Chapter 92: Beast Tides (4)

Kadre stabbed into the feathered leg of the griffin that had swooped her away mid-jump. The griffin roared in painful protest, but only clenched its talons tighter!

Wind pulled at her cloak, and the city shrank beneath her.

By now, they had flown over the city’s walls and towards the forest. Below, flashy sights from spells and screams were most dominant!

Blood ran down the beast’s leg and dripped onto her clothes, but it flew on as if nothing had happened.

Since the beast wasn’t exactly keen on letting her go despite the repeated stabs, Kadre decided to stay still until it got to its nest. Her companion, on the other hand, had other thoughts about the situation.

Mikael, feeling somewhat fatigued, as had been the case since he began the conversion of his divinity, sat atop the corpse of a minotaur and scanned the entire area outside the city. The beasts were dwindling in number, which meant the knights and the adventurers were quite impressive at their jobs.

Smoke stood up in columns from the wall and the gates, but the fighting there was thinning out.

Beside him was Ragnarok, and Mikael did not dare pick it up. Although he couldn’t say for sure what the issue was, he had no doubt it was connected to the transmutation, and possibly to the fact that it was too low on energy to do anything except tug on the closest energy source. Its wielder!

He kept his hands in his lap and his eyes on the walls, his arms felt heavy, and there was a dull ache behind his eyes.

While he scanned the field, he happened to glance at the sky, after dark clouds suddenly gathered a few miles out. That was when he caught sight of the Adept-rank master thief being whisked away by what the records called a griffin. The ‘prey’ struggled for some time before going completely still, causing Mikael to think for a moment that the girl had been snuffed out.

She was the best thief available for now, and he had paid her a lot of gold. He was not done with her.

To be completely sure, he picked up the axe closest to him and took some measurements. With as much might as he could muster, he threw it up into the sky, and got into a sprint.

It was a heavy axe, and it flew straight and fast, exactly where he wanted it to go.

The axe was a welcome surprise for Kadre, as it caved into the chest of the griffin, killing it instantly. The relief was instant but short-lived, as the wind sang in her ears and she dropped fast!

” Oh my goddess!”

Her stomach turned over, and the forest below rushed up to meet her.

But, in answer to her prayers, just a couple of feet from becoming a human squish on the ground, her savior arrived and nabbed her.

He caught her, a hand supporting her neck and the other on her waist. As soon as he secured her, he pinned her to himself.

The landing was punishing, and the shock vibrated through her entire body.

“Tch. I leave you for just thirty minutes, and you get picked up like a worm by a bird,” Mikael joked with a smile.

“None of your business, pretty face. Thanks for the save.” She got off him. The claw wounds on her sides looked bad, but a closer look revealed that they were not too serious.

Her voice had come out shaky when she thanked him, and she hated that. She rubbed her sides and looked at the blood on her hands.

“So, what do we do now? Leave? Or enjoy the breeze a bit more?”

Mikael ran a hand through his hair and sighed in exasperation. “We can’t leave yet. Ragnarok’s not responding to me.”

“Wait, who’s Ragnarok? A new friend of yours?”

“The scythe. The one I’ve been carrying about.”

“And how’s a mere weapon ‘not responding’? What, is it sentient or something?”

“Yes, it is sentient. Are you actually as smart as you claim to be? That much should have been pretty obvious.”

Kadre opened her mouth, closed it, and decided to let that one go, but not without a scoff. She tied up the last strand of the makeshift bandage over one of her wounds.

“So go pick up your scythe, Mister Mysterious. You are the one… Owww! What the fuck!?” She kicked a short sword out of Mikael’s hand.

He had somehow heated up a blade, beaten her to a wound below her ribs, and cauterized it. She shrank back instantly.

The smell of burnt skin reached her nose, and she breathed through her mouth.

It hurt, but it had also stopped bleeding.

“You humans tend to die from these kinds of wounds. Can’t have you dying yet.”

