'Now, let's try this out'
His blood flowed out and he tried to shape it…but he failed and the blood fell to the ground.
'Hmm, guess it's not going to be so easy'
He fired more and more poisoned arrows - as he dubbed them - surprising the onlookers once again.
"He was an archer?" they whispered to one another
With his skills, Ezra was shooting and reloading faster than they could follow.
Then, once the quiver was empty, Ezra gave it a retry.
He drew blood and then shaped it into an arrow.
It was hard at first, but Ezra gradually formed it.
At that moment…
"Incoming!"
"Take cover!"
…something flew towards them.
Ezra dropped the bow and pulled out a sword, which he laced with darkness and sliced the incoming projectile.
It was a large boulder.
*Shin!*
The boulder was split in two, but that only reduced a little of the accumulated momentum.
*Smash!*Smash!*
Both pieces smashed against the palisade, disorienting the soldiers and killing more than a few.
Ezra was unaffected, staring into the beyond to identify the boulder thrower.
He didn't bother checking the top brass, as such a weak attack could not harm them.
And then, it revealed itself.
A Mad Ape!
Rough black fur, red eyes, a herculean stature, matching the palisade in height, and with four limbs all looking like hands.
It was bipedal, which was fairly common, but this one was B-rank.
The next minute saw it throw three more boulders.
This time though, Ezra was prepared.
Taking a stance as he whispered…
"Sword sequence, blade barrage"
With his sword coated with dark energy, Ezra took a leap into the face of the incoming builders and drew a wide arc across all boulders, then…
*Shin!*Shin!*Shin!*Shin!*Shin!*Shin!*
The boulders splintered into pieces and, with its momentum exhausted, it fell right down, killing a lot of beasts.
Ezra landed at the battlefield's center, slashing the approaching beasts as he shouted…
"Sir John!"
The commander reached him in a single leap, easily discharging the incoming beasts while they chatted.
"We need to kill it before the whole fortress is brought down"
"Shouldn't we wait for it to come closer?" Sir John questioned.
Ezra shook his head.
"No, apes possess an intellect slightly above the other beasts" he pointed his sword at the ape making erratic noises, angry that its builders were destroyed.
"Besides, does that look like a beast that's going to attack?"
True to his words, Sir John discerned that, while the beast was angry, it wasn't taking any step forward.
"But why?"
Beasts were naturally fighters, especially those of A and B ranks, who had established themselves as predators.
"It seems to be waiting for something before charging forth" Ezra said.
"What could that possibly be?"
"Reinforcements"
"Ah!" it hit Sir John like a lightning bolt.
"That's why you want to attack it now"
Ezra nodded.
"Let's go"
He leaped before Sir John could speak, forcing Sir John to follow him.
"Wait, don't we need a plan?"
"I have one" Ezra replied.
"Hit him till he's down"
In their way was the advancing swarm of beasts.
Ezra cut them out of his way, coating his sword with lightning.
Additionally, imbuing his legs with lightning while using his agility rune had him turn into a mirage, flashing past the beasts, only for their heads to slide off seconds later like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Even that was talking too long, so he copied Sir John, using the beasts as stepping stones.
At the speed they were approaching, the ape surely did not miss them.
Making erratic noises, it danced around, throwing boulders at them with both hands and feet.
Rather than show off their skills, both Masters simply avoided it, leaving the beasts to be squashed into mush.
One last leap had Ezra face to face with the beast.
The beast swung its hand like it was trying to swat away a fly.
Rather than avoid it, Ezra turned his body towards it while in midair thanks to the lightning on his body.
With Sir John still far away, Ezra didn't hesitate to coat his blade in blood, darkness and then, fire!
With his blade burning with a black flame, the apes palm was smoothly cut in half. The fingers were severed, falling to the ground like large sausage rolls.
"KRAA!"
The ape cried, his palm bleeding out like a tap, yet rather than run, its anger just rose a notch.
'Tch'
Ezra had landed on the soil and was now retreating as the ape smashed into his former position with its other arm.
Now the center of its attention, Ezra called to his partner.
"John!"
"I'm here!"
John leapt into action, but not without the ape noticing.
As the ape sought to stop John, Ezra let out a slash of dark lightning, leaving a large scorch mark on the ape's abdomen.
The beast cried out once more, but John wouldn't miss such a chance.
The ape slapped its abdomen to calm the burning skin, and as it turned to take care of the nearest threat, it met John right in front of its face.
*PUK!*
A large sword punctured its eye.
