262. Nightmare Beast

Ryu and Hisoka left the Lunar Eclipse group and ventured further into the valley. The deeper they went, darker it became. Even with their powerful senses they could only sense upto a mere fifty meters.

" What's this black energy? It's getting stronger as we move further inside."

Ryu heard Hisoka and kept silent. His eyes had already changed to Chaos and were darting around. Unlike others his eyes gave him an advantage of seeing through this darkness.

Just as they stepped past a huge rock Hisoka swiped his hand to his right.

Scrrrrreee.....

A loud shrill echoed through the darkness. Hisoka grabbed the air and found a creature resembling a bat and a monkey. It's red eyes were staring at Hisoka with fear.

" A contracted beast? "

With just one look Ryu and Hisoka saw through the beast. Like in the Elemental nations there are contracted beasts in others as well. This Monkey Bat was a scout, it's battle capabilities were non existent but when it comes to scouting they were top notch. Unfortunately what it spied on were two freaks among nature.

" Looks like we have company. I am surprised they went in this far without a single casuality."

" I suppose we have strong contenders."

Their conversation was weird. They were obviously speaking about contenders for the Task and quite strong at that but instead of being wary they seemed more like casually speaking some small talk.

Letting go of the creature Hisoka and Ryu went further in. At some point Ryu turned back to take a look and smiled faintly. The golden mist within his eyes swirled around like waves as they focused on a group of women walking way back.

Ignoring their group his eyes focused on a a group several hundred meters infront of him. Eight strong men stood like mountains before an entrance near a rocky wall. A tall man wearing battle dress and armour stood before the men.

Sensing some movement he looked back and found Ryu and Hisoka walking in their direction. For a second he was startled then smirked. His men also noticed them and showed a disdainful expression.

Ryu and Hisoka ignored the men and stood before the entrance. Without paying them any notice they stepped forward. Just as he did so a sturdy man blocked his path and said coldly.

" Get the hell out of here. This is our prey."

" Heh... I don't remember someone taking the Task exclusively. Or does your Wolf Gang own the Task House? "

" What did you say!? "

All of them could hear the scorn in his voice. Terrifying auras burst out from each of them and locked onto Ryu.

These people were infront of you were called the Wolf Gang. They were famous among mercenaries. They have one of the highest record in completing 1 Star and 2 Star mission. Right now they have started taking on 3 Star missions and intend to repeat the same feat.

Ryu remained calm under this terrifying pressure. His gaze locked onto the leading man and asked

" Do you really want to do this? "

Wolf raised an eyebrow hearing those words. At first he thought it was fear of confrontation then he caught a glimpse of craziness from that other guy. His heart went cold for a second.

" Stop! "

He raised his arm, dispelling the aura assaulting Ryu and Hisoka.

" That's good. See you inside."

Ryu and Hisoka walked inside calmly. The Wolf Gang looked coldly at their retreating figure and asked the large man.

" Boss why did you let them go? Didn't you see how arrogant he was? "

" Shut up! "

The response the lacky got was extremely cold. He was terrified of his Boss and didn't utter a word.

" Fool! Those men are dangerous. Under that facade lies a beast, if we had attacked I am sure apart from me the rest of would have been killed."

" N-No way."

" Boss, these must be the guys my contracted beast saw."

" If so then we have a strong contender. Let's go, we can't let them snatch that reward! "

Without further hesitation all of them stepped inside. Minutes after they left Luna and her team appeared.

" Sis, those muscleheads didn't go all out with those guys."

" Hmph! Like they could ever beat them even if they did! "

" Sis, are they really that strong? "

" Don't underestimate anyone, haven't I said this to you before? "

" Sorry sis."

" Just remember those words. Now, let's go in."

*********

Deep inside the earth.

The soil went blacker as it went down. Strange threads of blood flowed through the soil going deeper and deeper. The blood finally settled on a space deep below the earth. A hollow space was formed deep inside where the blood collected.

The pitch black soil darker than the darkest of nights along with the blood pool formed a ln eerie sight. Strangely the blood rippled from time to time. It was strange given there was no air flow this deep inside the earth.

Slowly the blood level dropped. After an unknown time the blood was completely dried up revealing a pitch black body.

The body was tens of meter in size. It had exquisite muscles and a strong body. Black mist swirled around it forming something akin to a protective cover. Slowly the spark of life was lit up with the body. It's eyes struggled to open but ultimately failed to do so.

Minutes later blood started to gather again. It flowed into the beasts body but the rate of intake was slow. Soon its entire body was again submerged in blood.