Chapter 572 - Witherclaw

Staring at the window, a chuckle escapes my lips. Another follows, building until it turns into full-blown laughter. I keep laughing for a good ten seconds before finally stopping.

[Focus]

I open the notifications again and start doing calculations.

Thirty-eight minutes from now. Twenty-three minutes before the end of the event the Witherclaw should be valued at 38 thousand points, enough for me to secure the first spot. Even though Lissandra said that 25 minutes before the end the beast would become strong enough to kill everyone here.

That means it needs to survive for at least eight minutes from the moment she releases it until I can kill it.

I let out a long sigh and rest my back against the wall, tilting my head up to stare at the ceiling absentmindedly. Out of curiosity, I press the tips of my index and middle fingers against the groove of my neck, tracing along my windpipe to feel my pulse. It’s quick and erratic, mirroring my heartbeat.

Another chuckle escapes me as I lower my hand.

Then, I close my eyes and clear my thoughts.

When it's close to thirty minutes to the end of the event I stand up and teleport outside and position myself on the cliff at the edge of the floating island. The strong wind immediately pushes against my body and below me, the view unfolds. The sea is nearly gone, covered by dark clouds and a wall of rain and lightning that is already hitting the trees. Some of them catch fire only to be quickly extinguished by the rain.

All of the remaining islands I can see hover in the air, also constantly bombarded.

With the storm come stronger beasts. From behind it emerge, hawk-like creatures, their piercing screams cutting through the air, lightning trailing their wings. From the water, new beasts crawl ashore, diving straight into battle with the attendees.

Yet the worst is still to come, waiting for the moment the timer reaches the time Lissandra mentioned.

As that time arrives, a powerful mana signature emerges from deep within the storm, and activating my eyes, I track it.

The Witherclaw runs like a wild animal, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on all fours. It pierces through the wall of rain while dodging lightning and then delves into the forest. Immediately explosions go off and powerful bursts of mana trigger the defenses the attendees have set against the storm and beasts.

I strengthen the shield around me to avoid damage from the storm’s lightning and continue to observe the beast’s progression.

It exits the treeline, holding a man by his leg, and begins looking around and sniffing. The raindrops splash on its pale skin, making its thin, fragile body glisten in the air.

The man being held channels mana and launches a swift, cutting attack at the beast, but Witherclaw just takes one more step, yanks the man, and swings his body against a tree. Blood escapes his mouth and I am sure his spine cracked, yet he is not yet considered dead.

Witherclaw lets him go and moves closer, settling beside the man and staring at him with its empty black eyes as he lies there, dying. The attendee tries to speak, but only foamy blood escapes his mouth—until he finally remembers he can forfeit with his mind, dissolving into pale blue particles.

For a moment, Witherclaw watches the spot where the man died. Then, it rises and turns directly to me, as if sensing my eyes on it.

Its figure is not that dissimilar from a human. It just looks very fragile, pale, with thin, long limbs. It has a slightly larger head than its body warrants and its mouth isn’t even that big, but when it opens I can see multiple rows of sharp teeth.

Yet its black eyes remain empty.

The beast senses movement nearby and, instead of hiding, charges at a group of ten, a mix of Hell and Hard difficulty attendees.

Witherclaw moves quickly, switching between bipedal and quadrupedal movement. No stun, disruption, or hold type skill seems to work on it and the special-grade beast is nimble and perceptive enough to avoid most attacks.

Its claws now glow pale red as it easily pierces through the barriers, items, and skin of the attendees. Even though it looks fragile the beast is incredibly strong and its strength and speed continue to increase.

With every fight the beast learns, adapts, and modifies its movement.

And it likes to play. It almost never kills its opponent immediately; instead, it cripples them, severs limbs, breaks bones, and leaves them lying in the dirt while it does the same to the others. Then it watches as they twitch, try to fight back, or slowly die. If someone appears likely to stand up, regenerate, or escape, Witherclaw reaches them again, breaking a few more bones in a manner that seems almost gentle.

Sometimes, it even looks up at me while doing so or while taking a bite from attendees who hesitate to forfeit.

Seeing that behavior from the beast, many of the remaining attendees simply forfeit and vanish, causing the beast to pause.

