Resonance wasn't working, Dante and I both have the same mentality and were working towards the same objective… it should be working right?
I thought about it, and I couldn't find what was going on… was there something else? A hidden requisite that I wasn't aware of? Was the selection of the abilities wrong?
There was no use on thinking about it right now the resonance wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Failing one mission wasn't a huge deal, I was going to lose the ability that sounded pretty good, but the mission was the last of my worries right now.
The presence of the Alpha made everything more difficult, the only thing we could do at this point was to get more time so the people in Green Shelter could prepare for the attack. This might not have worked as I expected, but I can still take some beasts with me as a try to leave this place later.
If the forest starts burning, I might have a chance to escape and deal enough damage to at least delay this side's invasion.
I turned my head to Stan, it was time for Plan B.
"Run."
No idea what was going inside Stan's head, just like Dante I couldn't read it, but after a second, he turned around and ran towards the edge of the forest.
Unexpectedly the beast didn't attack. They moved to the sides giving space for the Alpha to pass between them, as expected the Alphas were smarter than what we thought.
The Alpha had something familiar, but it wasn't until I saw the strong aura around him that I figured out what it was…
I recognized the aura … and I knew the abilities that the Alpha had. Without knowing it, I fought the alpha before… or at least a part of it.
The memory of a little two-headed snake that I battled came to my mind. This beast is in an entirely different league, but that snake was without a doubt born from this Alpha. I have seen similar auras before but there is always at least a slight difference between them, but the auras form that snake, and the Alpha were exactly the same.
Every wound regenerated and another snake or another head was born from it. The poison was the only one we have found so far that can damage the soul. This beast was dangerous and almost invincible.
At the time I didn't think that much about the reason why it didn't give me system points, but now I knew the answer… That little snake was in fact just a part of the Alpha. I wasn't even close to really kill it. It was like I burned some scales that fell from him, there was no difference for the snake.
The Alpha approached moving slowly, I started to wonder what it wanted from me.
Should I let it get closer? I wasn't going to take my chances
Without waiting for it to attack me, I grabbed my weapons and used Time Bubble and Slow getting ready to fight.
Probably due to the rank difference of the abilities, the effect of the debuffs wasn't as strong as they usually are, but despite that, it still I affected a creature of at least two rank over mine, the time ability was indeed powerful.
*Hiss*
The snake didn't like what I did. Two of the D-Ranked beast jumped towards me. The tail of a lizard came towards me, and I had to step back to avoid it.
In the middle of the swing, the tail became alive, changed the movement and opened the mouth. This lizard was also a hybrid, and the snake that was in the place of the tail lunged towards me in a fast movement trying to bite me.
Thanks to my accelerated senses and reflexes I was able to notice it on time, I had to use Accelerate to block the attack with the kukri and tried to counter with the tomahawk. The slash of the tomahawk was fast, and it should have cut off the head of the snake-tail, but even though I gave it a clean hit, there were no signs of a cut or damage on the tail. The scales were too tough to be penetrated by my second-best weapon.
On the other side, the kukri was dented by the attack, showing the strength of the bite. I had to change the weapon and use the spear, but I didn't have enough time. A green looking mist was moving from my left flank.
Is it acid? Explosives? Poison? A drug?
I tried to identify the aura of the creator, but I had no idea what it was. The toad just burped the mist and didn't move from its place.
The mist sealed one of my paths and pushed me towards a green semi-human with snake-like features and movements that had avoided my detection until now.
It moved faster than the bull-man that I fought before, but thanks to the improvement in my chronokinetic combat I was able to fend him off and step back. The kukri was chipped in multiple places by the end of the attacks, it was impossible for it to handle another round of attacks.
The three D-Ranked beasts were ready to start the next assault, and I had to drop the kukri and take Tusk in my hand, if the tomahawk couldn't penetrate the skin of the hybrid, the only chance I have is the spear. But if three D-Rank beasts are giving me so many troubles, I don't want to think how difficult it would be to fight the Alpha.
Also, even if I'm fighting just three of them there are still more around that can join the fight at any moment from now on. And I see some of them getting ready to attack.
The Alpha kept looking at me as if he was interested in the fight …
'Dante, what is his game?'
This didn't make sense, he could send all the beast here to kill me, but it was like the snake thought that this was fun… it was enjoying it. At least that was what I think I read in his mind but was it possible?
'It's playing with his food~…'
It is really having fun…
'He is going to eat me?'
'That's his plan~… but he wants you to get tired first, as you fight the difficulty will increase because he thinks it's amusing, and when you are done, he will deal the final blow and eat you.'
I can't believe that a simple beast came up with an idea like that, it was simple, but it sounded like a cheesy revenge plot. Well at least I know what to expect, and it should give me the chance to waste some of their time, I wasn't even near to get tired right now.
The idea of a long fight didn't sound as bad, I could even try to fake my fatigue and strike the Alpha back at that moment… but how do I kill it?
As far as I know, the snake is almost invulnerable to any kind of attack, I would need to find a way to set it on fire all at once, and I don't see it letting me throw fuel on him…
As Dante predicted the battle became increasingly difficult… a semi-human lizard started to attack too, in her hands, a bone was ready to strike. This was the first weapon that I saw on a beast. They are also adapting and evolving.
It charged towards me, it wasn't as fast as the lizard/snake or the human-snake, but from that swing, I could feel a strength higher than an all-out attack from G. I moved to keep my distance, but the snake and the green mist kept me from moving too far away from them.
I didn't dare to block head on the attacks for the lizard-girl, but I was comfortable with blocking the flanks from the snake-tailed lizard and the snake-man.
I used just a part of the chaotic rhythm to get away and move to a place with a clear path to the snake-tailed beast. It was only a second, but I performed my first real attack during this fight, I used adrenaline burst, at the same time that I used great impact and infused the spear with Accelerate.
Tusk left my hand and before any beast could react. It was deep inside the skull of the beast.
[Congratulations for Killing a D-Rank Beast, 30 system points rewarded]
[Weakened state 15% on all physical stats and Esper Abilities - 05s left]
The 30 extra system points were good, but it wasn't something that was gonna solve the situation I was in. The weakened state wasn't a battle changing situation either.
The beasts were surprised, and I used the chance to move and recover the spear from the skull.
The battle was going better than I expected. Maybe I might be able to pull this off, as long as the Alpha himself doesn't act, I should be able to delay them long enough.
I took a deep breath to get ready for the next assault, but my nose started to itch, and my throat to burn. It took a couple of second for the beasts to notice that there was something wrong too.
Smoke was coming from the edge of the forest… Stan did his part and set the forest on fire, but there was a little detail that I didn't think about…
*HISSSS*
The Alpha was angry.