Lord Of Beasts

{Congratulations on defeating another of the Boss Beasts. The Hemiptera, Odonata, and Hymenoptera have now been eliminated.}

{Four Boss Beasts remain: Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera.}

Silence followed the notifications.

Everyone wore the same confused expression.

Rowan frowned.

"What kind of names are those?" Seraphina asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

"They sound made up."

"They probably are," Darius muttered while wiping hornet blood from his spear.

Even Liora tilted her head thoughtfully.

"I don’t recognise any of them."

Only Ethan remained lying flat on his back with a strange look on his face.

"Seriously?"

He let out a tired laugh.

"Of course, the system would turn this into a biology lesson."

Nobody understood what he meant, and he didn’t bother to explain either.

The adrenaline finally wore off, and instantly, every muscle in Ethan’s body screamed. His breathing became uneven as he collapsed completely onto the floating island, every ounce of strength seemingly leaving him at once.

Partial Assimilation had already placed enormous strain on both his mana and his body. Then, using Flame Flight, Spark’s skills, and constantly relying on Beast Recovery, it had all added up.

His body ached externally, but internally felt even worse.

It was the strange emptiness that only came from exhausting nearly every drop of mana.

Wolfy disappeared first.

The giant Fenrir dissolved into particles of light.

A moment later, Talon followed.

Finally, the flames dancing around Ethan faded as Spark also returned to what he dubbed his Beast Space, the tattoo returning to his forearm.

He simply did not have enough mana left to sustain them.

’Even Beast Recovery won’t help with this much strain, but at least I’ll be able to restore my mana.’

Ethan closed his eyes, taking a moment.

His stolen trousers were scorched black around the legs, ripped across one knee and covered in dried blood, soot and hornet ichor.

They had somehow survived.

Sweat soaked every inch of him, his hands trembling from exhaustion.

Yet despite everything, a smile spread across his face.

"We really just did that..."

They had actually killed an A Rank Boss Beast.

Not only that.

They had wiped out dozens upon dozens of B Rank and C Rank Void Hornets in the process.

His thoughts drifted back to the notification.

’Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and Lepidoptera...’

He sat up slightly.

"I’m pretty sure I’ve already met all of those."

His brain replayed the previous encounters inside the gate.

Orthoptera.

"The cricket thing."

Coleoptera.

"The beetles."

Diptera.

"The disgusting fly."

Then finally...

"Lepidoptera."

His smile faded a little.

"That butterfly..."

Immediately, he remembered the Dreamveil Monarch and its hypnotic abilities.

His stomach tightened.

"An A Rank version of that thing is going to be an absolute nightmare."

He sighed.

’So much for an easy science lesson.’

It was evident that the names related to the insect species, and only he made that connection because he could see the beast statuses.

"For now..."

He looked toward one of the dead Void Hornets.

"...let’s just focus on recovering."

And there was one method to do so that was even better than his Beast Recovery Skill and had saved him many times within the tower.

Without another thought, he crawled over.

Everyone watched in silence as Ethan ripped off one of the beast’s legs.

Crunch.

He bit straight into it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ethan looked crazy enough with his constant self-chatter, but they could accept that. This, however, would take a little longer for them to get used to.

Liora physically recoiled, while Darius pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I forgot he did that," the spear-wielder mumbled.

Seraphina looked fascinated.

"You’re actually eating it? What does it taste like? What does it do? Are you not scared that it’s poisonous? How does it come out?"

She spoke as fast as she moved.

"Mhm," was Ethan’s simple response.

Crunch.

The taste wasn’t great this time.

It reminded Ethan of burnt crab mixed with bitter charcoal, and the texture somehow made it even worse.

But the effects...

He could already feel warmth spreading through his body. His aching muscles relaxed slightly, and his depleted mana core slowly began refilling. Energy returned far faster than Beast Recovery alone.

"Worth it," he muttered between bites.

Once enough mana had returned, Ethan lifted a hand.

’Wolfy. Talon. Spark.’

All three of the beasts appeared, the tattoos leaping off his body and becoming living, frightening entities. There was no hiding it now, while half-naked, and they had literally seen it happen in real-time.

And yet none bothered to question it.

"It’s not like he’s going to give us any answers anyway," Liora murmured.

Instead, they watched as his beasts got to work.

The Fenrir immediately buried its face into another hornet’s corpse. Talon carefully pecked away at softer portions. Spark floated quietly above one of the bodies, tiny flames consuming fragments of flesh as though feeding on energy itself.

"Is that thing a beast?"

The Cinder Wisp definitely didn’t seem like one.

Ethan just nodded his head between bites, not bothering to hide it at this point. And ultimately, as intriguing as his abilities were, they were all too exhausted to care.

Kaela settled beside him with a small thud, staring at him as he chewed another mouthful.

"So..."

She pointed.

"Is this beast good too?"

Ethan swallowed.

"Try it."

She looked at the corpse, then looked back at Ethan.

"Um... I’m good."

She dropped backwards onto the floating island, lying casually.

"I’ll let my healing factor do the work."

She folded her arms behind her head and closed her eyes.

"That’s much less disgusting."

For a while, everyone was silent, each focusing on recovering in any way they could.

Dave meditated despite still wearing nothing but banana-patterned underwear. Bulldozer sat beside him, looking traumatised. Rowan replenished mana naturally while resting against a tree construct.

Across from them, Liora quietly breathed with closed eyes, Seraphina stretched bruised muscles, and Kaela remained unusually still.

It had been an overwhelming success.

Three A Ranks.

Three B Ranks.

Three C Ranks.

Every member had fulfilled their role, and that allowed them to take on such a powerful group of beasts.

Kaela, Elara, and Liora obviously played the biggest part and defeated the Boss Beast. But Rowan’s, Darius’s, and Seraphina’s battlefield control and experience were invaluable.

Even Dave was useful; his opening attack alone was enough.

That left the Bulldozer, who essentially didn’t do anything, but had protected Dave so he could unleash that attack again.

As for Ethan...

He had fought well above his official rank and had effectively replaced several B Rank Titled all at once. His own abilities, while partially assimilated with his beasts, were much greater than those of your average C Ranks. Add to that his summons, and he had played an even bigger role than the B Ranks in the squad.

He was not A Rank.

Not yet.

But he was closer than he himself realised.

And he would continue to have a massive role in clearing this gate, constantly benefiting along the way...