Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

*Hiss*

The Explosion had clearly packed a lot of burning power and although it succeeded in charring the Serpent's scales, the Beast did not appear at all weakened as it reared its head, slithered over at the group ready to snap its fangs at them.

"It's coming!" yelled the authoritative feminine voice from before and it came from the lady at the forefront of the gathered ladies holding a broadsword and dressed in a sleeveless garment that showed off her toned muscles,

"Dana! Fire!"

In response to the order, the Lady with explosives threw them at the Serpent who weaved its head to the side to avoid getting hit but Dana simply smirked as she twirled her fingers and showed off the delicate strings she had attached to the explosives.

She used impressive control of the strings to pull the explosives away from going awry and slammed them against the unsuspecting Serpent in an impressive explosion.

*BOOOMMM!*

As the cloud of explosive air shrouded the Beast's vision, the rest of the group got right into action.

"Xania!" the Leader called out in a loud voice.

"I know," Xania said. Her pretty face screwed up in serious concentration as she gripped her long sword and charged forward to swing at the Serpent's scales. Her weapon, of obviously good quality, was coated with Spiritual energy to improve its sharpness and even then, the gashes she managed to cut were negligible to the Fifth Rank Martial Beast.

Xania did not look disappointed, rather she continued to hack away to draw the Beast's attention while she called out for support,

"Thana!"

*Whoosh*

Thana was the fourth member of the group, wielding two sabers as she took a running leap and swung at the Beast's trunk. At first, her action appeared random but on closer observation, Evian realized her target was the most obvious weakness a Serpent-type Beast had; The Reverse Scale.

Everything else had been to distract the Beast and cause its head to tilt to at the very least show off that scale and present the target but before Thana could succeed, the Beast weaved its head, opened its maw wide, and made to sink its mighty fangs into her supple flesh.

*Whuum*

The Leader strengthened her stance, locked in her knees, and swung her Broadsword with such power that she charged out a mighty wave of Spiritual Energy just so she could knock the Serpent's head up.

Evian noticed that even when the Serpent's fangs were about to stab into her body, Thana never looked worried. She appeared confidential as though things were still going according to plan and so when the Leader was able to knock the Beast's head up, she naturally continued her sword swing toward the exposed Reverse scale.

"Yes!" Dana rejoiced thinking it was all at an end and at record time too, only for their eyes to widen when the Scale gave off a feeling of brimming energy right before it exploded out in a massive field that slammed into Thana and tossed her away and to the ground.

"It can do that?" Dana asked almost in shock.

"Apparently," Xania said through gritted teeth, leaping back to avoid getting slammed away by the Serpent's large body.

"Unmph!" Thana let out as her back hit the ground and for the first time since Evian had seen her, her composed expression slipped and changed into one of worry when the Beast slammed down at her faster than she could react.

She covered herself with Spiritual Energy hoping that would form enough of a shield to stave off a bulk of the impact of such a slam. She closed her eyes tight waiting for the said impact only to be shocked when an unfamiliar hand closed around her wrist and she felt herself become inexplicably weightless.

She lost the ability to breathe and the trauma remained even after she returned to the surface.

*Gasp!*

Evian heard Thana take in a deep breath of air but he had his eyes on the Serpent who looked confused to have once again failed to make contact with a target it hoped to flatten.

Thana looked at Evian,

"Y-You're the one we saved."

"You didn't save me," Evian said while shaking his head, "You interfered."

At this point, the rest of the group had taken steps back to regroup and the Serpent surveyed them all trying to decide which insolent human to go after first.

"Interfered? You would have died if Dana hadn't used her explosives!" Thana said, "I can feel it from you— You're only at Fourth Order."

"Just like you," Evian pointed out.

He had felt the strength they had all given off when they fought and had accurately deciphered that none of them was past the Fourth Order. The sleeveless Leader was probably the closest to the Fifth Order in their group.

"But I'm not acting alone," Thana pointed out, "It'd be suicide to come here and face a Fifth Rank Beast on your own. Wait, you weren't planning to kill yourself, were you?"

'That would be a shame,' Thana added as her eyes grazed over Evian's looks, "A damn waste too.'

"No, I wasn't planning to kill myself," Evian said as they both stood to their feet, "I just want to kill that Beast."

"Well, you can't do it on your own," Thana said, "And since you don't know how we operate, it's best you stay out of our way."

At this point, the Group was ready to go in again and Thana decided she did not have the luxury to continue a conversation with a stranger, so with a *whoosh* of speed, she joined her fellows and they went after the Beast again.

The thing was, Evian had no problem staying out of their way.

Although they had interfered and there was now a possibility that he lost his chance at 10,000 Soul Points, he was glad they were here. This way, he could do what he did best which was to bide his time and steal the kill.

It wasn't going to be easy so he needed to be diligent in his stalking.

The plan for the reverse scale was a good one and even now, Evian felt it was the best chance he had to get that kill but the issue lay in the Serpent's periodic discharge of Spiritual energy from that very spot.

"Periodic, Hmm," Evian thought while stroking his beardless jaw.

'What if it can't discharge energy from there repeatedly?' Evian wondered.

The discharge of Spiritual energy out of the body was something that didn't come easy to Knights as it did to Arcanists and Evian wondered if that was also the case with Martial Beasts.

Martial Beasts might be imbued with powerful instincts that guide their use of Spiritual energy towards strengthening the bodies but there was a level of work that came with extending Spiritual energy out of the body that Evian doubted they naturally possessed without the deliberate intention to carefully control their use of Spiritual energy.

Especially when it was with a Fifth Rank Beast whose intelligence was still considerably limited.

Evian felt his idea had merit so he decided to risk it.

*BOOOOOM!!!*

Blasts from Dana's explosives announced the start of yet another strategy and props to the group, they had many of them to switch between but the target remained the same because it was their best chance against such a slippery opponent who individually outclassed every single one of them in strength.

This time, Thana provided the support and distraction while the Leader charged in with her broadsword. Her short spiky hair waved with the strong pressure of the air pushing against her body. She swung her sword, her lean muscles bulging with exertion while she coated her sword with Spiritual to add even more edge.

The Serpent deployed its Barrier but the Leader yelled to deploy her very own powerful extension of Spiritual energy further strengthened by the Pressure of her Order with the intention of breaking through the Beast's defense of its reverse scale.

Alas, all of her resistance was for naught.

She was repelled and as she fell toward the ground, she saw a blur fizz toward the Serpent right above her.

'It's not one of ours,' she quickly realized, 'Fool! you can't break through that defense.'

The Leader would have yelled out her warning had her back not hit the ground at that very moment in an impact that wracked through her very being. It was almost as though the fall hurt her more because of how much she resisted against the Serpent's deployed barrier.

Meanwhile, Evian gritted his teeth as he got closer and closer to his target. The group expected the barrier deployment only to be stunned when it never showed.

*SKSHHH*

Evian's Spearhead sank in and he pushed until at least half of his weapon was lodged in deep.

As blood spilled, Evian felt an attempt to deploy a barrier and he realized that while the move had a cooldown, it was only for a few seconds, and with that realization came another;

'It got cocky!' he thought in exclamation.

The Beast could have still reacted fast enough to strike at him but it had been so confident in the barrier it possessed to protect its reserve scale that it had not expected someone to go after that small window of a Cooldown.

That cockiness had now led to its death and as it hit the ground with a powerful, it let out a final tiny hiss of regret before its Essence pulled free…

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