105 Gains (1/2)

Ed raised his arms in preparation of the fight ahead of him. It was at that moment that he noticed the hundreds of eyes shifting simultaneously. 'Hmm?' He furrowed his brow in confusion. He moved his arms again and the hundreds of eyes followed his left hand. 'They want the purple mana-core I took from the ice giant?' He hesitated a moment before slowly placing it down on the ground in front of him. He backed away cautiously, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.

One of the mutants exited the shadows, revealing a hyena that was barely a meter tall. Like everything within the cage, it was completely purple. 'Why are there so many mutants resembling Africa animals down here?' Ed wondered. 'Maybe they escaped from local zoos or something in the past? But that still wouldn't explain how they got here... Just how expansive is the underground maze anyways? Hell, it could link to other continents for all I know.'

Suddenly, the hyena lunged forward, ready to devour the purple mana-core. Ed didn't hesitate as he rushed forward and punted the hyena like a football, sending it flying back into the shadows. This seemed to enrage the other hyenas, causing several more of them to move towards him. Behind them was a hyena that was different from the rest. It stood nearly three meters tall and was covered in wisps of purple flame.

Ed's eyes shone with interest as he saw the strange hyena. It was his first time seeing an elemental power being used externally within the cage. The ice giant might have qualified, but it was hard to say for certain since its entire body was made up of the water element. He rubbed his chin. 'The hyena uses fire. The lions I faced were rather ordinary. The ice giant can be considered to be of the water element. I also travelled through those strange areas of lightning... but everything is purple. How does it connect with the seven elements? Is it an eighth element? Or perhaps an auxiliary force like gold faith energy?'

Motivated to find the answers, he no longer hesitated as he charged forward. This seemed to enrage the pack as hundreds of them rushed out from the shadows. Four more strange hyenas were amongst them. However, their bodies were all different. One was covered in stone, another in ice, and two in lightning.

Ed grew even more excited as a light purple glow covered his chimera body. The ordinary hyenas were mere cannon fodder, crushed if they dared bar his path. A sympathy of cracking bones and whimpering screams echoed throughout the cavern as Ed soaked in the blood of the weaklings. Surprisingly, the five strange hyenas ignored him as they charged towards the purple mana-core he left on the ground.

'Hmm. That's convenient.' He smiled as he continued killing the weak hyenas. He kept an eye on the purple mana-core, which the five strange hyenas now fought over. If any of the hyenas had a chance to devour the core, he would be able to interfere at the last moment.

The two lightning hyenas seemed to be friends or family, as they worked together. The fire and ice hyenas also joined forces, though they appeared to do so begrudgingly. Most interesting of all was the stone hyena. The other four were all attacking it, but the lightning, flames, and ice barely left a scratch on its rocky skin. The only silver lining was that the stone hyena was as slow as a turtle. By the time it was able to reach the original location of the purple mana-core, the other hyenas had managed to kick the mana-core far away.

The ice hyena created a wall of purple ice, blocking purple streaks of lightning being fired at it. The fire hyena jumped atop the ice wall and shot purple flames from its mouth. Unfortunately, the two lightning hyenas excelled in speed and were easily able to dodge. They split up as one ran towards the purple mana-core and the other distracted the remaining hyenas.

'Can't have that.' Ed whipped an ordinary hyena with his tail, sending it straight towards the purple mana-core. He succeeded in knocking the mana-core across the room, far away from the lightning hyenas. Then he went back to his killing spree. '97, 98, 99, 100!' He cheerfully counted as he went.

Suddenly, the horde of hyenas fell backwards like a receding tide. They did their best to hide within the shadows, terrified of the crocodile in front of them. 'Ah, that's boring.' Ed frowned as he turned towards the five strange hyenas. They seemed to have put a temporary stop to their fighting, uniting together to face a common enemy.

'Well, this has dragged on long enough.' Ed thought as he ran towards them. A stream of purple fire shot towards him. He hurriedly deflected it with his arm. However, the purple light he used was far too weak. The fire instantly broke through his defenses and easily penetrated his scales, causing severe burns to his arm. 'Ugh!' He winced in pain but continued charging forward.

Two streaks of lightning shot towards him next. Not daring to take an attack head on again, Ed used his tail to leap high over the attacks. The purple lightning crackled against the cavern floor briefly before disappearing. When he landed, a wall of ice blocked his path and was further spreading to his sides. The fire and lightning hyenas appeared atop the wall, seemingly prepared to encircle him from the high ground. As for the stone hyena? It still hadn't caught up yet.

'If only they were as stupid as the ice giant.' Ed sighed as he quickly retreated, refusing to allow the wall of ice to completely encircle him. Suddenly, he felt something bite his tail. Instinctively, he swatted down hard, crushing whatever had dared bite him into meat paste. Glancing backwards, he saw the horde of ordinary hyenas were once again pressing the attack. There were barely a hundred of them left. They were far too weak to actually hurt him, but they could become a deadly hindrance during the real fight.