Chapter IV: Demonic Beast Wave

Demonic Wildlands Near the Great Plateau

Month of the Garuda 16, 172 ,328 DE

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

After travelling barely more than ten kilometers from the Swords Temple, the sound of gunfire reaches my ears. It mostly sounds like fire-powder weapons, but I have never heard a fire-powder gun with the heavy sound of some of the reports. Those heavier reports should be some form of Yuan Qi gun.

I cannot say for certain how far away the gunfire is, but from the faintness of the sound, it should be at least twenty kilometers to the north. A human might not even hear the noise.

I head north at a fast jog, but I do not race headlong toward the sounds. I keep a look out for any trouble I might run into and constantly test the air for new scents. The breezes near the ground are slow and weak. Scents will not spread quickly.

Before I even cover another kilometer, the forest has already turned silent. Not a single animal, bird, or insect makes a sound. The only noise comes from the still distant gunfire and the susurrus of the light breeze through the leaves of the canopy. Something has frightened everything, even the Ferocious Beats, into silence.

A bunch of humans battling twenty kilometers away would never silence everything in the forest this way. About the only things that might do so would be natural disasters, such as earthquakes and massive storms, or Demonic Beasts. My ability to sense an oncoming natural disaster is better than almost any animal, but I have not noticed anything. That just leaves Demonic Beasts, and I do not feel threatened by them in the same way as animals or Ferocious Beasts. I am not as sensitive to the presence of such Beasts as the common animals and birds.

As I run, I scent the air, but I cannot find anything but the odors of natural animals and a few Ferocious Beast. There is not even a hint of the corruption of Chaos.

After less than another kilometer, the cries of birds and the growls of animals reach my ears from ahead, all of them filled with fear. The soft sounds growing louder as they move closer. Small birds streak by overhead, their wings beating madly as they wend their way through the trees. As they pass, more birds take wing from the surrounding trees, joining their mad flight. In the wake of the birds, sounding like the crazed pounding of thousands of drummers, the heavy footsteps of hundreds of heedlessly charging animals and Ferocious Beasts fill the forest.

Not waiting for the horde of fear maddened animals and Beast to get any closer, I scramble up a tree and squat in the crook of a branch. As the wave of creatures thunders past below, the tree actually trembles slightly. I misjudged the numbers of fleeing animals and Ferocious Beasts; the number is in the thousands.

Once the fleeing horde passes, I stare toward the northeast, where they came from. What could be so threatening as to set all the birds and beasts to flight?

There is only one way to find out. Jumping down from the tree, I continue toward the northeast and the sound of the fire-powder guns. I see no signs of bird nor beast, but as I head northeast clouds of insects fly past headed southwest. While I do not turn back, a shiver runs down my spine, and I tell myself that it is not eagerness. I do not particularly want to face off against whatever awaits; I just want to see what has set everything to flight.

As I get closer, the reports of the fire-powder guns move toward the west, and the howls and growls of an unknown number of Beasts joins the sound of gunfire. They are retreating toward the Eastern Escarpment, with a large number of Beasts on their heels. Are they facing a Beast Wave?

Beast Waves are swarms of hordes of Ferocious or Demonic Beast going on a rampage. They kill and eat anything in their path, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. A Beast Wave can range from a few hundred beasts to tens of thousands. Once a Beast Wave exceeds the hundred thousand mark, it is normally called a Beast Tide, and Beast Tides can number in the millions of Beasts. Even the smallest of Beast Tides could annihilate a city the size of Shizukana Gake.

With the exception of only a few people, I would not care if Shizukana Gake was wiped out in a Beast Tide, but I doubt that this is larger than a Beast Wave. If it were a Beast Tide, I would already feel the ground trembling.

Continuing on, I head for the sounds of the gunfire, but they grow more sporadic as I go. If they are running out of ammunition, they will be in deep trouble. At least with guns, they do not need to face off against the Beasts in hand-to-hand combat.

The sickly-sweet scent of Chaos drifts on the light winds, with another musky scent underlying it, a scent that I recognize. The scent of Yellow Earth Apes. The Yellow Earth Apes come in several varieties Spotted, Striped, and Mottled. The only real difference is the patterns or the markings on their yellow fur, but the different sub-species treat one another as mortal enemies. They are voracious omnivores and would sooner kill and eat another sub-species of their own kind than almost anything else they might encounter.

