Too Late

"Hold your position!" Li Wuhan yelled at his group as he landed on his feet when thrown back ten feet. His hand was bloody upon the hilt of his qi sword as he stared up at the monster. He had done it this time. He mentally bereted himself for not listening to Hong Zhao when he said to stay within known parameters. 'No time to think of regrets now.' He thought as he activated vortex thrust and launched himself at the creature. As far as he could tell, it was what Hong Zhao had encountered before, a lion with wings, but this one was five times the size. He had gotten careless in his search for a worthy prey and stumbled upon the beast while it was eating. The green gleam of his eye had promised no escape.

He had spread his group out and had them form qi balls for a barrage. The creature just allowed it to happen. The qi explosions went off without pause, yet when the dust settled, there wasn't even a scratch. Even using qi swords felt like they were just hitting it with stones.

"Nothing is working!" Cheng Qigang said over the voice transmission pearl. They had tried what they could to retreat, yet it seemed that the lion was only playing with them. Li Wuhan felt a cold sweat when he thought of what it would mean when the beast got bored with them.

With that thought in mind, he renewed his efforts. Forming a qi ball, he threw it up to the creatures face. Before it could snap it out of the air, he aimed and fired a qi shot, forcing the ball to explode in the open maw of the beast. The explosion rocked the lion back on its hind legs. When it dropped back down, it's mouth streamed blood. He could see a few broken teeth when it snarled at them. "It's mouth is a soft spot!" He transmitted via pearl.

With that information, qi balls were launched in rapid succession with qi shots seconds later, sending the beast flailing to its back. Before they could attack again, it raised its massive wings and used the gusts of wind to knock the front team off balance. As it got to it's feet, it took advantage of the confusion and snapped up one of the disoriented men. Li Wuhan flinched as he heard the screams of the cultivator before a crunch of the massive teeth ended his torment. New blood ran down the maw of the beast, but they all knew who's it was. "Regroup!" Li Wuhan yelled into his pearl.

The remaining four men moved to his location and open fired on the beast. Some of the qi shots landed on the teeth of the beast, others tried for the eyes, but the beast shut them to protect itself. Taking advantage of the momentary blindness, Li Wuhan ran to the front and launched himself onto the beast's head, bringing his qi sword down on a soft spot within its eyelid. Blood spewed from the wound, but the lion shook him off and slammed him onto the forest floor. The wind was knocked from his lungs as he stared up at the lion. Black blotches rimmed his vision as the lion's maw made it's way to his head.

"No!" Li Wuhan heard a scream as everything went dark. He made one last attempt and brought his qi sword up under the jaw of the beast and slammed the blade down. More blood flowed from the mouth, but it wasn't enough to end the creature's life. Teeth came over Li Wuhan's head and everything went silent for the cultivator.

Hong Zhao watched in horror as Li Wei's brother's head was snatched up by the beast. He saw the movement of it's throat as his head disappeared into its stomach. The rest of his body was pinned under the lion's paw, a stump spurted blood where Li Wuhan's head once was.

Hong Zhao formed three qi balls and launched them towards the beast while simultaneously activating his devouring qi claws. Just as they exploded, rocking the beast back, he landed on its head and slammed the qi claws into its eyes over and over again. As the beast roared out in pain, Hong Zhao launched himself into the beast's mouth and ran his qi claws down its throat. The rest of group two saw the claws clearly going through the flesh of the beast. As he reached the stomach, he punched his claws through five times before crawling through a hole he made.

When he came out, he cradled the head of his fallen comrade in his arms. "You stupid idiot, I told you not to go past the perimeter I set." Covered in blood and entrails, he raised the head of Li Wuhan towards his comrades. "This is what happens when you don't listen! This is what happens when we don't work together as a team! Now I have to let his sister and father know that he will not be coming back alive with us." He looked back down at the body of Li Wuhan. "Someone gather the body. We will have a funeral tonight."

Hong Zhao placed the head near the remains of his friend. He took a look at the lion and a sneer went past his face. "Gather this beast's body too." He looked dully at the beast. He was short one alchemist, but eventually he might find another one. He looked past group two and locked eyes with Ren Cai. Even with his mask on, he knew she could sense his bloodlust. If it weren't for Zheng Guo, they wouldn't even be in the forest. If it weren't for Li Xiao, he might have been reincarnated into a world worthy of him. Now he had two men down, one had been like a brother to him.