The forest fire created by Asterion grew so quickly that it came as a surprise even to Asterion.
It was making the environment a lot hot. Apparently the blue leaves of the trees were more flammable than normal green leaves on Prymia.
Asterion hid not too far away from the forest fire and started waiting. Yes, he was sure that the beast horde could not have happened normally and there must be some reason behind it.
At the same time, the villagers were running with their families towards the bridge, which was still a long way away from them.
One of the villagers throat tightened, raw and dry. Then, through the hazy air, he caught a flicker of smoke curling above the trees. "The forest is on fire!" he shouted, urgency cracking his voice as he warned those nearby.
Many people turned their heads, and seeing the fire, a confused look could be seen on their faces.
But some people who had seen Asterion running quickly connected the dots and immediately notified the chief about it.
The chief, after knowing the reason, quickly shouted, "Don't worry, the fire is created by the new kid to slow down the beast horde so that we can cross the bridge. Don't let his attempt be a waste, so everyone, move quickly."
The other villagers as well as Kael had looks of astonishment written on their faces, as they couldn't understand why a new kid was going to such lengths to protect them.
Some of them couldn't help but feel embarrassed, their feet shifting and avoiding eye contact with each other as they remembered their actions of ignoring Asterion when he tried to talk to them.
But what about now? They were all grateful for his act of bravery and swore in their minds to be good to him if they could meet him again.
But would they?
Meanwhile, after waiting for some time, Asterion could feel the shaking of the ground and roars of the beasts from some distance away and knew that they would be here anytime soon.
Just as he saw the horde of beasts, his pupils shrank and he started breathing heavily, not because of the fire, no, he was far away from it.
It was because the beasts were running away from black, monstrous-looking creatures, some on four limbs, others on two. A Void Creature. Yes, they were being chased by multiple Void creatures.
Asterion quickly forced himself to stay calm, but his mind couldn't help but remember the tales told by his teachers about the monstrosity of these beasts and how his father had died at their hands.
He wanted nothing more than to go and butcher every single one of them, even if he was in fear.
But he held it in and controlled himself. His mother had always taught him not to lose control of himself in any situation.
He also knew that this was his opportunity to kill one of the Void Beasts and assimilate its core into his body, but first he had to complete the task, or else the Void Core wouldn't be assimilated into his body.
The horde of beasts involuntarily started decreasing their speed as they saw the massive wall of fire in front of them, and they could even feel the heat in the air around them.
But as soon as the beasts started stopping, the void creatures from behind started slaughtering and devouring every single one of the beasts from behind, causing them to run again.
Left with no choice, some of the beasts, due to their predator instincts, turned and attacked the Void Creatures instead of running in the fire.
But they couldn't even last more than 5 seconds and were devoured completely; not even a bone of those beasts remained.
The attack also caused some of the weaker beasts to be damaged and get sidetracked, but they immediately stood up and again joined the horde of Void creatures.
But not all of the Void creatures were lucky; one of the Void creatures whose one leg was torn off by a lion was struggling to stand up and was suddenly attacked by a knife from behind, stabbed from behind in its head.
Asterion had seen the opportunity, steeled his heart, and directly went for the kill. The heads of the beasts were also similar to humans and common animals, so if you destroyed the brain, they would die.
Asterion was breathing heavily as he felt the adrenaline surging through him; he didn't waste a second and tore open the beast's chest and took out its core.
Asterion didn't vomit or panic when attacking because all children were trained, and some of them were even given a broken Void beast to fight with, which could even be killed by a chicken.
This was done to prevent the new awakeners from panicking, and although you could get the Void Core in the real world before awakening, you won't be able to assimilate it or take it with you to other worlds through Void Links and cheat your way through.
After taking out the beast's core, he started running with all his might towards the bridge. The retaliation of some beasts and the forest fire decreased their speed, allowing him to take them over.
On the other side, many of the villagers had already started crossing the bridge, but its length was almost 200 meters, so it took them quite some time. Till the time everyone was almost going to cross the bridge, Kael hesitated but gritted his teeth and asked,
"We should not abandon Asterion after he has stopped the beast horde by himself for us to cross the bridge, so I think we should wait for a little before breaking the bridge."
Everyone already knew about the news that it was Asterion who was responsible for the forest fire to help them, so the chief nodded with slight contemplation.
"Alright, we can wait, as the bridge is quite long, so it won't be late for us to cut down the bridge later."
Meanwhile, Asterion, running with a panic look on his face, finally saw the dark bridge everyone talked about and the dark miasma below it.
The dark miasma was like a layer of black fog covering the whole ravine so no one could see what's inside it, and none dared to.
The reason for his panicked state was because almost 50 meters behind him was a beast that looked like a hyena with the size of a lion.
Its less weight caused it to move super fast, and it had surpassed every other beast and was now just behind Asterion.
As soon as the beast saw Asterion, the beast, which was running from the fear of Void creatures, was still a beast, so its instincts kicked in, and it marked Asterion as its prey.
Asterion didn't even slow down even after stepping on the bridge, as even if he had learned combat, it was still a beast, and he had never seen it before in his own world, so he didn't know its specialities, and to top it all off, he was sweet sixteen and not an adult to hunt a beast by himself.
So the chances for him to survive would be 50-50, which he couldn't take when there was a horde of beasts right behind him, and slowing down could mean his death, as he was already slower than almost all the beasts but was ahead only because of the forest fire.
As soon as he saw everyone on the other side of the bridge, the villagers also saw him, and many started shouting something to the chief, which he couldn't hear but had a guess about.
"Chief, there is a drog just right behind him, and even if we would be able to handle it, what about those 3 horrifying beasts, which we have never seen, running right behind the drog?"
Thoren (the chief) finally came to a decision after some time.
"Cut down the bridge; we can't afford to risk everyone's lives just for a new child. I hope everyone understands that if we let him cross the bridge, all his hard work of setting the fire would be a waste, as we all would die in the end, so cut down the rope."
Thoren wasn't the chief of the village for no reason. He always thought about the safety of his men and was quite an experienced man, so manipulating a bunch of villagers for their own safety was a small task for him.
Kael saw this scene and started panicking, but he knew he couldn't do anything, and letting Asterion die was the best option.
Asterion, who was running with all his might, suddenly heard a raw, guttural roar from behind, and as he looked back, his pupils shrank, his legs trembled, but he still turned his head and ran straight.
He had seen the three Void Creatures only now, but it still wasn't enough to stop him. As he was contemplating what to do, the scene in front of him made his legs completely give up.
Instinctively, he held the left rope of the bridge, and just as he held it, the right side of the bridge rope was cut down by two of the villagers.
But what nobody expected was for the drog to jump at the last moment and bite into the thigh of Asterion to save its own life. Clearly, an animal also had its instinct to survive irrespective of the situation.
Asterion let out a bone-piercing scream due to the pain in his thigh, and just some seconds later, when he hadn't even stopped screaming,
The second rope was also cut down.