The Beast King (3)

"Just hand over your life quietly!"

The first to move was the Beast King's Fairy — Bunny, the rabbit beastman. From a standing start she launched herself at me, covering more than twenty meters in three strides.

Will-o'-the-Wisp.

I fell back as I triggered the skill. Thirty-one will-o'-the-wisps spun around me like planets orbiting a sun.

"Cheap tricks!"

As if she'd known I would do exactly that, a light as white as fresh snow began gathering in Bunny's legs — her first skill.

Like a breakdancer, Bunny bounced in place and whipped her legs through the air. The Kicking Arts riding those strikes shot out and swatted down every last wisp I'd put up.

Black Barrage!

But my magic assault wasn't finished. The seconds I'd bought with Will-o'-the-Wisp were enough to fire Black Barrage. Thirty-three black orbs streaked toward her.

"I said they were cheap tricks!"

Bunny tried to intercept them mid-flight with Kicking Arts again. This time, it didn't go the way she expected.

"Wha— they didn't blow up?!"

More than half of the thirty-three orbs winked out on contact with her skill. The rest, though, took the hit and kept coming.

Startled by orbs that had eaten her skill and survived, Bunny twisted her body and slipped past the ones still screaming in.

How do you like that, you rabbit bitch!

A thin smile crept across my face as I watched her scramble out of the way.

Of every skill I currently had, Black Barrage was the only one I could actually use to attack. Will-o'-the-Wisp existed, sure, but that was closer to a crowd-control tool for stacking Burn than a real offensive spell.

And to wring every drop of power out of Black Barrage, my primary attribute had to be Darkness. Any other element weakened it. Light made the skill all but worthless.

That was why I'd held onto Darkness even though the Beast King and Bunny were both Fire-aspected.

"My turn, you animal bastards!"

"Hmph! Bring it on, trash!"

"What? Trash? You little shit? You're gonna get a spanking from big bro later."

"Fuck off! You're going to die here! Trash that can't even be recycled!"

"...You're so dead."

I steered the remaining orbs and charged her, a sword materializing from my inventory into my hand.

"Rabbit!"

"Trash!"

KWAANG—!

My blade and Bunny's leg slammed together.

While Alan and Bunny tore into each other, the Beast King — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unexpectedly — stayed out of it. Arms folded, he simply watched the man fighting his Fairy.

A Magic Swordsman? Or a Magic Pugilist? He used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠both magic and close combat, so it had to be one of the two... but the Beast King had never heard of anyone this skilled. Who the hell is this guy?

He studied Alan's movements with clinical care.

Before he'd become the Beast King, he'd seen plenty of people with those rare-grade classes. Every last one of them had been garbage.

And of course they had. You were lucky to become strong pouring everything into a single well. Try to grasp both sword and magic — or both brawling and magic — and you ended up as neither, a half-baked mess stuck in between.

Raw stats alone didn't make a true powerhouse. You needed traits and skills that suited your class, backed by the hardware of those stats, before you could call yourself strong.

A Magic Swordsman or a Magic Pugilist had to catch two rabbits at once to get anywhere — which meant their traits and skills ended up inferior to everyone else's.

Alan was different.

The Beast King had already traded fists with him. Alan's stats were on par with his own, or just a shade below. And even without a Beastman Transformation, Alan had taken his punch and stayed on his feet. That meant his Durability was every bit as high as his Strength.

So he should have been a warrior or swordsman class... and yet, astonishingly, Alan used magic. Magic with enough bite that you couldn't afford to ignore it.

A strange one. Could he be a saboteur sent by people who know about Us?

Nobody acquired that kind of power on their own. The Beast King was certain some faction had raised this man — and that faction knew about Palos's Bird, and meant to get in the way.

Don't tell me the plague in the East was them too?

A plague had begun spreading through the eastern territories, but the monks' devoted efforts had kept it from engulfing the entire region. Pista Castle, which the Beast King ruled, had yet to see a single case.

He couldn't shake the suspicion that whoever had cultivated Alan had also unleashed the plague. The timing was too convenient to be coincidence.

And the damage hadn't been limited to the kings and queens operating in the East. If you measured it by scale, Palos's Bird had been hit harder.

Because Palos's Bird was spread across the entire East.

Agents working the infected zones had caught the disease themselves. None of them lasted more than a few days. It was a plague dangerous enough that even Masters and Fairies burned out in a handful of sunsets.

As the losses mounted day by day, the East's administrator — Hawk — could no longer sit on his hands. He called in supply support and combat operatives of at least 6-Star from the uninfected territories, then prepared to lead them in personally. He intended to investigate the plague sweeping the East and, if possible, erase it at the source.

Not because Hawk was some righteous soul who couldn't turn his back on the weak.

When Palos's Bird eventually toppled the Ferdium Empire and claimed the Gaia-rium continent, the East would fall under Hawk's authority. He had no interest in watching his future domain rot.

No matter how I look at it, this bastard showing up is no coincidence.

