Crisis

"Since you are going to kill me, why should I tell you anything," said Siruzen. He had given up getting out of this situation alive.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," said Abel as he tapped Siruzen's body with his palms. Webs from his fingertip began to burrow into Siruzen's skin, shredding his muscles as they kept moving around his body.

"Arrggghh" screamed Siruzen at the top of his lungs. He sincerely wished that he could die at this very instant but the webs were very calculative in their movements and avoided his vital organs and only caused him unimaginable pain.

"We are gathering numbers to besiege Edan city. I have told you everything please kill me" screamed Siruzen who could no longer stand the pain. He felt as if his flesh was being devoured by worms as they kept moving around inside him.

'A beast tide?' thought Abel. No wonder they were hunting down humans who entered Sharphorn ruin. They were afraid information about their attack might leak giving the residents of Edan city enough time to prepare their defense.

The beasts that overran Sharphorn city were gathering even more beasts and plan to use Sharphorn city as a springboard to also overrun Edan city using a breast tide. Their little team naturally did not notice this because they came from the route leading to Edan city.

Had they come from another direction, they would have noticed something odd with the movements of the beasts around the area.

"When are they planning to launch the attack?" asked Abel. He was concerned as his mission in Edan city required the city itself and its residents.

"In a month's time at most. But with recent developments, the time might be abruptly brought forward" replied Siruzen. Abel had stopped moving the webs within his body and he was a little bit calmer.

"How many knight realm beasts are participating in this beast tide" questioned Abel. "There are already two knights in Sharphorn city. Knight Gresht the salamander prince and knight Faknar the dread worm are in Sharphorn city. I don't know if others may join later on" replied Siruzen.

"Thanks for the info," said Abel as the webs in Siruzen's body immediately speed up and tore it into many pieces. Abel grabbed the beast's core before it fell to the ground.

"Hmmm, tier 4 mutant best core. Nice stuff. Time to find Kane. We can no longer stay here" said Abel as he kept the core in his storage ring.

He only now realized how dangerous this place was. There were already two knight realm beasts stationed in Sharphorn city. Only one of them was enough to wipe out his small team.

They might not have acted earlier probably because the news of intruders in the forest had not yet been brought to their knowledge. He was sure his battle with Abdul would definitely raise some eyebrows.

The more they remain in the forest, the higher the chances of them being directly wiped out. He had to find Kane ASAP.

…

Kane had not yet fully recovered. He still felt groggy and weak in his knees. He was still monitoring his Plain's movement on the stream. His Plain which had the size of a grain of sand was traveling at a considerable high speed and was heading deeper into the forest.

It didn't take long before the stream brought his Plain into an underground cave. The cave was very large and filled with water. The stream flowed endlessly along its path and was flanked by land filled with stalagmites on both sides and the ceiling was covered with stalactites.

The cave was quite dark and without the little sunlight that gets in during the daytime, it would probably be completely dark by nightfall.

Kane was afraid that his Plain might sink deep into the depths of the stream as the current began to slow down in the cave.

He quickly decided to exit his Plain and rest on land. This would keep his Plain from sinking too deep into the stream and also keep him from venturing deeper into the forest.

He exited his Plain and swam to the shore. He laid down on the floor and began to rest. He had already used his Plain twice today and since he could not sense any danger, for the time being, he decided not to use his Plain for the rest of the day.

After resting for about two hours, he felt better. He could no longer feel the effects of the poison and he believed that he had developed some form of poison resistance. The wound on his chest had become only a scar. He might have even developed a minor regenerative ability and the scar would not be permanent.

He decided to leave the cave by walking in the direction he came from. He would leave the cave first before finding his way back to camp.

He had been walking for almost thirty minutes when he noticed something odd.

There were circular ripples in the water when it was supposed to be flowing freely. He quickly dashed forward when a massive eel smashed its body where he previously stood.

The eel was almost fifteen feet tall and five feet wide. Its skin was transparent and its organs were on display for all to view. Surges of electric current could be seen coursing through its body.

Kane immediately took out his bow and arrow and was about to shoot the eel when its body turned blue and the electricity in its body surged wildly.

It pushed itself back into the water instantly as the arrow Kane fired missed it and pierced the ground instead.

Before Kane could even react, the eel attacked again. This time, it bit Kane's leg and attempted to drag him into the stream.

Kane grabbed onto a stalagmite. He was relieved because the eel could not do much damage to his leg because of his adamantine body. The damage dealt to his body was only skin deep.

The eel also could not drag him into the stream as it did not have enough strength, meaning that it was at the same level as Kane.

The eel channeled its elemental energy and it glowed beautifully before electricity surged into Kane's body from his leg that was in the eel's mouth.

Kane was being electrocuted but his adamantine body reduced the damage done to his body by a large amount. He accidentally let go of the stalagmite and was dragged into the stream.

He was pulled farther and farther away from the cave entrance. He put away his bow and took out the broken saber.

He stabbed it into the eel's jaw but the only response he got was a low grunt as it kept swimming off with him in tow. He was running out of breath and was becoming desperate.

He kept stabbing it repeatedly until it could no longer take the pain and unclench its jaw. Kane immediately swam to the surface and took a large breath of air.

He looked down into the water and saw a blue blur circling to his position at high speed. He braced himself for impact.

The eel opened its mouth as it tried to swallow Kane whole when it was at the right distance. Kane quickly reacted and let his lower body get into the eel's mouth. With his left hand, he held unto the eel's upper jaw and his legs to wedge the eel's mouth open.

The eel began to electrocute Kane once more but like before, the damage was not life-threatening, only irritating. He adjusted his body slightly and stabbed the eel in the eye with the broken saber in his right hand, gushing blood into the stream water.

The eel roared in pain as it jerked its head in order to throw Kane off. It could have succeeded if Kane was not holding onto the eel's upper jaw firmly.

Kane used the momentum from the attempted fling to position himself on the eel's head. He stabbed the eel's other eye with the saber.

The eel kept trashing about but it could not shake off Kane who was perched firmly on its head.

When Kane somewhat regained his balance, he pushed his hand deeper into the eel's eye until he was up to his elbow. The saber had already pierced deep into the eel's brain and its erratic movements only caused the saber in its brain to cause more damage.

This continued for a while until the eel stopped moving. It was dead. Before Kane could celebrate his victory, the giant corpse began to sink.

Kane was shocked at his shitty luck. His trophy, which was the beast core, would sink into the depths of the stream after all his struggle.

He tried as much as he could to see if he could lift the corpse out of the water but it was too heavy and he did not have firm footing.

Soon enough he began to sink along with the corpse. When he was about to give up on it and return to the surface, he felt a very strong force that pulled both him and the corpse out of the water.