Marcius jumped high into the air, with his sword still sheathed.
Below him, he noted that Sir Janus also quickly approached the Alpha Lycanis. The great axe in his hand was covered in flames. And Ser Janus's flames were even brighter and looked hotter than Leon's.
The fiery axe was met with the claw of Alpha Lycanis, the beast easily pushing Ser Janus back.
With its focus on Ser Janus, the demon beast failed to evade Marcius, who was coming in with a well-aimed Red Serpent Slash.
The black sword managed to make contact with the hazard ranked beast's back. But the weapon barely scratched through the tough hide.
Alpha Lycanis quickly spun around, as it noticed both Marcius and Ser Janus were attacking from different directions.
The sudden spin managed to force Marcius and Ser Janus back.
Then, Leon came in.
He jumped over Marcius shoulder and aimed his slash at the beast's head.
"Burning Cleave!"
Alpha Lycanis stomped the ground hard, propelling its body backward and avoiding the attack.
The beast stopped quite a distance away from the three humans. And it opened its mouth.
A great amount of spirit energy could be felt, gathering at Alpha Lycanis's mouth.
"Not good! It is charging up its ranged attack."
Marcius reacted quickly.
By using Movement of Gaea, he closed the distance between them in a matter of seconds, and tried to slash at the beast's mouth from different directions at once.
This was where the Movement of Gaea shined. Precise body control with unpredictable attacks from numerous directions.
He managed to disrupt the charging attack, as Alpha Lycanis was forced to close its mouth and avoid sustaining injuries from Marcius's attacks.
The hazard ranked demon beast attempted to take a swipe at Marius, who was in a very close vicinity.
This time, the heir of Aemilia clan was forced on the defensive. As Marcius couldn't find enough time to gain some distance between him and the ferocious beast, all he could do was evade its attacks.
Then, Alpha Lycanis opened its large mouth and bit down hard on Marcius.
Marcius had to use his sword to deflect the bite.
Still, the sharp fangs of the Alpha Lycanis managed to penetrate his shoulder.
"Sh*t!"
Marcius could feel a great pain coming from the lower back of his left shoulder. But he gritted his teeth and endured it.
Luckily for Marcius, Ser Janus had already arrived near the beast and human. He aimed his axe slightly above Marcius shoulder.
Normally, using an axe in the immediate vicinity of one's ally was dangerous, not to say this close. But Ser Janus was an experienced veteran, and he managed to completely avoid Marcius's body parts.
His target? The Alpha Lycanis's fang.
A loud 'clang' rang out. And Ser Janus successfully pulled Marcius back from the wolf demon beast's mouth.
Blood was spilling from Alpha Lycanis's mouth. And on the ground was its broken fang.
Leon arrived beside Marcius and Ser Janus.
"Alright lads, the beast is extremely fast and nimble. Its attacks are also deadly and precise. This is clearly not an easy battle. We are outmatched as of now." Ser Janus started.
"You boys need to listen to my instructions, if you want to survive this encounter. Leon, no more reckless attacks. And young master, no more going in alone without backup."
The seasoned knight of Aemilia clan scolded the two young boys.
"Are we clear?"
Both Marcius and Leon gave their affirmatives.
"So, what now? What is the plan?"
Leon asked, as he warily eyed the injured beast slowly circling around the three of them.
"Its hide is though, attacks on the body will not deal much damage." Marcius advised.
"True. But it tries hard to protect its head. Every time we aim for the head, the Alpha Lycanis just evades or counterattacks." Ser Janus agreed.
"So, we aim for the head?"
"We aim for the head." Ser Janus nodded at Leon's question.
"Young master, your attacks are the most unpredictable and precise out of the two of you. You will attack the head. Wait for the moment, and go in if you find an opening. Leon, you will assist young master when he attacks. Use as much fire techniques as you can. It will interfere with its vision." Ser Janus commanded.
"And what will you be doing?" Leon asked.
Ser Janus smirked. His body suddenly erupted with large amount of spirit energy.
His body grew a bit, with an increase in muscle mass. Some parts of his body, like arms and legs, were slowly covered in red scales. And his eye pupils became slit shape.
It was a partial transformation. A signature technique which indicates that one had reached the spirit master realm.
And Ser Janus's spirit beast was Nine Fire Salamander. That was the reason for his scaly transformation.
