Chapter 58: No Mercy for Escaping Prey
The Thorncap Raptor shrieked.
It wasn't merely a cry of pain.
It was a command.
The frozen earth answered.
Cracks raced across the icy ground as thick roots burst upward with explosive force, smashing through layers of frost. Massive trunks groaned as the forest itself seemed to awaken. Roots twisted together around the wounded beast, weaving themselves into a living fortress of wood and vine.
The icy battlefield that Yun Che had created began fighting back.
The Thorncap Raptor crouched inside its barrier, its fungal cap glowing with a faint green light.
Then every nearby tree shivered.
Thousands of leaves tore themselves free from the branches.
Green Ki flowed through each one until they glittered like polished jade.
For a brief heartbeat...
The entire forest stood bare.
The leaves became a storm.
A screaming whirlwind of razor-edged blades spun toward the hunting party.
Each leaf could cut flesh.
Hundreds together became a wall of death.
At the same time, thin roots silently spread beneath the frozen ground.
Wherever they touched grass, flowers or shrubs...
Life disappeared.
Plants blackened.
Leaves curled.
The surrounding vegetation withered into gray husks as their life force poured back toward the wounded predator.
The bruises along the Thorncap Raptor's flank visibly shrank.
The torn muscles tightened.
The frost buried inside its flesh slowly melted away.
Its regeneration had begun.
"Amon!"
Yun Che roared.
The younger drake didn't hesitate.
He had never intended to.
The moment the root barrier appeared, Amon lowered his head and charged straight into it with all the reckless confidence of a glacier crashing downhill.
Wood exploded.
Roots snapped apart.
His frost-covered claws carved long trenches through the living wall.
Instead of retreating...
He pushed deeper.
"Wait!"
Yun Che shouted instinctively.
Too late.
He cursed under his breath.
Then smiled.
Of course he would do that.
He lunged after him.
The larger Iceback Glacier Drake slammed shoulder-first into the damaged barrier.
CRACK!
The impact nearly shattered the entire structure.
Splintered wood flew through the air.
The Thorncap Raptor barely had time to react before both drakes were forcing their way into its shelter.
The storm of leaves descended.
Yun Che inhaled deeply.
Beside him, Amon mirrored the movement.
Two chests expanded.
Two throats glowed with icy blue light.
Then—
Twin streams of freezing breath erupted together.
The blizzard swallowed the storm.
Thousands of razor leaves froze solid before shattering into glittering fragments.
The remaining leaves lost all momentum and fell harmlessly to the ground like green snow.
For a moment...
The battlefield sparkled.
Whisper had been waiting.
The little Frost Spirit drifted silently behind the Thorncap Raptor while its attention remained fixed upon the two charging drakes.
Tiny hands lifted.
A pale-blue circle spread beneath the beast's feet.
Ice raced across the ground.
Roots froze solid.
The Thorncap Raptor's feet became trapped inside a rapidly thickening block of crystal.
Frost Prison.
The creature roared in surprise.
Before it could retaliate...
The forest filled with Frost Spirits.
One.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Every direction held another floating blue figure.
Mirage giggled somewhere overhead.
The Thorncap Raptor lashed out wildly.
Its extending claws tore through several spirits.
Each one dissolved into blue light.
Illusions.
The real Whisper remained completely untouched.
The prison shattered.
The Thorncap Raptor's tremendous strength ripped its legs free from the ice.
It immediately counterattacked.
Amon was already charging again.
Predictable.
The fungal predator twisted its hips.
One enormous hind leg shot forward.
A kick powerful enough to crush stone hurtled toward Amon's lower jaw.
Had it landed...
The young drake would almost certainly have been knocked unconscious.
"Amon!"
Yun Che reacted instantly.
He threw his own massive body sideways.
Instead of blocking with his claws...
He simply crashed shoulder-first into the Thorncap Raptor.
The impact knocked both monsters several steps sideways.
The kick missed Amon by inches.
The younger drake recovered almost immediately.
His tail whipped through the air.
WHAM!
The heavy strike smashed across the Thorncap Raptor's ribs before it could regain its footing.
The two drakes stood side by side.
Breathing heavily.
Their eyes locked upon their prey.
Amon growled.
Not with words.
With instinct.
Yet Yun Che understood perfectly.
Bite it.
Finish it.
Tear it apart.
Yun Che hesitated.
His human mind rebelled.
Rip its head off?
With his teeth?
Some small part of him still thought like a man.
That single heartbeat...
Was enough.
Mirage darted through the Thorncap Raptor's body once more.
Whisper passed harmlessly through flesh.
The burst of icy ki seeped directly into damaged muscles, worsening the freezing injuries Whisper had already inflicted.
The predator staggered.
Mirage climbed into the air.
Then smiled mischievously.
The forest suddenly filled with wolves.
Dozens of Frost Wolves burst between the trees from every direction.
