Chapter 105: Dead

Chapter 105: Dead The momen Kieran’s brain processed the words of the creature that had appeared behind them, he jumped off the tree, turning in mid air to slash in the creature’s general direction with scythe.

"...."

The golden glow in his eyes fluctuated the moment he felt his scythe hit the creature’s body.

It felt like he was holding a blunt weapon rather than one with an edge.

The rebound force almost sent the scythe flying from his hand as he fell to the found now that he had lost support.

"Hmm, more aggress—"

The creature was forced to eat whatever it was going to day as Richard followed up on Kieran’s attack, sending a pillar of flames so condensed it looked like liquid straight at the creature.

Before the flames could even die down completely, Derrick also made his move, not losing out to the others as he jumped off the tree slamming himself onto the ground and a huge earth spike popped up aimed at the same spot Richard’s flame had hit.

While the immediate action and three hit combo coming from a team that looked like it had no sense of coordination was rather impressive, the three of them, now on the ground, had no proud expressions on their faces as they all looked up to the sky where Richard’s flames seemed to be falling something solid.

The rocks from Derrick’s attack also landed on the floor and just there, floating in the sky in the middle of the three recruits was a pair of upside-down silver eyes looking at the three of them coldly.

The creature whose body matched the darkness around it, giving it the perfect cover remained silent for a few seconds.

Seconds which felt like eternity to the tense recruits.

Kieran could feel the sweat in his palms, and the same itch in his bones that had never failed to appear whenever he was met with a strong creature.

Richard was fixed in a bent pose, ready to shoot forward and react at any time. Meanwhile Derrick had one of the rare solemn looks on his face as his hands slowly pulled out something from his back.

All of this was caught by the silver eyes of the creature which held within it a hellish intent.

"Kill...killll...killllll...ki-KILLL!!!"

’NO!!! NOT NOW!!’

Kieran’s grip on his scythe tightened as he forced the sounds in his head back down, for the first time ever, they actually listened and went silent, for the first time ever, he had a clear feeling from the voice on his head. It was like there was something back there at the deepest recesses of his mind waiting to crawl out.

He could feel the pressure on his mind.

"I guess they were right about your kind pointlessly seeking death!"

"Tsssss."

And as if things just couldn’t get worse, the shrill voice of the creature, different than before, this time filled with anger just managed to aggravate Kieran’s headaches as he took in a deep breath.

"Shiiiiii"

RIIPPP!!!!

A shrill scream came from the creature before it vanished almost immediately, taking Derrick as its first target.

Derrick hearing the shrill sound didn’t hold back at all as his eyes burned silver, similar to that of the creature as the the tree branches and grasses all in a 3 meter radius around him all pressed down towards the ground, and the creature with its blazing speed had already stepped into the range of his ability, but this wasn’t enough to bring the creature’s advance to a halt.

All it did was slow it down a bit and give him enough time to block the attack with his backpack which was ripped apart with ease by the claws of the creature.

The three of them had just seen what could’ve happened to them if they weren’t careful enough fighting against the creature.

One hit and they’d die. There was no room for escape, no room for retreat.

They either killed the creature or they died fighting it.

The three of them understood that and in that split second the creature slowed down, Kieran and Ruchard made their moves.

Kieran brutally ignored the throbbing pain that was eating up his head and pushed every ounce of strength he had, his tense leg muscles snapping as he took the first step along with Richard who moved at the same time, his flames having condensed around his body, especially his arms and feet to give him a speed boost.

BANG! BANG!

Their acceleration left craters in their original spot as they zoomed in on the creature which was taking its time to recover.

Richard made his arrival first with the boost in speed, and his reaf glowing figure managed to illuminate the creature and give them a glimpse of what they were fighting against.

It was a man bat. It could only be described as that — a bat-like creature the size of a human man. Kieran didn’t even bother trying to recall anything about the creature or similar.

They had gone past that point from the beginning of the fight.

Richard waved his arm in a slashing motion, directly aiming to chop off the arm of the bat which was connected to its wing.

If he could do that and immobilize it a little, then they might have a chance at surviving this or even killing it.

