The Western Wilds spread around them. As they traveled further north to hunt down the manticore, the rocky outcroppings lost their bizarre twisting shapes and became lower and flatter. Far more foliage began growing on them, until they were traveling through a diffuse forest. Strangest of all, the plants changed wildly by elevation, so a sea of green might have an island of bright gold trees, with spots of other colors spread across the crags.
Supposedly this region was considered low quality because the powers were so mixed and muddy, but it seemed intense to Kai in comparison to Deadwaste. There was a lot of chakra, which no doubt interfered with their pristine qi traditions. That chakra couldn't compare to Rosemount, however, with various mixed forces that he couldn't identify.
Kai realized that he had only been patriarch for about two weeks and he was already sick of it and glad to be back in the wilderness. He could never be a Goralian hunter, but he was definitely better suited to hunting than sect or tribe politics.
Of course, unlike so much of his early life, he wasn't alone anymore. Omilaena moved along behind him, sitting cross-legged on a flying sword so she could continue her experiments. These days they seemed to involve using her chakra to filter liquids, ranging from ink to ice.
"We're actually getting close to the area where the manticore was sighted," Kai told her. "Do you want to put those away so they don't get broken?"
"You're assuming that it actually finds and attacks us quickly." Omilaena shrugged without looking up. "I'll keep working until we run into trouble."
"You remember what they t-"
"Had it all memorized as soon as they told us. Don't worry, I'll leave things to you and only jump in if it seems necessary."
Omilaena might feel completely confident, but Kai still ran through the information in his head. Manticores were said to be taller than the height of a man, which meant they would weigh far more. Their claws and teeth were dangerous, but what made them truly deadly was their tail, which could allegedly launch poisoned quills.
It turned out that Omilaena was right: they traveled for almost a day, only being occasionally attacked by trivial monsters. She teased him about it, but he didn't mind. Honestly, he would have been happy to just travel with her, if they didn't have deadlines bearing down on them. The Manticore tribe needed leadership, the leader of the Pureflower sect was dying, and Zae Zin Nim was waiting for them...
And then Kai spotted something in the underbrush of the nearest hill. Its yellow mane was almost perfectly camouflaged by the bright leaves, but he caught a glimpse of its soul.
While pretending not to notice, Kai rubbed his eyes and tried to refocus his mind. The manticore must have some sort of camouflage, because it was hard to pin down and the symbols in his spiritual sight wavered. He wanted to fixate on it and get a better look, but that would alert the monster that he had spotted its location.
"You noticed?" Omilaena spoke conversationally, not looking in any particular direction.
"Sure did." Kai began taking them at an angle, as if they would pass the forested hill. "I'm assuming it's an ambush predator."
"That's how it looks to me. But are we sure it's a monster?"
"Obviously it is, unless you mean..."
The difference between monsters and sacred beasts might be critical on Rosemount, but they didn't have too many of either on Cloudspire. It seemed plausible that they referred to it casually as a monster while it was actually a sacred beast. When he had a chance to do so naturally, Kai caught another peek.
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Beast: Manticore (???)
Manticore Essence: 320
Immediately the symbols cohered much better into something he could understand. The manticore was reasonably strong, but not as powerful as he'd hoped. There was no way to be sure if its essence would be strong enough, even if he was able to eat it. Lucky that he had Omilaena along, since her injections might make that possible.
"You're right," Kai said as he kept his gaze away. They were getting closer to the ambush point now. "No matter what, it's worth killing as a symbol for the tribe. We just need to fly into its ambush."
"I'll stay out of it," Omilaena said, "but... be careful. I don't ."
He wanted to ask her what she didn't like, but at that moment the manticore leapt from its perch. It was completely silent until its claws were almost on him, then it let out an earsplitting roar as it slashed down.
Kai unleashed Tyrant's Claw at full strength, his claws impacting the beast before it could finish its pounce. The manticore flew backward with a trail of blood, smashing through two trees before impacting against the rocks at the bottom of the hill.
