Mana 4 Chapter 9 (Patreon)

In the light of dawn, I blinked myself back to consciousness. Feeling the hard ground beneath me woke me up quickly. It took me a moment to orient and remember where I was. But the adrenaline surge subsided as I took in the cave. Everything seemed safe for the moment.

The talk with my wives had gone about as well as could be expected, given how protective we were of each other. They were ready to come and help me, but until I was free to go to the Jungle and protect them when they came through, I wouldn’t hear of it.

It had taken a battle of wills, but they’d finally given in to my logic. From there, we hatched a new plan. They were going to start putting all of their resources together to try and grow their mana beasts to the 4th rank. That way, they would come through stronger and more able to adapt.

The resources required to do that were absolutely exorbitant, even for people of our status in the mortal world. But if someone would be able to do it, then it would be my ladies.

I smiled to myself. It had also been somewhat strategic. It would take them a while to build up their mana beasts, and that would buy me some time to get into a better position.

“Morning sleepy.” Claire smirked, looking over from where she was laying.

“Morning. Don’t suppose any of you brought breakfast?” I stretched and used life mana to heal my stiff back.

Tracey was already awake. “Not going to catch another snake?”

“I mean, I could? I didn’t realize you liked my cooking that much. Or we can get moving.”

She threw me a loaf of dense bread that looked like it had a rainbow of fruits baked into it. “Getting going sounds nice. I heard those lightning strikes last night. Pretty sure there have been rumors of a powerful raiju, a wolf of thunder, in these mountains.”

“Not interested in hunting it?” I asked, curious about how strong it was.

“No way. It’s 5th rank and lightning mana; the thing might fry one of us before we even see it coming. Fifth rank is a completely different level. At that point, they’ve gone through the heavenly tribulation.” Tracey shook her head at the idea.

Biting into the loaf of fruit bread, it was bland. Not much of a step above my cooked snake, but it was expedient. I sniffed the loaf before I swallowed it. There weren’t any poisons that I could detect.

“5th ranked beast sounds fun. Like a challenge.” I smothered the fire and looked out into the forest, taking in the new day. It felt nice to be outside again, enjoying the fresh air.

“You don’t understand. Between the 4th and 5th rank of cultivation, there is the heavenly tribulation. To survive it, you have to take a piece of the heavens into you through the tribulation. The difference between the 4th and 5th ranks is heaven and earth.” Tracey warned me.

“Yeah, okay. So then, we are hunting 4th ranked beasts. Have one we are specifically looking for?” I moved on, but I didn’t put the idea of the Raiju out of my mind. My metal mana would work well to ground any lighting attacks, and my sword wasn’t metal. Besides, I’d taken on a lightening cultivator before, and I was much more practiced now.

And if these women were going to cause trouble for me on this journey, the Raiju would be a potential option to protect myself.

“There’s a bear of mother earth supposedly on one of these peaks. It would be ideal cultivation material for me, not to mention, it’s a bear, so it’ll be slow enough for us to have an advantage.”

Only by sheer strength of will did my jaw not drop. Bears were NOT slow. They might look like big lumbering creatures, but I’d been charged by a bear mana beast more than a few times. I wouldn’t like to try out running one the same rank as me.

And once they got moving, they had such momentum that getting in their way wasn’t a smart idea either. Mix in tougher than normal hide and they were an extremely powerful type of mana beast.

I was feeling a headache coming on as Claire and Beth agreed. It was becoming clear that they had no experience whatsoever in hunting. They’d likely been protected most of their lives as they’d progressed to where they had in cultivation. It was so different from the world I’d come from, where cultivators were hardened through battle and fighting.

With what they’d said the night before about hoping to one day be picked up by an ancient family, I could only assume that they were picked up for talent and looks by the Madam to train. Their potential to be paired off with an ancient clan was the outcome they were going for, not pure cultivation strength. It was likely they hadn’t had any actual combat experience.

Which meant they also had no tracking experience. I could work with this.

“Okay, I can work with that. I assume you want me to take point and track this bear down?”

“Of course.” Tracey said with authority.

I turned to hide my smirk. “Bears usually like the north side of hills, where it isn’t too bright with the rising or falling sun. Plus, they like a nearby source of water. I think there was a river on the map?”

“That makes sense.” The girls nodded eagerly, and Tracey gave me the map again.

I already knew where I wanted to go. I’d studied the map well enough to commit it to memory, but I didn’t want them to know that. And as I held the map up and looked around, marking points, I made sure to give my mana beasts a clear indication of where I’d be headed so they could pass it on to Kat.

Showing the map to the girls, I traced the river and pointed to several spots. “These three areas are our best bets for the bear of mother earth. They are the only spots that fit where a bear would make its den.” I was lying through my teeth. They had such a variety of habitats that it could be anywhere.

“Then let's get to it.” Tracey declared. I had fooled her with my ‘expert’ assessment. These girls shouldn’t be out here. Now I just had to figure out why.

All three spots were in the direction that I’d seen the lightning the previous night. I suppressed a grin as I took off into the woods with the girls following. Tracey held my leash, so to speak, so I kept a wary eye on her as we went. Getting too far would be a painful experience.

