Beastforged World - B1 Chapter 9

The Wagur’s tusk nearly impaled me as the beast whistled past. It was too close for my frail heart to handle, yet it was exactly what I needed to ram the silvernit sword into the Wagur’s chest. I could have worn down the beast, exploiting my advantages until the Wagur didn’t have any strength left to fight, but that wouldn’t have helped me as much.

I desired efficient combat, and that was exactly what I delivered. The Wagur didn’t slow even as the blade’s tip pierced through its tough hide and muscle. It drove deeper into the ferocious beast and nearly tore the silvernit sword from my grip. Twisting the blade, I tore it free and spun back toward the beast as its legs buckled. The Wagur collapsed to the ground, still thrashing, desperately struggling to survive, but I closed the distance and thrust the blade back into its chest, piercing its heart.

Watching the life fade from the beast’s eyes—knowing my actions caused its death—was still hard, but that was probably for the best. I would feel worse if the deaths I caused didn’t affect me. If I had already grown accustomed to killing.

Still, I was doing better. This was the fourth Wagur that had charged me, and I no longer vomited like a sick fool. Not that there was anything left in my stomach to vomit up in the first place.

“That was good enough,” Daniel commented as he appeared beside me. He stored the corpse, preserving it using one of his many ether armaments, and turned to me. “But you shouldn’t rely too much on your enemy’s momentum. It makes sense with a beast such as a Wagur, but not all beasts are as foolish as they are. If you know the beast you’re facing, you can make use of its momentum, but some will steal your blade if your first attack doesn’t kill them. They will disarm you, using the same momentum you’re trying to exploit against you. What then? What are you going to do once you’re out of weapons?”

I highly doubted something like that would happen often, but I made a mental note nonetheless.

Listening to Daniel made it sound like I wasn’t improving, which was something I could only agree to. So why was Daniel smiling like that?

His lectures were curt, his tone on the cusp of sounding unfriendly, yet his features were beaming. He wasn’t smiling, keeping the corners of his lips under control, but I’d known him long enough to tell when he was happy.

“Instead of focusing on an instant kill, you can go for their legs to slow them first. Cutting their tendons should be easy for you since you’re quite dexterous and swift. Your swordplay is decent for a rookie, but you might want to reduce your movements. It looks like you’re trying to maximize your efficiency, yet you haven’t even mastered the footwork I taught you last week.”

You taught me hundreds of things in the last few weeks. Obviously, I haven’t mastered everything!

Even though I felt like complaining a lot more about Daniel’s ‘tips and tricks,’ I kept the curses to myself. Daniel meant well, even if he contradicted himself occasionally. Did he want me to fight efficiently and deliver a quick death to my enemies, or did he want me to slow them down, harming them unnecessarily, before delivering the final blow? It wasn’t as clear as I’d have liked.

All I knew for certain was one thing: I had to survive no matter how dirty I would have to fight. Delivering a quick death when I had the chance sounded fine. However, if the opportunity didn’t arise, I should fight in a way that allowed me to survive—whether that was through retreat or a bloody massacre.

Right?

Am I really thinking like that? Is that who I’ve become?

I scoffed at the swift switch in my mindset. Only a few hours had passed since we left the Bastion, yet everything felt so… different. So complicated, yet simple. I needed strength if I wanted to survive outside the dome’s protection. And to ensure the dome wouldn’t fall, I had to protect it in return. Repay the favor the Rulers provided to me and those I held dear with their sacrifice.

Daniel continued rambling his tips and tricks, which was nice of him, but I was too focused on the blood on my hands. The kills I’d made. Living a life of false peace—only hearing about death, destruction, and chaos in the background as an unBlessed—was simple but also wrong. Yet, as much as that life of peace had been a farce, it was hard to let go of it entirely. It was harder to be a Blessed than I expected.

Maybe if my Mom and Dad had been Blessed, I wouldn’t have been like this… so soft. I grimaced, discarding the thought after a moment.

Minutes of silence passed, and we moved on.

“Do you want to return? You should be tired now. Not necessarily physically, but mentally for sure,” he offered, but I shook my head. I wanted to keep going. I had to.

“How about I hunt something for you this time? Show you how things are done once you have more experience and an Awakened Soulkin,” Daniel offered, his mischievous smile setting me off as he pointed at crimson-furred deer grazing in the grass not even thirty meters ahead.

