Chapter 47 - 47: Aron And The Hunt Part 1

As soon as Aron opened the box housing the crystal, a bright light once again emerged furiously from it for a moment before fading just as quickly. What followed were the numerous growls and bowls of beasts that surrounded the area as well as those far off but drawn in by the crystal.

"Was this your plan from the start?" Jin wore a look of amazement and asked but Aron smiled then shook his head in denial. "I only considered the option of wealth playing a major factor after I had left the cave and I never planned on having allies either. You could say things are working better than I anticipated." Aron confessed easing the surprise everyone held for a moment thinking each and every event that occurred was planned by him.

"It's all about adjusting, Scarlett lower the ship slightly more. We'll fight in a triangular pattern with our backs turned to each other rather than scattered for better and quicker results." Aron instructed quickly before taking out his arcane and looking at the many beasts that began heading in there direction.

After Scarlett lowered the ship, Jagu, Aron and Jin made their descent to the ground where they could immediately feel it shaking furious from the many beasts and creatures heading their way.

As for Scarlett, Oxin and Evanora, they remained on the ship's deck to handle air born creatures and beasts as well as give tactical support from an advantageous position.

"The scent here is pungently heavy, I cannot determine the number of beasts coming this way." Jagu let out a growl and delivered this piece of news to Aron who then crouched down and placed his hand on the ground. "Roughly five thousand give or take a few hundreds." Aron stated before standing back up and assuming a firm stance.

He, Jagu and Jin each stood a hundred meters away from each other and in a triangular formation each with an area at an angle of ninety degrees to fight in while Aron would handle an entire hundred and eighty degrees on his own. Added together meant every direction was secured.

"Any plan to make this easier?" Despite not lacking in skill, even Jin worried five thousand was too much. Jagu had similar thoughts but he'd sooner die than admit he's worried about a foe.

"The first creatures to arrive will be the strongest, the weaker ones wouldn't dare get in there way so they should stay back. In addition to this they'll also be fighting among themselves so use that to your advantage however you can. They're here..." Just as Aron finished advising Jin and Jagu the first creatures rushed out of the forest.

On Jin's area, he so roughly six different types of beasts but only the one type at the front mattered as the others didn't even move close to these creatures.

They had pitch black muscular body's and looked much like hounds one would find domesticated in most villages. However these beasts were far larger standing at one hundred and seventy centimeters tall and two meters long. They dim almost hollow eyes set on Jin's figure before they opened their mouths to release a frightening howl.

As they did so they revealed their deathly sharp teeth but what really drew attention to this creatures was the fact that a bright green light lit up their mouths with a mist of similar color emanating from it.

"A night hound..." Jin muttered with furrowed eyebrows before quickly unsheathing his blade and taking a defensive stance.

[ Beast Index#4: Night Hound ]

Meanwhile on Jagu's end, he faced a creature that he couldn't at all recognize. It's body looked to made of bark and green grass, a living embodiment of the forest itself but it's blood red eyes showed it's intent to kill with a figure similar to that of Jagu himself only much larger as it stood at a frightening three and half meters tall.

"What is this thing...!?" Jagu muttered as he too took out his blade not at all underestimating his opponent. "Don't let it's appearance fool you, that's a Druid. It's simply being driven mad like the rest of these creatures." Aron quickly explained before the trees at his front began to fall one after another along with the sound of drumming stomps.

[ Beast Index#5: Berserker Druid ]

'I had only ever faced summonings from Argos, But the feeling of facing the real thing feels all the more... exciting!' Aron's usual stoic expression had all but vanished as a confident grin took over just as the creature he'd be facing revealed itself.

Unlike with Jagu and Jin who had to worry about numerous creatures, this one stood alone with the nearest beast almost three hundred meters away from sheer fear.

Standing at a staggering eight meters tall and four meters wide, its limbs not large but muscular with a thick almost stone like skin covering its entire light green figure. As it drew closer to Aron to moved it's deadly mace like thick tail with green spiked bones around shattering trees completely from the sheer force.

"Judging by how every beast is treating you so fearfully, is it safe to assume you're the dominant one of this region? Everglade Lion." Aron asked with a smirk on his face to which the large beast only let out a deafening roar that caused even Jin and Jagu's attackers to let out growls and bowls of pain.

Aron however didn't even bother to cover his own ears as he took the brunt of the attack, a small trickle of blood could be seen running down his nose but it seemed to not affect him in the slightest as he aimed his arcane gun towards the beast.

Before it could even charge at him, he pulled the trigger twice. The next moment the beast began to roar madly once again while blood could be seen running down its now hollow eye sockets. "Now for that annoying roar." Aron muttered before rushing near the beast as it stomped around carelessly in pain.

Once he was immediately below it he jumped up with such force that the ground below cracked up to several meters in radius. His target? The beast's throat which he struck cleanly.

The suddenness of the attack caused the beast to fall to the ground and just as it was about to roar again, Aron came forward in the last moment and held it's mouth shut. Doing this meant the sheer force of the roar was now caused to impact the Everglade Lion's head, and the result was its head jerking violently before brain matter spurted out of its ears.

'I suppose I shouldn't have expected much...' Aron thought to himself as he pulled away from the beast, his eyes however still burning with the desire to kill but his expression stoic.

It was only when he turned to look at Jin and Jagu had he noticed that even the beasts they fought had backed away slightly after witnessing him take down the dominant creature in nearly no time at all.

It was to be expected from a one who had killed beasts since a young age, more especially since he knew the strength and weaknesses of thousands upon thousands of beasts.

"Their morale is now low, use this chance to end them. I'll start finishing off the lesser prey." Aron removed the arcane gun from its holster once again and held it in his blood soaked hands as he rushed forward to slaughter more beasts, leaving one thought running across everyone's minds.

'What is he?'