Chapter 209: Two Beasts Against a Pack
The next morning came far too quickly.
The tension from the previous night had not faded in the slightest. If anything, it had worsened. The assassination attempt on Bahamut remained fresh in everyone’s mind, while the looming presence beneath the desert made sleep nearly impossible for most of Senkeht’s citizens.
And just as the sun began rising over the dunes, the alarm sounded.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A massive drum echoed through the town. Then another. And another. The walls of Senkeht immediately burst into activity.
"East approach!"
"Beast pack incoming!"
"Combat positions!"
Warriors rushed through the sandstone pathways while archers climbed the walls with practiced precision. Earth elementalists reinforced sections of the outer barriers while scouts shouted distance reports from elevated towers.
Forta stood atop the great wall in his flowing black robes, his sharp eyes fixed on the distant dunes. Something moved there, multiple somethings.
Rock Lions.
About twenty of them.
Gigantic mountain lion-like beasts with dark stone-colored fur and glowing markings spread across their bodies like molten cracks. Their muscles bulged beneath their hides with terrifying density while their claws tore trenches into the desert simply from walking. Each stood nearly six feet tall. At their center, a larger one walked calmly. Its glowing tattoos shone gold instead of orange, and unlike the others, fragments of rock floated around its body naturally.
Tier 2, Elemental Core Formation. It was the leader.
Forta narrowed his eyes.
"Strange."
This attack was weaker than expected. Too weak. After the previous events, he had prepared for something catastrophic, yet what arrived was merely a coordinated hunting pack. It would be dangerous for normal people, but manageable for Senkeht. His warriors could eliminate them within thirty minutes at most.
Still... something felt wrong. Very wrong. The lions halted several hundred meters away from the walls, growling. The lead lion slowly raised its head and roared.
ROOOOOOOOAR!!!
The sound rolled across the desert violently, causing sand to ripple outward. The warriors tightened their grips on their weapons. Forta raised his hand calmly.
"Archers prepare."
The bowstrings pulled taut instantly.
"Spear line ready."
Rows of spear users stepped forward in synchronization.
"Earth units..."
"I’m sorry, Lord Forta."
The voice interrupted him calmly. Forta turned immediately. So did every warrior nearby. Bahamut walked toward the edge of the wall wearing sleek black armor detailed with dark red lines that glowed faintly beneath the sunlight. The armor fit tightly against his body without restricting movement, while black-red gauntlets covered his forearms completely.
He looked less like a disciple now and more like a war weapon. Beside him walked Gabi. Unlike Bahamut, Gabi looked deeply uncomfortable. The green-haired lizard-kin wore dark green armor reinforced around the shoulders and chest, his tail twitching nervously behind him.
"I think your men should rest and prepare for a more intense battle," Bahamut continued calmly. "Leave these ones to us."
Forta stared at him silently. The warriors around them blinked.
Us?
Before Forta could even respond, Bahamut stepped onto the edge of the wall and jumped.
BOOOOOOM!
The wall shook violently beneath the force of his leap. Gasps erupted immediately as Bahamut shot downward like a meteor before landing directly in the desert below.
CRAAAASH!
Sand exploded upward around him. The Rock Lions immediately turned toward the lone figure standing before them. Gabi panicked.
"A-Ah! Lord Forta, I’m sorry!" He bowed so quickly it almost looked painful. "T-This idiot already jumped, so now I have to go too!"
BOOM!
He jumped down as well, not nearly as dramatically as Bahamut, but enough to leave Forta staring blankly at the spot they vanished from.
Several seconds passed before footsteps approached from behind. Forta turned again. Sel scratched the back of his head awkwardly with a wry smile on his face.
"He really went, huh..."
Beside him stood Lily in flowing white robes, Exildra with her usual composed elegance, Alana practically vibrating with excitement, and Ren sitting atop Sel’s head while chewing on dried meat lazily.
The bunny looked down at the battlefield below.
"This is why I say he’s mentally unstable."
"He looked excited," Exildra muttered.
"He was excited," Sel corrected tiredly.
Forta’s piercing gaze swept across all of them slowly. And for the first time since meeting these disciples... He genuinely began wondering whether the real danger in Senkeht was actually the beasts outside the walls or the monsters standing behind him.
...
The desert wind howled softly across the battlefield. Twenty Rock Lions stood before them, growling and snarling. Their glowing markings pulsed ominously while grains of sand floated around their paws from the sheer pressure radiating off their bodies, and facing them were only two figures.
Bahamut and Gabi.
The atmosphere felt wrong. The beasts could sense it instinctively. Predators recognized predators, and the two standing before them did not feel like prey. Not even slightly. Bahamut rolled his shoulders lightly.
