Lord Of Beasts-Chapter 65: Chaos Part 1
After watching their companion be ripped apart in front of their very eyes, their noses were filled with the smell of his blood. Compared to the green gunk that came out of the fallen Ant Beasts, there was no ignoring the red blood of their own kind.
"We can still-" Jared began, but he stopped once he stole a glance at the remaining D Rank.
She was shaken to her core, so much so that she even froze for a second, her eyes locked onto what remained of the sword wielder.
There were no words that would make this better.
But it was that loss of focus and hesitation that would kill her, as the beast swarm continued attacking under the direction of the Ant Commander.
She roared, swinging wildly.
Her axe glowed and crushed an E Rank Ant Troop that attacked her. Then she split open the head of another, yelling with each attack, unleashing her fear as anger.
Jared was trying to block as many of the ant beasts in the tunnel as he could, but even he was getting overwhelmed. The smaller beasts were able to sneak past him, climbing across the walls and ceiling.
And their only remaining target was the struggling D Rank.
"Get back!!!"
She slammed her axe down again, but something grabbed her leg.
Her footing slipped, and she fell hard.
The torchlight flickered wildly as ants swarmed over her body.
"No! Help me! Jared! Don’t let me-!"
Her scream was cut short as mandibles tore into her abdomen. They burrowed in and ripped outward, blood and viscera spilt across the tunnel floor.
The axe-wielder’s body convulsed, her hands twitching and eyes wide until one final bite crushed her throat.
She lay there still, unmistakably dead.
Jared saw all of it, helpless to help her and barely holding on himself. His armour was covered in dents where the ant beasts had tried to attack him, and his shield wasn’t much better.
But his body was in the worst condition.
As large and durable as he was, Jared was still just a C Rank facing a small army of beasts alone now. His muscles were trembling, many of them torn from constant use of his ability.
But there was no stopping now.
He was alone, and the moment he gave up was the moment he signed his own death certificate. Yet the ant beasts were endless and closed in on him from every direction relentlessly.
"Iron Rebound!"
The nearest attacking beasts were blown apart, but more replaced them instantly, the Ant Commander taking a backseat and allowing the troops to wear Jared down.
It was definitely working.
Claws scraped against his armour, and mandibles pierced through the gaps, blood seeping through the cracks. As for his breathing, it was heavy, and he was pretty much gasping for air.
Just holding up his shield felt difficult now.
His body was collapsing in every sense of the word, his knees dipping slightly. The armour he wore regularly and felt like an extension of his body now felt like a crushing force.
It was as if gravity had multiplied its force on Jared.
And that was enough for the ants, who piled onto him, climbing, biting and tearing at his flesh.
He roared, swinging wildly, but his strength was fading by the second, drowning beneath numbers and inevitability.
"Hah!"
A broken laugh escaped his lips as blood dripped from his chin.
"I guess... this is it."
Jared threw his shield aside and prepared to unleash his ability one last time.
The swarm of beasts surged, completely engulfing him.
But as the darkness closed in, the weight crushed down, and the pain consumed everything, the fire in his eyes hadn’t died.
"I’m not going down with a bang..."
He grinned beneath his helmet.
"A literal one!"
-
After making a break for it, Ethan didn’t look back.
Not even once.
There was no such thing as shamelessness when it came to life and death, and even if there was, he couldn’t care less.
The tunnel blurred past him as he surged forward, muscles coiling and releasing with unnatural precision.
’Beast Assimilation: Talon.’
Speed flooded his body as his steps became lighter, sharper, and faster.
It was almost like he was gliding, his feet touching the ground only for a split second. Each stride ate up distance as the stale, suffocating air rushed past his face.
Closely behind him were footsteps, fast and steady.
Ethan glanced sideways.
The red-eyed A Rank was right there, and keeping up with him.
"Huh?"
That alone impressed him.
Then again, she was supposedly an A Rank, as much as she didn’t feel like it.
She also didn’t seem to be holding back either; he could see that in her expression, the tension in her body, and the way her breathing struggled to keep pace.
This was close to her limit.
’For an A Rank... that’s underwhelming.’
But still, she was keeping up with him while he was using Talon - that at least confirmed that she wasn’t a normal untitled.
’If she can move like this... what else can she do?’
His eyes narrowed slightly.
’And why isn’t she helping?’
Too many possibilities spun through his mind.
’Is she restricted? Maybe she’s too powerful to interfere. Or she could be an observer sent here to test and watch us, so her hands are tied.’
But then he looked at her properly.
And what he saw was raw and unfiltered fear.
She wasn’t calculating or holding back; she was utterly terrified.
Ethan clicked his tongue.
’Guess I can’t rely on her.’
Despite that, having an A Rank beside him, even a broken one, was better than nothing. Well, as long as she didn’t suddenly decide he was the problem.
Still, he couldn’t help but be curious.
"Why don’t you go back and help them?" he shouted over the rushing air.
She didn’t respond or even look his way, and just carried on running silently beside him.
Ethan sighed.
"Yeah, thought so."
His focus snapped forward again.
’I need to retrace our steps and head back to the starting area. Then I can figure things out from there.’
It was the only plan he could piece together with the options he had left, yet the air around him grew tight - coiled with a tension that felt ready to snap at any moment.
And then, before he could even steady himself for what was coming next, something happened that he could never have anticipated...
