Turning their heads with alacrity, Jake, Smith, Max, Kevin, Diane, Kyle, Mike, Rick, Ava and Sora all froze due to the sheer pressure that could be felt from the roar.
"W-what is t-that?" Smith asked, obviously frightened.
"It came from inside the cave." Rick said.
"Really? Are you serious?" Kevin asked, feigning surprise. "Oh we didn't know that, because we didn't just hear the roar come directly from the cave."
"I thought you guys said there were only ten beasts in the cave." Kyle said.
"Wait." Jake said. "Do you hear that?"
The sound of heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards them from inside the cave and it was approaching at a very fast speed.
"What do we do?" Diane asked, her brass knuckles still in her hands.
"We get ready to fight." Jake replied.
"Are you crazy?!" Rick asked.
"We can't fight that thing. We haven't even had time to rest and recover our mana." Sora said.
"Well that's gonna have to wait." Jake responded. "There is no way we can outrun it and... Here it is."
Emerging from the cave was a beast which was the same type as the ones that Jake and the others had just finished killing. It had the same three eyes but was far larger than the previous beasts.
[Enhanced ranked beast encountered]
[System Quest: Kill the enhanced ranked beast]
[Reward: +5 Stat points, +2000exp]
It was as large as a house and as it opened its eyes, a pulse was released which was spreading in waves.
"What's that going to do?" Max asked, referring to the wave he could see heading towards them.
"Let's not find out." Kevin said. "That's an enhanced ranked beast. Look at the marking on its neck. That's a triple-ring marking."
"Looks like we've run out of luck. Still think this was a good idea Jake?" Ava asked.
"Stay close to me." Jake shouted then brought up a force field. Instead of it coming in a ball-like form as usual, it came up like a round wall in front of Jake's hands and became wide.
"I can't do that." Max said, surprised after seeing what Jake had just done. "Didn't you mimic my magic? How come you can do this and I can't?"
"Just use your force field and try to protect some of them." Jake said.
Mike formed a metal shield out of thin air and made it as wide as he could but he was only able to protect himself and Rick.
Jake's force field shielded five people including Jake while Max's force field was able to shield three.
As the wave emitted from the beasts eyes hit the force fields, the part that hit the force field stopped moving while the other part continued spreading out before eventually stopping.
"This is an enhanced ranked beast," Ava said, "so we should alert the haven with our watches."
"I already tried that." Kyle said. "The watches aren't working. It looks like whatever the beast is doing is preventing the watch from working."
"We can't stay like this forever." Sora said from behind Jake. "And the beast won't stay still forever either. We're going to enter that wave sooner or later."
"You're right." Jake said. "I'm working on something but I need a few seconds."
'I've been trying to control my magic myself.' Jake thought. 'I don't just want to mimic the magic of anything I touch for five seconds. Let's see if I can do it this time.'
"Kyle." Jake called out and stretched out one of his hands while using the other to hold up the force field. "Hold my hand."
"Why?" Kyle asked, he was also behind the force field Jake was using to protect them.
"Yeah, why?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow at Jake.
Thinking carefully, Jake answered Kyle. "I need your magic."
"How does...?"
"Do you really want an explanation now?! Or do you want to hold my hand?" Jake said in a hurry.
"Dude give him your hand!" Max shouted. "The beast's already moving."
Quickly putting his palm on Jake's, Kyle didn't know what to do next. "What now?"
"That's all I needed." Jake said after the five seconds contact.
[Condition to mimic magic has been met]
[You have successfully mimicked Poison Secretion]
[You will lose mimicked magic after 24 hours at your current level]
[Stat points: 5]
[Mimicked magic 1: Force Field Generation]
[Strength of Mimicked magic: 19]
[Mimicked magic 2: Poison Secretion]
[Strength of Mimicked magic: 24]
[Total Magic Strength: 43]
"Sorry guys." Jake said. "With how fast that beast is running, if it gets here it will kill all of us in the blink of an eye."
"What are you going to..."
"Max follow me." Jake said and ran towards the beast, leaving the others to deal with the wave which had now hit them.
Running forward and following behind Jake, Max had left the others and his force field had smoothly passed through their bodies, now exposing them to the wave which was emitted from the three eyes of the beast.
As the wave hit them after Jake ran towards the beast with Max, they suddenly stopped moving and became numb. They could not feel the wind moving in the air, the ground under their feet, they were unable to feel their own bodies. It was like the only thing they could do was see, hear and smell.
The only people that still remained safe from the waves were Mike and Rick. Mike's metal shield was still protecting the both of them but the question was, for how long?
