BOOM!
A shockwave blasted through the battlefield as Team 4 clashed with the surging Beast Tide, just outside the heavily guarded walls of Jakartha City. Dust and blood painted the land. The pungent stench of scorched fur hung thick in the air.
The first wave had crushed beasts ranging from 1-Star Low to 1-Star Peak left in pieces beneath the steel and spells of Jakartha's elite Otherworlder Ascendants.
The ground was littered with broken tusks, cracked claws, and shattered fangs. Mana still crackled in the air like static. Yet despite their victory, the defenders were bleeding; many Adventurers now groaned behind the frontlines, limbs wrapped in hastily summoned bandages or glowing healing sigils.
A hush fell over the battlefield.
For a single heartbeat… silence.
THUD... THUD... THUD...
The forest trembled.
Then came the second wave.
CRAAK-KROOM!
Trees snapped and the earth quaked as a new tide of monsters erupted from the woods. This wasn't just a follow-up, it was a true storm.
Beasts surged out in terrifying numbers, their strength far surpassing the first. These were 2-Star stage monsters, each one a walking disaster in its own right.
And they were like hungry wolves.
---
2nd Beasts from Low to Peak;
Mandrake, 2-Star Low beast. A grotesque, plant-like beast only two feet tall but deceptively dangerous. Its golden petals shimmered with ethereal heat, glowing like embers in the wind. The humanoid roots writhed as fiery sap pulsed through its body.
Ding!
FLASH!
Its burst of radiant magic left even seasoned warriors blinking in confusion.
Blinding light magic. Weak alone. Lethal in swarms. Equivalent to A novice fire mage.
Moonshade Fox, 2-Star Low Stage beast. A sleek silver predator with fur that rippled like moonlight on water. Its twin tails flickered, casting pale blue glows with each movement.
WHOOSH! FLASH!
it vanished, then reappeared behind a spell-caster's back. Illusion and stealth. Absconds with mana-rich relics. Equivalent to A rogue specialized in vanishing acts.
Ashbloom Salamander, 2-Star Low Stage beast
A charcoal-scaled reptile with ember spots that glowed like dying coals. Its tongue flicked with sparks.
FWOOSH!
A fireball shot from its mouth, exploding ash and flame. Fireball spitter. Can burrow for ambush.
Equivalent to A flame-wielding warrior.
Emberclaw Jackal, 2-Star Mid Stage beast
A jackal with blazing orange fur, its claws burning like molten blades.
SCRRRRK!
With every leap, its steps ignited the ground.
Traits: Attacks in sync with a partner. Leaves molten, Equivalent to A fire-enhanced swordsman.
Shadowfang Boar, 2-Star Mid Stage Beast. A massive beast wreathed in shadows, its smoky-black fur always shifting. Its red-tinged tusks pulsed with dark energy.
THOOM! WHOOSH!
It charged, cloaking everything in darkness.
Traits: Shadow burst charges. Can create zones of blindness. Equivalent to a bruiser with darkness-type enhancement.
Bloodthorn Viper, 2-Star Mid Stage beast. A crimson-scaled serpent with jagged, thorn-like spines lining its body.
SSSKKTT!
Its fangs dripped with sizzling venom. One scratch meant death. Venom-drainer. Lurks near healing herbs. Equivalent to a poison assassin.
Blazefang Drake, 2-Star Peak Stage Beast, Seven feet long and glowing like a volcano. Its fangs gleamed white-hot, and molten fire oozed from its tail.
BOOOOM!
A fireball exploded from its jaws, torching three Ascendants at once. Molten fire attacks. Charges like a juggernaut. Equivalent to a fire-imbued knight.
Frostgaze Basilisk, 2-Star Peak Stage Beast
A towering reptile with icy scales and amber eyes that radiated dread.
CRACKLE!
SHHHT!
Where it looked, frost formed.Paralyzing gaze. Finishes with frost-laced fangs. Equivalent to a frost mage with petrifying skills.
Bloodclaw Panther, 2-Star Peak Stage Beast
Six feet of crimson fur and silent death. Its claws dripped with glowing red essence life force stolen from prey.
WHOOSH!
It disappeared into shadow, then reappeared in a blur. Life-draining slashes. Perfect stealth.
Equivalent to a deadly assassin born of blood and silence.
----
Back on the battlefield, Jakartha's defenders regrouped, eyes wide with awe and tension.
Many had thought the first wave was the end.
They were wrong.
This was a true Beast Tide.
And the real battle… had just begun.
DUN! DUN! DUUUN!
----
The battlefield stood still.
Not a single breath, not a single sound.
The stench of scorched fur and blood still lingered from the first wave of 1st Star beasts annihilated by the ferocious might of Jakartha City's Otherworlder Ascendants. The ground was littered with charred bones and shattered fangs. Though victorious, the cost had not been light. Several Ascendants lay groaning, wrapped in emergency healing barriers.
Thud…
A faint tremor.
