Chapter 179: Prep For War; My Beast (P2)

My Beast cannot speak.

It moans and groans, growls and even howls. But it doesn't speak.

Well, not that I expected it to. My beast is not a creature of intelligence, but it far greatly surpasses its predecessors in that aspect. 

Intelligence.

I test it out a few more times, asking it to jump, stand on one leg, carry me and even retrieve the dagger after I threw it.

It passed all tests with flying colours.

The best part being that I don't even have to maintain its state, another one up on its Ghoul and Zombie predecessors.

Anselm marvels at my beast just as I do.

"This is…" he starts, a loss for words.

"My beast." 

"Is that what you're calling it?"

I shrug.

"Still," he floats, circling my beast, "A lot of the…meat? Is gone." He observes.

"Are you sure it'll be as strong as a normal Werebear?"

I nod, "Without a doubt, this creature I've born will decimate Werebears and more, it can wield a weapon, it understands how to use weapons Anselm." I yell, grinning.

He still looks sceptical.

"Alright, it's an undead that doesn't rely on my continued mana or on a limited battery of it when created. It can act without me being close. Don't you see how beautiful this is?"

"How beautiful is it?" He chuckles, choosing to humour me.

"This means I can create a few more of them and they can act as the front guard of an army!"

He frowns at this. "Not what I was expecting you to say." I can hear a tinge of surprise and disappointment line his words, "You realize that these…beasts of yours require live humans or human look alike, right?"

"There's an entire forest packed with these guys! We just have to attack and restrain them, heck I think just hanging out here tonight will bring some more to us."

With narrowed eyes he looks down at me, "There's also the fact that…there was another presence in there with you, Asher."

At this I feel my smile drop.

"Do you know what that was? Did you call it? You didn't tell me anything about that when you said you were performing a ritual."

"The rituals are…complex. I just do what the System says I should do."

"It felt…wrong."

I roll my eyes, "More wrong than raising the dead? It doesn't matter what was in there as long as it doesn't hurt me, as long as it gives me power, I'm fine with it."

"But you won't let Frozia be your patron." He argues, "By that logic there's nothing wrong with getting power from the Goddess."

"My fault," I groan and correct myself, "As long as it gives me power and shuts up, then I'm fine with it."

He doesn't say anything at this, instead he turns and faces the huffing, hunched back beast.

"Let's hope you're right."

With that he floats away.

I look to my beast and sigh, "I think I'll call you…Panda."

"Milord!" Juri yells, approaching with urgency.

"What is it, Juri?"

He gulps, taking his time to eye Panda cautiously before speaking, "Uh, Piol, as you said. He's right. There are several…things in the bushes, growling and-"

"Hear that, Panda? You're getting your first taste of battle right after your birth, isn't that fun?"

"Hruuh!" It groans, seemingly agreeing with me. I smile and pat its lowered head.

"Lead the way, Juri."

Rendered speechless, the man only nods and shuffles in the direction of trouble.

It doesn't take long to notice what's wrong, like he said, the bushes were growling at the men.

"Asher…" Anselm mutters.

"I know, I see it."

It's doesn't strike me as a surprise that there would be more trouble, however, what does strike me as a surprise is the kind of trouble, I'm facing next.

"What's in those bushes!" A man yells, swinging his blade threateningly at the bushes.

I shake my head and correct him, "There's nothing in them!" I yell out for all to hear, there's a resounding feeling of confusion that spreads among the men so I explain, "The bushes are our next opponents tonight."

As I proclaim this said bushes begin to tumble, completely untethered to the ground like normal bushes would be by their roots. Instead, these large bushes make an effort to surround us in a circle.

"Piol," I call out to the man hiding within one of the tents, "Mind telling us what that is? I only heard about spiders and bears, nothing about…bushes."

He peeks out of the tent, head alone with the tip of a blade poking out. Amusing.

"I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this either but…"

"But!" I urge, my eyes taking it what seems to be a tree sprouting an growing from the ground in seconds. This doesn't seem right at all.

"It might be a spirit. A guardian spirit of the forest. You guys are strangers and they say these spirits are specifically hostile to-!"

"Juri! Get me a weapon!" I don't have time for the full story, not right now, not with…some tree, human half breed stepping out of the newly created tree in the middle of flatlands.

This must be some ridiculous magic.

Juri hustles over to me with a short sword and I growl, "Don't you have anything big? Like your sword?"

He seems shocked then his eyes stray to Panda standing guard behind me, "Uh, no Milord, mine is one of a kind, I had it specificall-"

I don't bother listening to the rest of what he has to say and pull his giant blade out of its sheath on his waist.

It's ridiculously heavy, but to my credit I manage to lift it even if I have to with two arms.

"Sorry Juri, tonight it's gonna be Panda's." That said I hand the weapon over to Panda and my beast is intelligent enough to take it from me without any word prompts.

"Asher, here it comes." Anselm voices a warning.

I sigh and wonder how to deal with a guardian spirit. For now, I point at it and speak.

"Panda, kill."