Chương 9: Monster

Ray was feeling a level of fear he could have never even imagined. His instincts screamed for him to turn and run, but his legs wouldn't respond. The System message called the Beast a Cavernclaw. Even the name was terrifying. The air seemed to pulse as the Beast let out a threatening roar. It obviously considered the clearing its territory, intending on defending it. Time seemed to freeze as the trio stared at death incarnate. Surprisingly, Frangle was the first to act.

The large teen burst forward with tremendous speed, waves of Wind Mana rushing out from behind him as he charged at the Cavernclaw. When Frangle had reached only 10 meters from the Beast, it made a move of its own. The Cavernclaw stood straight, extending its height to nearly 7 meters. It leaned back and lunged forward towards the oncoming Recruit. Frangle didn't falter as he lifted his large hammer above his head.

The teen's muscles seemed to bulge out of his battlegear as he leapt and swung the hammer down with all his might. Boom! The Cavernclaw took Frangle's attack head-on, barely staggering from the collision. It shook its head violently and let out an annoyed roar. The hammer did little more than leave a slight abrasion. Having lost all his momentum, Frangle started to freefall. He flailed his arms to no avail as he plummeted towards the ground.

In the moment after, the Beast tensed its own muscles, sending a swipe of its deadly claws towards Frangle. The angle was perfect, and Frangle would, at best, be nearly bisected by its long claws. The Beast's arm was wider than Frangle and cast a shadow over his entire body as it sped towards him. Just as the Cavernclaw's swing reached the middle of its arc, it let out a loud shriek and flung its body to the side, just barely missing Frangle with its attack.

Phora's spear was currently stuck in the fatty flesh of the Beast's armpit. The thunder family royalty had dived in at the precise moment to ram her spear's sharp head into a weak point in the Beast's hide. Frangle landed with a hard thud and rolled over before pushing himself up onto his feet. Phora had run to stand next to the large teen, currently mapping out a way to retrieve her weapon.

Only a few seconds had passed since Phora had stabbed her spear into the monstrous Beast, but it had already regained its composure. The Cavernclaw reached up and yanked the spear out of its armpit before tossing it into the thick forest around them. The Beast again let out an ear-piercing roar before it leaned forward and hurtled towards them on all fours. Frangle stepped in front of Phora and raised his hammer, prepared to meet the Beast head-on.

The large teen couldn't help but marvel at the ferociousness of the monster currently charging right at him. It was only 10 meters away. 8 meters. 5 meters. 3 meters. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Five sky-shattering explosions rang throughout the island as Ray slammed his fist into the side of the Cavernclaw's head. Golden lightning flashed as it ripped into the Beast's hide. The Beast's head and chest exploded on impact, sending chunks of flesh flying all over the clearing. THUD! Thud.

Two distinct impacts, albeit the second far quieter, were heard only a moment later. The louder of the two was the Cavernclaw falling onto the ground as its organs spilled out, painting the grass red. The second thud was Ray landing lightly on his feet before turning towards his teammates. Lightning danced in the air around him, and his eyes glowed with the green light of the System.

"You guys okay?" he asked, his tone not fitting the destruction he just caused. Neither of them answered right away. Frangle still had his hammer raised, and Phora stared at what remained of the Beast as if it might stand back up. The clearing smelled like blood and scorched hair. Ray's pulse was still hammering, but seeing both of them standing made it easier to breathe.

Not waiting for an answer, the black-haired teen walked over to the corpse of the Cavernclaw and reached into its bloody mass, pulling out a jet-black orb with a crimson sheen. Ray knew 5 Bolts at once would be a pretty heavy hit, but even he was shocked by the results. His body had acted on its own, driven by the need he felt to be useful to his group. Seeing Frangle and Phora duke it out with a nearly 25-foot-tall Beast made him feel like he had overestimated himself. But now, he may have done the opposite.

Not wanting to worry the other two, he acted as if he planned to blow up the top half of their first target. Despite knowing he definitely just pulled an impressive stunt, Ray decided to act nonchalant, hoping the two would just go along with it. He was wrong.

"What the fuck was that?" Phora shouted, not getting any closer to the teen currently covered in the Cavernclaw's blood. She even went so far as to stand behind the equally shocked Frangle.

"That attack was something only someone at Stage 2 could pull off. How in the name of the Emperor did you manage that?" Ray just stared back at the platinum-haired girl, unsure if she was praising him or not.

"Sorry?" Ray's apology was filled with a confused tone.

"Was I not supposed to kill it?" If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Phora made a face like she was going to erupt, but Frangle's voice stopped her from freaking out.

"That was insane, Ray." The large teen seemed to be teeming with excitement. His body was swaying from adrenaline, and he had a wild look in his eyes.

"You looked like a real Soldier for a second."

"Well, yeah," Ray responded.

"Isn't that what we are? I mean, I guess we are technically Recruits, but that's gotta be pretty close. No one else gets a title before they even enter the 1st Stage." Ray genuinely felt this way. The nonchalant act was just to appear unsurprised. He was honestly more surprised by how lackluster his teammates performed.

'It was only 5 charges,' he thought.

'Imagine how they would react if I did 9 or 10.'

"Doesn't matter," Ray said after a moment.

"We gotta decide who gets the first Beast Core." His attempt to change the subject could hardly be called smooth, but it seemed to work nonetheless.

"You keep it," Phora said, while Frangle nodded.

