An Owl's Rise

With its head severed from its body blood flowed out of the tyrant rank lizard's body and stained the earth of the forest.

Its large body that was twenty meters long had several hundred liters of blood in it and it soon looked like a crimson pond had formed around its body.

All around them the forest looked like it had been hit with a powerful natural disaster, with several of the massive trees having toppled over and scars carved into the ground.

Sunlight from above that barely was able to trickle through the thick foliage before now poured onto the forest floor now that serval large opening had been made by the trees that had fallen.

'So, this is the kind of damage a tyrant rank beast can cause when it seriously lets loose.' Evelyn thought scanning the area.

She had trained with Anneli and Katrina before, but the two of them never went all out like the tyrant rank lizard had.

Its acid attacks had caused a great deal of damage to the surrounding forest left the area in shambles.

Still, for a beast of its rank the tyrant rank lizard had actually been pretty weak.

Its offense amounted to no more than sending out large blasts of acid or throwing its body around. The most impressive power it possessed was how durable it was.

Thanks to its tough skin, powerful muscles, and dense bones it had been able to withstand Evelyn and her compassions' onslaught for quite some time.

Of course, they probably could have felled it quicker if they had not been as careful and attacked with more force, but it was their first real battle against a tyrant rank and Evelyn wanted to be careful.

'I suppose that we should gather our spoils before anything else shows up.' Evelyn thought flying down towards the corpse of the lizard.

Following suit, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee, came down with her and she began giving them direction on where to start dismantling the lizard.

However, ti soon became clear that even now that it was dead, Aralee, and Verrader could not piece its skin with their talons, and Evelyn sent them up to watch out from any incoming threats while calling Otis down to help them.

"So, what do you thick, could you have taken it on your own?" Evelyn asked to Otis as they carved up the tyrant rank lizard.

"Hm, probably. I really do not know exactly what I am capable of now, but I think I could have beaten it by myself." Otis said.

His tone was not overly confident, but Evelyn herself was certain that Otis was stronger than the lizard they had just fought

Not only was his evolution far superior, but he knew how to actually control his magic instead of just mindlessly blasting it off. The difference between the two of them was vast even though they were at the same rank and tier.

'Now could I have won on my own?' Evelyn thought to herself.

While the jump from fiend beast to awakened beast was pretty large, it was even more so from the awakened rank to the tyrant rank. Especially when using a human's magic core to gain a pseudo magic core.

Nevertheless, despite the tyrant rank lizard having more magical energy than she did, Evelyn felt confident she could have beast it on her own.

Its greatest asset was its defenses, but her heavenly flame would have burned through it all the same. During the battle she had barely relied on either her fire or gravity magic in order for her siblings to get more experience.

'We have a long way to go though. As of right now Otis is a stronger than any of us and it will be difficult to incorporate him into our battle strategies without overly relying on him.' Evelyn thought.

She had used him as insurance during this battle, but even his great respect and loyalty for her might get strained if she kept him on the sidelines all the time.

'The only thing to do is for the rest of us to catch up as quickly as we can. To that end, I might have to be a bit cruel to Aralee and Verrader.' Evelyn thought.

For nearly the next hour they took apart the tyrant rank lizard.

A majority of its body had value, with its skin, bones, fangs, and claws being usable for creating magic weapons and armor. While its meat could be cooked and eaten to increase their magical energy.

Finally, there was its beast core which looked like a jagged crystal which was certainly the greatest prize.

'Looks like we have some interested parties.'

Turning her head around Evelyn spotted several different types of beasts carefully watching them from afar.

All of them were at the awakened rank and were carefully keeping an eye on the situation.

Luckily none of them seemed to have any hostile intentions, seeing as how Evelyn's group had clearly taken down the strongest beast in the area. All they were waiting for was to scavenge what they could.

Unfortunately for them, since Evelyn and her party had storage items they were not going to be leaving behind much of the tyrant rank lizard.

"That you be everything we need. Let us find somewhere else far away from here to rest." Evelyn said.

The area was now teeming with activity and she did not want to get involved in a massive battle among several dozen beasts.

With their spoils stored away the six of them ascended high into the canopy of the forest and flew away. The sounds of dozens of ebasts clashing over the parts of the tyrant rank lizard they had left behind resounding behind them.

Going around forty kilometers away, Evelyn and her party found an area that was mostly devoid of other beasts and set up their new camp.

Just like before Rehni used her magic to drill into one of the massive trees and create a large hollow for them all to rest in.

"Aralee, I could use your help." Evelyn said, beckoning her sister over to her.

She then pulled out two tables and several chunks of meat from the lizard they had just killed.

"I am going to make us some dinner and having your assistance will help speed things up. All you need to do is follow my instructions and it will go by quickly." Evelyn said.

Nodding her head Aralee, prepared herself do whatever Evelyn asked of her.

"First, cut these chunks up into smaller pieces."

"Next, soak them in this juice."

"Okay, now put it into this pot when I tell you."

Quickly Evelyn gave out her instructions to Aralee, and her sister did them the best she could.

Within a couple of hours Evelyn had cooked up hundreds of kilos of the tyrant rank lizard's meet which she had soaked in the juice from multiple magical plants before adding a bit of her own magical energy to it.

Now she had created a meal using alchemical cooking that would increase their stamina and quicken its restoration. Along with also boosting their durability.

"Everyone go ahead and eat up." Evelyn said, presenting several platers of the cooked meat.

Naturally they were all quite hungry after being awakened from their rest earlier and having to fight a tyrant rank beast. So, all of them began ravenously eating.

"Verrader, Aralee, eat some more." Evelyn said placing more of the meat in front of them.

However, at this point instead of enjoying the food that had started off as a treat unlike anything they had every eaten before, now both of Evelyn's siblings had ghastly expression.

Evelyn had been giving them more and more even after they had gotten full and were nearing the limits of magical energy they could take.

The meat came from a beast an entire rank higher than them, and its body contained far more magical energy than they could handle.

Just eating a full meal's worth had brought them close to their limit, but Evelyn continued to push them to consume more.

"Sister, I honestly think we have had enough I could not eat another bite." Aralee said, a tinge of fear in her eyes.

Verrader furiously shook his head and agreed. He felt that he was about to explode in more ways than one.

"Surely you can both eat a bit more. You have only reached your limits, it is time to go beyond them. The two of you have a long way to go to catch up to the rest of us and this is just one of the things you will need to get used to. Most awakened ranks could never dream of being able to eat the meat from a tyrant rank. Now go ahead and have some more." Evelyn said, a scary smile on her face that offered her siblings no room to argue.

Evelyn forced them both to keep eating until both of them had fallen over with their bellies visibly protruding and tears in their eyes. Only then did she allow them to stop.

'I know that it will be hard on them. But this is necessary to boost their power. If they can survive through this hell, certainly they will come out stronger.' Evelyn thought, steeling herself to keep pushing her siblings.