Chapter 68: Invitation

Chapter 68: Invitation Keiarn spent hours in the same spot digging through all the archives available to him on his watch and yet, he couldn’t find something that could explain what he had just experienced.

There was no mention of a beast of that level in the swamp, the highest leveled beast here was supposed to reside in the innermost part of the swap, and while the location of the mission was on the path to the centre, they were still very far from it.

’A beast that speaks fluently’

Kieran wondered, in shivers. Only beasts from the top three races on the planet had an intelligence high enough to converse fluently and there had never been a report of a member of a beast from one of those clans appearing anywhere close to the swamps.

The camp was very vigilant when it came to the matters of the peak creatures of this planet, trying their best to monitor their every move. And according to the open reports, there had been no movements from any of those clans.

Even then, it would be wrong to think that only members of the three clans could speak. The chief of the goblin like creatures he had encounted during the exploration mission was intelligent enough to lead the rest and converse in a language, even if it wasn’t one that he could understand.

That was proof enough that more powerful and intellectual beats outside of the three clans were out there and there was a high possibility that this ’mystery’ beast that had taken Ruby away fell under this category.

Several moments later of rummaging through his watch, Kieran finally got up to his feet and turned around, ready to go back to the mission’s spot.

He didn’t know when and how, but the signal of the camp wasn’t strong anymore and his watch couldn’t function at full capabilities, like sending messages back to the camp.

That must have been the reason why the information on the mission hadn’t been updated in real-time after the changes that had occurred here. The sensors that the camp set up must have been destroyed or disrupted by the beast.

This situation ruined the only chance he had at calling for back up. Whatever came next, he had to grow through it alone, and whilst he wasn’t sure of defeating a beast that even Ruby couldn’t handle, what choice did he have?!

’Let’s get there first. Take each step at a time’

Kieran released a deep breath, trying to push the lingering fear that he felt to the side.

Looking up at the sky which was still dark, he started walking back to the mission spot, his pace increasing gradually before he finally broke into a full sprint, all thoughts of conserving energy absent from his mind.

He had wasted enough time already, who knew what the beast might have done already. The behaviour of creatures on this planet weren’t something that he could predict after all.

......

After a few hours of running nonstop, the sun had finally peeked its head out, brightening the place and Kieran finally slowed down.

Now that the piece of land had finally come into sight, he wondered how he was going to deal with whatever was about to unfold, he still had no plan to follow what so ever.

Moving closer, he was met with the same scene he had left behind — The bodies of the two groups of beasts littered all around the piece of land.

Their blood had moved all the way down into the pool of water, tainting its previously pure appearance. The place of the third beasts was still same and clean. Now that he was looking at it again, the feeling of stillness he got from the spot and the area surrounding there made him more creeped out.

"I’m here!!"

Kieran shouted to announce his presence. It was time to face whatever fate had in store for him.

"You definitely took your time, I thought you would come running since I took your friend captive"

The same voice from the previous night was heard and Kieran could feel that sensation trying to grip at his soul.....trying to instill an unnatural fear into him, but having faced it once and resisted it, it was a little bit easier to do this time.

"But then, you didn’t run like the others , so I guess that’s a good point. But if it’s good for you is something else!"

The creatures voice said, appearing on one of the branches, capturing Kieran’s attention instantly and he could finally see what had been haunting them.

It was a humanoid creature that stood at the height of a normal adult human, but that was where the similarity ended. If anything, it reminded him of the alligators he had seen in his textbooks, it’s scaly body and reptilian eyes stating coldly at him. The appearance was only slightly similar to an alligator, it had no tails, and it’s scales gkowed weirdly with strange runes which seemed to have been inscribed in each scale, giving it a beautiful yet terrifying visage

"Where is Ruby?"

Kieran asked, ignoring the creature’s words which had just solved the mystery of how those groups of recruits had managed to survive meeting such a terrifying creature.

It had let them go, but not without taking its own share of a nicely prepared meal. As to why the recruits hadn’t reported this fact and why the camp hadn’t thought far enough to change the rating of this mission? Another mystery he had yet to figure out.

"So that’s her name?"

The creature said, jumping down from the top of the tree landing directly on the land, not far away from Kieran, leaving behind a crater.

’How heavy is that body?’

Kieran. Thought watching the creature walk slowly towards him, leaving deep foot prints on the solid ground as he approached.

The closer he got the clearer the inscriptions on its scales became to Kieran and he noticed that not all of them glowed. Less than 30% of his scales did.

"Agh!"

Kieran looked away from the glowing scales in pain, blood seeping from the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, I forgot how weak you are for a moment since you managed to break through the domination" the beast said and the scales stopped glowing.

It didn’t seem like the beast was intent on fighting him at all. So far, Kieran hadn’t sensed any sort of hostility.

"What are you? You look human, so domination shouldn’t work naturally on you unless I use it, but it did when I came across you last night. And then, why do I smell something delicious from your soul?"

The creature spoke. This time, it was extremely close to him, it’s face inches away from Kieran’s, as they both stared into each other’s eyes.

"I see. Is that what it is? You aren’t one of them!"

The creature said, sounding a little bit uncertain. Kieran on the other hand had his brain running in overdrive. He had no idea what the beast was trying to say.

Domination? What the reason why he froze up when he heard the crature’s voice for the first time?

But that didn’t explain why Ruby also froze up. What did it even mean by saying he wasn’t one of them? Was it trying to say that he wasn’t human? That would be plain bullshit!

"Where is Ruby?"

Kieran asked again. He had given up on understanding the random words that had been spouted by the creature in front of him. His main objective here was Ruby.

"She’s fine, you don’t need to worry!"

The creature said making Kieran tighten his grip on his scythe.

"I wouldn’t do that, you’d just end up dead"

The creature said lightly.

"I have no interest in fighting you. I guess you’re here to complete one of your ’missions’ as those people call it!"

"The rest who came here before seemed ro be looking for a way to hunt me which was rather displeasing to say the least."

"I don’t know why you are moving with them, but I have a mission for you too"

"And why should I do something that you can’t do yourself, why don’t you just kill me and get overwith it!" Kieran spat back.

"Strange, I thought you would do anything to get the lady who was accompanying you....this Ruby. Isn’t that why you came back?"

The creature said, placing one of its scaly fingers on its flat lips.

"Besides, if you do this, you can mark your mission as complete and I’ll leave this place to complete the lie"

It said, trying to convince Kieran into accepting.

"... Fine! But what’s stopping you from doing it yourself?" Kieran asked again, asking the meant perform what could be seen as the human equivalent of a sigh.

"It’s not that I can’t, it’s just rather inconvenient for me. Don’t worry, you will do fine. Break a bone or two"

The creature said walking around Kieran.

Kieran was till in shock as to how fluently and human like the creature in front of him spoke.

"What do you need me to kill?"

He finally agreed.

"Good. Just on oversized creature. You’ve met it before and don’t worry, you won’t need to find it, I already invited it over."

The creature said with a disfigured smile and before Kieran could fully process its words, he felt the trembling of the earth as something approached.

Looking towards the direction of whatever was approaching, Kieran spotted the huge, godzilla like beast he had seen that night reveal itself.

’The stupid fuck played me!’

Kieran gritted his teeth in annoyance, realizing that he never had a choice in the first place, but be quickly threw that away.

He was about to get into a fight with another terrifying monster!