Standing in front of the others, Eternity drawn and ready to strike, Auren focuses his full concentration on the fast-approaching beast.
Hearing the forest rustle, a huge creature suddenly leaps out of the bushes, appearing before the group.
Everyone, including Auren, is visibly disturbed. A large, completely black wolf-like creature stands before them. It has a vicious maw, large enough to swallow a human being in one or two bites. Its claws are as long as daggers, and its eyes are completely black, with small, almost tiny red pupils in the center.
Despite walking on all fours, it's easily twice as tall as Auren.
However, what stands out the most is that it has a large construct of razor-like bones on its back, creating something akin to a cage.
Inside is a butchered, torn apart, and barely recognizable monster, one of the round species of beasts they fought earlier. However, the corpse is festering, moldy, and seemingly partially digested and absorbed, despite being held on the outside of the beast, creating a disgusting smell that even Auren has to concentrate hard not to throw up. Overall, what remains of the beast can only be described as a fermented, rotted, and festering meal.
The beast is curiously staring at Auren and the others, its mouth beginning to water, and thick foam bubbles appearing out of its mouth.
Finally, Auren realizes the most important detail about the sickening predator in front of him. Its Aura... not being passive like that of all the other beasts, but clearly that of a beast with open Aura pores, currently using Ren.
Despite its incredible size and apparent strength, its Aura can only be described as sloppy, and not as strong as Auren would have assumed, somehow making Auren feel disappointed.
Why... am I like this? I thought this thing would have been incredibly strong... but it turns out it isn't. It looks like I'm actually craving a challenge....
However, with the others depending on me, I can't afford to play around.
"Auren! It can use Nen; we need to come up with a strategy and flee!" Leira yells.
"Should we climb onto trees?" Neffi suggests, looking around.
"Just calm down," Auren says, slowly walking towards the beast.
As he walks forward, the eyes of the beast twitch a little, seemingly not comprehending why Auren would dare to approach it.
Holding up Eternity with his right hand and using Limitless Waters to strengthen it, a highly condensed and violent watery Aura surrounding it, Auren also raises his left hand as a surge of Aura gathers around it.
Suddenly, a gush of cold air appears, and the temperature in the vicinity noticeably drops.
A cold fog slowly sinks onto the ground, gravity pulling it down, causing the ground to instantly freeze.
As the cold Aura around his hand increases, Auren finally smirks and presses his hand forward, emitting the mass of frozen Aura towards the wolf.
Frostbolt!
Traveling with unexpected and almost illogical speed, Auren's use of Emission is so skilled that his Aura propels his attack forward with an incredible burst, and the wolf is hit head-on, unable to even react to the attack.
Immediately, the wolf freezes up, its head engulfed in a thick layer of ice and completely frozen.
In a single movement, Auren darts forward and appears on top of the wolf's head, stabbing Eternity deep into its head, the black and white blade penetrating into it, even the white part of its blade near Auren's hand fully entering it.
The wolf immediately collapses, and Auren feels a tremendous drain of Aura, Eternity greedily sucking out the enormous life force of the wolf.
As it does so, Auren can't help but look at the disgusting remains of the round beast in the sinister cage in front of him.
Finally, 30 seconds after stabbing Eternity into it, the wolf looks like it has aged by decades, and all vitality has left its body as its dead husk drops onto the ground.
To Auren's delight, Eternity is greedily using the stolen Aura to enhance itself.
I could stop this process and use the Aura... but with no enemy left... eat... as much as you want!
As more and more Aura is absorbed, Auren notes that the white part of the blade expands by just a little, now making up around 31% of the entire blade... growing for a moment longer before finally stopping.
It grew... despite finding nothing of value... these wolves might be the thing I was looking for.
Finally pulling Eternity out of the wolf's cracked skull, he flicks it, causing the blood to fly off before sheathing it.
Slowly, and with shocked expressions, the others approach Auren, clearly surprised by the one-sided slaughter.
"This is..." Konrad mutters as he forcefully squeezes his nose to stop the smell. "Even if I train for the rest of my life... I could never even put up a fight against a monster like that... but you killed it in a flash..."
"You froze that beast instantly... incredible!" Neffi notes. "Is that even possible... now I get why you stayed in that cold hell for so long."
"Crazy as always," Goreinu mutters, rubbing his head.
Vanessa smiles softly, a hint of frustration visible for a second before she hardens her expression and clenches her fists.
Meanwhile, Leira inspects the wolf Auren killed.
"This is curious..." she mutters.
"Oh, please," Neffi states. "It's a fucking abomination. Don't tell me you'll be analyzing it. Let's move before more show up."
"I agree with Neffi," Konrad says. "Obviously, there is nothing of worth to be found here. This is a death trap. These round things kill any small beasts and stuff their bellies with plants. All other beasts have seemingly been driven to extinction by these crazy, nightmarish wolves, and the round things probably only survive because there are so many of them and even the wolves can't eat them all."
Auren, meanwhile, talks to Kieran through the comms and quickly relays their findings.
"We've seen the round beasts and dispatched quite a few of them... we haven't seen wolves or any other beasts, though," He hears Kieran speak.
"Commander, the wolves could use Nen... sloppily and amateurishly, but still. With their incredible bodies, that much is enough to make them immune to firearms," Auren warns him. "If your soldiers aren't capable of using a high-level Shu to imbue their weapons with Aura, they can't even harm the wolves. They are also extremely fast; outrunning them is impossible."
