บท 47: Abnormal Flame
By the time Taku was done with his opponent, his teammates were already fighting with other demonic beasts. He smiled wryly and then joined them. He could have finished his fight earlier but he still needed time to sharpen himself. Not to mention that this was a top tier 2 demonic beast. A month ago this would have been far out of his league, so he had to tread carefully. Now after a battle he was aware of where his strength was.
The beasts came thick and fast and after an hour the warriors were now feeling the fatigue. Everyone but Taku that is. He noticed that ever since he's cultivation base increased he's been able to stay in his current state for much longer.
Is it really a question of my cultivation base? The stronger I get the less likely I am to lose control...?
Even though this theory seemed plausible he was sure that it was not the right one. He needed to find Saru as soon as possible. If he failed to do then he would need to find a person who was proficient in things of the soul. The only one he knew and trusted was Saru.
"If you guys are tired then go rest. I doubt this will be the last wave and we have it under control so go save some energy." Taku was not exhausted at all. He still needed to fight and gain more experience, but he had noticed that his teammates were now feeling rather exhausted.
"How about you?" Nyasha asked
Taku replied. "I'll be fine don't worry, none of these remaining beasts are really a threat to.me."
"Oh, you don't say." Ranga started. "This King will go wait for you. If you don't come back alive then you don't deserve to be my leader."
"..."
With that Ranga turned around and began walking toward the city walls. The rest of the team shook their heads and followed. Taku smiled and looked around him. There were still a couple of battles happening in and around him. He was not really interested in these small scale battles, he was looking for mama's position.
When he didn't find her on the ground he immediately looked up into the air and saw that she was in a heated battle with a group of demonic birds. She was holding on quite well considering the fact that she was going against five demonic beasts of the fourth tier.
Watching the fight between Maka and the birds he had a feeling that she was not really going all out. And as if conforming Taku's suspicions Maka looked down towards him and gave him a slight smile.
Taku was not the slightest bit shocked and smiled back. He then looked forward and saw that there was a pair of horned monkeys that were charging towards him. Taku smiled and leaped straight towards the two incoming beasts.
He activated his soul power and to his surprise, he could now spread it out for about 15 meters. The pleasant surprise was truly something that came when he really needed it. When he spread out his soul sense he noticed that there was another beast that was creeping upon him from his blind-spot. Taku just smiled and continued his charge.
Taku threw out a punch that was met with a palm from one of the monkeys. To the monkey's surprise, when it's palm met with Taku's fist it was immediately blown away. The other monkey did not even have time to react as Taku threw out another punch that landed on its face.
Bam!
Kacha!
With this punch, Taku dislocated the monkey's jaw. The monkey flew several meters away and with that Taku twisted his body in a weird manner and turned around. He extended his hand and his bow formed in an instant. He pulled the string and a blue arrow materialized. The moment it was done materializing he let go.
'Whizz'
The arrow flew threw the air and penetrated the head of a leopard that had been sneaking up on him. The leopard fell down dead. Taku breathed in and walked towards the two heavily injured monkeys.
Taku had two weapons at his disposal. Arrows made from his flame control and arrows made from his lightning power. His flame arrows had more destructive power and required less zesa to use, while his lightning arrows were faster and more accurate.
Taku quickly killed them off and opened up their heads and retrieved their cores. He had not brought Shumba with him this time around. He knew that the beats he would be facing will be way too strong for the lion so he decided to leave him at the inn.
What he wanted to do at the moment was to take some monster cores for the lion. Just as he was done picking out the cores, he heard a voice coming from directly above him.
"Do you collect these cores to sell them or do you give them to alchemist so that they make pills for you."
"Neither," Taku answered as he looked up. "I have a demonic beast. This is the only way they can power up faster so I'm planning on collecting a few."
"Oh," Maka answered as she extended her hand and handed Taku some beast cores.
Taku did not decline as he took the cores and put them in his storage pouch. "How long do you think until the next beast wave comes."
"About half an hour...."
As Maka answered a deafening roar came for the forest in front of them. Everyone who was still in the area immediately froze as a very oppressive aura penetrated the air. Maka's expression turned solemn as she sensed this aura.
She could clearly feel that the approaching beast was at least a level above her. "Leave now!" Maka shouted towards Taku. Taku though shook his head. "There is no point really. You guys might have felt the aura of one beast but I will tell you right now that there are actually two of them."
"I know, that's why..." Maka answered helplessly. Taku still just shook his head as he cut her off. "I am guessing that you can deal with one, and two would be a stretch for you? Judging from those auras I would say that the beasts are at least 4 or so levels above me. And since you can't fight with two and I can't even fight with one, out best bet is to lead them away."
