SSS Class Mythic Beast Master

Chapter 409 409: Raging Bull (1)

The forest transformed again.

Trees grew wider apart here, creating open spaces between the massive trunks. The ground was mixed with exposed stone that showed signs of repeated heavy impacts. Deep cracks scarred the landscape, evidence of beasts that solved problems through brute force.

Joseph moved ahead, his Arondight lance resting easily across his shoulders. The light grey weapon with spiraling black streaks glittered from the sunlight as he walked. His green eyes scanned the territory, reading the environment the way others might read books.

"The signs are clear." Joseph said quietly. "There should be more than one bull. Which means we will have to deal with multiple Second-Class Tier C Beasts."

"Three signatures ahead," Gran added with light blue and grey arrows flickering in his eyes. "Approximately two hundred yards north."

Joseph and Gran exchanged glances, silent communication passing between them, and then both nodded.

"We'll handle this," Joseph said with a faint smile.

Marie nodded with a smile. "I know you guys can do it!"

"They'd better, or it would be embarrassing," Scath says with a grin at Gran, who rolled his eyes.

Joseph and Gran moved forward as a unit, leaving the others behind. The open terrain allowed clear sightlines, displaying nowhere to hide and no cover when attacks came.

A bellow shattered the forest's relative quiet before then. Three Raging Bulls emerged from between massive trees.

Each creature was enormous, easily twelve feet tall at the shoulder with thick muscles rippling beneath hide thick as armor. They had horns curved like scimitars with amber eyes fixed on Joseph and Gran with fury.

The bulls crashed their hooves on the ground simultaneously, the front hooves digging deep marks into packed earth. Steam erupted from their nostrils in visible clouds while their amber eyes began glowing.

A red aura surrounded each bull's body, muscles bulging even larger, veins standing out like cables beneath skin.

"Here they come," Gran said calmly, his Club of Unreasoning manifesting in his hands. The massive weapon appeared almost too large for him to wield, with white patterns covering the dark surface and radiating a terrifying presence.

The three bulls charged as one.

The ground shook with their approach. Each step created impacts that sent vibrations through the stone.

The distance closed rapidly as the two hundred yards became one hundred, becoming fifty. The bulls lowered their heads; scimitar horns aimed forward like lances at the duo.

Joseph waved his hand through the air, and the wind answered.

Wind Drift.

The wind didn't push against the bulls. Instead, it flowed around them, altering their trajectories with gentle but insistent pressure.

The leftmost bull's charge curved slightly right, while the right bull's charge curved slightly left. Both adjustments were subtle, but they were enough to make them stumble before crashing into the ground.

While the center bull-maintained course as it pushed through the wind, the fury in its flared even more.

Gran stepped forward to meet it.

His Club of Unreasoning came down in a swing that looked. The weapon didn't try to match the bull's strength, but instead, it targeted the complexity of the charge itself. The coordinated muscle movements, the calculated trajectory, the intricate balance required to maintain speed while lowering horns, all of it was reduced to base components.

The club connected with the bull's lowered head.

The impact was tremendous as a crashing sound echoed out.

The bull's charge didn't stop but shifted from a charge into becoming uncontrolled tumbling. The creature's legs tangled, momentum carrying it forward in a graceless roll that ended with twelve feet of muscle and horn crashing into a tree trunk hard enough to crack wood.

The other two bulls pushed themself up already, but Joseph was already moving between them. His Arondight lance spun in his hands, the grey weapon with black spirals becoming a blur of motion. He was lanced and punctured through the shoulder of one of the bulls, making it roar out while the other bull thrust its horn towards him.

The leftmost bull's horn came within inches of Joseph's side.

Gentle Hand.

The air between the bull and Joseph suddenly became dense as water, slowing the bull's trajectory just enough. Joseph twisted, letting the horn pass through the space he'd occupied before.

His lance drove forward once more, piercing the bull's shoulder, puncturing through its shoulder, before he quickly pulled out. Just as the right bull adjusted instantly, it raised its front hooves up before slamming them down with terrifying force.

The ground exploded.

Shockwaves spread outward from the impact point with visible ripples in the earth that cracked stone and sent debris flying. The wave caught Joseph mid-dodge, leading him to swiftly raise his lance as the ripples crashed into him.

He was sent skidding through the ground while his body trembled. Then the Raging Bull pressed its advantage as its scimitar horns began spinning, turning into spirals. Before the beasts charged again, now wielding weapons that could pierce through anything.

