Lord Of Beasts

The destruction Elara and Dave caused was immense.

Massive sections of the hornet’s nest had been obliterated, leaving behind a fractured, collapsing structure that bled swarms of enraged black wasps into the air. Entire chunks broke off and drifted downward into the endless void, trailing burning debris and shattered bodies.

The buzzing intensified.

Dozens.

Then hundreds.

A dark cloud poured out from the remains of the nest, blotting out the sky as the creatures swarmed outward in a frenzy.

Ethan stared at the chaos, a grin tugging at his lips despite the situation.

”Yeah... we definitely pissed them off.”

Now it was his turn to act, with a single ulterior motive in mind.

His eyes flicked upward toward Talon, who hovered above him, wings beating slowly yet powerfully as if the air itself bent to its will.

”You ready, buddy?”

The Griffling tilted its head slightly, then gave a subtle nod.

That was all the confirmation Ethan needed.

He bent his knees, sparks flickering around him, before jumping upwards.

In the next instant, Talon dove.

Its claws wrapped carefully around Ethan’s shoulders, gripping just tightly enough to hold him without piercing his skin. Ethan instinctively dampened the flames flickering around his body, ensuring he did not scorch his own summon.

Then they shot upward.

The acceleration was brutal.

Wind slammed into Ethan’s face, stealing his breath as the world blurred beneath him. Floating islands shrank rapidly, the swarm of wasps becoming a shifting mass of black dots as they ascended higher and higher.

Then Talon changed direction.

It folded its wings slightly before plunging downward.

Fast.

Faster.

Then even faster.

The air screamed around them as they cut through it like a blade, the pressure building with every passing second.

Ethan laughed.

He could not help it.

It felt like a rollercoaster, one with no safety harness and a very real chance of death at the end, yet he felt alive in a way that nothing else could replicate.

”Alright... let’s do this!”

And that’s when Talon suddenly let go.

Ethan was flung forward, his body sent hurtling toward the shattered nest as gravity seized him.

From below, the others watched in disbelief.

”It just... threw him?” Darius muttered, staring upward.

”That idiot...” Liora whispered, though there was a hint of awe in her voice.

He was falling while surrounded by a swarm of hostile B Rank creatures.

And yet...

Ethan was smiling.

Swoosh!

A massive black wasp shot toward him, its stinger gleaming with lethal intent. The air around it distorted slightly from the sheer speed of its movement.

It was a B Rank Beast.

And yet, despite being mid-air, Ethan did not panic.

’Flare Drive!’

Flames erupted from his body in a concentrated burst, propelling him sideways with explosive force. The sudden change in direction caused the wasp to miss him by inches, its stinger slicing through empty air where his chest had been a moment before.

He twisted mid-fall, stabilising himself just enough to face the nest.

’Flare Drive!’

’Flare Drive!

Talon had flung Ethan past most of the black wasps, as intended, but there were still more emerging. As such, the flaming man used his Cinder Wisp’s second skill to move around through the air.

It wasn’t sustainable, but he just needed to get a little closer.

And that was exactly what he managed to do.

’I can see it!’

Ethan grinned, his eyes scanning the shattered interior of the nest that was filled with Larvae, egg clusters, and unhatched young packed densely within the ruined structure.

’I’m gonna burn them all.’

There was no time or reason to hesitate; they were all just violent beasts.

He stretched both hands forward, his energy surging as he prepared to activate his Spark’s first skill. And despite only being D Rank, its variable mana output made it the perfect skill for this.

”Ember Pulse!”

A torrent of flames exploded outward from his arms as he unleashed over half of the mana he had all at once. It wasn’t ordinary fire either, but volatile, clinging sparks that spread like a living entity. They latched onto everything they touched, igniting even materials that should not have burned.

The nest caught instantly.

Fire spread through its interior, racing across the larvae and eggs with terrifying speed. The creatures writhed, shrivelling as the flames consumed them before they could even react.

From a distance, it looked like the nest itself had become a blazing inferno suspended in the sky.

The others could only stare.

”That’s not normal,” Rowan said quietly.

”No, it’s not,” Liora agreed.

They had already seen him summon beasts, transform, recover rapidly, and now pyrokinesis that rivalled that of a fire-specialised Titled. That kind of attack was like the ultimate skill of a B Rank, and he had just casually unleashed it as a C Rank.

It was baffling, to say the least.

But they couldn’t exactly question the flaming man who was falling from the sky after that attack.

’That was a shit ton of mana, but boy was it worth it,’ Ethan thought to himself, watching the fire spread.

The notifications began rolling in.

{Beast Eliminated!}

{Beast Eliminated!}

{Beast Eliminated!}

It felt endless, and nothing was more satisfying.

”It’s working!”

He could practically feel the rewards piling up, each kill feeding into his growth, each eliminated creature pushing him further ahead.

The plan had worked perfectly.

Elara and Dave had shattered the nest, and he had burned what remained, crippling an entire beast base in moments.

But then reality set back in.

He was still falling, about to sink into the void that stretched endlessly beneath him, a dark abyss that promised certain death if he reached it.

And worse...

The swarm was still there.

Dozens of black wasps turned toward him, their attention drawn by the destruction he had caused. Their wings buzzed violently as they converged, forming a deadly storm around his descending figure.

”Yeah... that’s a problem.”

Above, Talon circled, ready to dive again and retrieve him, but as fast as the Griffling was, it was still only a C Rank. Below, Wolfy leapt between floating islands, its red eyes locked onto Ethan’s falling form.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, a new presence emerged, making quite an entrance.

Not that it fazed Ethan when it did.

He glanced upward at the approaching swarm, downward at the endless void, and ahead at the burning nest.

Then he laughed.

Because despite falling, being outnumbered, surrounded by beasts, and directly in the path of a hostile A Rank, things were going exactly as he had hoped...