King Of Limbo

"That burst of speed was truly uncalled for, I almost couldn't avoid it." Lady Rose sighed in relief but her once gentle gestures became fast and sharp.",

The reason for this was lurking within the Komi Sea, the body of water that surrounded the islands. It wasn't as deep underwater so if one was close enough they could vaguely see a pair of glowing blue eyes rapidly moving underwater.

The deeper one went into the Komi region the more murky the water became due to the equatorial type of climate it experienced in the majority of its parts.

The serpent had made it's way into one such region in pursuit of Lady Rose's scouter underwater. Lady Rose had to make the device perform random turns and twists, sometimes even reducing it's fluctuations just to not get caught by the beast.

,m 'Atleast we know not to fight that thing on water.' Aron who was roughly two kilometers away trying to keep up via land thought with a bit of concern on his face.

Unpredictable beasts were the most annoying to deal with for him and what was worse is that he couldn't absorb their mana due to them having too many unknowns.

Most beast mongers only ever absorbed mana from creatures they had sufficient knowledge of to prevent uncalled for aspects. Though a good number of beast mongers did gamble on the chance and absorbed regardless.

Aron continued on his path towards the vantage point and was now approaching the boundary of another clan's territory.

Most of the Komi Islands were connected at one or two points via crudely made bridges of logs and vines. Although most clan's were either neutral or hostile towards each other, the need to trade existed hence connections were made.

This particular bridge Aron was approaching was guarded by two large literal bulls with dark brown hides and rings on their noses.

One was larger and more beast like as it's legs retained the hooves of a bull while the other had legs that resembled a human aside from the lack of soft skin.

Once Aron was within three hundred meters of the bridge the larger one fluttered it's ears and wriggled it's nose. "Someone's coming..." it muttered in a very deep voice causing the other to become alert and turn to the direction of the jungle.

It had now become dark so it became especially hard to see anything in the densely packed jungle. Aron was hoping to get closer using this fact but it seemed their other senses were more keen than he predicted.

'They've noticed me...' Aron came to a stop near a tree roughly two hundred meters away from them. His vision at night was beyond perfect and he could clearly see them from where he stood.

He noticed they switched from just standing guard and looked more alert so it was safe to assume he had been detected.

What he needed to do now was take them out without causing a commotion. The quickest way to do this was to use his arcane gun which he was about to grab but paused upon looking at them closer.

The two bulls on guard had no weapons or armor aside from thick looking metal braces on their wrists and a metal plate that hid their nether regions.

'If they always move around like that then their hides are definitely very thick and won't be pierced by a standard shot, at least not deep enough to be fatal for the large one...' Aron compared the two and came to a conclusion before rushing forward.

One hundred and fifty meters

One hundred meters

Fifty meters

"Hmph! Intruder, be ready." The larger bull snorted and flexed it's muscles as if intimidating the approaching foe.

"Arck!" Just as it was ready to charge at the opponent once they showed themselves something uncalled for happened.

The smaller humanoid bull beside it let out a pain gurgle and held it's throat tightly with wide eyes. Blood oozed down between its fingers and it looked at the larger one with questioning eyes.

"Blurgk!" Before the two could understand the situation a stream of light flashed in front of both their eyes, when it faded the humanoid bull had fallen to the ground with no signs of life... only a bloody hole on it's throat and head.

"Like I thought, you really do have thick hides. A human normally dies from one shot alone." Aron emerged from the jungle with his eyes giving off a slight eerie glow.

Upon hearing a foreign voice the large bull turned its now bloodshot eyes towards the source and got ready to speak but Aron would not allow this.

*clang!*

Without delay he fired another standard shot from his arcane gun and aimed for the bulls throat but it crossed it's arms in front of its head causing the impact to be with it's metal braces.

"You're fast too, but..." in that moment it shielded it's head, Aron closed the distance and took out his axe before slashing towards the bulls right knee with tremendous force.

*crack!* Bones were cracked and ligaments served as the battle axe split the bull's dominant leg in two.

