Beatitudes

Episode 66.

Left on the ground, Harry could only take in the whole movement with a dazed expression, starting from the black and blue clothed figure flipping overhead and slicing off the head of the beast cleanly, to the flash of white whizzing over, to it subsequently exploding after piercing through the beast head, causing both the flash of white and the head to erupt and explode, everything took place in less than two seconds, thus leaving the wordless Harry to only watch blankly as he was rescued from certain harm. It was only until when the shower of blood sprayed all over his face and fighter gear, and the headless body of the beast falling towards him was pushed aside by his outstretched hand still glowing with a flickering red light, did Harry snap out of his daze with a reluctant look and slowly shift his body on the ground to a sitting position.

But a voice sounded from a fair distance at this point as Isaac’s voice was heard, currently laced with sarcasm.

“Careful buddy, the beast’s about to hit you from behind…”

Harry ’s eyes twitched continuously for a while following which he shifted his gaze to his right, taking in Isaac who shrugged his shoulders with a smirk on his face when he noticed the slightly darkened gaze sent his way by the former.

“Hehe, looks like I spoke too late…”

Gritting his teeth at the sarcastic reply, Harry could only say nothing. He understood very well what had just happened despite the quick movements of the figures involved.

Apparently the black and blue clothed figure that had dashed above both Harry and beast when the beast had pressed its advantage was Hiya, her swift yet precise and clean moves allowed her to easily separate the head of the beast from its body with her sharp sword in a single overhead movement, thus leading to the death of the beast and Harry’s consequent complete safety.

Naturally that was all Harry needed to end his battle even though he felt reluctant about it, but Isaac just had to try to show off as he tossed one of his constructs straight at the decapitated head, naturally such supposed coordination between him and Hiya could be said to be seamless, but it was a totally needless cooperation.

He touched and withdrew his hand to see his hand stained with blood, he frowned slightly, feeling slightly uncomfortable with it, he was just about to say something to Isaac when a clear and calm voice sounded,

“You two should quit playing around and start focusing on what’s ahead, you’ve already been hit once, I don’t expect you to want such a thing to happen a second time…”

Harry’s expression changed slightly as it became slightly unnatural, he was obviously the one being referred to, but she was nonetheless right anyways so he threw the matter out of his mind as he looked ahead.

Over the past few days that they’d been fighting these beasts, they had eventually been able to develop a sense of fighting together between them. They could at least now look out for each other when danger surfaced for any one of them, just like how Hiya and Isaac had swiftly responded when he made such a clumsy mistake earlier.

The increase in their cooperation and coordination was one of the reasons why they could clash against multiple beasts, both the lones and groups.

Harry dusted off the dirt on him the best he could as he stood up and turned around to face the direction that the other two faced, they were currently actually battling the second large numbered group of beast they could encounter in these parts of the zone. The number of beasts initially alive before the battle started was over a dozen, up to fifteen.

Such beasts that gathered in big numbers had a sense of camaraderie between each other and were unsurprisingly much harder to take down than the usual lone beasts or duos they encountered.

But in the end they were still a little akin to loose sand, the reason being the fact that there wasn’t a higher tiered amongst them to guide and order about properly, the trio naturally took advantage of this point and had successfully reduced the numbers they were facing from fifteen down to just six of them.

The beasts they happened to be facing right now were a type of tier one beast known as the silver furred leopards, although they did not have the large sizes of the green skinned lions which bestowed the lions with a good amount of strength, these beasts were probably the fastest ever the trio had faced since they came here, their sleek form and toned limbs served to boost their speed to a headache inducing level for the three, together with the silver fur growing on them that made them akin to rushing silver light when they ran, they could easily give someone a good fright if unprepared.

At this point though, the trio of Isaac, Hiya and Harry had already somewhat adapted to their patterns and speed, although their fast movements were still a problem, it was pretty much easier to deal with them compared to the beasts they had already faced previously. They were no longer inexperienced and possessed a certain level of battle awareness. If they couldn’t achieve such a level at this point, Adam would have been feeling exasperated right now.

