Chapter 98 - Locating The Beast (1/2)

”How many of these things are there?” Ryan asked, breathing heavily while sweat dripped from the end of his nose even though it was the dead of winter.

Professor Kal looked over his shoulder at his exhausted student, subtly shaking his head. ”Here, drink this, it'll put a little pep in your step.”

Professor Kal produced a long, thin glass test-tube as big around as a finger, that was corked on one end. Inside was an orange liquid that bubbled each time it sloshed within its container. Taking it from the Professor, Ryan inspected it suspiciously. He was a little hesitant to drink some random potion his crazy professor just handed him, but his mana was running dangerously low, and they still hadn't caught up to the monster yet.

For the last hour they've had to kill dozens of those walking corpses created by whatever had taken over Amaranthae's body. Each he killed took him about a third of the total mana he held within his body, making the progress extremely slow. Professor Kal only stepped in when there were more than three of such creatures, telling him that 'You only grow stronger by pushing yourself to the absolute edge'. His words did make sense to him, but due to the seriousness of the matter, he wished that the Professor would assist him more than what he had so far.

Pulling the cork out of the glass tube with his teeth, Ryan put it to his parched lips and drank the contents in one large gulp. It was cool going down, almost so cold that it burned. Once reaching his stomach, he could feel the cool sensation coating his stomach before moving down into his bowels. He found it very uncomfortable and started to squirm, attempting to rid himself of the strange feeling.

After a few seconds, the cold sensation faded away into nothing, leaving him curious as to what the unidentified potion really did. Before he could ask though, he felt the mana inside his body begin to swell, and soon was completely refreshed. He quickly cast a spell, only taking up about a tenth of his mana, and found that his rate of mana recuperation had multiplied ten-fold.

”Why didn't you give this to me earlier? We could have saved a lot of time.” Ryan asked, not finding any side effects by drinking the orange liquid.

Professor Kal turned to go down a narrow alleyway, answering as he did so. ”Well, it doesn't last for very long, only about an hour or so.”

”Does that mean we've almost caught up?” Ryan asked the obvious question.

Professor Kal nodded his head as he continued on, walking at a brisk pace. ”Just a few more streets over.”

”How can you tell? The sound is coming from everywhere.” Ryan stated, pointing out the fact that the sounds of battle were echoing off of every building as they drew closer, making it almost impossible for him to discern which direction it was really coming from.

Professor Kal slowed his pace, eventually coming to a stop. With his pointer finger, Professor Kal stuck it toward the sky above the buildings some distance away. There, circling high in the sky, were hundreds of large, jet-black birds. ”The carrion crows follow the corpses.”

…..

Peering around the corner of a high-end weapons shop, Professor Kal studied the battlefield not too far in front of them. Somehow, they had managed to lure the creature into a large plaza situated inside the noble's district. The cost of luring the monster must have been great; crushed, and mangled bodies littered the plaza, the braver of the carrion crows were already feasting on the still warm flesh even as the battle still raged on around them.

The city guard, along with the adventurers, paladins, and priests, were fighting a losing battle. The paladin's steel kite shields could only withstand a few blows from the monster's claws before becoming so warped as to be unusable. The priests were exhausting themselves, constantly buffing their holy counterparts and healing any wounds that occurred. But even with their most powerful holy spells, they could not keep up with the amount of damage they were sustaining, with every other attack another paladin or adventurer would die.

Professor Kal watched with narrowed eyes as more of the city guard poured into the large plaza, the number of combatants numbered in the hundreds. Nevertheless, no matter how many bodies were thrown at the monster, it was still unscathed, not even bothering to try and avoid the attacks coming its way. It was obvious to him that it was merely playing with its food, enjoying the despair its prey was experiencing.

”Professor, what do we do?” Ryan asked, his voice hinting at his apprehension.

”We wait just a little longer. Do you feel it? The ground, the calvary is coming.” Professor Kal stated, not taking his eyes off of the one-sided battle.

Ryan diverted his attention to his feet, trying to feel what the Professor was talking about. After a few seconds, he could. A low rumble shook the ground, it was faint at first, but quickly grew in intensity. A moment later, he could hear a cacophony of hoofbeats thundering towards them. The windowpane of the weapons store they were standing by vibrated violently in its frame, the rapid rattle announcing the arrival of the Royal Select.

Over a hundred knights in polished steel armor rode into the square, stopping some distance away from the ongoing battle. Being pulled by six horses was a highly ornate, massive carriage. Professor Kal could sense the mana coming from inside, immediately informing him of who must be within.