Crack...clack...crunch...
"..." Adam felt his tongue disappearing from his mouth as he was exposed to such merciless noises. The sound of bones creaking under the force of a powerful pair of jaws had made him as pale as the dead.
Several 'miscellaneous' noises penetrated his ears and petrified him as he crouched behind the tree. Not a single voice left his mouth and his lungs even forgot to breathe. Under the threatening presence of an unknown beast, even an exhale could end his life.
And while he was wondering about a way to escape from this hell, the beast began to flap its wings and soon was airborne. Without sparing a glance at its food, it disappeared beyond the trees.
Adam didn't dare to exit his hiding spot for the next five minutes. He had closed his eyes and was concentrating on his surroundings. With enhanced auditory senses, he swept past the vicinity and picked up every single detail. Surely, the beast had left long ago.
With a shiver bullying his blank mind, Adam took a peek at the minotaur and the sight was blood-curdling. The beast with an appalling expression plastered on its face was lying lifeless with its gut and intestines excavated. The blood had formed a puddle in which the body lies. There was horror in its unclosed eyes.
At once, Adam turned around to flee from the spot but then he halted. A quick recap of what he saw revealed a frame of an image where he caught the glimpse of his delicacy - the crystal.
To confirm his findings, Adam turned back to the corpse and a smile spread on his face. Though the crystal was partially gnawed by the unknown beast, its size as big as an adult's sternum covered Adam in bliss.
Fear flew away into the horizon as our protagonist dashed to the corpse. His eyes had cautiously surveyed the area and had found the vicinity devoid of hostility. Thus he didn't waste a single second to rush at the half-eaten carcass.
"Damn, this is big."
Adam had to input some force before the stone dislodged from its position. The indigo coloured crystal with numerous cracks on it resembled a roughly crafted stone art.
As the core came into his possession, Adam's eyes narrowed and scanned the surroundings. After pondering over something for a few seconds, he turned in a particular direction and disappeared into the woods.
***
At the same, a full-scale battle was going on at the edge of the forest.
Bang!
A huge fireball collided with an Amphithere and it was sent flying. Witnessing this the reinforcements of the Giant Carbon-Scaled Lizard couldn't stay still and their spirits were enraged.
A dozen of winged serpents descended on the battlefield and their mouths let out a cloud of poison. But before the mist could spread wide, a couple of levitating ships appeared in the sky and rained damage upon them.
Swoosh!
Before they know, a humongous tail came swiping at one of the ships. Fortunately, only the tip of the tail dealt damage to the vessel as the piloting engineers quickly drew the vessel backward.
But that strike imbued more damage than what meets the eye.
An explosion erupted on board and the vessel came down like a burning arrow. Rather than bringing down a few amphitheres with it, it instead fell on the friendly forces, destroying a few mechanical knights.
Yet the spirit of war was unwavering.
"Charge ahead!!"
In front of the horror-spewing winged serpents, humans were minuscule. But their attacks, not so much.
"The all-slaying ice of north; kill my enemies as you come forth!!"
An elf chanted and over twenty ice spears materialised around her. The next instant, these constructs darted ahead and skewered a couple of beasts.
"Rise and defend, mother earth; be a wall and protect us from death."
This time, it was a dwarf mage who chanted in his coarse voice. There was the presence of concealed killing intent in the tone as a giant wall rose between the attacking beasts and the adventurers.
"Haap!"
And while the beasts were temporarily halted in their tracks, the wall which obstructed their path brought forth innumerable stone spikes and pierced another couple of beasts. Blood and cry rose into the air while the casualties on the princes' side were no less than thirty.
...
Until the break of the dusk, the battle went on. The losses on both sides were plenty and equally balanced. The invaders, AKA the party of the two princes, abruptly advanced ahead under the veil of the arriving darkness to take away the corpses of the fallen beasts.
Each Anmphithere was at least an A grade beast. Including their blood and bones, there was no part of such a beast that would go down the trash bin.
But the attempt was futile.
Roar!
A swift whip of the tail and an amphithere successfully killed an adventurer, just like that.
Followed by the roar, the winged serpents realised the invaders' attempt to steal their brethren's bodies and their fury burned like hellfire. Under the curtain of darkness, the deadly mist spread and at least a few tens of adventurers fell lifeless.
The first day of the battle ended with the beasts as the victors!
***
And as the battle on the grassfield came to an end, a naked figure amidst the woods, wobbling and stumbling around like a drunkard was undergoing some qualitative changes.
'IT BLOODY HURTS!!!'
I shouldn't have eaten so many crystals.
But regret doesn't turn back the time.
To know what happened, let's head a few hour backward.
While venturing further north, in the opposite direction in which those amphitheres flew, Adam came across several beasts. A few of them were extremely large and powerful while many were compatible for brawl.
It was when he was tiptoeing through the woods that something fell farther away from him, to his left.
Boom!
The collision dispersed such loud noise that Adam quickly crouched and covered his ears. The ringing in his ears didn't left even after almost a minute.
Curiosity navigated Adam towards the impact point and his hairs stood up at the sight.
'The same beast.'
At once, Adam recognised this beast. From his evaluations, such a beast was the one that tore the minotaur like a burger wrapping.
But this isn't moving.
Analyising the beast, he realised that the amphithere was long dead. The scorched skin at its chest had cauterized the wound and sealed the bloodflow.
What Adam did next was pretty predictable.
"I hope the core doesn't change position."
Muttering to himself, he pounced on the beast's thorax and began to dig into the deep fried flesh. While stuffing a few strips of meat in his mouth, Adam found his way to the crystal.
'So large!'
Considering the fact that the amphithere's wingspan was 15 metres, the beast had an appropriate length and thus housed a large crystal. The alluring aquamarine colour fostered a desire in his heart - devour.
Under the effect of gluttony, Adam quickly shattered the beast core and threw it down his throat.
At once, an unimaginable force materilaised in his body. It was so powerful that Adam assumed that the energy is sentient. While wildly coursing through his body with an intent to rampage, Adam drank a mouthful of the beast's blood in an attempt to quench the sensation. But it only amplified it.
This forced Adam to exhaust this huge reserve of energy. He quickly climbed out of the beast's corpse and dashed northward. With the seemingly endless supply of energy reinforcing his movements, it was as if he was gliding through the woods.
But that's wasn't it.
The bottomless reserve running through his body to rip the vessel apart made Adam seek a multitude of options. Nonetheless, his quickest choice was to deplete the energy through constant brawl with beasts.
And that endeavor rewarded Adam with vibrant collection of crystal in a multitude of colours and shapes.
As the darkness successfully invaded the light of the day, Adam was left with a heap of beast cores bundled up in a thick beast skin. The sheer quantity of the myriad colours bloomed a delightful grin on his face.
However...
"Ngh...!"
Even after truly exhausting session of action, Adam couldn't sense a sliver of decrease in the raging energy in his body. The fatigue that was covered up under the thick envelope of energy surfaced as he took a break.
This caused an excruciating sensation to roll over his body.
'No....I must exhaust this energy.'
With determination fueling his will, Adam sat cross-legged under a tree. His only possession, a bundle full of beast cores, was kept next to him.
Closing his eyes and calming his troubled heart, Adam consciously willed to navigate the surge. Though he failed more than a dozen times, diligence didn't let go off his arm.
The stubborn and seemingly infinite energy began to submit to his command under his relentless effort. But even after channelling the formless force into his bones and muscles and every tissue of his body, he can feel the abnormality unwavering.
And at this moment of cluelessness, while drenched in cold sweat, someone voice fell in his ears.
"Hey, are you troubled?"