Lunar Legacy: Rise Of The Beastlord-Chapter 277: Endgame

The Sabertooth Flare’s body had grown more compact now, more powerful, every muscle defined and radiating barely contained strength. The flames that composed its mane now burned white-hot at their core, transitioning to gold at the edges. The heat was so intense that bushes and grass within a five-meter radius simply turned to ash, disintegrating without even catching fire first.

Fred’s tactical mind kicked in, cutting through the fear. Whatever was happening, they had to stop it now, before the transformation completed.

"Anderson!" Fred barked, his command voice cutting through the terror. "Prepare to fire! Now!"

Anderson, who’d been frozen in fear, snapped back to attention. "Y-yes sir!" He raised the cannon with trembling hands, the weapon already beginning its charge cycle. Green energy gathered at the nozzle.

Martinez and Chen moved to flank the beast, but Fred held up a hand. "No! Stand down!"

"Sir?" Martinez questioned, confused.

"Your suits," Fred said grimly, watching as the edges of his own uniform continued to smoke. "They don’t have resistance against flames this hot anymore. Get too close and you’ll burn. Maintain distance."

The two agents reluctantly stepped back, their faces pale with the realization of just how outmatched they were.

The beast continued its transformation. Its wounds had completely healed now... not even scars remained. It rose slowly, deliberately, onto all four legs. The flames engulfing its body pulsed with each movement, growing more intense. Its eyes burned with an intelligence that was deeply unsettling.

"Captain!" Anderson called out, desperation in his voice. "Cannon’s charged and ready!"

Fred’s eyes never left the beast. It was almost finished... whatever this transformation was, it was nearly complete. He needed a clear shot at the chest, at the core. One more hit like that might be enough to bring it down for good.

Just then, the beast’s chest came into view as it straightened, the ribs expanding with a deep breath.

Fred didn’t wait another second. "Fire!" he shouted.

Anderson didn’t hesitate this time. His finger squeezed the trigger and the green beam screamed through the air, a lance of concentrated poison energy aimed directly at the beast’s core.

Zzzzzzzt!

The beam struck the beast and....

BOOOOOM!

The explosion was massive. Far larger than the previous hits. The poisonous energy detonated on impact with the Flare’s chest, creating a fireball that engulfed the entire beast and expanded outward in a shockwave that shook the ground beneath the agents’ feet. Trees swayed violently. The air itself seemed to crack from the force.

The flames that had surrounded the beast disappeared instantly, snuffed out like candles. The oppressive heat aura vanished. Smoke billowed up in thick, choking clouds that obscured the entire area where the Flare had been standing.

Silence fell over the clearing. The only sounds were the agents’ ragged breathing and the distant crackling of small fires in the underbrush.

For a moment... just a moment, they thought they’d done it.

"Did... did we get it?" Chen asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The agents exchanged glances, hope beginning to kindle in their eyes. Martinez lowered his weapon slightly, his shoulders sagging with relief.

But Fred remained tense. Something was wrong. He stared at the smoke, his instincts screaming at him that it wasn’t over.

The beast’s energy had vanished. Completely. Utterly. Gone.

That wasn’t how it worked. Even dead beasts retained their energy signature for several minutes as it slowly dissipated into the environment. But this... this was like someone had flipped a switch and turned it off instantly.

"Is it really dead?" Fred thought, his heart beginning to race again.

From his hidden position in the trees, Jayden also watched with narrowed eyes. He didn’t share the agents’ relief. His enhanced senses could still feel something... a void where the beast’s energy had been, yes, but not the void of death. This was something else. Something deliberate.

"Shit! It’s not dead," he realized. "It’s hiding... somewhere."

Just then, the smoke in the clearing began to clear, carried away by the night breeze.

The agents peered forward, weapons still raised, searching for the corpse.

The ground where the beast had stood was scorched black, cratered from the explosion. But there was no body. No blood. No charred remains.

The Ancient Flare was simply... gone.

"Fuck...!" Fred’s eyes widened, panic slamming into his chest like a physical force. Then, he felt that familiar sensation of heat emerge in the clearing. But before he could react...

WHOOSH.

The beast’s aura suddenly flared back into existence like someone had struck a match in a room full of gasoline. But it wasn’t coming from where it had been. The presence was behind them now, concentrated and... extremely close.

