The Desolate Mountains (The Divine Elements Book 2) (18 page)

What happened?

Calron inwardly thought as he gazed down at the eight-foot goblin staring back at him. The beast’s face was pale with shock.

Glancing down at his body, Calron sensed that his body was vastly different from before. Spreading his wings wide, he noticed that even his scaly feathers were much thicker and sharper than before.

Nice going, kid. You had me worried there for a second.

Ezkael stated within Calron’s mind.

Teacher, what happened to my body?

You just went through a shape-shift.

Ezkael replied evenly.

Didn’t I already shape-shift when I first transformed into the golden bird?

Calron inquired, as he familiarized himself with this new body.

Yes, and no. You did shape-shift the first time. However, it was not your complete form. Your bloodline is that of a primordial beast! How could you think a beast of that stature would only stand at a puny six feet tall? The stronger you grow in the future, the more of your bloodline’s power you will be able to use.

Ezkael calmly explained to his student.

However, it IS strange that you underwent a shape-shift right now, as your cultivation has not increased since last time… anyways, you better focus on your match. You’ve already roused suspicion and I’m sure there will be several people trying to stop you from leaving.

Ezkael conveyed in a serious tone.

Understood. Keep an eye on Avi, Teacher, and I will fly over the Arena once the battle is over.

Calron firmly stated, as he turned to sharply glare at the green beast in front of him.

“I still haven’t paid you back for what you did.”

Calron coldly whispered, and then immediately charged straight at the monster.

*SCREEEE*

An ear-splitting cry resounded in the pouring rain, as a colossal golden bird whizzed through the air towards its enemy. The sound of thunder reverberated out in the dark cloudy sky, while bolts of lightning continued to strike the ground.

Under the onslaught of this lightning and rain, many beasts within the audience had long since retreated back to the outer corner of the Arena to watch from afar, yet none left the vicinity.

The two hovering badges in the air were a clear sign that the battle was still ongoing. Besides, who would want to miss out on a fight that seemed to defy all their expectations?

Seeing the much larger golden bird abruptly charge towards it, the monster crouched low to the ground and prepared to strike back. Initially, the physical change in its opponent bewildered the goblin, but upon sensing that Calron’s cultivation remained at the same rank, a bit of confidence seeped back into its mind.

“GRAAAHHH!”

Roaring into the dark sky above, the monster raised both its fists into air and slammed them against the ground, creating a titanic crater on the stage.

BOOOOM!

Head-butting the beast right in the chest, Calron instantly clutched the goblin’s thighs with his claws and began tightly squeezing.

The monster let out a gut-wrenching scream when Calron struck it in its previously injured chest, and swiftly grabbed the bird’s neck with its calloused palms.

*SCREEEEE*

Screeching into the green beast’s right ear, Calron viciously pecked into its shoulder, eliciting another roar of pain.

In fit of rage, the goblin momentarily escaped Calron’s clutches and raised its knee to strike the bird’s scaly abdomen.

BOOOOM!

Calron stopped himself from crying out, but a thin line of blood oozed out from the corner of his beak.

Dammit, I still can’t beat him!

Calron cursed within his mind when it hit him that his cultivation was still too low to contend against a genuine fifth rank Vajra expert. His body might have grown larger and slightly stronger, but it was nowhere close to the raw strength of his opponent.

“I will take you down.”

Calron icily whispered, as bursts of lightning crackled within his azure eyes and spread across his entire body.

Detecting the incoming attack from the lightning beast, the giant goblin gazed up into Calron’s eyes and bellowed a mighty roar, as gusts of wind spiraled behind it.

*CRACKLE*

The sound of an explosion resonated on the stage, as two figures suddenly flew out in opposite directions and crashed onto the ground.

“Sh..it…”

Calron rasped, as he lay on the ground.

This was an uphill battle from the very beginning, as there was no way that he could have defeated a fifth rank Vajra beast with his current strength. However, there had been a seed of hope hidden within him that had made him feel like he could have achieved victory.

Ever since the fight with Lord Regis, Calron had decided that he would never run away from anyone again. Ever.

Lying on the cold ground, as the raindrops splashed onto his scaly body, Calron simply gazed at the lightning in the dark sky above.

It was so beautiful.

It did what it wanted to do, and never had to run away from any creature under the heavens. Nothing could stop lightning.

From the corner of his eyes, Calron noticed the green beast falteringly treading towards him, but he could not move.

His focus was completely enraptured by the flashes of lightning in the dark sky.

Lightning is as much a part of us, as we are of it. Tell it what you want it to do, and it will obey your command.

