CHAPTER 37
Standing atop a tree, Megumi watched in awe as a herd of about thirty beasts rushed to the scene of the battle between the two giant beasts. They attacked each other as they moved forward, and he could see one of the awakened creatures disemboweling and devouring the cores of a few unlucky dormant beasts.
He had thought that the beasts wouldn't dare to go near the battlefield as they had all avoided it earlier, but now, they were all desperately rushing towards it, with the awakened ones killing a few they managed to catch.
He thought of the possibility of the dark beasts appearing through the gate but quickly dismissed the thought. This was far too close to the Fujiboma clan's vicinity; no creature should have been able to get past the defenses of his clan's most elite sorcerers.
Signaling Yuki to stop, they stood by and watched the chaos unfold. The dormant beasts hurriedly moved forward, while the awakened continued to linger around.
A plan; he needed a plan…
Heaving a sigh, he licked his lips and jumped down, running forward immediately. He shifted to the side, using the trees to his advantage as he moved behind the horde of dark beasts.
His target was the closest awakened beast among the three he had spotted earlier.
It was a horned beast, looming two meters tall with greyish-blue fur and a zaffre-colored hide—like storm clouds. Its back was hunched, its long neck strangely twisted, and a gruesome head dangled at the end of it. Muscles stretched on the beast's corded limbs, rugged, torn skin exposing its raw flesh, ending with claw-tipped razors eager to rend and tear.
The beast possessed dark blue eyes—almost black—glinting with shadows of malevolence. A single black horn protruded from its skull, bookending the lethal fangs at its jutting snout. The creature gave off an air of primal, unrelenting ferocity.
He almost shivered at the sight of the menacing creature. Staring at its hollow blue eyes, all he could see was darkness, a sight that made him want to stop and turn back.
But he was willing to let his intrigue get the better of him; he had no doubt that he would be able to kill the six-foot creature, and with Yuki by his side, it was only bound to get easier.
He slowly came to a halt and watched as Yuki rushed past him, her arms burning with crimson flames. She leapt through the trees and, jumping just high enough that she was slightly higher than the creature, fired a tornado of flames toward it.
That attack was going to cost her, but since none of them had a weapon, their abilities were the only things they had in their arsenal against the zaffre monstrosity.
It howled as the ravaging flames approached it, burning its fur and scorching its hide. The pain must have been excruciating, perhaps unbearable, but it sure wasn't going to stop an awakened creature.
The beast's cry pierced their ears like a sonic attack, and upon noticing its assailant, it instantly lunged forward, but before it could reach Yuki, its feet were lifted off the ground, moving forward with great momentum.
*******
Right after Yuki moved past him, Megumi continued forward, circling the trees past her once again. They hadn't made a plan; he didn't even tell her anything, but somehow she had guessed what he wanted to do just after running with him for a while.
And now, they had just one chance to take out the towering beast as it quickly moved towards her, its hideous claws reaching forward to rip her apart. Channeling innate energy through his legs, Megumi lunged forward, quickly grabbing hold of the creature's legs as it ran forward.
He strained, groaning as he used the momentum to his advantage, quickly lifting the massive beast off the ground. Its body continued to move forward, heading face down to the ground as it dragged him along with it.
The beast was too damn heavy…
'Damnit'
A hushed thud resounded in the midst of the hurrying herd and rustling leaves as the beast slammed hard against the ground, growling as it quickly tried to claw back up. But Yuki immediately descended on it, slamming her feet on the beast's head, engulfed in vigorous crimson flames.
Her eyes twitched in slight pain as she crouched, her palms wide open, engulfed in wild, dancing crimson flames. The flames spread out, ensnaring the dark beast and prompting Megumi to bend low in an attempt to save himself from the scorching flames.
Once again, the creature howled; this time it slightly grunted in pain and agony. Drops of azure blood began pouring onto the sand as its head was pressed hard against the ground.
The beast's body was now completely scorched with all of its fur burned off. Its zaffre skin quickly turned grey, and on its skull, a mild crack appeared from Yuki's kick, mild drops of azure blood flowing from it.
But the two of them weren't prepared to let it go yet.
Megumi looked up at Yuki, his hand held tightly on the leg of the beast. Then he moved forward, bending the leg over horizontally.
'Crack'
The sound of breaking bones echoed as another hushed howl escaped the beast's maw, and without hesitating, he continued on to the next limb, twisting just as he had the last one.
They had left the creature without an opportunity to retaliate and were quickly capitalizing on it, slowly turning it lame. In the next few seconds, the creature's hind limbs were bent, twisted, and mangled, with shattered bones sticking out of its torn skin.
And a few moments later, they were both standing above the creature's dead body with a shimmering white crystal firmly held in Megumi's hand, one far brighter than the one he had handed to Yuki earlier.
The beast was turned over, and on its chest, an incision had been made, the crystal carefully extracted through it. However, Megumi wasn't thrilled about their successful hunt.
He hadn't been the one to land the killing blow on the beast, and thus didn't receive any essence after its death.
'Damn it all.'
There was a subtle frown on his face as he stared at the glowing gem he was holding, his gaze intently fixed on it. What had intrigued him in the first place was drawing him closer to it.
Humans, just like beasts, could evolve, and they needed to absorb cores—that of beasts, or even fellow humans and demons—to be able to do so.
But somehow, he could gain essence from slaying beasts without absorbing their cores. He had already tried it once, but it also turned out he couldn't absorb the beast cores, which meant that he didn't really have a use for the crystal he was holding. Slowly, his gaze turned to Yuki as he hesitantly handed the crystal over to her.
"Do you want to absorb it?"
She hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head as she reached out and took the beast core from him.
Slowly, she brought it close to her chest and turned her gaze toward him once more.
"Are you sure you don't want the crystal for yourself?"
Megumi simply nodded and watched as she gently brought the crystal to her chest, and then it slowly shattered, turning into dust as she opened her eyes with newfound energy flowing within her.
Her eyes shone with a brilliant radiance, which quickly dimmed, and Megumi couldn't help but notice she looked a bit more lively after absorbing the crystal.
Well, absorbing the crystal certainly worked.
And now, they have to continue moving forward.
Yuki smiled at him and nodded curtly, and then they both continued moving forward toward their intended destination.
Megumi swiftly moved between the trees, while Yuki leapt above them, and soon they came to a halt with the giants' silhouettes now in proper view. The beasts were still rushing forward, with the two remaining awakened ones still killing off as many of the dormant beasts as they could.
But before that, they had another problem to deal with.
A different awakened beast now stood between them and their goal.