Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 108: Imminent Battle

“So, prepare your final breaths.”

“Oh, I like you. This is going to be fun,” laughed the first man. “I’ll play with you, Kitty. Just make sure to give me a good face when I take your life.”

Maintaining his gaze on the first man, Vloz spoke, “Before I claim your lives, what reason do you have for this and who put you up to it?”

The second man stepped forward, now to the right of the first. “We have our reasons, just like you have yours. If you don’t intend to stand down and allow us to do what we need, then we will be forced to put you down. Though you’re an assassin, don’t underestimate us. It would be best for us all if we parted ways and you allowed us to finish our business.”

“Very well.” Essence started to gather around Vloz, turning his dark fur even blacker.

But in the blink of an eye, Vloz charged at the two men. Essence coated his claws. The cunning leopard’s tail also whipped around, threatening the second man’s neck.

“Finally, it’s playtime!” The first man swung his arms forward, meeting both of Vloz’s claws at the same time.

.....

But as they collided, Vloz felt something metallic stop his claws from piercing the man’s hands. And his tail was thrown back, easily blocked by the second man. As he stepped back he noticed both men holding weapons of their choice, the first man with chains wrapped around his arms and the second with throwing knives between each finger.

“Assassins?”

Holding true to his demeanor, the first man darted at Vloz. The chains came to life, dancing in the air as they tried to wrap themselves around the leopard. “Did you think it would be that easy? Let’s have some fun while we’re at it. Can you dodge this?”

A total of six chains reached for Vloz; one for each leg, one for his neck, and one for his tail. The first man didn’t bother getting close himself, letting the chains do the work for him.

As Vloz started to maneuver himself around the chains, a stinging pain appeared in his side. Glancing down he noticed a dark knife, small but extremely sharp, stabbing into his flesh.

The leopard stared harshly at the second attacker, understanding that while one was wild, the biggest threat was the quiet one on the side.

Vloz managed to avoid the chains in exchange for a few knives in the side and a few bruises from the chains’ lashes. He was more confident in understanding what he was up against but he also understood that each of them was a high perennial and that he wouldn’t win without taking some risks.

Without a word, Vloz soon covered himself in darkness but only for a moment as his figure split into four. Then, each of those figures ran in a different direction. Two went to the side while the remaining two attacked head-on.

“Really? Is that all you got? Now you’re just trying to bore me.” The first man activated his chains, not wasting a second thought as he tore apart the image of Vloz charging at him. Vloz’s figure disappeared, dematerializing with the wind as the chains lashed through it.

The second man also attacked, making sure to scatter the image so he could turn his attention to the remaining two figures and find the real Vloz. But to his astonishment, the figure didn’t disperse. Instead, the knives stuck themselves into the leopard’s tail, which proved real.

He attempted to reach forward and slash through the tail, but the man was unable.

Now found out, the real Vloz dashed to the side and let the two remaining fakes disappear.

“If you were any slower, that tail would’ve been mine.”

Vloz didn’t immediately respond. He only opened his mouth and allowed the disembodied hand to fall to the ground. He spat out some blood and gave a wry chuckle, “Even then, it would’ve been worth it.”

The second man retrieved a thick handkerchief from the void ring on his remaining hand. Tightly fasting around his new stub, the man coldly stated, “well, I can’t argue with that logic.”

*****

Inside the hallow of the giant tree, Oli and his friends hid quietly.

They could hear a few human bandits in the distance. Gradually, the bandits were getting closer and closer.

“What are you guys getting out of this?” Asked one of the bandits.

The other four looked at him, some mockingly and some jokingly. One of them laughed, what do you think? Each of us is getting enough gold to last a few years. With that, we’ll be set.”

“Yeah, but are you okay with that considering the gorillas we saw earlier?”

“Of course,” another bandit chimed in. “They promised we wouldn’t have to fight them and we haven’t had to. So, once we complete the mission we get the rest of the pay and then we leave the region.”

“But do you really think it’ll be that easy? They were way stronger than we thought and who knows, maybe they’ll win their fights and come chase us down.”

“What are you idiots talking about?”

Each bandit stiffened up and stood at attention. They looked over to see another bandit coldly glaring back at them.

“If you have enough time to stand around, then go search that tree over there. Inside you’ll find three more of those beasts. Maybe you’ll be lucky and find the one we’re after.”

“Yes, sir!” in unison, the bandits shouted back. Carefully approaching the tree, the bandits circled around it.

Suddenly, the park split apart as four beasts emerged and leaped at some of the incoming bandits.

Somewhat shocked yet still on guard, the targeted bandits did their best to put up a defense.

Each of the beasts launched their strongest attack. Yeter charged forward, ready to stomp out a bandit and Karos covered his claw with lightning as he struck a bandit’s leg.

One bandit was pushed back by the stallion while the other had his leg broken by the lynx. The two other targeted bandits weren’t so lucky.

Though they did put up their best defenses they were unable to stop the deadly blows. One came from a heavy hammer made of essence and the other came from a surprise attack to the back of the neck.

As one bandit was crunched under Oli’s hammer and the other was decapitated by Netra’s claw, the other bandits were baffled.

The bandit who had just arrived stared at the four beasts in surprise. Understanding that he had underestimated the beasts, he stared at Netra and mumbled, “A fourth?”

“Split up!” shouted the gorilla.

Both Oli and Netra made a break for the north while Yeter and Karos went northeast.

“You, after those two! We’ll get the others.” The bandit in command darted to the north with another bandit in tow, letting the last bandit chase the horse and lynx.

It wasn’t hard for Oli and Netra to realize who was behind them. All they had to do a sense that the most powerful human was on their tail.

“You should hide,” stated Oli. “That man wasn’t able to sense you, so you should hide while you still can.”

“I refuse! That would leave you alone with both of them and I’m not letting that happen,” shouted Netra, making sure she was too loud to let yourself hide.

Oli sighed. The young gorilla knew that he wouldn’t be able to change her mind. He looked back, trying to get a better view of his pursuers. It soon became clear that their pursuers would catch them in a few minutes.

“Fine, but be careful. Don’t underestimate them. They’re both adepts and I’m not sure what level.”

“Well duh, same to you.”

After a couple of minutes, the gap was closed and the bandits were on top of them. The one in the lead shouted, “Just give up, that way we don’t have to hurt you. If you’re good at listening, then we’ll take it easy on you.”

Rather than answer verbally, Oli pivoted and hurled a fist at the lead bandit.

Understanding the gorilla’s reply, the bandit released his essence and deflected the punch. With water covering his arms, he took a fighting stance. “Okay, just remember you chose this.”

“And remember, you started it.” Oli threw yet another punch without any regard for the man’s prior statement or his warning.

Thanks to the bandit leader’s experience and higher plane, Oli struggled to keep up. If he couldn’t think of something, then there was no chance for him to win that fight.

As the two of them threw punches at one another, carefully dodging and deflecting them, Netra took on the remaining bandit. Thanks to her evasiveness she remained unscathed, but she couldn’t land a single blow.

Netra understood this so she changed her tactic. She threw herself the bandit with both claws covered in dark essence.

The bandit did the same, covering both fists in earth essence. One fist pushed forward to block the lead strike and ward off the fox’s attack while leaving the other was to deflect the surprise attack from behind that always followed. But to his dismay, he successfully crippled her leading arm.

He tried his best to maneuver and block the last blow but it was too late to save his throat from the penetrating claw.