''0''
Shane couldn't believe his eyes. For a moment, he had forgotten he could run out of mana. Shane panted heavily as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Although he had been wanting to die all this while, the last way he expected to die was to be torn apart by a ravenous beast!
The creature stopped for a moment and observed Shane, waiting for him to do something, but when he saw Shane was out of mana, it croaked; scratching its claws on the ceiling, it leaped towards Shane. Shane was already at the end of the corridor, and there was nowhere out. The only option was to jump out of the window, but even if he did that, the beast would have clawed him in two before he made it to the ground.
Before Shane could think of something else, the monster jumped on him, pushing him to the ground.
Arrghhh!!
Shane groaned as the claws of the beast dug into his shoulders. He held its arms with all his might, his veins poking out on his face.
The beast was strong, and Shane's strength couldn't do anything to stop its claws. Blood trickled down his shoulders as the claws drove deeper into his flesh.
Shane was almost out. He could feel the claws deep in his skin. The beast wanted to rip him in two. It had no mercy.
Shane's arms were almost giving up as they lost more blood. His arms shook intensely as they tried to hold off the beast, but they barely did a thing.
There was no way out. Shane knew he was going to die if no one came to his aid. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind. His eyes sparkled with the thought, and then he shut them and opened them again.
This time, they were pitch black. And with everything he had left in him, he pulled his arm off the beast and grabbed it by the neck. At that moment, a helix of dark matter flowed from the monster's neck into Shane's arm. The monster noticed what was happening and tried to pull itself away, but Shane moved the other hand from its arm, and with his both hands, he held its neck with all his might.
As he continued to hold on to the beast, more mana flowed into him, and as Shane's strength increased, he pushed the beast off him.
Shane groaned as the monster's claws slowly pulled out of his shoulders, all the while still holding on to its neck. As he took more mana from the monster, his strength grew and the monster shrank in size. Soon, the mana stopped flowing, showing that he had sapped it all and Shane let go of the monster, which had now shrunk to the size of a dog. Shane looked at his wrist and his eyes widened when he saw the mana number printed on it;
3985_
Because of the high level of the monster's power, he instantly rose to a fourth rank!
As soon as Shane let it go, the beast trembled in fear and tried to run from Shane. Shane glanced at it. He wanted to let it live, but it would go around and kill people again, so he had no choice. It was innately evil and needed to be destroyed.
He reached out his palm towards the monster and threw a lightning bolt at it. The bolt tore through the body of the monster and shattered it into a thousand pieces.
Wow!
Shane exclaimed, looking at his hand. The power he felt inside of him was overpowering and immense. He felt great strength zapping throughout his body.
When he looked at the wound on his arm, where the monster's claws had dug in, his eyes widened when he noticed it was healing back.
Shane smiled as he stretched himself, the pain almost gone. The first time he was struck by Kai, he had healed, but not at this rate. It seemed like he also took the ability to heal faster from the monster.
He turned to walk back to the room, and that was when his eyes took in his surroundings; it was an utter mess. The monster had broken down a few torches as it jumped around, and the ceiling was clawed through in a few places. As he stared at the mess, he remembered what got him there.
That Innkeeper!
That woman must have done something to their food.
He knew everything was a little too planned out. How was it that everyone was sleeping, and the monster had walked straight up, knowing exactly where they were and where to go?
It seemed like this village offered strangers to the monster in exchange for the monster sparing their lives. Shane's blood boiled as he thought about it. What if he had eaten the meal? Was this how all of them would have ended up dead? Dead without a fight?!
Shane fumed as he walked back to the room to check on the others. They were still all sleeping, and it was still dark. Thinking of what to do, he went to the bathroom and brought a bucket of water, and emptied it on Sky.
Sky slightly nudged but still continued in his sleep. Shane did not know what to do. He decided to wait it out. Sitting down on the bed, he thought of how to confront the inn owner the next morning. Obviously, she knew they were descendants. The sigil on their wrists was clear as day, so why did she not tell them about the demon so they would kill it?
Shane grew angrier the more he thought about it. He couldn't wait for morning to come.
Finally, he spotted the sun rising slowly from the east. The morning birds chirped and flew around the window, signifying that dawn had come.
Shane looked back at Sky and Dai, and they were still sleeping. Sky even had his mouth open, a snore escaping at intervals.
He smiled just thinking of how Sky would react when he woke up to find out that he had just saved all their asses.
Shane stood up from the bed and proceeded out of the room. As soon as he stepped out of the room, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
''That monster always leaves a mess everywhere. Why doesn't it eat up everything? It especially leaves out the intestines and stomach, which are the messiest parts! And they are five in number, I can't even imagine the amount of work we have to do now!''
A girl's voice rang as the footsteps approached;
''Shut up! You should be grateful you're alive… how many pails did you come with?… ''
The woman's voice was cut short when she came up the stairs and saw Shane standing on the other side of the hall.
''Ahhh!!''
She yelled, and they both turned to run back down the stairs, but Shane was quick to stop them;
''Move an inch and I guarantee you, your daughter will be stuffing those pails with your bloody remains this morning.''