My Roleplay System

50 Chapter 50: Shadow Beast 

A few hours ago, the group of survivors had finally passed through the woods and into the southern region. 

They were currently in a mountainous area with cliffs, walls and ledges on every side of them. While moving through the mountainous area they were happy to discover that they hadn't run into any creatures at all. 

As they moved they passed by a small clearing on the mountain side and decided to rest there. 

Using the Blood Vitality Technique of her family, the mana in the surrounding was slowly pulled towards Harper, who absorbed it into her body. This technique was unique to the Sun family and was developed by her great grandfather back in the early years of The Great Disaster, when humanity was still struggling against the vile beasts that now roamed the world. 

The technique wasn't particularly powerful but had the great advantage of providing the practitioner a large storage of mana and greatly improving stamina. It worked by storing the mana that flowed through the body in the blood of the practitioner, boosting blood flow and recovery, providing the user an almost inexhaustible source of stamina so long as they had mana to fuel themselves. It was also thanks to this technique that Harper was able to keep up with the rest of the group who were all Martial Warriors. 

As the mana slowly gathered in her blood vessels it started to flow through her body. However, as time went on the flow of mana that was smoothly flowing into her became unstable, shaking up the established path and interrupting the process causing the gathered mana to disperse. 

"Hah..." Harper opened her eyes as she released a soft sigh. Her eyes were red and her face haggard. 

After running around for three days and nights she was complet( exhausted, both mentally and physically, even with the support of the Blood Vitality Technique. Right now, she needed to recover her mana but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus. Every time she closed her eyes she would see the horrid sight of her brother's blood being shaken out of his body as his limbs and body were torn apart and shredded. 

The image was still fresh and clear in her mind, with every single detail of his guts and organs being crushed and devoured by the horde of beasts. The chewing sound echoed like thunder in her mind as she could hear every squish and splatter of his blood and organs. The sound of his bones cracking and the metallic smell of his blood made her so nauseated she felt like vomiting. 

If it wasn't for that stubborn pride that prevented her from showing weakness before others, she would have had a mental breakdown by now under the constant stress of the seemingly endless loop of that treacherous memory. 

Releasing another sigh, she turned to look around her to hopefully clear her head from the disturbing memories. 

Beside her was her grandfather, who rested with his eyes closed. Harper knew that despite the calm face he had, he was also suffering just as much as her, if not more. 

Since she was a small child, Harper knew her grandfather wasn't one to show his emotions easily, specially those that showed weakness. He always kept a calm face and happy expression when he was with them, never showing weakness or fear and always protecting them. That was why she knew how deeply the death of her brother affected him. In the moment when her brother died, she saw the absolutely devastated face of her grandfather. 

Like a mask being ripped off, the previous calmness had been vaporized and was replaced with a broken, lifeless expression that made her heart tremble with fear. 

In that moment, her grandfather, who was always strong and calm,appeared so weak and frail that a gentle wind might knock him over. She felt as if her worldview had been shattered at that moment. Where was the strong man that raised her since she was young? Where was the hero that would always protect her brother and herself from harm? Where was the grandfather who never showed weakness? 

She felt like she was punched in the gut twice, leaving her breathless. One was from her brother's death, the other from her grandfather showing sadness for the first time in her life. 

However, even in that state, Harper felt a strong urge to survive. She didn't know whether it came from her instincts or from her pride, but she couldn't afford to die there. 

Looking at her broken grandfather, Harper didn't hesitate to grab his hand and start running. She had just lost her brother and didn't know if she could survive losing her grandfather too. 

Thinking of this, she shook her head, looking away from her grandpa and turning her attention to Romero and Eliza who sat together a little distance away. 

When Harper saw the two of them she felt an indescribable emotion well up inside her. On one hand, she hated them for not protecting her brother, but on the other hand, she knew there was nothing they could have done in that situation. 

That's why she felt a slight lingering regret for lashing out at them, however her mood was too unstable at the time. If she didn't vent out her emotions she would have collapsed in despair at the death of her brother and her pride wouldn't allow that. So she redirected her despair into hatred towards them for not protecting her brother. 

Thinking of this, Harper felt unpleasant and proceeded to turn her gaze away again. The longer she looked at them, the more upset she felt. 

However, it was in that moment while she was looking at them that-she spotted something causing her to frown. 

It was currently dark inside the rift with no light besides the glowing light of the moon illuminating the area. To avoid unnecessary attention they didn't light any fire making the area even darker. That was why the sight before Harper left her momentarily puzzled. 

In the heart of the darkness two glowing bulbs of light hovered in the dark shadow. The bulbs were still and glowed in a bright yellow light. It was only a few meters away from Eliza, the girl next to Romero and was strangely floating through the air as it approached them. 

The light was out of sight from both Romero and Eliza, approaching them from behind. When Harper was prepared to get up to observe closer she saw something that made her heart jump in fright. 