They faced off against the remaining few silver furred leopards as they maintained a somewhat close distance between each other. Right now, the beasts moving towards them had unconcealable malice gushing out of their eyes, they played witnesses to the continuous deaths of their kin and kind after all.

The two sides seemed to have an odd rule of trying to see if they could stare the other side down first without taking any other action, but after a while it was proven that such a tactic could work on none of them. Hence the two sides threw away any facade of calmness as they charged at each other with full strength.

The side of the beasts had an obvious advantage in speed as they zoomed across the surface of the earth, kicking up dust as they ran. But the trio of Isaac, Harry and Hiya were different from how they once were as they ran forward unhesitatingly.

 The two sides eventually clashed at a spot and all hell was let loose on the battlefield. Hiya with her smooth maneuvers and willow like movements was the first to charge into the group of beasts, seeming like the strongest man on the team as her body slipped around stealthily and her sword flashed, numerous sword slashes appeared on the body of the beasts as Hiya randomly slashed about, it was a seemingly wasteful tactic that could be a little dangerous if she was alone, but that was only if she was alone. Currently now, her every sword s***h was targeted at specific points and places on the beasts, so although they may seem careless and random, they were actually properly thought through. With her sword hitting the supposed weak spots on the beasts, she was basically weakening all the beasts while also simultaneously giving her team members an advantage.

Harry following behind her immediately began to swing his axe as a flurry of rad laced axe strikes were unleashed on the group of beasts. Wherever he passed through would be splashed with blood as he adopted the technique of unleashing rapid and unfocused swings of his axe, in a battle like this where the opponent was a group of beasts crowded together, aim and focus was the least of his worries.

His clothes soon became dotted in dark red spots of blood, while his axe had slowly been dyed red. Very quickly, another of the silver furred leopard had fallen and roars of anger once again erupted from the remaining five silver colored beasts.

Two of the beasts charged in a straight line at the axe swinging murderer reflected in their eyes as they swung their paws with glinting metal claws at the end of them, Harry adopted a steady stance as he braced for the impact and swung the axe in his hand in a wide arc, crashing into the paws of the beast. He was able to withstand their attacks as he knocked them back, unable to find their footing.

Harry himself was impacted harshly as he took several steps back, he wasn’t using rage multiplication so his strength was at the normal unamplified level, so he was unable to stand his ground as he took one step after another back.

He had only just regained his balance when a silver blur raced towards him pushing the air aside as it ran. The blur was coming at him from a blind spot and Harry who had just regained his balance was unprepared as he felt the wind crashing on his body and realize he was going to be hit this time,

“Sh*t!”

He could only quickly raise the amount of energy coating his body, the red blaze like energy surrounding his body deepened considerably as the silver shadow slammed hard into Harry. Harry swore he could feel his bones shifting slightly as he hit a boulder with a hard impact and gritted his teeth in both pain and anger.

Fairly deep claw marks could be seen drawn down his left arm as blood dripped out of it, immediately making his arm to look like a bloody mess. But that didn’t cause the silver furred leopard from charging once again after a successful hit.

Poor guy could only leap out of harm’s way to avoid the collision he could not take as easily again. He was able to dodge the attack just in time as the beast reached just a few feet of him, unable to steer itself and change its charging direction, the beast could only slam its paws on the boulder, visibly denting it as it turned its head to roar with a human like expression in its eyes at Harry who was currently standing while clutching his bloody arm.

ROA--

But the beast’s roar was cut short all of a sudden as a white shadow flew over at a speed as quick as the leopard’s, it’s shape was fairly visibly like a cone’s and it cut through the air all the way till it pierced the head of the beast and exploded it with a loud bang.

The body of the beast froze as it suddenly became headless without any knowledge of how it died. It was already pressing hard against the boulder to stop its charge, yet the force of the white shadow’s collision with it caused its whole body to tremble slightly as it pushed harder against the boulder.

Harry could only stare at the very familiar sight with twitching lips as he held his left arm gently.

A voice he wasn’t willing to hear right now inevitably spoke up with less sarcasm in its tone and more of puzzlement,

“Are you missing home or something Harry? ”

“…”