Lord Of Beasts

Eventually, the trees opened into a massive clearing.

Ethan slowed as he stepped out from beneath the canopy. The pressure he’d been following had become overwhelming, weighing against his senses so heavily that it was impossible to mistake the source any longer.

At the centre of the clearing stood an enormous structure carved directly into the earth. Black stone formed its walls, each slab so massive that Ethan couldn’t imagine how they had been set in place. Strange markings covered the surface, glowing faintly beneath the dim light filtering through the trees and giving the entire structure an ancient, unnatural appearance.

He stared at the entrance.

"So that’s where it was coming from."

The pressure was strongest here.

Whatever waited inside was almost certainly responsible for it.

Still, Ethan didn’t rush in.

His body was recovering from the strain of Storm’s skills and the strain of assimilating with it, while Wolfy had spent the entire journey fighting alongside him. They were strong, but strength didn’t mean much if they entered a dangerous situation already exhausted.

"Let’s recover first."

Wolfy remained beside the entrance while Ethan focused on restoring its condition.

"Beast Mend."

A soft glow radiated from his palms and spread across the Fenrir’s body. The scarce wounds Wolfy had accumulated throughout their battles gradually closed, torn flesh knitting itself back together as its breathing steadied and his muscles relaxed.

It was primarily to restore its stamina and mana.

Once the Fenrir had recovered, Ethan sat down and briefly focused inward, using Beast Recovery to restore his own condition before pushing himself back onto his feet.

He flexed his fingers, testing the remaining stiffness in his muscles, then looked toward the enormous entrance.

"Ready?"

Wolfy’s crimson eyes narrowed as he stared into the darkness beyond the doorway.

A low growl rumbled from his throat.

Ethan grinned.

"This is going to be fun."

Without any further hesitation, they entered.

The passage beyond was enormous.

Its ceiling disappeared into darkness far above Ethan’s head, while the walls stretched into the distance like the interior of some ancient fortress. Their footsteps echoed through the stone corridor, each sound travelling forward before being swallowed by the darkness ahead.

There were no torches or lamps anywhere.

Yet the deeper they went, the brighter the corridor became.

A faint dark-green glow gradually began bleeding across the walls, illuminating the strange markings carved into the black stone.

Ethan’s expression slowly hardened.

The pressure was becoming stronger, much stronger.

He continued forward with Wolfy at his side until they finally reached the end of the corridor. The passage suddenly opened into a gigantic chamber.

Ethan stepped through before freezing in place.

His eyes widened.

For a moment, he couldn’t comprehend what he was looking at.

A monster lay in the centre of the chamber.

Calling it enormous didn’t do it justice.

The corpse was so gigantic that Ethan’s eyes struggled to take in its entire body at once. Thick black scales covered its flesh, each one appearing almost as large as Ethan himself. Several enormous limbs were sprawled across the stone floor, while a pair of massive tusks protruded from its maw.

Its head alone was large enough to crush a house.

Green blood covered the chamber.

Pools of it had collected between the cracks in the stone, while enormous wounds had torn through the creature’s body. The sheer amount of destruction surrounding the corpse made it look less like a monster that had been killed and more like some ancient calamity had finally been brought down.

Ethan stared.

’What the fuck is this thing?’

He had fought dozens of trolls along the way, but compared to this creature, those monsters suddenly seemed small and insignificant. This thing looked like it belonged in an entirely different category.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he studied the corpse.

’That has to be an A Rank...’

That made sense since the boss of a gate was often of the rank above.

But classification aside, it looked like the kind of monster capable of tearing through entire squads of Titled people, and even destroying buildings simply by moving through them.

And yet, someone was sitting on top of its corpse.

Ethan’s expression slowly changed.

A woman sat casually on the dead monster’s enormous back. Her long hair fell over her shoulders, while her light-brown skin almost seemed to glow against the black scales beneath her.

The vampire-like woman looked completely relaxed.

Not even a scratch marred her beautiful face, as her slitted eyes stared directly at Ethan. Wolfy’s fur immediately rose along his back, and a low growl escaped the Fenrir’s throat.

