Beast Essence

Aiden groaned as he stood up again. There were not many wounds on his body except the burnt robe. But because of the thing in front of him, he was more shocked.

The hands of the red man had turned into legs, and its heavy body was now supported by four legs. It had a tail, but the most surprising thing was the heat that radiated from its body. The ground beneath it was charred black, and the trees around it had already caught fire.

It was a pure mana beast, yet looking at the eyes of the beast; Aiden felt that it was not the eyes of the mindless beast. However, he was attacked before he could decide what to do with the bull.

Even if the beast had some intelligence, it was still had the body of a beast. The bull could charge only on a straight line and could not make sharp turns in the middle of the charge.

Aiden knew this very well, and he had no trouble using it to his advantage. But the bull he'd seen while growing up, and the one in front of him was a different thing.

And Aiden understood that painfully. He didn't have a problem moving out of the way of the beast's attack, but the whiplash of its fire tail wasn't something he'd expected.

If the painful whiplash wasn't enough, the places where the whip came into contact were burned. Before Aiden could recover, the raging fire bull had already turned around and slammed on Aiden. At least the bull was trying to do that.

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[5.4103]

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

[5.3942]

[The host has manually deactivated innate skill [Zone]]

'Shit.' Aiden cursed his heart. He had no intention of using the last [Blink] against the beast. But if he hadn't done that, the result would have been more devastating.

On the other hand, the bull was very confused. It was sure that this man had been hit, but there was no resistance. When the bull looked around, it found that the shameful human was 17 meters away from him while supporting himself with the tree.

It looked like it was snorting as the fire bull changed again at Aiden. Anger burned in its eyes, and Aiden was no different.

[The host has activated innate skill [Light Foot]]

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used: 2. Remaining Mana: 7]

In a flash, Aiden appeared beside the raging bull. And, on the next moment, the spine of his blade hit the hind leg of the bull. Aiden could feel that the bone had broken, yet he didn't stop.

He moved to the other side and plunged the blade straight into its belly. Before he could slide his blade along the rib, the girl cried out from behind.

"Run." As soon as the girl's voice reached his ear, Aiden dared not hesitate and poured his mana into his legs.

[Skill [Wind Burst] activated. Mana used: 2. Remaining Mana: 5]

The duration of the [Light Foot] was not over so Aiden was very fast. Still, Aiden felt that the skin on his back was burned from the heat.

* Boom *

Another fiery explosion engulfed the place where he had stood before. Aiden was frightened by the explosion. Looking at the fiery beast, he dared not attack the beast without a weapon. Without hesitation, he turned and ran in the other direction.

Looking at the prey that was trying to escape, the bull got angry. Even though its broken leg was wobbling, it ignored the pain and pounced at the hateful enemy.

To its surprise, Aiden grabbed the curved blade of the lizard woman and turned around. Understanding Aiden's intention, the ounce of consciousness that was still inside the bull, smiled.

The bull kept its eyes on the curved blade as it was charging at Aiden. But Aiden vanished from its point of view again, and the expected blade attack never came.

[Skill [Wind Scythe] activated. Mana used: 3. Remaining Mana: 2]

One slash was enough to cut off its other hind leg. The big ferocious bull, unable to control itself, crumbled under its weight. Yet the flame did not die.

The fire burned continuously, stopping Aiden from getting close to it. Aiden, on the other hand, did not have such an intention. He moved towards the girl.

"Apply this potion to your wounds," Aiden said without looking at her. His action reminded her of the situation she was in. Embarrassed, she tried to hide whatever shame she had left, but her slick hand was never enough.

Taking the potion out of Aiden's hand, she was quick to turn around. Aiden had no intention of looking, even if she didn't.

Due to the fire, Aiden had not seen the blood that had come from the place where his blade had gotten stuck. But looking at the motion of its chest, Aiden knew that its end was near.

Soon enough, the flame vanished as it turned back into a bull-man. Even if the flame had died, bull-man still stared at him with hateful eyes.

"He's dead." Hearing her, Aiden turned around instinctively. To his surprise, she was dressed up. It was the lizard woman's cloth.

"Your potion is a very good one. I didn't see anything like that."

Aiden nodded. He chose not to give any more information, "Did your father know you are here?"

"What?" She was even more confused now. 'Did he know about father? Could it be that father sent him to follow me?'

She couldn't help but take another look at the boy younger than her, 'no, that's not possible. When I left with the caravan, my father wasn't even in the city.'

"Isn't Kaiser your dad?" Aiden was a little surprised at her reaction.

"How do you know my dad?" there was fear in her eyes as she stepped back, "Are you trying to take me as a hostage, too?"