As we delved deeper into the mountain range, the beasts became more aggressive as they became less accustomed to travelers.

Killing an overly aggressive boar, I paused for Tracey. “Go ahead and take that one with us. It’ll be far better tasting than a snake.”

She pocketed the beast into her spatial ring after pulling out its core. “How about we take a break? You can cook it for lunch.”

I looked up. The sun wasn’t even halfway into the sky. “We should keep going. One of our target areas is close by.”

“But shouldn’t we rest up before we fight it?” Beth asked.

I paused, looking back at them. They were covered in a sheen of sweat, their clothes starting to stick to them. Shaking my head to clear that from my mind, I took in their faces. They looked a bit exhausted.

“How about we scout out the first area? We can break for lunch after that.”

“Okay.” Tracey seemed to come to the decision for the other two girls.

Moving on, we rounded the foothill for the first spot I had pointed out on the map. Of course, this was not where the mana beast they wanted would be, but I would be able to search for the raiju and hopefully get these girls to spring whatever trap they had planned.

As we moved, the forest slowly transitioned from broad leafy trees to evergreens. The evergreen pine needles coated the floor. I made sure to keep my steps firm. “All right, so when we get there, we should have a plan. If we do end up fighting, I’ll hang back. No doubt you’ll want to kill everything yourselves.” I enjoyed calling their bluff on being hunters.

The lower level of the forest was becoming bare between the thinning air and the pine needles. The lower limbs of trees were bare and broken off as they competed for sunlight high above us.

“No, you’ll fight.” Tracey declared.

“But I’m just out here on guard duty. I’ll help keep you safe, but you are the ones hunting, right?” I couldn’t help but let a little smile quirk at the edge of my lips.

“That’s not how it works. You fight alongside us.” She shouted.

“You’ll never get stronger if you fight with a crutch.” I protested, seeing her start to bubble up with anger. For a split second, I thought she was going to yell at me and tell me what we were really doing out here.

But she took a deep breath and managed to tamper down her anger to a smoldering glare. “You’ll fight. That is an order, servant.”

I raised a brow, but nodded once, keeping eye contact with her. “As you command. I recommend readying your weapons then. Your shouting has attracted some new friends.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see shifting in the trees above, and it was too much movement for a single mana beast.

The girls didn’t even have enough sense to draw their weapons before they started looking around aimlessly, trying to find the threat. At their movements, our ambushers got startled and made their move.

A large scaly feline form jumped down from the branches above onto me. I didn’t have time to worry about the girls as I blocked its mouth with my sword and rolled to the ground with it to avoid getting slammed to the forest floor.

I managed to deflect its mass and land relatively safely, avoiding the damage an eight hundred pound drake could do to the body.

The mana beast was familiar, but it was still slightly different, which gave me pause. I slid on the pine needles as I put some distance between us to assess the situation.

I’d seen mana beasts like this before in the mortal world. They were a strange mix of feline form paired with reptilian features. Some likened them to dragons, but if they had dragon in their blood, it was too thin for them to show the power of a dragon.

“Help!” Tracey screamed as another came out of the tree, catching her off guard and getting its claws on her dress, dragging her to the ground. She kicked it in the face and screamed. She was completely forgetting about her weapon.

I snorted. These girls really were flowers grown in a garden. But I knew that if Tracey died, my cuff was about to become a very big problem.

One more of the drakes was poised in another tree, ready to jump on the last two girls as they rushed to help Tracey.

“Watch out. There’s one more.” I yelled, faking a strike at my own problem.

It jumped away and made a clear path for me. I didn’t hesitate, shooting forward and cleaving off a section of Tracey’s dress where it was pinning her. I pulled her away from the drake and hauled her to her feet by the collar of her dress.

“Get your hands. Off me.” She batted at my hand that was dangerously close to her chest, but that didn’t matter, because I tossed her behind me as the drake with her ripped dress still stuck to its claws jumped at me.

A pouncing beast was far less of a concern than the one dropping on me from above. I summoned up my mana and unleashed an image of a Kunpeng’s claws into the charging beast. It took a blow to the head, and I won out, pushing it back.

The large beast faltered a moment, jarred as it reared back and dug its paws into the needles to gain more stability.

Ripping wind was the only warning I had before I used void mana to jolt myself backwards and out of the way of the other drake, which had taken that moment to attack.

Thankfully, the two girls were being somewhat successful at fending off the third. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to take all three of these fourth rank beasts on my own. I even considered bringing out one of my mana beasts to deal with these two, because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep Tracey safe.

“I can do this.” Tracey didn’t have much confidence in her voice as she rushed forward from behind me, slashing with her sword and connecting with the drake’s neck. Unfortunately, the tough spines that ran along its back took her strike without much more than a shudder.

Its paws lashed out in a flash of danger towards Tracey. I slashed at the air, creating and throwing a small thin pocket of void.

The void was enough to force it back, but that only emboldened Tracey, who didn’t seem to know when to quit. Holding her sword over her shoulder, she charged the beast. I paused for a moment, completely baffled by the stupidity of her move. It had been a long time since I’d fought next to someone so amateur.