“A Bloodbath Deer,” I gasped softly, which earned an approving nod.

“A juvenile,” he added.

With a quick review of the information I’d acquired in the last few weeks, I stepped forward, clutching the silvernit sword even tighter than before.

“I want to hunt it,” I muttered.

Bloodbath Deer was an ominous name for something as beautiful as the crimson-furred beauty grazing before us, but it deserved that name. Once fully grown, a Bloodbath Deer’s antlers transform into a massive problem. Their antlers have anticoagulant properties that are enhanced by ether. A single scratch is all it takes to create a continuous stream of blood. The UnBlessed are certain to die, as far as I could remember. The Blessed, on the other hand, can stop the bleeding by circulating ether through the wounded spot for several minutes.

Yet, depending on the wound’s severity, several minutes might be too long.

Getting impaled by a Bloodbath Deer is a death sentence according to the Beastrology, and extreme caution is advised if one dares to hunt one.

But as dangerous as they were, they were just as valuable. The antlers are precious and serve as the main ingredients for various medicinal preparations. Ground to dust and properly processed, they are turned into medicine that interrupts the formation of blood clots. Conversely, serums to create the reversed effect also rely on the Bloodbath Deer’s antlers and other valuable resources. Their meat is also delicious and highly nutritious as a 3-Star Wild beast once it hits maturity, and even their blood is used in serums on occasion.

Regardless, they belong to a minority of Wild beasts with special traits and are thus more dangerous, even if their raw physical prowess doesn’t quite reach the standard of most purely physical Wild beasts. I considered capturing the juvenile, as it was probably only a 2-Star Wild, but decided against it after a moment when I recalled the Beastrology advising against it.

Binding them is a ‘bloody problem’ not only due to their antlers but also their relentless aggression, which is also what transforms them into formidable prey in the open. They don’t fear death—or anything, if some comments in the Beastrology are to be believed.

“Are you sure? I can interfere if something happens, but I cannot promise anything. I’d rather have you fight something that breaks your bones than a Bloodbath Deer,” Daniel responded.

“You won’t always be there to help me. I need to do this.”

“Fine. Do whatever.” He grimaced but motioned me to keep going. “I have a blood clotting potion and some healing vials, but they don’t make you invincible. Avoid its antlers, please!”

Yeah, right, because I was thinking of jumping into the juvenile’s tiny antlers. Is that not how you kill them? I rolled my eyes and turned to the beast.

Was I too ambitious? Arrogant maybe even? I had no idea, but I wanted to give this my all.

My fingers coiled tightly around the sword handle until the white of my knuckles was clearly visible. I lowered my body, picked up a small stone with my empty hand, and skulked toward the Bloodbath Deer. Daniel was definitely following me, though I couldn’t hear a sound behind me. Still, knowing my friend was near me granted me power. It encouraged me, just as Aureus’ emotions did. Our bond was firm and never really closed. Yet, right now, Aureus didn’t bombard me with his feelings. He reassured me and helped me keep my mind clear and focused on the battle ahead.

Closing in on the Bloodbath Deer wasn’t difficult. It didn’t hear me and approached a tree trunk to rub its back against. The beast acted nonchalantly, as if the rest of the Windbloom Forest was part of its domain, and didn’t seem to notice anything even as I brushed past a nearby shrub. My heart skipped a beat, and I threw the stone into a faraway bush. The Bloodbath Deer tensed and jumped around. Crimson eyes filled with seemingly endless wrath stared into the bush. It released a croaked noise resembling a bleat and approached the bush, all while I inched closer from the other side. It felt like every step was thunder, and I was certain the beast would turn to face me at any moment, yet it did not face me until the distance between us dwindled to less than five meters.

The instant it turned in my direction, I made my move. I kicked the ground and charged ahead, sword brandished to attack.

The juvenile Bloodbath Deer turned to me and bleated in surprise, yet it didn’t back off as it sighted the unknown perpetrator. It lowered its head, antlers pointed my way, and charged. The only problem? It was still a juvenile and at most a 2-Star Wild. If it had been purely physically built, a moment would have been enough to surpass me at top speed, but the Bloodbath Deer was not a normal Wild beast. It had a special trait that required a considerable amount of ether, which would normally temper its physical strength.

