Lord Of Beasts

While Ethan was trying to heal Wolfy, his other beasts hadn’t sat idle.

They couldn’t.

Instead, they attacked more aggressively to provide cover.

Talon attacked from above, primarily using Skyshatter Cry to keep its distance, but the Leviathan returned its attack in turn before Ethan could react in time and save his C Rank Beast.

The sound itself seemed to shake the ocean.

A massive shockwave erupted outward, slamming into Talon midair and sending the Griffling downward in a broken spiral.

Ethan immediately recalled him.

”Back!”

Storm was next.

As it continued zapping away at the Leviathan, it unleashed a giant wave of water with a flick of its tail, one that consumed the Lightning Dragonfly entirely.

It was the worst possible attack for such a beast.

Storm vanished beneath the ocean.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

”Storm!”

While aquatic as infants, dragonflies cannot swim in the slightest once they sprout their wings. Storm was the same, and Ethan could only watch as it struggled under the water and electricity crackled along its surface.

He immediately recalled it as well.

His expression hardened as he unsummoned his Fenrir too.

He had tended to its wounds slightly, but he didn’t have the MP to waste, nor would it matter against the Leviathan. One by one, his beasts disappeared, leaving Ethan alone against this insane beast.

The Leviathan stared at him with its giant green eyes and almost seemed amused. It had frightening intelligence, regarding him as nothing more than an insect.

For a moment, there was silence.

Ethan breathed heavily as he looked at the enormous creature.

He had fought powerful beasts before and had survived battles where almost anyone else in his position would have perished. He had repeatedly pushed himself past what should have been his limits.

But this was different.

He simply couldn’t harm it.

’Everything can be killed... except this thing!’

He and his beasts had thrown everything they had at it, and it had dismantled their combination of attacks with ease. Even Minor Impact, with more energy channelled into it than it was designed to handle, wasn’t enough.

His right arm was scorched, and his muscles were torn from the attack, yet it had no effect.

If Ethan continued fighting, he and his beasts were going to get seriously injured.

Or maybe worse...

’Damn it.’

Ethan clenched his fists.

Getting away from it didn’t seem like it was going to be easy either.

He looked at the Leviathan, then at the endless ocean surrounding them. For perhaps the first time since entering the Tower, he genuinely wanted to leave in the middle of a fight.

Usually, danger was exactly why he stayed.

This time, however, every instinct was screaming at him to get out.

’I just can’t see a way to beat it.’

Ethan tried to exit the tower, but he was unable to.

He couldn’t leave while actively engaged in combat or while in proximity to a hostile beast. The Tower wouldn’t allow him to simply disappear while the Leviathan was still nearby.

And this Leviathan wasn’t exactly giving him the opportunity to casually walk away.

”Of course.”

Ethan laughed bitterly.

”Of fucking course.”

The Leviathan attacked.

Ethan moved.

He didn’t try to counter or continue their confrontation.

He simply ran, or well, flew.

Flames erupted around his body as he poured mana into Flare Drive. His body shot across the ocean, leaving a trail of fire behind him as he pushed himself to move faster.

Behind him, the Leviathan followed.

Water exploded upward with every movement, enormous waves rising and crashing across the ocean as the giant serpentine creature pursued him.

Ethan looked over his shoulder.

The creature was chasing with incredible speed.

Its speed stat didn’t do the beast justice, as it propelled itself through the water like a torpedo.

”Come on!”

He pushed more mana into his flames.

His speed increased, barely staying out of reach of the pursuing beast.

The Leviathan opened its mouth.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

A massive blast of compressed water erupted toward him.

He twisted sideways.

The attack passed beside him, but the pressure alone nearly threw him from the air.

Ethan gritted his teeth and forced himself to stabilise.

’Keep moving.’

His flames burned brighter, but his mana dropped rapidly.

He didn’t care.

Ethan poured everything he could into movement, forcing his body forward even as the strain began to tear through his muscles and burn away at his flesh.

He crossed another stretch of open water.

Then another.

The Leviathan continued following.

Ethan’s lungs burned, and his entire body felt like it was being torn apart by the strain of maintaining his speed, but he refused to slow down.

He couldn’t.

Not until he was far enough away from that beast to exit the Tower.

Eventually, the distance between them began to increase.

The Leviathan slowed.

But rather than that it hadn’t been able to keep up, it was almost as though it had lost interest. Ethan didn’t take any chances and kept flying until the massive beast was nothing more than a distant shape on the horizon.

Only then did he finally land.

The moment his feet touched a rocky island, his knees immediately buckled.

Ethan collapsed and rolled onto his back, staring at the sky as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

”Fuck...”

He covered his face with one hand.

’That was close.’

Far too close.

He had nearly died, and what made it worse was that he hadn’t even managed to damage the thing.

Ethan slowly sat up and looked toward the distant ocean.

The Leviathan was gone.

For now.

His beasts remained safe inside their respective spaces, though their injuries still worried him. Though it wasn’t something his durable beasts couldn’t endure, and that Beast Mend couldn’t fix.

They also naturally recovered over time even while not summoned.

Ethan sighed.

He had entered the floor expecting to hunt.

Instead, he had spent hours finding almost nothing before stumbling directly into an A Rank Boss Beast. The enormous beast would give him a shit ton of Evolutionary Shards and would be an incredible beast to potentially acquire.

’What would I transform into if-’

Ethan immediately stopped that train of thought.

”No.”

He shook his head.

”Not yet.”

He had to be realistic.

The Leviathan was too powerful.

At least for now.

Ethan looked at his hands.

The flames around them had disappeared, and his mana was almost completely drained.

’I should probably give it more time before I try that again.’

For perhaps the first time since entering the Tower, Ethan wasn’t thinking about how quickly he could return to a fight. Instead, he was thinking about what he needed to become strong enough to survive one.

The Tower wasn’t simply getting harder, but was showing him just how far he still had to go.

’I’m not even halfway through these damned floors.’

Ethan stood slowly.

He looked toward the endless ocean one last time.

Somewhere beneath those waters, the Leviathan was still out there waiting for him to face it again.

Ethan smiled despite himself.

”Enjoy it while you can.”

He turned away.

”I’ll be back.”

For now, however, he had learned enough and, most importantly, had survived alongside his beasts.

Sometimes, that was the only victory that mattered.

”Fuck this floor.”

Ethan exhaled as he looked back toward the ocean one final time.

The Leviathan could wait.

Ethan wasn’t finished with it.

He simply needed to become strong enough that next time, he wouldn’t have to run...