Running in a straight path, I looked around for any obvious signs of someone passing through in a hurry. However, not being a tracker, I was left with no clues of where Leo or Lavinia could have gone.
Lost and out of options, I was about to yell out when a powerful surge of Aura passed over me from the left. A couple hundred meters deeper in the forest, a large amount of Will usage was being unleashed. Part of it I recognised as human, but the rest was clearly a Beast. An exponentially powerful Beast.
Enhancing more essence into my legs, I quickly dashed into the woods. In my haste, my legs quickly grew tired, and my lungs could no longer handle the stress of running.
After only a couple of seconds, I could see bright flashes of light coming from the direction I was headed.
You know… even after coming all this way, I never even stopped to consider why. Why am I here? I simply followed Leo here. Am I doing this for Lavinia? I can't even get her to talk to me. My training, perhaps? Ridiculous! I can't fight a High Will Beast at my level. So why? Why—?
The closer I got to the flashing lights, the more ruined the ground became. Long ditches spread in the dirt, like something heavy had been dragged. Chard, smoldering coals were burning from trees. The trunks of which had been blasted into pieces. Chips and splinters of wood lay all over the battlefield. And patches of snow had melted away.
The path lay in waste, requiring me to climb over crumbled piles of wood and under fallen branches.
The longer it took to reach the light, the more I pushed myself. My essence rapidly vibrated throughout my body; every step was piercing cold, like my bones were slowly eroding away. My muscles spasmed from a surplus of essence. I've barely started my training, my body couldn't handle this sudden usage.
Reaching the clearing where the flashes were coming from, I was hit with a wave of relief, and my legs finally gave out. Crashing from the strain of essence usage, I rolled across the snow-covered grass at breakneck pace. Sliding across the floor before coming to a halt.
Catching my breath, I looked up to see Leo and Lavinia facing off with the Beast.
Lavinia… was in bad shape. She had a deep gash on her left side and was clutching a dislocated right shoulder. Standing side by side, Leo looked back upon hearing my tumble.
"Rin! Stay back, you're of no use to us!" Despite being over 20ft away, his voice reached me clearly.
Extending my gaze, passed the two of them, was the Beast. A 50-foot-long snake towering high in this empty field, like a symbol of oppression. Even the trees seemed to cower.
When faced with someone powerful, like Lord Elgin, I felt smaller by pure power, as if his Aura was crushing mine. But faced with a snake as large as buildings, I felt both physically and spiritually oppressed. Its Aura alone disrupted my breathing.
The snake was a sickly grey, almost green, but also white. Thick, flowing vines spread over its body and protruded off into the ground. Like legs, the vines aided in propelling the snake forward in any sudden direction, while also raising out of the ground in towers of defence.
In a forest, a Plant Beast was in its natural habitat, and for a Hunter, a High-Rank, it was just starting to develop its domain.
This Beast was a natural Hunter in its territory.
A scowl spread across my face. Why do some names have to be so direct?
As if attracted to my presence, the nearby grass broke through the thin layer of snow and leaned in my direction. The closest ones, suddenly sharp as a blade, stabbed into my skin.
Rising from my crouched position on the floor, I made my way back to the tree line.
Looking towards the fight, Leo and Lavinia both dodged a few vines, made of twisted together grass and byproduct dirt. They yelled across the clearing to each other, formulating words, developing a plan.
When the Beast broke from its barrage, Lavinia snapped her shoulder back in place.
Putting their plan into action, Leo ran left, head-on to the Beast. While Lavinia went right, strafing the Beast at a distance.
Leo's path put him directly in the Beasts attack range, narrowly avoiding an incoming vine. In a fit of laughter, he blasts the vine with a powerful wave of vibration. Disintegrating it into shredded grass.
A split second later Lavinia provided support, distracting the Beast by volleying orbs of light. For some reason, the Beast ignored Leo briefly, instead targeting the intangible light.
Given an unimpeded path, Leo continued to move towards the Beast. Reaching the side of the snake, halfway along its body, he augmented his arm with rapidly vibrating essence, turning his hand into a blade. In the few seconds he had, he made several cuts, in a cross, along its scales. Unable to perfectly pierce the Beast's tough exterior, the cuts weren't deep, but plentiful. Eventually shredding its thick layer of scales until the gash was large enough to expose the inner layer of muscle.
The Beast, no longer distracted by the lights from the pain, refocused its attacks on Leo.
Retreating in a hurry, Leo sent consistent shockwaves through his feet, dashing away faster than the Beasts vines could keep up. Smiling the entire time.
Catching sight of Leo's bloody face in a twisted smile, and Lavinia's calm composure despite her wounds, makes me question why? Or, how? How could they react this way?
At first glance, neither of their attributes are primarily geared for combat. Especially when fighting Beasts. Any soldier would say the same. How can they rely on just their martial skills so heavily to hold their own?
A Beast and Holder of equal Rank still have a large power gap. A Beast of one Rank will always be more physically powerful than any human of the same Rank. Even having access to more essence. Even a Holder one Rank above a Beast must still be careful.
So, why? Why, in a fight against an equal-Rank Beast, with only two of them, are they so confident in their abilities? Even to the degree of slowing it down.
...I don't... understand them.
Without realizing it, a wicked grin had spread across my face.
Upon seeing Leo at a safe enough distance, Lavinia backed off from the Beast, crouching down just shy of the tree line. Pulling a spear from her Mark, a substantial trail of essence began to flow from her hand and into the spear. Leaving Leo to continue to distract the Beast alone.
At each Will Rank, a new cap is unlocked for the Holder to unleash. Both Leo and Lavinia are of the High-Will Rank, also known as Noble.
What Lavinia was doing with her spear, I recognised from the flow of her essence. Sir Chiron showed me what every cap looked like, aside from Contain, before he left. She's using her Rank-specific cap of Noble… Imbue.
She's injecting her spear with a significant amount of essence. Pouring torrents into it. Every second that passed, the more and more she Imbued her spear, and the brighter it shone.
But for every second she spent distracted on her spear, the Beast grew closer.
Left to distract the Beast alone, his simple evasion and diversion tactics only held it back so much.
Leo was losing ground.