Chapter 475- Diamond Bear
While unforeseen chaos ensued in one part of the Kingdom, something else was being played out in the opposite direction.
Another flow of fate, you might say.
Within the thick forest at the outskirts of the Slums, beyond the influence from above and the eyes of preying Factions, Meadow Swanstorm made her stance.
And her stance? Well, let's say she was about rethinking her chances.
"Princess, Run!"
The voice of her bodyguard, Ban Xen, projected within the foliage of trees as the sounds of birds screaming echoed after.
Suddenly, the trees trembled and a solid quake spread through the thick green landscape.
And from a bundle of bushes, Meadow jumped out with trembling hearts.
"For goddess' sake, why are there so many untamed beasts?!"
Her gaze was dilated, her cloak rumbled with leaves and broken twigs attached to its surface.
The young girl, not more than a 7th Circle Mage ran down the forage of tall grasses for her life.
Panting heavily like a laboured queen, she whipped her gaze behind with unrestrained startlement.
"Shit! If that bastard is really alive! He's going to get a word or two from me!"
Ending her statement was another roar, and a ferocious quake that followed.
But this was different.
Its proximity had sent a concentric wave of wind and energy that slammed against the trees.
Bending tall, glorious terrestrial life was brought to its knees, and Meadow, easily with it.
The wind struck her and lifted her off the ground.
With a thug, she held her arms forward as she collided with the ground with a loud thud.
'Aaargh…'
She groaned internally as she lifted her head up.
But in that moment, the air whisked tightly beside her and a figure blasted past her with inhumane force.
With a breeze so close that it licked her lips clean, leaving a faint cut that pooled blood down.
Immediately, a series of trees thundered and croaked loudly as they toppled down to the forest floor.
The figure had slammed into a line of them in the blink of an eye, before crashing into the bark of one more.
Ban's features were illuminated by the sunlight as he groaned in pain before falling limply to the ground.
And further ahead, Meadow watched the scene unfold as a front-row spectator.
The girl's thoughts came, crashing through her thoughts as she felt the ground tremble.
'He looks strong, my foot!' She exclaimed to herself as she looked at the source of the tremble, as well as borne to their stride.
'You thought wrong, Raph!'
Their walk had taken a rather easy flow until they got to the stream.
The only known stream that actually existed within the forest.
The rest were either deep damps formed from beasts or flowing rivers leading to the Western Seas, home to the Mermaids.
On getting there, this creature was what awaited their arrival.
Quite frankly, meeting a 7th-tier Greater Beast, a Diamond Bear, was not a welcoming experience.
And these creatures tend to prove to you why from the onset.
'They attack without warning… instinct driving every strike.'
Meadow had begun to rise to her feet– slowly.
Her body was stiff from tension and her fingers delicately stretched into her cloak to pull out a wand. With her gaze fixed squarely on the Large Beast, she began to duel with the Beast which towered over her.
Diamond Bears were solitary creatures.
And it was understandable since they were extremely violent to boot.
With the appearance of a bear and a staggering height of an Imperial mammoth when on all fours, it stood atop of the food chain.
Its build was made of lilac fur and bulky muscles, with limbs large and thick enough to crush bones.
Across its body was an exoskeleton made of Violet diamonds with four tall, chunky, pointed plateaus forming down its back.
Its eyes were a shade of crimson, and on its forehead was a dense, round, opaque diamond.
Its mouth was lined with rows of sharp canine teeth that bent through iron and at that moment, those teeth were being bared at the delicate Princess.
'What now?'
She wondered as she continued to trail away from the Beast while it observed with coiled up fury.
Its sharp growls and ferocious roars cut through the air, warning her of the next strike.
But she kept moving nonetheless.
Slowly, her gaze shifted to the trees, and then the tall grasses and her brain began to tick– spinning in overdrive.
'What a mess…'
A sigh escaped her lips as she tipped her wand to the ground.
'I came to find answers, not an early death.'
Her gaze narrowed as it stared straight into the hungry eyes of the Ravage Beast.
The bloodlust was evident, and the air rippled with the surge of mana, sharp and wild, warning her of the creature's ferocity.
Beasts were different from demons.
They held similar hierarchies, but where Demons and Devils used miasma, beasts used Mana.
Raw, unfiltered mana that usually led to the build of one or two elemental properties.
