The First Legendary Beast Master novel Chapter 452

Chapter 452 Patient Hunters

Karl sat at the top of the steps and watched the spectral images of the beast clerics going about their daily business, as if the temple was still operating, and not thousands of years destroyed.

At first, he had thought it was some sort of playback, a spectral image of their last day that they were forced to relive over and over, but when the acolyte that was headed for the field accidentally brushed against him, the feline beastkin paused, looked around, then shuddered and continued about their day.

Karl wondered if that meant that there was a duplicate of the temple somewhere else, that was supposed to be linked to this location, but couldn't be because the temple itself was destroyed.

Karl had been watching them for over an hour by the time that he realized that this was a form of closed anomaly. He could see the beast temple and its occupants, but it wasn't actually this temple, and they were not haunted. At least not in the conventional sense.

The temple layout didn't quite match the floor plan of the ruins here, though they were so close that it took him a while to figure it out.

How they ended up connected by an anomaly was a mystery, but it didn't seem to be harming anything, and neither Karl nor his beasts had any issues with it. Perhaps that meant the anomaly was on the other side, and that it couldn't be accessed from these ruins, but if they could pass through, there was no sign of it.

However, there was a sign of power. A sign of a magical beast undergoing an advancement. Remi's whatever she was doing downstairs was noticeably growing in power, and if she kept it up a little longer, Karl was fairly certain that the last of his teammates was finally going to make it to the Royal Rank.

This was a momentous occasion, but he got the feeling that he should remain outside the temple for the process to finish as smoothly as possible. But more importantly than that, the amount of power that was radiating from the basement of the ruins was going to be noticeable to beasts from dozens of kilometres away.

Most of them wouldn't mess with a Royal Rank monster, even during their advancement. But there might be some close enough that had enough power of their own that they wouldn't fear a freshly advanced Royal Rank beast, and they might be willing to eliminate the competition before Remi could finish her advancement.

Of course, with the others in the basement with her, that wouldn't be an easy concept. Even the average Monarch Rank beast would not survive a full minute in the tender loving care of Rae and Cara, while Thor wouldn't let anyone hurt his sister.

Karl settled in to meditate, trying to keep as fresh as he could for the inevitable moment when things went wrong.

He could sense the powerful residents in the distance, but he didn't sense them coming closer yet, so there was hope that this could all end peacefully, but even thinking that gave Karl a sense that a flag had been raised.

That moment came as he felt the energy in the basement beginning to change. It was Royal Rank, and felt like Remi, but more. It should be the evolved energy of the Spirit Snake, in whatever form she had decided upon.

That was when a portal opened roughly a kilometre away, and directly in Karl's line of sight.

"Stupid beasts, they still think that their gods can protect them as they advance. Let's see what we've found." Karl heard the deep voice laughing, but the portal was blocking the view, and they had stepped out the other side of it.

[Do you need help?] Rae asked.

[No, I've got this. Take care of our small snake as she advances.]

Karl stood and put his blade tip down in the dirt, so he could rest easy, without having to carry the weapon.

A large group of what might have been Ogres, though they were more stone grey than fleshy looking, moved away from the portal, and turned to face Karl.

They began to laugh as they saw Karl. "Well, look what we have here. Some idiot nature cleric thinks that he can keep us from taking our prize while it's inca... incapashu... while it's weak."

Karl smiled over the distance separating them. Dozens more grey Ogres, along with a few dozen other demihumans that Karl didn't have names for, left the portal with three huge cages on cart bases. They had come prepared to take prisoners, and they weren't going to miss out, even if there was more than one beast trying to advance at the ruined temple today.

They were almost all Commanders, but with a pair of Monarch Rank leaders. That seemed like something that Karl could handle, as long as he could take out the two leaders.