If they stand fully erect, Yellow Earth Apes have a matured size that ranges from one hundred fifty to three hundred centimeters. Their physical strength falls between the peak of Body Tempering and the peak of Qi Condensation. They have reactions and agility that exceed those of a Martial Artist at the Peak of Body Tempering. On all fours, they can run at speeds of forty to sixty kilometers an hour and have the endurance to maintain that speed for an hour or more. They also tend to be very durable. All of that is without ever reaching the First Circle of Coalescence. To put it simple, Yellow Forest Apes are bad ass mother fuckers that anyone below the Peak of Qi Condensation really should not tangle with. Ferocious Beasts on the level of Striped Forest Cats and Stone Rams go the long way around when running into Yellow Earth Apes.

Strangely, other than the scents of normal animals and Ferocious Beasts, the now Demonic Yellow Earth Apes are the only Demonic Beasts I catch wind of. As I approach the outer edge of the Beast Wave, I halt when I finally see the Beasts. More than a little surprisingly, every single Demonic Beast I see is a Demonic Yellow Earth Ape, but all three sub-species are mixed into a single horde.

Hiding in the gnarled roots sticking out of the ground near the base of a particularly large tree, I watch the Beast Wave, and the only Beasts I see are the Yellow Forest Apes, dozens upon dozens of them. This is absolutely abnormal. I have seen more than a half-dozen Beast Waves and read reports about dozens of others. Whether made up of Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts, Beast Waves always have multiple species of Beasts among them. Beast Waves form when a Lord or King variant Beast drives the surrounding Beasts into a frenzy and sends them on a rampage. The species of Beasts are immaterial. A Lord or King Beast is a Lord or King Beast, and weaker Beasts do not dare to defy one. This is the first time I have even heard of a Beast Wave with a single species.

The now sporadic gunfire continues to move farther away, but just with number of Demonic Apes that I see, death is mostly likely the only outcome that awaits them. They are too far from any of the paths or trails leading up the Escarpment and these Demonic Yellow Earth Apes are newly corrupted, so even in such large numbers, the Watch Towers will only have a minimal effect on them.

"Huh. Huh. Hrr. Huh." The grunt-like noises come from behind me, from downwind.

Looking over my shoulder, I see seven Demonic Yellow Earth Apes looking at me from less than a hundred meters away. I was too surprised and focused on the Beasts ahead of me and did not pay attention to what was behind me, a stupid mistake. Three are Mottled. Two are Striped. Two are Spotted. But they are not fighting. I am their target.

So unnatural. So annoying.

Stupid fucking Apes.

With a faint red glow in their eyes, all seven of the Demonic Apes have thin streamers of smoke rising from their mouths and nostrils as they breathe. That is just like the Demonic Cows. The only way for so many newly corrupted Demonic Beasts to occur in the same general area is for there to be a source to cause the corruption. Even with them all being corrupted from the same source, the likelihood of them having such similar characteristics should be nearly impossible. Chaos is Chaos. It follows neither patterns nor rules.

I glance at the Beast Wave. It is still moving away from me. As I am downwind of them for the moment, none of the Apes to my front have noticed my presence, but that could change if the wind shifts. If the Demonic Yellow Earth Apes behind me call out, the nearer Apes will be alerted. I will have no chance if so many surround me, at least I will have no chance as a human. The best option is to silence the seven Demonic Apes quickly.

Drawing my Bowie knives, I sprint toward the seven Demonic Apes that snuck up on me, and they all gape for a few seconds. I have seldom seen such human-like expressions on any Ferocious or Demonic Beasts before, but seeing that I have already crossed more than half the distance between us, their facial expressions change into bestial snarls.

"Time to die!" My words come out as a low-voiced snarl.

"Graaar!" The lead Demonic Ape springs forward to meet me, while the others spread out in a semi-circle, intently watching the battle. The oversized monkeys are at least as smart as your average noble clan's wastrel second and third born sons. If you wanted to compare intelligence between them, my money would be on the Demonic Apes.

The Demonic Ape is fast, but I am faster. I duck under the right hand haymaker swipe of the Demonic Ape's claws and slice its biceps with my right-hand knife, while stabbing the point of my left knife into its armpit.

"GRAAAAARRRRR!" With a drawn out roar, the Demonic Ape grabs for me, with its left hand.

Pulling my left-hand knife from the Demonic Ape's armpit, I leap backward. I watch a thick stream of blood spurt from the wound. My knife's forty-five centimeter blade severed at least one major blood vessel.