Elemental beasts were rare, but they existed.
And those that did, wielded a characteristic natural strength.
Meadow's thoughts came to a slow trickle.
'Perhaps we should give more credit to the Teras who tame these beasts.'
She completely swayed her thoughts away, and with eyes, sharp as blades, she dashed forward.
The air rippled with the flow of mana as a powerful roar scorched the skies.
The Diamond Bear slammed its feet to the ground and charged with impending doom.
Soon, the atmosphere was filled with a finality, as the Princess and the Greater Beasts rushed towards each other.
'Naturally, lesser beasts and the 1st to 3rd tier of the Greater Beasts don't pose a threat to a 7th-tier Mage or Knight.'
Her eyes shone with a brilliance as she led mana to her wand.
At that moment, the two contenders were inches away from colliding, with one hurdling for the win.
But Meadow didn't give it a chance.
She swung right, summoning a blast of wind at the tip, reacting as quickly as she could.
'5th tier spell; Wind Surge.'
A blast sparked to life and ignited with a powerful burst of energy.
The air blew with a deep, guttural sound as her entire being was moved away from the path of the Greater Beast.
The Diamond Bear roared ferociously, whipping its head toward her as its massive body surged forward. Its momentum carried it uncontrollably through the tall grasses
'Fortunately, Greater Beasts are beasts through and through—driven by raw instinct, not thought.'
Meadow raised her wand once more.
"7th tier Spell; Tornado Storm."
The trees shook and the wind bent to her decree.
A swirl of air and energy formed around the Beast. Slicing twigs and grasses alike as it formed a conical tornado that grew with speed.
The trees, tall and ancient with a foreboding hue bent to the pull of the wind as it grabbed the Beast in its endless torrents of slices and cuts.
The creature's skin was tough.
So much so that cutting through it would require more than just a sword.
Precise control and aura manipulation.
That was the only way to make a dent in its magnificent fur, but the wind was imbued with energy. Mana, to be specific, and its cuts had begun to form and spread.
Though, shallow, it cut through its skin with a wheeze of concentrated air before slamming it into the ground with a thunderous force.
The ground shook and a spiderweb of cracks spread through the greenery.
Dust and cut grass rose into the air, settling with relative ease as a crater lay beneath the creature's bulk.
Meadow turned around immediately and took to her heels.
She didn't need to look back to know she had only slowed it down.
'The 4th to 6th tier Greater Beasts are creatures that we can barely face alone…'
But the 7th and above… though few were impossible to face alone.
'I would only be courting death if I stayed longer.'
She rushed through the forest in a blur.
Wind and mana surged around her as she made haste in a certain direction.
'I have to find that fraud.'
She thought as her gaze darted to a tree– or what was left of it, beside her.
She nodded once then rushed forward.
'It's silent…'
She turned around.
'Where is–'
*RAAAWWRRR!!!*
The Beast's cries echoed across the forest, raw and primal, followed immediately by a lunging charge.
'Hah… speak of the Devil.'
She whipped her head away and blasted forward with a surge of wind.
Her thoughts lay in puzzles within her head as the breeze whistled through her ears.
Her instincts screamed, and her body ached from the blast of air pushing her faster than she had ever moved.
Running from a threat this large has never been an occurrence.
After all, two efficiently strong bodyguards stood in place as a wall.
Thus, she had hardly gotten the opportunity to test herself in a real-life experience.
'But this is too much.'
She sighed inwardly when a cry broke through her thoughts.
Her expression shifted and her legs kicked up dirt as she stopped mid-run.
'Already… ?'
Blasting air with her wand once more, her body waved to the side as a rush of brutality and feral bloodlust blasted past her with an immense force.
The beasts closed in, their steps shaking the ground beneath her.
'Shit.'
She attempted to rush forward when the air sizzled.
Immediately, she stopped and turned to face the Diamond Beast.
Her eyes widened, frozen in shock, but her body moved.
WHIRL– BOOM!
A beam of purple lightning surged from the Diamond on the beast's forehead and blasted across the Forest floor.
A rain of electricity bathed the ground and the trees in its path, scorching them to charcoal black.
On a tree, directly next to one that had begun to crumble from the remnants of a lightning blast, Meadow stood. Exasperated and shocked.
"Come on!" She screamed out with a pitched tone.
"It shoots lightning?!"