Gashna looked at the pile of 1st and 2nd ranked Space flowers before him. Gashna stared at the smiling faces of the five people around him, "you'll take ten 1st ranks each from this haul before we move on to a different location."
Cheers of excitement burst from the group not having expected to receive such benefits when they had hardly done anything but the gathering.
Wasting no time they swiftly divided their share of the flowers among themselves.
A swift scan of his Will left Gashna smiling, noticing that they hadn't taken a single flower over what he had allowed, "good, with our speed we should be able to reap quite the profit when this expedition is over and done with."
Storing the remaining find, Gashna and his team were off deeper into the forest once more.
"Sir Gashna, why did you let those two form such a team when you didn't have to, plus when you graciously allowed them to do as such they showed you not the proper respect you deserve as the most powerful among us," the other looked at the speaking beast-man with a glimmer of respect for touching such a sore topic while not forgetting to bootlick their leader.
Gashna paused in his movement, turning to the dog beast-man who trembled under his piercing gaze, "I let them go as he had produced a contract to soothe my worries, and a leader shouldn't resort to a show of force as soon as differing opinions pop up. Don't you all think so too?"
Seeing the threat gleaming in the eyes of the Orc before them, the savagery bubbling just beneath the surface looking for an excuse to burst forth.
Dirty looks pierced the dog beast-man as the culprit of their current situation. Noticing their lack of immediate response had caused a change in the Orc's suppressed bloodlust they wasted no more time.
"Yes! Sir Gashna!" they shouted in unison while cold sweat drenched their backs.
"Good, I'll be counting on you to collect the loot once more," like it was never there, to begin with, Gashna flashed them a smile moving to dispatch the hindrances.
___
"Fuck!!" screamed Ruvyn dodging another swipe from the black-furred wolf, leaving four deep gashes in the earth where he once stood.
Gusts of wind rushed towards Ruvyn, a grating sound resembling that of metal grinding against each other resounding from the wind, finger's now covered in a green buzzing energy.
Ruvyn lashed out with his hands,tearing a chunk of flesh from the leg of the beast.
*Roar*
Ruvyn's eyes gleamed sharply while a mocking smile hung on his lips "How do you like the taste of my Wind Claw."
Seeming to understand the provocation in Ruvyn's voice, the beast roared before rushing towards him.
Its speed now twice as fast, fur taking on a metallic sheen while its claws glowed with a red tint.
"Bring it on, that flower is mine," Ruvyn dashed forward to meet the charge of the beast.
Drawing fully on the power within him, he held nothing back as they clashed in a blurred dance of death, flesh ripped asunder from bone, splattering blood drenched the ground red.
Shockwaves of destructive energy battered the area reducing the surroundings to nothing more than a scare filled ruin.
___
Mezri felt the refreshing feeling of her claws tearing flesh from bone, ripping a chunk of flesh from the side of a wolf that was being distracted by the raging Orc and retreating as soon as the opportunity for the attack was taken or missed.
This was what they had decided on in the short time they had before the fight started.
The Orc and Elf would hold off a beast each, while she would move between the two battles to strike at any openings they forced the beast to present.
Licking her lips, Mezri looked at the blood dripping piece of flesh still stuck to her claws with excitement; opening a fang-filled mouth she devoured it like all the others while a soft purr of satisfaction rumbled in her chest, "nothing beats fresh meat."
"Raahhhh," swinging his ax around, it clashed with a resounding clang with the Beast's claws, forcing it back a few steps while the orc left two small trenches where his leg dug through the ground.
Swinging his hand a few times to work off the numbness, he rushed back to clash with the beast.
"This is what I wanted, come at me, come let me rip you apart and take your head as my trophy!"
*Clang, Clang, Clang*
With each clash, the Orc was pushed back less and less, while blood spurted from the wounds left on the beast by the beast-woman throughout the fight.
'She does good work, now if only I was the one taking her to bed;' tightening his grip on his weapon, red energy engulfed it, giving off the pungent scent of blood.
"Die!!"
Howling in rage the wolf rushed to interrupt the Orc as its instincts scream danger from the blood-red ax in its opponent's hand.
Claws raised and shimmering with a red glow, the wolf snarled, bringing it down to tear the green being to shreds when a flash of red passed by causing unbearable pain to explode from its midsection, slowly its movement by a costly beat.
Swinging with all the strength in his body, blood burst into the air, raining down and marring his green skin.
Hands spread to the side and a grin of pleasure on his face the Orc's laugh of delight shook the air around him.
"If you're done, let's kill the other quickly, I don't think the elf's gonna last much longer at this rate. Oh, I want half the meat from the wolf," licking the blood from her claws Mezri walked off with an added sway to her hips that drew the Orc's eyes to her plump ass.
"If that Elf wasn't gonna Fuck you later, I would take you right now," growled the Orc, his eyes still glued to her ass causing the beast-woman to laugh.
"If you can kill him and force me to submit you can do whatever you want with my body; but that's if you can kill him," pointing towards the devastated land that was Ruvyn's battlefield.
Merzi through the Orc a look of challenge before dashing towards the elf.
