My name is Rina, and I am a Rank 1 peak-stage beastmaster. A year ago, some friends and I formed a squad after creating our beast spaces. Due to our low talent in beast space and cultivation, we couldn't get into any good academies. So, we dropped out and started hunting beasts and completing adventurer tasks to earn resources for our beasts.
We've been stuck at the bronze adventurer rank for a year. Despite our struggles, none of our beasts have broken through to rank 2, which has kept us from upgrading to silver rank. Every day is a constant struggle, filled with hope and frustration, but our bond as a squad grows stronger with each passing mission.
Four days ago, we saw a mission to exterminate snow vipers and decided to take it. The receptionist mentioned that another person had also taken the mission and asked if we could include him in our squad. Our leader, Harry, agreed to let him join us if he want to join our squad, the receptionist said if he wants to join us he will let us know.
After that, we spent several days fighting snow vipers around the perimeter of the area, earning more than usual.
Today, Harry decided that we should go directly to the nest. All the squad members agreed, and we set off towards the location.
When we arrived near the nest, we were suddenly attacked by a pack of snow vipers. Denver was bitten on the leg by one of the snow viper's frost Poison ability.
"Aargh!" Denver grunted, clutching his leg in pain. Seeing him like that, I panicked, my mind going blank.
"Get a hold of yourself, Rina, and heal him!" Harry shouted, releasing his beast from its space. His voice, usually steady and calm, was now edged with desperation, snapping me out of my stupor.
I quickly opened my beast space and summoned my pet—a chubby, reddish, plant-based healer beast with hands and legs. I commanded my pet to heal Denver while I used my mana to activate the shared healing ability. The warm, green glow of healing energy surrounded the wound which was frozen and was spreading it was stopped by the healing ability and started to quickly unfrozen.
Harry, Dina, and Carl defended us but were getting pushed back by the pack of Snow vipers they can't handle that many beasts at the same time. In desperation, Harry commanded his earth golem to grow larger, but it was quickly defeated by a massive snow viper.
What should we do?" I asked Harry, fear gripping me as our strongest beast fell.
"I'll hold them off with my pet. All of you should leave," Harry said, glancing at his recovering beast.
"No, we're not leaving you!" we all shouted, preparing to fight alongside Harry. Denver, now healed, opened his beast space, summoning a gorilla like physical-type beast.
Suddenly, a thick mist enveloped us, obstructing our view.
"What happened?" I asked in confusion.
*******
Meanwhile, August was sprinting through the mist, with Aurora slithering beside him. He could see through the mist because it was a manifestation of his contracted beast. He saw a total of twelve snow vipers; one of them was larger than the others.
"I will kill the lower-rank snow vipers. You can fight the biggest one."
August let Aurora fight the leader so she could gain experience in battle on her own.
"Hiss!" Aurora hissed in agreement, her eyes burning with fighting spirit.
August moved swiftly through the mist and saw a snow viper's back. He quickly attacked it with his blade, cutting through its scales and killing it instantly.
An ice spike came toward him, but he jumped with momentum, spinning in the air as the spike passed under him. He landed gracefully on his feet.
"Am I looking cool?"
[ No one can see you in this thick mist, host. ]
"Aren't you here? At least you can compliment me."
[ If you want, I can fake a compliment for you, host. ]
"Tsk, no need."
August swung his blade, shaking off the blood, as the snow viper that had fired the ice spike closed in.
The snow viper screeched upon seeing August. The other snow vipers, which were lost and going in different directions, quickly became alert and started heading toward their location.
"Yeah, call them. I will kill all of them together."
"But first, I will kill you."
August dashed at the snow viper, imbuing his mana into the blade to activate the shadow cut ability.
"Surprise," he said as he got closer to the viper, slashing with his blade. Shadow energy launched from it.
The viper, trying to activate its ability, couldn't react quickly enough due to their close proximity and was slashed in half.
"Let's finish them off quickly. Aurora might need my help," he murmured, blending into the mist and heading toward the nearest viper.
As August fought the snow vipers, the leader snow viper, hearing the cries of its followers, tried to go to them but was obstructed by Aurora.
Aurora fired ice spikes, penetrating the leader viper's scales and freezing the flesh underneath.
The leader viper fired ice spikes at her, but she nimbly avoided them and counterattacked with an elemental bite. Even though it took time to activate, the leader viper's mobility was decreased due to several parts of its body being frozen by the ice spikes' additional effect.
The jaws of ice headed towards the leader viper's head. It tried to escape the attack, but it was too late. The jaws of ice bit into its neck, and with sheer force, cracked the leader viper's neck, quickly killing it.
"Oh, it's over here too," August said, emerging from the mist and glancing at the leader snow viper's corpse. He swung his blade, shaking off the dark red blood, then sheathed it as Aurora climbed up onto his shoulder.
"Good job." He brought a finger to her chin, gently stroking the smooth white scales.
"Hiss!" Aurora hissed in happiness.
"Let's go and see if that squad is okay," August said, heading towards the squad's location.
The squad was in confusion about what was happening. They were ready to fight but were stopped by the thick mist and the absence of the snow vipers.
They heard fighting sounds and the painful screeching of beasts. They grew anxious, their legs numb, sweat trickling down their foreheads.
"Kyah! What is that?" Rina shouted as she staggered to the ground, trying to get away.
The whole group glanced in the direction she was pointing. To their horror, they saw the silhouette of a humanoid creature with four blue eyes coming toward them.
"We're fucked"