Lunar Legacy: Rise Of The Beastlord-Chapter 281: Second Death

BOOM!

The Flare burst through the debris cloud, flames trailing behind it, jaws wide for a killing bite.

Jayden’s mind raced even as his body moved. He dove sideways, rolling across the scorched earth. His telekinesis lashed out, grabbing fallen branches, rocks, chunks of shattered boulder—anything and everything in range.

The debris storm launched at the Flare from multiple angles.

The beast twisted in mid-air, its agility remarkable despite its injuries. It avoided most of the projectiles, but a jagged stone caught it in the already-wounded ribs. The Flare yowled, its landing awkward, its right foreleg buckling.

Jayden didn’t give it time to recover. He charged, using his telekinesis to enhance his momentum, practically flying across the clearing. His left fist drove into the Flare’s injured side like a battering ram.

CRACK!

Ribs shattered audibly. The Flare was thrown sideways, tumbling across the ground.

But the Ancient beast was far from finished. As it rolled, its body vanished, disappearing once again.

Jayden skidded to a halt, his enhanced senses straining. Then he felt it—a disturbance in the air to his left, the faintest ripple of heat.

On instinct, he threw a telekinetic pulse in that direction, invisible force expanding outward like a shockwave.

BAM!

The force slammed straight into the Flare as it emerged, sending the beast flying across the clearing on impact. It crashed into a tree, becoming visible once more.

Jayden growled with a savage satisfaction.

The Flare rose on shaking legs, blood dripping from its mouth, its breathing labored. For the first time, something other than rage or battle-lust showed in its eyes. Something strangely close to fear.

Jayden stalked forward, his Lycan form casting a massive shadow in the moonlight. His right arm was still broken, healing slowly, but his left arm was more than enough. And now, with telekinesis added to his arsenal, the balance had shifted. Victory was definitely on his side.

The Flare knew it too.

It gathered its flames one more time, its body erupting in a miniature sun of white-hot fire. This was its last gambit... to burn and destroy everything, in an effort to take Jayden down with it.

Jayden felt the temperature spike, he felt his fur beginning to crisp even from the distance.

Then the beast charged, a meteor of flame and fury, putting everything it had left into one final, devastating assault.

Jayden planted his feet into the ground and thrust both hands forward—forcing even his broken right arm to cooperate. Then....

Whrum!

His telekinesis erupted with greater force than ever before, appearing visible like a distortion in the air itself.

The Flare slammed into the invisible wall and was stopped dead in its tracks.

And for a frozen moment, the beast and the Lycan were locked in a contest of raw power... the Flare’s flames pushing forward, Jayden’s telekinesis pushing back. The air between them shimmered and cracked, reality itself straining under the pressure.

Jayden’s muscles bulged, his veins standing out like cables beneath his fur. Blood ran from his nose, his ears, his eyes... the telekinetic strain in Lycan form was enormous, far beyond what his human body had ever endured.

But he didn’t let go. He didn’t back down.

"RAAAAAAAGH!"

His roar shook the forest, pushing back with all he had. And then....

FWOOSH.... BOOM!!

His telekinetic barrier collapsed inward, becoming a focused point of crushing force that landed directly on the beast.

BAM!!

The Flare’s flames sputtered and died, snuffed out like candles. And it’s body was slammed downward, driven into the earth with enough force to crater the ground.

Jayden was on it instantly, his massive form blurring across the clearing. His left hand seized the Flare’s neck, his claws punching through fur and flesh, pinning it down.

The Flare thrashed weakly, its strength finally failing. It tried to ignite its flames one more time, but only a few pitiful embers emerged.

Jayden knew this was his chance to finish the beast off, to end it. His jaws opened wide, revealing fangs that gleamed like knives in the moonlight. The Flare’s neck was right there, exposed and vulnerable.

But even in defeat, the Flare’s mane was still burning... thousands of degrees of thermal energy surrounding its neck.

Jayden hesitated for a second. To bite it was madness. It would melt his jaw off. But if he didn’t act now, he might not get another chance.

"This is going to hurt," he thought distantly. "This is going to hurt a lot."

Then without giving it another thought, Jayden plunged his snout directly into the white-hot inferno, closing his jaws around the Flare’s throat.

The flames immediately seared his mouth, burning his tongue and the inside of his throat. The pain was beyond description... it was like swallowing molten metal, or breathing fire, whilst having your face pressed against a furnace.

But Jayden’s fangs punched through scale and hide, through muscle and sinew, straight to the vital arteries beneath.

The Flare’s scream was cut off mid-roar as Jayden’s jaws crushed down with all his remaining strength. Vertebrae snapped. Arteries burst. Blood, superheated by the beast’s internal flames, sprayed across Jayden’s face, but he held on, his jaws locked like a vice.

The Flare’s body convulsed once. Twice. Then went still.

The flames on its mane guttered and finally died, fading to nothing. The oppressive heat that had dominated the clearing dissipated like a nightmare at dawn.

Jayden held on for another ten seconds, making certain the beast was still. Then, finally, he released his grip and staggered backwards.

The Ancient Sabertooth Flare lay motionless in its crater, its neck a ruined mess, its eyes vacant and glassy.

Then a system notification appeared.

[Ancient Sabertooth Flare defeated]

[+200 Exp received]

[Random Quest Complete]

[You have received 2,000,000 Shop points]

Jayden let out a sigh. The beast was finally dead. And silence returned to the forest, heavier than before.

Jayden stood over his kill, swaying on his feet. His mouth was a charred ruin, his tongue nearly burned away, his throat raw and blistered. His right arm hung at an impossible angle, the bone shattered in multiple places. Deep lacerations covered his body, blood matting his silver fur.

But he was alive.

And he’d won.

Slowly, he reverted back to human, while his wounds also began to heal. Burns and gashes knit themselves, closing with unnatural speed. Fur receded into skin, claws retracting to fingernails, fangs shrinking back to human teeth. The transformation reversed in seconds, leaving only a battered teenage boy with silver hair plastered to his forehead by sweat and gore.

Jayden stood beside the Flare’s corpse, naked and streaked with blood... some his own, most the beast’s. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a spare set of tracksuit pants and a hoodie he kept for emergencies. After dressing, he knelt beside the beast and placed his hands on its corpse.

Instantly, the system screen appeared with a notification he hadn’t seen in a while.

[Requirements has been met]

[Analyzing compatibility...]

[Host is compatible with available beast energy]

[Would you like to absorb the C-Rank Sabertooth Flare’s energy?]

[Yes] [No]