Crowley stated before that if they were ever to do a special lesson together, then it would mean that the beast that they were going up against would be a strong one. So it was safe to say that they were all a little nervous as they entered the usual room.
Gary looked up at the observing room. Since it was a one way mirror, he was unable to see through it, but he could sense that there were people in there, most likely from NIRV again, watching everything that was going on.
'No Mark… it looks like Tom wasn't able to come this time.' Gary lamented. 'Before, I was a little shy in hiding my powers, worried about what they would do, but the academy has done a good job in protecting me so far, and outside, they would have to try and get through the Howlers to get to me.'
Everyone apart from Sty looked to be ready for what was to come out of the door in front of them. He still was absent-minded and it was clear to his fellow students that he was not someone they should rely on today. He seemed to lack any motivation whatsoever, just going through the motions.
On the other hand, Gary's behaviour was also different this time. Rather than step back, he inched forward until he was side by side with Apollo.
"Oh… have you decided to show us something interesting this time?" Apollo asked. "You're not the only one. While none of us were able to do much against Jayden last time, it's different now. There's a reason why I'm always at the top."
Gary wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but he feel that there was something strange coming from in-between Apollo's hands. Particles of frost around his fingers.
'Did he learn how to use a skill with his Altered form?' Gary wondered.
It seemed different from Xin's yellow volts of electricity, his was more blue in colour. Still, he didn't have time to worry about that, or worry about how strong the others were getting.
The sound of the opening door made them stop their chatter, and look towards the beast that was slowly coming in view. From the bottom, there were a set of holes and large muscular legs. When seeing it clearly, it looked like the bottom of a horse.
This came as a big surprise after hearing that this enemy would be a tough one for them to battle. This was small and compact, rather than large and bulky as they had all imagined it to be. As the door slowly lifted more, they could then see its chest, which was almost exactly like that of a human.
A stunning muscular body was on full display, with human hands as well. So far it looked like a mythical beast, a centaur of legends, but there was certainly something different about this one. As it had no head, or at least the head was not where one would expect.
On top of the human body, there was a neck but it led to nothing as if somebody had cut it off. Rather, when looking closer at its chest, they could make out a face that stuck out a little from between its pecks. It was smiling with eyes that were fully white toward them.
"That doesn't look like any beast I've ever seen." Wu exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, it looks like something straight from my nightmares." Numba added.
James, the head of the NIRV team at the AFA was inwardly smiling, or rather outwardly, though he was doing a good job covering it up with the palm of his hand over his face.
'These kids, they have no idea what they are facing right now, but seeing as the study of beasts isn't really part of any curriculum, this doesn't surprise me. Even if we told them that they're looking at a bona fide humanoid beast, they wouldn't understand the implications.'
NIRV had done a lot of research into beasts, especially after successfully recreating them from fossils. As stated, different breasts seemed to emit a different amount of energy, and the only sure way they had to tell the level of energy emitted was from the crystals after their death.
However, the more data they got their hands on, the more proficient they became in estimating the strength of a beast based on the fossil used to create it. Regardless of all of this, there was one thing that would somewhat turn their knowledge on their head, and that was beasts that had more of a humanoid figure.
Sometimes the crystals gathered after their death would emit a low amount of energy, yet somehow, and for some reason, they were far stronger in battle. They had learned this the hard way, letting them come to the conclusion that humanoid beasts were beasts at the top of their class, or tier of the Beasts with that energy level reading.
This was not going to be an easy task.
———
When the door finally lifted up in the air, the beast started to scrape its legs across the floor. Moments later, it charged directly at all of them on the ground floor.
"We should wait and see what it can do first, and then attack it, right?' Numba asked Gary who had yet to do anything.
Instead, the others acted, Wu, went forward, as he wished to match the centaur beast in strength. Antennas could be seen from his head, and his forms slightly bulged. Since the beast seemed to have no deadly weapon on its body and such, Wu felt like this was the perfect opponent for him.
At that moment, the two of them collided, yet Wu was easily pushed back.
'This type of strength, despite its smaller size, it's even stronger than the centipede!'
Wu was suddenly lifted off the ground by the centaur. Seeing this, Snow came in to help, and jumped with his powerful legs towards the Centaurs side, but acting fast the Centaur threw Wu right into Snow, causing the two of them to tumble.
"He, he, he!" The face on its chest emitted a horrible shriek that could only be interpreted as a wicked laughter. That was when a large heavy fist was coming from above. Apollo was in the air, grabbing both of his hands doing a type of hammer strike.
While he swung his hand down, it almost looked like a blizzard of cold air followed his hands, and it smashed into the floor, missing its target but destroying the tiles underneath. It was a heavy strong strike.
However, it hadn't hit the target, and the Centaur beast was still smiling a distance away.
"That thing is so fast, and it's almost like it's teasing us, knowing how fast it is." Numba noted, wondering if his explosive speed would be enough to contend with it, or if his fate was the same as Wu's.
"It looks like Apollo did learn a skill…in such a short amount of time as well, but I'm not the same either."
Gary started to walk over, and as he did, there was something that had occurred. The special lesson was always the last lesson of the day, it was done late in the afternoon, and now it had hit 6PM.
[While the night sky is out, your Werewolf self will receive a large boost in your Energy]
[Your Energy is now doubled]
[All skills have temporarily increased in level]
When Gary was close enough, he could see the centaur still not moving, it had a human trait, of arrogance and was overconfident, and this would be its downfall.
Gary transformed his arms and legs.
[Skill activated Lethal Pounce Lv. 2]
His whole body jumped in one direction away from the centaur, it turned its body, and before it would do anything, Gary had jumped off a second time. It was part of the lethal pounce level 2 skill.
Hitting his target, Gary had a hand right through its chest, with his transformer arm, holding onto the head of the beast in the air.
*****
For updates for MWS and future works, please follow me on my social media below.
Instagram: Jksmanga
P.a.t.r.e.o.n: jksmanga
When news of MVS, MWS or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I'm not too busy, I tend to reply.