*Bam*
*Boom!*
The sounds of battle continued for another 10 minutes before only the sounds of bones being crunched and a loud slurping-like sound echoed throughout the area.
"Vasari, what do we do?" Hiromi whispered to Vasari afraid that the beast not far away from them would hear her.
"We wait."
That was all Vasari said, as he used his exceptionally sensitive hearing to pick up any changes taking place outside.
2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes later Vasari finally heard something that piqued his interest. 8 different pairs of footsteps slowly approached the beast who was enjoying its meal.
"Why are you smiling like that? Did something good happen?" Hiromi asked, she has been on edge this whole time and she felt like she might go insane. One wrong move or if luck wasn't on their side then this day next year would be the anniversary of their death.
"Well I don't know if it's particularly a good thing or not, but it will most definitely be interesting."
Hiromi rolled her eyes in annoyance at his roundabout answer, "Don't speak in riddles, it just makes me more nervous."
"If my guess is correct then 8 members from the Church of Prasufis are about to enter conflict with one of the Rulers of Draynora. All of them are pretty strong but the beast they are going up against doesn't seem like a pushover."
"Oh thank the heavens. Those from the Church of Prasufis are from a higher planet so they should be able to defeat that beast." Although Hiromi has some misgivings about the members of the Church of Prasufis, it didn't mean she didn't acknowledge their strength. Just ordinary members of the church were equal to if not stronger than the most powerful cultivators on her planet. That was enough to showcase the difference between a world new to cultivation compared to a world with abundant history.
"Well, that's only if they can work together as a team. If not, then they are doomed to end up in that's beasts stomach like those before them."
------
"Shit, this fog is so thick I can barely see anything in front of me." A tall and bulky man with his upper body exposed and his bald head acting as a landmark for those following behind him.
"Adrian shut up and keep walking. We are getting closer to the beast, so be on your guard." Mason, the group leader with unique pink eyes, said.
"Why do I feel like I'm being used as the bait here."
"That's because you are baldy." Allison goaded the bald man. She was comfortably walking in the middle of the group with laid-back swagger and countenance. She looked as if she was going for a stroll in the park instead of heading to fight an unknown beast.
"Why are we hunting this beast again? I don't see the point of this." Adrian questioned. He had a funny trait that showed up whenever he was nervous, he would unknowingly ask a lot of questions which gave away his inner feelings, though he would never admit he was feeling nervous.
"Because fighting a beast with similar strength to the Black Firedrake is good practice before actually fighting the Black Firedrake." This time it was Julian, the guy with a unique mohawk and Viking-style beard, who answered.
"Agh it makes sense but I hate this."
Just then, the group of 8 heard a low growl from a beast not far from them. The growl sounded like a warning, a warning not to come any closer.
"Everybody get in formation now! Quickly!" Mason shouted at the 7 others who quickly moved to form a diamond-like formation with Adrian at the northern point, Allison at the western point, Julian at the eastern point and Mason at the southern point. The four remaining members in the group consisting of Trent, Yera, a rough-looking young man with medium-length blonde hair and blueish-silver eyes, and a pretty woman with eerie dark eyes and creamy white hair occupied the centre of the diamond formation.
The low growls didn't stop and seemed to only be getting louder as time went on. At the back of the formation, Mason's pink irises glowed with a subtle dim light as he inspected the surroundings still covered in a thick fog.
"Allison in front of you!" Mason urgently shouted at Allison who didn't get flustered by his sudden outburst but drew her weapon from her spatial ring, a steel scorpion whip with the blades being a charcoal colour. Allison lifted her arm holding the handle of the whip up before forcefully swinging down.
*Crackle!*
The whip created a loud cracking sound that reverberated off the rocks around her.
*Whiptch!*
A second loud crackle sounded out and everyone in the group could see Allison's whip crash against what looked like a large tail with razor-sharp spikes protruding from the tail as thick as an overweight human's body. Allison's whip recoiled back after impacting the tail causing her to feel the abrupt backlash making her arm feel numb for a second before returning to normal.
"Adrian incoming on your left!"
Adrian unhesitatingly crossed his dual blades in front of his chest and circulated his mana in preparation for a cultivation technique.
"6 moulds of Prasufis: second mould, Divine Shell!"
Adrian shouted the name of his technique before a white turtle shell formed in front of his body just in time to block the same whip-like tail Allison just blocked.
*Dong!*
The spiky tail heavily crashed against the shell causing a small crack in the centre but Adrian's shell held its ground.
"Hahaha, the Prasufis Divine Shell is almighty!"
"Dawn, quickly attack the tail before it can strike Adrian's divine shell again. That idiot is too stupid to notice."
"Okay." Dawn, the woman with dark irises almost matching her pupils and Creamy white hair, circulated her mana and pointed both of her hands towards the tail.
'Prasufis Divine Arts: Loyalists Arrow!'
An illuminated silver arrow appeared above her body. Under the command of Dawn, the arrow shot off high into the sky until it reached higher than the peak of the mountain they were fighting on.
