Chapter 434 Big Cat

After recovering from the temporary confusion, Keng and the Wang brothers made their way back to the village. The Ire fog became thick. It was hard to see what was in front of you and the group had to move slowly as they followed the path back to the Village.

"Dad's enchantment should be up still. We'll follow the general direction back and hopefully we can detect that with our eyes." Philip casually spoke to the group.

"I don't know if we'll see it." Bright commented, looking around. "The fog is getting even thicker. I can barely see the rest of the group from back here."

"The Ire hasn't been this thick since Bright and I were toddlers." Winn spoke. "Last time it was this thick, I heard from the older ones that large monsters came."

"Shush." Jacob hushed his brothers. "Let's not bring bad luck to ourselves and the village. We don't want bad things to happen."

"Aye aye, cap'n." Winn gave a small two-finger salute.

"So the Ire's never like this? This is a rare thing?" Keng asked.

"Rare, yeah. Ire's are normal. They happen a couple times a year and usually we're ready for them. We can usually tell when they're coming due to months and months worth of information beforehand, but this one just came out outta nowhere." Winn motioned. "Makes me nervous for what's to come since we barely even scratched the surface of the Ire."

"How long does it normally last?"

"At least two hours." Jacob answered.

"What's the longest one you've been involved with?"

"An eleven-hour Ire." Jacob answered. "That day was hell. It was just hordes and hordes of goblins, cursed wolves, Orcs, Ogres, you name it. They came out of the forest in droves. That's why you shouldn't expend all of your energy. Save as much as you can and play safe. We don't know how quickly everything will end with the Ire."

"Do you know why the Ire exists?"

"It exists to be a pain in the ass." Bright quipped.

"He isn't wrong." Jacob agreed.

"I wish that wasn't true…" Philip sighed.

"Just keep your focus." Jacob rounded the conversation to its end. They walked in a line with Jacob leading them. Bright, Keng, Winn and Philip trailing behind him. They followed in a line, looking around and listening to how quiet the forest was.

[Notice: Skills have leveled up. Biohuman Vessel powers have been added to the list of Skills you may use. Please view the orb for more information.]

'Gravity has been added to the skill list…' Keng thought. 'I'll need to look at my skills when I'm able to. For now, I should worry about the problem that's in front of me, the Ire. It looks like the Ire is a natural phenomenon that causes a mass horde of monsters. The thicker the Ire fog, the bigger the monsters? Or could it mean more dangerous monsters?'

The sound of chimes caught his attention. He could hear the faint noises of the chimes playing a soft melody.

'I wonder what that is.'

"We're almost there." Jacob told the group. "Another five minutes." They walked for a little longer and the chimes grew louder and with that, the noises of fighting came to him.

"GRAAA!" A low shriek echoed around them. The group immediately stopped at the sound of whatever monster was shrieking.

"From here on out, we need to be careful." Jacob instructed. The group pulled out their weapons. Bright had twin scimitars while Winn had claw-like weapons attached to his wrists/hands. Philip opted for his glaive and the group picked up speed.

"GRAA!"

Chimes erupted from Keng's left and a golden lion with a tail split into three tackled Keng, sending him off of the group.

"Nemean Lions!" Winn shouted. "Our attacks won't do much against that!" Keng pushed against the Nemean Lion as it snapped its teeth at him.

"Get off of me!" Keng shoved the lion up into the air and blasted it with gravity. He rolled over to the side and quickly stood up, pulling his daggers out. The daggers immediately grew back to their enlarged states as the Nemean lion landed.

"Physical attacks won't work on it!" Winn warned Keng.

"Good to know." Keng whispered. He whipped a water attack on the lion and watched as it brushed it off. "Well, I guess that doesn't work on you. How about this?!?" Keng's body lit up in silver flame as the silver and golden runes pulsed. The Nemean Lion leaped, slashing down at Keng as he jumped backwards.