It took a while for Maka to fully register Taku's words. Not because there was anything complex about them, just that she never would've thought that Taku would come on with a solution on the spot. She knew that his solution was the best possible plan, but executing it was the issue.
Taku then leaned over and whispered something into Maka's ear which caused Maka to frown a bit. "Are you sure?"
Taku then gave Maka a confident smile and nodded. His body got covered by a layer of smoke as he darted towards another part of the forest. Maka stared in the direction that Taku had disappeared for a good second before turning and facing the incoming beasts.
***
Deep within the forest, there were two silhouettes that were sitting cross-legged in a cave. There was a middle-aged man who had a pale face, and sitting in front of him was a hooded figure who gave off close to no presence at all.
"Are you sure that this will work?" The paled faced man spoke. "We need her alive. If your stupid beasts hurt her in any way we won't be able to negotiate with him."
The hooded figure chuckled. "Hehe... don't worry about it. Even if she puts up a resistance, she won't be able to getaway. She is facing two beasts that are a level above her, and she is alone. Anything she tries is going to be futile."
"I hope you're right." The paled faced man started. "If we manage to capture her then the tide in this war will slightly shift."
The hooded figure just remained quiet.
***
Maka on the other hand was facing two giant demonic beasts. The first one was a Flame Gorilla, and the second was a Mastiff. She did not bother moving as she stared at the two tier-5 demonic beasts. She felt rather awkward because she knew that the success of what they were trying to pull off hung on Taku's shoulders.
The Gorilla moved forward slowly, acting as if it had no ill intent whatsoever. The beasts were intelligent and could tell that something was amiss when they noticed that Maka was doing nothing. So the Gorilla approached with caution.
It was a meter away from Maka and was about to reach out its hand and grab her, and it was at this moment that a great sense of danger overwhelmed its senses. Its hair stood on end as it turned around to try to block the incoming attack.
It was slightly too late because just as it turned the arrow was already thirty centimeters away from its face. The Gorillas pupils dilated as it noticed that this Red arrow was rather peculiar.
Boom!
The arrow landed on its face, but instead of penetrating into its head, the arrow suddenly exploded as the head of the Gorilla got engulfed in flames. The ape staggered backward and it was at this time that Maka took action.
She retrieved her spear and ran straight towards the Gorilla. The Mastiff saw the situation and attempted to charge forward, only to be stopped by a blue-colored arrow that hit its leg. This blue arrow not only penetrated its leg but also burnt it slightly and left the leg feeling numb.
By the time that the numb feeling had disappeared the Mastiff noticed that the Gorilla was rolling on the ground In pain, whereas Maka's silhouette was already disappearing in the opposite direction.
That Mastiff was slightly angered as it quickly roared and chased after Maka. The Gorilla got up with a bit of a struggle and followed closely behind. By now its face was already half-burnt and disfigured.
Deep in the forest, the hooded figure shook for a couple of breaths. He then took in a few breaths and chuckled. "Hehe... looks like she has help from a powerful archer, and his flame is abnormal! It's almost as if...wait, I thought that you said that she has no relationship with the royal family. Only her master does and he is not in the Empire."
The paled faced man was shocked by these words. "She doesn't! What exactly happened."
The hooded figure just shook his head. "This plan has failed today. My children are chasing after her but I doubt they can catch her now."
On the city walls, Taku's teammates wore expressions of horror. By the time they tried to react Maka and the two beasts had already disappeared into the forest. Taku on the other hand was nowhere to be found.
This led his teammates to fear the worst. They could not even process what just happened and now they could not even find their own leader. "Do you think he is okay?" Tadi asked with a worried expression.
"If he is with general Maka then there is a large possibility that he'll be fine." Nyasha started. "If he is alone though, then I don't think he has a high chance of survival."
As everyone was feeling dejected, Tino spoke. "The only thing we can do is check on whether he is still alive or not." The trio looked at him quizzically and waited for him to talk. "If Taku dies then Shumba will immediately lose control so we need to go and observe Shumba's actions."
The trio nodded and without saying a word to anyone they disappeared from the city walls. They ran to the inn they were staying in and it took them a full twenty minutes. When they arrived at the inn they realize that Tapiwa was waiting there.
"I was beginning to think that you guys died because of the wave. And to think when I got here I actually wanted to warn you not to go."
The faces of three turned solemn when they heard this. They didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did this warning not come a little bit too late. Nyasha was then the first one to speak. "We appreciate the fact that you came here with good intentions, and even though we are curious as to why you didn't want us to go. We need to check on whether or not Taku is still alive. He disappeared on the battlefield when these two giant demonic beasts showed up."
Hearing this Tapiwa's expression went dark.
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