Chapter 142

Lykan

Dhampyr Hunter

The night was alive and vibrant, a stark contrast to the world that now looked bleak. A village that had once been lush and thriving with vitality sat worse than Lykan’s original home of Abberty Village had been, after it was invaded by Azani forces lead by none other than Ajimal the Great.

Seeing the chaotic environment and way the world slowly crumbled around everything the qi monsters at the heart of the city touched, Lykan moved. Like a man possessed, he felt anger rise within his soul. For the first time he felt true rage burning within him. This sensation was so deep and new that he felt it to be entirely a new concept for him. Never had he felt such a surge of emotion welling up inside of him. At least the last time he felt this deeply with anger, was many years ago.

Even when he was banned from his home village, he didn’t feel such rage. Maybe that had a lot to do with the way the guards helped him, by giving him the supplies his father had procured for him. Thinking back to that one act of kindness, well multiple acts of kindness that all ultimately culminated in his survival. Looking back on his childhood, he had been somewhat blessed. Blessed to have a father who would sell everything of value for him. Blessed that the guards were honorable men who gave the prized possessions of a father to his outcast son. While none of the items survived his first day, they still gave him the hope and courage he needed to survive.

This village however had nothing. No hope shone in the hearts of the villagers. No ideals of working hard, to cause a better life for one’s progeny. Nothing existed in this, except for a deep festering rot that sat at the heart of the village. It was for that reason alone that Lykan moved. While the village might be beyond hope, he had an obligation to be the champion of vengeance that this village needed.

Moving forward he cut himself off from the world of qi, hiding his body and qi signature from sight. While his smell and the sounds he made by gliding quickly through the air could not be avoided, he was as unnoticeable as could be expected. He moved with a grace and purpose never seen in this area, that is, if is movements could have been seen at all.

He moved until he was in the bell tower, choosing to travel down than up the mayor’s house. The reason for this was simple, the hatchery, or area where the progeny was being made seemed to be in one of the towers overlooking the city. Added to this, the movement of the creatures he was hunted seemed to indicate they could both fly and hang upside down. From everything he was perceiving with his enhanced Qi sense, he felt they were large bat-like creatures. Though they were only bat-like in the roughest extent. There were signs of using qi to mutate different parts of the bodies that seemed both odd and intriguing.

Like a silent ghost of retribution he moved, stalking his prey.

The larger of the two adults fidgeted slightly, as if a cold breeze blew on its gravestone. Still, it paused, surveyed the surroundings, then after a moment went back to watching over the brood.

The largest was also the easiest to dispatch as it had been watching over the brood of children. That was why the beast only had a fraction of an instinct to react to Lykan’s presence.

Swoosh.

He appeared and was already swinging, qi quickly fusing to energy as it traveled the length of his mithril bo-staff and swung right at the unsuspecting neck of the monster.

This was the perfect spot to aim, as even while trying to move and evade such a strike, all it did was manage to duck its head low enough to take the full blow to the cranium.

Squirt.

Blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere. The large body no longer holding itself to the ceiling began to plummet violently to the ground. Rather than taking any chances on the one of the children hatching while he hunted the other adult, he struck the monsters before him.

Crack, pop, splat.

The eggs had all cracked open and sprayed their contents on the floor down below. Once again Lykan couldn’t help but feel somewhat nostalgic, this was just like his first time experiencing the world. On his first day, he slew, by accident, a legendary dragon. Then managed to use a mithril weapon to strike at the dragon’s unborn progeny.

Today, much like back then he received notifications from the gods that he was doing their work. While the blessings meant nothing, particularly after he received his perfect form. He still appreciated the messages from the Gods. It was a reminder to himself more than anything that while humanity might never know what he has done, the Gods did, and the Gods approved.

He felt a surge of qi from behind him, just as he was nearing the last egg.

“Stop this.” A female voice cooed. Her voice was laced with qi and had a hypnotic effect that Lykan could instantly notice. Lykan turned toward the voice, trying to see what could use qi so masterfully that even with all his protections he could feel the flow emanating from her.

To his surprise, what he saw was not a monster like the large beast he slaughtered. Instead, he saw a goddess made flesh. Or at least a woman who was doing her utmost to make herself appear perfect. The more he looked, the more he could see the spots and patches where things didn’t quite line up. To the human eye such patches would be unnoticeable, but to Lykan they stood out like a patchwork quilt. He watched as she made her way forward, seemingly strengthened by the fact he had followed her commands.

“Drop your weapon.” The female monster spoke.

As she spoke her words were once again infused with a web work of qi and psychic powers combined. They were masterful in their control. Even now Lykan could feel the strain of power working against his core, but his mind was made of tougher materials than even this monster could fathom. Still, he played along.

Clink, clatter.