"Vice-Leader," Kieran replies seriously. "We'll be fine... we've trained... bled... and suffered for a situation like this. These 100 men are our strongest Nen users, and our tactics can deal with at least a few of those wolves. Please focus on your own mission. I am much more worried about you and your rather small and unbalanced group."
"Heh, I got it. I'll leave you to your own devices... just do the same. In any case, we'll be heading back and trying to catch one of these round beasts on the way," Auren announces before ending the call.
"Auren... I don't recommend going back quite yet..." Leira says, her face full of regret.
"Pick up whatever you need. I'll give you 5 minutes. After that, we'll head back and catch one of the round beasts," Auren decides, leaving no room for doubt.
After five minutes, much to Leira's displeasure, the group moves back towards the beach, Leira's large bag filled with meat, carrying a menacing smell around with her.
"The smell will drive away these round things," Neffi says, suddenly perking up. "Right?!"
"Could be... but maybe that's not the case. Since these wolves smelled like that and carried that weird husk around, they were still capable of hunting them," Eren says.
"Probably because of their speed," Vanessa suggests. "Anyway, even if we don't catch one, we can do it after depositing those... things Leira carries with her."
Despite Neffi's worries, the group has no problem encountering another beast.
"How do we knock it out? This might be difficult," Goreinu says, looking worried.
"Will it?" Leira asks, looking at Auren.
"Not quite..." Auren replies, shrugging and stepping forward.
As the beast jumps in excitement and rolls toward him, Auren's Aura spikes as he gathers all of it in his hands, cupping them together once more.
As the beast is about to crash into Auren, he throws his hands forward and opens them, and a violent stream of frozen Aura surges forward, instantly engulfing the beast and freezing it solid.
The beast immediately stops any active movement and just rolls forward, like a ball of ice.
"Now we just have to roll it back," Auren says.
"Guess I'll do it," Goreinu says, pushing the frozen ball forward for a moment, but then stopping and pulling his hands back. "Too cold!"
"Black Goreinu," he yells, sending a large Aura drop onto the ground, creating his Nen beast and using it as a servant to roll the beast forward.
Lazy guy....
"Auren... how does that new Hatsu of yours work?" Eren asks with interest.
"I'll tell you later," Auren replies, smirking at him.
Moving forward, back through the jungle, they regroup with Kieran near the beach before they get picked up by the same airship.
Auren, from time to time, refreezes the beast.
Back on the small island serving as a base camp, the beast, under Leira's supervision, is imprisoned in a large cage, quickly put together from the materials the expedition brought with it.
Finally, Kieran and a few of his scouts, along with Auren's group, meet up to discuss the events of the day. Mola and Rosa also join them.
Though slightly different, Kieran and the other groups did not discover anything of value either.
"This place is worthless," one of the scout leaders says.
"I agree," another adds. "No rare beasts aside from these round devils and the wolf the Vice-Leader killed. No plants of value either. As for ores or precious metals, I haven't spotted anything interesting, not even a small hill; this island seems to be as flat as Mirta's chest."
Immediately, a half-empty bottle, enhanced with Aura by using Shu, is flung towards the man who spoke, who is barely able to block it in time by quickly using Gyo to focus his Aura onto his hands to block it, while an angry woman glares at him. "Shut the fuck up, you degenerate sicko!" she yells angrily.
"Remember who is in your presence," Kieran reminds them.
"I don't particularly care... that was a nice throw... and some nice reflexes," Auren comments.
"Don't encourage them, Vice-Leader," Kieran says, looking frustrated.
"In all honesty, I kinda agree with everything they said," Auren states.
"Vice-Leader!" the woman, now looking panicked, speaks up. "I'm really not quite that flat... I can show it to you if you don't believe me."
"Is there some kind of unknown disease around that reduces intelligence, or was that a very bad attempt at a joke?" Auren wonders.
"Neither, she is just a little... weird," Kieran comments before glaring at his other soldiers under his command. "Which is why you shouldn't provoke her."
"I disagree," Leira says, ending the banter and refocusing the conversation. "This ecosystem is unique... and I am incredibly confident that we'll be able to find something truly unique. Ask yourselves... what was the intention of that wolf that ambushed us?"
"Can't call it a wolf... more like a black devil... obviously it was intending to eat us!" Neffi replies.
"Looks like it, its mouth was watering... I could feel it wanted to eat us with every fiber of its being," Vanessa adds.
"That doesn't explain the weird nightmarish thing on its back... it was transporting a rotting and festering corpse on its back," Konrad argues.
Leira nods at him, appearing to be grateful. "Indeed, Konrad. Chances are it was hunting... and then at least partially transporting its prey. We need to find out why it was doing that."
"That sounds rather unnerving... do we really want to find out?" Eren asks. "What's the use of it? Are we here to study these nightmarish creatures? I don't see the value in that."
Auren thinks for a second before replying. "I actually agree with Eren. Do we really need to do that? Sometimes it's best to cut your losses. The earlier the better. I don't see much value here. No notable resources, only dangerous beasts. We might be wasting our time. Also... Ging is just the kind of person to annoy me for no reason. This island might be completely worthless."
"It serves as a decent place to train our soldiers at the very least," Kieran says. "Though I'm ready to pack up at your call, Vice-Leader."
"Auren! I can't stress enough that I am sure we'll be able to find something truly unique and interesting!" Leira says with full conviction.
"Interesting... you say," Auren mutters. "We are not here for 'interesting finds,' but valuable discoveries."
"Anyway...." Auren finally says. "We'll be doing the following."
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