Calron’s eyes suddenly widened in alarm when he felt a strange sensation bubbling up inside of him.

His azure eyes reflected the flashes of lightning occurring in the sky, and a bolt of shock penetrated through his mind.

A single sentence thrummed through his entire being: The Will of Lightning.

*chi-chi-chi*

The metallic feathers on his right wing started to withdraw back and shrink, as they were slowly replaced by a new set of scales. His right wing began to distort and morph into the shape of a human arm.

Haha, never would I have thought that I would get to see that again after Raizel used it in the Divine realm!

Ezkael’s laugh faintly echoed within his consciousness, but Calron couldn’t hear any of it at this moment.

Hazily staring at his new scaled arm, Calron tried to regain his composure. He had five fingers of a human, but instead of nails, the tips were akin to the claws he had on his feet.

“GRAHHH!”

From the corner of his eye, the giant goblin suddenly let out a roar and punched down toward Calron’s motionless body.

“The Will of Lightning…”

Calron blankly muttered, as he slowly raised his arm towards the nearing beast.

Lightning is as much a part of us, as we are of it. Tell it what you want it to do, and it will obey your command.

*RUMBLE*

The lightning in the sky crackled wildly, as a wave of bolts came crashing into the ground and spiraled like a electric snake around Calron’s mutated body. The broken shards of rock from the damaged stage slowly rose up in the air, as thin streaks of lightning enveloped around them.

“Go.”

Calron weakly whispered, as he pointed his palm towards the incoming beast.

*zzt-zzt-zzt*

The multitudes of small broken rocks struck like lightning, blasting into the defenseless goblin.

A series of gaping holes appeared on the beast’s body, as he numbly stared at Calron. The lightning shards of rock had wholly drilled into the monster’s body, leaving numerous see-through holes.

“Grah…”

Still not knowing what had happened, the beast mumbled in confusion as it slowly toppled onto the ground. Not even a drop of blood dripped from its body, almost as if the lightning had seared the sides of the hole when it passed through.

The rain continued to pour down on the audience, yet they remained frozen in silence.

Only when the enormous silver badge in the air faded away, did they all suddenly erupt into a mass of chaos and cheering. Today was the day that they had witnessed a fight that they would talk about for the rest of their days to come. It was a fight that left them speechless, and their hearts wildly pounding against their chests.

“I… win… hah… haha…”

Calron coughed out, as he felt vision fading away and being replaced by a wall of darkness.

Before he lost his consciousness, Calron saw a giant shadow looming over the sky as it gradually descended down to the ground by flapping its gigantic silver wings.

“Calron.”

“T-That’s his Highness!”

The crowd roared with reverence the moment they saw the colossal silver dragon land on the stage.

Today’s events seemed to have blown out of proportion. First, a Bronze badge holder had defeated a Silver badge holder, and now the King of the city himself was making an appearance on the stadium.

Meanwhile, Calron remained motionless on the wrecked stage with the battered corpse of the dead goblin next to him.

Georan, carry him back to the palace.

Weir sent a mental command to his subordinate while gazing at the unconscious figure of the golden bird. Noticing the mutated humanoid arm in place of his right wing, a frown etched onto Weir’s face.

Immediately, several sizeable shadows flew across from the audience and landed in a circle around Calron. Giving a small bow to the King, Georan then proceeded to order the other reptilian beasts to each grasp one of Calron’s limbs.

“Gahaha, what are you brutes doing with my pupil?”

All of a sudden, an elderly voice cackled from the side, as a tiny grey raccoon calmly walked towards the stage while clicking her tongue.

When they saw it was just a trifling old raccoon, Georan’s subordinates ignored her and resumed the process of transporting the golden bird. However, a powerful bellow resounded within their minds.

“STOP!”

Hearing the order of their King, the beasts instantly stopped what they were doing and dumbly stared at the massive silver dragon.

Rapidly shrinking down his body, Weir returned back to his humanoid form as he respectfully greeted the old batty raccoon with a slight bow.

“Elder, it’s been a while since I last saw you. I thought you had left this city long ago.”

It was an extremely strange scene watching the mighty ruler of the city bowing his head down to the petite raccoon.

“You stinking brat! Am I supposed to tell you everywhere I go? Now let go of that little birdy. He is a disciple of mine.”

The old raccoon irritatedly shouted, while smacking Weir on his kneecap.

What is going on here? It has only been a day since Calron entered the city, so it should not have been possible for the Elder to have taken him under her tutelage. Did she know him from before?

Weir’s thoughts raced around, trying to figure out how the situation had changed so drastically. This affair was no longer a simple matter if one of the Elders decided to meddle in it.

