Myria says "A beast, I don't know what it is called, but we lost it over two hundred miles from here."

"Okay, calm down. What can you tell me about it? Why did you run from it instead of killing it?"

Mericel says "They tried, but Myria's arrows and Lizzy's teeth couldn't hurt it. They couldn't get through its fur, but it couldn't catch up to Lizzy so we just ran."

Myria says "It's fine, we can just teleport back to Illium right now!"

"No! I at least want to get a look at it before we run away."

The others don't argue with me, they all just turn and watch the edge of the jungle waiting for the thing to appear. When it finally emerges I am surprised that it looks familiar, it looks like a behemoth from final fantasy. It is four legged, covered in thick fur, has huge horns, and is about the size of a train engine.

"We aren't leaving."

Myria says "What? Why?"

Vacker says "He wants to fight it."

"I am going to fight it."

Myria yells "Are you insane?!"

"Yes, but that's besides the point."

Drog says "Are you planning to fight it alone?"

"Yes."

Drog says "Oh, good!"

Myria says "No! We will help!"

Vacker says "I don't think I could handle that level of fight yet."

"It's fine, I'll be fine! Just stay here!"

Before they can argue I have removed the manacles and stored them in the pouch and I am racing down the mountain towards the beast. I had forgotten how good it feels to run at full speed with nothing weighing me down. I reach the base of the mountain in under a minute and draw Blitz as I slow down.

Before I get too close I activate mind blade, it manifests as a shimmer around Blitz exactly as I had hoped. My mind blade on its own doesn't do enough damage since I can't add my strength to it. But when combined with Blitz it should do a good amount of damage and this thing looks like it will take a lot.

Now that I am closer I think that I may have underestimated its size a bit, from up close it looks as big as a house. Its fur is very long and thick, I can see why they had trouble damaging it. As I move in for my first attack it roars at me in challenge, so I roar right back at it.

It actually looks confused upon hearing my roar, maybe because instead of challenge my roar contains my excitement. I don't give it time to recover, I dart in and take a slash at it, I score a hit but do no damage. I was expecting that though, Blitz did cut its fur but didn't go any deeper.

It reacts instantly and swipes at me with a paw, I dodge easily but it is faster than I was expecting. It takes several more swipes in quick succession but I move out of the way like I am dancing. From a distance it probably looks like a cat trying to catch a laser pointer, I am having loads of fun.

After dodging a few more swipes I hit the same spot again, this time I draw blood. It isn't much more than a scratch but it is a start, after a few more dodges I hit it again and inflict a deeper wound. This time blood flows and the beast seems mad, maybe this is the first time it has been wounded.

Its next attack isn't a swipe, it is a full on gore, but I simply move aside and strike the same spot again. This time blood spurts and I get a yelp of pain out of the beast, this isn't going to be too hard. Its anger makes it a little faster and it goes crazy swiping at me trying to catch me.

As I am busy dodging around an arrow flies past my ear and hits the spot I've been attacking. Myria just won't listen, she thinks I am in danger so she just has to interfere, she doesn't realize I am in no real danger from this thing. She doesn't trust in my strength and that could cause problems later, but how do I make her see what she is doing?

"Myria! Back off, this is my fight!"

Myria says "But you are in danger!"

"No, I am not! Haven't you noticed, it hasn't even scratched me?"

Myria says "But it could flatten you at any moment!"

"This thing is way too slow to be a serious threat! I am having fun so stop interrupting!"

Reluctantly Myria backs off and stops shooting arrows at the beast, I turn my attention back to the fight. I have been dodging the whole time but now I am back to attacking as well, the wound from earlier is still bleeding. I learned from the hydra that big beasts take a long time to bleed to death, I don't plan to wait with this thing.

As I dodge its attacks I move closer and study how its body fits together, then I focus my hearing to listen to its heartbeat until I can pinpoint its heart. Then I strike at the exact point I need to, the first hit only cuts away the fur, but the second and third hits begin to open a decent wound. Before I was just hurting it to see if it had any kind of special attack I needed to worry about.

Now I am focused on killing it quickly, so I hit the same spot over and over, opening the wound wider. After a few more strikes the wound is opened enough that I can see the thing's heart, I dodge a few more attacks waiting for the perfect moment. When it finally comes I strike instantly and cut the heart in half in one blow, then I stand back and wait for it to realize it is already dead.

It staggers around for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground, I watch the light leave its eyes before I get closer. Once it is dead I use pure strength to roll it over so I can get at the wound, then start removing the heart and core. Once that is done I start eating the heart, as I do I turn to look at Myria.

Devour Activated! Str +10 End +5 Luck +3!

"Do you see now, Myria? I am probably the person who needs protecting the least."

Myria says "Then how come you got kidnapped?"

"That demon was one of Lady Xinun's lieutenants and could have probably leveled Illium all on his own."

Myria says "Oh, I didn't know that."

"Besides, I have gotten stronger since I was kidnapped, and I just now got stronger again. I get stronger by fighting and eating the hearts of strong opponents."

Myria says "We all thought you did reckless things just because you liked the thrill of it."

"What? No!"