Fred spun around on instinct, and there it was.

The Ancient Sabertooth Flare stood directly behind Anderson, its massive form materializing from nothing. Its claws were already in motion, coming down in a deadly arc toward the agent who was still facing the wrong direction, oblivious to the death descending upon him.

"ANDERSON! BEHIND YOU!" Fred’s scream tore from his throat.

But it was far, far too late.

The beast’s claws plunged into Anderson’s back with brutal efficiency. All five claws punched through the suit, through flesh, through bone, and emerged from his chest in a spray of blood.

Spurt!

Blood burst from the wounds and from Anderson’s mouth simultaneously. His eyes went wide with shock and agony, the cannon slipping from his nerveless fingers to clatter on the ground.

Then the beast lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing, raising him high on its claws. Anderson’s legs kicked weakly, his hands scrabbling uselessly at the massive paw impaling him.

And then the beast’s claws ignited.

Fire erupted from within Anderson’s body, burning from the inside out.

"AAAAAHHH—!!!"

His scream was inhuman... a sound of pure, absolute agony that would haunt the dreams of anyone who heard it. The flames consumed him rapidly, his skin blackening and cracking, his flesh melting away, his bones turning to char.

The other agents could only stand frozen, their minds unable to process what they were seeing. Their teammate. Their comrade. Burning alive in front of them.

Anderson’s screams died after what felt like an eternity but was probably only ten seconds. What remained of him was barely recognizable as human... a blackened skeleton that still smoldered, smoke rising from its charred bones. The smell of burnt flesh and hair filled the clearing, acrid and nauseating.

Even Jayden, hidden in his tree, felt a chill run through him. He’d seen death before. Caused it himself. But this was different. This was deliberate cruelty.

But what concerned him more was... he hadn’t seen the beast move. His Dragon Eye, which should have tracked any energy signature or movement, had detected nothing. The beast had somehow hidden everything... its body, its energy, its aura, its very presence. Complete concealment in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

The Ancient Flare opened its claws, and Anderson’s skeletal remains dropped to the ground with a sickening clatter. Bones broke on impact, scattering across the scorched earth.

But the beast wasn’t finished. Its gaze shifted to the cannon lying on the ground and a low, rumbling snarl emerged from its throat.

Fred saw this and immediately knew what the beast was planning. "No," he breathed, already moving. "I won’t let you destroy it!"

The cannon was their only hope. The only thing that could penetrate the beast’s defenses. Without it, they were dead. All of them.

Fred sprinted toward the weapon, his ability already activating, red energy gathering in his hands. He was determined to reach the weapon first. He had to.

Just then, the Ancient Flare raised its massive paw, flames wreathing it in white-hot fury.

Fred eyes bulged. He was still too far away. "No, no no no...!" he pushed harder, forcing himself to move faster despite the ache in his body.

But it was still all for naught. He was too late... the beast’s paw came down.

CRUNCH. BOOM!

The cannon was crushed on impact, the delicate technology inside shattering like glass. And then the weapon’s power source... all that concentrated toxic energy, detonated in a secondary explosion that sent fragments of metal spraying in all directions.

Fred skidded to a halt, thrown back by the blast wave. He stared at the twisted wreckage where their last hope had been.

His legs went weak. His hands fell to his sides.

"It’s over... we’re screwed," he whispered, the words barely audible.

The Ancient Sabertooth Flare turned to face them fully, its expression almost... pleased. Its mane burned brighter, and when it took a step forward, the earth beneath its paw liquefied into molten glass.

Martinez and Chen stood beside Fred, their weapons suddenly feeling pitifully inadequate. They’d just watched their teammate die horribly. They’d just lost their only effective weapon. And now they faced a beast that could apparently teleport, conceal itself completely, and burn hot enough to melt stone.

Meanwhile, up in the trees, Jayden was busy contemplating what to do. This had gone beyond his ability to simply watch and wait. The agents were going to die. And if they died, the beast would escape the forest, possibly reaching the city, where reinforcements from the EVA would definitely find a way to neutralize it.

Jayden clenched his fists. He couldn’t let that happen. If anyone was going to kill the beast... it had to be him.