Electricity began crawling across Ethan’s transformed body.

The woman smiled.

"Took you long enough."

Ethan didn’t answer.

His eyes remained fixed on the corpse beneath her before slowly returning to the woman.

"You killed that thing?"

"Obviously."

She glanced down at the enormous corpse beneath her as though it were nothing more than a convenient place to sit.

"I didn’t feel like waiting for you."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

The casualness in her voice bothered him more than the corpse itself. She had killed something that looked capable of destroying a city, and she hadn’t even bothered to stand afterwards.

’I honestly don’t think I could beat that thing, let alone unscathed.’

He smiled wryly.

’Let’s just hope it tired her out a little.’

Her slitted eyes gleamed with amusement, as if able to read his mind.

"You’ve been rather entertaining."

Ethan’s fingers curled into fists.

The last time they had fought, he had held back and concealed most of his abilities.

He had no intention of doing that this time.

Storm’s power flowed through his body, while Wolfy stood beside him, recovered and ready. He had also learned how best to fight alongside his Fenrir and make the most of his Lightning Dragonfly’s skills.

Summoning Talon and Spark right now would just get them killed and be a waste of mana, so this was the best he had.

’If I can’t beat her like this, then I’m royally fucked.’

A grin slowly spread across Ethan’s face, knowing there was no backing down.

’I don’t quite like my odds, but I’ve always been a bit of a gambler.’

He lowered his stance.

"I guess it’s time for the rematch."

The vampire’s smile widened.

"Finally."

Her feet touched the corpse as she rose to her full height.

For the first time, her relaxed expression disappeared, replaced by a dangerous look in her eyes.

Ethan felt it immediately.

’She’s not playing around this time either.’

The atmosphere changed.

Wolfy bared his fangs, and electricity erupted across Ethan’s body.

The vampire laughed softly.

"Come."

Ethan’s grin widened.

"Gladly."

Boom!

Lightning detonated beneath his feet.

’Thunder Dash!’

Ethan vanished, and Wolfy launched forward at the same instant.

And thus began their intense exchange...

-

Meanwhile, earlier outside the Gate, Kaela and Elara had already dealt with everyone in the compound. By the time they reached the warehouse in the centre of the facility, the fighting had almost completely died down.

Not a single hostile remained standing.

Kaela stepped over a fallen mutated man and glanced around the wreckage. Weapons were scattered across the floor, crates had been overturned, equipment had been smashed, and it was as though the entire compound had been flipped upside down.

She sighed.

"That was boring."

Elara laughed innocently, despite being a demon in action moments prior.

Kaela kicked a discarded rifle aside.

"I bet Ethan stumbled upon something way more fun in here."

Elara smiled faintly.

"You’re just jealous."

"I’m absolutely jealous."

Kaela folded her arms and glanced around the ruined warehouse, both their eyes settling on the centre of it.

"There’s lingering Gate energy."

They walked toward the source, passing several large pieces of equipment along the way.

The warehouse was filled with strange technology. Computers lined several tables, cables ran between machines, and there were scanners, monitoring devices, containment equipment, and several pieces of technology neither of them immediately recognised.

Kaela stared at the equipment.

"What the hell is all this?"

Elara crouched beside one of the machines and examined it.

"They seemed to be researching the Gate, and the energy seemed to be being suppressed. This must be where they were getting the resources for those pills."

Kaela nodded as they both looked toward the area where the energy was strongest.

Though she didn’t seem to care about the details.

"He’s probably facing all kinds of fun beasts in some crazy gate that was taken over."

She looked at the unconscious men scattered around the compound.

"And what did we get?"

Elara glanced at the destruction surrounding them.

"A bunch of losers on drugs."

Kaela groaned.

"Ethan always gets all the fun shit."

Elara couldn’t help laughing.

"You better get used to it; he always ends up getting himself into trouble."

Kaela smiled.

"That’s why I accepted that Beast Man as my Boss."

They laughed and decided to just hang around until he showed himself again, but neither woman knew what was happening elsewhere in the compound.