What stood before West was a beast that looked like it had crawled out of a nightmare carved by fire and muscle.
It was easily twice the size of a mammoth and its body was a slab of dense, corded muscle wrapped in thick hide. Its paws burned with green flames, branding the ground with smoldering marks that hissed and crackled with every step that it took.
From those scorched imprints, gnarled roots immediately burst forth, writhing like living things.
Its eyes burned with the same green inferno as intelligence glinted within the flames.
Three massive tails lashed behind it, each ending in a sharp, spear-like tip that gleamed ominously.
The beast exhaled, and the air warped.
West swallowed hard.
"...What the hell is that?"
The system answered him instantly.
---
[Summoned Beast Identified]
Name: Verdant Pyre Behemoth
Type: Elemental Beast (Flame / Root Hybrid)
Threat Level: High
Status: Hostile
---
West let out a slow, controlled breath.
Of course...
Of course she’d summon something like this.
His mind raced as he clenched his fists.
He was stronger than he had been in the ruins... but not that much stronger. And the worst part?
His kit was a bad matchup.
Shadow Anchor relied on darkness, concealment, spatial pinning through shadows.
This thing?
It was a walking inferno.
Every step it took lit the ground up. Every movement erased shadows. Green flames crawled along the terrain like living light.
’Perfect counter,’ West thought grimly.
His initial plan before the summoning was to use the shadows in the abandoned industrial site to conceal himself consistently and continously land sneak attacks.
Unfortunately, now that wouldn’t work.
Gor’thala stood several meters away with her arms folded and her staff resting lightly against her shoulder.
She maintained a calm expression while watching keenly.
The Verdant Pyre Behemoth instantly charged at West.
The ground exploded beneath its paws as it launched forward, displaying a speed that was utterly disproportionate to its size.
It swept its paws at West in the process...
Fwwhii~
West reacted by ducking low as the beast’s massive body swept over him like a freight train—
—however, as its body traveled over West’s figure, one tail shot down like a harpoon.
West’s eyes snapped upward.
Too fast—!
He moved on instinct.
His hands shot up and clamped around the tail mere inches from his face, rattling his bones as he struggled to hold it in place.
His boots dug furrows into the ground as the force tried to drive him into the earth.
But before he could even process his next steps, the other two tails came shooting towards him from the left and right.
A perfect pincer...
West roared and twisted his body, using the momentum of the first tail still in his grip.
With a violent heave, he yanked.
The sudden torque disrupted the beast mid-air causing its massive body to tilt off-balance for just a split second—
—and that was enough.
West planted his feet firmly as his uniform tore around the shoulders while he flung the beast sideways by using its tail.
The Verdant Pyre Behemoth flew across the air and crashed into a cluster of rusted industrial machinery.
Metal screeched as it was crushed and sent tumbling. The creature rolled several times before skidding to a halt causing its green flames to spray in all directions.
The ground shook as West stood there with his chest heaving and his arms trembling slightly.
"...Okay," he muttered. "That worked better than expected."
Behind him, Gor’thala’s eyes gleamed.
She hadn’t expected that.
She had anticipated West would panic and immediately attempt to summon a beast he was already contracted to in order to offset the power gap.
Instead, he had physically confronted her beast. This was insanity...
Everyone knew summoners were physically weak but why...
How was he capable of performing such a feat?
The beast roared and jumped back to its feet as the flames around its paws burned brighter.
This time, it didn’t hesitate.
It charged again—faster and angrier.
West moved immediately and for the next several minutes, it became a brutal dance.
West dodged, rolled, sprinted and leapt, never staying in one place long enough for the beast to corner him. Every attempt he made to strike the beast failed. The creature adapted quickly to all of West’s movements, growing sharper and quicker.
Then it slammed one flaming paw into the ground.
Green fire raced forward like a fuse.
West’s eyes widened as he gazed downwards.
"Sh—!"
The flames erupted beneath him in a line, bursting upward into towering pillars of green fire that tore through the ceiling above, raining molten debris down.
Fortunately, West had successfully dove sideways a moment earlier but the heat still scorched his back as he barely escaped being incinerated.
He rolled, came up, and charged, landing two solid punches to the beast’s face.
The impact rocked its skull, sending it staggering backwards.
However, before he could follow up—
A tail shot towards him at incredibly speed.
He managed to grab it just in time, wrapping his hands around it to prevent it from going any further.
Unfortunately, this was move was his biggest mistake...
The Verdant Pyre Behemoth suddenly lifted him while he was still holding onto the tail and before he could react...
His vision blurred as he was slammed into the ground.
Bam!
Again.
Bam!
And again.
His head rang violently as he released his grip and rolled free but he was bleeding now.
He didn’t even get the chance to stabilize himself before another tail lashed out.
He dodged this time, but as soon as he swerved, another tail was stabbing towards the exact position he had just moved to.
West had no other choice but to grab hold once more.
He tried to hold it in place this time but the beast twisted.
The tail yanked him off his feet and sent him flying.
West crashed through broken equipment with blood spraying out of his mouth as sharp metal tore into his side.
Pain exploded through his ribs.
He coughed, spitting blood onto the cracked concrete.
The beast advanced with slower and more confident strides.
Roots erupted from the glowing fiery paw prints behind it, coiling around West’s legs as he knelt, locking him in place.
"What the hell—?!"