THE LUSTING WORLD - Season 2 Episode 30

**Back to present time**

Sophia was mad at both of them but she can’t even scold them. She was too embarrassed to even discuss what happened at the lake. The only course of action she can think of was to shut up and try to forget everything. The sun was still up when the gang heard some peculiar sound. Something was there in the shrubs ahead of them. “Shh..” No one except Kyro required her heads up and everyone had taken their stance, waiting for a wild animal to jump out any moment now. “Chuuu..” It was just a rabbit. Everyone calmed their nerves down. “Haha.. I thought we already found ourselves a trouble. We can’t be that unlucky.” Kyro commented. Ryu had already kept his hands on the nearby tree to get a better scan of the area around them. Having practiced for so long he can easily get a view of 70 metres radius. His frown has not subsided. There was definitely an animal in the trees somewhere but it was changing its position very fast. It was such that he can’t get a lock on it. But with what swift steps it was moving and how it was giving away no sounds at all, one thing was clear. This was a predator.

Immediately he turned around to look at Sophia and found her smirking. ‘Damn.. it.’ Understanding her plan he moved ahead quickly “Incoming!!” Kyro and Kira were too startled but Jake had acute senses. Listening to Ryu’s call for help he right away got rid of his bagpack and called upon his mana, setting his hands on fire. Ryu took the time to throw some seeds to the ground. Pulling his hands together he began chanting the spell. Now even Jake can feel something was amiss, calling out to Sophia “Big sister, protect those two.” The flames in his hands grew even hotter. Sophia only smiled before she fell back. Jake can’t make sense of her actions but Ryu called back “Kyro protect Kira, she will back you up. Sophia isn’t going to help.” Right then something jumped at Ryu from the dense canopy of the tress. Kira was scared out of her wits. This situation was nothing like the vines. This time they were actively getting hunted down and their leader has just gave up on them.

Ryu sighed when he saw the size of the beast. He was expecting something much worse. It was just the size of a large cat. Although it looked much more threatening with protruding canine. Till the time the cat pounced on him his spell was ready. “Creation magic!” Multiple green vines sprouted from the ground in an instant, grabbing towards the cat. The animal was very agile, using its foot work it managed to dodge the vines but the sheer intensity of the vegetation overwhelmed it. Not long after it was wrapped around and captured thoroughly mid air. Kyro wanted to laugh out loud, he was so scared for a little cat. “Purr.. purrr…” Ryu too let his gaurd down. There was no way the poor animal was going to escape it’s binds. “Should I kill it off?” Still Ryu wanted to confirm if they were safe for now or not. He turned back around to check on Sophia and the girl still had a smirk on her face. “Fuck!!” Jake had already noticed as he ran towards their female companion.

Kira was happy for their friends as they managed to take down a beast with such ease. But just as she put a step forth, she saw Jake running towards her. She heard the tugging of a branch behind her. Ryu had messed up. His senses were still not trained enough as he was only able to notice a single cat but instead there were two. While the first one attacked from ahead the other had sneaked up behind them and gone for the lone prey. “Flame.. eruption..”

The cats paws had begun glowing in red. The beast was channelling its own mana. *Scratch* blood spurted from Kira’s left arm. She had no chance to put up any defence. The cat was already onto her. She fell back but fortunately Jake had launched his attack, launching a large tongue of flame towards the beast. There was no way an attack from a distance will ever land on it. It fell back a step before pouncing at Kira once again. It’s motive was simple. Get rid of the girl first.

Ryu can feel his heart burning in rage. He had been too attached with Kira these days and now it felt like his own body was cut. “Aghhh…!!” His eyes glowed green and with a heavy fist he punched the ground. He can only hope this will work. He can’t really rely on Sophia now. He did away with his bindings before throwing the punch. It was not the time to keep his abilities hidden. *Creak* *Creak* In that second of time Kira had closed her eyes. Her body had frozen up. Jake was still away and there was no chance Ryu could reach her. *Thuuudd* *Purrr..* She opened her eyes to find Jake already standing infront of her. Kyro reached her before holding her arm tightly with his hands, to stop the blood lose.

Sophia had her eyebrows raised. The boy was just a lower level Junior mage. Did she just witness a junior mage make a whole tree move? She even rubbed her eyes but the limping beast was the clear evidence that the branches over Kira’s head moved on their own and striked down at her attacker giving Jake the time needed to come to her rescue. She recalled how much faith her old man puts in this boy. “Grumpy old man still git better eye for a talent huhh..”

Ryu jumped back from his sitting position. The cat struggling to get out of its bind behind him hadn’t gone unnoticed by him. “Ryu can you handle that one?” Jake threw a flaming punch towards the approaching beast to deter it. He was not able the hit the guy but there was no way it could close onto him without getting injured by his flames. “Haha.. with ease. It’s just an overgrown cat.” He had spread the seeds all around this place and just when the cat pounced at him, he would make a spiked vine blast out of the ground towards it, making it change its angle of attack midway. This time Ryu wasn’t hesitating rather he was actively trying to kill it. Last time he had made mistake. He could have easily squeezed the life out of it when he caught it the first time but both unwanted empathy and curiosity stopped him and now his fuck up had gotten Kira injured.

