Chapter 38: Devour
’Bring it on!’ Zephyr snarled, hunching his back slightly to brace for the incoming beast.
’What could it be? A Quillclawed? A Grimfang? No, they’re not as fast as this.’ His mind was already moving at hyper speeds, his memory enhancement coming in clutch as he shuffled through every bit of knowledge he could remember from the magic theory classes about the various beasts in this rift—their size, habits, traits.
SKREAAA!!!
The creature crashed into the small clearing with speed, shattering a few trees along the way. Only then was its momentum halted.
Zephyr caught a glimpse of it as it skidded past him before crashing some ways away, and his body instantly went cold, all previous bravado totally gone.
That was an Alpha Skarnid. Equivalent to a four-node awakened at tier three. It was on a whole different level compared to him.
The beast’s gaze shifted away from somewhere in the darkness before locking directly onto Zephyr.
He had reacted immediately he identified his foe, fleeing into the forest madly, putting all his effort into widening the gap between him and the Skarnid.
A flicker of something crossed the Alpha Skarnid’s eyes before it stood up slowly, its differentiating black carapace blending into the backdrop of the forest. Unlike regular Skarnids, a single look at this creature and you’d know it was built to kill. It towered at nearly seven feet, with long bladed arms that hung nearly to the ground. There was a constant pulse of magical energy around its body, the hardening spell seemingly active on every single part of its body. It was in a whole other league.
The Alpha Skarnid kept its gaze on Zephyr all the way, its gaze cutting deep into the darkness clearly. It tilted its head in curious contemplation as it watched him eat up ground like a beast before flashing forward.
’Run! Run Zephyr! Just keep fucking running!’ Zephyr hastened himself, pushing the limits of his body. ’To hell with that bloody examiner! Is this even allowed?!’ he cursed.