RUMBLE… RUMBLE…
The earth quivered again this time, deeper, heavier… hungrier.
BOOM!
From the depths of Jakartha Forest, the second wave surged forth like an unstoppable flood.
Thirty distinct types of beasts, all between 2nd Star Low to 2nd Star Peak, roared out from the shadowy tree line. But unlike their reckless kin before them, these ones didn't charge blindly. They moved in ten distinct formations coordinated, disciplined, deadly.
Over a three hundred 2nd Star beasts swept forward in terrifying unison, led from the darkness by 3rd Star Peak commanders, whose presence sent waves of pressure across the land.
This was no mindless tide.
This was war.
The 2nd Star beasts had watched the slaughter of their 1st Star brethren. They remembered. They evolved. Though no smarter than human children, their instincts were cruelly honed eyes gleaming with vengeance, claws thirsting for blood.
Every Adventurer squad tensed.
Ten teams, each with forty elite combatants, stood their ground.
Among them Team 4.
Jack. James. Emma.
Standing side by side, hearts pounding, eyes gleaming.
The warm-up was over.
Now came the real fight.
----
Jack didn't wait.
WHOOSH!
He shot forward like a blur, wind curling around his boots as he dashed straight toward a towering Shadowfang Boar.
The beast was monstrous five feet tall with fur like flowing smoke, its tusks pulsating with violet shadow energy. It snorted once, and the ground beneath it began to darken.
"Shadowfang Boar incoming," Jack muttered.
DING!
His eye flashed Eye of Truth activating as Information shows in his Sea Of Knowledge;
Name: Shadowfang Boar
Rank: 2nd Star Mid
Element: Darkness
Skills: Shadow Charge, Smoke Veil
Weakness: Neck joint unstable during charge
Jack's lips curled into a grin.
"Gotcha."
He invoked his Minor Blessing of Shadow's Vigilance, his figure vanishing into a hazy blur.
FWOOSH!
In a blink, He use the Shadow Step assassin and appear behind the beast.
His dagger glowed with infused Fire and Wind mana. With a whisper of a breath, he unleashed Silent Kill skill, his blade flashing toward the beast's exposed neck.
SHHNK!
Blood erupted.
"RRRAAGHH!" the beast bellowed, twisting in rage.
Its tusks came whipping around like blades of death.
SWIPE!
Jack dodged in a heartbeat, triggering Evasion Instinct skill.
WHOOSH!
He bent low, slid under the attack, then launched upward with Pressure Point Strike, stabbing the exact same wound.
CRACK!
The dagger pierced through clean. The boar's massive body convulsed once.
THUD!
Dead.
Jack stood, panting, as steam rose from his body.
Then
DING!
He use Abyssal Regeneration on Shadowfang Boar. A dark aura surged over him as the boar's lifeforce was consumed. His Wounds vanished. Stamina, mana, vitality all restored in an instant.
But his mind…
throb
Still reeled from the brutal mental drain of constant high-speed combat.
"Keep going…" he muttered.
But the shadows stirred again.
CRACKLE...
His breath caught.
That subtle crackle wasn't just ambient noise it was a signal. A warning. The Blessing of Shadow's Vigilance pulsed within him, sending chills down his spine. His sixth sense screamed something was coming.
The air around him grew dense. Cold. Wrong.
Jack instinctively activated his shadow-phase. His body blurred, slipping into the shadows like smoke vanishing in moonlight. From within that twilight space, he watched still, silent, hidden.
Then he saw it.
Danger behind.
SWISH!
A flash of red!
Out of the dark pounced a Bloodclaw Panther six feet long, fangs bared, claws blazing crimson. Its paw slashed for Jack's neck, promising instant death.
ZING!
He dodged again, barely.
Evasion Instinct skill saved him. but only just.
His body twisted in an unnatural arch, the panther's claws slicing the air an inch from his throat.
But this time… Jack couldn't counter in time.
He was open.
And the beast knew it.
SNAP!
Suddenly steel-gray fur burst out from Jack's own shadow.
A massive wolf tackled the panther mid-air.
WHAM!
Teeth sinking deep into its neck.
CRUNCH!
The panther's body fell limp, head half-torn.
Jack blinked.
Standing over the corpse was Ironfang his father James tamed beast, a monstrous wolf with eyes like forged steel, fangs dripping with blood.
Behind him, calm as ever, strolled James.
He casually patted Jack's shoulder. "You alright?
Jack nodded slowly, chest heaving.
James grinned. "You gotta keep your back covered. Stay alert even in the kill zone."
Jack let out a shaky breath, lips twitching into a smirk. "Ok Dad."
He knew it.
James and Emma weren't just teammates. They were veterans tempered by ten brutal months of missions, monster den battles , and near-death encounters with the Adventurer's Guild quest.
As for Jack, He spends six months at the Academy.
But even so…
He clenched his fists.
He will soon catching up them.
Faster than anyone expected.
And this battle?
--------
To Be Continued..!!