Chapter 25: Prey to kill
"Now let's see how far your spirit can go," Apollo said as he took some popcorn and comfortably sat on a nearby rock.
The intense amount of Mana began to clash as Kaze the wing lion spirit of Eros began to fight against a Duke rank Snout river hog.
"Why the hell is that pig looking at me like that" Eros felt disgusted as he noticed how the Snout river hog looked at him.
"He really likes you big brother" Apollo said as he continued to eat but as he took another bite a wave of mana made him stumble a bit.
"That surprised me"
He fixed his position and saw the clash between the two.
The magical beast releases a water cannon from his mouth when the winged lion takes Eros into the air.
A fast high-pressure water went through the air trying to hit a fast-moving silhouette. The Snout river hog runs to follow his target not letting it leave its sight and with another blast of his water cannon he is able to hit the left wing of the lion.
"Something is falling down fast" Apollo said holding his binoculars.
Then with a loud thud Kaze somehow safely landed on the ground however one of his wings broke.
With great desperation, Eros took out an elixir inside his space ring, he has been saving it up since it was very hard to get but with this current situation, he has no other option.
"A booster potion lets see, Jeremiah"
[Booster current duration 5:00]
"Should I interfere?" He wondered looking at the struggling spirit and master.
"Total boost!" Eros chanted.
With the spell cast by Eros the winged lion's body glow, as the enchantment took effect.
Eros cast a spell and assisted his spirit surprisingly they are holding up well however time is ticking and soon the booster Eros uses will wear off.
Eros was merely a surpasser which is equivalent to a Baron in beast ranks, from the beginning he had no chance of winning from a Duke.
"Armament!" His eldest brother shouted and the dense amount of ki inside his body turned into a powerful aura. From it, the aura transforms into armour protecting him and Kaze.
"Buddy I'll cast a flash bomb on this pig then make a run okay?"
The winged lion nodded knowing they couldn't escape easily.
"I already sent a distress signal but they might take a while to get here so we need to fend off for a while"
However, before he could even start a series of water cannons and ram attempts were given to them by their enemy. Despite this Eros tried his best to focus and cast the spell he had in mind.
Eros has instant incantation the moment he thinks of a spell it automatically casts upon his will. This skill was something he worked hard to gain back when he was still a child, Apollo was one of the people of witnessed it.
However, Apollo merely loaded a bullet and shot at the winged lion who was trying to dodge an attack from the magical beast.
"Kaze!?"
Eros felt something weird and before he knew it the snout river hog ram into them.
"Argh!"
The two were sent flying due to the force of impact, eagerly the magical beast approached Eros, its appearance displaying an urge to mate.
"No!" Eros cried trying to escape however a water cannon blasted his path.
"Damn it!"
Looking at the saliva dripping from the beast's mouth the young Lionheart wanted to kill himself instead of being humiliated.
Apollo smiled as he saw his next move.
"Go on use your mana to kill yourself" he said however something came in between Eros and the horny magical beast.
"Kaze"
Eros felt pain when he saw his spirit's battered appearance even with its injuries it went as far as to crawl to reach him. And here he was trying to kill himself while his spirit was putting his life on the line to save him.
"What a shameful act" he clenched his fist so badly it started bleeding.
From the depths of the body of Eros, a massive build-up of Mana and Ki can be felt.
"An enlightenment" with his binoculars still on the youngest son of the Lionheart family saw how his eldest brother slowly achieved enlightenment.
From the burning determination, his mana and ki flared up forcing his body to undergo a breakthrough.
Enlightenment is a state where a person reaches a newfound realization or knowledge. The benefits of enlightenment can either be seen spiritually or physically.
Apollo just watched ready to load another bullet but something stopped him from shooting.
From the sky, three figures came instantly killing the snout river hog.
Apollo just sighed and said "Jeremiah thanks for the heads up"
Right in front of Apollo, a rectangular screen shows these words:
[Notification Alert!
Three entities are heading this way
Alert! please stop any possible moves and assess the situation]
He looks at three individuals and one of them speaks.
"What's this?"
"Did this boy just achieve a breakthrough while almost dying?" A man clad in military uniform said with him were two soldiers under his command.
"Sir, he is a Lionheart"
"A Lionheart ?" Then he stared at the red-orange-haired boy in front of him.
"Well it's no wonder he has such a talent"
Currently, Eros was still in the process of enlightenment if the three hadn't arrived on time he would have died if someone interfered with the process of his enlightenment.
"We should report this"
One of the soldiers then flew away heading straight to the tents.