It was becoming clear that although they had reached the same level of cultivation; they weren’t even close to my age in the immortal world. She could actually be younger than one of my children.

“Tracey, get back.” I managed to grab the back of her dress and toss her back even as it tore.

“You lecherous bastard!” She yelled, and I could hear the embarrassment in her voice. It must have torn more than I thought.

Blocking another strike from one of the drakes was enough of an answer for me. “Stay back. I can’t let anything happen to you.” Growling and letting the aspect of savagery sink back into my mana, my sword became a blur. I blocked both drakes, spinning to the side and scoring deep along one of their flanks.

It would have been so much easier if I had at least one of my wives or mana beasts with me. They never let me down when it came to fighting together. But for now, I needed to keep them a secret.

As I fought against the two beasts, my sword was mostly a defense, keeping them at bay. I had yet to infuse the blade with mana, keeping as many cards hidden as I could. I might need them when the girls made a move later. Although the trap was seeming less concerning if they were the ones springing it. However, it was possible they were just the bait. It seemed impossible that they could survive on their own out in the wild if something happened to me.

But then, that would mean someone else was out here in the woods with us.

Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I focused as one of the drakes’ claws got a little too close for comfort. I dipped deeper into my mana for a moment and infused the blade with the elements of steel and void on my next attack, cutting deep enough to puncture organs on the counterattack.

The drake winced and kept away. Gut wounds weren’t instant killers, but I knew that drake was likely already going to expire.

Blocking its attack, the other drake didn’t give me the opportunity to celebrate as it redoubled its attacks with a flurry of swipes and dove in close for what would have been a nasty bite.

Pain. Immense pain filled my mind. It was as if someone had just ripped me apart.

When the drake’s claws tore through my thigh, I barely felt it, except to reflex to jerk away. I couldn’t see straight, but there was enough blood that it was a serious wound.

I staggered, the pain was like an icepick in the back of my head, washing out and muddling the rest of my senses.

“What the hell.” Or that’s what I thought I said. It was probably more like an incoherent moan of pain.

The drake flashed at me and I got my sword up in time for a feeble block that sent me staggering away. There was just too much pain for me to hold a firm stance.

Some part of me managed to fumble the pieces together through the haze of pain. I realized the disorientation and pain was coming from the enchanted cuff on my arm. Tracey.

I cast about looking for her. Had she died?

But she was nowhere to be found. And that meant that she’d likely gone far enough away for the cuff to activate.

Summoning all the mana I could, the cuff flared stronger, feeding off my own mana. I roared through it and slammed a messy wave of void mana down on the drake, shattering the air around both of us into a glittering field.

Void mana ripped hundreds of small pockets in the world around me. I stayed still. Only a few had been close enough to cut me in my lack of focus.

The drake wasn’t quite as lucky. It had been running towards me and was now being shredded like cheese through a grater as the pockets of void tore enough holes that the life faded from its eyes.

Turning, I saw Beth and Claire were still fighting their own drake. The one I had inflicted a gut wound on was nowhere to be found. It must have run. Small miracles.

“Beth, Claire, where did Tracey go?” I asked them, only to feel a huge weight land on my shoulders and knock me to the ground.

“This him?” A male voice asked and realized a boulder was pressing me into the ground.

“Kill that beast. We can’t enjoy the company of the ladies with it here. And someone get this rock off him.” I recognized that voice. Young master Ying.

The boulder rolled off me, and I blocked the first blow and parried the second, but a sword pierced my gut from behind. It was painful, and I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit of karma for the gut wound I’d given the drake.

Looking around, I was completely outnumbered. And I was seeing doubles and triples from the various sources of pain. But even without the doubles, there were over a dozen young men surrounding me.

“Someone go find Tracey,” young master Ying barked.

Now that he was in a position of strength, I knew that he was going to milk it for all it was worth. Bastard.

“I bet you are feeling like shit.” He focused on me and tried to slap me with the flat of his blade. But even with a torn thigh, an open gut and pain like I’d never felt before, I blocked his blow, grabbed his blade and tugged.

It shredded my hand, but it pulled him close enough for me to form metal mana at the tips of my fingers of my other hand and rake large gashes across his face.

“Fuck!” Young master Ying screamed and clutched at his face as a blade stabbed into my calf, pinning me to the ground. Several more blades were leveled at me. “Don’t kill him. I’ll duel him here in a moment. Show him that he isn’t better than me.”

I couldn’t help it. Laughter bubbled up out of my throat. Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the sheer ludicracy of thinking a duel with me in this condition meant anything. But I couldn’t help it as I burst out laughing.

“Someone shut him up. Where is Tracey?”

The men took a few more swings at me before the pain in my head actually started to subside. Unfortunately, that just opened up my mind to finally process all the injuries across my body. But I was at least glad when the fog in my mind cleared.

“I’m here, Gou Ying. It looks like you got him.” Tracey strolled back into the area with a new dress on. She must have changed after I ripped the last one.

My teeth ground together and I swore I’d kill every last one of them before we left this mountain.