“Elder, this beast just recently entered the city, and I have been following him ever since then. Maybe you confused him with someone else?”

Weir stated politely, as his draconic head took a quick glance at the unmoving Calron.

“Bahaha! To think you had the guts to call me ‘old’ in front of everyone, you must have forgotten about my ‘teachings’, eh?”

The old raccoon let out a chilling laugh, while sparks of lightning flickered across her eyes and her claws rhythmically started clicking against each other.

A suffocating pressure encircled all the beasts on the stage, eliciting a groan of pain from Georan and his subordinates as they all dropped to their knees and rasped for air. Only Weir calmly remained standing as his eyes gazed into that of the old raccoon’s.

When the hell did I call her old? This batty woman has been crazy since the day I met her! Dammit, Laris! Where are you? Only you can deal with your wacky mentor.

Weir cursed within his mind and let out a defeated sigh.

Although she might look like a crazy tiny raccoon, the one standing before the Dragon King was actually one of the three Elders of the city. Their purpose was to guide the future Beast Kings and to teach them the way to rule. Most often, the Elders were the previous Beast Kings of another city who trained in isolation until they broke through into the Heavenly stage.

Each one of the Elders was an expert at the peak of the Vajra stage and only a step away from entering the realm of the Heavenly Beast Emperors.

The raccoon Elder was last seen within the city over twenty years ago, back when she had taken an interest in Laris and brought her under her wing. As for Weir, he never liked the nutty creature as she constantly slapped him or accused him of trying to romance the ‘pure, and innocent’ Laris.

Deep in his heart, he knew that the crafty raccoon was lying and that Calron was not really her disciple, but there was simply nothing he could do. This old raccoon was as unpredictable as the wind, and her strength even more profound.

“Elder, I have no ill intentions towards this boy. I only wish to merely ask him some questions. After that, I will immediately send him your way.”

Weir still tried to reason with the Elder in hopes of stalling for some time until Laris arrived here.

“Oh, is that so? Then it’s fine with me…”

Weir let out a relieved sigh, but it was soon crushed as the tiny raccoon’s continued to speak.

“… after I have taken him back to my place and once he has recovered.”

Cackling with glee at the current expression on the dragon’s face, the old raccoon cheerfully skipped over to where Calron’s body was and effortlessly picked him up by the scruff of his scaly neck.

Meanwhile, the rest of the audience frantically gossiped amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what was happening on stage. They had thought that their King would capture the golden bird, but suddenly seeing a midget grey raccoon hopping on stage and causing even the mighty Dragon King to respectfully bow his head, the audience all dropped their jaws at the same time.

Seeing the old raccoon suddenly grab Calron’s neck, Avi immediately sprung from the crowd before the fox could stop her and rushed towards the stage while furiously barking. A low silent whine escaped from her mouth when she saw that her guardian was completely motionless.

Previously, the fox had prevented the little pup from dashing to the stage when Calron had lost his consciousness. However, the fox had been completely flabbergasted at when the Dragon King himself arrived on stage, allowing Avi to escape from its clutches.

………..

“When will you bring him to the palace?”

Weir softly asked with a sigh.

He knew that no matter what he did, the Elder would completely refuse him, so he could only wait until she brought Calron back to him.

“Ke? I don’t know, probably when I feel like it? Gahaha!”

“woof, woof!”

The sound of a little pup barking broke the tension, as the small beast jumped onto the stage and tightly embraced Calron, refusing to budge.

“I wondered where you were, little one.”

The raccoon smiled as she gently looked down at the dark wolf pup, who was threateningly growling at her while her tiny paws glued themselves to Calron’s scales.

“grrr….”

“Weir, this boy is special and I think you know that as well. Leave him with me, and once he is ready, I will let him make his own decision on the matter you want to ask of him.”

The old raccoon’s attitude abruptly shifted as she solemnly stated while facing the Dragon King.

In a bright flash of lightning, the old raccoon, Calron, and the little pup all vanished from the stage, leaving behind a dejected dragon and his subordinates.

At the same moment the crackle of lightning was heard, the distant sound of a squadron of troops marching could be heard as Laris regally walked at the front.

Adorned in a suit of dark-navy armor, Laris marched ahead, and a frown soon spread across her face. She knew that something was amiss when she noticed the downhearted Weir and the empty stage.

“Fuck!”

Letting out a very unladylike curse, Laris sped towards the stadium.

…………….

Suddenly, three distinct figures appeared on top of a wide isolated cliff.

“Phew, that was close! You better thank me when you wake up, kid.”

The grey raccoon chuckled, as she gazed down at the naked human boy with a wolf pup wrapped around his neck.