Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 38—Life Beasts

Cole’s eyes locked with the beast behind him. Both of them maintained their stance to not provoke the other.

Looking carefully, Cole was finally able to get a closer look at the beast in front of him.

The beast appeared to be the combination of a tiger and a scorpion. Its tail hung high with a Sharp needle at its end.

Its body was covered in black scales that offered it both a layer of protection and a more domineering look.

"This must be a Life Beast, my first time meeting one," Cole thought to himself.

He had once read about life beasts in the library during one of his visits.

Life beasts are actually the natural Fauna of Klion; they are able to absorb Life energy passively, giving them a slower growth rate.

They also possess race-specific abilities that allow them to combat Spiriters on equal standing when they are old enough.

The one currently facing Cole was more on the younger end; its strength only peaked at the Dormant stage.

The Life Beast finally grew impatient and pounced towards Cole while he was still on the tree.

To avoid the approaching Beast, Cole hurriedly leaped down from the tree; a faint smile formed on his face.

Though he was well aware of the danger associated with this battle. It didn’t affect his excitement at all.

Cole had grown a little bit attached to battles; the obvious growth it provided him was very addicting.

The earlier battle was extremely unsatisfactory for him, as it was majorly one-sided.

Cole activated the Eyes of Scrutiny swiftly, not minding the pressure of the headache at all.

The Life beast landed, and undeterred by the failed attempt, the Life beast immediately pounced again.

Cole didn’t dodge this time but maniacally rushed straight at it too. His flaming fist fully activated.

Boom!

They both collided wildly, the shockwave causing slight wavering in the surrounding plants.

They forcefully separated and landed not too far away from each other.

Cole knew this method of fighting was unlike him, but he just couldn’t resist the urge at the moment.

Both Cole and the Life beast stared straight at each other, both of them realizing their slightly equal strength.

The beast’s eyes shifted, and in succession to the shift, it directly vanished.

The dark environment wasn’t helping at all, causing Cole to continue searching all about.

Whizz!

Cole suddenly heard from somewhere beside him. His eyes also caught a glimpse of a blur heading towards him.

Instinctively, he abruptly turned and sent a punch in that direction.

The punch hit nothing but air as the beast was nowhere to be found.

Whizz!

Cole heard it again from another direction; he followed the sound and sent another flaming punch towards that location.

He missed again.

Nothing was there; Cole was getting slightly frustrated, but he attempted to keep his cool.

The familiar sound came again, but this time, Cole didn’t rush to respond. Instead, he kept his cool and feigned ignorance.

He waited till it got so close he could feel its body heat before reacting.

Bam!

Cole violently struck towards that direction; this time his punch finally hit.

It only hit the Life beast on the shoulder due to its last-minute twist. Cole was slightly disappointed by the results but still pressed on.

He continued sending barrages of attacks straight at his opponent while ensuring it couldn’t leave.

The beast made several attempts to escape into the darkness so it could utilize its natural skills, but they were all thwarted.

Cole felt a sense of satisfaction as he was letting completely loose on the beast that was in front of him.

Using all the skills he has learned for the past week and also all of his ability to keep on. He was able to land steady hits on his opponent.

His opponent had also completely given up the idea of escaping; instead, it decided to attack with its all.

That decision resulted in a slight change in the battle; the scale tipped from Cole’s favor into being a tie between the both of them.

Cole tried his best, but he just couldn’t beat the beast in front of him, and the beast itself couldn’t end it.

It looked as if it knew the battle wasn’t going anywhere and was also wondering why it couldn’t seem to defeat this human.

About 10 minutes into the battle, Cole’s back was drenched in sweat while he was slightly panting, his flaming fist flickering slightly.

The beast in front of him also kept breathing harshly as its ribs inflated and deflated heavily.

Before the battle could proceed any longer, using a split-second opportunity, the beast created quite a bit of distance between them.

It looked straight at Cole from a distance before disappearing into the dark.

Cole was left stunned by what just happened; he kept staring in the direction the beast vanished as if waiting for a sneak attack.

The sneak attack didn’t arrive, though; Cole was just left there standing awkwardly while still maintaining a battle stance.

Cole didn’t need to be a genius for him to figure out that the beast wouldn’t be returning.

"Did it just leave like that? In the middle of battle," Cole exclaimed.

"Is that even allowed in the beast world?" He joked.

Cole now was left alone with a contrasting feeling in himself. His muscles were sore from the prolonged battle, but his body felt free and alleviated.

"Hahahahahah," He laughed out loud towards the sky.

After releasing his excitement a little, Cole checked his Academic watch to see it was already late at night.

"I better get some rest," he said.

"Today was a long day," he announced while thinking back to the events of the day.

From the battle to being almost overridden by the dark energy and then to his final battle. It all felt a little packed.

He proceeded to climb the nearest tree as high as he could in the hope that he could avoid any attack that way.

Luckily for Cole, the rest of the night went peacefully for him.

Next morning, Cole woke up fully activated and ready.

"Time to record and also begin the placement test," he said loudly."