Lord Of Beasts

Ethan had barely staggered back to his feet after the monster’s ear-splitting outcry when the Lithoserpent Burrower attacked again.

The creature had no intention of giving him even a second to recover.

Its colossal body whipped sideways like a living avalanche.

Crack!

The ground shattered where its stone-armoured body slammed down, and chunks of rock exploded into the air.

Ethan threw himself sideways in a desperate roll as the impact blasted past him. Pebbles and dust rained down as he skidded across the jagged stone.

’Too close!’

Before he could even regain his footing, the beast’s enormous body suddenly twisted and dived back underground.

The earth swallowed it instantly.

It was gone as if it had never been there, leaving behind a giant hole.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

”Where-?”

The ground beneath him rumbled before bulging violently.

His instincts screamed, and Ethan launched himself aside just as the earth erupted.

The Lithoserpent burst upward in a giant explosion of stone and dirt, its colossal jaws snapping shut with terrifying force exactly where Ethan had been standing moments before.

Clack!

The sound echoed across the plains like clashing boulders.

It had tried to swallow him whole.

The moment the monster surfaced, both of Ethan’s beasts moved without hesitation.

Swoosh!

Talon dived from above like a bolt of lightning, wings slicing through the hot air as its razor claws raked across the monster’s face. Sparks burst where claw met stone, but the attack barely scratched the Lithoserpent’s armour.

At the same time, Wolfy lunged forward, teeth bared as he clamped down hard against one of the creature’s massive plates. The juvenile Ulfen’s jaws strained with everything it had, but the monster’s rock armour barely fractured.

Wolfy was forced to leap back, growling in frustration.

Ethan’s heart sank.

’Nothing’s working.’

The beast’s entire body was covered in thick, layered stone plates that looked like natural armour.

It had no eyes, exposed organs, or obvious weaknesses, except for its underbelly, which the beast clearly had no intention of exposing.

Then it happened again.

The Burrower’s body expanded slightly as it drew in air.

Ethan’s stomach dropped.

”Watch out!”

The monster unleashed another roar.

But roar wasn’t the right word.

It was a powerful skill that allowed sound to erupt from its body like a focused blast.

The air itself seemed to warp as the violently compressed shockwave shot forward and slammed into Talon first.

The hawk was blasted out of the sky instantly, its wings folding helplessly as the shockwave sent it spinning violently through the air.

”Talon!”

The bird crashed to the ground with a brutal thud, feathers scattering across the stone.

But the Boss Beast wasn’t finished yet, and it then turned to Wolfy mid-roar.

The young Ulfen was thrown backwards like a ragdoll, tumbling across the rocky ground as the shockwave ripped past him.

He rolled several times before slamming hard into a jagged outcrop.

A pained yelp escaped the small beast as Ethan watched helplessly.

That roar was a dangerous weapon, a directed blast of overwhelming sound and pressure. There was no way to block or deflect it, and evading it wasn’t easy either.

Before Ethan could even react, the Lithoserpent moved again.

Its enormous body twisted violently.

Once again, its gigantic tail, which was thicker, denser, and even more heavily armoured than the rest of its body, rose high into the air.

Then it came crashing down like a falling pillar.

BOOOOM!

The impact shook the entire battlefield.

Its tail smashed into the ground where Talon had fallen moments before, sending shockwaves through the cracked stone. The infant hawk had barely escaped it, scrambling to its feet before bursting out of the way.

’So it can dig through the ground, crush me with its mouth, has that giant tail, and those roars...’

Ethan’s earlier confidence has all but disappeared, and it was hard not to start losing hope.

’Every beast has its weapons, but I’m just a fucking human.’

He stared at the monstrous creature towering over the battlefield.

’What the fuck do you want me to do...? Punch it?!’

He looked around to see Wolfy struggling on its paws and Talon flapping weakly, trying to regain the air.

His beasts were barely holding on, and they couldn’t even damage the Boss Beast they were facing.

Right now, they were fighting just to survive.

But despite the chaos and the overwhelming power of the monster before him, Ethan remained calm.

As much as it seemed impossible to defeat such a creature, his beasts hadn’t lost hope, so why should he?

If anything, Wolfy and Talon were adapting.

The beasts that were always at odds were now beginning to work together, even without words.

Talon kept its distance in the air, striking from angles, while Wolfy darted in and out, snapping at openings.

They were overcome by instinct and didn’t want their lord to get hurt.

Ethan could feel it, especially from Wolfy, who radiated fierce loyalty. His growls were directed more at protecting Ethan than winning the fight, as the infant beast darted around.

’That’s it!’

Taking on a more passive role, Ethan mostly focused on not getting crushed while his two summons distracted the boss beast.

As he did, he was observing the Lithoserpent and began to see it...

There was a pattern, just like in a video game.

The monster roared again, blasting another shockwave across the battlefield.

Then its body twisted, whipping its massive frame through the air.

Moments later, it burrowed underground once more.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

’Roar.’

’Whip.’

’Burrow.’

It had three primary attacks and liked to chain them one after the other.

Ethan wasn’t the biggest gamer, and had spent the majority of his adult life in a prison cell with nothing but a toilet and cement walls to keep him company. But he would be an idiot not to see all the game-like features that came with his Title.

From the system to the Tower Of Beasts, it was all just one big twisted game that allowed him to grow stronger.

This Boss Beast was no different.

He had noticed it before with the other beasts inside the tower.

Animals, and even humans, tended to act and especially fight in patterns; instinct, preference, and natural advantage all played a part.

And once you understood the pattern...

You could predict the next move and survive.

But surviving wasn’t the same as winning.

And right now?

Ethan was barely surviving.

Dust swirled across the cracked plains as the Lithoserpent rose from the earth again, its massive stone-armoured body towering over them like a living mountain.

Ethan stared up at it, his heart pounding in his chest and his mind racing.

’There’s always a way to win the game, right?’

But despite that thought, he just couldn’t see it...

’How the fuck am I supposed to kill this thing?!’