Lord Of Beasts

The Hydrochloric Hydra suddenly moved.

One of its three heads lunged forward, its throat bulged, and then...

Sssshhhhhhh!

A torrent of acid blasted towards him.

Ethan sighed.

’I understand this is the Acidic Swampland and whatever, but this is starting to get old.’

Still, watching it through Storm’s eyes was incredible.

He could subconsciously predict its attack, watching the muscles contract before it happened and witness the electrical impulses firing through the hydra’s body. Its movements unfolded almost frame by frame.

The attack almost felt... slow.

’Thunder Dash.’

Lightning exploded from his body.

Boom!

Ethan vanished.

Rather than simply running, he became a streak of blue lightning, instantly propelling himself dozens of metres to the side. Crackling electricity lingered behind him, tracing the exact route he’d travelled before gradually fading away.

The acid struck nothing but swamp.

Hisssss!

The ground dissolved instantly as Ethan skidded to a stop, electricity still dancing around his body. His muscles tingled, and a faint numbness spread through his legs.

’So that’s the strain.’

For that kind of acceleration, a burst of mana and some muscular fatigue were absolutely worth it.

A grin spread across his face.

Now that he’d finally adjusted to Storm’s transformation, he could let loose. His compound eyes locked onto all three heads of the Hydrochloric Hydra simultaneously as blue lightning crackled violently around his body.

”Alright, let’s see what else you can do.”

And with another explosive burst of electricity, Ethan charged straight at the three-headed serpent...

-

Meanwhile, Ethan’s summoned beasts were doing exactly what he’d ordered.

They were having the time of their lives.

He wasn’t worried about them in the slightest, least of all Wolfy.

The acidic swamp that would’ve terrified most creatures, and had made Ethan hesitate to summon it in this place previously, barely slowed the Fenrir down.

Wolfy’s dense, midnight-black fur naturally repelled much of the corrosive liquid. At the same time, its monstrous physique and absurd durability allowed it to simply charge straight through pools of acid that would’ve dissolved lesser beasts.

The giant beast didn’t bother avoiding the terrain.

It embraced it.

”Awooooo!”

Its howl echoed across the swamp before the beast launched itself into a pack of swamp-dwelling monsters.

Predator’s Frenzy.

Energy and aggression surged through its muscular body. Its already frightening speed increased even further, every successful strike making the Fenrir stronger and faster than the last.

Claws flashed, and blood sprayed.

The first beast barely had time to react before Wolfy ripped through it and immediately pounced toward another.

There wasn’t a wasted movement.

Only relentless violence.

Cross Slash!

Both forelegs swept forward simultaneously.

Twin arcs of condensed force exploded from its claws, crossing together into an enormous X-shaped slash that tore through several approaching beasts at once.

Bodies split apart, and acidic water erupted skyward.

Before the remains even hit the swamp, Wolfy was already somewhere else.

A crocodilian beast lunged from beneath the bubbling water, but it was too slow.

The Fenrir twisted its neck.

Crescent Fang!

Its jaws glowed with concentrated energy before snapping shut.

A crescent-shaped blade of force erupted outward, carving straight through the creature before continuing into the monsters behind it.

Wolfy barely slowed.

It simply kept moving, hunting, and killing.

And then...

It reminded every beast present exactly why it carried the bloodline of a Fenrir using Sovereign Howl.

AWOOOOOO!

The deafening roar swept across the battlefield like an invisible tidal wave, and unlike the last, it shook the nearby beasts to their core. Some staggered backwards, while others whimpered.

Their movements slowed as primal fear took hold, while Wolfy’s own aura swelled even further, making the giant Fenrir appear almost king-like amidst the carnage.

Compared to the other summoned beasts, it was obvious.

Wolfy was Ethan’s strongest, not only because it was higher rank, but because of its sheer ferocity and unyielding loyalty.

That wasn’t to say his others were weak either.

High above the battlefield, Talon was trying its best not to be outdone. The proud Griffling darted through the toxic skies with astonishing precision. Its emerald feathers almost disappeared against the murky backdrop as it accelerated.

Gale Rend!

Each high-speed pass became a blade.

The wind itself sharpened around its wings and claws, allowing Talon to slice straight through its prey before they even realised it had arrived.

Each dive almost always equalled a kill.

Its movements were so clean they almost looked rehearsed.

