Dragon's Soul Chapter 12: Man Vs Beast

Small fires had started in the forest due to the lightning that was shot everywhere earlier. These small fires, in mere instances, turned parts of the forest into a raging sea of fire.


“You two go back to the cabin and get whatever you can and bring it on to the raft! I’m going to see if I can get anything useful for us from those two monsters.”, Zhang yelled.


“Okay!! But be careful and come back in one piece!”, Yuying yelled back.


“Yeah don’t die!!!”, Ai also yelled.


Zhang nodded and headed off into the forest with a smile plastered on his face. Although it was dangerous to go into the forest now, he felt that there was a huge harvest waiting for him.


Having spent months in the forest, Zhang was able to breeze through it. Shortly after entering the forest, he was already in front of the corpse of the Lightning Eater.


From the Lightning Eater’s mouth, a strange liquid was leaking out and whatever this liquid touched it would begin to corrode. This most likely was the snake's poison being a level 8 demonic beast, it’s poison was extremely fearful.


With a wave of his hand a canteen appeared in Zhang’s hand.


“This might come in handy later.”, he said as he crouched down, as he used the canteen made out of essence to fill it with as much poison as he could dripping out of the Lightning Eaters mouth.


Had he tried to store it in something else, the poison most likely would of ate through the container. Only ice jade or something made out of a demonic beast of a higher level could possibly store this poison.


But using the Underworld Heart, Zhang was able to condense pure essence into a canteen. This canteen being made of essence would naturally be very st.u.r.dy but Zhang would have to keep channeling a bit of essence into it or else it would disappear.


Another treasure was also in front of Zhang, the Lightning Eater’s skin and scales. The skin had huge scales overlapping each other and tiny scales that cl.u.s.tered underneath the large scales.


The Lightning Eater had some especially big scales that grew on its head. These large scales could be used as s.h.i.+elds or breast plates, whereas the skin itself with the small scales could be used as chainmail.


Zhang lifted up his sword and chopped into the snake’s corpse.


Clang!


“What the…..”


His sword bounced right off not even scratching the skin. Regular blades wouldn’t even be able to scratch the Lightning Eater’s skin and scales. Let alone Zhang’s rusty sword that was as dull as a b.u.t.ter knife.


He could possibly try to peel the skin off without cutting it but the snake was ma.s.sive and there would be no way to carry off its entire hide.


Zhang was in the middle of a dilemma, he did not know how he could get some of the snake’s skin and there was no way he was going to leave such a treasure alone and leave without any part of it.


That’s when he noticed something s.h.i.+ny on top of a bush. It was a scale and a piece of skin as big as curtain.


“How did this end up here?”, he thought,


Zhang quickly stuffed the skin into his sack and held the s.h.i.+eld sized scale in his hand. Then he began to search to see if there were more pieces laying around.


The skin and scale had most likely fell off during the fight with the ape.


Although he wasn’t able to find anymore loose pieces, Zhang ended up where the ape had bit the Lightning Eater’s skin.


The left side of the snake’s 2nd head had a huge gash and the skin and scales were sticking out and ripped to shreds. This was perfect for Zhang, and he walked up and began plucking the scales and playing them in a huge sack he had made out of essence. The torn pieces of skin that was barely attached to the corpse was also plundered.


Soon, Zhang’s huge sack was full of spoils of war and he decided it was time to pay a visit to the other corpse.


As the fires raged, a big part of the forest was set ablaze so he had no time to waste. Zhang quickly mapped out a path in his mind and navigated through the burning forest to the body of the Frost Emperor Ape.


But when he reached his destination he encountered something that he did not wish to encounter.


A Voracious Eater was feasting on the Frost Apes remains. It was gorging itself with the Frost Ape.


From afar Zhang was able to see a s.h.i.+ny purple gem sticking out of the chest of the ape where the Voracious Eater was feasting. This was most likely the Frost Apes cultivation core.


Demonic beasts unlike humans kept all their essence stored up in a core within their bodies. These cores were extremely valuable and very beneficial for cultivation. They could be melted and then fused with herbs to make pills.


Zhang decided to hide in the bush until the Voracious Eater had its fill and left. However, what it did next stunned him. The Voracious Eater was gnawing on the Frost Ape’s core.


Upon pulling the core out of the ape’s chest the voracious eater began gnawing on it.  A short while pa.s.sed and the entire core was consumed.


After consuming the frost ape’s core, the voracious eater began to emit a dazzling light from its body.


Thanks to the core of the ape it had advanced into the next level.


“s.h.i.+t… It’s time to get out of here.”


Zhang turned back and began to walk away into the forest. As Zhang walked away something followed him.


