by Yuu Tanaka
“Urgh.”
“If you don’t retire, you’re not the only one who’s going to pay. We’ll get every last Black Cat and sell you into slavery!”
Bad move. Selen just had to go and say the s-word. Fran had dedicated her life to bettering the living conditions of Black Cats everywhere. The Blue Cat had crossed the line.
“Eeek!”
Fran’s intent to kill was at its peak. Especially since Dias had told her about Kiara. Well, we tried. This girl was a lost cause. We might have to annihilate Blue Pride altogether. I felt bad for Zehmet, but his crew seemed to be stereotypical Blue Cat scum. Better to wipe them off the map in case the survivors tried to take revenge on us.
Selen screamed in fear, her face growing pale at Fran’s murderous aura. She fell on her rear and trembled, not even noticing the fluid pooling on the ground around her.
“Aaah…!”
Her pathetic cry was barely intelligible, but Fran was past the point of sympathy. She drew me without a word and swung, her eyes brimming with cold fury. It was overkill, but Selen brought it on herself.
However, the blow never landed. A figure bolted out to cover her with the speed of a bullet.
“Urfh…!”
“B-brother!”
Zehmet took the blade that was meant for his sister. It went through his ribs and into his left lung. Selen glared at Fran, but Zehmet turned on his sister.
“Why…must you have such an unruly mouth…?!”
“Brother, are you all right?! Black Cat…! How dare you—?!”
“Stop…!”
“Yah!”
Zehmet slapped Selen. He was weakened by the injury, but the force of the strike was still enough to knock the girl back, marking her cheek with red fury. She sat in stunned silence, not understanding what was happening.
Meanwhile, Zehmet proceeded to fall on his face, apologizing to Fran for his sister’s wrongdoing. Blood seeped from his open wound.
“I apologize…for my foolish sister…”
“I’m sorry.” But Fran refused to back down. Her murderous thoughts had already overwhelmed her.
“I won’t…let them say anything so foolish ever again…! I’ll retrain them…anyone who refuses will be let go… no… I’ll sell them into slavery myself!” Zehmet declared, making clear that this policy would even apply to his sister.
He knew this was the only hope of quelling Fran’s rage. Their fight in the tournament told him that she was vastly superior to his entire crew. She would have no problem annihilating them all.
“Brother, what are you saying? Why are you apologizing to that—ah!”
“Quiet…”
He batted his own sister away as she crawled towards him. Quite hard, too. She hurtled several meters away before she stopped, unconscious.
“I am sorry…please forgive me.”
Zehmet might die mid-apology. His strength was steadily draining away. The commotion hadn’t gone unnoticed, and I sensed the other Blue Cats peeking out to see what was going on.
Fran? The rest of Blue Pride is moving in.
“I am so…so sorry,” he said.
“Ugh.”
Do what you think is right. I’m with you all the way.
“Greater Heal.”
Although she hesitated, Fran healed Zehmet’s wounds. She still hated their whole tribe, but she wasn’t going to take it out on the one Blue Cat she could actually get along with.
“I’m leaving. If you haven’t changed your ways the next time I see you, your crew is done.”
“Thank you so much!” Zehmet fell on his face again, knowing he had evaded the full weight of Fran’s wrath by inches. Fran didn’t answer, but turned around and ran. Conflicting emotions raged inside her.
Are you sure you should’ve let them go?
“I didn’t. I just delayed the inevitable.”
Well, as long as you’re okay with it.
Fran ran with no destination in mind. The only thing she wanted was to sort out her jumbled-up feelings. People stared at her as she zipped past, but it couldn’t be helped. She could run all she wanted if it meant she felt better.
A few minutes later, she was finally settled down. She walked slowly, her raging emotions suppressed by exhaustion. Some thugs set their eyes on her, but I did them a favor and dealt with them using Telekinesis. If they’d tried anything funny, Fran would have vented her rage. Fortunately, no one was stupid enough to mess with a girl emitting such a dangerous aura.
“…”
Of course she was in a bad mood. She had finally entertained the possibility of a friendship with Zehmet. Maybe he wasn’t the only decent member of his tribe, but in the end, Blue Cats will be Blue Cats. Zehmet was the exception.
