by Aaron Oster
He was nearing the end of what he could accomplish at rank 67, but he felt he could pull a bit more out of his Strength attribute before he did, and Morgan was going to get every ounce of training he could before moving on. He spotted his target, a large salamander with bright greenish-yellow skin, wallowing in a small puddle. As soon as he saw the beast, Morgan deactivated his flight and plummeted out of the sky.
At his rank, a three-hundred-foot fall would hardly even phase him, and hitting the ground before the creature would give him an element of surprise. As he drew closer, Morgan pulled up the beast’s status.
Name: Acid-Hide Salamander
Rank - 61
Ability Type - Super
Power - 511
Defense - 390
Ability - 455
It was an Intermediate beast, so nothing special, but the advantage of fighting such a creature was that its very hide was toxic to the touch. Morgan would have to exert all of his willpower to continually clobber this thing, even if his skin got burned in the process. Of course, there was a pretty decent chance that it would be unable to hurt him at all, but Morgan wasn’t worried about the little details right now.
The salamander jumped back as Morgan slammed into the ground, using his Earthen Shift to cushion his fall and stop himself from being buried up to his waist in the soft ground. He pushed himself out, landing on the ground and taking up a fighting stance. He’d removed his armor, because it would only get in his way in a place like this.
Armor was all well and good when he couldn’t afford to be injured, but while training, it was best to be as open as possible. Well, at least at his level. He wouldn’t recommend that Grace go in without armor, not unless she was facing beasts of about rank 5 and below.
The salamander hissed as Morgan raised his hands and immediately darted in, its mouthful of spiny teeth wide open as it tried to take a bite out of him. Morgan waited until the last second, then neatly pivoted to the side, avoiding the monster’s charge. His fists flashed out then, drilling a staccato of punches into the beast’s slimy side.
A loud hissing sounded again, but this time, it was Morgan’s skin that was making the noise. He felt a light tingling, and, looking down, saw that his fists were coated in a viscous slime that was slowly turning his skin red. Morgan shook his hands, removing most of the acid as the salamander turned back on him.
His blows hadn’t been hard by design, but they had all been precise and targeted various weak spots along the salamander’s side. This was a new strategy he was implementing, a way to defeat more powerful beasts like the hydra he’d been forced to face. In this world, there were still many creatures that were more powerful than he was, and if he was unprepared, he might very well lose when it counted most.
The salamander came in again, claws extending and trying to rake across his chest. Instead of stepping out, Morgan stepped in, catching the paw on his shoulder and avoiding the blow altogether. Then, before the confused beast could do anything else, Morgan unleashed another combination, all aimed for the tip of its snout.
Seven punches slammed into the beast’s nose before it could blink, sending it staggering back, and Morgan followed.
The salamander’s mouth opened, releasing a spray of green acid, which Morgan blocked by pulling a slab of stone up from the earth. The block hissed and immediately began to melt, but with the stream blocked off, Morgan stepped neatly around the slab and came up at the beast’s side once again.
He drilled a series of blows, targeting the same spots once more, and felt the bones beneath begin to grind. The salamander whirled, lashing out with its tail. Morgan tilted back, swinging his foot up as he did, and connected with a powerful kick to the salamander’s soft underbelly.
This time, the beast was hurled off its feet and sent tumbling over the ground. Morgan followed, using his Earthen Shift to push the ground beneath his feet as he ran, propelling him forward at much faster speeds than he would normally have been able to handle. The beast was up again quickly, its mouth opening wide as it fired off dozens of acid pellets.
They hung thick in the air like rain, and Morgan knew that if he just ran into them blindly, he might accidentally end up injuring one of his eyes. So, as his bare foot slapped the ground, Morgan used Nature’s Wrath. His skin took on a stony sheen, his body became heavier, and his features, craggier. Morgan felt the steady strength of the earth seeping into him and lending him its power.
Dozens of acidic drops splattered him then, hissing against his stony skin and trying to bore through to damage him, but Morgan’s skill was far more powerful than the salamander’s. It took him less than five seconds to close the distance, and when his fist slammed into the beast’s head, it exploded like an overripe vegetable.
“Damn,” Morgan muttered as the beast slumped to the ground.
He’d hit it too hard as a result of misjudging his strength while Nature’s Wrath was active. He didn’t beat himself over it too much, as this beast had hardly been giving him a challenge at all. He debated going around and looking for a more powerful beast, but after a few minutes, decided that his best bet for training probably lay in Faeland. He hated to admit it, but it seemed that even the most powerful Beast Zone no longer posed much of a threat.
Letting out a long breath, Morgan floated back up into the air and streaked off to retrieve his belongings. Perhaps if he was lucky, he could catch the last bit of Grace’s fight before they had to head back.
Even if his time here – aside from the use of his ultimate skill – had been relatively uneventful, Grace’s fight was bound to be interesting, especially when she discovered the Arc of the first stage.
7
Morgan appeared high in the sky over the first stage just a couple of hours later. After realizing that it was still quite early and figuring that Grace would need a bit more time to reach this point, he’d taken a short nap. When he woke up, he collected all of the cores from the night before. He now had a ton of energy to work with, but he was holding off on absorbing any of them until they’d left. After all, Grace might need to use some energy to upgrade her skills, and if she did well enough, Morgan would allow her to do just that.