"Humph!" Dawn dropped her hands and the arrow followed her commands falling from the sky at neck-breaking speeds. In less than 2 seconds the arrow plummeted over 2000 metres. All that could be seen from the arrow was a trail of silver light that it left behind.
*BOOM!!*
The arrow crashed perfectly on the tail, piercing through the tough scales and pinning it down to the ground in the process.
A growl of pain and anger rumbled the surroundings. The cave Vasari and Hiromi were in shook as if the cave would collapse at any given moment.
"Julian now!"
Julian tightly gripped the axe in his hands and rushed towards the pinned tail.
"Haaaa!" Julian jumped in the air and lifted the axe above his head and when it reached its peak height the axe seemed to grow over 10 times its original size and the blade changed from a dull metallic colour to a radiant gold.
"Forseti's silent judgement."
The entire mountain seemed to instantly still and complete silence ruled over the mountain. Until…
*Shing!*
Due to its large size, the axe looked as if it was falling slowly but in reality, it was falling at astonishing speeds that made the air around it have the appearance that it was being cleaved in two.
The axe blade quickly reached the scaly tail and was impeded for but a mere moment before dismembering it from the rest of its body.
*ROAR!!!*
The beast's roar managed to instantly disperse the surrounding fog covering half the mountain and the 8 Church of Prasufis members could finally see what they were fighting against.
"A multi-tailed chaos croc!!" Yera exclaimed in fright. Multi-tailed chaos crocs were not unknown to these 8 cultivators, in fact, it was not their first time fighting a multi-tailed chaos croc. In the Westernord Continent, there was a whole community of them living in the far Northern Territories of the continent. They were known for being cunning, ruthless and extremely territorial. Their bloodline was also extremely sought after due to their insane physical strength, tough defence and surprisingly, their amazing control over darkness and water.
"It only has 2 tails instead of the 6 we are used to seeing. Its bloodline is weak and diluted, so don't be scared." Mason informed his squad members subsequently encouraging them. If they were fighting a multi-tail chaos croc with 6 tails, he would've instantly called for a retreat, but a chaos croc with 2 tails is more than doable for them.
10 metres long, thick black scales covering the entirety of its body, 2 thick and spiky tails although one was already chopped off, and teeth longer than a human foot, but the most striking part of this chaos croc was its piercing yellow eyes with slit pupils staring directly at the eight humans in front of it with dense killing intent.
"Hehe, it doesn't look very happy."
"If I chop your dick off, would you be happy?"
"If you put it that way…"
The group regained their confidence after confirming what their leader said. Although still a threat and dangerous, they believed they could kill this multi-tail chaos croc if they worked together and nothing untoward occurred.
"Allison, Adrian, enough talking. We're starting with tactic B. Everyone get ready!"
––––
Chilling in the cave while eating Beta stage beast meat, Vasari and Hiromi listened to the explosions of the ongoing battle not far from them.
"Hmm, it seems those Prasufis guys are taking care of that beast."
"That's such a relief." Hiromi released a sigh of relief. Those explosions outside were no joke and she felt as if the cave could collapse at any time due to the vibrations caused by it.
"We need to come up with an alibi." Vasari suddenly suggested.
"Why?"
"Just in case they find us in the cave. Hmm…we will go with this. If they do find us, you will be my Senior sister who took her Junior brother on a mission and suddenly ended up in this perilous situation."
"Are you serious?"
"Very."
Hiromi didn't know whether to laugh or cry seeing his serious face. She didn't know why they had to create this fake story, but she guessed that Vasari had his reasons for doing and she would be correct. Vasari didn't want those Church of Prasufis members to think he was suspicious and think he was not from this planet. His cover would be blown immediately, and he would be lucky to escape with his life.
"Oh wait, before I forget…do you have a sect robe that would fit me."
"Vasari…"
"I'll take that as a no."
Hiromi rolled her eyes and continued eating her food. She sometimes wondered how this guy survived until now. There were times when she was utterly amazed by him, and there were times when she wanted to slap her forehead at his daftness. He was a battle junkie who fought recklessly, but his battle instincts were frightening and not to mention his absurd physical strength. She also found it weird that his knowledge about the planet was so pitiful, almost as if he wasn't from the planet…
*ROOOOOAAAAAAAR*
The roar of the multi-tailed chaos croc shook her out of her thoughts and she instinctively looked at Vasari who had a rare look of worry.
"Vasari, what's happening?"
"We need to leave this mountain right now!"
Vasari didn't wait for her to answer, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Without saying another word he circulated the Superior Qi in his Dantian and meridians, used his movement technique and zoomed out of the cave.
Hiromi couldn't understand what was happening, everything was moving too fast for her to comprehend, but when she tilted her head, she realised why Vasari panicked as he did.
She watched with wide horror-stricken eyes as a huge chunk of the mountain including the cave they were just in erupted, and an enormous beast reaching 50 metres in length and 30 metres in height appeared from the hole it just created.
"VASARI, THERE'S A GIANT FREAKING MOLE!!!"
"I know! That's why we're running away!"