570 One Crow Down

"I promise I won't disappoint you, master," Ham said, pumping his stubby fist and huffing his nose so steam could be seen coming out from his two large nostrils. "I will find that Emperor tier beast."

However, it didn't take long for Ham to find them at all. On the new land, where the cliff connected with the mountain, he could see it all, four humans fighting against one beast.

"Everyone take out your soul weapons!" Blip shouted. "If you lose concentration, your life could be over."

Looking at the situation, Blip knew it was going to be a tough one. That was because the emperor tier beast in front of them, had a humanoid shape. It looked somewhat similar to a female, except above her head were flames of fire, and most of her body was cloaked in flames as well.

Emperor tier alone would have been hard, but a humanoid one was even worse. Beasts came in all shapes and sizes, but humanoid ones had a higher level of intelligence and were usually stronger.

On top of all that, it looked to be one that was in tune with the fire element, meaning it could do some serious damage. Blip was happy that he had chosen to take a small team with him, otherwise many would have died trying to face this thing.

"It's charging in, get ready!"

Back below on the mountain floor, Kong had just received information that the king tier beast had been discovered. At least one of them. However, there was even more information that had come through on the receiver. Apparently, at the moment, it was sleeping on top of a pile of rubble, and it was alone.

"What would you like us to do?" The man asked Kong.

"Don't attempt to do anything yet. Just wait until we find the other beast. If it starts to move or gets up, then fire the tracker." Kong ordered.

Linda approved of this, it was good to be cautious until they discovered the other king tier beast. Especially since it seemed like the two of them were a type of pair. There was a chance that if the other group had engaged and started a fight, that the other king tier beast would join up from behind.

However, this wasn't the real reasoning behind Kong's decision. Kong wanted his group to have contributed the most towards both kills of the king tier beasts. How was he meant to do that, if the others started fighting first?

He was scared that they would have already defeated the beast before he even got there. To put it simply, Kong wanted both of the king tier beasts for himself.

It had four exits in total, allowing you to go to area, 1, 2, 3 and 5. But there was no need to, for when they entered they could see it. The Red king tier beast sleeping near the back area of the large cave. The cave was dark, but inside it was filled with the blue crystals which glistened and lit up the whole way.

As the beast breathed in and out, it looked as if the crystals surrounding it on the walls were reacting to it as well. With every inhale, the crystals would light up and dim with each exhale.

"Such power," Paul said. "So much that it's even affecting the beast crystals around it."

Kong turned around as he was about to inform them of his plan, at the same time a bang was heard and a small triangle looking device came whizzing past his head.

He recognised it instantly, it was one of the tracker devices. When he looked at who had made the shot, it was someone from the group that consisted mainly of girls.

The beast's eyes opened instantly from the noises, and when it saw something coming towards it, it leapt back, allowing the tracker to plunge into the cave wall.

"You idiot!" Kong shouted.

Everyone drew their weapons quickly, preparing for battle. Still, instead of charging towards them, the beast ran away towards area five.

"Look at what you did!" Kong shouted. "Now the beast has run away, and we can't track it. What if it goes from area five back into area four?"

"I'm sorry." The girl said with her hands shaking holding the gun. 'When I saw the beast…I thought we needed to tag it straight away. That's what we do in our advance beast hunts."

"Now you see Sam!" Kong shouted. "Now you see why I thought it was a bad idea, to let these amateurs handle the equipment."

The group hadn't moved far from where they had entered from, and the beast was sleeping a good forty or so meters away. Even if the tracker came out fast from the gun, it was at such a great distance that it would have never hit.

The girl started to break down in tears from the pressure and fear, and Linda went to console her.

Seeing this, just angered Kong more. This was a beast hunt, people needed to be strong-headed; otherwise, why even sign up for the hunt in the first place.

Kong went over and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her and then threw her towards the centre of the cave.

"What are you doing!" Linda shouted.

"Shut up, she needs to learn," Kong replied. "Go retrieve the tracker back. We can't go wasting equipment. Then we'll head back to area three and head around to area five. There's no point we all waste our energy going over to the other side."

Kong didn't want to go through to area five straight from area four, due to the tunnel they would have to go through. There was a downside to area four even though it linked to all the other areas with the tunnels, if they met a beast in-between. There would be no room for movement, and the others knew this, which was why they didn't question it.

The girl took a few steps forward before freezing and turning back. "On my own, what if the beast comes back through the tunnel? I'll die!" She said.

"Did anyone else fire the tracker?" Kong replied.

"I'll go." A sudden voice said. Walking out to the front and by the girl's side was Quinn.

"I'll get the damn tracker," Quinn said. "I could tell you were already shaking in your boots the moment you saw that beast."

He then turned to the girl and said. "If you want, you can stay here."

"No, if you want to waste your time, then go with her," Kong complained. "But she needs to be punished for what she's done."

"Kong, will you chill out?" Sam interrupted. "We're on a serious quest where anyone could die, and you're acting like a spoiled brat." Sam couldn't take it anymore, and for the first time, he had said what was on his mind.

The anger on his and his teammates' faces were showing. Fex was twiddling his fingers by Sam's side. 'Just try it, come on, let's see you try.' Fex thought, with his finger twitching.

While everyone was busy arguing, they failed to notice that Quinn, and the girl were already halfway there, but there was someone else with running towards them. Linda.

She would have never let a member of the faction go out on their own in such a dangerous place. This was the final straw. Once they had returned back with the tracker, she would reveal herself and take over.

It was too dangerous to leave Kong in charge now.

Linda was running after them when she heard the commotion behind, she had turned her head to see what was going on, it looked like a fight was going to break out.

'Should I stop them now?'

"Everyone stop!" Linda said as she turned around. "From now on, I will be taking charge."

The others were confused for a second, but then a shocked look appeared on their faces.

'Huh, I haven't taken my mask off yet, why are they all so shocked?'

Then the sound of a large heavyweight was felt crashing downs and with it, a loud thud. Turning around, she could see it. The large king tier beast had returned.

It had come back and was in between where Linda and the others were, and where Quinn and the girl were placed.

'Well I didn't expect this, but I guess it's time to improvise a little.' Quinn thought.

The girl was shivering, scared, and frightened. She wasn't going to move, Quinn needed to get its attention.

Using all of his speed and activating his boots, Quinn didn't freeze and instead went to strike the beast's toe with all his strength not holding back. It's large body mostly blocked what Quinn was doing, but he had performed a quick normal hammer strike.

When landing on one of the beast's toes, it had hit so hard that a small crater underneath had formed. The beast howled in pain.

"That got your attention right. Come on!" Quinn shouted as he ran off away from the girls and the others towards another exit.

Seeing the girl frozen, using all her speed, Linda went and grabbed the girl picking her up and brought her back to the others.

"Stay at the back. This is not your fight." Linda said. When she turned around, she wished to help Quinn, and when she did, she could see him up against a wall, with the beast cornering him.

The next second, the beast pounced forward, opening it's wide mouth, then with its large jaws it snapped shut taking a big part of the cave wall with it.

Where Quinn once was, now there was nothing there.

"Quinn you idiot, you saved a life, but what was the point if you died in the process?" Linda shouted angrily as she took off her clothes and revealed to everyone who she was.

"We will avenge our Crow member and take down this beast," Linda said. "I will be taking command from here."

*****

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