168 Awakening - Part 3

The urge to destroy everything in his path was unbearable and it also didn't help when Demon beast came at him after they noticed saw him coming out of the lake.

Not wanting to waste any time, Alex jumped over and sped past them utilizing his speed as he headed in the direction that the heavenly spirit had told him to go.

As he went deeper into the forest, Alex met with less and less Demon Beast. The only ones he spotted from the time to time were Demon Beasts of Rank 1 strength that didn't join the Demon Beast Horde but only came halfway out as if they were keeping their distance from something dangerous.

They also didn't try to stop Alex as long as he didn't come too close to them.

The sounds of a huge battle taking place ahead were evident enough as to why the weaker Demon Beasts would want to run away while the lesser Rank 1 Demon beast would require to maintain their distance from that place.

...

Somewhere, deep inside the Swamp Marsh Forest.

Four massive Demon beast were surrounding and fighting each other to get inside the ruins of an ancient structure buried halfway into the mountain.  When Alex saw the ruins, he immediately knew this was the same place depicted inside the map he got from Joseph.

Whenever they had fought each other in the past, they would scare away the weaker demon beasts from the surroundings.

This would, in turn, cause the Demon Beast Horde to form which would then run away as far as they can from them and wreak havoc near the human settlements when they came face to face with it.

Each one of them was of massive size and had strength comparable to the Peak stage Rank 1 Demon Beast.

The biggest of them was a four-armed Silverback Gorilla, the next was a centipede with razor-sharp legs. The other two were a lizard that looked a little similar to a Sea Iguana while the other was most probably some kind of a colorful Crab.

As for what an amphibian and a crustacean are doing this far from the sea is a matter of surprise for Alex too when he first saw them.

"Alex, the spirit beast is most likely inside of the ruin of a manmade structure that is behind the demon beast."

Alex had tons of questions to ask her but the time was seriously running out for him. His body was already burning very hot, sneaking inside not an option as he cannot control his aura properly right now, not to mention the four demon beast has already noticed his existence.

They didn't do anything to him for now as they were busy fighting each other and also because they didn't see him as a threat to them yet.

"Aooouuuu~~~~~~~"

"Sssssh!!"

The silverbacked four-armed Gorilla was fighting with the crab while the centipede was facing the Sea Iguana and they both had poison in their mouth. Various melted spots on the battleground were evidence of how dangerous their poison was.

Alex calculated the distance between him and the entrance of the ruins

"Here goes nothing"

*Swoosh~~!*

Alex broke into a run with every ounce of strength inside his body. His speed skyrocketed in an instant to the highest he had ever achieved to this date. His body blurred past between the gaps left by the Demon Beast at the best possible time.

The Demon Beasts were, of course, alarmed seeing that the intruder who they thought was weak streaked across the ground like a shadow leaving gale of wind and dust behind him. They tried to stop him but only one beast was capable to land an attack on him in time before he reached the entrance.

"Shit, that's not a fucking normal Iguana." Alex felt the poisonous barbed tongue of the Sea Iguana making its way to attack him from behind with speed obviously greater than him.

Like how chameleons can stretch their tongues to capture prey at unimaginable speed, the sea Iguana did the same thing but rather than wanting to capture him, the forked tongue of the lizard was going to pierce a bloody hole inside his body.

"Fuck!" Alex turned his body midway and immediately summoned a big stone stored inside his inventory and that was the best he could take out in that small amount of time. The stone was immediately crushed into bits and pieces after which the tongue landed on the barrier covering Alex's body.

Bang~~!

Because of the impact, Alex flew through the air like a rocket and straight inside the massive welcoming gates of the ruins.

Sizzz~~!

The barrier sizzled as the poison eroded it's surface very quickly. Fortunately, the stone and the barrier from the Shielding artifact mitigated most of the attack saving Alex in the nick of the time.

Alex turned again before his feet touched the grounds and broke into a run again because he didn't want to wait there for the Demon beasts to catch up to him as they were doing just that.

*Aoooou~~~!*

*Ssssssh~~~~!!*

*Clang Clang!!*

It seemed none of them liked him entering the ruins without their permission or maybe before them.

Alex didn't have the time to check on the murals and the broken statues that blurred past his vision the Beast pursuing him wouldn't wait for him to examine them closely. The only good thing now was that the path was big enough for only one Demon Beasts of their size to enter at a time.

"Which way?" Alex shouted in his mind when he saw that the path ahead divided into two.

"Left" led the Heavenly Spirit.

"Alright" Alex went on as she showed him the way.

After taking turns on five more routes that bifurcated not only into left and right but also up and down, Alex finally reached inside a chamber that was the size of three football stadiums.

"Wow. What... is this place?" Alex knew he was many feet below the sea level and also that the chamber was below the mountain. The chamber was grand but there were not many decorations done to it except the funny looking tall statues of creatures he doesn't recognize.

They were surrounding a platform built in between the chamber. This place seemed like it had not been visited for at least a century or something. Why? Alex did not know the reason.

"I don't know what it is exactly but the spirit beast that you need is inside that third statue on the left side of the platform. Be careful, Spirit beast can be very cunning and dangerous at times. Hurry, you will not stay sane for long." The Heavenly Spirit was saying the truth.

Alex was really not going to hold out for long. His body had long since been covered entirely by dark runes like tattoos and also sweating like crazy.

"Don't worry about the statues, they won't come to life." The heavenly spirit said again.

Alex nodded and immediately rushed towards the particular statue hosting the spirit beast.

"Anyone in there" Alex shouted as he examined the statue that was around twelve feet tall and looked like a hybrid between a human and eagle.