The pain this brought caused the bull to loosen it's arms in an attempt to hold it's leg. "Gar- crack!*"

However once this opening was created, Aron took it and launched a powerful uppercut towards the bull's jaw, shattering it in numerous places as well.

The bull entered a state of confusion and it's instincts now kicked in. It attempted to punch Aron while he was still close but he jumped to avoid it and held the bull's horn as he did so.

This forced the bull to raise it's head and come face to face with Aron who was right above it in that moment. "Got you."

*splatter!*

Aron used that moment to fire a standard shot into the bull's large nostril, ending it's life in that very instant.

*thud*

It's body dropped to the ground and blood oozed from it's facial orfices due it's brain having been damaged badly.

'Looks clear from here.' Aron picked up his bloody axe and looked on the other side of the bridge but saw there was still no sign of anyone else so he continued on.

A little while later Jagu arrived on the scene while breathing heavily, it took everything he got to not be left too far behind. It didn't surprise him that the Komi guarding the bridge couldn't stop Aron but the scene revealed a feature that caused Jagu's reverence for Aron to grow.

It showed that Aron had walked forward five casual steps before the tracks came to an end. Only for two more steps to continue behind and in-front of the two bulls before and after Aron's jump.

'Less than ten steps...' Aron's brutal and efficient way of always using the quickest way he could come up with to take down his opponent still amazed Jagu greatly.

....

While Jagu paused to catch his breath and analyze Aron's battle style the serpent was slowly reaching the Island which housed the main settlement of the bull tribe.

They were haughty and far more aggressive than even Jagu's clan, but their might was credited and even respected as one of the best there was. In terms of sheer brute strength, they had no equal among the beast folk.

Wiping out an entire clan completely was impossible using the current method simply because each major clan had thousands of members hence the need to for many separate settlements.

The one thing almost every major settlement had in common was that they were always developed near a large body of water that was connected to the Komi Sea. This made it easier to travel to other settlements and it was safer and easier to protect against compared to the dense ever growing jungle, hence the lack of security at the outermost parts of the island.

The bull tribe's main settlement had a mix of differently made buildings, some of trees and vines while others of rock and mud. As for defense, many rafts made of logs could be seen patrolling the waters with lanterns on the edges.

Sadly this was useless when the danger to their clan was lurking underneath. The waves the beast caused as it moved couldn't go unnoticed as they furiously shook the rafts causing those aboard either to fall into the water or stumble near the edge.

Whatever the case everyone had their eyes focused towards the water and that's when they saw them. Numerous blue paired lights moving in the dark water.

Those on the rafts first assumed they were caused by a school of fish but those that fell into the water saw a frightening sight. A wide scaly surface that could easily be mistaken for being the ground if it weren't so close to the surface.

In that moment Lady Rose caused her scouter to stop giving off heat and fluctuations meaning it had become practically invisible causing the serpent to stop before raising it's head upward only to see a large mix of heat near the shore.

"Alert everyone!? Alert Everyone?!" A bull who had fallen into the water yelled out in a panicked manner causing those on the raft to look at him with confusion. "What did you see down-"

*splash!*

The conversation was cut there as the gigantic serpent burst out from the water. It's frightening girth alone caused a mini tsunami to hit the settlement in that very instant, causing people's homes to collapse upon them.

*Hisss!!*

What followed was even more frightening however as it opened it's mouth and hissed loudly towards the settlement.

The vicious wind generated from this was deadly enough but the within the wind were tiny watery droplets that left the serpents mouth.

It was now as if an extreme tropical storm had hit the settlement. The only difference was this droplets corroded every organic thing they made contact with.

'No resistance at all...' Aron who had just climbed up to the vantage point saw this scene and couldn't help but to gaze sternly at it. Reading and seeing were too vastly different experiences after all.

This was the first time Aron witnessed a creature show such undisputed dominance and ruthlessness from size to ability.

The main settlement was where the strongest individuals of a clan resided. Individuals Aron guessed were probably at tier five or even six if speaking in terms of physic alone since the major clan's held the Komi Island's strongest... and yet they were annihilated in an instant.