Chapter 65: One Down, Two more

Chapter 65: One Down, Two more Kieran slowly approached the Island whose features became clearer the closer he got, without Ruby who he had asked to stay behind at that spot. He had a feeling that she was going to interfere the moment she thought he was in a tough situation despite her constant affirmations that she had no actual intentions to help him in any way and that her presence here was as a guide to take him to the mission spot.

Now that she had successfully accomplished that objective, he didn’t want her standing in between he and his mission.

When he got close enough to see the peice if land clearly, he brows raised in surprise.

He felt like calling it a piece of land wasn’t a fitting way to describe how the place was, calling it a small island was also inaccurate as the place wasn’t that big, but close.

Aside from that, a huge group of trees connected to the rest of the swamp surrounded the place in a half circle from the back, their thick and huge roots intertwining above the ground in a way that resembled a crown.

Close to the center of the place, he caught sight of a pool that extended till where the group of trees were, splitting the place into two. Still, the land was till big enough to hold several group of creatures as he had just seen.

It was a rather surprising sight to see. The beasts there had managed to come to a sort of agreement where each specie had its small piece of territory on the land without having engaged themselves in a self destructive war.

It was rare to see lesser beasts like them come to such an agreement.

Kieran thought in surprise staring at the 3 different types of beasts he had spotted on the island.

’It just keeps on getting more confusing’ he thought, his eyes going from the large chaotic bunch of agile monkey-like creatures that dwelled at the area close to the trees, to the 2 meter tall 4 legged beasts which had secured their spot close to the swampy waters at the edge of the swamp. The third part of the land was littered with open holes with no beasts in sight.

’They must have burrowed in’

Kieran thought, narrowing down the kind of beasts who did that and lived in a habitat like this.

One strange thing he noticed though was was the distance the three groups kept from the clean, still pool, but he couldn’t make out anything strange from his position.

’Is there perhaps another beast?’ He wondered, but couldn’t be too moved by that.

The water of the pool was clear and he couldn’t make out the figure of any creature within it, which meant whatever it was that had laid claim over the pool was powerful enough to scare the other three groups even ij its absence.

’Hmm...’

Kieram hummed, a weird emotion stirring within him. Something wasn’t adding up from all he had noticed, but after discovering the possibility of a creature strong enough to deter 3 beast groups in its absence, Kieran felt the need to end this as fast as he could, recalling the tall creature he had seen in the middle of the night.

Speeding up, he approached the area where the four legged beasts which looked like oversized rats stayed.

It seemed obvious that dealing with dumber looking four-legged beasts was a better pick than dealing with beasts that were more familiar with using their limbs.

Despite that, Kieran didn’t let his guard down, the fact that the ’dumb looking, for legged bessts’ had managed to stand their ground against the monkey like creatures and survive the attacks of other humans who bad also made it here in hopes of carrying out this mission successly.

Due to the clear terrain of the land and the lack of shrubs and the likes, his presence was easily detected even before he got close, depite his efforts at concealing himself.

"ROARRRR!!!!"

The beasts roared after each other, their eyes turning red upon sensing an intruder in their territory.

True to their nature as beasts, they rushed Kieran all at once, under the cheers of the monkey like creatures which watched from their side of the land.

’Perfect!’

Kieran thought, staring at the large amount of beasts coming at him from different directions all at once. It was exactly what he wanted.

’What the hell is he doing??"

Ruby muttered seeing Kieran’s figure being corned by the whole horde of creatures, following by a thick cloud wall of dust.

She tried to keep her thoughts of running to his aid from becoming reality. Kieran had explicitly warned her against doing something like that.

’He’s going to call if he needs help, he isn’t stupid.’ Runy kept repeating to herself, trying to calm down.

Kieran was everything but stupid. There was no way he was going to put his life on the line for something he wasn’t sure of.

Unfortunately for her, the Kieran she knew and the Kieran that was currently entangled in battle now were two different people.

After his loss against Richard and his pep talk with the instructor, Kieran had taken the time to look back at the things he had done and how he approached things, and he came to realize that he had been too cautious.

Every single time he unlocked something in him and advanced forward, he had been involved in a life or death situation.

Against the Griffth during his combat examination or against the 9 ogre like mosters on the mission in the forest. He had almost lost his life on both occasions and those were the times he felt something different,....when he felt alive!

Although he still didn’t like the idea of risking his life at every juncture, it was the only thing he could come up with at the moment. He had to chase his goals woth his life on the line. Only then would he be catch up to the likes of Ruchard, Ruby, Jake and the rest.

In the middle of the group of beats, Kieran’s facial expression was as cold as ice, breads of sweat rolling down his face, due to the heat of being suffocated by several hot blooded beasts.

He was trying his best to dodge the sharp claws and teeth of the crazed beasts around him and he had to say, he was failing miserably.

He was was constantly walking on a thin line, accumulating skin cuts on his body, his uniform was long gone, in tatters, leaving him shirtless, his pale body covered in blood.

Swinging his scythe, the dull gaze in his eyes suddenly sharpened as he reaped the heads of three beasts along with the limbs of some others, creating a hole in their encriclement.

Not wasting this small breathing space he had gotten, Kieran pushed forward with same momentum, his eyes taking a slight golden hue the more of his and the opponent blood was shed.

Despite the intense pressure he was under, the more he fought, the stranger he felt, his body seemed to want to move on its own, his muscles give him impulses on where to cut, he could feel the blood rushing to his face and a weird feeling settled in his chest.

He was enjoying it!!!

He couldn’t deny the feeling. He enjoyed cooking and reading new things from the library, but this was different. The feeling of sharp claws scraping across his back, the squishy but smooth feel when his blade sliced across multiple beats, it was...

’What the hell?!!!’

Kieran snapped out of that state, getting a grip on himself and almost instantly, his efficiency dropped, the battle becoming tough again.

Luckily for him, he had cleared out most of the beasts. With only a few left, Kieran easily finished them off.

’Is he okay?’

Ruby wondered when she saw Kieran’s bloodied body standing in place looking down at his hands like a tired and defeared being.

The monkey’s who were watching the show didn’t attack him. They weren’t really that smart. To them, all they saw was a new creature who that had managed to single handedly defeat all their enemies without collapsing right after. That was something they had to be wary of. The other group of beats hadn’t still appeared despite this commotion.

Kieran the other hand, looked down on his hands, his thoughts a complete mystery. Heaving a deep sigh, he took a seat amongst the corpes surrounding him. He needed to rest for a bit.

The money’s were jumping around, shouting and threatening, but he ignored all of that.

Ruby on the other had was about to explode from worry, but just then, she got a message

<I am fine>

Looking at his figure, she saw him raise his hand in her direction, giving her a thumbs up.

A few moments later, Kieran got back on his feet and grabbed his scythe, slowly making his way to the large group of monkey’s which became more crazed the closer he got to their territory.

’I have to strike the iron while it’s still hot’ Kieran thought, placing his foot into the territory of the monkeys to Ruby’s shock.