As answering growls and roars sound out from the horde of Demonic Apes to the north, the Demonic Ape looks toward the blood streaming from its armpit and a troubled expression settles on its ugly face. It knows it has been hurt bad. It probably understands that it does not have very long to live.

The other six Demonic Apes make no move to interfere. The Demonic Ape I am fighting should be the strongest, and it faced off against me as the alpha to show off its strength to its little troop. Until it falls, the others will not get involved.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to play with it, the growls from the Demonic Apes to the north have already started moving closer. Springing forward, I close in on the Demonic Ape's right side. Dodging its slower moving injured arm, I stab it in the gut and drag the razor sharp blade through its intestines, as I move past it.

The Demonic Ape spins to grab me, but its claws barely scratch my back. As the Ape tries to follow me, it stumbles on its own entrails and falls to its knees.

With the alpha Ape down, two more Apes lunge for me, and I step into the attack of the one to my left. Wrapping its right arm with my left, I drive my right-hand Bowie knife through the bottom of it jaw and up into its brain.

As the fiery glow fades from the Ape's eyes, another Ape grabs my left arm and its claws sink into my muscles. It drags me toward itself. Ignoring the pain, I do not resist the Ape's pull, and adding the Ape's own strength to my lunge, I drive my shoulder into the Ape's jaw and my right-hand Bowie knife into its guts. The Ape staggers backward, and I drag my knife upward, slitting it open from balls to breastbone.

The stunned Ape releases its grip on me, and I dodge under the grasping hands of two more Apes. With two large steps, I spring into the air and drive both my heels into another Demonic Ape's face. As the force of my kick pitches the Ape over backward, I crouch and use its face as a springboard.

Sailing over five meters through the air, I hit the ground running. The roars of dozens more Demonic Apes ring out from the north as a part of the Beast Wave closes in on me. Not giving them a chance to surround me, I sprint to the south, but as I round the bole of one of the huge old trees, I skid to a stop.

In front of me, another troop of Demonic Yellow Earth Apes lopes along. The nearly two hundred Demonic Apes are spread out over several hundred meters of forest. No matter where I run, a dozen or more could easily intercept me.

The troop's alpha stares at me and snorts.

Moving slowly, so as not to startle or enrage the new troop of Demonic Yellow Earth Apes, I sheathe my Bowie knives and slide the pack off my shoulder. Taking off my loincloth and weapons belt, I shove them into my pack.

"HUH. HUH. HRR. HRR." The lead Demonic Ape, a Mottled one, thumps its chest, while glaring at me.

I laugh and speak in a language few, if any, humans know, a language that many of the more intelligent Ferocious Beasts can understand. To a human, it would sound like I am simple growling in a bestial manner. "What's the matter weak fucker, you jealous of me?"

"RAAAAARRRRRR!"

I shove my pack under the roots of the huge tree at my side. "A dumb Ape dares to act tough in front of me. I'm so scared."

Within myself, I have a seal on my Soul. Of the Body, Mind, and Soul, the Soul is the most important. The Soul can be considered eternal. That is not to say that the Soul cannot be destroyed, but the Soul exists beyond the death of the Body and Mind. Upon death, the Soul enters into the cycle of reincarnation, continuing the eternal Cycle of Life and Death. Even should a Soul be destroyed and consumed, the energy, the Power that makes up the Soul will one day return to the cycle to be born anew as another Soul.

The Soul contains the truest identity and image of every living being. The Soul is the source of emotion, and emotions allow one to channel strength and Power.. Old Man Jones says that with the seal in place, he cannot find any hit of my true nature. The seal on my Soul hides my true nature as a Great Wolf, and it keeps me from transforming on accident. Focusing inward, I temporarily release the seal on my Soul and start the change to my true form.

My hair which hangs to the middle of my chest and back shrinks in length, while coarse, thick fur sprouts from my entire body, other than my palms and the soles of my feet. My fingers retract, and my feet shorten. A tail sprouts from my tailbone, and the bones of my hips crack and realign themselves. My body takes on the shape of a Wolf, with the extremely broad chest, thick shoulders, and heavily developed musculature that lesser Wolves lack. The change only takes a couple of seconds, but they are the longest, most pain filled seconds imaginable.

"AAAAOOOOOOUUUUU!"

My howl echoes through the forest.

"RAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!

An enraged roar answers my howl, the roar of a Lord Class Beast.

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