It stands there looking almost sad. Then it opens its mouth full of sharp teeth and lets out a sound I have never heard. It is not a screech and it isn’t any sound I recognize.

A low, guttural chuff rolls out, rough and dry, followed by a rapid series of sharp, clicking barks. The sound carries a strange, uneven rhythm like a broken pattern of short exhales forced through a narrow throat. A deep growl follows, vibrating low in the chest and rumbling just beneath the surface.

Then another burst of chattering clicks, each one sharp and deliberate, almost like the controlled rasp of bone scraping against bone. The sound is aggressive and deliberate, carrying the edge of something predatory.

Only when Jean exits the forest does the beast stop.

Fittingly, Jean grins and slams a fist against his chest, the impact sending vibrations I can feel even from up here. The force scatters the raindrops around him, making the rain pause for a brief moment.

The Witherclaw moves faster than before and both the beast and the man are caught in a shockwave that uproots the surrounding trees. Another attack follows immediately after and the beast is launched through the air, unable to withstand the incredible strength that Jean possesses.

It bulldozes through dozens of trees and stands up, shaking its head. Before it can do anything else, it is pulled through the air into Jean’s huge hand as he grabs its neck and slams its entire body against the ground in another explosion.

Jean moves to do it again but suddenly halts his movement.

The beast is no longer there. Instead, it lands a short distance away, damaged but still functional. Holding Jean’s torn-off hand, it looks at him and takes a slow, deliberate bite, tearing off one of the thick fingers and starting to chew.

Unsurprisingly, the huge man smiles brightly, his eyes almost as predatory as the beasts'. The pressure around him rises with an audible thump, sending a powerful vibration through the air.

He takes a step and the earth explodes; from the air, he grabs stones and hurls them at the beast.

Witherclaw drops the hand and moves nimbly away from the explosion. Even though its body remains unaffected as Jean tries to pull it, the beast charges at him on its own.

They clash again and this time Witherclaw ends up wounded as well. It is thrown aside, one of its arms dislocated, and it leaves deep lacerations across Jean’s face.

Fully ignoring his wounds Jean charges the beast again only to reach the spot and not find it anywhere. He looks around, confused and preparing for an ambush that never comes.

I track Witherclaw, watching it retreat cowardly. It cradles its broken arm and lets out distressed, short, sharp barks with an undertone of deep vibration.

At this point, I leap from the island, extending [Ley Line] below before teleporting, just in time to disrupt the dangerous strings of mana reaching toward Witherclaw.

The beast notices the strings too late and would have fallen into the trap. With its empty eyes, it scans me, tenses its body, and prepares to charge, but then changes its mind. Instead, it bulldozes through the dozens of corpses of dead beasts that have risen and been forced to fight. Undead creatures, their eyes glowing with a mixture of blue and green light.

I disrupt another wave of dangerous threads not unlike [Ley Line] and stand to face Yama, the 9th-round tournament winner.

"Incredible. So far, only two attendees have been able to see my strings, but neither could disrupt them with just a glance," she says calmly as she steps out of the tree line.

Behind her, the corpse of Stormscale Basilisk moves with the same blue and green light in its eyes and huge, bloodless yet open wounds mar its body. Even though it is weaker than when alive it still feels impressive.

"Thank you, I have also noticed you observing my lines," I answer.

"I couldn’t help but admire them. They are different from my own yet impressive in their own way. Now I want to ask you, why have you stepped between me and that beast?"

"It's mine to kill," I say simply.

"It's whoever kills it first," she counters.

"It's mine." Then, just as she does, I raise my mana.

Her strings swirl in a huge circle around us, each vibrating at a slightly different frequency, but I know that in just a moment I would be able to disrupt them.

After glancing in the direction where Witherclaw went I turn to Yama, "Your group?"

"Yes, and some friends I made. While I hold you here they should…"

Instead of letting her finish, I disrupt all the strings reaching toward me, and instead of using the [Ley Line] that I'm sure she tampered with, I use Wraith Dance to reach her.

The undead basilisk and a few more corpses rise to attack me but I maneuver around them and reach the woman.

Her strings are even denser around her; she uses them to move her body, increasing her speed as she pulls and yanks. She does the same with the corpses which, without the strings, would appear to be pulled by invisible leashes.

