The next day.
Under a tree, Kiba and Ruby sat on a white sheet. They both had taken a bath and changed clothes, at least Ruby has.
She was wearing a green sweater and pants while Kiba was in the same clothes, a white shirt, and black pants. He has a good reason though since his clothes were made from special nanoparticles and they cleaned themselves.
Fruits and breakfast dishes were spread out on the ground.
Today was the third day since Kiba has arrived in the forest. The fresh food items he had brought were now finished with this breakfast.
Kiba took a bite from an orange slice and looked at the morning sky. Unlike the Delta City where the sky was affected by pollution, the sky here was beautiful and a sight to behold.
The sky was completely blue, shining in mesmerizing splendor. The birds flew past, merrily chirping a melodic tone.
"This is not a bad place to spend time," Kiba mused with a smile. "It definitely has its attractive points."
He lowered his head and brought his eyes on Ruby. She has completed her breakfast and extinguished her hunger.
Kiba, on the other hand, was still hungry though not for food. He leaned his face down on her chest, his lips kissing her breasts through the fabric of her dress.
Ruby was startled. They were out in the open, unlike previous times where their privacy was protected by the camp walls.
"Someone might see us!" Ruby backed down, her soft hands pushing his head gently away.
"And wouldn’t that be thrilling?" Kiba asked with a smirk, his eyes focused on her like a hungry wolf at the sight of a sheep.
Ruby was stunned as his hands wandered over her breasts, her protests proving useless. She felt butterflies running in her stomach, imagining people watching her and Kiba as they made out.
The prospect made her entire body tensed and flushed.
Kiba brought his lips to hers, closing them tightly for a long kiss. His hand traced over her spine, sending a bolt of current throughout her body.
ROAR
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a thunderous roar resounded in the area. The ground started shaking as if a high-intensity earthquake has arrived.
Kiba’s body was closed with Ruby as the tremors in the land made them roll on the ground. His body was on the ground while she was above him, both startled by the sudden turn of events.
He freed his lips from hers, his eyes blazing with fury.
"Which bastard dares disturb me from finishing my breakfast?" Kiba jumped back to his feet.
The ground continued to shake and crack apart. Some hundred meters away from them, heavy splitting lines appeared.
RUMBLE.
Ruby looked in disbelief as the land split into two. The land on the side opposite to them slowly raised high in the air.
In a minute, a giant beast came in the picture, its height spanning for thousands of feet. It has thick trees and foliage growing up on its back, while on its legs and arms there was only foliage.
The back of the beast was brown just like the ground while its front was rock-white, covered with small grass in between.
"This is a level V ferocious beast," Ruby was terrified. "Due to its frequent violent outbursts, it is usually referred to as Crazy Rampage King."
"Whoever named it sure has a bad sense of naming," Kiba was surprised, not terrified. "If I was that beast, I would definitely feel humiliated."
He has seen this beast and the red tiger from the jet when he first arrived in the forest. Back then, its rampage resulted in the deaths of hundreds of beasts.
What surprised Kiba was that his senses didn’t notice the presence of this beast throughout the night.
While it was true that he wasn’t truly using his clairvoyant ability, but just by default, he usually senses everything in his vicinity.
This was how he knew about the traps laid out by the two teams before. He was not actively scouting out, his senses did that without his will. It was just like how ears hear everything in the area, whether one wants or not.
If he wanted, he could suppress his senses, but that required heavy work, not worth the efforts.
For the beast to evade his default senses, that was truly startling for Kiba.
ROAR
The beast raised its head and let out a loud roar.
"Someone must have offended it!" Ruby saw around six to seven figures opposite to the beast. The dust in the air along with the presence of the beast made it hard to clearly see the figures.
"Let me check who ruined our breakfast," Kiba said as his body flickered and he disappeared from the spot.
Meanwhile, in front of the beast, a man jumped up like a ball of rubber to get away from the leg of the beast. This man was none other than Amir. (Chapter 206).
He was joined by Mina, Alexia, Nellie, Monroe, and Gill as they evaded the beast.
"Gill, why did you have to experiment with your sonic gun here?" Mina asked as she stepped back.
"How was I supposed to know the land was not land but a crazy beast?" Gill countered, his body sweating heavily. His hands were carrying two guns, aimed at the feet of the beast.
Sonic waves emitted out of the barrel of the guns, striking the feet. The foliage shattered in fragments and landed on the rock surface, resulting in faint cracks.
But to his horror, they did no real harm, and instead, further provoked the beast.
"We have to escape no matter what!" Mina positioned her palms towards the feet and spewed out columns of sandy liquid. The liquid solidified, stopping the feet of the beast temporarily.
Monroe opened his mouth and expectorated black mist. The mist seethed in the air, releasing a corrosive force, and flew towards the eyes of the beast.
Shua.
