, snapping the ancient sun tree to the ground.

“Shit, Yuuki!” Victor chased after the Bastodon. It ran through the cobbles, smashing stones and signs where it went.

The Bastodon travelled swiftly for its size. Victor struggled to keep up.

Villagers screamed as they saw the approaching Bastodon

“What in Yiho’s blaze?” Victor saw Mr Kamal’s jaw nearly drop to the floor as he saw Yuuki hanging off the Bastodon.

“Kamal!” Yuuki screamed. “The Bastodon is out of control!”

A conflicted expression covered Kamal’s face, deepening his age-old wrinkles.

“Help! Monsters!” The woman with her baby ran through the streets. A magical beast like a big dog chased after her.

“Signal for help!” Victor shouted. He jumped between the woman and the beast. It growled at him, its eyes glowing purple, and rabid saliva dripping from its mouth.

It leapt at him. Victor grabbed a nearby plank and held it between him and the beast’s jaws. The Beast latched onto the plank, and Victor held it back.

“Kamal! Now!”

Resolve covered Kamal’s face. “Quick! Sound the Gongs! We need reinforcements!”