Chapter 10: Animal Instinct
Swooish!
As soon as he saw the two men moving against him, Liam threw two daggers at them, attacking without much thought.
His current strength and reaction speed were not so simple for those two to act carelessly against him. Even though they were 5-Star Spirit Apprentices, the difference between them was great enough for Liam's counter-attack to reach the targets before the group's attack could.
"Aaagh!"
One of them let out a painful scream, while the other made no sound as he lost control of his body and stumbled.
With his throat cut, the second Spirit Master brought his hands to his throat as his eyesight rapidly darkened.
The other man, wounded in the left shoulder, stopped in mid-attack as his spirit returned to his body.
The woman, far from everyone, put her hands together as if to pray. Instead of the expected phenomenon, a black shadow appeared behind her, revealing a demon.
'Is this how the Spirit Masters fight?' Liam thought, recognizing spirit summoning, an ability Spirit Masters could use with one or more spirits, depending on their Spirit Pacts.
Summoning a spirit was costly, requiring a large portion of mana. However, the power a spirit could wield in battle was much greater than the Spirit Master's own.
The woman showed this, making her demon-spirit attack from afar, launching a mental assault on Liam.
Quickly, Liam found himself surrounded by fog, losing sight of the dead enemy and the wounded man.
'A concealment-type ability? That's an interesting mental power. I'll have to be careful.'
He became alert, raising his guard and paying attention to his surroundings.
Luckily, his spirit also had mental capabilities. Otherwise, without summoning his spirit, he would be vulnerable to the woman's spirit's ability, even though she was only a 5-Star Spirit Apprentice Spirit Master.
The wounded man's sounds of pain faded away. Then, 25 seconds after being surrounded by dark mist, Liam's instincts told him to shift left.
As he moved, he saw the enemy attacking, with a different spirit than the woman's—another demon, muscular and clawed.
Swooish!
'Gotcha!'
In a Spirit Masters' fight, the right thing to do was to use spirits. But, being wounded, the second man used the only way to raise his powers: merging his spirit's characteristics with his own.
The fusion of spirit and Spirit Master allowed them to blend abilities with less mana expenditure than full summoning.
Liam wasn't experienced in combat, but he sensed the monster attacking him was the fusion of the injured Spirit Master and the man's first spirit.
Liam attacked the hideous being next to him at heart level, using an axe.
A strange sound of a wounded animal rang out, reverberating through the nearby trees, reaching the ears of the woman controlling the battle from afar.
'Shit! Salmon has been seriously injured! He's going to die too!'
The red-haired woman, Mary, felt at a crossroads: continue attacking Liam or run away.
Why run if she was affecting Liam? Because she knew she wasn't affecting him as much as she wanted. Aware that she wouldn't last a minute longer with her current mana expenditure, Mary took the coward's way out.
Before Liam even removed his axe from Salmon's chest, she retracted her spirit and began her escape.
Liam felt the effects of Mary's powers gradually diminish, understanding she was fleeing.
A smile appeared on his lips. Once again, he was victorious.
'Whatever. I'll let you get away for—'
In mid-thought, Liam felt something was wrong.
A surge of power coursed through his body. His muscles grew, his skin became silkier, and parts of his body filled with blood.
His heart rate changed, his eyes turned scarlet, and a spiritual tail appeared above his rear.
Subtly raising his head, he breathed in the surrounding air, sensing a natural fragrance that mesmerized him.
Opening his mouth slightly, he licked his lips, pushed aside the dying man and the corpse, and started running toward the red-haired woman.
His speed tripled compared to when he had fought earlier, his thoughts racing as he deciphered the clues left by the careless Mary.
"I found you."
He opened his mouth, more pleased than earlier, as the red-haired woman looked at him in shock, astonished at being found so easily.
"7-Star Spirit Apprentice?!"
She realized Liam's cultivation as she looked at him more carefully, understanding the grave mistake she and her companions had made.
"You're clever. Too bad you chose the wrong path..." Liam said, narrowing his eyes, appreciating Mary's appearance.
Unlike Day, who had a square body and masculine looks, Mary had more appealing attributes. She wasn't the most beautiful woman Liam had ever seen, but her rosy lips, long hair tied in a ponytail, slim waist, narrow shoulders, and wide hips would catch any man's eye in different circumstances.
However, Liam's gaze held something far darker than mere attraction. It was a predatory look, far worse than a man thirsting for attention.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice tinged with uncertainty.
'What's that? What's that heat?'
As he slowly approached her, she felt different. Her heart beat faster, her face flushed, and something in the middle of her body shifted, causing her to spasm involuntarily.
"I should kill you... But that would be a shame. You're so beautiful," Liam said, feeling a strange desire as he looked at Mary's lips.
"You... We, we're enemies... We shouldn't..." She hesitated, overbalancing and falling to her knees, unable to stand as an intense desire to strip off her clothes and jump on Liam consumed her mind.
"Maybe, if we do it once, we can make peace and go our separate ways later? It's not worth wasting someone like you," he whispered in her ear, his hand gripping her slender waist.
Her whole body trembled at Liam's touch, a beautiful smile forming on her face. She bit her lip, unconsciously bringing one of her hands down to Liam's torn trousers.
"That's a good idea. I owe you an apology for what happened, don't I?"
She quickly took off Liam's trousers, gazing at him as if he were the most wonderful thing in the universe, a work of art she wanted to adore, kiss, and feel on her body.
But first, Liam grabbed her by the hair, bringing Mary's face to his, finally kissing her, his hands tearing at the fabrics over her body.
"Mmmmm~"
They kissed like there was no tomorrow, their fingers tracing each other's bodies. She felt his back and chest; he felt her breasts and ass.
Neither of them were acting like normal people. After a few kisses and caresses, they unconsciously moved into positions where they could please each other with their mouths.
Purple mist covered their surroundings as they engaged in their animalistic actions, neither noticing the passage of time as they spent the next several minutes behaving like animals in heat.