Chapter 75 The Hunt
The jungle didn't just look alive; it sounded hungry.
I crashed through a thicket of glowing purple ferns, my lungs burning. Behind me, the roar of the Mana-Beast shook the ground. Trees snapped like toothpicks as the massive, crystal-encrusted bear tore through the forest, chasing the only thing that dared to challenge it.
Me.
"Come on, you ugly rug!" I shouted while vaulting over a crushed taxi that was being eaten by neon moss.
But I wasn't running away because I needed to save myself. I was running to draw it away from Elara.
Kael had snagged Elara and pulled her into the mouth of a subway vent as the Beast tore into the library, and I then saw Vane and the Commander dive into the remains of a bank.
I went the other way. I made noise. I made myself the target.
And it worked.
CRASH.
A colossal paw smashed into the ground inches in front of my heels, sending a shockwave that propelled me forward. I rolled through mud glowing blue.
I threw myself to my feet. The Beast was right upon me.
Close up, it was terrifying. Not simply an animal, but a freak from the Overcharge. Its coat of fur was wire-tough. Its teeth were jagged shards of raw diamond. And its eyes.. They didn't have pupils. They swirled vortices of pure magic.
It roared, spraying acidic saliva that hissed against my skin.
I had no sword, no gun. Just my hands and the new, burning power in my veins.
"Okay," I growled, fists raised. "Let's dance."
The Beast lunged.
I dodged to the left. My speed was astounding; never had I run faster. Apparently, the Overcharge had supercharged my wolf reflexes.
I punched the Beast in the ribs.
CRACK.
That strike landed like a cannonball. I felt ribs at the other end crack beneath the mossy hide. Stumbling sideways, snorting, the Beast yelped.
But then, the moss on its side started to glow. The green light pulsed, and in a matter of seconds, the ribs knitted back together.
"Regeneration," I cursed. "Of course."
The Beast swung a backhand, but I wasn't quick enough this time.
WHAM.
I was sent twenty feet shooting through the air. I crashed through a brick wall and landed in the lobby of an old office building.
I groaned, shaking glass out of my hair. My chest ached, but I wasn't broken. My own healing factor was working overtime, fueled by the ambient magic in the air.
The Beast squeezed through the hole in the wall. It stalked toward me, growling low in its throat. It knew I was cornered.
Aside from empty desks and an encroaching jungle, there was nothing.
The Beast stood on its hind legs to crush me.
It was in those whirling blue eyes that I saw life.
And felt... something.
It wasn't fear.
It was recognition.
I could hear its heartbeat. Slow, thunderous. I could feel its hunger. It was not angry; it was just territorial. It saw me as a rival Alpha.
The Overcharge didn't only change the plants; it connected everything. The magic flowing through the Beast was the same magic flowing through me.
I didn't brace for impact. I didn't run.
I stood up straight. I took a deep breath.
I let the Wolf take the wheel. But not just the Wolf. The King.
I reached out with my mind, pushing past the panic, past human logic, straight into the primal brain of the monster.
"KNEEL."
I didn't shout it. I projected it.
The sound didn't travel through the air. It traveled through the magic. It was an Alpha Command, amplified a thousand times.
The Beast froze.
Its gigantic paw held in complete suspension, hovering above my head.
It whined. The swirling blue eyes widened.
Resistance throbbing against my command: feral instinct pushed back against me.
Apex, I am, the Beast's mind forced back.
No. I pushed harder. The red haze engulfed me. That part of me, the human side that remembered mathematics and mercy, shrank away. The animal claimed me.
The Womb of the World I am, I proclaimed. The Primordial Source I am.
Stepping forward.
"I said... DOWN."
The Beast trembled. Muscles caught up in knot.
Slowly, with pain, the monster lowered its paw. It dropped onto all fours, then lowered its massive head till the diamond chin touched the filthy floor tiles.
It whimpered, elongating its neck in front of me. A show of submission.
I stood above it. My heart thudded, but it was no fear hammering it; it was the slow, heavy thudding of power.
I reached out and placed my palm against the Beast's muzzle. The moss was rough, coursing with energy.
Good, I thought.
An eruption of pleasure coursed through me. Not happiness. Dominance. It was intoxicating. Better than respiration. Looking at the massive creature, I didn’t see a monster anymore. I saw a hound. \`My hound\`.
"Ryker?"
Quiet. Terrified.
I turned around.
Elara stood at the lobby entrance, covered in mud and holding a piece of rebar like a spear. Kael was behind her, looking pale.
They were staring at me.
"Ryker?" Elara whispered, "What are you doing?"
I looked at her.
For a split second... I didn't recognize her.
I saw something frail, little. Prey? No. Something else.
Mate.
The very thought weighted upon me, heavy, possessive.
I blinked. The red tint wavered from my vision. The human part clawed its way back to the surface.
"Elara," I breathed, the name felt foreign on my tongue, "I... I stopped it."
"You stopped it?" Kael stepped forward, staring at the now-cowering Mana-Beast. "Ryker, that thing is an Apex Predator. It doesn't stop for anything."
"I made it stop," I said while looking at my hand. "I commanded it."
Elara moved toward me slowly as if she was walking toward a bomb. She looked into my eyes.
"Ryker," she spoke, soft, "your eyes."
"What of them?"
"The gold is gone," she breathed. "Now they are violet. Like the Beast."
I froze.
I regarded the Beast. It remained bowed, awaiting my next command. It would kill for me. It would die for me.
And I liked that.
More than anything else, that frightened me.
"We have to leave," I said, my voice rough. I turned my back on the Beast. "The Commander sent for his fleet. If they arrive, they’ll bomb the entire sector."
"And what about... that?" Vane limped into the room behind Kael, pointing his pistol at the bear.
"He stays," I said.
I took a last glance at the Beast.
Guard, I commanded silently.
The Beast let out a low growl and lay down just in front of the wall that had been blasted away. It was now a gatekeeper.
Vane looked at me with very wide eyes. "Okay. Remind me never to owe you money again."
Out we walked into the neon night, and I led the way.
The plants seemed to part for me. Vines shrank away as I passed. The jungle sensed me.
I walked fast, gaining distance from my team. I did not want them to see my face.
Because I could still feel the Beast in the back of my head. Mind to mind with it, I could feel many others. Thousands of them.
The city was teeming with monsters.
And every last one of them waited for a King.