Below the glowing bulbs of light, a massive pair of jaws opened up, revealing rows of crooked, razor sharp teeth. The maw had opened up right next to Eliza and Harper could see it was only a short distance away from snapping down on her. 

'Watch out!' 

Harper called out to the pair, alerting both Romero and Eliza. 

When they heard her shout they both immediately went on high alert. Even if they didn't know what Harper was alerting them to, they would rather be safe than sorry. 

However, they were still too late to notice the creature in the dark as its giant maw came chomping down. 

*Crunch!* 

*Snap!* 

*Rip!* 

It happened in an instant. The giant maw came snapping down at-iti bit into flesh and bone, tearing it apart. 

"Ahh!!!' Accompanied by it was a blood curdling scream. However, the person screaming wasn't Eliza who was the target of the beast, but Harper who had pushed her out of the way. 

In that situation, neither Eliza nor Romero could have reacted in time with the jaws silently approaching. However, Harper, who had noticed the beast before it even made a move, was able to react in time and had dashed out to push her out of the way. 

Unfortunately, she didn't have the option to save herself from the beast's cruel jaws who changed targets from Eliza's head to Harpers arm at the last moment. 1 

With a loud crunching and tearing sound, the beast ripped apart Harper's arm before tearing it from her elbow. 

Harper screamed in pain again as her limb was separated from her. However she quickly gritted her teeth as she looked at the rows of sharp teeth that held up her hand in the shadowy darkness. 

"Sh*t!" Harper subconsciously cursed under the pain. Looking at the creature that was holding her arm like some chew toy in its mouth, Harper could have swore it was smiling at her. 

Right now she was filled with feelings of pain, anger and regret. Before she had warned Eliza and the rest of the monster's approach, she knew that they wouldn't be able to react in time and had dashed out. 

She managed to achieve her goal and push Eliza away, saving her from having her head bitten off. Personally, she didn't care whether Eliza lived or died at any other time but right now, she was one of the strongest fighters in their group and one of her only hope of getting her grandfather and herself out of this mess. That's why she went against all self preservation and risked pushing her out of the way to keep her alive. 

However there had been a misstep in her plan. At first when she pushed Eliza away she made sure to stay clear away from the beast's maw but who would know the beast would have changed its target at the last moment and aimed for her arm instead. This had completely infuriated Harper and filled her with regret for her act of kindness. 

I should have just left her for dead! 

it was at that moment, Romero, who was nearby finally responded. He got up and rushed at the beast, attacking it with a shoulder slam, shoving it away from Harper and into the moonlight where its grotesque appearance was revealed for all to see. 

The creature was large but its body was out of proportion to a disturbing degree. Its head that was in the shape of a lion was almost twice the size of its body, which was already the size of an average man. Its legs were scrawny but it held up its large body covered in pitch black fur that released a shadowy miasma that enveloped it like a misty cloak. 

The beast slowly got up from the ground, its head wobbling from side to side, completely uninjured from Romero's shoulder slam. 

When Romero and the rest saw the miasma around the creature they immediately turned around to run while the beast got up. They were all professional hunters and knew what it meant for a creature to be able to emit an elemental aura around it. 

When a creature evolves from mana they gain a boost to their physical strength and sometimes a mutation to their unique racial features. However, there's a very slim chance for some creatures to evolve and gain special elemental properties when they evolve from rank one to rank two. This chance increases with each increase in rank from there on but it at least means that the malformed beast before them was at the very least rank two which was something that they could not deal with in their current condition. 

Moving to support Harper who was injured, Romero shouted for the others to run as they all proceeded to run off. However, before they could even get far, a loud high pitch roar sounded from behind them causing the leaves of the trees to tremble. 

Romero and the rest felt a head splitting headache accompanied by the roar forcing them to kneel down in pain. This pain caused Romero, who was moving with Harper to trip and fall forward. 

'Mental attack!' Romero thought as he started to circulate the remaining mana in his body to shield his brain from the effects of the roar. 

However, when he tripped, Harper had fallen close to the ledge of the mountain cliffs. 

It was at that moment that the beast had walked back into the shadow of the night, completely blending into the darkness. 

Harper who also felt the pain from the headache had slowly gotten up from the ground. Her arm was bleeding heavily from the wound, causing her an unbearable amount of pain along with the headache. 

Wincing in pain, she slowly shifted her gaze upwards, holding her bleeding left shoulder with her right hand. 

it was at that moment however that she heard the voice of her grandfather calling out to her. His voice was hoarse and filled with fear shaking her up greatly. 

When she heard it, she subconsciously looked up, only to see a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and bits of her arm staring right at her. 

The sight had shocked her greatly and she subconsciously took a step back. Whether lucky or not, this step had allowed her to narrowly avoid the jaws of the beast that came viciously snapping down, however, what she stepped on wasn't solid ground, but the empty air of the cliff behind her. 

'HARPER!!!" Professor Sun, who had fallen to the ground from the beasts mental attack, shouted out again as he watched the only family he had left slowly fall off of a cliff into the inky black abyss below.