BOOOM!
A large explosion rang out. Gloria, Freddy, and Lynx were flung out through a shattered residential building. Dozens of humanoid beasts flooded them like a river. It was an ambush.
Numerous injuries were seen on them like they came out from a horror movie. Freddy's clothes were tattered. He was panting heavily. Lynx continued to maintain his focus.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gloria threw many fireballs at the beasts, but they were strong. These beasts were at the peak of mutant-level beasts, which rivaled a middle-stage awakened. Gloria and Freddy were currently at the lower stage, but because of the constant battle they were beginning to enter the middle stage. Their attributes were slowly increasing.
"Ethan!" Gloria shouted. Ethan was in the middle of dozens of beasts. He had drawn his [Death Blade], but he wasn't putting on any armour.
Performing [Fiery Cloud Mountain Technique] together with [Starless Sword Technique], Ethan was like wind passing through even the narrowest space. One by one the humanoid beasts fell like logs.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Ethan was like a hacking machine. Limbs, heads, and guts smudged the ground red. The scene was gory.
Earlier they were ambushed by four early-stage humanoid sacred beasts. They received a typical and almost deadly blow. If not for Ethan's fast reaction, they would have been dead by now.
Boom!
A sacred humanoid beast used its palm to fire purple beams at Ethan. Dodging left, he immediately started running on the walls.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Three peak humanoid mutant beasts met their end. Balancing his center of gravity, his eyes darted to his back out of pure instinct. Shining teeth grinned from the smoke. Its hands had condensed into blades aiming at Ethan.
At the nick of time Ethan dodged it, but the blade hit his hand, slicing it off. His HP went down by 15.
[HP: 85]
Since Ethan was not wearing his lightning armour, he didn't get the extra 5 HP stats.
Ethan remained calm as if he didn't feel the pain. Drinking a health potion, his hand regrew back starting from bone to flesh.
When he finally gained clarity, four humanoid sacred beasts, all at the early stage, surrounded him.
"Fuck, I am surrounded. I need to hurry," he thought, looking grimly at the four grinning beasts.
As if telling him it was over, the four beasts looked at Ethan like he was their prey.
"You sure underestimate your opponent a lot," Ethan grinned as he performed [Void Step].
Like passing through space, his body became intangible for some seconds. This skill consumes too much mana—about 30 per 10 seconds—and he was down to 40 mana.
BOOOM!
Out of the blue a humanoid sacred beast's head exploded like a watermelon. The others were too shocked. They thought they got him cornered. Wasn't he supposed to be shaking?
In front of their eyes a humanoid sacred beast levitated for a second before turning into a ball of meat and bone. The sight was gory.
Before they could sense where the rat was hiding, Ethan had already vanished.
[Congratulations, you've slayed a Twisted Mockery of Man (Early-Stage Sacred Beast). 100 Astrum Coins gained.]
[Congratulations, you've slayed a Twisted Mockery of Man (Early-Stage Sacred Beast). 100 Astrum Coins gained.]
"Yahtzee!" Ethan laughed as he teleported his way out of the building.
After consuming his last shred of mana, Ethan suddenly came to a halt.
Looking everywhere outside the building at the main gate, he didn't see any sign of the others. Although he saw a dozen high-level mutant beast corpses, something was not right. There were mutant beasts of different species together. Ever since he came here, he noticed a pattern among all the beasts.
They moved in groups, and each group was one species headed by one of their own sacred beasts.
But now not only were they mixing together, they were also headed by four humanoid sacreds. Although at first it might not be suspicious, Ethan knew beasts far better than the others.
"Right now I need to find—" Ethan said as he put on his lightning armour under his clothes. This time he was going to go all out. If not, one of his friends would lose their lives.
*********************
Earlier before the ambush.
When Ethan sensed the aura of the sacred beast, the group was already planning how to ambush it with not much noise.
Slowly the group began walking in the direction. They were heading into an estate. Everywhere was quiet and nighttime had already arrived.
Strange.
The main gate was fatally destroyed. It was as if a carnage had come here to cause mayhem.
Silently they entered inside as they were on high alert. They were too knowledgeable to not realize this place was too quiet for a beast to dwell in.
Ethan used his [Third Eye] to scan the whole building. He found nothing. The beast's aura had disappeared.
"Interesting," Ethan said, shocked, as he and his group pressed on. After some minutes, the group was finally deep within the estate.
One building was lit. There was electricity. Freddy's eyes lit up as he looked at Ethan.
"A nice hot shower should do, right?" he asked.
"Not until we find the aura that just disappeared. No, we don't," Ethan said.
Immediately their eyes sank. What did he mean it disappeared?
"Relax, guys. I can still pinpoint its last position. It shouldn't have gone far," Ethan calmly said.
The others immediately nodded. Since Ethan had the highest sense among all of them, they relied on him to sense incoming danger and beast locations.
Ethan's [Third Eye] was at level 3 and covered about half a mile radius. The skill had increased silently without him knowing. Earlier he remembered it only covering a couple of meters.
The group continued to push on, and they finally reached the spot. The building was pretty run-down and dust covered its surfaces almost as if no one existed there.
Bang!
Lynx broke the door as he rushed in. The building was huge, empty, and dark. Ethan immediately sniffed the air. Rushing ahead of Lynx, Ethan climbed the stairs with speed. After covering more than 300 steps he finally reached a room. Slowly opening the door, Ethan sniffed the aura of death.
Right in the middle of the room a dark figure was kneeling on the ground. It looked as if it had long hair that draped to the floor. It was thin and ghastly, and Ethan couldn't see its face at all. Immediately Ethan knew something was amiss.
Stepping closer to the figure, Ethan's heart pounded. He thought about the scary movies he used to watch.
Bang!
Ethan hit the figure. Its face finally showed. This was one of the cadets—a female. Ethan could see that the life was sucked out of her, which made him feel sick. What kind of sacred beast would do this? Then Ethan's eyes shifted.
Drawing his [Death Blade] at the nick of time, he hit a spot, forcing a beast with a dark body out. It was a humanoid beast. Shock filled its eyes.
Ethan performed [Fiery Cloud Mountain Technique]. His movement was graceful as if floating on air but still on the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
An intense fight broke out. The beast condensed its hand into a long sword. And for some reason, it could read Ethan's moves.
Bang!
The corpse of the girl swelled up and exploded like a balloon.
Slash! Slash!
Ethan received two sword marks on his body, deducting 10 points from his HP.
Ethan stepped back as he recalculated himself.
"So you are the one," Ethan said. His face had changed to that of anger.
Ethan was replied with a grin from the beast.
"Motherfucker, die!" Ethan rushed, infusing mana into his technique.
BOOOM! Boom! Boom!
His [Star Sword Technique] caused small explosions.
Now it was the beast that was at a disadvantage.
Blast! Splash!
Its arm exploded under Ethan's [Death Blade].
"I won't sheathe this blade until it tastes death. Die!" Ethan shouted as he lunged at it again.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sword was swift and deadly.
Seeing that the situation was dire, the sacred beast disappeared. Ethan knew it turned invisible again, so his [Death Blade] followed it.
Wiissshh! Wiissshh! Wiissshh! Wiissshh!
Four sacred beasts appeared, surrounding Ethan along with dozens of high-level mutant beasts.
Ethan performed [Void Step] as he tried to follow the beast, but it was too late. Ethan couldn't sense it again.