I hear Witherclaw's screech and change direction again toward the source, deploying [Eclipse] for a moment to eliminate anything she tries to use to slow me down.

I blow away a few undead monsters jumping in my way and duck under the Chinese man swinging at me with a dagger in his hand. I continue to run as he follows behind me, tall and slim and sending familiar vibrations of kinetic energy from his body.

I absorb my momentum and lean to the right only to have it absorbed again. A burst of kinetic energy surges through my body and I execute a movement that would normally twist my ankle but instead adds momentum and is absorbed.

The man falters, confused by a series of movements and unprepared as I approach him from his left instead of his right. Even so, he still raises his weapon and blocks my attack with his arm, but is too late to notice the Needle Point I use to break his kinetic barrier and then another that shatters his feet.

As he loses balance I punch him, releasing more kinetic energy and sending him rolling through the forest.

Lightning from the undead Basilisk lands where I just stood and I use Wraith Dance three times in a row to reach a clearing in which, in the middle, Witherclaw stands trapped. Around the beast half a dozen attendees are present, each of them at least Beyonder or Hell difficulty. There is a cage made of pale white polished stone around it, further strengthened by the surrounding field.

The man using the stones wears a stone ring on his finger, the signature of which catches my attention.

Meanwhile, Witherclaw tries to escape. Its left arm remains broken, but it uses its fangs to tear at the cage, which quickly regenerates before it can fully break free.

Three members of the group move to attack me and at this point, I am sure they are all using something to communicate.

Instead of fighting them, I raise my mana even further, flooding the air with its raw power. The sheer intensity overwhelms their senses, forcing the three men to step back in shock.

Then I form [Empyrean Lance] and shoot it through the cage, the lance tearing through it as if the stone were made of paper.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Witherclaw swings its claws once more at the damaged spot and breaks free.

Panic ensues but before they can react the swift beast, now free from the trap, leaps at the man with the stone ring, bites off his neck, and continues to scratch his face with its claw until the man disintegrates into blue particles.

Without the trap, the men and women stand no chance against the Witherclaw as it tears through them. With nothing to slow it down, no one can match its speed or withstand the attacks of its claws.

Seeing Yama appear, Witherclaw lets out those predatory noises again and lunges at her. Its speed surges, and with a single swing of its seemingly fragile body, it blows the basilisk's head clean off.

Before it reaches her, Yama attempts to teleport, but Witherclaw uses its mana for the first time. A flare of energy erupts around its body as it reaches for Yama mid-teleportation. The mana destabilizes her escape, snapping the threads she was trying to use.

She reappears from the failed teleport, her side twisted, torn, and shattered by the attempt.

At that moment, Witherclaw fails to notice the string coiling several times around its neck. Even in her wounded state, Yama hides it well and starts pulling, trying to behead the beast.

And she would have succeeded if I wasn’t there.

I disrupt her attempt and return the cold gaze she gives me.

Witherclaw realizes what happened, but the emptiness in its eyes remains unchanged. Ignoring a few weaker mana-based attacks, it swings to kill the undead beasts charging at it, then grabs Yama’s leg and leaps onto a branch of a nearby tree.

Even as Yama struggles, trying to strike or injure it in any way, Witherclaw doesn't react. Its immense mana blocks most of her attacks. Still staring at me, it takes a bite of her leg. It reaches for another, but Yama vanishes into particles, likely forfeiting.

Jumping down from the branch, Witherclaw steps toward me with the same predatory movement.

I hold my ground as it closes the distance. When it reaches arm’s length, the usually hunched beast straightens, standing multiple heads taller than me, its lanky, fragile-looking body looming overhead. It opens its mouth, releasing a deep, grating noise while pressing down on me with its mana.

In response, I unleash my own. It surges outward, crushing the air with its weight as it engulfs the area and slams into Witherclaw’s mana. My mana pushes against it, threatening to tear through and completely overwhelm it.

This time, I take a step forward and instinctively, Witherclaw steps back, slightly hunching.

"Fuck. Off."

It hesitates for a few seconds before turning away and running toward more signatures.

I check the timer to confirm when I am allowed to kill it and follow behind.

***

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