Chapter 183: End of the Confrontation with the Beast
Those who were most hurt by the creature's predicament were the men who fell less than two meters away from the ferocious beast. As it struggled, it went from one side of the area to the other, attacking the ground with its wings and claws, while trying to bite the cultivator on top of its body with its teeth.
One of the three men quickly died as his neck was slashed by the creature's claws, while another was beaten severely by the stomps of the creature weighing over half a ton. Meanwhile, the remaining Spirits tried to help them.
Liam tried to intensify his enemy's injuries by teasing the wounds open, deepening them as he made his shadows penetrate the silver and golden beast's body.
But the creature had too much stamina and Liam was already close to exhaustion. His movements were not precise, although they strengthened his enemy's suffering and gradually weakened it.
The last of these men acted with Plan B, grabbing a defensive tool from the coliseum, which served to protect the Spirit Masters and suffocate beasts. Such an item was the type that tamers least liked to use, as they would need to use it on themselves and get very close to creatures.
But the man acted and shortly after the last of the Spirits in the area disappeared, along with the death of yet another member of the faction, he got close enough to the creature to put pressure on it.
The creature saw the man around shields and attacked him angrily, feeling even more enraged by the opponent in front of it than by the person on top of it.
The item used by the last of these 9-Star Spirit Lords had a special fragrance to make beasts like this place it as their primary target.
As the creature attacked, the shields took on a different shape, moving closer to the creature's body while strings of mana appeared around its neck.
The creature still damaged the enemy's shields to the point where it could see through cut parts of the artifact. But it soon lost its strength exponentially, opening up the chance for Liam to deliver the killing blow.
At that moment, Liam saw his chance and initiated the Spirit Pact, connecting his soul to the creature's and expressing his will.
'Become my Spirit and continue to exist, or refuse this chance and die here,'
Liam said into the creature's mind.
The creature wanted to refuse. It wanted to be angry and tell the human trying to kill it and get its Spirit to fuck off.
But all living beings had their attachment to life. It had worked hard to become a 6-Star Spirit Earth beast and didn't want to die after all the sacrifices it had made. Becoming a Spirit wasn't ideal, nor was it anywhere near the dream of magical beasts. But a Spirit had its possibilities, while a dead beast had nothing.
Feeling its wounds getting worse as the shields pressed down on them, it relaxed its body and accepted the path offered by Liam.
Its body slumped to the ground, while its essence was already inside Liam's soul space, where at the moment there was a glowing cocoon at Thal'Korr's location and the incubus was sitting on its own platform, looking in the creature's direction.
A Spirit 100% similar to the leopard fallen below Liam in that forest took up the third platform in this soul space, where there was a strong vortex of mana. The creature looked at its surroundings with narrowed eyes and immediately saw the blue star at the top of this space.
It didn't know what it was, but it realized that it wasn't ordinary.
As it took the third position of Liam's soul, he felt his body change. His wounds closed quickly, while he felt a sharp pain in his back.
His armor fell to the ground and protuberances emerged from the top of his back, promptly attracting the attention of the last survivor in the area.
In an instant, silver wings formed on Liam's back, wings so large that they could easily hide his entire body, while glowing with the silver mana that nourished them.
Liam also felt his senses sharpening, as the Silver-Winged Leopard's abilities sprang to mind.
The creature had a set of abilities related to defense and attack, but also to movement. They were: Silent Flight, which had allowed it to reach them without attracting attention; Diving Attack, related to the move that ended Robert's life, its great physical strength and speed; Magic Resistance, which had allowed it to get rid of the Beasts Hall tools and the Mist of Senses; Empathic Communication, able to communicate telepathically with other creatures.
From these abilities, Liam gained some unique characteristics for himself that he could use on his own without the use of the Silver-Winged Leopard. Among them were: winged flight, with the same characteristics as Silent Flight, which was behind the mana wings on his back now; enhanced speed, related to Diving Attack; and golden fur armor related to the creature's Magic Resistance.
As he felt these powers, tiny golden hairs covered much of Liam's body, forming a protective layer that would work almost as well as the Third Class armor he had dropped on the ground.
But this fur armor had the advantage of being part of Liam's strength, something he could evolve as he grew as a cultivator!
Liam's cultivation had also improved significantly with the acquisition of a Spirit of a higher level than his, reaching the 4-Star of the Spirit Earth Realm!
Even so, he was below that creature by two whole levels, something not so interesting since, if he used it in combat, he would eventually have to regain a higher cultivation than his own—something impossible to do.
'I got my third Spirit, but I won't be able to use it... Or rather, if I use it, I'll have to keep it worn out, injured or depleted until I become a 6-Star Spirit Earth cultivator.'
He thought to himself, noticing the weight he was feeling in his soul now after absorbing the Silver-Winged Leopard.
As he did so, his physical and magical situation stabilized, with the wings on his back disengaging after a few moments, while his mana was at its peak and his wounds had completely closed.
The remaining survivor had already lowered his shield and was now sitting on the ground, exhausted, while looking at Liam without knowing what to do.
But Liam had clearly absorbed the Spirit of the beast and also raised his level to that of the former faction leader.
This survivor quickly recognized Liam's new position.
"What do we do now, boss?"
Liam looked at the 9-Star Spirit Lord sitting near to him in this area littered with the bodies of Spirit Masters, with lots of blood and signs of combat.
Liam was not surprised to be called boss. Now that practically all the Leopards' men were dead, he was the only one who could really lead the faction.
'I didn't expect to get into this situation in just 24 hours of hunting...'
Liam sighed as he looked up at the sky, now completely blue with the development of earlier in the day.
"Let's collect the belongings of the dead, their Arcane Crystals and divide them up according to our efforts here," Liam said after a moment's consideration.
He could, if he wanted to, keep everything in this area. But several Spirits Lords had fallen there, and he had no interest in these individuals. His focus was on the Spirit Earth cultivators and the body of the Silver-Winged Leopard.
"Let's make this quick." Liam moved to first act against the body of the dead beast at his feet. "Enemies could be following the beast's tracks or even have felt the effects of our fight."
The two made quick work of the area, while Liam returned to his usual 9-Star Spirit Lord appearance.