Beauty's Beasts
Chapter 203: Spirit ponds

Chapter 203: Spirit ponds

When they arrived, they were surprised to find that they weren’t alarmed. They had thought that those youngsters would come back and inform their elders.

Someone noticed them.

Beastmen!!!" He cried out in alarm. The rabbit like spirit beast stood on its hind legs like a human and called out. "Everyone!! An enemy is here!!!"

Tens of hundreds of spirit beasts jumped out from their homes and came out in alarm each brandishing their claws ready for war.

Pffttt..." Ken laughed.

The sight was a little too pitiful and comical.

What are you doing here?" An elder deer with canine teeth piercing from the opening of his moth asked.

Elder! What’s there to ask? We should attack and kill them." Someone said impatiently.

Shut up!!" The elder who was the chief of this settlement rebuked harshly, exposing his harsh and bone chilling canines. He had blood of a sabertooth tiger in him.

Who are you beastman? Why have you come to our territory? Are you seeking death?" He asked but his voice wasn’t rude or arrogant.

We are only passing through. If you don’t mind us, our existence would most likely be forgotten by you all. We mean no trouble." Ash said.

The leader’s eyes scanned through Ash ajd his group before his eyes fell in Sydney. He was shocked and his eyes lit up.

What are you looking at? Do you want me to gouge your eyes out?" Ken hissed looking at the leader’s expression.

Ken, don’t." Sydney said gently to him.

Naturally, if Ken saw that look, all her other mates saw it too and their expressions were unsightly.

Excuse us." Ash said his tone a little cold. Let’s go." He said leading the way.

Wait!!" The leader called out. "You can’t leave our settlement." He said.

And you plan to stop us?" This time Enzo stepped up.

If you go past our settlement, you’ll only be going to your deaths! You are lucky you ran into us herbivore spirit beasts but if you find other clans, you’ll die! Also the lord of this territory has a group of strong spirit beasts going around. You’ll be in danger."

Thank you for you concern but since we came, we naturally have the ability to go without being implicated at all."

You can’t he reckless!! That female...!!!" The leader said but the harsh glares he got made him shut up.

Spirit beasts were more sentive to the core but luckily, those that didn’t reside in the spirit forest nor those that came from stronger backgrounds were unaware of Sydney’s great power.

However, since they planned to go through stronger settlements, the likeliness of one or two recognising her was a little high.

They didn’t linger around for long and set off again.

When it was around noon, they rested and Shawn went hunting, he returned a little later and they had their meal.

....

Seems like we have company." Ash said looking at a give direction and not long after he spoke, a group of spirit beasts came over their expressions hostile to the tee.

It could be said that a fight was inevitable.

You are really daring!!!" One beast growled dangerously as he approached Sydney and her group. To dare actually walk around in our territory." He snarled.

Is it?" Ray laughed. You make one amused, really!!!"

Are you mocking us? Do you know that I can kill you?" The other asked.

I’ve always wanted to test out your skills!!!" Ken growled and he immediately shifted into a huge wolf reaching around six feet just in height, his frame was not one to be underestimated and his viciousness was evident in his eyes. "To me, I’m merely killing prey." He snarled before charging forward.

You dare!!!" The other group charged forward was a group all attacking Ken.

Be careful!!!" Sydney warned him.

Alright!" He haviher a wolfish grin and jumped forward.

Yes, he was strong but his opponent was no less than him.

It’s not a fair battle, I’ll go help." Shawn said and he too shifted and joined Ken

The other group were only five of them, most probably a small group off a patrolling team.

Don’t look." Carlos’s big hand covered Sydney’s eyes when he saw that Shawn was tearing at the skin of one of those beasts. It was an unsightly sight as blood oozed out and flesh appeared.

Ken dodged an attack but he was late, he was crawled at tearing the skin on his front leg.

You can’t afford to get injured! You’ll be useless!!" Ash warned him in rebuke.

Ken stopped fooling around and attacked seriously but even so, taking down their enemy was straining.

Half an hour later, the fight had come to an end. Ash had joined akd helped them out or else the battle would have dragged on for longer.

We can’t stay here long. The scent of blood is too much." Enzo said and he looked at the dead bodies on the ground.

Carlos shifted into his beast form and carried everyone from the ground to soar into the skies.

****

After Sydney and her group left, another group of spirit beasts arrived at the scene and they were shocked to find their friends dead!!!

"Who did this?!!!" A male bellowed out seeing that his little brother had actually died!!! "Whoever they are find them!!!" He commanded harshly and those few followers of his were already shaking like leaves.

Things were about to get ugly!!! To actually dare to kill Jamil’s brother!!! People had guts!

Flying across a few small mountains which had a few tribes settled there, they only came to a stop when the skies darkened but they knew it was unsafe to camp on the ground.

They rested for the night.

I didn’t expect those beasts to be so strong." Ken begun the comment on the battle. He didn’t mean to underestimate his opponent but he felt that there was no way someone was stronger, at least not these uglies!!!

Of course they are!" Ray said. We can’t be reckless from here onwards. I noticed that the distance between these settlements is much smaller, which means that the closer we get to the center, the high likelihood of some powerful clans learning of our existence even before we reach them."

They all haven’t yet had their breakthroughs in a long time. Let them train." Core said to Sydney and she was surprised. It suddenly came to her knowledge that they actually hadn’t ranked up. The first and last one was Caden!

How long does it take for you guys to rank up?" She suddenly asked.

Why are you suddenly asking about ranking up?" Enzo asked.

Well, you guys haven’t ranked yo in a long time, most especially, Ash, Ken, Shawn as for Caden you ranked.up last time but I’m not so sure about the duration so I wasn wondering." Sydney explained.

Ranking up does take time while for others, it’s as easy as drinking water." Ash replied

My ranking up takes about a few moons, some go up to a season while others after two to three seasons. Others also rank up when face with dire situations so it varies.

Ahh, I see." So how do you guys do it?. Do you feel like ranking up soon?"

They felt themselves for a bit and all shook their heads in a no.

Great!" She clapped her hands happily. "Since none of you are yet there, how about we work on it? Whose up for it?" She asked her eyes shimmering.

And howare we going to do that?" Greg asked.

Well..." Sydney was sure that she’d be met with harsh rejection but she still said it. "We don’t avoid them. This will be useful for you in the long run, you can take it as training. You don’t have to worry about my safety, I just want you all to grow stronger! From ranks to levels them up to the tier, that way in the future, we all will be capable of protecting ourselves and not fearing anyone."

And besides, when fighting, one has to begin from the slightly weaker ones going up step by step, that way you can accumulate experience in the long run."

Is what we are going to look for dangerous?" Enzo asked.

Not necessarily. Just that the cirithat surround arriving to that place are shrouded with danger so....." She said to them honestly.

Then can you tell us what it is that you are looking for?" Ash also etched on. He wamred to know, maybe, he knew where that was and they didn’t have to waste time.

Sydney was silent for a while. "It’s a spirit pond." She said not adding anymore explanation to it.

Spirit pond? Is it something precious to spirit beasts?" Shawn asked curiously.

Nope. It’s a pond that holds spirits, there are many of them and I need to search each and everyone of them to find something." She said and they all fell into silence.