As he ran through the forest Zhang could feel that something was watching him.


Then out of nowhere a big shadow pounced at him from a bush. It was the now level 8 three eyed voracious eater.


Zhang ducked and rolled to the side and dodge.


“You d.a.m.n glut; you just ate that huge frost ape and now you want a piece of me?”


The Voracious Eater charged at Zhang, and when it was about to reach him, Zhang pulled out his canteen of poison.


A stream of corrosive poison flowed out of the canteen and splashed onto the charging beast.


“Ha! Maybe now you’ll learn not to bite on more than you can chew!!!”


Howling and scratching at its face, the lion was rolling about on the ground.


Using this opportunity, Zhang ran once more. This time though, he was not headed to where the girls were but back to the corpse of the Lightning Eater.


The lion sensed that Zhang was trying to get away fell into a raged frenzy, ignoring its pain, it rushed after Zhang.


Zhang and the lion stormed through the forest. In its wake nothing was left standing, trees were knocked over and stones were crushed to dust.


As the two of them dashed through the burning forest, Zhang was barely able to stay in front of the lion, had it not been for the trees he would have been caught long ago.


It was exactly when White Jade Panther had chased Zhang before.


Soon the corpse of the Lightning Eater was in sight and a smile appeared on Zhang’s face.


After reaching the corpse Zhang turned back and waited for the lion to appear. A few seconds pa.s.sed before he was once again in front of Zhang with blood thirsty eyes.


The Voracious Eater was filled with rage because Zhang had blinded one of its eyes and badly damaged a part of its face with the Lightning Eaters poison.


“Come and get me if you can, you overgrown cat!!!!”, Zhang roared.


In response to Zhang’s taunt, an extremely loud roar echoed out of the Voracious Eater’s mouth.


Then it began charging at Zhang once more.


Zhang had a broad smile across his face as he watched it rush toward him.


At the very last second he jumped to the side dodging it yet another time. This time however would be the last.


Behind Zhang was a small pond that had formed beside the Lightning Eater’s corpse. This pond was made entirely of corrosive poison.


The Voracious Eater became entirely coated in the corrosive poison as it landed in the pond. Slowly it’s skin began to sizzle and liquefy. Chunks of its flesh began sliding off and eventually bone began to show. But once the bones touched the poison they too liquefied.


Zhang watched as the beast slowly turned into nothing and laughed.


In the end the mighty beast was no more and all was left was a b.l.o.o.d.y puddle and a pair of fairly large fangs.


“This poison….. I NEED MORE!!! Hahaha” Zhang laughed as he formed another canteen and filled it with poison.


Although he wasn’t able to get anything from the body of the Frost Ape, Zhang had a huge harvest anyway. Two canteens of Lightning Eater poison, a huge sack filled with Lightning Eater scales and skin, along with a pair of fangs with the size of daggers from a Voracious Eater.


These things could not be easily found for sale anywhere and even if they were, it would cost a fortune to acquire them.


Zhang tied the sack tightly to himself and began running back to where Yuying and Ai was.


However, before he even made it half way back he heard a couple voices.


“Zhang you're safe!!”


As he looked in the direction of the voice he saw Yuying and Ai.


They had been worried because he was gone for far too long and decided to go look for him in case he had gotten himself in over his head.


Zhang ran up to the two of them and as they went back to where the raft was he narrated the events that had occurred.


“Ha serves that cat right!” Yuying laughed after she heard what happened to the Voracious Eater. While Ai simply smiled.


After reaching the raft, the two girls hopped on while Zhang pushed it out into the water once more.


This time they would truly bid the island goodbye.


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A couple days flew after the trio had set sail from the Cursed Island. The weather had been clear and sunny but there was still an abundance of wind which made ideal for sailing conditions.


Since they had a large amount of fur, and the raft was basically the size of a barge, the trio had made a hut out of fur to sleep in. However, the two girls would sleep together as Zhang slept in a corner of the hut alone.


The hut even came with a cooking place. Which was basically the Lightning Eater’s large scale, it was used to hold a fire and prevent it from burning the raft. They’d roast fish that they caught from the ocean on top of the scale using fire made by essence.


It had been a smooth sailing so far however, black clouds could be seen in the distance.


“We should be okay for now but soon, as we sail under those black clouds, most likely, we will get hit by a heavy storm and the water will start to get rough.”, Zhang said as he stared at the clouds.


“Then me and sis should go put everything that shouldn’t get wet into the hut!!”, Ai said cheerfully.


Yuying and Ai had begun calling each other sisters and had grown awfully close. While Zhang would occasionally be called brother, mostly when they wanted something from him.