Apollo couldn't help but sigh but eventually said "Well that was fun to watch"
He stored his binoculars and rifle back in his inventory however before leaving he took one last glance at his brother.
"Brother live more as you can, after all the hunt will never be fun if the prey is too easy to kill"
His words were soon muffled by the rustle of the wind as his figure soon disappeared.
The hunting festival was turned upside down when an unexpected amount of beast began attacking the hunters. It seems like the roles switch with the sudden increase of the beast's numbers, the prey becomes the hunter while the hunter becomes the prey.
Apollo made it this way to make sure his main motive wouldn't be seen. If he only attacks Eros and his group the focus will be on his brother making it hard for him to attack again.
The main cause of this incident was all due to the powder he spread that could make magical beast wild. It is odorless and harmless to humans but for some beasts, it's intoxicating and at the same time making them insane. As he spreads it around the forest he specifically increases the amount around his brother's party causing a horde of in-heat beasts to ambush them.
"Jonathan weren't you the one who assured me the number of magical beasts here" the emperor's words were sharp making the kneeling mage scared.
"I can assure you your majesty I did all the required procedures and came up with the results I presented to you"
The emperor leans on his chair not liking how the event turns into chaos.
"Could be the monastery?"
The empress said as she worriedly looked at the emperor.
"Maybe they have been active since last year"
He gasped his forehead as he said this.
"None died right?" This time his voice contains a massive amount of pressure making everyone except the empress scared.
"None, my emperor, as soon as the anomaly started the mage association and the imperial soldiers immediately took action"
The emperor sighed and then remembered something.
"Where is Alger?"
Jonathan couldn't but look up and ask "Why?"
.....
"What is the meaning of this?"
The emperor asked as he watched the tower mages have a tea party in the middle of Olgami forest.
"Your majesty why don't you join us" Alger said as he lifted his teacup.
"No thanks Mage Alger, I don't feel like drinking when my surroundings are like this"
The emperor then looks at the pile of dead bodies that already form a circle around them.
"How many did they kill?" He thought then his eyes caught the dead bodies of Duke to king-level beasts.
"We took care of the high-rank beast and left the weak ones to your soldiers and mages"
"It seems so...but Mage Alger I think I need answers"
This time the emperor's voice was cold seemingly threatening the people who were listening to him.
"Answer?... well as my mages began to investigate it seemed like the mating season arrived too early for some species of beast"
Then he looked at Jonathan and said "You may check them if you want" he pointed to the pile of bodies behind and continued "You will see that all of them are preparing for mating"
Jonathan looks at the pile of corpses and nods his head "I'll make a study about this"
Amidst this chaotic scenario, the culprit calmly sips his tea. He wasn't a bit concerned if the leader of the mage association found anything inside the corpses.
"It'll be fine, the chemicals inside the powder have limited time and will disappear along the bloodstream so no one will find it off since hormones are already inside everyone's body, be it a beast or humans," he thought while munching a bread.
"Well although I wasn't able to cripple my brother I did harvest a lot, isn't that right Jeremiah?"
[Yes creator]
Name: Apollo Lionheart
Status: Satisfied
Position: Senior researcher mage
Rank: Apprentice
Level: 17
Strength: 58
Agility: 56
Dexterity: 55
Endurance: 58
Stamina: 58
Intelligence: 58
Mana: 58
Ki: 20
Mana regeneration: 5 per minute
Ki regeneration: 1 per minute
Vitality: 130
Skills/Abilities:
Spell synthesis(Rank A) {Passive}
Alchemic craft (Rank A) {Passive}
Weapon creation (Rank A) {Passive}
Machinery Engineer (Rank C) {Passive}
Light of Aegis (Rank C) {Passive}- Solidifies the surrounding mana every time the bearer gets attacked.
Lightning Call (Rank C) {Passive} - Increases any lightning-based spells or attacks.
Novice fighter (Rank A) {Passive} -Beginner skills in terms of hand-to-hand combat (next level Practitioner fighter Rank D)
Master Weaponist (Rank D) {Passive} - a combination of weapon arts crafted by Jeremiah
Mirror Tenfold (Rank B) {Active} - Return ten times the attacks of opponents it may be a spell or physical attack
Automatic Weaponry (Rank S) {Active}
Demonification (Rank ??) {Active}- Rank General is required to open this skill.
ADVANCED STATISTICS
[ ADVANCED STATISTICS
Prime Element:{None}
Bloodline: Blood of the Summoner
Blessings:{None}
Inheritance:{None}
Body Constitution:{Unawakened}
Current stat point: 1500