Again, it cried.
In trying to swap John away, it felt pain in its legs, but before it could even process it, it fell on its face.
Its leg had been severed, and from it poured hot blood.
The apes' voice broke, the consecutive levels of pain too much even though it had gone rabid.
While falling, John had removed his sword and jumped aside.
So, it used its palms to push itself into a sitting position, but at this point, it noticed that the remainder of its cut palm was rotting, courtesy of Ezra's blood.
In the corner of its eye, it noticed a figure running closer.
*Boom!*
Ezra took off the ground.
The ape turned to meet Ezra who was right in front of it.
"Boo"
With his sword coated in dark lightning, he sliced and subsequently landed.
The ape's head slid off and landed on the ground with its eye, well, the last one, open.
Its face spoke of shock beyond belief.
Ezra called John while killing the beasts converging on his position.
John leapt towards Ezra.
Ezra pointed to the beast.
"Take it"
He was talking about the carcass. The carcass of a B-rank beast was useful for many things and would sell for a lot of money.
"No, I can't" John said hesitantly.
"Don't misunderstand" Ezra answered.
"I'm not so kind hearted. Take it, and in return, you'll tell no one about your powers, deal?"
"What?"
"I'd rather not reveal myself, so take it and tell them about how you killed it"
John stood for a while, before nodding.
"Be warned though. If you take it, and then betray me, I'll kill you" Ezra added.
"Sure" John nodded. He wasn't afraid in the least.
Normally, he would've never called him along, or would've killed him.
But as a Black Jaws member, Ezra was lenient.
Besides, even if he told others, Fredrick had a thousand and one ways to deal with it, so he wasn't worried.
Moreover, if the Black Jaws processed the carcass, it was still his.
In a jiffy, John sucked the carcass into his space ring, as the thousands of smaller beasts were already eating from it.
"Let's return" said Ezra.
As they turned, a loud roar was heard, forcing them to turn back.
Looking from the top of a small hill, they saw the source of the familiar scream.
An ape, 50% times larger than the last, came into view, with the same features as the last.
Moreover, it radiated a presence far larger than the last.
Ezra smirked at the ridiculousness of it.
"What are the odds?"
With a look, it was clear the ape they killed was this guy's wife.
Moreover…he was A-rank!
"Is this a joke?!" John questioned.
Full-fledged A-rank beasts caused disasters. It took two to three Masters to take one down, depending on affinities and stages that is.
Never mind the snake at the mountain, that one was inexperienced in dealing with humans. Also, it hadn't settled into its new body before being attacked.
All in all, the snake was a very special case.
"Well, now we know what she was waiting for"
John's expression turned grave.
Then, Ezra said…
"It shouldn't be that hard"
John stared for a whole minute.
"Have you ever fought an A-rank beast before?"
"Nope"
"Then you don't know the difference between A-rank and B-rank beasts? If you think they're similar in strength-"
Ezra raised his index finger.
"Look above you"
"Huh?"
Only then did John realize that things had gotten dark all of a sudden.
Looking up, he saw a herculean figure dropping to his position.
'Oh shit!'
With haste, he pushed off the hill and, immediately after…
*Boom!*
Two hand-like legs smashed into its surface.
The ape looked around, but nothing!
*KRAA!*
It cried, shaking up the ground.
John sought to turn and flee when it saw a boulder approach.
With a wide swing, he split it in half.
At first, he thought it a coincidence, but no, the ape was targeting them specifically.
"How does it know?" he muttered.
"We have her scent on us, that's how" Ezra answered, scaring the heck out of John.
"When did you get here?"
"I didn't go far in the first place"
John calmed itself.
"So, what do we do?"
"If we run, the fortress will be destroyed. So, we'll end it right here"
Again, he dashed forth without giving John the chance to reply.
Taking out a second sword, Ezra went for its legs.
But while getting close, the ape stomped the ground, knocking him off balance, before following it up with a stomp to squash him.
Ezra ran out of the leg's reach without a hitch.
"This one's trickier"
John arrived a few meters away from him.
"Killing this one is going to be tougher"
"I know-"
He couldn't complete the sentence because he had to dodge the incoming boulder.
*Bam!*
It fell and shattered.
Away from it, Ezra was hit with a wave of inspiration.
He motioned to John…
"Follow my lead"
…and then sped off in the opposite direction.
He could challenge the beast head on, but that would take far more energy than necessary.
'Since you're angry, I'll give you a place to vent'
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