A frown formed on my lips.
The Lurker.
An elusive entity.
Not much was known about it and if it hadn't been for my small night expedition to the woodlands forest then nobody would have probably known that such an entity existed. It was to the point that the entire Camp White had never sensed or even seen it. They didn't even know that there were beasts that were in the Second Star Order hiding within the forest.
I don't know if it was just a coincidence or if I was just unlucky to have met such an existence right after I had made it to the place but what I did know was that it probably wasn't normal for none of the evolvers from the hunting team to not have met any existence that stood on the level.
It just wasn't possible and yet it was.
Honestly I had never even seen 'The Lurker', I couldn't even imagine what it could possible look like and knew nothing about its abilities.
The only thing I knew was that it was on another level. It was in the Second Star Order but it was levels above the Fiery Panther, Alpha Bear and the Bone Ape.
I clenched my fists my body feeling tired.
This was the worst possible timing right now. The wound that the Bone ape caused in my shoulder still stung despite the fact that it had clotted, it would still affect my combat ability by a certain degree and lets not forget my current low stamina.
Due to my mindless outburst my stamina stat had dropped all the way to 47 which was quite a lot considering that that it had been at 109 but add in the thirty from the [Full Coat] and it was probably at around 77 currently.
'Going up against a Second Star Order with these stats would probably be suicide but I have [Against all odds] so maybe it isn't as hopeless as I think.
Jordan reached up to his ears and I saw him take off what I was only noticing now as…earrings?
"Here wear these they'll help" Jordan said as he brought his palm forward towards me.
I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as I looked at the two silver earrings that laid in his hands. And I couldn't help but feel a bit weird about it.
"You want me to wear…earrings?" I asked with a grimace. Was this guy being serious right now what did he take me for- I'm not implying anything towards guys who wear earrings but that just isn't me!
Jordan released what I could only describe as an exasperated sigh but before he could say anything. Lydia stepped forward, swiped the earrings from his hand, shoved the sword to my chest with surprising strength that was enough to knock some air out of my lungs and then proceed to place the earrings onto my ears.
'NO!!' I helplessly watched as both earrings were fitted.
I turned to face Lydia with an aggrieved face and just when I was about to say anything, the wound on my shoulder began to itch uncontrollably.
The instant I felt this I knew what was happening. Shocked I looked down at the wound in my shoulder.
Under the gazes of me, and everyone included, the wound begun to close at a visible speed. It all happened so fast and too quickly that I couldn't really understand what was going on.
The wound that had previously been a round 5 centimeter wound closed up in under a minute.
"What just…the earrings?!" I shouted in shock and looked towards Jordan who wore a smug expression on his face.
"Told you it would help" he said with a grin.
"Alright enough everyone focus we're heading to the deadliest battle yet" Lydia said pouring a bucket of cold water on the atmosphere that had been a bit jovial.
I put on a serious expression.
Lydia was right. This battle had gone on for long enough already as it is. Too many had died and many more would die unless we put an end to this madness.
Everyone put on serious expressions as the group huddled up.
"Make sure you hold onto each other. I only have enough mana for one more large scale teleportation and then I'll run out of mana after this" Arina said with a serious expression.
We all nodded.
"Alright I'll leave the rest to you"
With that Arina activated her [Minor teleportation] skill and the familiar feeling of being pulled through a narrow corridor by a vacuum took over my senses for a moment. By the time the feeling faded we were nowhere near the Camp walls .
Instead we were right in the middle of another chaotic situation.
…
~Moments Before Huey's Rampage~
Mayor Bennet stood on the frontlines of the forces of Camp White, his leather armor giving off a hint of red as it reflected in the little light that was available on this battlefield. By now it should have been obvious that the battle hadn't just taken place near the walls and gate of Camp White.
Yes, most of the battle had taken place there but there were also battles happening closer to the edge of the Woodlands Forest. The ground trembled and shock as a large creature at the forefront slammed its paws on the ground.
ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!
Mayor Bennet felt his eardrums tremble, his body swaying slightly as his inner ear shook. For a moment Bennet lost his sense of balance but after a few moments he managed to regain his bearings. Bennet wasn't the only one who was affected though.
Standing with him and surrounding the creature was a group consisting to ten more evolvers.
The auras they gave off were indicators that they stood in the higher stages of the First Star Order, two in Level 13, three in Level 14 and five in Level 16. It was also clear by their bloodied weapons that they had been fighting for a long time so the probability that they had always been in such high levels before was highly doubtful.
