There wasn't a part of Mares' body that did not hurt. His muscles were overused to a scary degree and seemed ready to be torn apart at any instant. His breathing was ragged and it was taking effort to just stand still.
"Are you going to be, ok?"
Walking around the body of the dead beast, Lhian asked worried after seeing the silver-eyed state. He takes a deep breath as he sits down, nodding his head.
"Yes, just give me a moment."
He says, closing his eyes.
'Let me help you.'
Esen's voice left no space to argue, it was filled with both worry and care. She gently guided him through his mind, helping Mares use just the right amount of Astral Energy through his limbs to regenerate them. For Mares, it felt like a gentle and soft hand touched his body, healing him. It was a satisfactory experience.
When they are done, he opened his eyes, which shined with the same vigor as ever.
"I am fine now. Thanks for asking."
He said to Lhian, nodding his head as he got up. If she could see through his mask, she would see his smile.
"Is there anything he can't do?"
Venissino asked, impressed by how fast Mares had regenerated.
"Fly."
"Use magic."
Clest and Winna replied, respectively.
"Doesn't all this blood annoy you?"
Luo asked Mares, with an annoyed face. His body had changed back a bit, though he still had wild-like traits. He was also covering his nose with his fingers, the smell of Orest's blood not being gentle with Luo's enhanced senses.
"It doesn't if I don't think about it."
It was the gladiator's reply, as he tried to put some of the blood away. Unfortunately, some bits had already dried, making him stuck with that mess and smell.
"I think looks cool."
"It does."
Calon and Venissino added, nodding their heads to each other.
While the group had their conversion, Mares climbed the Orest dead body, with his multi-weapon in glove form. Climbing the body wasn't too bad now that the beast couldn't move, and he rapidly got to the top.
Even if dead the Void Armor wouldn't just vanish or crumble, so to get the beast's core, some amount of work would have to be put into it.
Looking at his right hand he saw an air ring being formed above his palm. He looked at it thoughtfully for a while and decided to attempt something.
Using his ability to project and shoot Astral Energy that he had gotten in his first fight at the coliseum, he attempted to do just that, but instead of shooting it, he would keep the energy and cover the air ring with it.
In theory, it should make the ring sharper and deadlier, but making this idea work could be very tricky.
He spent around three minutes trying to do it, but his only achievement was making the ring unstable. Sighing, Mares decided that this would be something to achieve later.
"What are you doing?"
Lhian asked Mares, after also climbing the beast's body, curious as to what he was doing.
"I need the beast core; it will help us."
The silver-eyed briefly explained as he started to break through the armor to get to the flesh and then proceed to the core.
Lhian raised her eyebrows with curiosity but didn't dwell further on the subject. She simply covered her hands with sharp crystals and started to help Mares to take the armor away.
Soon enough they were joined by a third person, that being Clest.
"So, you like to go deep into the things you kill? Weird preference, but I will try to not judge too much."
The silver-eyed and the silver-blue-haired briefly looked at her. In their eyes, there was a mix of amazement and weirdness, and then they went back to what they were doing. Clest smiled and decided to help them.
Luo and Winna took the moment to breathe and recover whatever energy and strength they had temporarily lost. Though at the moment they did notice the difference Mares' input of Astral Energy had made, as they were not as tired nor they used as much energy as they thought. It was a welcomed surprise.
Venissino was meditating and Calon took some fallen pieces of the Void Armor, probably thinking they could be used in his inventions.
With Lhian and Clest working with him, it took a few minutes for the trio to break through the armor, and after that, in the blink of an eye, Mares had the core in his hands.
While both students knew that thing's value, they wondered why Mares wanted it now. They got their answer right away.
Mares held the crystal with both hands and in instants, all energy on it went to him. In a matter of seconds, the crystal was emptied and shattered.
While the silver-eyed focused on the sensation of his reserves and strengthening being boosted, Lhian and Clest looked at him as if he was an inter-dimensional being.
"H-how?"
It was the silver-blue haired could manage to ask under that shock. Clest on her side was on a lack of words, she just looked at Mares' mouth widened.
The reason for her shock was quite simple. Is not like it was theoretically impossible to absorb energy straight from a core, as Mares just did, it was already done and tested in the past. However, the consequences tended to be… disastrous.
That's why the cores are first refined before someone can get Astral Energy from them. There is a loss of energy however, depending on the skills of the refiner, but the max they can maintain is 90%, independent of how good they are. But for Mares, this is not a concern.
"I said before, but my constitution is… vastly different from others."
The two students just looked at each other, they didn't communicate but both knew they were thinking the same.
'Ancient race!'
