Freedom Jumper-Chapter 122: Predator or Prey?

"Silent and still Niko..."

Below the thick branches – over 100 feet – were another type of unfamiliar beast adeptly chasing after the mantis'.These beasts were by no means losing their targets. With every second, an ebony and brown furred beast with a human-like structure seemingly disappeared out of thin air. Elijah was not sure where the beast had gone as his sight was only visible to the near area below him.

"YOSTIMIME'S!! SHIELD'S UP!!"

From within the forest a loud battle cry erupted, Alongside, the sound of dozens of footsteps trampling the small flowers, bushes, and plants that lay peacefully within the chaos. This sudden development caused Niko to become startled and almost slip off the edge of the branch – only to be saved by Elijah's hand. A small sound akin to a stick cracking on the ground paired with a small yelp attracted the eyes of...

Yet again, beasts that likely came from The Void were on their front doorstep, waiting for the opportunity to follow through with its master's orders.

Instantaneously, a slouching boney creature with a very wrinkly face and pointed ears appeared out of thin air – directly in the face of Niko. Its breath was that of a savage beast: full of dried blood and literal shit.

After a single second of staring death in the eyes, Elijah witnessed its maw open wide – with the capacity to maybe even swallow Elijah hole. Inside its maw, was the visibly stretching skin, but also an infinite darkness that seemed more mystique than real.

Boom!

Elijah's arm quickly achieved its ethereal glow and dealt a devastating blow, ripping apart the abomination's cranium like a hydraulic press.

By the end of three minutes, five more had – as Elijah had described, "teleport", only to receive a death blow sending them to the same spot as their brethren. Black blood and withered guts began to flow down the tree.

Stained with the blood and stench of an abomination, Elijah could imagine what this tree would be thinking if it were "alive".

To Niko, Elijah was the man with all the power in the world – the shield and hammer to his strategy that had yet to be fully revealed. The power of illusions was not the only power stolen from Damon, but something far more insidious that Niko and Elijah had only a basic understanding of.

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Fortunately, the development had resulted in six orange beast cores, of which Elijah was surprised by. The reason being as these abominations – unnatural creatures – had a very unique ability.

Teleportation.

A conversation between Niko and Elijah sparked about this revelation. The question that they ended up with was whether or not it was an innate ability of the abomination...

Or an ability just like theirs.

However, there was another crude ability that allowed these abominations to open their maws to an incredible degree. Maybe even to a point of being able to swallow a fellow human whole! All Elijah was thinking was how there had to be a connection between its teleportation ability and the opening of its maw. While there isn't a reason for anything on how the beasts of this world act, there are commonalities and congruent must haves of the supernatural.

Down below, the fighting with purely shields and swords was taking place.

In the center of attention, a tall and blonde man who radiated an aura opposing the grueling scene of anger and bloodshed, stood as a beacon of hope. With every beast his silver sword cut down, the next one fell with a seamless transition. Almost like the man was able to "feel" where everything was in the close vicinity. The strikes of a sword painting a line in the air before they swung, or a vision of the future that did not deter him from viewing the present, and acting as information the man could instantly act on.

An angel among the demons and humans.

From above, Elijah saw many soldiers disappear through the maw of the abominations. Around the angelic figure who now seemed to be wearing a blindfold, a sense of invincibility took root in Elijah's mind. Not a single beast could even lay a long boney finger on him.

Within twenty minutes, the fighting had come to a close with a mountain of bodies laying on the floor. If Elijah were able to grab all of those cores, he would pretty much guarantee himself the securement he needed for the short future. Of course, this is without knowing his daily expenses as there has not been a clear sense of what his life would look like.

"I know you are hiding in those trees! Why don't you come down... and explain to me how you were able to destroy these Yostimime's so quickly!" The man with the long golden hair pointed his shiny silver and engraved runic sword towards the trees Elijah and Niko had cooped up in – albeit a couple arm lengths off, which confused the men and women trying desperately to understand how many comrades were missing or dead.

"Quick Niko! Invisible runes."Elijah's hand was revealed.

Niko knew the plan, and from this point forward, Elijah would allow Niko to keep his own three invisible runes inside his spatial storage, which is probably something he should've done from the very start.

Within the matter of a minute, Elijah and Niko had flown into the sky – the sky full of life and sunlight while escaping the coming scrutiny. In the far distance, a bright white castle shot into the sky. While it was nowhere near the height of the towering trees, it was still an impressive feat while lacking mechanical cranes.

Without any words, Elijah deftly decided that this would be the time for them to survey the land.

Tavenas was a city covered in large towering trees. The edges were the boring and simple parts consisting mainly of storage houses and residential housing. However, once the center was reached, it quickly moved into a place worth remembering. The highlight of which would be the Orneas Pantheon – a place of worship for the people. What the map said was the Spout of Orneas was directly behind it on a lower elevation. While slowly flying above it and being conscious about how much mana Elijah has in his tank, he saw the so-called hot springs. Sections of water that slowly rode down the mountain on the side of the formation of the Orneas River. Below the cliffside that sits on Tavenas is still Tavenas, but what people call the Market District, Likely for the focus on buying and selling of goods in addition to extracurricular activities. The river flowed rapidly underneath a wide bridge that connected the southern side of Tavenas to the Northern side of Tavenas. In the distance, were the drop-off of buildings and the transition to farmland. Elijah wasn't quite able to see the vastness of it, but just Tavenas farmland gave Elijah the idea it was bigger than more than half of the outer region of Astraea.

As Elijah remembers, at a certain point – when the towering trees are no more – marks the start of Sefrah. The southern side consists of much taller buildings and the royal castle, while the right consists of two and three story buildings. And in the very center of everything is the river of Orneas that divides the city in two, leading to the magnificent ocean. However, it does seem there is a second river behind the King's enormous castle.

After this spur of the moment exploration mission, Elijah and Niko quickly returned to the tree covered cliffside for a rest break. Richter's apartment was quite hard to point out, but after looking through a couple windows, they used the key they had been given and walked right inside.

The total for the day if they had sold everything would be 995 Genny — if they are able to sell the five orange beast cores for 85, which was unlikely considering they were smaller in size than the embergator's

With the time of day not even being before sunset, Elijah decided to do some studying of the map, and maybe would even think about buying a map of the beast lands.