I didn’t know if we could fix our relationship with him. Fran certainly wanted to be friends, but if we ran into his crew again, we would probably end up fighting. Worse, she might end up killing him. She certainly couldn’t forgive Selen, who’d pissed me off too, to be honest. She talked about selling people into slavery like selling a piece of armor. If Zehmet hadn’t protected her, she would be dead.
Fran walked around town in a storm of emotions. About twenty minutes later, she stopped and turned around.
This aura…
“Beast King?”
The explosion of mana and aggression came from the direction of the Blue Pride encampment. Even from this great distance, we could feel it.
“…!”
Fran panicked, and ran back the way she had come. There was no mistaking the Beast King’s mana. It didn’t feel like he was merely stretching his legs, either. As confused as Fran was, she channeled all her energy into speed—her camaraderie with Zehmet mixed with her fear of the Beast King.
Are you sure, Fran? The Beast King is there!
“Hm!”
I couldn’t tell whether she was prepared to face the consequences of her actions, but Fran knew there was no going back. She sprinted the whole way back to the encampment, and we reached it not five minutes later.
“Huff…huff…!”
It’s him!
The encampment was engulfed in flames. The Beast King stood in the center of the holocaust, wreathed in golden fire. The scene looked like an illustration straight from a tyrant’s repertoire. His silence loomed over the encampment.
Zehmet was on the ground, seemingly burnt to a crisp. His armor was heated to the point that it looked like hard candy, while the leather had turned to ash. One look was enough to tell that he was nearly dead.
The Beast King’s stats had grown since we last saw him. He looked different, too. His hair stood on end, framing his face in a mane. Black rings surrounded his eyes, and his fangs extended past his lips. He looked like a lion in its full glory.
He’s evolved…
The Beast King was using his Awakened form, just like Zehmet had when he fought Fran.
“Now, what kind of idiot would go against my orders like that?”
“Urgh…”
“Well, time to put you out of your misery.”
The Beast King gathered fire in his right hand. Fran didn’t hesitate.
“I’m going, Teacher!”
She didn’t even wait for my answer before leaping into action. She grasped me in her right hand and equipped the instant-kill sword, Death Gaze, in her left. She cast a spell to accelerate herself, and sped towards the Beast King like a bullet. But she kept quiet, suppressing her murderous aura. Fran wasn’t in a blind rage. This was a calculated effort to take the Beast King’s life.
His Sense skills were good, but not as good as Dias’. Considering he was an S-Rank, they certainly could be better. Fran could have shouted to stop him from killing Zehmet, but it would be a bad move. Zehmet would die if it didn’t work, and it would strip Fran of the element of surprise. This was her only chance. She had to take the initiative. There was a high likelihood that this would end badly one way or another, but Fran had made her choice.
She would try to decapit
ate him with one strike. Fran wasn’t thinking about the potential consequences: becoming a fugitive of the beastman nation or the political scandal that might arise from an assassination attempt. Her only priority was saving Zehmet’s life.
Besides, the Beast King’s Bracelet of Sacrifice would save him from instant death. As bad as an assassination attempt would look, an actual assassination might throw the world into war. The Bracelet of Sacrifice probably emboldened Fran. He would die, it would activate, and the time it took to raise him from the dead would be enough to save Zehmet.
If I was thinking only of Fran’s safety, I would teleport us out of here and let the Beast King have his way. I knew that was the best option. But I also knew that Fran wouldn’t be satisfied with that. If her safety was my only priority, I would’ve stopped her from becoming an adventurer in the first place. I wanted to go adventuring with her. I was her guardian as well as her sword. My job was to protect her while carrying out her will. If she wanted to jump off a cliff, my job was to make sure she landed safely. I had Fran’s back, for better or worse.
Fran crossed her swords as she charged towards the Beast King’s back. She focused her mana on the blades, which looked like a pair of giant scissors. Surely this would penetrate the Beast King’s defenses, no matter how powerful he was. She closed her menacing shears on the Beast King’s neck.
“…?!”