Growls echoed through the woodland.
Gray bodies sprinted closer and closer.
The Thorncap Raptor's eyes widened.
The pack!
Its attention shifted.
Only for a moment.
That was all Amon needed.
The young drake lunged like an avalanche.
His jaws clamped around the Thorncap Raptor's neck with terrifying force.
Crunch.
Bone cracked.
The predator screamed.
Amon planted all four feet firmly into the frozen ground.
Then twisted.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
A savage death roll.
Just as the crocodiles of ancient rivers had done for millions of years.
The enormous fungal cap tore free.
Vertebrae snapped.
Blood sprayed across the snow-covered forest.
The head separated almost completely from the body.
"Now!"
Amon roared.
This time...
Yun Che didn't hesitate.
His powerful foreclaws swept downward.
Ice-covered talons aimed directly toward the exposed neck.
One strike.
Finish it.
The Thorncap Raptor should have died.
Instead...
The forest screamed.
Every surrounding tree bent violently toward the collapsing beast.
Roots burst from every direction.
Vines wrapped around the body.
Entire bushes withered instantly.
Life.
Energy.
Wood.
Everything nearby rushed toward the dying predator.
Yun Che instinctively leaped backward.
The converging mass looked completely unnatural.
It wasn't healing.
It was...
Changing.
Amon's furious roar echoed through the forest.
That was your mistake!
His golden eyes remained fixed upon the writhing mass of roots.
You should have finished it.
Never back away from dying prey.
The young drake lowered himself into a fighting stance once more.
--------------------------
The headless body did not fall.
Instead...
It collapsed inward.
The severed flesh dissolved into a writhing mass of roots, vines, shattered wood, and thick fungal threads. The forest itself seemed to answer its desperate struggle to survive. Trees bent unnaturally toward the creature as their roots tore free from the earth, joining the growing sphere until it became a massive rounded fortress of living timber nearly six meters across.
Countless roots protruded from every direction like the spines of some gigantic sea urchin.
The entire structure pulsed with deep green Ki.
Its heartbeat could almost be heard beneath the groaning wood.
Amon yielded two steps as the roots exploded outward.
But he never turned away. His body immediately lowered for another charge.
Yun Che retreated farther, trying to understand what the creature was becoming.
Even Whisper floated several meters backward while Mirage climbed higher into the air.
Every instinct they possessed screamed the same warning.
Defense Form.
The Thorncap Raptor had abandoned offense entirely.
It had become a fortress.
The forest around it erupted once more.
The remaining leaves ripped free from every nearby branch.
Another storm formed.
At the same time, thick roots burst through the frozen ground without warning, lunging upward like spears.
One nearly skewered Amon before he leapt aside.
Another exploded beneath Yun Che's forefeet.
He dug his rear claws into the frozen soil and swung his tail wide, barely preventing the sudden eruption from overturning him.
Whisper barely drifted clear as a dozen roots chased him through the air.
"It wants to keep us away!"
Yun Che roared.
"It needs time!"
That realization changed everything.
"Don't let it recover!"
Yun Che and Amon inhaled together.
Between them, Whisper gathered every fragment of icy Ki within his translucent body.
Amon's throat glowed with freezing blue light.
Yun Che's draconic lungs filled until cold mist escaped between his teeth.
Mirage darted above them, spreading her wings as waves of pale frost shimmered outward. Her Frost Aura merged with theirs, strengthening every thread of cold that flowed through the battlefield.
Then—
Two torrents of freezing breath erupted.
Whisper's concentrated stream joined them at the centre, binding the attacks into one roaring blizzard.
The frozen streams merged into a single roaring blizzard.
The storm of razor leaves vanished almost instantly beneath overwhelming cold.
Leaves froze.
Shattered.
Became glittering dust.
The frost struck the giant sphere.
Ice raced across bark.
Roots stiffened.
Steam hissed into the air.
Yet...
The massive defensive shell held.
Green Ki pulsed through every layer of wood, resisting the freezing assault. Cracks spread across the surface before immediately knitting together with newly grown roots.
Yun Che frowned.
"It's buying time."
He immediately changed tactics.
"I should have mixed my fighting styles from the beginning."
He had become so immersed in fighting as a beast...
...that he had forgotten he wasn't merely a beast.
He was a cultivator.
A blacksmith.
An inventor.
A hunter.
His greatest strength had always been combining different ideas.
Not relying upon only one.
A flash of light appeared beside him.
Several heavy steel lances emerged from his storage bracelet.
Each hovered silently in the air.
Telekinesis.
The familiar weight settled comfortably into his mind.
Lightning Ki began flowing through every engraved rune.
The tips crackled.
Blue-white arcs danced between the weapons.
He took a slow breath.
"Lightning Piercer."
The spinning accelerated.
Faster.
Faster.
Until each lance became little more than a blurred circle of steel surrounded by violent electrical arcs.