But then Gran intercepted.

Instantly, two crystalline spheres, continuing miniature swirling stars, appeared on his shoulders; it was his Pauldrons of Sky. He then activated the Paldron's Density ability as his feet planted on the ground, and he suddenly became an immovable object.

The charging bull struck him head-on.

The impact should have sent Gran flying, but instead, the bull stopped dead while its two horns were caught by Gran's hands. The bull staggered backward, clearly stunned that something half its size had completely negated its charge.

But then its eyes widened as Gran's club hacked down on it.

The weapon struck the bull's side with a thunderous noise. The Breaker property activated, the Red aura around the Raging Bull flickered before dimming and then vanishing. The bull's supernaturally enhanced muscles returned to merely naturally enormous.

Then a swirling wind rushed out and burst out, turning into blades of wind that cut into the Raging Bull. This led to the bull roaring out in pain as blood splashed out while Gran backed up, evading the fists of the other two Raging Bulls.

Then all three bulls' amber eyes began glowing brighter before each bull opened its mouth and began gathering energy. The air itself seemed to fold inward, attacks being compressed into single points that grew brighter and more concentrated with each passing second.

"They're charging their blasts!" Gran warned, Vector Path showed him the trajectories seconds before the attacks would fire.

Joseph's eyes narrowed before he tapped into the earth, wind, and water vapor in the air. The multiple elements heard his call and then swiftly responded just as the bulls fired their Compression blasts.

Three beams of pure kinetic force shot forward, the beams blasting through the air and sending a shockwave out. The attacks were compressed to be three times stronger and more effective than their normal strength would allow. The beams moved at incredible speed, each one strong enough to destroy half a city if fully landed.

But Joseph's elemental manipulation met them.

Wind swirled around while pushing forward just as the beams came. The beam began slowing down from the air currents before crashing into the barriers of wind, which shaved off some of it. Then the ground shook before multiple pillars of earth burst up before being smashed to pieces by the beams.

Then the water vapor from the air and grass swirled in front before turning into pillars of ice that took the beam's strike. But again, the force diminished slightly with each pillar destroyed until finally the beams had most of their strength reduced.

By the time the three Compression blasts reached Gran, who only smiled. As the beam smashed into him and drove him back three steps, he blinked in surprise.

"They made me move even with Densty, not bad." Gran muttered while Joseph's lips twitched.

Spiraling Death.

Joseph moved back before launching himself into the air, his body beginning to spin like a drill. Icy wind swirled around him as a blue ice aura coated his form, and the rotation accelerated until he became a tornado of frost.

He flew toward the nearest bull at high speed.

The bull tried to stomp down, but Joseph already reached it as his spinning form crashed into the creature's chest with tremendous force. Ice spread from the impact point instantly, freezing hide and muscle while the drill-like rotation drove deeper, and instantly broke through the bull's armor.

The bull bellowed in pain and rage.

But the sound cut off as Joseph's lance, which was still spinning as part of the drill formation, pierced through to vital organs. The creature collapsed, massive body hitting the ground with earth-shaking impact.

As this happened, Gran rushed towards one of the bulls before blasting out with a fist that broke through its side. Blood splashed out as Gran gripped the beast's bone, making it roar out in pain, and then a light shone.

Gran activated his own Beast Sigil: Titanic Shock just as his hand touched one of the bulls.

The explosion of force sent the bull flying sideways. Twelve feet of muscle and bone became a projectile that crashed through two trees before finally stopping. The creature tried to rise, failed, tried again. But its legs wouldn't support weight anymore as its internal organs had been pulverized by the shockwave.

The last Raging Bull roared out before it lowered its head, horns beginning to spin with Horn Rotation.

It wanted to do one final charge, an all-or-nothing gamble.

Joseph and Gran moved in together.

Joseph's wind manipulation caught the bull mid-charge, not trying to stop it but altering its trajectory slightly just enough. Gran positioned himself precisely where Vector Path showed the bull would be after Joseph's adjustment.

The Club of Unreasoning came down.

This time, Gran didn't target the charge's complexity, but he targeted the bull's structure itself. Laborer's Insight showed him the exact point where force would cause catastrophic damage, which was an area close to the beast's spine that would break it.

The club struck with perfect precision.

The bull's charge ended instantly as its body crumpled mid-motion, all strength leaving its muscles simultaneously. The massive creature collapsed forward, sliding across the ground until momentum finally stopped.

Three Raging Bulls lay defeated.