Chapter 216: King Beast?

There was no time to run. Zyra reached out to Beauty. "Boost my speed ×15 and strength ×30"

[Yes host. That resonance stone is ours.]

Zyra felt herself run faster than the wind. She appeared between Hunter and the beast’s leg in a fraction of a millisecond. She grabbed the leg with her bare hand, stopping it dead in its tracks. "Not today pal."

Hunter caught his balance, hovering about the water, looking at her in shock.

Zyra turned to him with a feral grin. "Need my help, husband?"

Hunter let out a deep, boisterous laugh. "Right on time." If those claws landed in his chest, it would take at least two weeks to heal.

Zyra pulled the leg down, using her amplified strength to rip the leg off in one swift move. Hunter shot forward like a bullet, swinging both of his scythes in a downward cross. The blades flared with blinding light, slicing through the beast’s heavy carapace like butter.

They landed back-to-back in the rushing water, surrounded by falling monster parts, synchronized and laughing like madmen. Hunter caught the resonance stone and handed it to her.

"You know," Hunter roared over the sound of the rain and flood, "we make a pretty good team!"

"Duh!" Zyra ducked as another beast claw snapped near her ear. "We have trained a lot together; it is only natural. Half of my day is spent rolling around in your sweat."

He huffed. "I would think it disgusted you if I didn’t see you sniffing my shirt last evening." He smirked. "Next time, sniff me instead." Hunter shot out like a bullet again, laughing in a way that annoyed Zyra.

She decided to take out her frustration on the beasts in the water. Aside from hovering, the boots could run on the surface, making it easy to kill beasts faster.

While the rest of the team worked like a well-oiled machine, Malia was spiraling. Her rage had completely hijacked her brain. She didn’t even notice that the ground was trembling again.

"Malia, fall back!" Nathan warned over the Link. "The southern ridge is collapsing!"

"No! I see another shark beast!" Malia screamed, her eyes wild. She spotted a spiky jelly shark beast. Everyone could see the blue resonance stone in its chest. Instead of waiting for Armillo to lock it with the Lock gun, she charged in blindly, hurling Pulse shards everywhere.

"Malia, wait! The radius_!" Armillo yelled.

A Pulse Shard ricocheted off the beast’s transparent hard skin and detonated right next to Koji.

"AAAGH!" Koji screamed, blasted backward into the rocks. Bone snapped sharply, and blood pooled in the water around his leg.

"Koji!" Taylor cried out, firing a desperate shot to keep the beasts back. He reached Koji quickly and flew him back to safe ground.

"Malia, what the hell are you doing?!" Nathan barked into the band, fury in his voice. "You almost killed him!"

Malia hovered in one place, frozen, panting, looking at her smoking hands, then at Koji, completely bewildered as if waking from a nightmare. "I_ I didn’t mean_"

"Tessi! Get over here!" Zyra commanded, sprinting to cover the squad.

Tessi rushed over under Nero’s covering fire. She dropped to her knees beside Koji, placing her hands on his mangled leg. Soft, warm light spilled from her palms, enveloping the wound. Koji gritted his teeth as the bone set itself back in place and the flesh closed up.

"You’re okay, Koji," Tessi whispered, her face pale from the strain. "Just_ try not to get blown up again."

"I’ll try," Koji groaned, standing up and testing his leg. "Malia, I know you are going through shit but try not to kill us_ please."

Malia nodded, "I will follow your lead guys...sorry."

So far, they were winning, but the commotion had drawn something stronger while their attention was drawn to Koji. The ground stopped trembling, but the water started to freeze. The air grew freezing cold.

"Does anyone else see this?" Tessi asked.

Out of the blue, a water serpent reared its upper body several meters above the unfrozen waves. It loomed over them like a skyscraper of black scales with a luminous belly. Its six long necks swayed in the sky, each with a head that emitted a screech that could shatter glass.

Most amazing about this serpent was that it had one resonance stone, and dozens of energy stones allover it’s scales that made it shinny. It was like a walking energy stone mine.

"That’s a king level beast!" Nero yelled, stepping back. "Lock-Guns won’t hold that thing for more than three seconds!"

"Then we don’t hold it," Hunter growled.

He closed his eyes. His muscles twitched, almost ripping through his armor. His body seemed to grow inches, and his eyes became icy blue. It was almost like he became someone else or something else. Hunter let out a roar that shook the water.

Before the king serpent could strike, Hunter surged forward, traveling so fast he left a vacuum behind him. He slammed into the central neck of the serpent, grabbing it with his bare hands and tearing the other head straight off the monster’s body in a shower of black blood.

"Holy shit," Gilby muttered, lowering his rifle. "Remind me never to make the boss mad."

Zyra shot forward to join the fight, activating her super punch, and wielding the spear in her left hand. She flew as high as she could get, coming close to the serpent’s remaining heads. Her right fist glowed with a blinding, sun-like radiance.

"Eat this." She growled. She drove her fist straight down into one of the serpent’s necks. Her fist went through its flesh, separating the head from the body. Quickly, she swung the spear, taking off another head.

Hunter dug his blades into its flesh like hooks. He slid down the beast’s body, ripping scales and flesh away. Zyra used super punch again from behind, ripping out the largest central resonance stone.

The serpent lost all power, as if a switch had been turned off. The serpent swayed, and fell forward, nearly burying Hunter in the flood waters. A shockwave ripped through the ground, parting the floodwaters for hundreds of yards in every direction as its body landed.

Zyra and Hunter did not stop. To make sure it was completely dead, they cut off its last two heads and tail.

Finally, they stopped to catch a breath. Only now did Zyra realize that its body was full of resonance stones. There were no energy stones, just one big one, and dozens of smaller ones.

"Jack pot!" Zyra screamed as her jar filled to the top.

Bianca dove in like a kid in a candy shop. Parts of the serpent were torn apart, and the remaining resonance stones were collected.

Other beasts left the area quickly. As the water washed back into the rift, hundreds of energy stones floated to the surface like a field of fallen stars. To everyone, it was like Christmas.

"I have never seen a king beast before!" Armillo said, as he took a picture of what remained of the serpent.

Malia breathed hard, "I used to think they were myths."

Hunter looked around. "Alright I think that we have hunted enough, let us return. I can sense sonic sharks somewhere in the water."

"With these things out there, I cannot argue with that." Taylor shuddered. "It’s just a pity about the rest of the energy stones."

He did not want to leave any behind, and neither did the rest of the team.

[Not on my watch.] Beauty chimed in Zyra’s mind.

The system opened a portal, suctioning away the remaining energy stones, along with all the small wild beasts in the area and the hunting team.

The last thought on Zyra’s mind was that she was never going to see those energy stones again.