Chapter 20: Chapter 20 - A Battle With a Beast

I couldn’t help but smile at Daniel’s reaction to the monstrous roar that had just left the forest.

The man had just shot an earth projectile that had smashed through multiple trees, and he was worried about a mere beast?

All of that went through my mind as I saw his head frantically whip around to try and keep his eyes on every area of the treeline.

"Stay calm," I said as I stepped closer to him. "Most beasts aren’t very intelligent, especially if they’re angered, so it won’t come from any direction except the front."

He turned his gaze to me, his eyes were as wide as saucers, his face as pale as a sheet of paper.

"That’s not very comforting." He answered.

I couldn’t help but squeeze his hand when I noticed his nervousness, and fear.

I could start to hear the beast approaching at a rapid speed.

"It’s almost here."

Next to me Daniel took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Stay behind me."

At some point I probably should’ve told him about my history, and the profession I was once known as the best in.

Maybe then he wouldn’t have been so fixated on protecting me. Although knowing him now, he probably would have been anyway.

But if I had done that before now, my plan wouldn’t have worked out so perfectly now would it.

Behind us I could already see the villagers who were out in the field fleeing back to the village.

But those who were in the village, were standing near the gate staring at the two of us.

Which is exactly what I wanted, what better way to build faith than to have people see you defeat a monster they were all afraid of.

Because what Daniel didn’t know at that time, was that this beast had been terrorizing this village for years.

It had attacked their travelers.

It had attacked the farms that were further away from the village.

It had killed their livestock.

It had simply been an all round menace to them.

And now I planned to have Daniel kill it.

Now some might think this is a bit premature, sure he had immense talent for magic, but he had no combat experience to speak of.

He might be able to use magic, but if the beast came close to him he would be dead in seconds.

I had planned to work on that particular weakness later.

But that was not something he needed to address to take care of a mere beast like this.

In this case all he would need was his talent for magic, and the immense amount of magic power he already had, purely by being an otherworlder.

At last the noisy beast burst from the treeline, landing a small distance from us, and inspecting what, I assume, it thought was the two ants standing in front of it.

The two puny humans that had dared to disturb its slumber.

The Forest Tiger stood about as high as a tall man, if it had stood in front of Daniel, it would be able to look him directly in the eye. It had a nasty gash running over the entire right side of its face.

Muscles could be seen coiling through its powerful legs as it started to pace around, looking for the perfect moment to pounce on us.

From behind Daniel I could see shivers starting to run through him sporadically, clearly he was nearly frightened out of his mind at the moment, and I couldn’t really blame him.

It was probably a bit harsh of me to throw him into his first battle against a Forest Tiger only days after his arrival in this world, but I also knew that this would be the perfect way to harden him, and to motivate him to get stronger.

The shivers lasted only until I saw him clench his fist, and take another deep breath.

At that moment it almost seemed as if a deep calm had overtaken him.

I could feel the magic power start to flow through his body, and him starting to prepare something.

In the next moment a wall of flame as high as the tallest trees in the forest rose to our left.

I had just grasped the strategy that he was planning to use, but before I could even think about it further, a smaller earth projectile than the first had already appeared in front of him, and was traveling toward the tiger at a rapid speed.

But unfortunately for Daniel the Tiger was quicker than he had anticipated, it jumped to its left, away from the projectile, and the wall of flames.

I could’ve sworn I almost saw a smirk of derision on its beastly face.

That only lasted until it saw the smirk that was returned to it on Daniel’s.

Because the moment it landed, a spike of hardened earth pierced from the ground, slamming into its soft underbelly, and piercing straight through it.

The beast didn’t even have time to ponder its death, or think about the mistake it had made, for the moment the spike pierced through its back, the light dimmed from its eyes.

In only three moves Daniel had killed a beast that had been terrorizing this village for years.

Absolute silence pervaded the area.

All that could be heard was the crackle and pop of the wall of fire to our left, and that lasted only until it was covered with a thin layer of clouds that started to drizzle it with a constant stream of water.

Within moments the fires had been doused, and even that small noise had disappeared.

The silence lasted for only a moment before whispers started to drift on the breeze from the village, and then resounding cheers erupted.

Daniel started walking in the direction of the Tiger, but he had only taken a few steps before he started staggering around like a drunk man.

And a few steps later he collapsed to the ground.

I hadn’t even realised when I had started to move, but in a flash I was next to him.

I knew that he was fine, he had simply been completely drained of magic power, but it still terrified me to see him collapse like that.

The cheers from the village quietened down immediately, and I could hear footsteps approaching us from behind at a rapid pace.

I couldn’t help the smile that started tugging at my lips.

This was perfect.