Lord Of Beasts

The transformation happened so suddenly that even Ethan paused.

After swallowing whatever that was, the B Rank rogue was barely human anymore.

He resembled some grotesque fusion between a man and an enormous kangaroo. Its oversized hind legs dwarfed the rest of its body, and a heavy tail slammed against the ground behind it. Oddly, its arms remained vaguely human, though far thicker than before, ending in clawed hands wrapped in crackling mana.

It was ridiculous, ugly, and almost comical.

Ethan smiled.

"I was honestly expecting something cooler."

Even Kaela tilted her head.

"Pfft."

She bit her lip, but failed to suppress her amusement.

"Hahahaha!"

She doubled over laughing.

"You turned into a fucking kangaroo of all things!"

The creature snarled.

Despite how absurd it looked, both Ethan and Kaela could tell it was strong. The pressure pouring from its body had increased dramatically. Its already explosive Ability had likely become even more terrifying, as its enormous hind legs flexed rhythmically.

It didn’t need to bounce or move to generate momentum anymore.

While standing, its body was compressing and releasing, each cycle storing more and more kinetic energy.

’It’s kinda like Storm’s Kinetic Charge,’ Ethan observed.

The very ground beneath it cracked simply from the constant loading and unloading of force. But unlike Beast Assimilation, the rogue had surrendered almost everything to the beastly instincts.

’I wonder how much of himself is even left.’

The creature answered his curiosity, growling at him before suddenly making its move.

It vanished.

The distance between them disappeared almost instantly.

Ethan’s instincts screamed.

He twisted instinctively, but even with his speed, it was too late.

Its massive hind leg crashed squarely into his chest.

The compressed kinetic energy exploded the instant the kick connected.

CRAAASH!!

Ethan was launched across the construction site like a cannonball, smashing sideways into a parked excavator hard enough to leave a massive dent in the thick steel plating before bouncing off and skidding across the broken concrete.

Dust exploded everywhere.

Silence followed.

"Ouch."

Ethan slowly pushed himself upright, cracking his lower back.

’Nothing’s broken, I think.’

He’d be lying if he said that didn’t hurt, and the blow had almost crushed his chest. It hurt just to breathe now, but most in his place wouldn’t have been able to endure that strike as he had. His durability was absurd, and that was without even being assimilated to his tougher beasts.

But that didn’t make it any less funny.

Across the battlefield, Kaela was pointing at him.

"Hahaha! You got ragdolled. I didn’t think my boss was such a pushover."

Ethan shot her a deadpan look.

"You done?"

"No."

She laughed even harder.

The kangaroo creature let out a guttural roar, as if offended that Ethan was looking away from it.

It bounced once.

Twice.

Each landing left another crater in the concrete, as it prepared to burst towards him again like a living artillery shell ricocheting around the battlefield.

Ethan rolled his shoulders.

’Honestly, I underestimated this guy.’

From the beginning, he hadn’t taken the fight seriously.

That wasn’t to say that he was suicidal, but just that it wasn’t an opponent that made his heart race.

If Ethan had gone all out, this wouldn’t have lasted more than a second. The man wouldn’t have even had a chance to consume any drug before he was zapped and shredded by a giant fenrir.

Ethan had viewed this as little more than a chance to experience fighting a B Rank Titled and learning about a new ability.

’But now it’s getting interesting.’

The creature launched itself again, but this time Ethan had no intention of dodging, blocking, or countering.

His eyes narrowed.

’Beast Suppression!’

An invisible pressure erupted from Ethan.

The predatory aura that had made countless beasts freeze in terror swept across the battlefield.

For an instant, the transformed rogue hesitated.

Its pupils shrank, and its body instinctively tensed, then...

"RRRAAAAGH!!"

The mutated creature roared and forced itself forward anyway, completely shattering Ethan’s attempt at getting it to submit to his will. He felt it resisting, then he felt the domineering force he unleashed bounce back.

"Huh."

That was new.

No beast he’d faced since obtaining the skill had ever resisted it so completely, but it seemed as though the transformed rogue was simply too powerful. Or more likely, it was because it wasn’t actually a beast but rather a transformed human.

While it had worked on the Bulldozer, this was a strong B Rank creature that was enraged, so it was naturally more resistant. And in terms of power, Ethan had a good gauge after all the beasts he’d faced in the Tower.

’A C Tier Floor Boss, that’s about where I’d place whatever the fuck this is.’

But instead of being concerned that he couldn’t suppress the beast, a grin spread across Ethan’s face.

"Now we’re talking."

The kangaroo creature slammed both feet into the ground again, preparing another impossible leap. And it was almost waiting for him to get ready, wanting to face him head-on.

"The kangaroo has honour?"

Ethan laughed.

’All I need to do is damage it a little, then Beast Suppression becomes more effective, right?’

He smiled.

’And I got the perfect thing for the job.’

There was no need to summon any of his beasts or use any of his trump cards when there was a skill he could always rely on.

’Variable Beast Impact!’

Mana flooded through every fibre of Ethan’s body, far more than Minor Beast Impact had ever demanded. It simply accepted however much mana he chose to pour into the technique.

Wind gathered around him, and the entire atmosphere seemed to tighten.

Even Kaela stopped smiling.

The transformed rogue instinctively hesitated as every instinct inside its beastly body screamed the same warning.

Danger!

But it was too late.

Just as it burst forward, Ethan disappeared.

The world collapsed into a single perfect line, and unlike Wolfy’s Beast Impact, which embodied overwhelming physical dominance, Talon’s version reflected absolute precision, speed, and execution.

A Griffling evolved from a Skyrend Hawk didn’t overwhelm its prey; it ended the hunt with one flawless dive.

Ethan became exactly that.

A living blade of compressed wind.

The transformed rogue had instinctively compressed every spring-like muscle throughout its monstrous body, storing every last ounce of kinetic energy before releasing everything at once.

Its oversized hind legs exploded forward, its remaining human instincts telling it to meet force with greater force.

But the collision never came.

Instead, Ethan appeared several metres behind it.

There was silence, and the construction site became eerily still.

Kaela blinked, and even she hadn’t seen what had happened clearly.

The transformed rogue slowly frowned.

"W-What..."

It looked down at itself.

"...did you..."

Its left arm slid cleanly from its shoulder.

Thud.

A heartbeat later, blood burst from the impossibly clean wound.

Its eyes widened in delayed disbelief.

It hadn’t seen the attack or even felt it; only after Ethan had already passed did its transformed body realise it had been cut. The mutated creature collapsed onto one knee, clutching the ruined shoulder.

Ethan turned calmly.

The emerald glow faded from his eyes.

"I aimed for the arm."

He paused.

"If I’d gone for your neck..."

He left the sentence unfinished, his message clear. And for the first time since the battle began, fear entered the creature’s eyes. Not because Ethan had overpowered it, but because Ethan had shown something even more frightening.

He could have ended the fight whenever he decided to.

And that fear was exactly what the Lord Of Beasts was after...