My body stayed as low as possible as I slashed the beast once. The sword edge struck the antlers by chance, forcing me to shift the blade slightly to continue my attack. While the strike was far from perfect, the blade cut into the beast’s front leg and drew blood. I twisted the blade once I was certain it wouldn’t cut deeper and ripped it out. Leaping out of the Bloodbath Deer’s path saved my life. Twisting my body to attack and leap into safety was far from comfortable, yet dying to the Bloodbath Deer would’ve been worse.

It bleated and shifted much faster than I could react. I rolled on the ground and scrambled to my feet, but the Bloodbath Deer was already above me.

“Fuck off!” a curse escaped my lips as the deer’s hooves threatened to squash me, but I threw myself on the ground again and rolled to the side. Sensing an opportunity, I sliced the beast’s injured leg once more, ramming the silvernit blade as deep as I could.

The Bloodbath Deer must have taken that as a challenge, as it lowered its head to impale me with its tiny antlers the moment I tore the blade out of its body. Its head smashed down, and it got too close to my chest as I gathered every ounce of strength in my body to push left. I kicked the beast in the chest and felt its ribs shift, but I could barely push it to the right.

Leaping to my feet, I clutched the silvernit sword with both hands. I was trembling and felt like I was about to lose control of my body, but how could I stop here? How could I give up now that I’d already come this far?

My bond with Aureus flared, and I felt something shift. The glutton was doing something, yet I couldn’t quite tell what it was. All I could feel was… clarity. Aureus’ presence within me grew, and my mind cleared up from one moment to the next. The next thing I knew, I was charging ahead, pumping ether into the silvernit sword. The Bloodbath Deer charged into range, but I didn’t focus on evasion this time. I lifted my vibrating sword with both hands instead and swung it down as the deer crossed into my reach.

I was taller, heavier, and had a longer range of attack. Plus, I had painstakingly tempered my physique.

With all those advantages, I could have defeated the juvenile Bloodbath Deer, but it was the silvernit sword that decided it all. Filled with my ether, the sword’s durability and sharpness reached a higher level. It even felt faster as I swung it down—fast enough to avoid the juvenile’s antlers and to cut into its skull instead.

I was certain the silvernit sword wouldn’t make it—that the blade would never carve deep enough into the Bloodbath Deer’s skull to kill it, yet the bond consumed my hesitation. It filled me with unending confidence, allowing me to stay strong and to focus my full strength on the attack. I felt something leave my throat and realized only later that it was a defiant roar. Then I pressed the blade deeper into the skull. It didn’t split apart, but something crumbled—shifted—and made space so that the ether-infused blade could dig deeper.

I met the Bloodbath Deer’s eyes and saw nothing but hatred and hunger. It pushed forward, continuing its ferocious approach to ram its antlers into my shoulder, but all it did was worsen the beast’s situation. It helped my blade cut even deeper until I reached something.

Was it the beast’s brain tissue? I couldn’t quite tell at first, but the juvenile Bloodbath Deer’s response was instant. It thrashed around, trying to escape, only to stiffen after a violent bout that didn’t last longer than a few seconds. My arms creaked and felt heavier than ever after the quick exchange with the Bloodbath Deer. Not even one of Daniel’s hellish workout routines was that bad. Even my legs threatened to cave in beneath me before the dying beast, but I managed to catch myself.

I ripped the silvernit sword free and thrust it into the beast’s heart, ending its suffering after two long seconds that felt like forever.

As the light in the beast’s eyes faded, so did the adrenaline surging through me. My body felt suddenly much heavier, and exhaustion caught up to me, but I couldn’t hide my smile. I did it. I had defeated a 2-Star Wild without getting injured. The beast didn’t even scratch me once!

Aureus’ happiness struck me square in the face, bringing a smile to my lips. The glutton’s emotions were simply too contagious and potent. How was I supposed to feel bad when my Soulkin was over the moon?

“Good job,” Daniel called out from behind, but he looked like he had more to say.

Really? Are you seriously going to lecture me now? I cursed at him in my head when I caught a whiff of his hesitation.

There was no need for him to hesitate to lecture me. Daniel never cared about my feelings when he talked trash about my fights, so why would he start caring now?

Daniel’s lips parted, but he said nothing. He turned his head and nibbled on his lower lip, looking conflicted.

What’s wrong with hi—…

Suddenly, Aureus’ presence encompassed my entire being. My mind was wiped clean of any thoughts, and all I could feel was the glutton’s sense of urgency rising within me.