Still that didn't mean they were in good states though. Their bodies were riddled with wounds all over and by their heavy breathing it was clear that they were reaching the end of their ropes.
Among the ten was a familiar man who Huey would have easily recognized as the man who always seemed to stand in the corner behind the mayor's desk- Thorne. At this moment the man's glassed were nowhere to be seen and his suit was replaced by a set of dark flexible armor.
His eyes were narrowed carrying with it a hint of solemn seriousness that belied his usual stoic expression. And by the aura he gave off, he had stepped into Level 16.
The other was a woman with whom Huey would find himself to be very familiar with as well, with dark bobbed hair, skin tight leather pants and two daggers in her hands. Who else could this be if not Arina.
The beast that had shaken the ground launched itself into the air. It was a black furred gorilla that stood at a height that stood at almost 3 meters but it wasn't the height that made it formidable.
It was its strength and despite the fact that several wounds riddled its skin and it was clearly bleeding out. It didn't seem any weaker at all.
It descended like the meteor its two arms raised above its head. It was heading towards one of the Level 14 evolvers who still seemed shaken by the gorilla's roar. It landed before him, its weight causing the ground to quake. Its momentum causing the ground to break.
Its two heavy fists descended in a hammer strike. The evolver felt as though a mountain was coming down on him with a might he couldn't comprehend. The scent of death overwhelmed him and the feeling of helplessness welled up in his chest.
Despite knowing it was worthless, he found himself roaring out and raising he's round shield that was attached to his left arm and used the other hand holding the mace to hold it up above him.
When the gorilla's strike slammed into him, it felt like he was hit by a speeding truck. The bones in his arms didn't stand a chance and directly collapsed from the pressure, the shield-that had withstood the attacks of several mutated beasts since the start of the battle for Camp White, folded on itself at though it were made of tin foil. His legs that held him up sunk in to the ground, breaking in several places so severely that pieces of bone pieced out from his flesh leaving him with a mangled appearance.
The evolver lost his strength, his vision swam. His body crushed into the ground leaving a deep imprint in the shape of his body.
"Dammit Mark!" another evolver called out in distress. He was a younger man, barely in his twenties and barely having experienced life for him to develop a sense of calm during a crisis.
He completely lost control of his emotions, blindly rushing towards the gorilla that had driven his friend into the ground. His mana churned as a ball of flames barely the size of a baseball materialized in his palm.
The ball of flames shot toward the gorilla, blazing a path through the air but by the heat it gave off it was clear that compared to the flames of Huey's [Sun god's palm] produced, it was far weaker.
Still just because it was weaker didn't mean it didn't have an effect. The gorilla forgot about Mark and leapt to the side to dodge but was immediately surround by three more evolvers, they attacked with more vigor than before after all they too cared for their friend and teammate.
The gorilla suddenly found itself pincered from three sides. A sword aiming for its back, an axe aiming to split its head and another sword carving a path to its stomach.
The gorilla raised its thick left arm causing the axe to bite into it. The axe blade sunk a good six inches into the gorilla's arm. A pained growl rumbled from the beast's chest but disappointment filled the gaze of the man holding the axe.
If one was to look at him it would become very clear very quickly that this was the very same man who had led the scout team that had warned the camp about the beast horde attack to begin with.
The sword pierced into the gorilla's back just as the man yanked his axe free. The gorilla, as though not feeling anything, swung its right arm in a wild arc that hit the evolver aiming for its stomach sending her flying. Then it spun.
Now because the evolver who had pierced into the gorilla's back was still holding onto his sword, he was swept off the ground and found himself losing his balance and rolling uncontrollably on the ground.
The gorilla turned towards him, a murderous glint shining in its eyes as it took heavy steps forward.
By the time the evolver came to a stop on the ground, the gorilla arrived before him. He couldn't even get to his feet before he saw the large fist of the gorilla coming down like the judgement of god. The last thing that was imprinted on his mind was that fist that seemed to carry the weight of a mountain.
The sounds around him faded to nothingness. The sounds of his comrades shouting frantically as they raced to reach him, the aggressive bellows of the gorilla above him, the rushing of the wind…it all faded.
The gorilla's fist landed squarely on his head.