'Killing Ruvyn, ain't a bad idea if I do say so myself,' grinning the Orc sped after Merzi.
____
Thirio watched with a little trepidation and awe as Ruvyn split the wolf in half with a 2-meter long blade of wind.
The land now reformed was a testament to the fearsome strength that was displayed between the two.
"Let's make our move before they pull themselves together," already on the move Rian wasted no time making for the exhausted Ruvyn with arcs of blue lightning jumping underneath his skin,
boosting his speed, 'he's half-step into that stage like me so I need to get the timing right.'
Coming to a stop just out of their range of perception, Rian slowly gathered energy for his next move. Turning to Thirio that was behind him he sent a transmission his way.
"Take out the Orc or Elf once I make my move on their leader."
___
*Pant Pant*
Taking a deep breath, Ruvyn got his breathing under control, shifting his focus to the boiling energy within his body to do the same.
Looking at the Beast's corpse drew a sneer from his lips but it couldn't hide the pride shining within his eyes.
It was a close battle and if not for his battle skills and the fact that he was practicing a cultivation technique among others he would be the one dead on the ground instead.
"You fought well, but the spoils are still mine to reap," the words barely a whisper left his lip while his hand traced one of the many claw wounds that decorated his body. A quick scan of the area showed nothing close by other than the three approaching him just as exhausted.
Watching the approaching group with vigilance, Ruvyn stared at the carcasses they pulled behind them to show the completion of the task he assigned them, " it's good you're all alive, Mezir take care of the beast for me."
Stepping forward Mezir approached the beast and quickly got to work extracting all the useful material from its body.
With practiced ease, she carefully separated skin from flesh, flesh from bones, and all usable organs were safely removed; she worked quickly and quietly while sneaking glances at the young man beside her while thoughts of what's to come for her played through her thoughts.
This close to him she could see the sign of exhaustion on him and although he never once looked her way the small caresses of wind reminded her why he was their leader and not one to be trifled with.
"All done young lord, as for the others…"
"You all can do as you see fit with the two you took down together as they are your spoils of battle, as for mine, I know you beast-people enjoy the energy-rich flesh of beast so feel free to take the flesh from mine," interrupting Mezir words, Ruvyn quickly addressed the matter of distribution.
"Now," looking at the reason for the battle his eyes couldn't help but burn with fervor as the 3rd rank Space Flower was now within his reach, each step forward drew him closer, and the closer he got the more excited he was.
Standing before the rock upon which the flower sath he took a deep breath of the spatial energy rich air.
Reaching out, Ruvyn's Will scanned his surroundings, sensing no attacks he leaped.
Feet barely off the ground, the unmistakable sound of a weapon slicing through the air sounded from his back, " so one of you did act after all," thrusting his hand in the direction of the sound, a blast of wind collided with the weapon.
Using the monument brought by the blast Ruvyn spun around only to face a blood-red fist aiming to shatter his head, followed by the green skin owner of the fist, " with you gone, the materials, flower, and woman are mine," he cackled.
Ruvyn looked on with ridicule in his eyes, " you could have lived and made a profit from all this but, not only do you foolishly go after my life you DARE COVET WHAT IS MINE!!!!"
A peculiar energy burst forth from his body that gathered all the atmospheric energy in a meter diameter around his body like soldiers answering their general call.
Swiftly the energy transitioned into sharp blades of wind that reduced the Orc's body to diced flesh and splattering blood.
The other two watched in horror as Ruvyn turned a frighteningly dark gaze upon them "let this be a lesson to....."
A flash of lighting zipped past bringing his words to a halt, his eyes widened in shock as his brain slowly registered his current condition.
___
His Body now hidden behind the many blue arcs of lighting covering him, Rian watched everything play out from the Orc's initial attack to the convergence of energy "Now!"
Blasting off the ground his body soon transformed into a bolt of lighting as he shot towards Ruvyn floating in the air just as the Orc was ripped to shreds.
Focusing all his energy on his left hand and shaping it into a blade. Rian gave a mighty swing as he flashed past Ruvyn's body, the distinct feel of flesh passing quickly through his blade.
A second and third slash soon followed the first ripping the body in five, plummeting to the ground shortly after the body, Rian gave a nod watching a hand covered in what seemed like dragon scales tear the chest of the elf open; his beating heart grasped within the hand was then promptly crushed.
Seeing no reason to stick around longer than necessary Rian waved his hand at the beast-woman launching the sword towards her, popping her head like a watermelon, "this worked out a lot better than I had hoped. Let's get our prize and be on our way; it's better not to touch anything they own."
Thinking about it for a while Thirio gave a nod, they both rushed to the location of the Space Flower. Within minutes the flower was safely within their hands, " finally it's ours, it felt like days had passed with how tense the situation was."
"Don't relax now, I hope you have a way to get it out without detection as I'm sure they'll have a way to check if anyone's hiding it," hearing that Thirio paused before a smile broke his lips.
"No need to worry, I have my ways as I'm sure you have yours. Let's head back, it's close to the allotted time given to search but let's take all the flowers they collected back there."
Plan of action set they recovered the flowers from the corpses before leaving the space and rushing back to the meeting point.