"Stay back, Eva."
Lucas' voice was firm as he warned her to stay far away from the fight. Fighting a beast so close to her was definitely not the best option, but it had followed her all the way here.
A beast with enough intelligence to follow quietly from behind was infinitely more dangerous than the other beasts they had come across.
A flashback of his graduation test made him feel very uneasy. He had been tasked to defeat a powerful beast near the mountains.
The feeling of hopelessness that surrounded him then felt similar to what he was feeling now. The powerful entity that he was searching for crashed through the trees.
It was an ape type beast. How it had concealed itself with its huge size must have to do with a skill it had.
Lucas stood his ground under the oppressive presence of the ten foot tall beast. Its orange colored fur covered its body as if it was thick armor.
The ape beast searched the clearing until its eyes landed upon Eva once more. Lucas did not like the glint in its eyes. He would need to kill it as quickly as possible.
Leaving this part of the woods made him feel regret. He was thankful for the few days they had spent there. Particularly for the day before.
Taking in a deep breath he threw the sheath gripped in his left hand behind him where Eva was. Gripping the sword with both of his hands he used his first step to quickly get in front of the ape.
The ape was still distracted by Eva so it did not see Lucas suddenly appear before it. Lucas was able to put in a deep gash to its side and get safely away before the ape's arm swung down in front of him.
Lucas smiled. The ape was much slower than the spider. This would be a battle of speed.
Knowing the danger of overconfidence, he made sure to wear the ape's strength down with smaller cuts.
Each time the ape swung out angrily with its arms it left huge holes in the ground. The grassy clearing was now filled with upturned dirt and many of the trees around them had been knocked down.
Lucas made sure to keep Eva behind him, not allowing the ape to get close. He could sense the fear coming off Eva in waves.
The ape beast's fur was covered in red blood from the multiple cuts across its body, but its strength was not waning.
'Just bleed out already.'
Lucas was already using quite a bit of his strength to cut into the ape's flesh, but it didn't feel like he was doing much damage. Did it have some kind of recovery magic?
If that was the case, he would have to risk making heavier moves in close range. The ape roared as it pulled out an arrow that suddenly flew into its shoulder.
It crushed the arrow in its giant hands and angrily glared at Eva behind Lucas.
'No.'
The energy around the clearing suddenly grew to a more intensive level. Lucas ran to Eva behind him.
He barely managed to pull her out of the way of a magical attack that devastated what was left of the clearing.
His arm held Eva tightly to him as he surveyed the wreckage. Eva trembled under his arms. He wished he could comfort her, but he needed to fight now.
"Run to the trees."
Lucas whispered into her ear and pushed her towards their bags. She stumbled but managed to hook her arms into the straps and attempt to climb over the uneven ground.
The ape was bellowing at the top of his lungs as it pounded its chest. Lucas reached into the belt he carried and pulled out some throwing knives.
He didn't have any of the usual tricks he used to deal with beasts. If it were possible, he would have wanted some potions to distract the beast, but all he had was his sword and these knives.
It would be better if he could draw the ape away from Eva with its magical abilities. However, they were surrounded by dense forest.
It could prove to be more of a nuisance if he drew it back into the trees. Plus he was worried about how the ape had concealed itself in the first place.
He should have told Eva to run much sooner. There was no point in regretting that decision now.
He inspected the knives in his hand as he jumped around avoiding the strikes from the beast. The poison that coated them was old, so he wasn't sure how well it would work here.
Flicking his wrist he sent all three knives into the body of the ape. They buried deeply into its flesh, but the ape did not seem to notice them.
Flipping through the air Lucas used both of his hands to add strength to the slash of his blade. The sword embedded deeply into its arm.
As he had feared the ape was able to get a blow on him as he risked heavier hits. He barely managed to get his sword up before he was knocked in the opposite direction.
Lucas hit a tree trunk hard as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Coughing, he got up and wiped away the blood that had dripped down his face.
He had no time to take stock of his injuries as the ape came rushing at him once more. Lucas quickly rushed to the side and avoided taking another blow.
'Seriously, this big guy is so annoying.'
The tree trunk that Lucas had landed against turned into smashed bits of wood under the powerful blow of the ape.
Spitting the blood out of his mouth, Lucas used the ape's distraction to slash another heavy hit into the ape's back.
Lucas swung his sword to the side to throw the extra blood off his blade. His grip was still good despite the slippery blood.
He pulled another knife from his belt and threw it at the ape as he retreated. The ape roared at the pain in his back.
It swung its arm behind it just barely missing Lucas again. The force of its swipe blew air towards Lucas.
Lucas glared at the ape.
'Wind magic… How troublesome.'
The ape had already taken down a small part of the forest in its attacks. Lucas tried to draw it to the other side of the forest, away from where Eva had run away.
"Roar!"
Lucas jumped out of the way of another massive magic attack that cut through the trees around him, making them fall down in pieces.
A cold sweat began to form on his forehead.
******
If you are not reading this on WebNovel then this is stolen content. Say no to piracy : )!
=> Link to original: https://www.webnovel.com/book/a-noble-daughter's-reprisal_23144276006366005