The day was still young, yet when Morgan concentrated, he could sense Grace already fighting. Judging by her progress, she would be reaching the Arc somewhere around midday. Lumia sensed his presence right away, just in case he’d missed them, and directed him to their location. He took great care to fly high enough and in the path of the sun, so that Grace didn’t accidentally see him.
The last thing he needed was to have her start to depend on him. It was one thing to send a chaperone. It was quite another for him to constantly be saving her. He just hoped that this time, when she faced off against a powerful beast, he wouldn’t be forced to step in.
He finally laid eyes on her just a couple of minutes later, watching as she made her way past the latest beast she’d defeated and continued toward the Arc. She looked good, if a bit beat up. She was covered in the usual mix of blood and gore that came with fighting in places like these. He could also tell she’d grown a bit, her strength increasing marginally. She was pretty much ready for the next rank, but all that would come after she defeated the Arc.
Morgan crossed his arms as he floated lower, picking a good hiding spot behind one of the tall stone pillars surrounding the Arc’s territory. This wouldn’t be an easy fight for her. Arcs were tough, and seeing as this one was a full two ranks above her, it was going to be a very hard fight. Grace had come a long way since they’d first met, so he hoped that that would be enough to see her through to the other side.
***
Grace hid a wince as her left hip throbbed in pain. The last beast she’d faced – an oversized goose – had slammed her with its hardened beak, and she hadn’t been quick enough to stop it. A quick density shift had saved the bone, but the bruise still hurt like hell. Not to mention all the other bruises she’d suffered from the previous day. She was about to ask Lumia wher
e their next campsite was to get her mind off the pain, when she noticed that the tall grass was thinning up ahead.
A while back, she’d noticed a slight incline in the landscape, so she took that to mean that they’d been traveling uphill. And, when she spotted the first of the stone henges, she knew what it meant. Still, she had Lumia with her, and double-checking never hurt.
“Is that the entrance to the Arc’s territory?” she asked, turning to the small drake.
“So it appears,” Lumia replied, drifting over to land on her shoulder.
“I didn’t expect to reach it so quickly,” she said, as more of the stone grew visible. “I was expecting this to take a few days…Do I get to just relax once I beat this thing?”
The excitement in her voice was clear. Unfortunately for Grace, it didn’t last long, as Lumia immediately shot her hopes down.
“No. Once you are finished, you will either proceed to the second stage, or Morgan will come back down and we will leave.”
Grace’s brows furrowed at that, and she took a quick look around to see if Morgan was watching.
“How will he know if I beat the Arc?” she asked, snapping her fingers at her side and using Echolocation.
She couldn’t see Morgan anywhere, but her skill would find him, even if her eyes could not.
“Have you forgotten that speaking aloud is only one way I can communicate?” Lumia replied.
Grace shrugged as the waves of sound washed back over her, showing only one living creature in the vicinity and squashing her theory of Morgan being around. On the plus side, she’d definitely found the Arc and now knew what type of beast it was, based on the shape and mass.
“Well, I’d get ready to call him,” she said with a grin as she increased her pace to a jog. “This Arc will be easy, compared to the rest of the beasts here. In fact, I doubt it’ll even pose much of a challenge at all!”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Lumia cautioned. “Remember, looks can be deceiving, and the most dangerous enemies are often the ones who appear to be the least threatening.”
Much to Grace’s credit, she heeded Lumia’s advice. As she crested the top of the hill, she slowed to a walk and took in the beast that was lying in the center of the open plateau. Just as her echolocation had shown her, the beast in the short grass was none other than a foal, no more than a few weeks old.
Its short hair bristled with a silvery sheen, and it had a small star-shaped mark in the center of its forehead. If anything, this beast was more adorable than intimidating, and as soon as Grace laid eyes on it, she wanted to do nothing more than run over and cuddle with it. She’d grown up on a farm, after all, and baby animals were just so cute.
“Be on your guard,” Lumia said, flapping from her shoulder. “I’ll be watching.”
Grace nodded and slowly began inching forward into the Arc’s territory.
Maybe if I sneak up on, it won’t-
She froze as the foal’s eyes snapped open, and it rose to its feet immediately. Its eyes, a deep brown, immediately fixed onto her, and it tilted its head to one side, as though curious as to what she was doing here.
“Aww,” Grace said, feeling as though her heart were practically melting. “You’re just an adorable little one, aren’t you?”
The foal let out a light huff of air, then began trotting over to her on wobbly legs. Despite knowing that this was supposed to be the matriarch of a Beast Zone, Grace couldn’t help but drop her guard. The little horse was simply too adorable to be dangerous, and even if it were, she was confident she could avoid any pitiful attacks the beast could throw.
