The Shapeshifter - Chapter 20 Raging Tempest 3

Arthur’s blood was boiling in excitement as he rushed towards the nearest beast.

It was a black wolf. He wouldn’t have been able to see it if it didn’t come out of its hiding place.

Arthur formed a lance in his right arm as he ran. Just when he was about in range, the black wolf that was observing him, leaped forward with its gaping maw.

He simply snorted and pierced through the whole body of the wolf through its mouth. He could kill any of these normal beasts easily, but if there were any fierce beast then he would probably make a run for it.

The death of the wolf stirred the fear in the beasts eyes. However, it also pushed them to work together and kill the human en masse.

Arthur shook his arms to let the body of the wolf fall off. He watched as the beasts draw near. He had to be vigilant, he cannot be careless in this fight even though they are only normal beasts.

‘The first thing to do in a fight against a mob, is to don’t get yourself surrounded.’ He muttered under his breath as his eyes continually observes everything.

During his second year in the academy their class participated on a trip to a forest to the west of the city Azta.

It was the forest often used by some academies as it was in between the city of Azta and Ember. Which made the beasts in it much weaker.

During the trip, Arthur would often find himself surrounded by a bunch of beasts. His teacher pitied him and gave him an obvious advice.

‘To attack the weakest point and not get caught up in a fight.’

He first attacked a lynx. Although it looked fast and strong, it seemed to be distracted; like it was afraid of him. So he quickly took the opportunity and summoned an earth spike and pierced a hole in its belly.

The other beasts stopped and hesitated to attack, yet they bared their fangs at Arthur, showing him that they would retaliate once he made a move on them. The smaller beasts, like the red-eyed rabbits scampered away from its death. While the stronger one’s continued their way towards him.

It was good news for him, since fighting against smaller numbers was much easier. Although some beasts stopped and did not attack him, he would still kill them later on.

Killing them is equivalent to saving a life, so he would not miss this opportunity to slaughter them. Not to mention that Alex’s current location was unknown.

He looked at the beasts before him. There were three hyenas and a bear. His eyes trembled with fear. This big brown bear would already be on par with weaker fierce beasts, even though it wasn’t one yet.

While the three hyenas were what he feared the most. They are almost impeccable with their teamwork; their speed wasn’t something to scoff at either. The good thing was, there were only three of them.

The first one to arrive was the big bear, it ran towards him on four limbs and it wanted crush Arthur with its huge body.

When Arthur saw this, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; this bear was just too dumb!

[Earth Spike!]

He simply waved his hand and timed it when the bear was nearing him. Bears run fast, but they aren’t agile enough to evade an attack below them.

Just like that, he killed the ‘almighty’ bear. Indeed, with its body it was on par with fierce beasts, however its intelligence lagged behind.

Now Arthur turned his attention to the three hyenas.

They were cautiously moving towards him, trying to encircle him slowly. They are communicating with each other, as if they were laughing at their prey; mocking them.

It would’ve been terrifying for other people if they got surrounded by laughing hyenas in this rain-filled forest.

Arthur’s mind was calm, his mind was still filled with hatred and excitement. His excitement came from learning a spell along with the domain. It was Conjuration! It came naturally to him when he made the gauntlets and the lance.

It was a high tiered spell that only an Archmage and above can make. It would be very hard for mages and even high mages to bend magic according to their will. That’s why they needed incantations to form most spells.

Arthur crouched on the muddy ground and placed his palm on top of it. He closed his eyes and willed for something strong, something sharp. Unlike the lance, he wanted to use something like a … sword!

He opened his eyes and made a grasping motion from the ground and a Stone Sword appeared! It was unlike the earthy, grainy gauntlet or lance. It was made of Stone!

It was like the heavens shined upon him and the hyena’s leap was timed when he opened his eyes. He forcefully swung the stone sword upward and cleaved the hyena into two!

The other hyena that was already on his side, was on the same predicament as he brought down the stone sword. The hyena tried to stop its momentum and evade but was unable to, as the sword chopped its neck off of its body.

The hyena that should’ve been the last to attack, turned tail and ran. Arthur saw this and extended his arm and opened his palm as if he was stopping someone. Then a wall of earth blocked the path of the hyena.

He ran towards it and simply stabbed its head. It didn’t even put up a fight.

“It’s your turn!” He made a creepy smile at the beasts that haven’t fled yet.

Arthur ran madly, afraid that the beasts would quickly flee from him.

What the beasts saw was a crazed man coming towards them. It sent a shiver down their spines and they quickly scattered.

“F*ck! Don’t you run away from me!”

Beasts are physically superior than human. So he wasn’t able to catch up and kill any other beast.

He stopped and panted heavily. He regretted that he wasn’t fast enough, that he wasn’t strong enough and wasn’t able to kill more beast.

Tears kept falling down his face, he was really spent; exhausted and was mentally tired. He heard the shrieks and cries of beasts being slaughtered and he cared less of it. The noise from the rain and cries of the beasts turned faint in his ears. His eyes turned blurry from tears and his was soon engulfed in darkness.

He soon lost his consciousness.

A sigh sounded in the bloodied forest and the old man came out behind the trees.

“Haaaaa. I was a bit late, but I still made it. Hehe. Hmmmm? Where’s the other boy?” The old man looked around and only found Arthur lying on the ground.

“That damned Chimera! I would’ve arrived much earlier! Now, it’s not safe here. Better get going.” He shook his blood-stained hand as he carried Arthur on his shoulder and ran away.

“Roar!”

“Roar!”

A deafening roar, echoed from the inner part of the forest, followed by another roar that was only a bit ‘gentler’ than it.

The old man shivered and ran as fast as he could towards the direction of the village.