If Alan hadn't come and killed his Fairy, the Beast King would have been dispatched to the plague zone on schedule. Whether Alan knew that or not didn't matter. What mattered was that the man was interfering with Hawk's operation.

As for who's behind him... I'll grab him and find out.

Analysis complete, the Beast King finally moved.

Before committing to the fight in earnest, he activated Beastman Transformation.

CRRRK-KRK-KRK—!

He'd stood in the mid-six-foot range. Now, with the skill active, he swelled until he nearly scraped two meters. Bone, ligament, and muscle all expanded and loosened at once. The hair that fell to his shoulders bled into a tawny gold, a lion's mane; a lion's tail burst from above his hips; his face warped until it resembled a predator's.

It was nothing like the Fairies, who only grew ears and a tail.

Two more class levels and he would hit Master Level — 60.

Blood of the Lion. Clan of the Plains. He'd already met the conditions to evolve into a higher Beastman class, and so his transformation remade him into something far closer to a true beastman than any Fairy's ever could.

"KRRRAAAAAAAUGH!!!!!!!!"

"Fuck—!"

The lion beastman crashed toward Alan. Mid-swing against Bunny, Alan couldn't slip the arm that came in from nowhere.

CRUNCH—!

"Ghk—?!"

Amplified by Beastman Transformation, the Beast King's fist hit far harder than before — and he had the Boxing Champion trait to pile even more force onto every punch. Alan's ribs didn't just break. They turned to powder. He coughed blood as he flew, and the wall took him like a thrown sack.

"Ah. Should I have pulled that a little?"

The Beast King looked down at Alan twitching face-down on the floor and smiled, thin and ugly. He'd already mixed it up with the man. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew Alan's Durability was in the same neighborhood as his own; this wouldn't kill him. But with his ribcage completely smashed, he wouldn't be getting up either.

"Trash. Who's behind y— hm?"

He'd been strolling over, nice and easy, when his feet stopped.

"Aaaah... you fucking animal. Of course a beast bastard sucker-punches people. Hagh— ptoo."

The Beast King's eyelid twitched in irritation. Alan was getting up, one hand rubbing the flank that had just been caved in. He spat a wad of bloody phlegm onto the floor.

The wounds are gone again.

The Beast King saw it at once. Fighting Bunny had left Alan nicked and scraped all over. Now his skin was as clean as a newborn's.

He did that earlier too. So he's got a recovery skill as well... genuinely impossible to pin down.

He fought with a sword like a swordsman, cast magic like a mage, and now he healed like a cleric. To the Beast King, Alan was a creature without a name.

A crooked grin.

"But you can't keep getting up forever."

The Beast King smiled that thin smile at him. Instant full recovery? Fine. Beat him into a dying heap until he couldn't use it anymore.

"Don't you break on me. I haven't had my fill yet."

"Look at this crippled nerd running his mouth just because he's got a hole in his face. That's right — laugh it up. You won't be laughing in a minute."

"KRRRAAAAAUGH!"

"How dare you run your mouth at my Master! Trash to the bone, I see!"

"Come on then, you fucking animals — all of you!"

Alan swung his sword at the Beast King and Bunny as they charged.

Just like I'd promised, the Beast ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠King wasn't laughing anymore. His pupils shook the way a man's do when he's stared at something that shouldn't exist.

"What are you?! What the hell are you?!"

I cackled as I pressed in close. My sword was already in two pieces thanks to him, so I was fighting bare-handed.

"Get off me!"

"Heh-heh-heh-heh. Slow."

He threw a punch to peel me off. I slipped it by a sheet of paper and drove an uppercut into his ribs with everything I had.

CRACK—!

"GAAAAAH!"

"Kh—?!"

Both our faces twisted at the same time. His ribs and my fist had broken together.

This dirty Beast King bastard had a skill called Steel Body. It turned skin into steel and cranked defense through the roof. I'd hit his side, sure — but what I'd actually done was punch a slab of steel with my bare hand.

"Master! Get lost, trash!"

"Gah—!"

The moment the Beast King's face crumpled, Bunny came flying. She sprang up and kicked me square in the face. A shock violent enough to snuff the lights kicked through my skull; I lost my center and went tumbling sideways.

Molt.

"UAAAAAGH! RESURRECTION! I'M JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!"

I was on my feet again before the echo died. Counting this one, I'd used Molt fifteen times.

Which meant my stats currently looked like this:

Beastman Transformation had pushed the Beast King's stats past 6-Star. Mine had climbed higher than that.

"Come at me, you brats."

I cracked my neck as I said it. The Beast King and Bunny both flinched.

"Kh..."

"What the hell kind of trash are you?! Why—why do you keep getting back up?!"

Honestly, at the start I'd thought I was going to die.

I hadn't landed a proper attack. The Beast King and Bunny had just taken turns beating the shit out of me. Every time my body stopped answering, I used Molt. I used it, and used it, and used it — and at some point my stats climbed past theirs.

Movements I couldn't even track before, I could follow now. I could slip their attacks. I could hit back.

Gems spent so far: 15,000.

Enough to summon four Fairies. All of it, because of that Beast King bastard.