The sound echoed disturbingly beneath the morning sun. Slowly, he reached up and untied the white blindfold covering his eyes. The cloth fluttered away into the desert wind. For a brief moment, his eyes remained their normal grey, then they changed. Golden light erupted from within them. His pupils sharpened vertically while faint, feather-like markings spread around the corners of his eyes.
Eagle eyes.
The world instantly transformed before him. Every movement became clearer. The rock lions’ muscles, their breathing patterns, and the slight twitch before movement. He saw all of it.
Beside him, Gabi exhaled nervously. Dark green scales spread further across his arms and neck while his claws slowly elongated. Then the poison appeared. A thick dark-green substance coated his claws slowly, dripping onto the sand beneath him.
SSSSSSS—
The sand hissed and hardened instantly upon contact. Even the lions hesitated after seeing that. The lead lion roared. The pack moved instantly. They moved extremely fast for beasts their size. The desert exploded beneath their paws as all twenty charged simultaneously. From the walls above, several warriors inhaled sharply. The sheer momentum of the charging beasts looked overwhelming.
But Bahamut smiled and vanished.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground where he stood exploded apart. The lead lion’s instincts screamed, but it was too late.
BAAAAM!
Bahamut’s fist crashed into the beast’s face with horrifying force. The sound alone resembled a boulder shattering. The lion’s skull visibly distorted from the impact before its entire body flew sideways like a rag doll, crashing through two other lions. The desert erupted into sand and blood.
Gabi moved next. Unlike Bahamut’s brutal explosiveness... Gabi was silent. He had learned this from his brutal training sessions with his master, Elder Baset. Unless it was really necessary, he wouldn’t give in to his other side.
A lion lunged at him with glowing claws. Gabi sidestepped smoothly and slashed.
SHIIING!
Dark green claw marks appeared across the beast’s chest. At first, nothing happened. Then the lion froze mid-motion. Its body twitched violently as dark petrification spread from the wound rapidly across its body. The beast tried roaring, but only a numb choking sound escaped.
CRACK!
Its entire body hardened into stone before collapsing apart into chunks. The remaining lions finally realized something horrifying. They were not fighting humans: they were fighting monsters. Bahamut caught another lion mid-pounce with a hand. The massive beast struggled violently while Bahamut stared at it calmly with glowing golden eyes.
He slammed it into the ground.
BOOOOOOOM!
The desert cratered beneath the impact. The lion coughed up blood instantly. Before it could recover, Bahamut stomped down, shattering its spine violently. Another attacked from behind. Bahamut turned without even looking. His eyes had already seen it.
He grabbed the beast by the jaw mid-lunge and tore it sideways. Blood exploded across the sand. Gasps erupted from the walls. Several warriors physically recoiled. The brutality was unreal.
Meanwhile, Gabi had become something terrifying in his own right. Every slash of his claws brought death. A lion barely grazing his poison-coated arms immediately lost movement in the affected limb. The numbness spread rapidly, then petrification followed.
One beast tried biting him. Gabi shoved his arm into its mouth deliberately. The lion’s eyes widened before its jaw fossilized instantly. The petrification spread upward through its skull.
CRACK!
Its head exploded into stone fragments. The battlefield descended into complete carnage. Bodies littered the sand, blood mixed with shattered stone. Roars became screams. The Rock Lions, once terrifying predators, were now desperately trying to survive, but there was no escape.
The lead lion finally recovered. Blood poured from its mouth while rage burned in its glowing eyes. It roared furiously and activated its element.
BOOOOOOM!
Massive stone pillars erupted from beneath Bahamut and Gabi simultaneously. The desert itself trembled. A real Tier 2 attack.
But Bahamut simply looked upward calmly, his golden eyes glowing. His legs bent slightly.
BOOOOM!
He launched upward through the stone pillars themselves, shattering them apart with raw physical strength. Dust exploded everywhere. The lead lion barely had time to react before Bahamut appeared directly above it.
"Too slow."
His hand grabbed the beast’s skull: he dragged it across the desert. The ground tore apart behind them in a massive trench as the lion screamed helplessly. Bahamut finally stopped, lifted the beast, and punched downward.
CRAAAAACK!!!
The lead lion’s body folded unnaturally before slamming into the earth hard enough to create a crater.
Silence followed. The beast twitched weakly and stopped moving. The battlefield became still. Only seven minutes had passed, but twenty Rock Lions had been destroyed completely. Bahamut stood amidst the carnage, breathing calmly while blood dripped from his gauntlets. Beside him, Gabi stared blankly at his own claws. Even he looked disturbed by how overwhelming they had been.
Far above them on the walls, nobody spoke. Not Forta, not the warriors, not even the archers, because what they had just witnessed was not a battle. It was a slaughter.
...
"I knew it! I knew he would take the bait! HAHAHAHA!"