"Huh?" Aiden looked at her for a second, confused. 'Do I also look like a bandit?' Aiden wanted to know, but he never wasted time thinking about it.

He moved to the bull-man. He died with his eyes wide open. At his death, he had once again become a human being. Still, his leg was bent in a strange direction.

"Ah." The cries of pain ran out of his throat as soon as he grabbed the blade that had been trapped in bull-man's stomach.

'It's hot.' Aiden looked at the beast before asking, 'ESS, is it mana beast?'

[Name: Minotaur

Grade: C

Element: Fire.

Feature: Flame Blast. Firetail whip. Medium strength. Beast-form.

Weaknesses: Reduce of intelligence during beast-form.

Comment: Don't underestimate.]

'Human, who could turn into a beast? 'That was something that Aiden had never heard or seen before. He couldn't help being curious, 'Is he the same as me, too?'

[77.24% similarity is observed]

'Does he have a mana stone?' Thinking about the unexpected gain Aiden was a little overjoyed.

[Unable to confirm.]

'If you can't confirm it then ...' Aiden grabbed the blade again. It was still hot, but he didn't have a problem taking it out.

To the girl's surprise, Aiden plunged the blade into its chest without hesitation. Moving it along the rib he cut open its chest.

"What are you doing?" she was very scared. She never expected the young boy to be so vicious.

Even if she wasn't too close to him, but looking at his action, she had a hard time controlling her urge to vomit.

Aiden, on the other hand, ignored her. He put his hand in its bloody chest. As he moved around, he was unable to find the stone. Thinking it might be inside the heart, he took out a blood-soaked heart.

"Are you going to eat that? Even if it doesn't look like that, it's still a human being." Even if she tried to stop Aiden, she never stopped walking backwards, "Are you a cannibal?"

"Why would I eat it? Haven't you ever taken a mana stone out of the heart of the beast?" Aiden frowned as he squeezed the heart in his hand.

Aiden was surprised when it popped like a blood balloon but was unable to produce a mana crystal.

"Not a mana crystal? That's odd." Aiden was confused, "I thought that every elemental mana beast had the mana core."

"Huh?" When she heard the words of Aiden, she stopped before taking another look at Aiden, "Are you an idiot? How could a human have a mana crystal?"

"It looked like a mana beast."

Realizing the young boy's ignorance, she shook her head, "That was the second form of transformation of the essence. Of course, he's going to look like a beast whose mana essence he had absorbed."

She spoke as if it were a common knowledge of the world, but to Aiden, it sounded like gibberish.

"Essence transformation? Mana essence?" Aiden was unable to identify terms, "What is that? Was he a human or a beast?"

"Human, of course. Otherwise, how can he talk like a human?" Looking at the ignorant boy in front of her, she explained.

"He's human. He must have ingested the mana essence of a flame bull." Looking at the now-dead bull-man, she went on, "But it wasn't a success. Otherwise, it would have looked like a human, not a half-breed."

"Like you?" Aiden was curious about the beasts that looked like half-human and half-beast. "You can turn into a wild cat, too?"

"It is a Puma." The girl looked at him with furious eyes.

"Isn't Puma also a wild cat?"

"It's different!" She yelled.

"That is not important. But can you use other elements too? Fire? or shadow maybe?"

Even if Aiden had accepted that he could never cultivate again, he still hoped that he could grow stronger. At least strong enough, so that no one would ever be able to bully him again.

"It's…"She couldn't finish her sentence when the whole forest shook from the roar of a beast. "We should run. The bandit's boss has the mana essence of the Andean bear. On top of that, he can use his third transformation."

'It certainly looked like a bear, but…' Aiden could see the outline of the beast that was charging at them.

"What are you waiting for?" she said, looking at nonchalant Aiden. She wanted to run away, but she wasn't sure she could survive without his help. "We've got to run fast. You can't fight him."

"Don't worry about it," Aiden said. Aiden's confidence, however, seemed more like arrogance to the girl.

Hearing the roar was getting stronger, she didn't dare to wait any longer. But as she turned around and was about to leave, Aiden took hold of her hand.

"What are you doing? Release me." She screamed in anger.

"I will protect you."

Even if the boy didn't look at her, even if the situation wasn't suitable those words still made her heart skip a beat. A red tinge appeared on her cheek as the roar shook the forest again.

"Let her go. Otherwise ..." the giant brown bear came out of the woods. Looking at the giant body of it, anybody would have been scared, but not them.

The girl was shocked. Even though she wasn't scared, she didn't know how to react.

On the other hand, Aiden smiled at the bear and said, "Didn't see you for a long time, Kaiser."