The creature didn’t even bother dodging, letting Richard’s hand strike while its silver eyes pierced into Richard’s so unnervingly he was forced to back out for fear of a counter attack he couldn’t react to.

And he was right to be afraid, for that attack did come, but it was blocked right on time by the butt of a scythe.

Kieran had arrived at the last moment, forcing the creature’s hand away from Richard’s belly while delivering a strike of his own, twisting his body for delivery of maximum force and the result was just as disappointing as his first strike.

It felt like he was hitting with a blunt object, but this time, he handled the rebound quite well and used the force to push himself back a few meters.

When the creature moved again, Derrick clasped his hands, tightening the range of the field around him, trying to wrap it around and immobilize it completely, but this was easier said than done as he struggled to close his palms against each other.

The creature, having noticed what was happening, ignored Richard and Kieran, and sped towards Derrick, the only person who actually posed any kind of threats with his ability which could slow him down and it sought to eliminate him immediately.

Unfortunately, Kieran and Richard couldn’t just sit and watch as it attacked their only shot at winning the battle.

They rushed out too, catching up to the slowed creature and simultaneously sent attacks towards it.

Attacks that the beast chose to ignore and regretted almost instantly.

While they weren’t yet at the level of the older second year’s that was only because they lacked time, there was a reason why they were seen as promising. They even made the instructors take bets among themselves.

Richard’s eyes darkened and his shirt uniform burnt off revealing a bunch of scorching runes crawling up his body as his flames condensed further, turning liquid and he threw a full blast of it onto the creature’s chest, doing much more than burning a few hairs.

"Shriiiiii"

The creature let out a scream of pain as it turned to face Richard swiping his claw at the recruit who just dodged it the attack swiftly.

Before it could send a second attack, forgotten Kieran popped out of nowhere with blood shot eyes and an aura of madness that matched that of a beast more than the one they were fighting.

Looking into those eyes which hand the gold slowly receding to the edges while a deep consuming black took over, the creature felt something unnatural stir within it as it looked away almost instantly and let Kieran’s scythe land on its left wing.

The full blown attack of the crazy looking recruit who had a single thought in his head tore through the leathery skin of the wing, further slowing down the creature.

"Now!"

Derrick shouted and both Richard and Kieran retreated instantly, moving several feet away from the creature and they watched how the whole earth and everything in a 5 feet radius of the creature came crashing down heavily and Derrick pushed his palms against each other squeezing tightly as the range began to lessen and the gravitational force multiply by several folds, but still the creature was yet to fall to its feet.

"I don’t think I can push any further."

Derrick said, having brought the restriction to just a few inches away from the monster itself.

"Very very good! The ones so far didn’t put up much of a challenge. Yessss!!"

"SHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!"

The creatures scream was so loud that they all had to cover their ears in pain, and Kieran eyes just became more bloodshot.

When they looked back up, the monster was no longer at the center of the field, he was..

’No, No, NO NO! NO!! NOOOOOOO!!!!’

Kieran watched as the creature pulled out its long claws hands out of Derrick’s chest.

Time suddenly seemed to run so slow as he cursed his vision for first time, seeing everything I’m detail; as Derrick’s body fell to the ground.

At that moment everything seemed to have vanished from his eyes and the image of Derrick’s on the floor seemed to overlay with the memory of his parents in a body sack.

"NO NO NO! NO!!"

Kieran muttered, blood tears flowing from his dry eyes.

’You’re going to die.’

A thought that didn’t seem to come from him appeared in his mind.

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

’You are going to die’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

’You are going to watch them die!’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

’You are going to do nothing!’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

The voice was like a whisper, slowly weaving its way around Kieran’s mind as he watched blankly as the creature turned around and slowly approached Richard who looked like he wasn’t going to leave without posing a fight.

’You are dead!’

’Let go!’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

’Let it go!’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

’LET IT GO!!!!’

’KILL! KILLL! KILLL! KILLLL!!! KIIIILLL!’

At that moment, he let go of it.

That crazed feeling that had been eating at the back of his mind for ages now.

He just didn’t try to hold it back again.

Was he afraid?

What was fear when he was dead already?

He let it go and at that moment, he blacked out!