Chapter 23
Mysterious Beast
He ran, ran and kept running. If he faced a roadblock, he hopped from tree to tree. Anything to lose this… thing.
A large grotesque beast with six legs—legs of a spider—with three legs jutting out of either side of its body. It had a large furry body like that of a dog and a tail that was bigger than Ha-Jin and Arthur combined that jutted out of its rear with hundreds of razor sharp spikes protruding from it. Its head was that of an alligator with its sharp teeth bared, ready to devour Ha-Jin if it ever caught up to him.
A cold bead of sweat rolled down Ha-Jin's face as trees slammed into the ground, uprooted as if it were a piece of cake when the large beast slammed into them.
Suddenly, Ha-Jin came to a halt before spinning around and surprising the beast. He channelled sufficient mana into his legs to make the leap from the tree to the beast's body. The bark of the tree cracked and splintered as Ha-Jin pushed the mana at the same time as he made the leap.
Panic struck him as the beast's gigantic maw opened up to devour him whole. Ha-Jin snapped his eyes shut tightly before taking a deep breath. He concentrated fully on channelling his mana once again into his legs.
His eyes snapped open and with an external burst of mana from his legs, he sped up and landed on the beast's back. He had learned to do this in a dire situation like this in those accursed rocky plains.
Pushing the memory aside, he repeated the process on the mana beast's back but this time with a large supply of mana.
As he leapt off of its back, the beast's body was pushed down onto the ground, shaking and cracking the earth beneath it. Ha-Jin safely landed on a tree and before the beast could recover, he let out a whistle with all his might.
"ARTHUR!"
As soon as Ha-Jin bellowed out his name, trees' leaves rustled and Arthur plummeted down from a tree, his sword's blade pointed down straight at the beast's head.
However, Arthur's blade glanced off the beast's head as the beast's mana—no, something like mana—flared up and two onyx horns protruded from its temples, sweeping up to guard its head.
Arthur's eyes widened as one of the beast's spider-like limbs swished in the air, slamming into his body as he was sent flying through the air, crashing into a nearby tree, breaking it in half.
Ha-Jin's Moon Rune flared to life, bathing the nearby trees in a warm amethyst light for a quick instant as Moonshadow materialised in his hand.
Ha-Jin jumped from the rough earth, attempting to stab the beast on its back. But, before he could land, the beast's tail met him head on, the spikes piercing his skin and slamming him back onto the ground. The beast turned round to finish off Ha-Jin but that turned out to be a fatal mistake on its part.
Blood gushed out of the wound as Arthur's sword, gleaming golden as the golden light of the sunset glinted off the masterfully crafted blade.
The beast let out a shrill cry, its tail flailing around like mad before it slammed into Arthur. He let out a grunt as he barely managed to dodge its tail, one of the protruding spikes managing to cut a deep gash in his thigh.
Ha-Jin jumped into the air just below the beast's neck before using external blasts of mana to make himself spin like crazy. The twin daggers manifested in his grip, engulfed in dazzling orange flames, cutting open the beast's neck, its shrill cry cut off into a gurgling noise before it collapsed onto the floor, blood pooling beneath it.
[You have successfully used Dagger Skill:Rapid Spinning]
[You have killed an S+ Beast]
[You have completed a Quest]
[Rewards are being calculated based on damage]
[Rewards will be provided within an hour]
The golden hilted sword clattered to the ground as Arthur let out a groan, collapsing on the ground, his hands clasped over the gash where the spike had cut him. The area was turning black and disgusting.
The beast had circulated poison across the spikes in its final attempt to fight back..
Despite how much he hated Arthur, Ha-Jin rushed to his aid, his daggers—Sunchild—fading away into his inventory as if they were never there in the first place. He clasped both his hands over Arthur's thigh, blood soaking his hands as he took in the ambient mana from the air, directly channelling it into the gash in an attempt to somehow… purify the venom.
Though the try didn't work, it seemed to ever so slightly reduce the poison. Ha-Jin slung Arthur's arm over his shoulder before leaping from tree to tree at full speed, using external blasts to increase his speed even though it was draining him several times faster.
"You can't die on me like this… Jae-Woo and Orpheus will kill me…" as he said Jae-Woo's name, the realisation dawned over him.
Jae-Woo had told them to bring the core of the mana beast so that he could teach them the new lesson.
He had forgotten to take it…
He bit his lip, simultaneously biting back his frustration. If he turned back now, Arthur would die from the venom.
Instead, he sped up, channelling more mana into his legs instead of turning back.
By the time he reached the place where Jae-Woo and Orpheus had instructed them to come to, Ha-Jin's legs were a mess. His feet were bloodied and his arms exhausted from carrying Arthur.
The last thing he heard of before collapsing onto the floor were the two hurried footsteps and the rushed voice of Orpheus.
***
His eyes fluttered open as he traced his fingers where the spikes from the beast's tail had pierced him. The wounds had healed like always.
It was like a continuous cycle, get injured, heal, get injured again, heal again and kill.
He propped himself up on his elbows, the harsh ground digging into his skin as he scanned his surroundings, his gaze landing on Arthur who was flexing his leg now, the deep gash on his thigh now stitched back together—probably by Orpheus and whatever his powers were.
His gaze lingered on Arthur for a bit before he looked around further. Jae-Woo and Orpheus weren't there.
I wonder where they are in this forest.
Ha-Jin planted his feet on the ground before pushing himself onto his feet. He stretched his arms and legs before Arthur finally noticed him.