The beast moved one of its arms and swiped the mist away. The mist landed on the ground, creating a charred ground.
The swiping action even resulted in a strong gale, removing trees in the vicinity from the ground.
"Shit," Amir leaped back. "This is really bad."
As he said it, he suddenly noticed Kiba landing on the ground some distance away from the beast.
"Who is he?" Alexia wondered aloud as she ran back.
"Doesn’t matter," Nellie said. "Soon, he is going to be just a corpse."
"Why do you guys create trouble for others?" Kiba looked at the retreating figures and asked.
The six didn’t bother to reply for now was not the time to answer. And even if they could answer, how exactly would they respond?
That one of them was toying with a gun and awakened the beast?
"Hey, answer," Kiba was about to continue, but then suddenly he got stuck midway. He swallowed the words he was about to speak as he looked ahead in the distance.
Some two hundred meters away from him, he noticed a creamy-white skin girl, in a black suit, sending two discs to land damage on the ferocious beast.
Ashlyn!
The moment he saw her, he was rooted on the spot. His expression was of deep astonishment as he looked at the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen in his life.
In his entire life, as Kiba, perhaps he has only shown such a reaction when he first saw Eva and Agatha years ago.
It wasn’t to say that he could determine who was more beautiful than the other. That would be an insult.
No two woman’s beauty could be compared for each woman has her own strong points.
After all, beauty was to the eye of the beholder. What one likes in another might vary from person to person.
Yet Ashlyn was someone who an artwork of God, perfect in every way. No man can ever dislike anything about her.
Every facial feature of hers was molded with precision.
Her emerald eyes, crystalline black hair, long legs or her fit little frame...everything about her was to be loved.
If Kiba was forced to compare the beauty and her young age, perhaps only Felicity and Sophia could rival Ashyln.
The former, though, was someone he never looked at from the perspective of a male seeking a female partner. He has never shown the least bit of lust towards her due to the status she held in his heart.
Ashlyn, on the other hand, was someone he has just seen. His eyes were fixed on her, everything else was unconsciously ignored by him.
He was in a complete daze!
Amir and others were startled by his response.
Why is he standing there?!
The beast is next to him! What’s more, the beast was offended by his attitude!
The beast was the king here, but yet a punny human was ignoring its existence, and instead, observing god knows what.
"He wasn’t born with good luck for sure," Gill remarked as he saw the beast’s action.
"That idiot has my thanks," Monroe added in a mocking voice.
"He was sent here to save us."
"Let us run now that the beast is preoccupied."
At the same time, the beast raised one of its gigantic foot in the air before ruthlessly bringing it down on Kiba.
BANG
Terrifying shockwaves rippled out as the foot landed on the ground.
Even the land outside the perimeter of the foot caved into a giant crater, sending debris and dust in the air.
Amir, Mina, and others near them felt their throats turning dry at the sight. They used the momentary time gap to create a safe distance from the beast.
While they scoffed at Kiba for being daze at such a crucial moment, they were thankful for the opportunity he created.
Some distance away, Ashlyn finally noticed the disturbance but her expression was the same as ever.
Behind the beast, Ruby was shocked.
"Kiba! No!"
She has just caught up and seeing her master smashed down by a beast, it made her insides churn in despair. She has initially disliked him and even hated him for what he did on the first night, but the events of the last two days have inscribed his image in her heart and soul.
"You can’t die!" Ruby cried with tears flooding down.
"Poor girl," Mina and Amir shook their heads in pity and continued to fleed.
Just then, the foot of the beast shook. The beast’s eyes were filled with astonishment as it felt a strong force against the foot, pushing it.
Alarmed and bewildered, the beast saw its foot shoved away from its original spot.
"Impossible" Nellie was running while glancing back, and when she saw the foot displaced, her expression changed.
The dust settled down and she observed Kiba right in the middle of the crater, his one arm raised in the air.
"With just one arm?!" Nellie muttered, terrified.
The others noticed her reaction, and they turned around.
"He is fine!" The moment their eyes went on Kiba, their jaws slacked.
"This has to be a dream!" Alexia stumbled down on a rock. The shock from the scene she observed was far too much for her to care about the pain from falling on the ground.
Kiba lowered his arm and cleaned the dust from his shirt.
"This is rather awkward," Kiba scratched the back of his head. "I have never lost focus like today."
At least, in the city, there would be no embarrassment even if he gawked at some girl for a long time since there were no dangerous beasts lurking.
The only relieving point for him was that Claudia wouldn’t know about this. Claudia loved to remember his embarrassing moments and remind him of them in her sarcastic conversations with him.
Just thinking of the remarks she could make from this episode gave him chills.
Kiba shook his head and recalled the three beauties he saw in the last three days.
Fiona, Sophia, and Ashlyn.
"Fuck! How is this a land of dangerous beasts? It is a land of maidens!"