Lord Of Beasts

’VARIABLE BEAST IMPACT!!!’

Ethan exploded forward like a flaming missile, hurtling across the endless ocean with enough force to distort the air around him. White-hot flames engulfed his body, leaving a brilliant trail of incandescent fire that stretched across the sky like a second sunrise.

Beneath him, the ocean began to steam.

The water hissed and bubbled as the sheer heat radiating from his body scorched everything in his path, sending clouds of vapour billowing into the air.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to turn white.

His body had become little more than a vessel for the tremendous power he had unleashed, forcing mana out of his overloaded core and converting it into raw destructive force.

And the pain...

It was indescribable.

Ethan had endured more pain than most people could imagine. He had been beaten, stabbed, and literally eaten alive. Even his previous battle against the Leviathan had left him with memories he would rather forget.

But this was different.

His entire body felt as though it were being ripped apart from the inside. His muscles screamed beneath the unbearable heat, while his mana core threatened to collapse under the strain. His arms trembled violently as he concentrated everything he had into the attack.

Yet he refused to stop.

This was one of the most powerful attacks he had ever unleashed, perhaps the most powerful of all. Even the attack that had defeated the monster inside Mark’s mind paled in comparison, and that had been enough to eliminate the A Rank.

The difference was simple.

Back then, he had used it as a last resort with what energy he had left.

This time, he had started at full force.

Ethan had activated Inferno Core and immediately poured everything into Variable Beast Impact, leaving no room for restraint or hesitation. He wasn’t trying to preserve his strength, and he certainly wasn’t planning for what would happen afterwards.

He was going to smash through the Leviathan’s defences, or he was going to die trying.

The enormous beast reacted.

Unlike their previous encounters, when it had barely bothered to defend itself against Ethan’s attacks, the Leviathan finally seemed to recognise the danger hurtling toward it. Its massive head twisted toward the approaching inferno, its green eyes narrowing as the surrounding ocean rose in response to its will.

The water beneath it erupted.

A series of enormous barriers surged into existence, each one rising higher than the last. Towering walls of compressed seawater formed a layered defensive structure between Ethan and the Leviathan, their surfaces churning with enough force to pulverise stone.

Ethan smashed through the first barrier.

BOOOOM!

The impact scattered millions of droplets into the air, instantly turning them into clouds of steam. Before the water could settle, he was already through the second barrier, his blazing body punching a hole straight through its centre.

Then came the third.

And the fourth.

Each collision sent another tremendous shockwave across the ocean, the barriers bursting apart beneath the overwhelming force of Ethan’s attack. The Leviathan continued raising them, attempting to slow the approaching projectile, but there was simply too much power behind it.

Ethan tore through every obstacle in his path.

The final barrier shattered.

And then, at long last, he made contact with the Leviathan itself.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The world exploded.

Ethan’s blazing body slammed into the enormous beast with the force of a meteor striking the earth. A colossal shockwave spread across the ocean, flattening the surrounding waves before sending them surging outward in every direction. The water beneath the Leviathan was blasted away, leaving a vast depression in the sea, while pillars of steam erupted around the point of impact.

For an instant, the Leviathan’s massive body was obscured by blinding white flames.

Ethan felt his arms shatter.

There was no other way to describe it.

The moment he struck the beast’s scales, the bones in both arms gave way beneath the force he had unleashed, his flesh and muscles suffering even greater damage. And this was while he was subconsciously reinforcing his body with his mana, similar to what he had seen Kaela and Elara do.

But there was no avoiding the backlash that came with pouring in over ten times the amount of mana the skill was designed to handle. The pain was so intense that his vision flickered, threatening to plunge him into unconsciousness before the attack had even finished.

But it hadn’t been for nothing.

CRACK!

A sharp sound cut through the thunderous explosion.

One of the Leviathan’s scales fractured.

Then another.

Several enormous scales around its head shattered beneath the concentrated impact, their fragments flying away from the beast’s body like pieces of broken crystal. For the first time since Ethan had encountered it, he had managed to inflict visible damage on the Leviathan’s nearly impenetrable defences.

Unfortunately, that was all he had accomplished.

The flames began to fade, revealing the enormous beast beneath them. Its body had been pushed backwards, and its head hung slightly lower than before, its movements momentarily unsteady.

It was dazed.

But it was far from defeated.

The Leviathan shook its head, recovering from the impact with terrifying speed. Its enormous eyes refocused on the space where Ethan had struck, and a deep, bloodcurdling sound erupted from its throat.

It wasn’t quite a roar.

It was something deeper, a terrifying mixture of a dragon’s bellow and the grinding of the ocean itself. The sound rolled across the water, making the surrounding waves tremble as the Leviathan expressed its fury.

Ethan, meanwhile, was falling.

The flames that had surrounded him dwindled into scattered embers, leaving behind his blackened, mangled arms. His body tumbled through the air, his consciousness wavering as pain threatened to consume what little awareness he had left.

’Shit...’

He couldn’t even feel his fingers anymore.

Actually, that wasn’t entirely true.

Ethan could feel them, but the sensation was so distorted that he couldn’t tell whether they were still attached to his hands. He tried to summon another burst of flame to slow his descent, only for his body to respond with nothing more than a pathetic flicker of orange light.

His mana was mostly consumed, his arms were useless, and his body had been pushed far beyond what it could endure.

’Well, that could’ve gone better.’

Before Ethan could fall any farther, a massive shape surged out of the ocean beneath him.

Wolfy.

The enormous Fenrir emerged from the water in a burst of foam, its crimson eyes fixed on Ethan’s rapidly descending body. It opened its jaws and caught him carefully between its teeth, taking care not to crush him despite its enormous size.

Then, without wasting a moment, it turned and swam away from the Leviathan as fast as it could.

The water churned around its powerful body as Wolfy propelled itself through the ocean with desperate urgency. It knew Ethan was in no condition to continue fighting. Whatever chance they had of surviving now depended on getting him away from the Leviathan before the beast recovered completely.

Storm, however, had other plans.

The Lightning Dragonfly immediately shot toward the shattered scales on the Leviathan’s body. Electricity crackled around its wings as it unleashed one blast after another, sending brilliant bolts of lightning crashing against the exposed damage.

CRACKLE!

BOOM!

The first blast struck a fractured scale, spreading jagged currents across its surface. The second followed almost immediately, and the third came before the sparks from the previous attack had even faded.

Storm was doing everything it could to exploit the opening Ethan had created.

Unfortunately, the results were disappointing.

The lightning scorched the exposed flesh, but the damage remained superficial. Even with several of the Leviathan’s defences broken, the beast’s sheer durability was overwhelming. Storm was a powerful B Rank beast, but there was a world of difference between that and an A Rank fighting in its own territory.

The enormous beast had been momentarily dazed, but that brief opportunity was already disappearing.

Its head turned toward Storm.

The amusement in its eyes vanished, replaced by cold irritation.

Storm’s wings beat furiously as it darted away from the approaching gaze, but it could feel the pressure building around it. The ocean answered the Leviathan’s will, and the water surrounding the beast began to move with unnatural precision.

This wasn’t a fight Storm could win alone, even with the opening Ethan had tried to create. It could barely distract it, and Ethan’s ultimate attack had dealt it nothing more than what seemed to be the equivalent of a flesh wound.

’Fuck! You’d think this far into my journey as a Titled, I wouldn’t be struggling this much!’

But he had a feeling that it would never end.