"You're finally awake." Arthur said, the signature haughty frown still on his face as he talked to Ha-Jin. "Before you attempt to pepper me with questions on the location of those two, they went to collect the Beast Core that you forgot."
"Oh, right… I forgot to get the Beast Core in a hurry."
"Anyway… T-" Arthur began, hesitating to say the next two words until he finally spat them out. "Thank you… for helping me."
Ha-Jin's eyes widened as he stared at Arthur. Was this really the Arthur he knew? It couldn't be. The real Arthur would hit him with a snarky remark for forgetting the Beast Core.
Arthur's cheeks tinged the slightest shade of red. "What is it?" he asked, slightly embarrassed by how Ha-Jin looked so surprised.
Ha-Jin shook his head before letting out a breathy sigh. "It's nothing and you're welcome."
Their "wholesome" interaction was cut off by Jae-Woo and Orpheus deftly landing onto the rough, uneven floor, slowing down their fall using wind mana. In Jae-Woo's hand was a beast core the size of his head and in Orpheus' hand was Arthur's sword, the now all too familiar Crownshield emblem—quite literally a crown on a shield—etched onto the hilt of the sword.
Arthur cursed under his breath as he finally realised his sword wasn't in his inventory before looking at Orpheus with a sheepish look.
"It was careless of you to lose the precious Excalibur, Master," Orpheus reprimanded before continuing, "You know how disappointed Emperor Charles would be to know you had lost the sword masterfully crafted by the dwarves of Everdawn.
"Sorry," Arthur said, earning a cocked brow from both Ha-Jin and Jae-Woo to whom he shot a scowl.
"It is of consequence as your life was in danger and because we found the blade after all," Orpheus finished before turning to the black haired boy whose hair was for some turning brown.
"Thank you for saving Lord Arthur," Orpheus said, bowing curtly. "Also, was your hair not black?"
"It is still black, what are you talking about?" Ha-Jin said before turning to Jae-Woo. "It is, right?"
"Orpheus is right, your hair is fading to brown," Jae-Woo answered, his face contorting into a thoughtful frown as he tried to think of something as to why this was happening.
"Nope, I got nothing," he said anticlimactically with a toothy grin.
"Nevermind his hair, when is the training gonna start?" Arthur asked, dismissing the topic with a wave of his hand as if he had helped at all.
"Replenish your mana cores first. Especially you, Ha-Jin. This training will take a hefty amount of mana." Jae-Woo ordered, a stern but undecipherable expression plastered on his face. It was so unlike the care-free and fun Jae-Woo to hold that unreadable expression.
Waving away the thought, Ha-Jin followed Arthur and sat down, crossing his legs to enter a meditative position before both of their eyes simultaneously snapped shut.
Though he could not feel the ambient Mana floating about in the air aimlessly, he could feel the glow—the warmth—they emitted. He influenced the mana with the attracting force the bodies of Mages and Augmenters exerted to draw the mana inside his body.
The warmth that he could feel surrounding his body slowly entered his mana core and he felt it glow a faint orange, the colour of his flames. His Mana Core worked at the ambient mana, turning it into his respective flame attributed Mana before pushing it out just like the way his heart on the opposite side of his chest pumped out blood.
Warmth coursed through his veins as warm flamey mana ran through them, filling him with a newfound strength. He tugged at more wandering ambient Mana particles, slowly but deftly manipulating his body's attracting force.
The sudden warm feeling of strength coursing through each of his muscles made him shudder. When his body was full of mana, his mana core stored the rest of the ambient mana that he absorbed, forming a reserve of mana so that he did not have to continuously absorb the ambient mana surrounding him while engaged in a fight—a very difficult feat to accomplish even for a pro mage.
When his mana core was filled to the brim and glowing a bright orange, he strained it just a bit further to see if it could absorb any more but his core refused anymore mana he drawed in.
With a relaxed sigh, he pushed himself off the floor, flexing his muscles, a new intense flame added to his mature gaze. His body felt lighter after being replenished by his Mana.
He hadn't used much of the skills he had gotten in the rocky terrain since he wanted to somewhat surprise Jae-Woo if possible. In the heat of battle, it had totally slipped his mind that he had more skills to use than his S or above grade skills that he had been accustomed to for all these years.
His eyes darted beside him, spotting Arthur. His golden eyes gleamed brighter, fiercer. Ha-Jin could feel the powerful aura he exuded, stronger than before. Both of them were ready to learn whatever the hell had made Alex so strong.
When both of them looked at Jae-Woo, signalling that they were ready, he gave them a subtle nod.
He took out a black orb, glowing a faint violet. Ha-Jin's eyes flashed with recognition as he remembered the same orb as Jae-Woo was holding tucked away safely in his inventory. The orb started gleaming a darker violet, the crack running along its surface deepening.
Suddenly, a dome of utter darkness, the colour of void if it could be seen enclosed around them, weaving together from something that definitely was not mana. A cold bead of sweat ran down both of their faces as they watched several shelves lined with books materialise before the room turned into a cozy library lined with tables and chairs for studying. The lighting artifacts in the library exuded a warm orange glow, the perfect environment for a good study session.
"Ha-Jin, do you know why I let you learn how to read before teaching you this?" Jae-Woo asked, the amusement constantly lacing his voice replaced with a dead seriousness.
"To read these books?" Ha-Jin answered hesitantly.
"Correct, you need to study these books before I can start teaching you anything," Jae-Woo said.
"What exactly are we learning if I may ask?" Arthur asked, his usually confident demeanor laced with the slightest hint of hesitancy as he looked at the deadpan expression on Jae-Woo's face.
"From now on, you guys will be studying about Atherion."