It had managed to survive his attack, but it bled profusely across its belly and one leg. Since it was limping weakly, Kai got a better look at it: the monster had the body of a lion, with a red-gold mane around its head. He hadn't noticed the wings at first, but now they flared to either side like a threat display. Most dangerous, a segmented tail arched up behind it, ending in a spiked ball that must be the quills and stinger.
To his disappointment, the monster's head only came up to his chest. The sources must have meant "man-height" for Cloudspire, which he always forgot about. Due to its bulk, the beast might still outweigh him, but it was obviously much weaker. The only risk was that its poison might be as deadly as reported.
When Kai took a step forward, the beast let out a warning growl. It didn't strike yet, surprisingly, not until he advanced again. Then the tail lashed out, hurling several of its quills. Kai had been ready with a half-phase, just in case, and grabbed two of the quills out of his path as he ran forward.
His second blow hit the beast in the heavy shoulders, sinking deep. Even as it collapsed, the tail stabbed down at him like a scorpion, but he deflected it with a clawed hand, then finished off the manticore with a kick to the neck. Best to leave the head intact as a trophy.
"So that's all." Kai tossed the quills to Omilaena, who caught them curiously. "Is that poison as bad as they claimed?"
"I don't think so." She ran her tongue along the edge of the spine, frowned slightly, then tossed him the other one. "Poke yourself with that and see what happens."
Kai stabbed the quill into his leg and to his surprise it snapped off. There was a surge of pain, more than he expected for poisons, but his leg didn't even feel like it would be immobilized. Strong enough to be worth it for Omilaena, hopefully, but not a real threat.
"Did they know anything about manticore breeding?" she asked.
"They're solitary as far as I know, so the tribes don't know much." Kai bent down to cut out a chunk of the beast's chest to test his beast absorption. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, that would change what exactly we're hunting. There's..."
"Wait." Kai had tried to chew on some of the meat, and his hunger wanted him to eat more, but he wasn't getting any essence from it. "Can you give me one of those injections?"
"Fine." Omilaena tossed him a syringe distractedly while she examined the body with a grim expression.
After he cut another steak of manticore flesh, Kai injected it with her formula, then took a bite. Now it tasted as savory as before, with an edge of monster that let him absorb the power. He'd hoped that he could advance in this ability, after Rosemount, but there hadn't been much time to practice.
"Do you think I'm doing something wrong?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Omilaena blinked up at him.
"With eating sacred beasts. Or will I never be able to consume them without modification?"
"Well, monsters will freely eat animals, sacred beasts, and people."
"They don't eat other monsters, though, which is how this all began."
"It's true, it's not a one-to-one comparison." Whatever had been distracting her, Omilaena returned to him and spoke more sharply. "As best I can tell, monsters seem to be voids of power, so they'll consume anything. But it doesn't seem to satisfy them, so they'll eat forever. You aren't exactly the same, because you're part human. That means you can absorb the power, but it limits what you can consume."
Were the limits in his mind, or did his power actually need to grow first? The other puzzling factor was that he'd been able to absorb something from Anaelina before she died, yet he'd never been able to consume energy from humans or other intelligent races. His monstrous nature granted him immense power, yet there was still so much to discover...
Then a roar shook the earth.
Kai looked up in time to see another manticore bearing down on him. If he hadn't trained a half-phase in speed it might have successfully attacked him, but he had a moment to absorb a crystal clear image. It was far larger than the first, much taller than him, its claws churning the earth with every step. Instead of a reddish gold mane, this one was bright crimson.
Beast: Adult Manticore
Manticore Essence: 501
Worse, this one was far stronger than the first. Not as strong as him, but given the threat of its poison...
The tail flicked upright, even faster than the beast itself. Kai moved on instinct, grabbing Omilaena and leaping to safety, even as the tail exploded with quills. They hammered through the area around them, shredding trees and punching deep into stone. Somehow he leapt to a safe distance through the storm and set Omilaena down.
She was staring at him, eyes wider than normal. He thought she was surprised by the sudden attack until he felt the pain spread across his torso. When he looked back, he saw the quills embedded in his back. Flesh wounds, but he could feel the poison coursing through his body.
Behemoth's Heart began to thump powerfully in his chest, but for the first time he could remember, the heart seemed to be struggling.