I swung around, ignoring the pleas of my worn-out body, to face a taller crimson-furred beast with massive antlers as it emerged from a set of bushes nearby. It turned to me and looked down at the dead juvenile before looking back at me with the hatred only a mother or father could harbor.

Goosebumps covered my entire body as the mature Bloodbath Deer charged ahead. For a moment, I thought Daniel would intervene and kill the beast before it could kill me, but I couldn’t rely on that. Daniel hadn’t looked my way, nor had he unsheathed his weapon. He wouldn’t be fast enough.

My danger sense perked up, and I moved as the mature Bloodbath Deer charged — at me. But as I took my first step backward, something flashed before my eyes, and the Bloodbath Deer towered before me a moment later. The beast stared deep into my eyes and lowered its head, ready to charge, only for something odd to happen.

My World stirred as a familiar chirp resounded through me — through my entire being — and time around me seemed to come to a sudden crawl. I could see everything happening with shocking clarity. And rather than feeling fear or anxiety as death inched closer, I felt a sense of power wash through me.

An ear-deafening shriek rang out from my chest pocket one moment, and the mature Bloodbath Deer stiffened the next. It froze in its tracks.

While I couldn’t quite tell what was happening, my instincts screamed at me and urged me to act quickly. I drove my feet into the soft soil and shifted gears to propel forward as fast as I could. The mature Bloodbath Deer was still unmoving, but it stirred — threatening to break free from its invisible restraints — just as I reached it, facing the beast head-on.

There was no time to hesitate — not that I needed it. I was already in full motion before I even fully registered what had to be done, let alone how I knew the Bloodbath Deer would be able to move again at any moment. The sword carved through the air in a beautiful arc and found its target, slicing through its neck.

Not even a quarter of a second later, the beast moved again and smashed into me. Warm blood poured everywhere, and I lost hold of my sword as the beast barreled into me, throwing me to the ground. The Bloodbath Deer followed me down, and I was certain its pointed antlers would poke me to death.

That never happened. A heavy weight pressed me firmly into the ground, yet I didn’t feel the stinging pain of being impaled. The Bloodbath Deer writhed on top of me and thrashed around, its head and antlers missing my face several times by a hair’s breadth. All the while, warm blood poured onto me, drenching my clothes until the beast stopped moving.

“Shit. Are you okay, Adam?” Daniel’s voice rang muffled through the air. It was barely a whisper in my ears until he screamed. “Fuck, Adam, talk to me!!”

I struggled to move and could barely muster a groan before the heavy corpse weighing me down was removed. Daniel’s hazy frame appeared above me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. He took his time pulling me upright, only to continue his inspection until he was close enough that I could punch him in the face.

“Didn’t you say you would protect me?” I cursed weakly, grimacing at the pain that surged through my fist as I pulled back.
How could someone’s face be this tough? That wasn’t fair.

“I…” Daniel grumbled something incomprehensible and turned away once he was sure the Bloodbath Deer’s antlers hadn’t caught me.

“Forget it,” I sighed tiredly. “At least you stopped it for a second. Was that your plan, you dickhead? To test my instincts or something?”

“I noticed something, so I didn’t intervene,” Daniel said, shaking his head as he squatted down in front of me. “I did not do anything. In fact, I stayed where I was and didn’t act because the Bloodbath Deer stopped out of nowhere.”

That bastard had the gall to look at me all serious, while I was still digesting the fact that his inaction nearly cost me my life.

“In the Rulers’ names, Adam! Do you not understand what just happened?!” Daniel asked in an exaggerated tone, almost excited, but I could only roll my eyes.

“Yeah, I nearly fucking died because I was stupid.”

And you didn’t help me, you moron!

“That’s not what I meant, dude!”

“You didn’t protect me like you promised,” I repeated.

Daniel groaned but nodded after a moment. “...I could have intervened a moment earlier, but that is beside the point!”

How was my near-death experience beside the point?!

“How did you not notice the older Bloodbath Deer?”

Daniel cursed something unintelligible, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me violently. “Adam, can you please shut your damn mouth for a moment? Please?!”

I felt like shouting back, but my mouth snapped shut.

“Thanks,” he remarked snarkily, taking a deep breath before asking again. “Do you know what just happened?”

There were many things I wanted to say. However, I could guess what he was talking about, and it was definitely not his inaction.

“Aureus happened,” Daniel said. “That was your Soulkin, wasn’t it?”