Blocking the claws of the beast with the force field in his hand, Jake moved out of the way and jumped onto the leg of the beast before releasing as much acid as he could from his fingers onto the leg.
With the beast swinging its leg wildly in an attempt to get Jake off, Jake tried using the one dagger he was holding to pierce the skin of the beast but he was unable to. The skin of the beast was too strong for the dagger to cut through.
Not being able to hang onto the leg of the beast, Jake was sent flying away and now the beast was looking at Max who had followed Jake.
"I'm not completely useless." Max said. "It's a good thing I collected these from Kevin and Smith." In his hands, he was holding onto the two pulse grenades they had bought before leaving the haven.
As the beast began running towards him, Max threw out one pulse grenade and it landed in front of the beast before rolling beneath it and exploding.
The vertical explosion of the pulse grenade caused the beast to close its eyes and be slightly lifted above the ground. There were no visible injuries on the beast but from the sound the beast was making, Max could tell it was hurt.
"Max!" Jake shouted as he ran towards the beast. There was blood all over his back and his left arm appeared to be broken, with how it was swaying in the air. "Throw me the other pulse grenade."
Seeing the condition Jake was in, Max was shocked and stunned for a second. If the beast was capable of doing something like that to Jake, what would happen to the rest of them if Jake was unable to beat it.
"MAX!" Jake shouted after seeing Max unresponsive.
"Sorry." Max said before throwing the pulse grenade to Jake.
Jumping and catching the pulse grenade with his right arm, Jake drew the attention of the beast and began running away, allowing the beast to chase him. It had opened its eyes after recovering from the explosion of the pulse grenade and the waves continued to be released.
Jake had a force field around him in a ball-like format as he ran, leading the beast away from the others.
In the few seconds the waves stopped being emitted from the eyes of the beasts, Sora had brought out the only pulse grenade her group had bought from the dimensional space in the ring and given it to Rick. "Try to get it to Jake if you can." she said.
"How am I supposed to get it to him?" Rick asked.
"You and Mike can move to meet Max first." Sora replied.
With the beast now very close to him and his left arm fully healed, Jake jumped forward then quickly turned around. His force field cracked after being hit by the claws of the beast.
'The right moment.' Jake thought as the beast hit the force field again which made the force field crack even more.
Seeing the beast attack the force field with its teeth, Jake pressed the button on the pulse grenade then threw it into the mouth of the beast then rolled away just as the beast shattered the force field with its teeth.
An explosion went off inside the mouth of the beast which made the beast fall to the ground then close its eyes.
Through the dust that had risen, Jake went a little bit closer and saw smoke come out from the nose of the beast and decided to keep attacking.
Walking towards the beast, Jake saw the beast open its eyes and begin to get up.
'What's it gonna take to kill this thing?' Jake thought as he brought up the force field in the usual ball-like form.
Running to the beast as it got up, Jake threw a punch at its head which made it fall back to the ground. "Let's see how tough you are without these freakish eyes." Bringing out the daggers from the dimensional space in the ring, Jake stabbed the three eyes of the beast in quick succession.
After stabbing the eyes of the beast, Jake began pummeling its head as hard as he could. Seeing the others running to meet him, Jake continued punching the beast until he received the system messages he was waiting for.
[Quest Completed: Kill the enhanced ranked beast]
[Reward Obtained: +5 Stat point, +2000exp]
[Congratulations, you are now level 8]
[You have been rewarded with +1 to all stats]
[Jake Cayden]
[Level: 8]
[Health:180/180]
[Species:Human*]
[Strength:37]
[Speed: 38 +2]
[Endurance:45]
[Mental Moxie:23]
[Mana:33/33]
[Magic:32]
[Element: None]
[Ability: Magic mimicry]
[Exp: 1747/4500]
'That was a very difficult fight.' Jake thought as he searched for the beast essence in the neck of the beast. 'I used more than a hundred health points just to heal myself. It's a good thing I just levelled up, if not, my health points will be extremely low as well as my mana.'
"Are you okay?" Diane asked as she got to Jake.
"I'm fine." Jake replied, bringing out the beast essence. It was much brighter than the others he had seen and it looked like something was swirling inside.
"Why do you always get all the fun?" Kyle asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Jake asked as he kept the beast essence inside a bag before putting it in the dimensional space. "You think getting beat up by a beast is fun. Next time we see an enhanced ranked beast, have at it."
"Let's keep going." Kevin said. "We won't get more beasts essence by standing here and talking, will we?"
"He's right." Smith said.