Book 5: Chapter 43

Darius

Deep behind the undead lines, sitting within a construct goliath that looked like a beast skeleton the size of several massive stadiums, Darius tapped his fingers against the edge of his throne.

Several undead elites waited on his every need, relaying messages to and from his legions pressed against their enemy as they planned their final moves before seizing the World Core.

“How long must I wait for word? Where is the commander?” Darius huffed.

“She’s on her way, my lord. By all indicators, her mission was a success.”

“Was it now? I’ll be the judge of that…” Darius trailed off as he sensed something approaching. “Oh? You’ve gotten stronger, have you? Hmph.”

Doors of bone swung open as Agatha marched into her lord’s chamber and dropped to a knee before him.

“About time. I was starting to get impatient. So, tell me, how does everything proceed?”

“Good,” she said. “Very good.”

Darius’ thin, purple lips curled into a smile.

Beast King

It was no mistake that the Beast King’s chambers looked like an arena. A wall of bones created a circle around it, and he sat on a throne in its center. The reason was simple; it was how he had become the beast king in the first place. Any beast lord was welcome to challenge him for his throne; all they had to do was best him in one-on-one combat.

He had been forced to kill a couple of the other beast lords, but in doing so, he had gained far more loyalty from the others.

A giant bird flew down toward him as he lazily awaited news from the front. So far, it seemed everything was going more or less as he had planned. Chipping away at the defenders and keeping them divided. But the real action wouldn’t come until the necromancer made his move.

The huge seagull bowed before him and waited for permission to talk.

“What is it? News from the front?”

“Ah–my lord…”

“Spit it out, already!”

“It’s Aaron Dober and his companion, Zero. They are headed our way, and they’re moving fast.”

“Hmph, that’s not ideal,” The Beast King said, and the bird almost fainted at the lackadaisical response. “But not completely unpredicted. They no doubt decided we were the lesser threat, and have decided to deal with us first. I considered this possibility.”

“And? What do we do now? I thought we were trying to avoid a direct confrontation with that one.”

“Oh, we were, if possible. I’d have much rather he fight it out with the necromancer, and kill whoever remained standing. But I have backup plans. Call the other generals here, and have the soldiers stand down and fall back. We don’t need unnecessary casualties. Best save them for the final battle.”

“Yes,” the bird nodded and flew off.

Aaron

Aaron and Zero shot straight out from the defenses of the Oasis and over the beast army. But almost immediately, they sensed something was wrong.

It was one thing to see random defenders fleeing at the sight of them. Some lowly beasts were naught but fodder against them, and they could appreciate survival instincts.

But this was beyond that. At first it seemed like the entire army was missing, but then they noticed several barriers had been raised. The scattered beast armies were literally amassed behind them, with hundreds of beasts funneling their mana into the barriers to add power to them.

Even Aaron, as strong as he was, would struggle to take down such barriers. And since their objective wasn’t to attack the army, but to take out its leader, it seemed wise to avoid them.

“This isn’t right, Master. It’s one thing for individuals to hide from us, but entire armies? Is that not odd?”

“I dunno. Maybe they just don’t want to be turned into steaks? But keep your eyes peeled. If they are planning something, we’ll spot it.”

Perhaps it made sense to spare their grunts if they knew he was headed for the king, assuming they believed their king was capable of winning. But the way they set up their defenses, all hidden behind barriers, some with backup barriers, it all seemed a little too organized and rehearsed. As if there were something bigger going on.

However, Aaron felt pretty confident he could win. He was far more worried about being overwhelmed as multiple armies crashed against the settlement, and causing a distraction that might allow someone to slip past him with a trick up their sleeve to claim the World Core.

Logic told him that wasn’t possible. One needed to control 80% of the world to claim the core. But he had seen enough System bullshit not to assume that it was impossible to find a workaround. If there were some way around it, what were the chances that one of his enemies might harness it? After all, they were working with deities and potentially other powerful entities.

“I don’t like the looks of this, Master. These beasts have clearly been planning something, and I have a feeling we’re marching straight into it.”

“Yeah, same. But if we turn back now, we’ll still have this problem to deal with, and who knows when Darius will decide to get involved. It’s a risk, but if we can pull this off, we can focus all of our attention on that bastard.”

Stolen from NovelPhoenix, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Right,” Zero sniffed. “Then let’s do this quickly.”

They passed over several more barriers and armies on lockdown before reaching the rear area of the beast horde. Bones were scattered everywhere, and beyond them, they spotted several large figures.

“This almost looks like an arena,” Zero commented as they reached the Beast King, who was standing proudly beside his commanders.

He was a lion that stood at least twelve feet tall with the most magnificent mane Aaron had ever seen. He carried a gigantic sword, and muscles bulged everywhere. And he could tell that the dozen powerful D-grade beast lords beside him weren’t much weaker.

So this was what they had planned, was it? All of their leaders gathered up to face off against Aaron and Zero. It wasn’t a terrible plan. The final battle would no doubt prove chaotic, and keeping their troops alive for it could make the difference.

That said, despite numbers being on their side, Aaron wasn’t particularly worried. As strong as these beasts were, he sensed that none of them were on Mala’s level, and he had gotten far stronger since he had faced off against her.

Aaron cracked his knuckles. “They don’t look like all that. What do you think, Zero? You still worried, mate?”

Zero sniffed the air, warily eyeing the beast lords. “Worried? Not with you by my side, Master.”

“Good. Because that’s a lot of high-quality meat staring us down. The hides could be useful too!”

As Aaron spoke, he launched himself at the enemy, with Zero not far behind. And the moment they started pummeling down toward them, the beast lords countered, pouncing up into the air toward them with equal ferocity.