"You finished it off and did most of the work, really." Ray wasn't going to argue a point he agreed with, so he stuffed the Beast Core into the pouch attached to his waist. He could absorb it now, but they weren't exactly in the safest spot, and Ray felt the urge to test out more of what he could do. Phora went to retrieve her spear while Frangle asked more about how Ray's Ability worked. Ray explained that his Ability was pretty simple but the Tech he developed added a lot of versatility.

Once the large teen learned Ray had already created his own Tech, Frangle seemed to treat Ray as if he was some kind of celebrity.

"No one has ever done that," Frangle explained, his tone failing to hide his excitement.

"Like, actually no one. The level of understanding of Mana in order to create Tech is insane. Most people don't even get started until the 2nd Stage. You might be the most promising one of us in the program and by proxy the most promising System user ever!" Frangle even began to jump up and down, pumping his arms with glee.

"Alright, big guy," Ray said, raising his hand in a halting motion.

"I appreciate the encouragement but please don't make it weird. I just want to get as powerful as I can, as quick as I can. I came up with the Tech by accident basically, so it's not like I'm some kind of genius." It was at this moment Phora's voice interrupted him. She had just walked into the clearing while twirling her retrieved spear.

"Genius is definitely not the word I would use," she said.

"You just happen to be using the most powerful element." She tossed her hair and let out a light 'hmph'. It was obvious she didn't want to admit to the spectacle that had just taken place. Her earlier questioning seemed a far cry from her current behavior.

"You better not go blowing up the next Beast. We all need at least 2 cores apiece and I don't want you having both before I even get one."

"Actually…" A rustling sound came from the tree line behind them, interrupting her speech. Frangle raised his hammer and Ray took a low stance in preparation. As if answering Phora's call, two wolf-like Beasts slowly crept into the clearing. They seemed to be assessing the situation, approaching with a high amount of caution. Ray identified both of them and found they were both Early Stage 1 Beasts. Lake Hounds. Lake Hounds were the most common Beast found on dry land in the Great Lakes.

A few meters from where the first two Lake Hounds had entered the clearing, another three Hounds breached the treeline. The five Beasts were all Early Stage 1. Ray was confident in taking one or two down fairly easily, but the threat the whole pack posed could make things difficult.

'Fuck it.' Not wanting to lose initiative, Ray burst forward towards the initial two Lake Hounds. Lightning coiled around his feet as he let off a Bolt to increase his speed. The System notified him that he had only a third of his Mana reserves left. Ray knew by doing some quick math that he would regenerate enough Mana for another charge in a few seconds. This meant he had at most 4 more charges. 3 if he couldn't stall long enough. Just enough.

The first pair of Lake Hounds seemed to mimic his sentiment and lunged at the approaching teen. Ray pulled on the Lightning Essence and a rod of lightning formed in his arm, which he pulled back and swung towards the nearest Hound. BOOM! The Lake Hound blew apart into chunks of flesh as Ray's fist collided with its abdomen. Without missing a step, Ray dove at the other Beast. Lightning burst from his skin as he wrapped his arms around its ribs, preventing the Hound from latching on to him with its razor-filled maw.

Ray pulled back as hard as he could until he felt a pop, followed by a heavy crunch. The Lake Hound went limp in his arms. This all happened in a matter of seconds, and both Frangle and Phora had yet to move an inch. The other 3 Lake Hounds had originally charged towards the group a breath after the first pair, meaning they were still a few meters away when one of them was sent flying by a golden burst of lightning. Ray charged Bolt into his feet and activated it, jumping high into the air.

This was the moment Frangle finally made his move. The large teen activated his Ability. Wind Tunnel. A vortex of Wind Mana was currently forming behind the airborne Ray. The Mana Rune in Ray's battlegear activated, boosting his nearly empty reserves. Ray had channeled all his remaining Mana into the Bolt currently charged in his right arm. Thin blades appeared on his caestus, allowing the lightning to seep out and form a sphere around his arm.

The vortex finished forming, and a heavy current of air sent Ray flying towards the remaining two Lake Hounds. The Beasts seemed to sense the change in the Mana around them. Their matted hair stood on end as static traveled through the follicles of their dirt-stained hide. Such a small amount of electricity would have no effect on such powerful creatures, but nevertheless, they were stunned, fearfully awaiting their doom. Ray's fist slammed into the ground in front of the Lake Hounds. BOOOOOM!

- Ray stood in front of a crescent-shaped crater. Bloody lumps of hair and flesh were caked into the ground at his feet. Phora and Frangle had collected the Beast Cores. Much quieter than they had been previously. Even Ray had gone silent, reveling in the high he felt from exerting his power against humanity's natural enemy. Each member of the group was now in possession of the two cores needed to fully saturate their own Soul Core.

This meant they had completed their expedition, their only objective to return to the ship and head back to the GLMB. In less than an hour, Ray's group had killed 6 Stage 1 Beasts. Well, Ray did most of it on his own, but he would prefer if the whole group got credit. Frangle's Ability had played a huge role in how things went down. Phora hadn't done much. That explained why she was quiet. However, Ray wasn't sure why Frangle looked like he just saw a ghost. The large teen was just staring wide-eyed at the ground.

Only Frangle knew that he was currently even more afraid than when they had first entered the clearing. The fear he felt wasn't for his own life or any kind of potential death, actually. No, he was afraid of what may have been born right before his very eyes. A true monster.