'Don't disappoint me—' In that moment, it was as if the whole world seemed to freeze. Joseph's eyes widened as he realized that his expectations might not be true, considering he had brought himself here to the area of night winds, not only to override his chip but also to force his meta beast to start trusting him.
"Grrrrwww"
He shut his eyes as the night bane's mouth, clearly large enough to fit his head, arrived on either side, and he could feel its teeth creaking against his cheeks.
Letting his trust in his meta beast be known, this was the only thing he could think of to create a bond with his beast while hoping that it would react.
"Piiippiii—Chuiii!"
And exactly, it did. In the last moment, the sound resonated inside Joseph's ears as his eyes snapped open, revealing nothing but the larynx and the internal organs of the night bane, which had already half-encircled his face and was about to bite off his head, but suddenly halted before distancing itself at a fast pace.
No, it was more like the starlight shot from Joseph's body had directly hit the night bane, throwing it back a few meters.
It regained its balance, sliding on the floor before steadying itself and strengthening its stance.
"Ppippi!"
Joseph's eyes hurriedly turned towards a small ball twice the size of a football lying on the ground, which swiftly uncoiled into a rat as it cried out, glaring at the night bane.
'Shit...I really trusted this beast,' Joseph felt death flash in his eyes once again in that moment where, for a second, he thought that he was done for.
But at the last moment, he had given all his faith to this beast, hoping for it to show up, and it did.
Given that he trusted his beast, as both of their lives were linked with each other, it indirectly instigated the beast to protect itself, coming out to fight.
But there was no assurance until it really did come out and attacked the night bane, now glaring at it while clearly showing a defensive stance.
"Young master! Are you alright!" Ytrisia yelled out, her gait snapping in his direction, observing that he was clearly wounded with his back still propped against the tree; given his age, more loss of blood could be fatal, causing her to turn back towards the Nightbane chief, which was standing in front of her beast.
"Yes, just throw me your dimensional ring, I need it," Joseph utilized this situation to directly ask for a dimension ring which was particularly bestowed upon high-ranking knights to store their weapons or training data, something crucial for any knight. He knew this was his only chance—an illegitimate son to get his hands on books.
Of course, he was not going to read them—not could he either do so without the neural engine being online—just now, but rather he wanted to have some weapons out of it to first handle the present situation, and then in exchange for helping to get rid of this situation, have her ring.
"What? But young master," Ytrisia found herself in confusion, considering that given the present situation, they should focus on leaving this place safely as soon as possible since they were not fighting outside but in the area belonging to Nightbanes, where soon enough other groups of these monsters would flock, overpowering them.
"JUST GIVE IT! I need it for healing!" Joseph yelled out, seeing how he was looking towards her beast and then magic analyzing the situation. He did not want to give her the opportunity to see through things and was directly trying to force her mind into handing over the ring.
Considering there was a chance of her possessing healing potions, which were quite costly but effective since they were possessed by knights baptized by the holy monastery, and among them was this woman, who had the privilege of gaining one healing potion every month.
"Y-yes." And as he expected, Ytrisia, caught in a dilemma, swiftly took out her dimensional ring and threw it towards him, which he swiftly caught. Given she was already busy with the issue in her mind, she did not even consider how he was sure that she possessed a healing potion inside her ring, prompting her to clarify, "Y-young master, you can use the healing potion; I will hold them off until then!"
'As expected.' As he took the ring, which had runes inscribed on it, needing no outward energy except the authentication from the owner, he swiftly saw the enormous amount of books, weapons, some potions, and dresses; many things were stored in it.
'Why is the space this big?' Yet the first thought that came to his mind was the fact that the subspace inside the ring was too enormous. He even considered that the one he possessed in the future after becoming the head of the Avriant family, assuming the one possessed by the head of the family had much lower subspace than this; it was huge, enormous to be honest.
Swish
Without delay, he swiftly took out the healing potion from it, which was synthesized only by the monastery, either given to the royal family on a weekly basis or to the holy knights on a monthly basis; except for these individuals, no nobleman or individuals have access to healing potions due to their enormous cost and the monopoly of it by the monastery.
Exceptions were naturally made, just like Ytrisia, who, for unknown reasons—whatever Joseph never managed to find out in detail—was also an exception who possessed the subscription from the monastery to receive a healing potion each month.
"Roooar!"
Bam!
"Khhhhrrkkkk?!"
Soon enough, a battle occurred between Ytrisia's predator beast and the night bane chief. The collision caused a gust of wind to scatter around, enough for Joseph to cross his hands forward to protect his eyes.
Thud
"Chuii!—?!"
Another sound caused him to open his eyes and look through the gap, only to find his beast struggling while fighting that night bane, which was easily dodging its attacks as if playing with that armadillo ball.
'Damn it,' Joseph thought, considering the effect of the healing potion. Finally, his body miraculously healed; it would have piqued his interest if it was the first time. But uncaring, he swiftly rose from his place, taking out a sphere from the ring and swiftly calling out, "Pipi, JUMP!"
Though he did not want to accept it, the Joseph's character in the game had tortured his meta beast not due to frustration but for training while hoping to make it strong enough to go against the beasts possessed by others, leading to an enormous growth of the meta beast. It was still fed behind the beasts possessed by others, but it was trained in fighting, albeit through a traumatic experience.
As Joseph yelled, suddenly the armadillo, which had just retreated, started on the ground with soil scattering around and rolled like a drill, swiftly hurling through the air. Without waiting, Joseph threw the spear towards the armadillo rather than the night bane.
It was fast but enough for Ytrisia, whose eyes were distracted between her own and the young master's battle, to reflect how the spear collided with the rotating ball in the sky. It changed direction, redirecting the whole spear at bullet speed down towards the night bane, swiftly hurling as it shot at its shoulder.
"Ggrhhhhhh!" Due to the sudden speed and unexpected attack pattern, the night bane, who had dodged the previous move, found its shoulder slightly scratched, causing it to roar in anger. But there was a shrill sound of distress from another cry resonating in the surrounding.
"Kurghhh! Cough! Argh!" It was a sound of a human, soft and bewildered, and at the same time, coughing blood coming out from a tree branch where soon enough Ytrisia's eyes moved, finding a cloaked figure now hanged from the tree stem, supported by a spear piercing his chest, blood oozing out as he lost his life there.
'Shit, it didn't hit the night bane, but a spy?!' Joseph, whose intentions were clearly to hit the night bane—which, according to his memories, would have been struck, given how he had practiced this move—realized that the integration between his memories and his meta-beast was not aligned with the training provided by the original Joseph's body.
At that moment, he recalled why he hated these meta beasts or beast taming.
After all, their attacks were not as accurate and precise as the mechas or exoskeletons, causing him to clench his jaws.
Given how even the night bane, who was unable to notice that figure, turned, clearly narrowing its gaze in surprise, not paying attention to Joseph, who swiftly took out another weapon—a bow and arrow—pulling the string directly towards its face.
swish
Sckhlt!
"Khrkhhh!?—GGGRWWWW" The arrow, which at the last moment was sensed by the night bane, reflexively caused its head to turn to dodge; it landed within its eyeball, piercing its eye socket.
Due to the hard skull and the weak force behind the arrow, the only thing the arrow could do was pierce its eyes, not its brain, causing it to cry loudly with its face turned upward as blood streamed down it's face.
'Now this is precision.'