But surprisingly, the Beast King remained back as Aaron and Zero clashed with his lords, and an array of colors flashed through the sky as various Skills were unleashed, causing explosions to shake the ground and echo for miles around.

If any of the nearby beasts hadn’t already fled, they were now as they felt the power of elites blasting against one another.

And while the beast lords mightn’t have represented the absolute peak talents of their world, they were only one tier down, and even Aaron had to take them seriously when he fought against them. Their combined might was easily on par with, if not greater than, any top ranker, and they were surprisingly well coordinated.

Within seconds, hundreds of Skills had burst out, and Aaron flashed back and forth across the battlefield as he dodged dozens of strikes every fraction of a second and countered with his own.

Even as he landed a perfect haymaker, blasting a hole through a giant bull, he kept an eye on the king. He was no doubt carefully planning his entry into the fight, and Aaron had every intention of being ready for it.

Not far away, Zero flashed around, counting and landing lightning-fast strikes of his own. One moment the elegant wolf was a beam of silver light, and the next he appeared, striking at his enemy before disappearing into silver light again. Even Aaron would have struggled to keep up with his speed, and it was obvious that he too had gotten stronger.

Furiously roaring and taking chase, a beast lord that looked like a monkey wearing a tiger ripped apart the landscape as beams came off each of its claws every time it swung its paws. The claw beams literally diced the land up into chunks with laser-point precision that left sharp edges on the rubble rock.

And yet, despite its furious outrage and powerful attacks, it was always too slow to hit Zero, who almost looked like he was playing with the beast lord.

The tiger monkey grew increasingly frustrated as it chased Zero around, its devastating beams getting dangerously close several times. But suddenly, there was a flash of silver light, and out of nowhere, there was a moon in the sky. The Skill, whatever it was, seemed to confuse the tiger monkey, and a moment later, Zero flashed back behind it. Streaks of silver rippled through the air, and then the tiger monkey fell to pieces.

Meanwhile, a giant rattlesnake, a gorilla, a humanoid shark, and a few weird alien-looking beasts all rained down attacks on Aaron simultaneously as he danced around the battlefield, always one step ahead of their tremendous string of attacks.

And the moment there was a brief pause in the combat, he struck back, either taking down one of the beasts or badly injuring them, as his attacks never seemed to miss. Yet strangely, the Beast King was still waiting to attack.

And then finally it came at the back end of several attacks launched in quick succession from the lords. Golden light blinded Aaron for a fraction of a second, and that was all it took for the Beast King to enter the fray, swinging at him with the huge great sword that seemed to push gravity down against him, although he felt that it was not a Skill. But rather the Beast King’s aura.

“Feel the aura of a king!” The Beast King roared as his aura made Aaron’s muscles tremble under its weight.

Still, he was not easy to hit, and Aaron phased through the attack. But despite the blade not possessing any spiritual power, he felt some soul damage, and a quick inspection told him that cracks lined his soul, and he was forced to eat soul-mending food.

This wasn’t the power he sensed when he first spotted the Beast King, though. It was as if his aura was being empowered every time they killed one of the beast lords within the arena he used as a camp.

Still, even with the incredible aura, there was no doubt that Aaron was the faster of the two, could quite easily read the Beast King’s movements, and had only been taken slightly off-guard thanks to battling the lords and the blinding attack that came first.

Pressed against one another, the speed difference became evident. Aaron was never there to be hit, and even though the Beast King tanked the first few hits, he was able to land on the impressive lion with relative ease.

But the moment he started focusing his attacks on the Beast King, the lords took advantage of the opportunity to search for openings, and Aaron actually took a few hits as they fired attacks at him with rapid speed across the disintegrating arena.

From the corner of his eye, Aaron had already noticed that he saw the monkey tiger was dead, and the moment Zero rejoined the fight, momentum swung back again, as he was able to focus more on the Beast King.

Blasting into the flanks of the beast lords, Zero landed a few more strikes, seemingly powered by the silvery moon he had somehow summoned. A moment later, Aaron knocked back the Beast King with a haymaker, and the two of them doubled teamed the rattle snake, blasting the beast to bits.

A back-and-forth followed for several seconds as the remaining beasts tried to reclaim the momentum, only for the humanoid shark beast to suffer a life-ending strike that split its head in two.

It didn’t seem like its plan was going as expected, and the Beast King roared at the sight of his slain lords. Or maybe the battle was going as expected, Aaron realized as the Beast King’s aura grew stronger still, and as it roared, it seemed to grow larger and more ferocious.

“Killing those lords here is making him stronger,” Aaron said as the remaining lords chased him around. “And these guys won’t stop following me.”

“Then lead them away, Master!”

“What do you mean? We came for the king!”

The ground split in two as the Beast King heaved his massive sword, but both of them avoided the strike.

“They won’t stop following you. They know you’re the greatest threat, Master. But we can’t keep feeding him power.”

Zero was right, Aaron realized. It was too reckless to keep fighting as they were, even if he could still beat the Beast King regardless. There was no sense in playing into their enemy’s trap.

But the alternative was leaving Zero to deal with him alone…

“I can handle it,” Zero said as he materialized and shot out several silver beams.

Flashing away from the arena, Aaron led the beast lords up into the sky where they continued to furiously level attacks at him. It was a risk; the Beast King was a serious warrior, and on par with a top-ranking elite. But if he could deal with the beast lords quickly, he could hurry back and help Zero finish the job.

“Okay, I’m counting on you!” Aaron said as he led the lords away.

Zero saluted his master, and his brow bent as he focused on the king.

“You think you can take me alone?” The Beast King howled with laughter. “Foolish.”

But despite his words, there was something else in the Beast King’s eyes.

He was worried. And likely aware that they had figured him out.