The foal’s cuteness was why she allowed it to walk right up to her, and when the small horse extended its nose towards her hand inquisitively, Grace reached out to pet it. It was only when her hand was within inches of the horse’s soft nose that Grace got her first lesson in real deceit. She was lucky she’d trained with Morgan for as long as she had, because if her reaction time had been any slower, Grace could very well have lost that hand.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, jerking her hand back as the foal lurched forward, mouth opening wide to reveal a quadruple row of razor-sharp teeth.
They snapped shut with the force of a bear-trap just millimeters from her fingertips, and Grace could feel the disturbed air from the force of the bite. Additionally, the loud clang of metal on metal told her exactly what those teeth were made of.
“What the hell are you?” she asked as the foal whirled, suddenly looking a lot less cute as it tried to take a bite out of her face next.
Grace leaped backward, reducing her density to increase her speed, and only narrowly avoided being caught in another of the beast’s attacks.
The foal let out an annoyed snort, then tried again, but Grace was ready for it this time. As soon as it lunged, she pivoted, just as Morgan had shown her. She knew it didn’t look nearly as graceful as his movements did, coming out more like a jerky sidestep than anything else. Still, it moved her body out of the way, avoiding the attack.
She planted her back foot and threw a punch at the foal’s exposed side. Her density increased, even as her fist doubled in size, slamming into the foal with all the power of her Strength attribute and the momentum of her punch. Add to that the increased density at the time of impact, and her punch packed a mean wallop.
Morgan had already made it clear that her ability seemed a lot more Strength-driven than his. Though Grace thought Morgan was just about the strongest man in the world, he’d told her that his Agility far outstripped any of his attributes. Grace, on the other hand, seemed to favor her Strength, so Morgan had focused on training that attribute above the others. Obviously, he made sure her Agility was trained as well. It didn’t matter how strong you were if you could never hit your target.
“Ow!” Grace exclaimed as her fist slammed into the foal, sending it staggering off-course.
The cry of pain was due to the dozens of sharp needles simultaneously entering her oversized fist. She winced as she brought her hand up to her face and examined it. The back was covered in multiple tiny red pinpricks, all of which were beginning to bleed pretty quickly. The foal let out an angry snort as it regained its balance and turned to her again, and finally, Grace understood the full scope of the beast she was facing.
This was no cute foal. It was a dangerous beast with teeth like a bear-trap, and it had a hide covered in metallic hair sharp enough to tear her to shreds. She was also sure this beast had plenty more that it wasn’t showing. Judging by how little damage her attack had seemed to do, it had quite a tough hide as well. The problem was that she couldn’t punch it without hurting herself, and there was nothing that she could do to prevent it.
She usually increased her density in order to weaken any blows that came her way, but she’d been as dense as she could be when she’d attacked, and the foal’s hair had still cut into her. That meant, that once again, she would need to rely on her ranged skills, rather than her hand to hand ones.
The foal charged, its gait now far from unsteady and its mouth half-opened to reveal its gleaming teeth. Both of Grace’s arms extended, and her muscles flexed as she used Air Pulse. The soundwaves blasted out in a cone shape, so powerful that they were visible. The waves of sound slammed into the charging foal, but instead of throwing it back, hurting it or even causing it to stagger, it continued charging right through them.
“Crap!” Grace yelled as she jumped to the side.
Unfortunately, she’d been counting on her attack doing something and wasn’t fast enough to completely avoid the beast. The side of her shirt was shredded by the wiry hair on the foal’s side, and a burning sensation spread from that point as the skin was rubbed raw. It was a horrible feeling, made worse by the fact that her armored clothes had done absolutely nothing to stop it.
The foal spun in place, its hind hooves coming off the ground and swinging it back around much faster than Grace thought possible. Then, it was charging again, its mouth open wide, saliva practic
ally dripping from its chin.
Grace did the only thing she could then. She turned and ran.
8
The foal let out an angry scream as Grace darted to the side, heading for the borders of its territory and forcing it to sharply change course. The soft grass was plowed up around its sharp hooves, clumps of dirt flying into the air as it veered to continue the chase. But the small opportunity afforded Grace the chance she needed. As the foal turned, it slowed for just an instant. Grace whirled back around, throwing a punch and using Body Shift.
If one didn’t know the sort of skills Grace had at her disposal, they might have thought she was crazy for throwing a punch at something over eight feet away. However, when her arm stretched, elongating and extending a full foot further than it normally would have been able to…They still would have thought she was crazy.
While it was true that Grace’s limbs could now stretch, they could only move up to a foot away from her. Had that been her only plan, then that person would have been right in calling her crazy. Grace had more to this plan, and as the blast of sound ejected from her palm, slamming into the foal from the side and knocking it to the ground, her plan became clear.
“Woo!” Grace yelled as her arm snapped back into place.
She dashed forward as the foal struggled to get up and unleashed another sound blast, this one just three feet from it. The foal, which was half-way up off the ground, was knocked back down. The next sound blast was placed directly on the foal’s ear as Grace unleashed her devastating skill from point-blank range.
The grin died on her face as soon as the skill faded, and the foal’s head – which should have been blown to bloody chunks – was still fully intact. She could see that her attack had done some damage, as witnessed by the trickle of blood leaking from the beast’s ear. But, seeing as it was still alive, she needed to do more.
