Chapter 243: Exception.

After twitching and fire-blasting for thirty breaths, the colossal flea froze for a few moments, but just as the first group was about to charge in for another attack, the old god vanished form the spot.Despite one of its hind legs being crippled, it managed to jump ever fifty yards up, and landed in the middle of the first group of hunters, killing at least half of them. The other half scattered, but the creature continued to jump, mostly on the spot it was.

"How’s it possible?" Nevin gasped in shock, "It’s now using the wind element – see the swirls below ... but previously ..."

’So it is an old god!’ Lee thought, inwardly smiling.

He didn’t need its spark, but seeing a living being using more than one element ignited a tinge of hope inside of him.

’How does it do it? Has it managed to ignite multiple sparks?’ Lee though, ’Be as it may, it doesn’t give a fuck about wasting elemental energy. It’s trashing around aimlessly, trying to overpower everyone in the vicinity with its size ... and by spending enormous amounts of energy. Fire first, now wind ... I really hope it can’t open rifts ..."

It didn’t take long for the old god to run dry. Just as it wasted fire energy before, after clumsily jumping, it was out of the wind elemental energy. It lie between countless crushed wasp corpses, catching its breath. The remaining hunters saw that, and charged in.

While fleeing, Lee picked a sword from a puddle of gore that once was a hunter, but only to feel safer with a decent weapon in hand. He didn’t intend to use flashy moves, and the main plan was to stay alive to see the spark or sparks the old god had.

Lee didn’t really need

them, but would appreciate if he had the chance to inspect. He hoped it could provide him with an idea or inspiration how to solve his own predicament.

When the attacks of hunters began to rain on the old god, mostly concentrated on few spots on its body, it acted again. It didn’t move much, but lit up in a yellow light, fortifying its defenses. All of the sudden nothing the attackers did mattered – no one was able to scratch the flea’s carapace, to not speak of breaking it.

Most hunters fell back, learning from their earlier mistakes, and waited. The creature’s pattern was clear – now it was about to waste the earth elemental energy. To force it to keep wasting the energy, few people continued to smack the old god with fire skills, mostly trying to make them flashy rather effective.

"It’s kind of weak." Nevin said, coming up to Lee after they fled to a safe distance.

"I guess its innately stupid." Lee said, "Imagine if it was a cat or a dog. Or if it was a gorilla! None of us would be left alive. It’s just a humongous bug that has survived by continuously feasting on others, without anything threatening its existence after it reached behemot’s level."

"How about other behemots?" Nevin asked.

"How do I know?" Lee shrugged, "They probably hibernate anyway, and this thing was woken up by the centipede. But you’re right ... it’s underwhelming ..."

They watched the stronger fighters intensify the attacks the moment the defensive yellow aura disappeared. It was obvious that pretty soon the mountain-sized insect would be chopped in pieces.

What no one expected was that, just as everyone began to relax, the old god leapt up, unleashing another blast of compressed fire again. It was as if, after tapping into its reserves, it had found a second wind, that allowed it to wreck even greater chaos than previously. And it didn’t stop. It jumped and blasted, completely transforming the rocky landscape into a plateau littered with remains of bull-sized wasps and humans.

The two youths gawked at the sight, but a moment later ran away in a direct line, trying to create as much distance from the old god as possible. It was clear that no one could guess how long this might last.

The problem was – for now it was unclear if it still had the elemental energy in reserves or managed to recover during the short rest. No one had hunted a beast or insect of this level before and had no clue of its abilities.

Except for one person.

Seren and his four sidekicks stood on a tall rock almost a mile away from the fight. He patiently waited with a faint smile on his face, observing how tens of hunters lost their lives the moment the old god began to struggle again. It was clear he knew it was bound do happen, but when Lee arrived at the rock Seren was standing on, he found it hard to fault the guy.

Seren might been arrogant, but in his own haughty way he offered the hunters a chance. Now, though, he was set on witnessing how most died before making a move.

After giving it a thought, Lee decided to follow Seren’s example. His presence in the fight wouldn’t really change anything, but at the same time he wanted to have a lifeline in case all hunters died. Getting back to the camp alone was impossible, thus he needed few people to team up with. Even if he had to slave away few days of his life, it was still better than to die because of pride.

Fortunately, it didn’t come down to it.

The title old god was mighty impressive, but an insect was only an insect in the end. At some point it ran out of strength, and Seren commanded his friends to move out. There were still hunters alive, battling the creature, but the problem was, or rather – Lee’s problem was – he had to run back almost a mile. Meanwhile Seren stepped through a rift created by one of his guys.

Lee was annoyed seeing how all of them disappeared from the top of the rock one after another, only to show up far in the distance. No wonder people both hated and loved the experts with spatial sparks.

Lee didn’t see all details how the fight went, but when he and Nevin arrived, the old god was barely standing, or rather – balancing to not fall over. Both its larger extremities were cut off and the rest crippled, and it was clear that the humans had finally won.

What hunters didn’t notice was the rift that opened right above the old god. From it Seren jumped out, and with a shout plunged his burning sword right between its eyes. It was clear that the three feet long weapon on its own wouldn’t deal much damage, considering the size of the creature. It was the large amounts of fire energy that Seren discharged that forced the old god to fall to its side, spasming in agony.

The remaining hunters gathered next to the old god’s head, and so did Seren’s sidekicks. It was tragic to see that only around twenty people were still standing, but the five youths were already seizing the moment.

Seren in front with a guy at each side stood between the old god’s head and the hunters. The fourth, the spatial elemental master, stood behind them, pale, and it was clear he had overused the elemental energy. Evidently before becoming an elemental lord it was extremely taxing to open rifts for others to pass through, even if it was for short distances.

Meanwhile the fifth, the wind elemental master, was slicing the head apart, digging for the spark. Clearly the creature’s body had lost its resistance after it died, and like a butcher, the guy kept cutting the head, digging deeper and deeper.

"What do you think you are doing?" Vaerin asked the obvious. He was out of breath and his clothing was ragged, but he still held the sword in tight grip, "The old god ..."

"It was killed by Brother Seren!" One of the youths next to Seren interrupted, "It’s only proper that he has to keep its spark as a keepsake!"

"A keepsake?" Vaerin stepped closer towards the small group, and Elred with a few others followed, "People died and you are trying to ..."

"Shut up, idiot!" Seren said, "And fuck off before I get angry!"

"Boy, what is it that you think you can do?" Vaerin said, pointing at the small crowd behind him, "There’s ..."

He was abruptly interrupted, though. A thin stream of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, while his brain tried to register what just happened.

"I hate morons!" Seren said, pulling out his sword from a two inch wide rift. It was covered in blood, and it took few moments for Vaerin to realize it was his.

Behind Seren, his fellow spatial elemental master was panting on all fours. It was clear that opening the tiny rift had taken the last bits of his strength. Nevertheless, everyone present felt their feet grow cold as they witnessed the silent cooperation.