Kadre growled, her eyebrows creasing in anger. “Don’t ever pull this shit again,” she hissed through her teeth. “And are you not human, creep?”

“My apologies, then.” He pointed in the direction of the dark clouds and the lightning, which rampaged alongside someone of the same rank as Alan and Selena. “What’s in that direction?”

“That would be Fort Erica. And from the look in your eyes, no. I am not going over there.”

She crossed her arms. The lightning flashed again, and this time the thunder reached them a few seconds late.

“Fine. Don’t get swooped off your feet again this time, or I’ll have to rethink your status in my mind. And my scythe, do keep an eye on it.”

Kadre looked at the scythe, then at him, and her mouth tightened.

That order earned him a scowl and a silence that carried her annoyance. She just began walking away.

‘The female half of the human race. I never did get along with the older ones, did I? And now even the younger ones.’ Images of the General, the Duchess, and now Kadre flashed through his mind.

“Please.” Having said it in the most polite voice he could manage, and without waiting for her reply, he sprinted off again, this time in the direction of the fort.

Dust kicked up behind him, and in a few seconds he was a dark shape over the plains, and then he was gone.

“Such a prick. What a waste of good looks.” Kadre spat out a mouthful of blood, before deciding to humor her very annoying client.

She looked at the scythe lying in the dirt, and sighed. Then she walked over and stood beside it with her arms folded.

* * * * *

The dragon crashed headfirst into a building, while its two attackers landed gracefully on roofs some distance away.

The building collapsed behind it in a cloud of dust and broken stone, and the street shook.

“This thing is much more persistent than I expected. Guild Master, would you mind if I took the honor of slaying this Ravager?” the Captain asked.

The battle had been quite difficult for the giant of a man, whose affinity was water and who could not effectively take the fight to the skies, unlike the lightning-affinity Guild Master, shockingly a Sage Rank, who could conveniently take to the air with bursts of lightning.

Guild Master Konja pulled a cigar from his thick fur coat.

He lit it with a small spark from his fingertip and took a long, slow pull.

“Do as you wish, Mr. Captain.”

Konja leaned against a chimney and settled in to watch.

“Thank you, guildmaster. Just keep it on the ground for me.” Behemoth jumped off and moved toward the dragon, which was now making slight, visible movements.

He landed hard on the stones, shook out his shoulders, and walked toward it with his hand on the hilt.

A bolt of lightning fried one of its wings instantly. Now there was no fear that it would fly off, as its wing had been completely dealt with, which was what had made it fall in the first place.

The wing hit the ground with a crack, and dust rolled down the street.

As soon as Captain Behemoth got close enough, he crouched, sheathed his sword, and took a deep breath. He waited for the beast to raise its head, and that did not take long.

“Draw Slash Technique: Rising Tides!”

His movements were near impossible to see.

He coated his sword with mana as dense as he could, and then, while drawing the sword from its sheath, he drew an arc that rose from the sheath and cut, all in one movement.

The dragon’s head fell off in a gush of blood.

The body twitched twice and went still. The street fell quiet.

“Impressive, Captain! First time seeing someone use the Draw Slash Technique, and so fluidly at that,” Guild Master Konja shouted, largely at the top of his voice.

In response, Captain Behemoth raised his sword slightly before sheathing it.

Water dripped from the edge of his blade, and he wiped it clean with a cloth.

The number of beasts in the city had visibly reduced, and so had the sound of fighting. Everything was ending on good terms! If one discounted the damage to infrastructure.

Down the street, a few adventurers were already sitting on the curb, too tired to stand.

“I’d say we make a pretty good team, Captain.”

The earth groaned loudly and the entire surface shook violently, toppling a few buildings that had managed to stay standing!

Windows burst along the street, and a long crack ran across the stones between the two men.

Konja threw away his cigar and groaned. “Another one?”

Behemoth looked at the dust rising from the direction of the wall and drew his sword again.

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