Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Including Ming Yue and her two beasts, there were twenty-three of them against eight of these stone-skinned lizards. While Ya Lang took on one by himself, the others split into grew of three to deal with the other seven. Thus there were six groups of three and a seventh group with four soldiers. 

And Ming Yue took one on with Xiao Yin and Hei Yue. 

With her claw and dagger, she circled around the beast, attacking the tail as it was its blindspot.

"Xiao Yin!"

As she called out and whistled, the owl flew down, revealing her glowing white talons and releasing beams of starlight. These glimmering white beams flew down and struck the lizard on its back but bounced off. 

Worse than that it left nothing but a crack on the beast's skin. Despite that, a crack was all Ming Yue needed. 

She flew forward before imbuing the Pearlstone Dagger with her energy, covering it with wind. She swung down with the Zephyr Claws, breaking off a chunk of the hide before stabbing in the same spot. 

After weakening its skin, the dagger pierced the lizard's flesh easily as the wind burst out, eviscerating the flesh surrounding it. 

The beast roared out in pain as it shook her off and turned back to her. With its mouth closed, the beast glared at her with its beady eyes before running forward. 

With its stubby legs, it didn't seem like it would be quick but it closed in on Ming Yue in mere seconds, snapping its jaws to rip her apart. 

"Wind Lance."

Muttering to herself, a lance of wind formed above her before condensing into the size of her arm. And then as the lizard's mouth opened, she shot it forward, straight into its throat, and jumped away, avoiding its charge. 

Its mouth suddenly closed before the lizard began to hack and cough. Its body ballooned as the lance burst out as blood sprayed out of every crevice, killing it in an instant. 

Ming Yue looked at it before revealing a look of disappointment. 

"Ah, we can't bring that back as food..."

If this were a normal encounter, she would not be bothered, but she was looking to gather food in this case. While the body was still intact, there was no doubt in her mind that its innards had become mush and unedible. 

"This isn't going to work, either a clean-cut or I stun it with lightning should work. I could use the Boltwind Nails but their skin only resembles stone, it is actually much tougher. That technique wouldn't work well. Wait, I just need to imbue the dagger with lightning only."

Realizing this, she went off to help the others, who were shocked. 

"You killed yours already?" one of them asked. 

Ming Yue nodded, following with a look of disappointment. 

"But I left it unedible so we can't bring that back", she answered. 

"Even if it is inedible, we can still bring it back so long as the body is in good condition!"

Another soldier shouted out as she charged forward, swinging her sword at the lizard. But it left only a scratch as the blade bounced back. 

"In any case, help us kill the rest of these!"

Ming Yue didn't need to hear it as she whistled for Xiao Yin, whose talons glowed with an iridescent light. 

As for the Mistral Fox, Hei Yue tried to do as much as he could but his strength lied in speed. Trying to even scratch the stone-skinned lizard was difficult enough. But he kept running about, scratching at the eyes, angering all of the lizards. 

Perhaps he could not injure these strange creatures but being a distraction was too easy for the silver furred fox. 

Every time, he grabbed their attention that was a window of opportunity for the others. So much so that the men and women were impressed and surprised.

"I thought this would be difficult but... isn't this a bit too easy?"

"Yeah, I know that the Fairy of the Moon is strong but her pets too?"

"They're quick, intelligent... Even if they aren't powerful, that teamwork and support are amazing."

All they had were praises and compliments for the trio, it was simply too obvious to not say out loud. But Ya Lang had other things to say.

"If you lot don't stop chatting, you're going to end up like this!"

Hacking the stone skin away, the captain stuck his two axes in between the hide and the lizard's flesh. Pressing in, the beast shrieked in pain as it felt its skin separate from its hide. 

As it began to give leeway, Ya Lang quickly put away his axes as he instead grabbed the bloody hide and pulled it apart

He shouted as his armor began to creak from his bulging arms. 

Hopping off the creature, he still gripped tightly to the skin before turning it on its backside and pulling even harder. And in seconds, Ya Lang skinned the lizard while it was still alive. The sight of it was brutal and horrifying. 

That same murky green blood spraying out wildly as the poor creature wriggled in pain. 

Without another word, he walked towards it with one ax in hand and chopped its neck, beheading the beast and killing it instantly. The body still twitched ever so slightly as its exposed flesh became a sight few dared to look at. 

It was visceral, a dark pink color that contrasted its green blood. Certainly a strange sight but one that would make anyone queasy. 

Even Ming Yue felt something as she saw it all unfold. 

"How... violent..." she thought, "But skillful."

At the same time, she noticed how clean the corpse was. Despite the blood splattering everywhere, the flesh and skin were separated and mostly undamaged. While his method seemed so vicious, the results were very different from what one would expect.

He placed his hand over the corpse as he finished, activating his spatial ring and sending it all in. 

"Onto the next then."

He looked around and pulled out his axes before finding a new target. 

And Ming Yue was finished with her second one. With the help of a few others, she cracked open the stone hide before stabbing her dagger into the beast. Lightning coursed through her dagger and straight into the flesh, paralyzing it. With another burst, she killed the creature, destroying its mind through shock. 

And one by one, these would-be attackers were killed and stored in one of their spatial rings. 

As the last one cried out, everyone breathed out a sigh of relief before sitting down to rest. But there was much to discuss about these beasts. Strangely enough, the soldiers were all excited for some reason. 

Having noticed it, Ming Yue was curious, were they happy about their catch or was there something else?"

"Captain, do you know what these are? You are the best of beast butchers and one of the most knowledgable."

"Yeah, captain. Is this something that has been cataloged or is it new?"

They looked to Ya Lang with eyes of expectation, waiting for him to answer. 

The captain of their squad was silent and his expression was extremely stoic. But soon enough, it turned into a little, mischievous smile before nodding. 

"Nope, it looks like we've discovered a new creature. I've never seen it before and we are in new territory. Congratulations, everyone."

With this, everyone cheered with their hands raised up high. 

Ming Yue looked at them blankly before one of the soldiers explained. 

"We get rewarded for discovering new creatures. After all, one of the goals is to catalog everything."

"Really?"

"And the reward is great, a hundred gold coins to each soldier that discovers it! It would be sent to our families and they wouldn't have to worry about anything for the rest of their lives!"

"Family, I see."

"Do you have any family, Fairy?"

Ming Yue shook her head. 

"No, and you can just call me Ming Yue."