The cave entrance was on the face of a cliff, and I lay at its foot, my back against a tree. My hands were soaked in blood. I had used all my remaining mana to heal the wound on the back of my head, but I was still woozy, and the grey surroundings spun fast.

I don’t know if the others made it out, but I made certain to keep my unsteady eyes on the cave’s mouth.

Soon enough, rocks rolled out the entrance and the pair of bloodied adventurers slid down the hill. I had to leave. I got up with the help of the tree but couldn’t hold myself straight and fell back down. The pair tumbled down the path which led up to the cave and crashed into a nearby tree.

I tried to summon the last remains of my mana. A flame appeared only to peter out into smoke and embers.

“Truce. Truce,” mumbled the woman, clutching the front of her head.

I let my arm fall to my side. “Sure.”

I tried my best to keep my eyes on her, but the world kept flickering out of sight.

Mana 1/198

Mana medic cast for 1 mp.

…

Mana 1/198

Mana medic cast for 1 mp.

…

Mana 1/198

Mana medic cast for 1 mp.

And so, the night went on. The mosquitos feasted on my blood, the flies rested on my damp skin, and fireflies performed light shows. The others had fallen asleep, I couldn’t do the same, not because I feared for my life, but because I couldn’t. I hadn’t fallen asleep since my transformation into a beast. What I would give to sleep once more. And if I died, killed in my sleep, perhaps that too would fulfill my wish.

#

The lady’s eyes fluttered open after a few hours.

“Awake?” I asked.

“Yea,” she answered nonchalantly, stretched out her arms, and yawned, but soon after she clutched her head.

“What did you plan on doing with me?” I asked, feeling a bit better, and most definitely more so than her.

“Fuck, if you’re so strong you could have told us before. It’s ask questions first then fight.” She started to look over her body for any other injuries. “Wait, where's Victor?” She began to look around.

“Then don’t kidnap a kid next time.”

“Shut up!” She screamed and crawled over to the man. She put her finger under his nose. She let out a long breath and scooted away. It seemed he was at least breathing. “Why are you speaking so casually? Do you have a screw loose? We tried to kill you. You killed one of us. Do you not have any awareness?”

“I have to move on.” Nothing would take me away from what I had to do in order to save Rose. “So don’t get mad, after all if anyone should be mad it would be me.”

“Move on?” She frowned and snorted. “Even if we were the one to attack, I'm still going to be mad if someone I care about is hurt. You’re just a beast without empathy.” The lady pulled out gauze, a vial, and a water skin out her waist bag. First, she drank some water and poured the rest over her head. Chunks of dried dirt, sand, and blood trickled to the ground. Fresh blood started to trickle down her temple. She touched around the wound and poured the contents of the vial over her wound. It started to heal, a bit of skin was restored, but most of the wound was covered with fresh scabs, leaving the middle still red and fresh. She stretched out the gauze and wrapped it round her head. She went over and did the same to the man.

“Tell me where the beasts are, else you won’t be of use.”

She turned round and stared at me with disgust. It didn’t matter to me.

“You’re worse than them. Let me treat my friend in peace.”

“Who’s them?” I ignored the rest of what she said.

“The Silver Blades, those leeches are the one who forced us to do this.”

She wasn’t good at answering questions. “Do what? Explain from the start.”

“Fine. A long, long time ago, about two weeks ago when the incident occurred the royalty and other nobles started recruiting a bunch of adventures through the mercenary guild. Oh, I’m sorry, do you know what a guild is? Or do I—”

“Move on.” I didn’t have time for her attitude.

“What a prick of a kid, well, now that the nobles want the adventurers to be on standby at all times in case a civil war breaks out the beast aren’t being kept in check. So, the silver blades took the opportunity to start a protection money thingy in the surrounding villages. Of course, they aren’t going to do it, so they’re sending us adventurers they got in debt traps.”

“And how come adventurers can’t do their jobs and need to use kids as bait?”

The lady looked up to the cave. “Lately, there’s been an increased number of beasts around these parts. This has always been where beasts appear, but there used to only be one a year if not less, and it required a large squad to take down, but now—”

Rocks tumbled down the face of the cliff. We both looked up–two scorpion claws appeared in the sunlight. Next came its tail, the body of a wolf, and the head of an animal I had never seen. It was yellow, covered in a thick yellow mane, and teeth the size of my arm.

The beast walked down the hill with a limp, its dark green eyes set on us. I jumped up, my dizziness gone, and my wounds nearly healed.

“I know you’re pretty strong for your age, but I don’t know how you’ll kill that guy.” She struggled to her feet and pinched her friend’s nose to wake him up, but he was out cold. “He’s injured, help me carry Victor, we can outrun it.”

I didn’t doubt we could outrun it. It was a large beast, and this was a thick forest. However, I needed experience points.

I created a fire bolt and shot it to the beast’s head. It dodged to the right.

“Hey! You can be suicidal but leave me out of it.” She took Victor by the armpits and dragged him away. She wasn’t going anywhere in her state, so I let her go for now.

The beast roared and galloped down the hill. I spread haze and retreated behind a couple of trees. I broke off a few branches.

I needed to think of new ways to use my magic other than fireballs and bolts. I injected low amounts of heat in the core of the branch, continued to supply it with mana, and threw it at the entrance of the forest. I broke off more branches and did the same. When the beast was a few seconds away from the entrance I dispelled the haze. It charged me, in the process, stepping on the pile of hot branches. I supplied all my mana into the branches. A large fire erupted, pink vines entangled the beast, setting its fur and skin ablaze.

It did not die, it still moved. Its claws thrashed at the flames, and soon enough it freed its front legs. It jumped, broke his hind leg’s restraints, and galloped (with a limp) towards me. I ran back tearing branches off the trees. I didn’t have much mana left. Although a good restraining spell, it didn’t inflict enough damage if the beast could still run. Its skin was too tough, its body too strong. But then, in the distance, I spotted the lady and Victor.

“Give me your sword!” I yelled.

She didn’t hand it, instead she placed Victor against a tree and brandished her weapon, intending to fight the beast in my place. Did she rather wish to die than hand me her sword? I couldn’t let that happen. I shot a flame bast towards her. She tried to defend it with her sword but it burned her hands and the sword fell out of her hands. I grabbed it and faced the beast.

It was a heavy one-handed sword, I held it with both hands and raised it above my head. When the beast was a few metres away, I infused it with mana and swung it down, my pink flames shot out and distorted the air. The beast jumped to the side, but a tree stopped its attempted evasion, and my flame hit the beast dead in its face.

It didn’t stop running. I hid behind a thick tree and let the beast run rampant until the heat consumed it.

You killed a manticore, you gained 1000 Exp.

LVL 9. 1505/2000

I collapsed on a pile of dead leaves. I had forgotten how much experience strong beasts could give. A few more and I’d be at level twelve. The faster I could max out my level, the greater my power and influence during the upcoming war.

I turned to the woman. “Where can I find more?”