"I'll distract the demon beast."
Ser Janus let out a loud roar, as if he was challenging the beast.
The Alpha Lycanis responded in kind. But, in the demon beast's case, it also started charging up the ranged attack again.
"Oh, no you don't!"
Ser Janus shouted as he pushed his body forwards in an incredible show of speed. He was as fast as Marcius when he was using Movement of Gaea.
Ser Janus swung his great axe at the beast's mouth.
But the demon wolf swiftly canceled its attack, and caught the axe with its claws. This time, the beast managed to catch the axe, and forced it onto the ground using its body weight as leverage.
Ser Janus could see some intelligence in the eyes of Alpha Lycanis. It was clearly mocking at him.
The beast had baited Ser Janus into making the first move.
"You think you are so clever, huh."
Ser Janus left hand lit up in dark orange flames. And he swung the fist hard at the demon wolf's head.
"F**king let go!"
The attack dealt a huge blow upon the unsuspecting beast. Its head was thrown to the right, and its foot lost the strength to keep stepping onto the axe.
Ser Janus pulled out the axe and attempted another slash, but the Alpha Lycanis recovered and swiftly evaded the attack.
But Marcius was already beside it, followed up by Leon.
Marcius dealt quick and well-aimed thrusts towards the head. The demon beast managed to evade most, but a great number of thrusts landed.
One thrust in particular managed to pierced through its right eyeball.
The beast howled in pain, but the three humans didn't let it recover.
Leon used Burning Cleave again, the flames hurting the demon wolf and also partially covering its vision.
Ser Janus also followed up with his version of Burning Cleave.
"Nine Fire Annihilation."
The axe was instantly covered in a dark orange color. And, as the blade of the axe made contact with the demon beast, a great fire covered most of its body, burning away its furs and probably the skin too.
Marcius also didn't lag behind. He moved through the fire with extreme speed. The raging fire parted way, due to the wind pressure created from Marcius's speed.
He aimed the tip of his sword at the very middle of Alpha Lycanis's forehead.
Marcius felt considerable resistance when the sword made contact with the demon beast's flesh, but the blade eventually made it into the beast head.
Only after making sure that his sword was through Alpha Lycanis's brain, Marcius dared to let go of his weapon.
Marcius instantly fell to the ground, sitting down on it with a tired sigh. Leon did the same.
"We… we did it." Marcius let out, in between heavily breathings.
"Man… that was intense." Leon agreed.
Ser Janus also canceled his partial transformation.
"Good job, lads."
The three of them could hear happy shouts from behind them.
Marcius looked behind and saw the troops, erupting in cheers. The entire time the three men were fighting the Alpha Lycanis, the troops had to stay put as per Marcius's instructions.
But they were at a standby, ready to get involved at as soon as the order was given. They were also watching the fierce battle with intense feelings.
And only now, they were able to rid of their worries.
Marcius pulled out a dozen of 'green blood' from his storage ring. He threw more than half of the glass bottles towards Leon and Ser Janus.
He, himself, began gulping down the rest, recovering his stamina and healing most of his lighter wounds.
His shoulder still hurt from the Alpha Lycanis's bite, but he would live.
Marcius stood up using his sword as an aid.
"We will be going back to camp now! Collect the bodies of the Lycanis and Alpha Lycanis. We will process the bodies at the camp. Take out the beast core and spirit shards, and purify the meat. We will be having Lycanis meat tonight!"
Cheers could be heard throughout the forest. Marcius, for a second, worried that stronger predators would come out after hearing the shouts.
But then he remembered that, the fighting which just occurred between three humans and a hazard ranked demon beast was probably louder. And no predator came out.
Then Marcius relaxed and let the joyous atmosphere washed over him.
He was so caught up in the moment that he almost missed the notification from Kio, about the successful claiming of Alpha Lycanis's bounty.
Almost.
*** *** ***
Author Notes
Hello! MidnightMK here!
What an intense battle, am I right?
I'll be posting an extra chapter, in the form of an auxiliary chapter. And that chapter will be all about known power rankings in the world of Rubrum, so that you guys will no longer be confused by cultivation realms, danger ranks, ete, etc.
So, look forward to it!
Please leave comments and feedbacks. I really appreciate it.
Please enjoy the chapter! And please vote if you do!