บท 22: Hunted

As Kai corrupted his strongest soul yet, Shuzen was in the middle of the gravest battle in his life, one that threatened his life at every turn.

Even if the Chucadori was weaker to poison, that didn't mean much if Shuzen never had an opening to capitalize. And if he was constantly jumping between the trees, barely escaping death, then he didn't have any openings.

The Chucadori was a fearsome, deadly beast.

With the head and body of a primate, but with powerful wings and claws of a giant bird, the Chucadori had multiple deadly weapons in its arsenal. Its face closely resembled a chimpanzee, although it was much larger and featured far more fangs. The beast was over 20 meters long and yet its entire body seemed to be constructed of only dense muscle fibers.

-Boom!-

The razor-sharp blue wings sliced through 5 trees at once as the beast continued chasing Shuzen. Neither paid any mind to the painful chitter of the animals on the ground, as the beast was too busy chasing its victim.

The more he fled, the more Shuzen realized how dire the situation was. The beast was probably hundreds of times stronger than the A-rank. It could even be stronger than Shuzen...

Though it absolutely wasn't as smart.

Soaring through the air, the beast's wings once again sliced toward Shuzen. Dodging just in time, Shuzen didn't even look down to see the trees cleaved in half. The resounding boom would tell him how narrowly he had escaped certain doom.

He used the soul of his chico to inherit the traits of its arms as he grabbed a tree trunk, rooting his fingers into it. Moments later, the latest victims of the beast's wings hit the ground, shaking the entire jungle with a ferocious fury. If he hadn't held onto the trunk, Shuzen would be on the ground and mortally wounded by now.

Easy prey for the Chucadori.

Gritting his teeth, Shuzen tried to think of any possible way to create an opening. A sudden ferocious scream from the beast forced Shuzen to raise his arm to his head. Just the shockwave of its voice made him feel as though his eyes were going to pop.

'This stupid asshole... It thinks it can challenge me?' Shuzen thought, his ego shining through even this danger.

However, he also knew no amount of false bravado was going to kill the beast. The same could be said for running. At some point, he'd have to face the beast head-on.

Pressing his feet against the tree trunk, Shuzen decided that now was the time.

While the beast flew towards him, its momentum should make it difficult to react to Shuzen going the exact opposite way. He was going to use the beast's insane speed against it. That wouldn't be nearly enough to kill the beast, but if he could get one clean hit in...

That could change the course of the battle. Of course, if the beast caught him he would die instantly. That would have to be ignored though, as battles can't be won without risk.

Shattering the trunk behind him at the sub-atomic level, Shuzen made his ascent to the beast. As space itself flapped against his face, swinging his hair around in a frenzy, Shuzen kept one thought in his mind over and over–a path to victory.

'I have to dodge its wings. That is the most imperative condition for my success. If the wing hits me, I'm instantly dead. Once I fly over him, I have to use the Chico's roar to turn myself around, simultaneously activating my Ourobic arm. If I do those 2 things, I can get behind the Chucadori and go from there.'

Due to the trajectory he had leaped from the tree, Shuzen was able to just narrowly jump over the beast's wings.

He watched as the silver-blue glint of the wing flashed before his eyes, knowing he was mere moments from death. There was no time to dwell on that though, as he needed to change his momentum and fast.

Unleashing the Chico's scream upon the jungle, Shuzen felt the quick sting of whiplash as space itself forced upon both of his sides. For a moment he felt completely stationary as if he hit equilibrium. Then in the next instant, he was flying back to the Chucadori. So far, his plan was-

-Slash!-

Somehow the Chucadori had recovered just as fast as Shuzen, if not even faster. Such grace could only be held by a divine beast. They had to defy physics, no, reality itself–such is the nature of S-rank and higher beasts.

The beast's wing was mere inches away from Shuzen's face when his arm batted it away and over his head. In the next instant, the beast opened its gaping mouth, biting into Shuzen's leg. He was trapped.

...

Kai stared longingly at the system interface flashing in front of him.

<A-rank trait acquired: Monkey's Tail.>

Amongst all of the other traits and abilities he gained from the B-rank, this one caught his eye the most. Again, he acquired a trait whose rank was higher than the beast he had conquered.

A smile slowly crept across his face as the falling trees revealed light, illuminating it. At first a subtle gesture, now the smile fully stretched his face, a smile of pure malicious joy.

'I'm truly getting powerful. I- I'm really going to get my revenge.' Kai thought as the rest of the rewards made themselves apparent.

<Beast: Arikan Baboon collected Level:2/20>

'A lower level? So then the starting strength of the beast played a big factor, as this one has already given me my strongest trait.>

Still, Kai did realize he hadn't really gotten too many abilities. A beast's ability would basically be an extension of a trait. For example, the Juma naturally emits a horrible odor that can paralyze and even kill a tamer. An ability would be similar but can be used without adopting any traits of a Juma's soul.

Usually, an ability was weaker but more readily available than a beast's trait. Even a novice tamer could cycle between abilities as if it were simply a change of clones.

So far he only got 1 ability to accompany his many traits.

And as he saw he didn't get anything from the baboon besides its tail, that trend would continue. It appeared as though, for Kai, abilities were far rarer for him.

'Yeah, I understa-'

A presence.

Deep within the jungle, Kai felt a presence staring him down. Seconds later, he realized the smell within the air had become much more pungent.

The Bes Rap was making its move. They had come to hunt the beast together, but now Kai and Shuzen were separated.

'He's somewhere fighting that new beast. It's just as he said- we had to be prepared for anything. First, it was the Maka-Mako, then those tamers. Now it's an S-rank beast... It honestly feels like the hunt is just an excuse to find chaos.'

As the presence, the Bes Rap, barreled towards him, Kai heard a scream come from somewhere far away.

Shuzen.

Then he saw black as a tail crashed through a tree and hit his side, sending him flying into the air.

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