10 minutes passed when Sophia dropped down from her resting branch. She can see the corpse of the first cat, laying on the ground charred. The next one was held up high onto a vine that had impaled it’s abdomen, puncturing it’s innards. Ryu was bandaging Kira’s arm while the other two boys were trying to recover back their last mana. “You guys really did well. Great job. Thought I might have to get down once Kira was injured but you rookies really held together. Not losing your minds. Specially you Kyro, I had assumed you will freeze up at the sight of blood. But I guess a living friend is always better than a dead one.” The boy scratced his head awkwardly. “Thank you big sis.”

“Here take this. It’s just a scratch, you will be fine.” Nobody minded Sophia’s condescending tone as they realised their while purpose of coming her was to train themselves. She popped a pill in Kira’s mouth before looking at Ryu “You are good at sensing what’s around you. You just need a bit more practice. Also, if you have even a slight doubt that something can kill you then don’t ever hesitate to kill them off. Either you will get yourself killed or your friends.” Saying that she took her leave to settle under the shade of a tree. Ryu only nodded. His heart was a bit heavy. Sophia termed it as a scratch but Kira was truly injured and she might take more than two days to get her hand working again. “I am fine brother Ryu. It was my own fault. I should have been ready.” Ryu knew she was feeling the guilt of being the weakest link in the gang. “Haha.. Yeah, you really messed up. But you are not alone. Each of ours mistakes culminated in your injury so no need to blame yourself. Don’t worry, you can make mistakes. It doesn’t matter, your brother will save you each and every time.” Kira can feel her eyes getting wet from looking at Ryu’s smile. But she had promised him that she was Bieber going to cry again this she only pressed her head in his chest before snuggling in his arms.

“Its too late to travel today. We will set up our tents a little away from this place. Kyro and Jake, get those dead bodies disposed off. Burn them. That won’t bring any other predators to our resting place, at night.” Both boys got to work while the other three began deploying their tents. Ryu and Kira got into one and snuggled together into the cozy bed after having a small dinner with the team. “Brother did you save me today?” Ryu kissed the girl on her forehead “Of course. Don’t you know how amazing your brother is?” Her face turned red “Can you give me a kiss brother?” Ryu was a little taken aback by her sudden request but not minding it he went ahead and kissed her lips. Next she nagged at him to tell her how he did that, when he was the farthest from her. The night fell down and the couple fell into a deep sleep after a tough day.

**Morning**

Ryu had woken up first. Having left his seal unlocked all night, he was feeling very fresh. Taking a dump some distance away from the camp he pulled his pants up to take his leave. He traveled a few metres when he could hear the sounds of someone’s step. It didn’t sound human thus Ryu got himself alerted for any scenario. There was not time to sense them, whatever it was, it was moving towards him fast. *Swish* Ryu dodged. An arrow lodged itself on the tree behind him going between his thighs, missing his little brother by an inch. Ryu was sweating bullets. What the heck? Didn’t he just lost his most important tool? What would even be reason to be alive in such a world without a cock? All those thoughts made him really mad. Looking for the culprit he found a tall girl showing herself from behind the bushes. The girl had armor covering her chest with her brown hair flowing down her shoulders, with a long bow in her hands. She was a beauty but all Ryu could think off was how he just lost his little brother at her hands.

“Ohhh.. a human. Fetch me my arrow low life.” Ryu had enough of her. He was expecting a heartfelt reply from her and what he got was the exact opposite. She wasn’t even treating him as a fellow human. “You wench. Look where you are shooting. Try to keep that mouth of yours shut, lest you end up getting your ass whooped.” He grabbed the arrow and pulling it out, broke it in half before throwing it away. “What did you say to me? I was thinking of not taking your life but looks like big brother was true you guys really don’t appreciate kindness. Just die then.” The girl was mad after he insulted her and she pulled out the sword at her waist, before leaping towards him. Only then Ryu noticed why the girl was so tall. She was no human at all. It was just that her lower half was hidden from him otherwise those hooved legs would have easily given her away as a beastmen. She had a lower half of a horse with a torso of humans. In short she was a centuar.

Ryu had no time being impressed by her body as the girl was already onto him. *Swing* Her large sword came falling onto his head. Ryu ducked down and moved away from her. A forest was not really a centuar’s turf. She was having major difficulties manoeuvring her large body around. “Stay at a single place, pest!” Ryu nimbly moved among the vegetation easily avoiding all her blows. “Are you an idiot? Why would I stay at one place when I can get away?” That made her even more made and she began swinging her sword even harder. The sword must be heavy as the girl was already sweating profusely while Ryu can dodge her till the next day. But just as he sidestepped the girl this time something came running towards him like a tank. It was another centuar but this one was more massive than the girl and he was way faster. It just grabbed him by his neck before pinning him onto a tree trunk. “Shit!” However powerful Ryu had been, he knew it was of no use infront of this guy. He was simply on another level.