Armipotent

They had come to an agreement, that Tang Shaoyang and Moussa would go together for the hunt of The King of the Beast. Moussa asked to gather The Elder for the hunt, in case the hunt was going to the south. Moussa wanted to hunt it with his team if Tang Shaoyang failed, taking the chance that Tang Shaoyang might weaken The King of the Beast.

When Tang Shaoyang asked how long to gather the team, he immediately refused. Moussa asked for three to four hours to gather his team. That was the reason why he refused the notion. He might give the chief half an hour or maybe an hour at max, but no more than that.

The sun started to set, and the setting sun created a beautiful sight as they entered the forest. They had around one or one and a half hours before the sun completely disappeared. Moussa led them in the opposite direction from the direction Tang Shaoyang returned from.

Maybe that was why Tang Shaoyang could not find The King of the Beast, but he was confident that he swept the area, very thoroughly with his Chaos Eyes.

“We need to be more careful in the night. The beasts in the night are more dangerous and aggressive. They will ambush us even though they know we are stronger than them,” Moussa reminded the player.

“There’s no need to worry, there will be no ambush. You just need to lead me to where this King of the Beast is as quick as possible!” Tang Shaoyang waved his hand.

He said that because he sent Baccara the black phoenix, Jet the black raven, Glodden the tiny hunter with a golden fork, and Keeper the skeleton sniper who could be an excellent hunter. They were ahead of him, clearing out the beast that potentially attacked them or slowed them down.

Moussa frowned but said nothing in return. He knew it was pointless to convince the player. The player just needed to experience how scary the forest was in the night to learn the lesson. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to ask Akumbo about the player in detail. There was one thing he got from Akumbo before leaving. The player was as strong as him, that was what Akumbo said, but he could tell that his hunter was lying. His hunter thought the player was stronger than him, but did not say it aloud in front of his face.

Moussa kept his pace the same, not going as fast as he could as the player requested him. He expected the flying beast or the other beasts would ambush them. He was convinced that would happen, and to his surprise, he did not encounter any of the beasts. It was weird, even though the sun was still up, he expected to encounter some hungry beasts that could not wait for the night.

Moussa picked up his face, getting quicker, and they arrived at their destination in around forty minutes. They arrived before the sunset, arriving at the foot of a mountain where the King of the Beast resided.

“Why do you stop here?” Tang Shaoyang asked the chief of the hunter village. His Chaos Eyes could not find any beast with his Chaos Eyes.

“We have arrived. The King of the Beast resides in this mountain, this is her home!” Moussa snapped out and pointed the direction ahead.

Tang Shaoyang immediately focused on his Chaos Eyes and quickly found a beast, descending the mountain, coming down toward them. The beast was a white Bengal Tiger, but of course, the size was different from the animal.

This one was four meters tall, the white fur kept releasing the mist, had three tails, and its eyes glowed in red. The out-of-place thing was the antler, crown-like antler on its head, glowing in purple. As it got closer to the foot of the mountain, the mist got thicker and obstructed their normal vision.

“Why are you coming to my home, Moussa!? Haven’t we agreed not to bother each other!? Are you breaking the agreement? Or are you sending me early offerings?” The growling yet deep voice rang in the air, and the King of the Beast could communicate.

Tang Shaoyang was surprised and glanced toward Chief Moussa. He never heard anything about the agreement between the village and The King of the Beast. Even Akumbo did not mention the pact between the village and the tiger. It seemed the only people who knew about the agreement were the Chief and The Elder.

“It’s not about that, Elder Zwaki. My hand is also forced by this player. He insisted on meeting you or else he would ruin the forest,” Moussa responded.

Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow. Even though Moussa was telling the truth, it felt like Moussa changed sides to the beast. It did not look like Chief Moussa wanted to kill the beast.

“Since you are bringing an enemy to my home, I want the next offering double. Or else the agreement is null, and I will hunt your people to fill my belly,” The beast responded maliciously.

“You will not be able to get your next offering, white cat,” Tang Shaoyang interrupted as he could no longer bear to hear their conversation, “I thought of killing you, but you are quite pleasant to look at. I will give you two choices: Be my pet or die!”

“Buahahahahahaha…!” A sonorous yet sinister laughter rang through the whole forest. It echoed around them, causing Chief Moussa to take three steps back.

*** ***

Chief Moussa’s heart jumped when he heard the familiar laughter. He heard the same laughter when the tiger slaughtered half of the elders from his village before the tiger offered a deal where his village would offer the beasts they hunted for the tiger. That was what the agreement was, and they had to give thirty Demi-God Rank Beasts and a hundred Legendary Beasts each month.

Because of the agreement, their village’s growth was stalled, and they could no longer produce another God Rank because of the limited resources. All the necessary resources to make better equipment and arrows were taken by the King of the Beast. The Demi-God Rank Elder had to hunt in a group because of their bad quality equipment.

However, they did not have a choice because the King of the Beast was stronger. He had seen how the beast slaughtered his people before his eyes. He had been looking for a way to kill the King of the Beast, but he was at a dead end, until the arrival of the players.

Moussa had a plan to let the players handle the King of the Beasts, but he wanted to gather more players before sending them to the King of the Beast. But everything did not go as he planned, and he doubted that one player would be enough to handle the King of the Beast.

He had a little confidence in this player, a little hope. However, that little hope disappeared the moment he heard Zwaki’s laughter. That was the reason why he told the beast the truth about the player. If the player could not kill the beast, the beast would not kill him because he was forced by the player.

If the player somehow killed the King of the Beast, then it was good, and he did not offend the player. He was just telling the truth, a harmless truth to protect himself.

“You are the first one to ask me to be your pet, quite bold, but boldness is not enough to keep your life,” Zwaki was not offended, in fact, amused by the player.

Moussa just could not figure out what was in the player’s head right now. How could he think of taking the King of the Beast as a pet? This was madness, and he started to regret bringing the player here.

“Shoot him, Keeper! But don’t kill him, just shoot his leg to make sure he can’t run!”

‘Keeper?’

Moussa did not know who the player talked to, confused. He tried to find where this Keeper was until he heard a howl that filled the forest. The pained howl echoed through the whole forest, and he recognized the voice, Elder Zwaki. It was Elder Zwaki’s voice.

Chief Moussa looked around, confused and wary, observing his surroundings. He pulled his two daggers for a defense.

“Cut his legs, all of them, and bring him here, Glodden!”

Chief Moussa snapped once more when he heard the player’s voice. He tried to make it out of the situation. His eyes were on the player, but the player did not move. Except for the scream, he heard nothing.

It was until he heard something getting dragged on the ground followed by a growl of pain as well. The mist obscured his vision and made it harder for him. Then he snapped into one direction the source of the dragging noise.

He saw a golden imp flapping his wing and his tiny hand was holding onto the Zwaki’s antler. The King of the Beast was being dragged on the ground, losing his four legs. It was a clean cut and it was still bleeding, painting the ground with its blood.

Moussa’s brain felt like getting short-circuit, blanked at the sight of the pitiful beast. The white fur was soaked in blood as well as a few holes were on its body. The majestic king was nowhere to be seen, just a dying pitiful beast.

The player approached Zwaki and placed his right foot on top of the head, “You have two choices: become my pet or die!”