This required concentration.
More than simply throwing them.
Every heartbeat mattered.
The Thorncap Raptor's fortress continued trembling.
Growing.
Healing.
Yun Che ignored the pressure.
"Go."
The lances vanished.
A deafening crack echoed through the forest as they accelerated like thunderbolts.
One after another they smashed into the frozen shell.
BOOM!
The first penetrated.
CRACK!
The second punched even deeper.
The third split apart a network of frozen roots.
The fourth burst straight through the opposite side.
The defensive sphere finally fractured.
Huge chunks of frozen wood exploded outward.
"Amon!"
The young drake didn't wait for another invitation.
He lowered his head and charged with all the momentum his powerful body could generate.
His shoulder slammed into the shattered fortress.
The remaining shell collapsed completely.
Wood.
Ice.
Roots.
Everything scattered across the clearing.
Then...
Silence.
Nothing.
The Thorncap Raptor was gone.
Yun Che's pupils narrowed.
"...Impossible."
Mirage hovered motionless.
"I didn't see it!"
Even Whisper slowly turned in circles, searching in confusion.
The enormous creature had disappeared.
Then Yun Che noticed something.
A narrow tunnel beneath the broken shell.
His heart sank.
"It escaped!"
He immediately transformed.
His draconic body dissolved into cold mist before reshaping itself.
Bones hollowed.
Wings expanded.
Feathers of shimmering frost spread outward.
Moments later...
A magnificent eagle nearly three meters tall burst above the treetops.
The world changed instantly.
Every movement below became astonishingly clear.
His vision swept across the forest.
There!
The Thorncap Raptor crashed through the undergrowth with desperate speed.
It wasn't running randomly.
It was heading directly toward the edge of the forest.
Toward the waiting escorts.
Toward Elder Ruan.
"No!"
If it reached them...
The battle would end immediately.
The old captain would intervene without hesitation.
Yun Che would lose.
The eagle folded its wings.
He dived.
The world blurred around him.
Wind screamed past his ears.
His Frost Wings ignited with brilliant icy light, the frozen energy extending far beyond their physical feathers until they resembled two enormous blades carved from crystal.
Below...
The fleeing Thorncap Raptor sensed danger.
Too late.
Yun Che flashed past it.
His wings sliced cleanly through the creature's body in a cross-shaped arc of freezing light.
A heartbeat later...
The Lightning Lances arrived.
Like bolts descending from the heavens, they struck the wounded beast one after another.
Thunder rolled across the forest.
Earth exploded upward.
Smoke swallowed everything.
Yun Che circled overhead, breathing heavily as he watched the cloud of dust.
"Did I..."
Before he could finish—
A roar echoed from below.
Amon.
The young drake burst through the smoke, charging into a nearby cluster of trees.
He leapt.
His jaws clamped around a large mushroom growing from the side of an ancient trunk.
Not a tree mushroom.
A piece of the Thorncap Raptor.
The body had carried most of its strength.
But this single mushroom contained the last surviving fragment of its core.
The severed fungal growth writhed frantically between his teeth.
Still alive.
Still trying to regenerate.
Amon ripped it free and hurled it upward toward Yun Che.
The message was unmistakable.
Finish it!
There was no hesitation this time.
No uncertainty.
No thought of mercy.
The Lightning Lances wheeled through the sky.
Their sharpened tips tore through the mushroom from every direction.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Again.
Until nothing remained except drifting fragments of burnt fungal tissue.
The moment the last fragment disintegrated...
Yun Che froze.
Deep within the quiet space of his soul...
A new silhouette appeared.
The Thorncap Raptor.
It stood silently beside his other transformations, its fungal cap swaying gently as though rooted within another world.
A warm current spread through his body.
The bloodline had accepted it.
Only then did Yun Che finally exhale.
"It's over."
By the time he returned to the clearing, Amon was already waiting.
The younger drake looked almost disappointed.
Yun Che laughed softly.
"You were right."
Amon tilted his head.
"I backed away."
The admission came without excuse.
"I saw something strange and I gave it time."
He looked at the shattered battlefield surrounding them.
"If this forest hadn't already been surrounded by the wolves..."
"...it would have escaped."
He remembered the frantic chase.
The desperate dive.
How close the creature had come to reaching the edge of the forest.
He shook his head.
"I've been too cautious."
His instinct had always been to observe.
To wait.
To gather information before committing.
Usually...
That kept him alive.
Against an enemy determined to flee...
It nearly cost him everything.
He looked at the broken trees stretching toward the horizon.
"Caution keeps me alive before I understand the enemy."
His gaze hardened.
"But once I understand that its retreat is only another survival technique..."
"Hesitation becomes permission to escape."
It wasn't a lesson from books.
Nor from his previous life.
It was one carved into him by the instincts of a drake...
...and paid for by a battle that had almost slipped through his claws.