CHAPTER 14: Champion

Milas was dumbfounded by the sight before him. The boulder turned out to be a beast that could easily kill an intermediate beast in seconds. He quickly backed away from it and the beast paid him no heed as it ate the bat leaving only the wings behind.

The strange turn of events made the crowd pause their incessant cheers. Milas frantically increased the distance between himself and the killer tortoise. He clearly remembered seeing something like a boulder move when he stood on a boulder at the beginning of the tournament. Milas was certain that this tortoise was the moving boulder.

The shocking thing was how it managed to avoid detection even from those in the crowd. During his escape, Milas bumped into a vampire with a bow and arrows. Rage came with the realization that this was the same vampire that forced him out of his cover. Milas immediately used his ultimate move and the vampire keeled over in pain.

Milas' knee was embedded in the vampire's groin. He then pulled an arrow from the quiver on the vampire's back and stabbed him in the side. He was about to stab him again but something heavy hit his side and swept him off his feet. Milas' body hit the ground and came to a stop meters away after a short roll.

He clutched his chest when pain washed over his body during breathing. His breathing became raspy and laboured as blood filled his right lung from the punctures left by his broken ribs. Milas tried to stand but coughed out blood before being stuck on his knees. He looked at the woman who had hit him with a war hammer.

The woman was shorter than the hammer as the handle reached a whole head above her. Her tiny hands firmly grasped the metallic handle that was almost as thick as her hand. She worriedly looked at the wound on the male vampire's side before glaring at Milas with rage.

"How dare you hurt him?" The female vampire yelled as she easily lifted the war hammer.

"He shot arrows at me so it's only fair that I pay him back." Milas couldn't believe how ironic the woman's accusation was.

"I'll kill you for hurting my husband!" The vampire yelled before rushing towards Milas.

"Crazy b*tch." Was all Milas could say before he was forced to retreat in order to avoid the heavy swings. His injured lungs got worse with every dodge and the attacks were getting closer each time. Milas had been racking his brain for a way out of his predicament and he formulated a crazy idea.

Milas ducked under a horizontal swing and raced in the direction of the weapon pile. The female vampire noted his plan and rushed to intercept him. Milas knew that he wouldn't have the time to pick up a weapon before the hammer landed. He could only hope that he had gauged the distance right. He was a few steps away from the pile when a scream came from behind them.

Milas was glad that the scream came earlier than he expected. During the fight with the female vampire, Milas had seen the tortoise beast sneaking up on the other vampire. He knew that it would reach him so he counted on that to distract his attacker. Milas slid on the ground and grabbed a short sword and a dagger before turning around to face the crazy woman.

He was surprised to see that she had run back but it made sense since she overreacted when he wounded the male vampire. The tortoise had stretched its neck to about five meters in an instant and bit the vampire's leg. It then dragged him towards itself despite his attempts to free himself.

"BOOM!"

A large hammer landed on the unprotected neck and slammed it on the ground. The head retracted into the shell and glared at the woman with the hammer. She was about to help her husband when the head shot forward like a striking viper. The vampire could only use the handle of the hammer to block and the weapon shattered when the jaws snapped shut.

The female vampire took the chance when the head retracted to prepare another attack and she moved her husband away. They were just outside the tortoise's strike range and they knew it couldn't catch up with its speed. The sides of the shell seemed to crack apart as four short legs appeared from the shell.

The small legs shockingly lifted the tortoise and propelled it forward at a strangely fast pace for a tortoise. The couple was more dumbfounded than Milas who watched the scene from his hiding place. It reduced the distance in seconds before its head shot out again. The couple tried to escape but the male vampire was caught and dragged back.

The woman could only watch as the tortoise used its toothless jaws to crush her husband. His blood sprayed across her face and she stared as it ate him. The tortoise finished its meal and looked at the broken woman. It didn't even rush to finish as it used its little legs to draw closer to the motionless figure. It stretched its neck and slowly opened its mouth, giving the woman a view of its bloodstained mouth.

"Shhhiiickk."

The tortoise was startled and tried to retract its head but something was blocking it. It felt pain from its neck which worsened whenever it felt the blockage. It looked beside it and saw another human standing there with shoulder long hair blocking its face.

Moments ago, Milas saw the tortoise stretch its head and drag the male vampire back. He knew that he won't survive in the arena with the tortoise even if the two of them were the last ones remaining. He ran back to the pile of weapons and exchanged the sword with an axe. He snuck up on the tortoise as it was approaching the female vampire. Milas wanted to gravely injure it but its neck was thick and tough. That was how he prevented it from retracting and attracted its ire.

He quickly backed away just in time to escape the spikes that came from the shell. The tortoise was enraged and and it immediately followed behind him. Milas ran for a while and he could easily outrun it but his injuries were draining him of his stamina. Hell broke loose when he tripped and fell on the ground.

The tortoise had caught up and was getting closer to Milas, who could only drag himself away till a beast carcass hindered his retreat. He faced the beast as it opened its mouth and gave him a preview of what would follow. Milas threw the dagger he had been holding deep into its throat. It immediately choked and gagged before it spit it out.

The audience cheered crazily when they saw that the tortoise had spat out a long fang. They had seen Milas hold the carcass' head and now they understood what happened. The carcass belonged to the bone devouring serpent and Milas had fallen near it on purpose. He knew he couldn't kill the tortoise alone so he used some help.

He cut off the serpent's fang and threw it into the tortoise's throat. He stood up and smiled at it, completely ignoring the pain from his corroding hand. The tortoise kept vomiting black muck and Milas decided to finish it. He picked up the serpent's severed head and threw it into the tortoise's mouth when it was vomiting.

Milas walked away from it and headed towards the broken woman. He picked up a longsword along the way. The female vampire hadn't moved and blankly stared into space. Milas stood before her but she didn't move.

"I'm sorry but I have to survive and you have lost the will to live. So let me help you join your husband." With this Milas raised the sword and swiftly beheaded her.

"The final two champions of the half-born round are the basic beast, darklands chameleon and the crowd favourite vampire nicknamed, The Beast Slayer." The announcement said as the audience kept chanting 'beast slayer'. Milas didn't hear anything as he was thinking of what he had done to the woman. He was very worried of the fact that he didn't feel anything when he killed her. Milas felt no remorse even as he apologized to her.

He just stood there as tentacles wrapped around him and dragged him to the cage. He could see the tentacles wrapped around the side of a boulder before they pulled a meter long chameleon off it. Milas couldn't imagine how hard it would have been to find and kill it.