Chapter 44 - 44 - Side : The Nest Of Nightmares (Part 2/4)

(AN: Just a quick note, that as compensation for this multi-chapter long side glance, I am planning a little surprise around Friday/Saturday this week. Look forward to it!)

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"Come on you over-sized rats! Come and meet your just doom!" He bellowed with a rising craze in his eyes, his grin curving higher with a clear eagerness towards the upcoming clash!

Another wave of screech filled the area, as the trio charged forward, rushing to tear this invading human to pieces!

A moment later, the Garkains emerged from the cover of shadows, revealing their twisted, hideous figures. While the two on the side were just like the rest, the one in the middle was at least a head bigger in size, sporting a much stronger frame and bulging muscles. His claws were also slightly thicker, with a dark red hue glowing faintly over its ridge.

"Finally one of the big ones! I wasted my whole night searching for the likes of you!" Despite the terror that surrounded this stronger version of these vampiric bipedal, rat-like beasts, the expectant grin didn't fade from Jonathan's face. Instead, it retained its vigor and would have curved even higher if that would have been possible.

As the beasts swiftly closed the distance, the muscles in his upper torso contorted and flexed, rising to rapt attention. A barely visible, colorless glow appeared, covering his right cocked hand like a glove made out of unknown energy.

At the same time, small beads of sweat appeared over his forehead, perspiring like tiny balls of translucent marbles. His teeth clenched tight, he still retained the grin on his face, although now, it looked slightly forced instead of carrying any natural emotion.

The light covering his palm gradually increased in intensity, now covering the blade as well, all the way to its tip.

Just as the beasts arrived in front, and lunged themselves in the air with their jaws ajar and claws stretched out in front of them, he struck forward with his arm with a lightning-fast speed, thrusting thrice at the same time.

Three near-simultaneous flashes of white beams of light were fired hitting all three of the monsters coursing in the air in their chest, putting an abrupt halt to their rising momentum and flinging them back where they came from.

However, the effect of the attack didn't end there, as two of the beams that hit the two regular-sized Garkains at the side pierced through their bodies, ultimately crashing into the ceiling and releasing two shockwaves of bright, blinding lights to spread through the area.

Two hollow howls of anguish could be heard amidst the blustering release of energy, signaling the defeat of two of the three assailants. The last one, which seemed to be different from the rest, however, remained standing, only a small, circular-shaped burn mark could be seen at the center of its chest.

He looked at the aged human with a fierce, hateful look in its eyes. It seemed to have higher intelligence than the rest of its brethren, as it did not charge again, but only entered a battle-ready pose, stretching its clawed hands to its sides whilst sizing up its opponent.

Jonathan was shaking his right arm with a wry smile emerging on his face. While his attack was clearly powerful, it failed to cause any significant damage to the big guy. Also, as an aftereffect of the technique, he just used, the not-too-welcomed numbing sensation, the backlash of the over usage of his internal energies spread through his right arm, making it mostly unusable for the rest of the night at the very least.

"You seem to be slightly more intelligent than the rest of your kin, so before we do anything else, let me ask you something. Are you the leader of this nest or you are just a warrior? I'm searching for somebody, so I will need you to guide me to the one leading your pack."

He spoke, looking at the monstrous beast as if he was expecting a proper response. The Garkain looked at the human with a strange look in his dull, red eyes. For a brief moment it seemed that it would indeed react in an unexpected fashion to the old man's questions, however at the end, it only sneered at him as it focused its attention on his right arm.

It snickered growling something gibberish between its howls, pointing towards the numb limb of Jonathan.

"What? You think I am no match just because my arm is useless now?" Jonathan responded to the jibe in a similar fashion returning the monster's snickering taunt with a grin. "You are free to come at me and give it a try. Just let me warn you. Once you start, you will lose your chance to walk out of this alive and I will still get my answers from your rotting carcass before I burn it to ashes just like the rest of your hideous kin."

Proving its intelligence, the beast howled fiercely upon listening to the human's words. Its anger rose, showing that it clearly understood what the man had just said. Its grin turned into a scowl, as it resumed its guttural growls, stretching its claws ahead of its muscular frame.

"Got your attention now huh? Come then you sh*t, you are nothing more than an abomination of nature! A stain on the other much better-looking mutants out there, just a disgusting monster!"

Reaching the end of its taunt, Jonathan suddenly charged forward, bolting towards the beast with his left hand cocked to yet another thrusting attack. This time, however, there was no light show surrounding his action, it was a regular attack.

At the same time, the beast also lost the last bits of its cool and rushed ahead as well, its large mouth was gaped ajar, ready to snap and mangle the pesky opponent's neck. His claws were glowering threateningly keen to tear apart its skin and flesh, crush his bones to dust.

There was no other way, no other solution, either the human or itself will have to perish.

A moment later, they arrived at each other, Jonathan's blade struck forward, his arm whistling through the air, aimed to plunge into the beast's chest, pierce its heart, and hopefully, end its sickly existence.

At the same time, the Garkain swiped horizontally with its right hand, its thick, black claws sailed across the air, ready to intercept the incoming blade and shatter it into pieces. Meanwhile, its head was lunging forward and was turned to the side, so it could snap the man's neck in two.

Neither of them was pulling any punches, both aimed to end their opponents swiftly. The only difference was that while Jonathan was aiming for efficiency, the Garkain wanted to do the most amount of damage, and make this pesky, arrogant ants' last moments of life the most brutal and painful as it could.

Obviously, Jonathan was well aware that he was no match for the beast in terms of raw strength, he couldn't just contest the beast in such a straight-up fashion.

As the beast swiped its claws, he suddenly arched his body sideways

As the beast's claws coursed the air, flying towards the expected spot ready to collide with it, Jonathan abruptly halted his march putting a sudden stop to his momentum. He took a swift step to the right, creating a sudden opening in the beast's defense, and struck forward one more time.

This time, the power behind his thrust was much higher than before, the tip of his blade arrived at the creature's side in an instant.

Still, this Garkain was unlike the ones before, its heightened senses flared up instantly, warning him of the incoming life-threatening danger coming from his side the moment Jonathan took that sidestep. Without any chance of parrying or blocking the blow, its only option was to lean forward and try to evade the blow.

Unfortunately, this was what Jonathan was already expecting, hence the increased power and speed behind his second attack. Despite its attempt at evading, the blade plunged into its side with relative ease, reaching all the way to its base in a single instant.

The beast howled in pain, its loud shriek of anguish filled the area around them. Wrecked in pain, the creature turned his head looking at the pesky human with unconstrained anger and hatred filling its dark red, scarlet-colored eyes.

Although the pain was torturous, luckily the human missed its vital organs. The beast was ready to twist his body and withstand even more of this torment just to be able to dive its claws into its opponent's flesh when suddenly, something unexpected happened.

A clicking sound reached its sharp, elongated ears. In the next instant searing pain filled its entire chest, and body, rapidly sucking all the strength and life out of its body. With its eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and pain, it slowly looked down, only to see that originating from the plunged blade deep inside its side, golden flames flickered, swiftly engulfing its entire body.

Immediately, the only thought in its mind was to escape, it tried to the human away. Unfortunately for him, this remained as its last thought, as before it could take action, the last strains of its life left its body, burning away its flesh leaving nothing, but ash behind.