He dropped his large mithril bo-staff to the ground, letting it clatter and roll against the yolk of the broken qi-eggs below.

Lykan watched her, seeing what she would do next. It was clear she was powerful, which was why Lykan let his weapon drop. In truth he was worse with the bo-staff than he was at using his fists and feet. The monster that was before him was likely the most powerful creature who could fly. Even the leviathan would have had issues dealing with such a creature in the air. This was why Lykan wanted to play this close. He had no true way of knowing how fast this creature was. He knew that if she escaped, then she would be able to do this elsewhere. She would be able to destroy yet another village. Next time she might not be satisfied with a smaller village in the middle of nowhere either. He imagined this woman flying halfway around the world and leaving a wake of destruction in her wake.

This was also why he left the final egg. With the final egg there was hope, she had a purpose to stay. If Lykan had been slightly faster, she likely would have left. But the egg denoted hope for the creature.

Watching her eyes, Lykan could see the lust in her gaze.

“You are powerful. Come to me.” She said, beaconing him over with one languid finger. Lykan blurring his vision moved forward. His eyes of course were not needed to see, at least not needed to see qi creatures that were this close to him. Though he was slightly distracted, the qi crystals below did serve as a blind spot to him. The crystals served as a bonfire that otherwise hid the hearth fire of the house. With such distinct power sources so close together, the only thing truly saving him was direction. Currently he was separating the two distinct sources of qi.

“Good, now come to me.” She said, holding out her hand. The creature never stopped to ask basic questions, such as how Lykan walked gracefully across the ceiling. Nor why he never spoke or twitched the way the other villagers had. So drunk was she on her own power that she let down her guard.

Holding out her long thin needle like fingers, Lykan could barely contain himself as he glided forward, then with an exaggerated motion he moved his hand slightly forward and clasped the wrist of the beast.

Crunch.

Bones cracked from the intense grip. Before the queen Dhampyr who had thought herself in control just moments ago could react, Lykan’s glowing fist was already slicing forward.

[Searing Knife Hand Strike]

The hand went in as a flat knife, angled between ribs, though the creature didn’t go for anything as base as ribs. Instead, it went for a full exothermic shell that was encased by a layer of pliable skin. Still the burning hot fingers made quick work of the hardened skin and shell.

Shunk.

A thick sucking sound was heard, as the chest cavity of the monster exploded forth, leaving nothing but room for his hand to roam around freely.

With deft movements he both found and quickly extracted the pulsing qi core of the beast.

Shhhiik.

His hand made another sickening sound as it exploded outward from the chest cavity of the creature, pulling forth the brightly glowing core of the monster.

Blood and viscera sprayed everywhere.

“Sto..” She gargled, as blood and fluids began filling her lungs. Idly she pawed at him. She was clawing with sharp talons that could rip a dragon to shreds, yet against Lykan’s hardened skin the talons did little more than remove dead skin.

Lykan locked eyes with the monster. He still had nothing but rage and contempt for the monster that slew so many an even destroyed the world to fuel its own selfish need for desire.

He felt as her blood-soaked hands began trying to grab for the core, even as her own body began to plummet to the ground below. Watching her fall, Lykan realized she was an air cultivator like him. Unlike him however, she was a true monster of terror and legend. Grabbing her arm to keep her body that was rapidly increasing its own weight up in the air, he held her up with one powerful arm. Then with his other hand, he shoved the core she desperately struggled for back into her hands.

She looked confused for a second, before Lykan threw her to the ground.

Thud!

She crashed on the corpse of her lover. The other monster who had destroyed this whole village. She looked up at him in shock and horror. Her hands desperately trying to push the core back into the gaping hole in her chest that even now was spraying blood and viscera everywhere.

Her eyes watched him in horror. Once he was certain she was watching him, he rose higher. Graceful on the wind he moved towards the last egg. Then making eye contact with the mother, he let burning qi once again manifest in his flattened hand. Then struck.

Crack. Splat.

Lykan’s knife hand easily cut through the egg. The mother watched as the last of her progeny broke and fell to the earth below. With that, all semblance of life fled from her eyes. All sign of hope had been crushed. For a second he almost felt pity for the creature, that such a monster had the unfortunate luck of running into a far worse monster that it could ever imagine.

A monster who only now knew the full extent of rage. He knew he would need to talk about this with Brenna, this was not who he wanted to be. But for this one moment in time, he felt like he truly had a measurable impact on the world. For the first time in a long time, he felt true good from his actions.

The only problem was the extent he had to go to get there. Looking down at the monster, the one he had ripped the core from, then made watch as he slaughtered the last of her progeny. He wondered just how far he would have to go by the time this was all said and done. How much of a monster would I have to become, to save this world from monsters like those?

These were the questions he asked himself. Then thinking about it, his mind came to only one logical answer. I will become as much of a monster as is needed, and no more.