Then Talon opened its beak.

”Skreeeee!”

The concentrated sonic shriek exploded across the swamp, and the air visibly distorted as it used Skyshatter Cry. Several beasts lost their balance completely as the invisible sound wave battered their internal organs.

They crashed into the acidic waters below before Talon calmly finished them off one by one.

Meanwhile, Spark had become a streak of living fire.

The tiny Cinder Wisp zigzagged between the beasts with unbelievable agility, using Flare Drive. Each burst of flame launched it across the battlefield like a miniature comet, and wherever it passed, fire followed.

Tiny embers latched onto every creature they touched.

At first, they almost seemed to fizzle out, but they continued to intensify and spread amongst the beasts as it unleashed more and more flames. Soon, entire groups were burning simultaneously as the volatile sparks expanded and refused to extinguish.

Even in an environment almost entirely covered in acid and moisture, Spark somehow managed to turn parts of the swamp into an inferno.

The battlefield had descended into absolute chaos.

Lightning, Fire, Wind, Claws, Howls, Fangs - it was complete carnage.

Even despite being the least suited beast for an acidic swamp, Wolfy still dominated the battlefield while its aerial brethren supported and fought around it.

Notification after notification flooded Ethan’s vision.

{Beast Eliminated!}

{Beast Eliminated!}

{Beast Eliminated!}

They rolled by so quickly he could barely keep track of them.

His beasts were harvesting all the Evolutionary Shards possible, and seeing them in action with his enhanced vision was incredible. He could see everything in his surroundings, although he couldn’t focus on it all simultaneously without straining his mind.

Still, Ethan knew this wasn’t sustainable.

Maintaining three summoned beasts while experimenting with Storm’s assimilation continuously drained both mana and concentration.

He couldn’t keep fighting like this long.

Fortunately...

He didn’t need to.

And it would all be over once he dealt with the Boss Beast directly in front of him...

-

Ethan had been exploring his newfound abilities and didn’t rush the fight.

Instead, he focused on moving, adapting, and learning.

Every Partial Assimilation felt different, and Storm’s was unlike anything he’d experienced before.

Talon was graceful, flowing effortlessly through the air. Spark was explosive, relying on bursts of acceleration. Wolfy sat somewhere in between, balancing overwhelming power with sharp instincts.

Storm, on the other hand, was precise.

Every movement, though incredibly fast, felt calculated and controlled.

Dragonflies possessed four wings that operated independently, allowing them to change direction almost instantly without losing speed. And even though Ethan didn’t have wings while partially assimilated, the instinct remained.

His body naturally shifted its balance, and his feet barely seemed to touch the swamp.

One moment he was moving left.

The next he was already somewhere else.

There was no wasted motion or gradual turning, just instantaneous changes in direction that looked almost impossible to anyone watching. Combined with his compound eyes, it was surreal.

Every movement around him seemed to unfold in painstaking detail.

The battlefield felt predictable.

And if something somehow slipped through because of a loss of concentration or because of its overwhelming speed, he still had Thunder Dash. The Hydrochloric Hydra gave him no shortage of opportunities to test that.

The enormous three-headed serpent hissed furiously, its massive body slithering through the acidic swamp as all three heads attacked simultaneously.

Each head was slightly different.

One was a sickly green, another carried an almost yellow hue, and the third was dark grey, its scales covered in strange, corroded markings.

Each specialised in a different attack.

The green head spat concentrated streams of liquid acid. The yellow one exhaled a poisonous acidic mist that spread across the battlefield. And the grey head compressed corrosive sludge into high-speed projectiles that blasted through trees like cannonballs.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the jaws.

Each mouth was lined with enormous serrated fangs capable of biting Ethan in half.

It was undeniably a powerful B Rank Beast, a giant one at that.

Yet, Ethan didn’t feel outmatched.

If anything, it almost felt like it was the other way around.

Assimilated with one of his own B Rank Beasts, his stats had risen to an absurd level. Among B Ranks, he’d be considered powerful, and he was much closer to an A Rank than he cared to admit.

’And yet the system still considers me a C Rank.’

Ethan laughed lightly.

He couldn’t exactly pause the battle to review his stats while assimilated, or those of his beasts. But he was sure they would be impressive, at least compared to his stats when he had first received his Title.

And even more impressive than that were his new skills, one of which he had been using without even realising...