Keng slashed at the Nemean Lion, watching as it had no effect. The Nemean Lion rushed at him, biting his arm. Keng's arm exploded with gravity, releasing the grasp and pulling his arm away. He jumped backwards as Bright and Winn rushed in.

"What do we do about that then?" Philip asked.

"We'll just use our powers to deal with it!" Bright and Winn spoke in unison. The two slashed at the Nemean Lion as it turned and swung at them. They quickly darted in opposite directions as Philip moved in and slashed at the Nemean Lion. The three slashes exploded, sending the lion backwards into a roll.

"I'll leave that one to you guys!" Jacob shouted. "I'm going to go help the others!" Jacob darted off as Philip, Bright and Winn slowly circled the Nemean Lion.

"Nemean Lions can't take physical damage but we can try to get it to internally bleed." Philip told Keng.

"Let's continue the hits. It'll have to focus on one of us since it isn't good at fighting a crowd." Winn told the others. The lion moved for Philip, swiping at him as Philip moved away. Keng, Winn and Bright dashed in and hit the Nemean Lion.

"Hold." Keng whispered. The weight of the Nemean Lion grew heavy as it slammed into the ground.

'Nemean Lion… It sounds familiar… Didn't Lee Seng read about this beast? It's a… Greek monster Hercules fought?' Keng jumped backwards and twirled his blade as Philip and the twins slashed at the beast. The beast roared, snapping out of the gravity hold and tossed its body around, forcing the brothers backwards.

"Shatter!" Philip shouted. The marks exploded and the lion wobbled around on its feet.

"Water." Keng whispered. He put both of his daggers together and pointed it at the lion. "God Weapon Art: Sphere of Hydran!" A large orb of water surrounded the Nemean Lion as it jumped off to the side. The sphere exploded and a new sphere formed around the lion as it tried to contain it. Bright and Winn jumped in without hesitation, forcing the lion to try to be caged.

"You're gonna trap it?" Philip asked.

"I'm gonna drown it! The humans had a story about fighting a Nemean lion! I thought it was familiar and didn't realize it was actually a real thing. If the story is right, drowning it would kill it." Keng focused as the lion dodged the spheres, taking hits by the twins.

"It doesn't care about us! It knows it can take a hit! Phi, come here! Mark it and let's explode it!" Bright shouted. Philip jumped into the battle, keeping distance and moving in and slashing at the lion as it continued to dodge the attacks. The lion was growing frustrated. It finally felt cornered by its prey. The three brothers slashed at it, pulling back.

"Now!" Bright shouted. A loud explosion rocketed the Nemean Lion forward. Keng quickly motioned for a sphere to form and watched as the lion was caged in.

"Now drown!" Keng shouted. The waters from the sphere spilled into the cage. The Nemean Lion dashed straight for the wall. It was just water, so it wanted out. "Reinforcement!" A shimmer appeared around the sphere and the lion slammed into the gravity and bounced backwards. It attacked the walls, trying to get out as it desperately roared. The four watched as the sphere filled and the lion began to struggle. They stood, watching, until the lion finally gave up and drowned.

A collective sigh was released between all of them. Keng pulled the water away and watched as the wet, drowned Nemean Lion landed on the ground with a thud.

"That works." Bright nodded.

"Easy." Keng nodded.

"I wish we knew that before. I didn't know the humans on Earth had stories to help them with beasts like this." Winn motioned.

"It was just a story from what I remember." Keng told them. "A Greek story."

"Greek? Is that some sort of race?"

"Yeah. Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Hmong, European. Just like how you're Chinese-Japanese." The daggers shrank in Keng's hands as he put them back in place.

"How did you know?" Philip asked.

,m "Lee Seng's knowledge of this stuff is handy." Keng tapped his head.

"Enough about that. We need to head to the village. Who knows how far Jacob went." Bright motioned. He took the initiative to lead them forward.

"Yay, let's find more of those." Winn sarcastically threw a fist in the air as he followed Bright.