GUARDIAN OF THE END

"MEEEEEH!" Feta bleated as she planted her legs and glared at the five humans. As though the goat sensed danger, it was ready to attack or protect.

Jason gulped nervously as he watched the man stare directly into Feta's eyes. Nora was watching them silently as well though he had no idea what was happening.

"So you are the guardian of this place or are you protecting the real guardian?" The man asked in an interested tone as the others behind him started chuckling.

"With all due respect Otis, anyone can tell that a weak goat like her can't be a guardian beast." The woman from earlier commented.

Otis grinned after hearing her words and moved towards Feta. He bent on his knees in front of the goat and stared into her eyes.

Feta immediately attacked him with her horns yet her attack never made it. His hands suddenly shot forward at lightning-quick speed and grabbed Feta's horns mid-charge.

"I wonder how a goat would look with just one of her horns." He wondered aloud before lifting Feta off the ground while just holding her from her horn.

Otis stood up straight while tightly clutching the horn of the goat before chucking her at the nearest wall.

The goat flew through the air at the speed of a bullet before hitting the wall with a huge thump.

Her body slowly slumped to the ground as blood started pouring out from the base of her horn. Her entire body was also full of bruises yet Feta didn't look unconscious.

"Still conscious?" Otis asked in a surprised tone before turning towards the others. "You guys go and search the place. I will teach this goat a lesson that she should respect humans."

The other four party members sighed before they started making their way to where the animals were sleeping or at least had been until a few minutes ago. Feta's crash against the wall had woken all of them up.

'What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?' Jason on the other hand kept thinking the same thing over and over. He had no idea what he could do to prevent Otis from harming Feta further.

[ Host, what do you want to do? ] The system's voice suddenly sounded like an anchor which prevented him from completely panicking.

'I don't want Feta to die or for these guys to find the guardian beast, though I have no idea what that is, I don't want them to get it.'

[ Then raise your arm and chug a lightning bolt at that Otis guy because from the looks of it, he is going to kill Feta. ] The system informed as Jason's eyes turned towards Otis to see him walking towards Feta's wounded body.

Jason raised his right hand high in the air and after aiming carefully, threw a bolt of lightning forward.

He had aimed the lighting bolt in such a way that it would directly pass through the man's head.

The lightning bolt was inches away from passing through Otis's skull but that's where things went wrong. The hair on Otis's back stood straight as he realized that something was wrong.

He immediately jumped to the right and the lightning bolt got stuck in the wall instead. Otis's eyes then turned towards Jason as he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"So there is someone here who went undetected by her," Otis muttered in a curious tone as he looked down at Feta. "Looks like you were trying to protect the goat with that attack."

Jason suddenly had a bad feeling passing through his body as he had no idea how things would progress further.

He had a feeling that if Otis even managed to land a single attack on him, he would be dead.

[ Don't worry host. Your grandmother should be arriving here soon. ] The system reassured.

'Huh?' Jason felt confused about this and despite the situation he was in, he paused for a second. How could Risa appear there if she had no idea about his location?

[ Your grandmother had cunningly planted a mark on your body without even me noticing it. If you ever got into danger, like right now, it would activate and give her your location. Sadly it only lasts for an hour. ]

After hearing the system's words, Jason felt a huge burden lift off his body. Though he had celebrated a bit too early.

Otis suddenly grabbed Feta's neck and dragged the goat behind him towards Jason. His eyes were sparkling with enjoyment as he threw the goat's body in front of Jason with a grin before standing over it.

"So there are two of you huh," He muttered while looking at Nora. "You wanted to save this goat so why don't you do something now that I am standing right in front of you?"

Jason barely prevented himself from lashing out as he knew that anything he would do would only provide entertainment to Otis. Nora on the other hand stared at Feta with a look of horror on his face.

? "What are you here for?" Jason asked in a gritty voice in hopes of distracting Otis and surprisingly it worked.

"You can talk?" He mocked before smiling again. "Anyways, we are here for a guardian beast which you won't know about so let's drop the topic and move on to killing the goat."

Otis replied and was about to laugh aloud when a weird sound spread throughout the entire shelter. Even the party members who were searching around heard the voice which made them put their guard up alongside Otis.

"Is that the guardian or did you do something boy?!" He shouted but before he could do anything or Jason could reply, Feta immediately stood up in front of them and opened her mouth.

But instead of a bleat, words came out of her mouth.

"MEH MEH MOFO!"

Jason couldn't believe both his ears and eyes as he looked at the Feta. Though he could only look at her for a second before his eyes were blinded by a bright flash of light.

However, he had caught the flash of a different being standing in Feta's place with two burning horns coming out of its head. The words had also been spoken by this creature and that was all Jason had been able to catch.

'System did you capture her new form?' Jason inquired since he would be able to see it again in case the system captured it.

[ It escaped me… ]

'I see.' He sighed and waited for the blindness to be gone.

Suddenly, Jason felt someone's hands wrap around his body but his vision was still blinded. The system came in clutch and told him that it was Risa whose hands surrounded him.

There was also a chance that it was her who had caused that flash.

Jason would've believed that theory if not for the fact that he and the system had seen something.

'I will ask her what happened in the future.' Jason thought as he felt himself drifting off for some reason.

He had no idea about how much time had passed by when he was asleep but when he woke up, the moon was out and stars covered the sky.

Jason was sleeping in the open under the biggest tree present in the Syrward family manor.

"Mind telling me what happened?" Risa's voice entered Jason's ears as he looked at her sitting right beside him with her back against the tree. "The moment I appeared at the shelter and upon entering it, both of you were lying unconscious near the entrance alongside the other animals there."

"Uh…" Jason tried to remember what he had seen yet he found his mind to be blank.

He remembered taking Nora to meet Feta at the shelter but couldn't remember anything that had happened after he had practiced his mana control.

[It's a strange thing, isn't it. It would have been fine if you forgot but for some reason, I don't remember anything either. Feels like a forced plot or someone controlling thing. ] The system commented as Jason mentally rolled his eyes.

'I am sure that there would be some reason for this. I don't believe anyone under a god's level can even tamper with you.' He pointed out.

[ That is true as well. I guess we will have to wait and see.] It then went silent since nothing was left to say.

"I don't remember…" He replied aloud as Risa sighed and rubbed her temples. It was as though she had almost been expecting that response.

"Nora gave me the same reply. Why does this always happen with our family?" She asked herself instead of Jason before pointing towards the house. "Go and sleep now and we will talk tomorrow."

"But I slept for so long already..." Jason replied yet Risa didn't seem to care.

"Just go and lie down on the bed. I am sure you will sleep after some time." She ordered.

Ok…" Jason sighed as he wondered why he had been out in the first place but he decided to keep his mouth shut. He said goodnight to Risa before standing up and making his way to his bedroom.

'I hope I don't have weird dreams tonight.' Jason thought while lying on the bed and closing his eyes to sleep.

Unfortunately, he had a dream of a goat flying through the air while shouting "MEH MEH MOFO!" at the top of its lungs.

'I hate weird dreams...' Jason thought before realizing that he could actually think inside his dream.

Now that was something he hadn't experienced before...