Without suspense the evolver's head was crushed as though it were a water melon painting the ground with blood and brain matter. The resounding noise of his skull being grounded and his brain turning to mush reached to former scout captain's ears. By this time he had already been charging towards the beast when this happened but he hadn't been fast enough.
A tinge of red filled his gaze as he swung down with all his rage. The world seemed to respond to his fury. His mana churning as he activated his skill, the weight of the axe increasing by double and then triple and then quadruple as it descended towards the back of the gorilla's neck.
The gorilla sensed the danger and overwhelming feeling of death taking over its senses.
It shifted to the side in an attempt to dodge but the axe had already arrived.
"Arggh!" a roar left the captain's lips he felt a pound of flesh separate from a large chunk of the beast's neck.
ROOAARR!
The gorilla's agonizing roars filled the place as a fountain of blood gushed out from the side of its neck.
Feeling its life leaving its body, the gorilla lashed out wildly. Its movements aimed solely on the former scout captain.
The man grit his teeth. That last strike had taken a lot out of him and at the moment his face was pale and his body felt severely weakened, not to mention his ribs were bruised due to another beast that had managed to ram its body into him. Still he managed to evade-leaping to the side and just a hair's width away from the range of the gorilla's fists.
However at the moment his eyes flashed with a glint of madness and a bloody smile spread on his face as he looked towards the beast because he knew.
He knew he had created an opening…an opening that suited Mayor Bennet just fine.
This whole time he hadn't made a move. In fact since the first demonstration of his skill he hadn't made major moves during the battle for two main reasons. The first was that he was saving his strength for the impending battle against 'The Lurker' and secondly the great sword in his hands was heavy. It was so heavy in fact that its weight was a lot closer to 800 kg even just carrying it ate at his stamina.
Bennet moved, his blonde hair swaying gently in the wind and his aura exuding a bloodlust that rivalled even that of a beast. His eyes held just the slightest hint of red in them. He may have been conserving his strength but that didn't mean he was fine with watching his subordinates struggling and getting killed as though they were flies.
Originally there had been about sixteen members of this squad and yet now there were ten- no, nine of them with one barely alive and another he doubted would be able to participate in the battle anymore.
He appeared before the lashing gorilla, his greatsword striking down from above.
The world seemed to hold its breath, a bright white line carving down the center of the gorilla. And then it was ripped open, all the way from the chest to its stomach, its organs spilling out onto the ground and soaking it in a sickening red color.
Bennet released a breath as the gorilla's bisected corpse fell on the ground.
Bennet didn't feel any particular happiness even as the flood of soul essence and the level up messages flashed in his retina. He had let his men die all for the sake of the final battle with 'The Lurker' and it wasn't even known if that accursed beast would appear or not. Bennet's jaw clenched,
Veins threatening to pop from his temple.
'That beast better show itself or else I don't know what I'm going to do with all this rage'
Thorne and Arina looked towards their leader's back with complicated and helpless gazes. They could guess how the mayor was feeling as a matter of fact they felt the same way however what could they do. In the grand scheme of things they were weak and in this new world order, being weak seemed to be a sin in and of itself.
Just then the temperature felt several degrees colder. The air felt as though it had suddenly gotten so heavy that breathing almost seemed impossible. Thorne and Arina could help but pale as they realized that they couldn't move, not because they couldn't but because it felt as though if they did they would die.
They weren't the only ones feeling this way.
Bennet who had been lost in his thoughts felt his senses heighten to the peak, an overwhelming sense of danger taking over his body. Every single hair on his body stood on end, goosebumps spreading across his arms.
He could feel it, an overbearing pressure weighing on his very soul.
'This feeling…' he thought turning and looking towards the direction of the Woodlands Forest. The edges of the forest were about 500 meters away from where he stood but he could see the trees swaying left and right as though being pushed aside by a greater power.
They shook so violently that some of the weaker ones were directly uprooted from the ground. the overbearing pressure grew ever closer the more the trees visiblely swayed.
From the distance he could see numerous red eyes glowing with a menacing glint within them. The distance that separated the tree lines and the place where Bennet and the others were standing was about 100 meters and yet Bennet met the beast's eyes as though he were looking at someone standing across the street.
His senses were overloaded with the feeling of danger. It was so prevalent that Bennet's palms got sweaty making it difficult to even have a solid grip on his weapon.
Without even seeing the body of whatever beast that was, Bennet and everyone standing here just knew
'The Lurker'