The blades didn’t even scratch him. Fran couldn’t believe it. She looked at me in utter shock.
“No!”
“What? And who are you supposed to be?” At least her attempt on the Beast King’s life had distracted him from Zehmet, although his full attention was now on her.
Fran couldn’t answer. Her face was pale as she stared at me.
Death Gaze had broken in the assault, and so had I. The only things left were my hilt and handle.
Fran couldn’t understand it. However, as the offended party, I knew exactly what had happened. The golden flames wrapped around the Beast King’s body had melted me and Death Gaze as soon as we touched them. The fire was hot enough to boil cold steel. I suspected that the only reason it didn’t raze the place where the Beast King stood was because of one of his skills.
“Teacher!” Fran called out in her panic.
“Teacher? Who are you talking about?” The Beast King looked at her quizzically.
Calm down, Fran. I’m all right. Switch to Telepathy for now.
Thank goodness…
Fortunately, the damage wasn’t anything I couldn’t recover from, although regenerating from a literal meltdown took a lot of mana. Good thing I had Self-Repair.
Death Gaze was probably a goner. I couldn’t detect any mana coming from it. Fran’s Black Cat Cloak wasn’t repairing itself from the peripheral burns, either. Maybe it was still fixing itself, but it was definitely taking longer than usual.
How do we get past those flames…?
They were dangerous, and not just because of their destructive power. The flames reacted even when the Beast King had his back to us. It was a powerful automatic shield. How much stronger would it be if the Beast King actually directed it? Dodging it would be difficult; blocking downright impossible.
“You this Blue Cat’s disciple?”
“…”
“Answer me, kid.”
“What…did you do to Zehmet?”
Fran glared at him. The Beast King shrugged in response. He didn’t seem pleased with her attitude, but his eyes were grinning with delight. I knew those eyes well. They were as battle hungry as Fran’s.
“Heh. You’re not supposed to answer a question with another question. Manners wouldn’t kill you, Black Cat.”
His condescending tone made Fran grind her teeth. She suppressed her anger and asked again. “Why are you killing him?”
“You hard of hearing or something? Fine. Disciplinary action against an unruly subordinate, that’s why.”
Unruly subordinate… So Zehmet was one of his men. Did he go against the Beast King’s orders? Zehmet was for Black Cats and the Beast King was against them. Was that it?
“Anyway, you seem to be chummy with him. Can’t imagine why, what with you being Black and him Blue.”
“Hm…”
“Hang on, did your sword just fix itself? Neat.”
Instant Regeneration brought my blade back quickly, but it was probably useless against him. Keeping our distance with spells was the better approach. Frost and Water were our best bets against Flame. Putting points into those two magicks seemed like a pretty good idea.
“Fran…don’t…”
“I’ll save you, Zehmet.”
“Ha ha ha! Such beautiful friendship between a Black Cat and a Blue! It’d be funny if it weren’t so twisted!”
“Shut up…” Zehmet spat.
The king turned to the dying leader of Blue Pride with an entertained smirk. “You can still talk? Impressive. It’s a shame, you know? You had so much potential. Kid, you’re about to see what happens to those who oppose me. You’re about to feel the wrath of Rigdith Nalasincha!”
The flames around Rigdith danced more violently. Just grazing those golden flames would be the end of us.
Fran and the Beast King clashed in an explosion of aggression.
“Haaa…!”
Fran made the first move. Instead of leaping back, she charged right at him.
“Ha ha ha! You actually made it through my Intimidate! Very good!”
She shot at him with a water-element Aura Blade, but alas, it was immediately evaporated by the Beast King’s flames. Immediately after nullifying her attack, the flames snaked towards her.
“Hm!”
“Hah! Nice dodge!”
Fran leapt backwards at the last moment. That was close. These things were much faster than I thought.
Those flames are downright deadly!
“Hm!”
“So, what’s your next move? You gonna charge in, knowing you’ll get burned to cinders?”
“Stun Bolt!”
Pale blue lightning shot towards the Beast King. It had no effect on him, though. He grinned as if he knew it was coming.
