Ch.37 The Horrifying Southern Continent

These hideous creatures had a spine-chilling red aura around them that was filled with killing intent. If there was someone from another World here to see this scene they would be shocked! Since when was killing intent visible?! The Rhino was startled at first but snorted once more in disdain. He was a Stage 6 Magic Beast with defence as his primary ability. Could these little rats even harm him? The Rhino lowered his head so that his horn was poised to deal fatal damage and charged at the closest opponent. Unfortunately, the Rhino was too heavy and slow whilst the strange creature was extremely nimble. He easily dodged to the side before jumping towards the Rhino’s flank with outstretched claws. SWIP! Shockingly enough, the strike was able to breach the tough defence of the Rhino’s tough scales, inflicting sharp pain on the Beast. But strangely enough the Rhino only grimaced. He was still unwilling to make any sounds that could draw attention to himself so he suppressed his desire to roar. Moreover, he was secretly terrified! How could such weak creatures harm him?! Should he run...? But before he could make a decision, all 5 creatures leapt to him at once with perfect synergy and it was at this moment the Rhino knew that he was done for… But he will make them pay a severe price! And so a silent battle of life and death continued like this. Claws flashing and jagged teeth snapping, a fatal horn puncturing and massive feet stomping. Soon the Rhino was on its last legs and covered in blood as it heaved heavily. On the other side there were only 2 of those strange creatures remaining. The leader and one of it’s henchmen. Those 2 were also covered in bruises from the times they got rammed into, but there was no blood on them unlike their 3 fallen brethren that now looked like mashed up meat. Despite this, they sported hideous grins as they looked at their prey that seemed like it was going to collapse at any moment. As they limped forward- “EUUUURRRRGH!” The Rhino suddenly let out a thunderous roar that resounded throughout the forest and used the last of his strength to charge at the creature closest to him which happened to be the leader. Obviously he had no more qualms about arousing attention to himself anymore, in fact, the thought of what would happen filled him with savage glee. The leader of the 2 remaining creatures was flabbergasted by the turn of events, he hadn’t expected the Beast to still possess so much energy, causing him to be unable to react. Clearly, the Rhino had been pretending. On top of that, the roar had a slight stunning effect which almost cost him his life. Luckily, he was able to break out of the effect and safely dive to the side. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about his last remaining follower. Although his follower leapt to the other side he was too slow and as a result his shoulder was pierced. A green arm was sent flying into the air. The creature was shocked, whose arm was that? Was it the leader’s? But a sudden devastating pain assaulted his senses causing him to look at the origin of the pain. But what he saw nearly shocked him to death! “EIYAAAAAAAH!” The creature screamed in agony as it looked at it’s remaining stump that began to bleed profusely with terrified eyes. He was finished, he knew it! Actually, he would be able to survive that kind of injury, beings of its kind wouldn’t die from something like that. But… It was not the injury that concerned him. His eyes filled with terror quickly looked towards his leader. At this point, the Rhino had finally collapsed dead. It had used the rest of its energy and no longer had the ability to preserve it’s life. Today, a mighty Stage 6 Magic Beast that could be amongst the upper elite in any other part of the World had fallen prey to the law of the jungle like a common beast. What’s worse is that it was defeated by strange creatures that only had 1 being at Stage 5. What a grand humiliation. But the leader of these creatures didn’t care in the slightest, although a look of extreme glee covered it’s face, it knew it didn’t have much time. That last roar of the Rhino had definitely revealed their location and he needed to escape. But it stubbornly waited for something. What could it- SSsssssss… The Rhino started to deflate like a balloon. 10 seconds later, it had turned into a big pile of ash that wasn’t any different to the other random piles of ash, only, this pile was quite large. Now, it was obvious how they came to be- A hair-raising red coloured mass of essence suddenly coalesced itself above the pile of ash before splitting into 2 portions, the much bigger portion flying to the leader whilst the other flew towards the scrub. The strange essence was filled with all sorts of resentment, grievance, vengeance and other negative emotions including killing intent. If this was absorbed by anyone there was a very high chance of it affecting their psyche. But the leader wasn't worried at all, it watched his portion come with obvious excitement and the reason became obvious when the strange energy fused with his body. Like clockwork, his own peculiar aura from before burst out of him once more, but this time it was much bigger and denser. He… had broken through. The leader had now entered stage 6 and likewise, the same process repeated itself in the other creature and it entered stage 5 even though the portion it obtained was much smaller. But for some reason, there was no happiness on its face at all unlike the leader that was cackling loudly. It only looked wary. When it saw its leader snap it’s attention toward him it didn't hesitate to run away. Unfortunately, the leader was much stronger and caught up in no time. With an evil grin on its face it plunged its hand through its comrade’s back with a heart appearing in it’s hand when it went through the other side. There was no guilt or remorse on its face, only deranged exhilaration. The same thing that happened to the Rhino repeated itself with the creature and it was soon reduced to ash. The resulting killing essence that was released was quickly absorbed by the leader making its own aura rise again but clearly it wasn’t enough for it to breakthrough. Drunk on it’s rising power, it began to laugh wildly as ambitious and cruel thoughts circulated in its head. ‘I, A MONSTER OF THE GOBLIN RACE, WILL-’  CRACK! The creature that was now revealed to be a Goblin and a Monster was now... missing it’s head. DUM… An enormous 3 metre tall monster that was also humanoid but pink skinned with a literal pig head and giant fangs appeared behind the deteriorating corpse of the Goblin. It too was able to absorb the resulting killing essence from the Goblin when it was reduced to ash. The killing intent aura that was exclusive to the Monster Species burst out of its body revealing the strength of a Stage 8 Beginner Monster. Looking at it’s appearance… wasn’t this an Orc? “Meh…” The Orc was obviously disappointed in it’s gains. A stage 6 Beginner Monster probably wasn't much to him. Suddenly, it’s head snapped up, the picture of alertness and fear on its face. Without hesitation, it dashed into the bushes, fully intent on deserting this place. “OEEIIIIIIIIIII-” Half a minute later, the sound of a pig screaming rang out before it was cut off. A red light filled with killing intent appeared in the direction the Orc had run off. Clearly, it had been killed by another Monster and by the look of things it was a Stage 1 Intermediate Monster. Monsters were another type of species altogether different from the Beasts and Enlightened Races, killing was the only way they gained strength and killing was the only way they survived. Numerous scenes like this appeared throughout the entire Continent filled with Monsters and the even more terrifying Blood Fiends. Welcome to the Southern Continent where there’s only 1 rule. KILL OR BE KILLED!