Lhian and Clest didn't have to exchange words to know that they should not tell anyone, even their friends what they saw. Of course, Mares showing them this ability meant that he didn't mind them knowing, but still, they wouldn't take risks.
"I believe we are getting near the others."
Mares suddenly said, facing the path deeper down the cave.
Everyone stopped and put on more serious expressions, they were all standing, ready to go.
"You are right, they are close, but…"
Luo said, after smelling something thanks to his currently enhanced senses. Though he also felt like there was something else, something he couldn't quite put his finger in.
"No point staying here thinking about it."
Clest said as the group started moving again.
Once more Mares sent the two remaining Karraps ahead. Neither he nor Esen was afraid to repeat what happened last time, not because they thought it wouldn't happen again, but because both were willing and did not mind the risk.
They were all quiet, attentively looking at their surroundings, either waiting for an ambush or just trying to keep their guard up until they finally arrive at whenever they are going to.
As they went deeper down the cave it was noticeable that they started walking through an elevation. Instead of going down, the cave went up, and so did the group of seven as they moved. Sometimes moonlight would shine upon them, passing through some holes that had been formed in the ceiling and walls of the cave.
Luo especially seemed to enjoy it.
'We are approaching the top of the mountain.'
Esen said, to which Mares slowly nodded. He could feel it approaching, they were getting near something, something that made him wary of what was to come.
Mares wasn't sure if all the students felt the same sensation of pressure and dread as they walked further, but he could see them getting tenser. More sweat started to cover their foreheads, and some of them had to fight against their instinctual trembling caused by fear.
The air was getting colder and colder, and then finally, through the Karraps' eyes, Mares and Esen saw a change.
While the students were still walking up the cave, the beasts arrived at the top. What meet the two was an open clearing at the top of the mountain. And it was in that area that they found the students, lying down and unconscious, but alive. They had scratches and were a bit injured, but in general, they all seemed fine.
'There is something wrong.'
Esen's words may only reach Mares, but that was the feeling shared by the whole group.
It was too quiet, too eerie.
"Where is-"
"Shhh."
Venissino was about to ask something when Luo raised his hand, interrupting his friend. The ears at the top of his head flicked, and his nose slightly moved, sensing something.
The silence and tension almost seemed palpable. The worst part was that they all knew something was wrong, but couldn't point out what.
They slowly started moving to get closer to the unconscious students, when nowhere, something if thrown in their direction. They all stopped, ready to react and attack when noticing at it was. An Earthly Brute's skull, stunned the group for a few seconds.
'MARS, BEHIND!'
And suddenly all of Mares' senses screamed danger. Esen was still faster than him and made one of the Karraps push Luo out of the way, saving his life, as in the next second the Karrap was cut in half.
Luo was clearly shaken and pale after witnessing what could have been of him, and the rest of the group wasn't much better.
"MOVE!"
But they lacked the time to adjust their feelings and Mares' scream reminded them of that fact.
They looked behind and only saw a blur moving. They couldn't make out the details, but the sheer pressure and fear the six felt down to their core told them that they finally found the peak fifth-rank Void Beast.
It was inevitable for them to freeze with fear. That thing was different from everything they fought and saw until now.
Mares didn't even have time to comment on their lack of action as he jumped to confront the beast. His multi-weapon turned into spear mode as he trusted it forward, using momentum, his enhanced strength technique, and air rings at the tip of the spear. But before he even touched the Void Beast, one of its hands made a slashing move, parrying Mares' attack and leaving his guard open.
The beast's other arm came down on the silver-eyed chest, making a huge slash throughout the right side of Mares' upper body. The strength of the attack alone sent him flying through the other side of the clearing, coughing blood.
'MARS!'
Esen's terrified scream was still more hurtful for him though.
'Don't worry little bunny, I will be fine.'
Mares thought forcing a smile as he got up by using his left arm. The right side of his body was already regenerating, but this was nothing to celebrate. It was just a brief moment that couldn't even be called an exchange but it was enough to show the gap between Mares and the current peak rank five Void Beast.
"You have to be kidding…"
Was all Venissino could say looking at the beast now that it had stopped moving.
It still had an ape-like body with four arms, longer legs with bird claws in its feet, and large fangs prostrating from its lower jaw. But its fur wasn't gray but dark red, and compared to the big ones the group had seen before, this one only had three meters of height.
"I thought Earthly Brutes were supposed to be bigger…"
Luo said gulping.
"They are… that's probably a variant…"
Lhian replied with horror.
"That means…"
Winna had a strong idea of what it meant, but she hoped she was wrong.
"Strong as fuck."
Calon replied, proving that, unfortunately, she was right.