He could not refuse neither of the beauties when they made puppy eyes at him and begged him to do something. Well, who could?


As Zhang stared at the clouds. something else caught his attention. It was a s.h.i.+p! A very large s.h.i.+p with four ma.s.sive sails. The s.h.i.+p was currently in the storm going up and down the huge waves.


Seeing a s.h.i.+p made Zhang excited, this was an opportunity to come in contact with civilization. The sailors on the s.h.i.+p must have set sail from a port and was currently headed towards one so they’d be able to give Zhang general directions back to the port.


And after reaching the port, Zhang would be able to make his way home and back to his family.


However, the s.h.i.+p was far distance away from the raft. And there was no way to be sure that they’d be spotted on the raft by the people on the s.h.i.+p who were caught up in a storm.


The only thing Zhang could do now was wait and prepare to face the storm himself.


An hour or so later, the raft entered the storm. The winds howled as the waves towered above one another. Lightning rained down from the sky and an endless amount of rain sprinkled down from above.


Zhang, Yuying, and Ai had retreated inside of the hut where it was nice and cozy. A fire was lit in the giant scale and food was cooking. Each of them was embraced by a warm fur blanket.


Occasionally, Zhang would peak out of the opening of the hut and see if he could spot the s.h.i.+p from before.


But most of the time was used to converse amongst themselves.


“Brother tell us about the kingdom you came from?” Yuying asked.


“Well I grew up in a small city at the border of the kingdom so I don’t really know much about the entire kingdom but I can tell you about the place I grew up.”


Telling stories and jokes was the main source of entertainment within the hut and it kept everyone occupied and not bored. It also helped them bond with each other.


As Zhang was telling the girls about his birthplace, he saw something in the corner of his eye.


“What the... That couldn’t be”, he murmured.


Zhang saw what seemed to be a person walking on top of the water in the middle of the storm. However, the person was too far for him to make out any distinguishable features. But he was fairly certain that his eyes were not playing tricks on him. He was sure that he saw a person.


BANG!!! A blinding lightning bolt had snaked down from the sky and struck the surface of the water.


When Zhang opened his eyes the person wasn’t there anymore.


“It must have been a saint.”, Zhang mumbled


“What was that brother?”, Ai asked


“Nothing. So back to that story!”


==============================================================


The storm had raged on for three days and three nights before dispersing. The sun came out of its hiding and began to s.h.i.+ne once more.


Since the storm dispersed, the watered became calm and there weren’t any more gigantic waves towering about.


A school of dolphins could be seen frolicking in the distance and after a while, they began swimming alongside the raft.


“Brother! Look! Look!!! What are those!” She yelled out as she saw the dolphins. Since she was born in the underworld there was no such creatures like them.


It was the first time anyone in the trio had seen a dolphin so they were very excited and continued to watch the dolphins for hours.


Zhang still kept an eye out for the s.h.i.+p he had spotted before entering the storm. Which eventually paid off because Zhang was able to spot the very same s.h.i.+p from before a distance away from the raft.


Zhang grabbed the oars and began rowing. He became h.e.l.l-bent on reaching that s.h.i.+p. It was his ticket back home and he couldn’t afford to lose sight of it a second time. Because if not, Zhang wasn’t sure if they’d ever make it back to civilization. None of the members of the trio knew how to navigate at sea so they had no way of knowing what direction they were even going.


The s.h.i.+p seemed to be anch.o.r.ed and not moving so Zhang was able to close in on it.


Soon, he was able to see people on top of the bow of the s.h.i.+p.


“HEYYYY!!!!” He screamed, trying to get the attention of the people on the boat.


Soon after, the two girls joined in and began swinging their arms side to side.


The people on the s.h.i.+p had lowered a small dingy and began rowing toward the raft. Moments later, the trio, would for the first time in a long while, met people who was not a part of their party.


A mid-aged man with long black hair tied in a ponytail walked onto the raft from the dingy. As the man stepped onto the raft, the first thing he noticed was the two beauties aboard and the next thing he noticed was the many commodities on the raft.


“h.e.l.lo)?”, The man cordially said.


“My name is Zhang and this is Yuying and that is Ai. We have been stranded at sea for months and was hoping that you could help us reach land.”, Zhang said.


“Of course! My crew and I would be more than happy to help you. I will signal for our s.h.i.+p to come over and we can tow this raft of yours with us to our destination.” Jian Wei said with a smile.


“Many thanks sir.”, Yuying said.


“No thanks needed, none at all, we are just doing what we should do.” Jian Wei replied as he pulled up a signal flare and shot it into the sky.


After seeing the flare, his s.h.i.+p began moving towards the raft.


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