It was during one of the outings to the forest. Dyla and I joined a group of women going out to forage as we often did. The shaman that was assigned to the group was Libes, which delighted her daughter a lot.
For about one hour, we picked mushrooms, wild vegetables, and berries, the women spread around to be more effective. Then, suddenly, a large roar resounded from very close. It was a kind of terrible shout that I had never heard before, and everyone turned toward the source of the sound.
A short distance away stood a large creature with six legs, a short neck, and large, round eyes. It had long green fur, two tails, and a horn on its forehead. Its size was terrifying, bigger than an adult man. Everybody froze in terror in front of the hideous monster, including me.
“Warek! Flee!”
Libes shouted while placing herself in front of the beast as if to shield us all. Despite her command, no one flew away, too paralyzed from horror. What sort of organism was that? Which maniac spirit ended up imagining a creature like this? My legs were without strength, trembling helplessly. I felt like fleeing right away, but couldn’t, stuck in place like a newborn baby in its cradle.
“K-Keon.”
I heard Dyla’s voice next to me. I slowly turned my head around and saw the girl looking at her mother, trembling just as much as I was, her eyes already filled with tears.
The warek clamored loudly once more, charging brusquely at Libes, who stood courageously alone in front of it. Yet, even from that distance, I could see she was trembling a little too. Still, she created a spear of ice from her hand and threw it at the beast. Unfortunately, it evaded it, the spear barely scratching its fur, and continued its charge.
In front of my eyes, it used its clawed front paw to attack its prey at incredible speed. Libes tried to retreat but didn’t manage to do it in time. The claws sundered her left arm, which flew away from her body. She let out a howl of pain as she lost one of her limbs, just like that, blood spurting out of her horrific wound.
The warek went on with its aggression, aiming to finish her in the next assault. My mind went blank at that moment. Is Libes going to die just like that? I looked at the other women, a few barely managing to crawl away in terror. Are we all going to die today? What sort of monster was this? Wasn’t the forest next to the cave supposed to the safe?
Then, a sudden flash passed through my mind. These women, dying? Wouldn’t it be a terrible loss for humani…, I mean, for me? Weren’t they all fated to be part of my harem sooner or later? Letting them die when I was going to use their bodies to fulfill all my perverted desires? Hell no!
Just before the warek reached Libes for another claw strike, I shouted in full voice, not even sure what I was crying out for. I erected a large wall of earth in front of my friend’s mother, which the beast crashed into with a loud noise.
I panted, witnessing the result of my outburst. It wasn’t any special since anyone who could use earth magic could do so, except that the terror had mostly receded from my mind. Everyone was now looking at me, a mix of fear and hope in their gaze.
Unfortunately, the fight was far from over. The beast circled my earth wall and resumed its attack. In a hurry, I erected a new wall, but this one didn’t do much. The warek was oddly smart and had already learned from its mistake. Once again, it simply got around the obstacle as if it were nothing.
Libes was still on the ground, bleeding while moaning in pain, and I was starting to panic again. What should I do? How could I take care of this monster effectively? My brain went into overdrive, trying to find a solution to the problem.
What I had at my disposal was earth magic, which I had learned also encompassed plant magic. Just like water magic encompassed ice magic or wind magic allowed one to use lightning strikes.
Fire magic was considered the best in terms of damage output, water magic was useful to the clan but not very good in combat, and wind magic was useless, but compensated with its strong thunder magic. As for earth, it was considered the most versatile of all.
Versatile. That’s right. If earth didn’t work, I could use plants instead. I let my body be filled with magical energy, drawing from the large reserves I had expanded every single day since I was a toddler. My mind focused as much as possible. I only had one order.
Plants, help me take care of this beast!
Responding to my will and vast magical outburst, all the vegetation in the surroundings started to move in unison, growing at a violent pace toward my target. A large number of vines, lianas, branches, and leaves slithered at high speed toward the warek, who growled in surprise at the sight.
He dodged the first few assaults, but soon enough, the plants came from all directions, and he could only use his claws to fight back. He destroyed a few clusters of vegetation while I poured more and more magical energy into my assault, and the numbers quickly overwhelmed him. With a large, frustrated roar, he found himself stuck in place, struggling hard to get them off him. It didn’t work, though, with his six legs paralyzed under the number of vines and lianas.
A few seconds later, he couldn’t even move anymore, his body green for a different reason, the plants shackling him fully.
I had subjugated the beast, and it was even still alive. Its large eyes were focused on me, full of killing intent, and looked as terrifying as before, while it was releasing a low, menacing groan continuously from deep inside its throat. However, that was it. The victor and the loser were clear. I had come on top of my very first fight in this world.