“Wow, you can use magic, too? Great! You’re gonna have to do better than that to hurt me, though.”
He had Magic Resistance along with a high Magic stat. The golden flames even acted as a shield against spells.
“How about this?! Hexagon Tornado!”
Fran cast a high-level Wind spell. The six-sided whirlwind closed in around the Beast King. Wind blades cut anything inside the hexagonal cage. They were fast enough to chop off limbs; goblins would be mincemeat by now.
The Beast King, however, only laughed. As the six-sided whirlwind closed in, he waved his right hand.
Fwoom!
“You can delay your incantations? What is that, Instant Cast? Good, but not good enough. That ain’t enough to even scratch me.”
Melee didn’t work and magic was ineffective. We were screwed.
“My turn. Ready?”
The Beast King made a gesture and I charged my telekinetic energy. It wasn’t clear what the gesture meant, but primordial fear had taken over. This was the first time I had ever experienced true terror. Fran agreed, and accelerated away with magic. Cold sweat ran down her face, but this was the right move.
Golden flames burned the spot where Fran had been standing. If I hadn’t held the blast back, and Fran hadn’t jumped, we would’ve been a pile of ash.
“Good instinct! How about this?!”
The Beast King waved his hand again. The golden flame split, turning into a kind of fiery hydra, speeding towards us from all directions. He could even control the flame in precise movements!
“Ugh!” Fran dodged, but they got close enough to blister. The intense heat was terrifying.
“Really? You’ve got spunk, kid! Try this one on for size!”
“Urgh…”
The flames chased harder and faster. Fran shot off some water spells and barely escaped being bu
rned alive.
“You’re doing great, kid! Have some more!”
The Beast King howled with laughter as he added more heads to the flaming hydra. He was close to overwhelming us. We only needed to stop him for a second to heal Zehmet and get the hell out of there…but he seemed unstoppable. He hadn’t even moved an inch. The fact that he could chase us down without moving underlined the difference in power. Should we run, or use our trump card? We had to decide.
Fran!
Teacher…we have to use it! Fran wasn’t going to leave Zehmet behind.
All right! Time for our ace in the hole!
I’m sure that’ll work!
You’re right.
The Beast King’s lips curled into a feral smile as he saw Fran drop into a crouch. “What’s this? Are you getting something ready?”
“Haaaa—”
The Beast King changed his stance for the first time in the fight. He felt Fran’s increase in energy and responded in kind. Tensions mounted as they prepared for a battle to the death.
“What do you think you’re doing, Your Majesty?!”
And with that, the tension was immediately dispelled. Two figures approached us. The one in front had the frankness of an annoyed parent as he entered the battleground’s deadly aura, and I recognized him at once. This was Rosch, the coachman of the Beast King’s carriage.
Name: Rosch
Age: 37
Race: White Weasel Tribe/White Curse Skunk
Class: Hunter Mage
Level: 62/99
HP: 556; Magic: 758; Strength: 251; Agility: 539
Skills: Sensitive Sole 4; Dig 6; Stealth 8; Wind Magic 4; Bow Arts 9; Bow Mastery 10; Advanced Bow Mastery 1; Coachman 7; Vigilance 8; Presence Sense 10; Conceal Presence 7; Flexibility 4; Blink 8; Hush 5; Abnormal Status Resistance 4; Everyday Magic 3; Mental Status Resistance 5; Dagger Arts 4; Dagger Mastery 5; Perfumer 8; Jump 6; Climb 5; Venomology 8; Poison Magic 5; Earth Magic 7; Burrow 5; Fire Magic 5; Magic Resistance 3; Mana Sense 7; Nightshade 7; Disarm Trap 6; Trap Sense 8; Lay Trap 4; Spirit Manipulation; Enhanced Olfactory; Enhanced Touch; Mana Manipulation; Enhanced Hearing
Class Skill: Awaken; Curse Strike
Titles: Chimera Slayer; Dungeon Conqueror
Equipment: Hades Wood Bow; Dimension Quiver; Blackshade Beast Boots; Shadowplate Gauntlets; Black Stealth Spider Cloak; Bracelet of Dexterity; Bracelet of Storage
