Alfred sat in a chair around an 8m x 6m large table along with fifteen officers and the three holograms belonging to Captain Gregory of the Red Lion Brigade, Captain Elias of the Defias Link, and Captain Pearl Jackson of the Pink Kitty Alliance. These three were the captains that were excluded from the final hunt due to their distant locations.
On top of the table, four holograms could be seen giving a live broadcast of the situation on-site.
The first POV belonged to Captain Don Omar, which showed a creature snoozing in the branches of a 52-m tall tree with a trunk as wide as 14m and thick red foliage like a raging sea of flames blazing in the wind.
The tree in question was one of the many commonly seen Red Oak trees that were ever-present in the southern parts of the Oolong continent. They could be called very conspicuous, as the fiery red sea of leaves draws a lot of attention from their surroundings.
The beast that was snoozing away, lay sprawled across three of the thickest branches which were slightly straining to hold its massive weight.
Its large body displayed in the hologram at a rough estimate had a height of 3m, with a bucket-sized rodent-looking head and a body length of 6.5m. Apart from its long and sleek body, a tail with a length that could not be estimated could be seen wrapped around the branch beneath its arse.
The beast had bright red fur, which was sleek and neatly styled on top of its excessively large and rippling monstrous-looking muscles. On its thick and long tail were barbs as thick and long as an adult's fingers with tips sharp enough to dig deep into the thick tree branch. If placed on earth, leaving a record in the Guinness Book of World Records for bodybuilding wouldn't even be a challenge.
Ka Ka Ka!
The groaning and complaining of the Red Oak tree could be heard as it struggled to sway in the wind.
Gulp!
Looking at the largest home invader of a rat he had ever seen, Alfred involuntarily swallowed hard. He looked around him to see the faces of the others in the room and saw them all with serious faces but lacking any semblance of surprise.
He returned his view to the table and checked out the other three holograms. One of them was affixed unto the same tree, but lacking a particular beast. While the other two were silently but swiftly shuttling through the woods in a particular valley.
The latter two holograms belong to John and Geri who were still a few kilometres away from the prime site.
...
John silently pulled up to the copse of Red Oak trees on the side of Mount Anansi. He stopped 2km away and signalled to Geri.
"Any closer and assuming it hasn't already noticed us will alert the beast" John whispered.
"That Earthflame Rat King is very cunning and devious. Ninety percent chance that we've already been spotted and it's waiting to ambush us" Geri agreed.
John took furtive glances at it from the corner of his eyes, not willing to stare too long. High-level beasts have excessively keen senses and can detect killing intent and surveillance from kilometres away. So John was hoping to keep the initiative in his own hands.
John turned to Geri and whispered.
"This beast is at the peak of rank 7, but it's still a far distance from being a Calamity grade beast. Backup and have the rest stay on standby to assist me in case of-"
CRACK! SHHWOOOM!
John was interrupted before finishing his preparations.
Without hesitation, he leapt forward with a front kick and met the beast head-on.
Boom! Thud!
Dust clouds and splinters were tossed up a few dozen meters high, swallowing up the surrounding 1-2 km radius.
Boom! Boom! Thwack! Boom!
Intense collisions could be heard escaping the epicentre of the scene as John and the beast exchanged moves.
Suddenly, there was silence for a few seconds.
Phsheeew!
The wind blew away the dust, revealing the situation.
John's face was grim.
"Cheh, not even a scratch. As expected of a top Nova realm elite " came a sleek feminine voice.
The wind blew away the rest of the dust and powdery splinters, revealing a sassy red rat standing 6m tall on its hind legs and folding its two front paws while wiping the blood away from the corner of its mouth like a gangster.
"Jejeje~ even after all that preparation, my ambush still failed" the Earthflame Rat King snickered.
"It seems we underestimated you. For you to speak the human tongue... you've been suppressing your realm all along. On the surface, you show stage 5 rank 7, but you are a half-step stage 6... namely; a pseudo-Calamity!" John retrieved his weapon from his ring.
His weapon of choice was a 2.8m long (9 feet 2 inches) halberd. The handle had a 2-inch thick diameter made from Ironwood for flexibility and great strength. The blood-red shaft had a sparkling and brilliant white light which stabbed at the eyes. At the end of the pole, sat two blades. The main crescent blade was 18 inches long and 6 inches wide, and 4mm thick. While the secondary blade was 8 inches long, 3 inches wide, and of the same thickness. Both blades were kike gleaming crystals, shining like bright diamonds!
"Heh!"
The beast laughed with a grotesque and savage grin.
"I've been-"
The beast flipped her paw.
"Waiting for you-"
She retrieved a bright red fruit that looked like it could ooze blood at any time.
"For a long-"
Boom!
John didn't want to hear anymore. This cunning beast had been feigning weakness for a few days to lure a Nova realm elite here for so long. Who knew what schemes it had?
John broke the sound barrier and covered the 200m distance in an instant. He slashed and stabbed with his halberd from top to bottom, releasing a red crescent blade and a penetrating qi wave in one move.
"time~"
Gulp! Swish!
The beast swallowed the fruit and flew diagonally into the air while leaping backwards, narrowly dodging the vertical qi blade.
"One early Nova realm."
The beast looked at John.
"An early Void realm."
She turned to Geri.
"Two peak King realm, five early King realm, and twenty-seven Crysalis realm little babies. Hahaha! What a great harvest!" She was delighted.
"When I'm done gobbling you up, I'm going to swagger into that city 300km to the northeast~" her appetite was enormous and insatiable.
John's face sank.
As the only Nova realm in the nearest 5,000km, this entire area could be said to be under his jurisdiction. If he died here, this beast would be left unchecked and run rampant for the next 3,000-5,000km; what a tragedy that would be!
This was why they were called "Calamities" once beasts reached stage 6. Because with the ability of true flight, intelligence, and supersonic speed on top of kilometre-wide large-scale destruction; distance was meaningless. Destroying a small city like Elincia was only a matter of 5 or 10 minutes.
He tapped the neck of his battle suit, and a helmet assembled from his back and covered his head.
"Geri"
John closed his visor.
"...yeah" Geri trembled.
"Lockdown the city and issue code Black. Also, send for reinforcements and prepare to assist when possible" John gave his orders.
"Done saying your final words?" The beast taunted.
"Humans are too weak. Look how scared you are, and we're both in the same realm, yet you weak humans want to wrestle with us beasts? jejeje!"
She guffawed with a salivating grin.