Lord Of Beasts

“You wanted my living monsters, right?”

Elias laughed as he reached toward a control panel embedded in the wall.

“Well, let’s see how you deal with all of them.”

Kaela smiled and casually watched as he pressed his hand against the panel.

The entire facility suddenly came alive.

Metal doors began opening throughout the underground complex as one containment chamber after another unlocked. Heavy bolts retracted, security barriers lifted, and from somewhere deep beneath the laboratory came a chorus of snarls, roars, and guttural screams.

Kaela stared at the opening containment chamber.

“I guess that is what I wanted.”

Elias laughed.

“Why fight you when I can release everything I’ve been keeping here?”

The doors exploded open.

Monsters poured into the facility.

Goblins came first, dozens of them spilling through the corridors with crude weapons in their hands. Behind them came larger creatures – orc-like monsters with enormous bodies and crude axes, followed by hulking ogres whose footsteps shook the floor.

There were monsters with claws, creatures covered in scales, and several strange specimens Kaela had never seen before.

Elias had been collecting, studying, and experimenting on them.

And now, he was releasing every single one.

The laboratory quickly became a battlefield as the monsters flooded the corridors and surrounding rooms.

Elias looked at Kaela from across the growing horde.

“All I need is to stay alive, and I’ll continue my research in the pursuit of human evolution!”

His voice echoed through the facility.

Kaela stared at him.

It was clear what he was trying to do.

He wasn’t trying to win.

He had already realised he couldn’t.

Even after injecting himself with the serum and transforming into a powerful monster, Elias could see that he was no match for the Riot Valkyrie. That had been without Kaela even using everything she had.

It was evident.

Every exchange had taught him the same lesson.

There was simply too large a gap between them, and no amount of adaptation was going to close it quickly enough.

His only chance was escape.

He smiled.

“Thank you, Riot Valkyrie.”

Kaela raised an eyebrow.

“For what?”

“For giving me the courage to do this.”

Elias gestured toward his transformed body.

“If you hadn’t attacked this place, I might never have used the serum on myself.”

His smile became almost sincere.

“You’ve given me something invaluable.”

Kaela stared at him for a moment before shrugging.

“No worries.”

She looked around at the approaching monsters before glancing back toward Elias.

“You’ve left me with what I came here for. So I’d call that an even trade.”

Elias laughed.

“Then farewell.”

With no ceremony, he turned and ran in his mutated form.

Kaela didn’t pursue him.

Not because she couldn’t catch him, but because there was little point in doing so. She was already surrounded by dozens of monsters, and Elias had given her exactly what she had come to retrieve.

Besides, the facility was beginning to collapse around them after her rampage. The ceiling shook as dust fell from above, while metal groaned and strained under the damage.

Kaela watched Elias disappear into the distance.

Then she sighed.

“Whatever.”

A goblin suddenly lunged at her.

Kaela caught it by the face.

She looked at it for a moment before glancing toward the collapsing laboratory.

“Alright.”

She smiled.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Kaela hurled the goblin across the room.

CRASH!

It slammed into three other monsters, sending them tumbling across the floor.

Kaela stepped forward as another creature swung a massive club toward her head. She ducked before the attack even began, her foresight already showing her the movement before the weapon came down.

The club passed harmlessly over her head.

Kaela drove her elbow into the creature’s stomach.

THUD!

The orc-like monster doubled over.

Kaela grabbed it by the back of the neck and hurled it into a wall, sending the creature crashing through the metal.

Another monster attacked from behind.

Kaela turned before it even reached her, smashing its disproportionately large green head like a watermelon.

CRACK!

The headless monster spun through the air and crashed into a pile of equipment.

“Oops.”

Kaela waved the green gunk off her and continued moving. Her foresight allowed her to see the battlefield differently, all while trying not to kill the monsters that were definitely trying to kill her.

A goblin to her left raised a spear.

Kaela stepped aside.

An ogre swung a club.

She ducked beneath it.

A clawed creature lunged from her blind spot, but Kaela turned and caught it by the wrist before it could reach her.

Every movement flowed into the next.

Kaela kicked the creature into another monster before catching an incoming axe between her hands.

She twisted her grip, snapping the weapon in two.

The orc holding it stared at her in confusion.

Kaela punched it in the chest.

BOOM!

The monster flew backwards.

‘Don’t kill them,’ she reminded herself, but she was finding that it was much more difficult than she had expected.

Though she quickly got the hang of it.

Every strike was powerful enough to incapacitate them, but carefully controlled enough to leave the creatures barely alive.

An ogre charged toward her.

Kaela sidestepped and struck its knee.

The enormous creature stumbled, giving Kaela the opening she needed. She grabbed its arm and used its own momentum against it, throwing the ogre over her shoulder and sending it crashing onto its back.

Another monster charged immediately afterwards.

Kaela smiled.

“You’re going to have to do better than that.”

She jumped and slammed her foot into its chest.

The monster was launched across the room and landed heavily against the floor, but its chest still rose and fell.

‘Phew. It’s still alive.’

Kaela continued.

The more monsters attacked, the more she moved.

Goblins were thrown into walls, orcs were knocked unconscious, ogres were smashed into the ground, and larger creatures were left with mangled limbs.

Kaela moved through them like a storm.

Her foresight made fighting dozens of enemies at once almost effortless. She knew where the attacks were coming from, which monster would move next, and where she needed to step before the attacks even began.

Every time the monsters thought they had surrounded her, Kaela was already moving toward the opening she had seen seconds before.

One particularly massive creature raised both fists.

Kaela saw the attack before the monster even completed the motion.

She stepped between its arms and drove her fist upward.

BOOM!

The creature’s head snapped backwards, and its enormous body collapsed.

Kaela caught it before it hit the ground.

“Easy.”

She lowered it carefully.

“Can’t have you dying on me.”

The facility shook again.

This time, part of the ceiling collapsed.

Kaela glanced upward.

“Okay. Time to move.”