Lord Of Beasts

Once Beast Recovery had eased some of the strain, Ethan stood, his eyes searched until they found Elara. She sat quietly near the edge of another of the floating islands, looking down at the abyss.

Her crimson eyes seemed distant.

Ethan walked over before sitting beside her.

"You did really well."

She looked up, thinking he was joking as always.

"I really mean it. You’ve come so far."

A small smile appeared.

"You practically carried that fight."

She lowered her gaze again, almost as if embarrassed by the compliment.

Ethan smiled softly.

"Are you able to speak now?" he asked slowly.

Immediately, she stiffened.

Her expression fell, and when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

She tried again, but to no avail.

Frustration filled her eyes, and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

Ethan understood.

’She can speak, and has proven that, so whatever is stopping her isn’t physical. It’s something buried somewhere much deeper.’

He had heard of cases where people didn’t speak from trauma and fear, and had long since assumed that was the case. And while neither of them fully understood it yet, it wasn’t something they needed to rush.

Ethan gently smiled.

"Hey."

Her crimson eyes met his.

"We’ll get there eventually, together."

He reached over and gently pulled her head against his chest.

She froze.

Then she slowly relaxed, melting into his arms as the tension disappeared from her shoulders.

For several moments, neither of them spoke.

They simply sat there, watching the endless floating islands across the gate, which was breathtaking scenery.

Kaela smiled faintly as she approached with some of the others.

"Look at these lovebirds."

Seraphina nodded.

"To think these monsters could be this cute together."

Liora laughed.

"They’re complete opposites, too."

One possessed calm blue eyes, the other glowing crimson.

One was loud, the other barely spoke.

One was rough-looking and fierce, the other was ethereal and gentle.

Yet somehow, they fit together naturally.

Perhaps because beneath all those differences, they were more alike than they realised, after all, both possessed abilities that seemed limitless.

Elara instantly became flustered and pushed away from Ethan, seeing the others show up. Meanwhile, he got up slowly and had long since sensed them coming, but didn’t bother trying to hide something so obvious.

Nor was he bothered by it.

"Come on."

He casually ushered them to follow them to Dave, who was the only one remaining. As they did, the monk immediately pointed, and thus began their back and forth.

"My trousers."

"No."

"My trousers."

"No."

"They’re mine."

"They’re mine now."

"They literally have my name written inside."

"And what?"

Dave narrowed his eyes.

"You stole my trousers."

"No, I didn’t."

"You literally punched me unconscious."

"I performed emergency clothing acquisition."

Kaela burst into laughter, and Seraphina couldn’t hold it together either, especially once they looked down to see Dave’s banana-patterned underwear left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Well, very little (pun intended).

Liora covered her mouth.

"That’s..."

Rowan, the most reserved of the lot, completely lost it.

"Hahahaha!"

Even Elara quietly turned away, clearly trying not to smile.

Ethan looked Dave up and down dramatically, adding more salt to the injury.

"Dave," he said seriously.

"What?"

"I’ve got some bad news."

"I don’t want to hear it," he said, not that he had much of a choice.

"I’m afraid..."

Ethan placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"...that banana pattern is the biggest thing you’ve got going for you."

The entire squad erupted.

Dave’s face became bright red.

"You absolute bastard!"

His white eyes immediately gathered mana, his body reacting instinctively to his embarrassment and anger.

"Oh, we’re doing this?"

Ethan grinned, sure that the monk would stand down and wouldn’t try to kill him because of a joke. He was ready to activate Partial Assimilation either way, but Elara didn’t react as calmly.

Behind him, crimson light began gathering, a growing Crimson Flash condensed above her palm.

Dave’s eyes widened.

"W-wait!"

Ethan glanced back and quickly raised both hands.

"Let’s calm it down."

Elara blinked innocently, and the crimson energy slowly dissipated, but only once Dave withdrew the mana he had condensed in his eyes.

He then released a long breath.

"You nearly got vaporised over some trousers," Ethan couldn’t help but comment.

The man sighed and couldn’t argue with that.

"It seems like the lovebirds aren’t to be messed with," Kaela laughed.

There was some tension, at least on Dave’s side, since most of the others were laughing. But once the amusement faded, only their exhaustion remained. It would take much longer than an hour or two for them to fully recover.

But time was of the essence.

As such, Darius cleared his throat to draw their attention, his grip tightening around his spear.

"We’ve rested long enough and should get moving again."

Kaela rolled her shoulders.

"I’m ready."

"So am I," Seraphina agreed.

Liora nodded.

"We cannot afford to lose momentum."

Ethan looked toward the endless floating islands stretching into the distance.

’Four more Boss Beasts.’

He smiled.

"Well, then..."

He adjusted Dave’s stolen trousers one last time, ignoring the monk’s constant glare, though he did feel slightly bad for him.

"Let’s go kill some bugs."

-

The battle against the Void Hornet had become the turning point.

Once they had survived their first coordinated assault against one of the insect strongholds, everything afterwards slowly fell into a rhythm. It was still exhausting and dangerous, but it was no longer as chaotic.

It had become a process, a brutal one.

None of them looked particularly healthy.

Darius leaned heavily on his spear, each breath causing a sharp pain in his chest. Rowan’s and Dave’s mana reserves weren’t replenished despite all the meditation they had done. Seraphina’s knuckles were bruised and stained with dried insect blood.

Liora looked mentally exhausted from constantly maintaining and manipulating her constructs. Kaela, though externally in good condition, was reaching her limits. And even Elara, despite possessing what seemed like an endless sea of crimson energy, looked slightly pale after repeatedly unleashing attacks powerful enough to erase A Rank beasts.

Only Ethan and the Bulldozer looked somewhat refreshed.

His Beast Recovery skill had been working continuously while everyone rested, repairing his body from within, and every opportunity he had, he shamelessly stuffed himself full of beast meat.

It was disgusting, but effective.

And he did so one last time before they set off.

"Are you even human anymore?" Darius muttered as Ethan finished chewing another mouthful.

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

"I’m not sure it was."

Ethan grinned anyway as they set off.

No speeches were necessary anymore, with all of them knowing the routine: Find the base, destroy the base, separate the Boss Beast, kill the Boss Beast.

After that, it was rest and repeat.

And as if the System itself wanted them to succeed while making them suffer every step of the way, their exploration always ended the same way. After enough searching across endless floating islands, they found another gigantic structure waiting in the distance.

Only this time, the structure was very different from the hornet’s enormous nest...