Chapter 320
Chapter 320
After she licked herself thoroughly, Triana looked at the man with curiosity: «Who are you, master, if not one of the hunters?»
«A tournament member.» – Kyon said curtly, throwing away a bone.
«I want to know more!» – She asked impatiently.
Still finishing his meal, Lovr told her the basic information about the tournament.
The expression on Triana’s face changed until it turned into a frozen mask: «You want to say that you slaughter thousands of animals just to win in a pathetic tournament?!»
Kyon nodded.
«Vicious creatures! I would…»
«Kill us all?» – Kyon suggested.
Judging by Triana’s stern face, the answer was obvious.
Kyon chuckled disdainfully: «Aren’t you a hypocrite? You accuse people of senseless cruelty, but not so long ago, your roar called lots of animals to their death to defend you from the hunters. But you don’t blame yourself, do you?»
«It’s different!» – The tigress sounded resentful. – «I am the third princess of the white tigers! My life is many times more valuable than a thousand, if not a million, unintelligent animals! To die protecting me is a privilege, not a tragedy! How dare you accuse me of hypocrisy, dirty human? I am not one of you!» – She thrashed her tail vigorously.
Kyon rolled his eyes: «Your life is more valuable than that of unintelligible animals, but what about the lives of thousands of peaceful humans? Wild creatures breed like rabbits and attack the human settlements close to the forest border if their population is not reduced at least once every thirty years. Are you going to rock the boat, claiming that humans are unjust and cruel, fucking racist?»
Triana blinked in confusion and lost her courage at once. The wretched man hadn’t told her the reason for the tournament on purpose and made a complete fool of her. On the other hand, she didn’t even think to change her point of view.
Kyon noticed her awkward attempt to keep quiet and ordered her to give him a full answer.
The tigress muttered through clenched teeth: «You’re right… I am a racist who thinks that human life is less important than the life of an unintelligible animal! But I’m not a hypocrite! I am not taking my words back! Are you satisfied with my answer?» – She gave him a slightly hurt look.
«Pretty enough.» – Kyon nodded. How could he not understand such obvious things? His goal was to make her see the light. – «Come on, let’s go.»
Lovr had developed a simple plan of action for the remaining 9 days of the tournament: to fill the core with souls and rob a great deal of the participants with the help of the tigress. By the way, whoever had forged the tournament formation, Kyon was grateful to them. It would only make the search easier.
When they left the cave, Kyon asked his companion: «Do you have any concealment technique?»
Triana put her hand on her chest and declared proudly: «I am a born hunter! If I didn’t have a decent concealment technique, my family would have made me a laughing stock! In my family, the legendary technique The Rustling of Leaves is passed down from generation to generation. I’ve mastered it at the highest level while only one out of ten geniuses among geniuses can ever get it. Every herbivore in our empire is horrified by the name of this technique, because…»
«Shut up!» – Kyon interrupted her arrogant speech. – «It’s either yes or no.»
Triana opened her mouth with indignation. The third princess of the white tigers had been rudely interrupted! No one had ever treated her like this before.
«Listen and remember what I say. During the next nine days, you will steer clear of humans and won’t make a sound until you are at least a hundred meters away from them. Everyone, except for me. I am going to meet other participants and discuss something with them. When you hear me say BOOM, knock out my opponent at once but leave no visible damage. Any questions?»
«No… I mean, yes! What are you up to?»
«All right then. Let’s go.» – Kyon created a stick with the earth element, fixing a nephrite on the top of it, and ran southwest.
They easily got past the “cordon.”
Triana was stunned to see how quickly her master moved through the forest, and she nearly fell over when she looked closely at his movements. Even a born hunter like her made occasional mistakes running through the rugged forest paths, but the man’s every step was honed to perfection as if he knew the forest backwards and forwards. How could he move so quickly with his level of cultivation? Triana couldn’t help it and asked him directly but received no answer.
Kyon slowed down. A minute later, they could hear a tournament participant from behind.
«Freeze! I will recognize this freak out of a million! Dick Baker, the local clown, isn’t it?»
Kyon looked at the skinny, grinning boy and said quietly: «Do you want to see a magic trick?»
«No, thanks! Hey! I just remembered that you insulted the first prince of Liberia… The best genius of my kingdom. You know what? I’ll teach you a lesson in good manners. Being a good-natured person, I’ll give you a choice: I’ll beat you to a pulp and take all the rings, or you give me all the rings and I beat you to a pulp. Which do you choose?»
«Extensive options, aren’t they?» – Kyon chuckled. – «Alright, but first, my magic trick!.»
Dick took a beautiful patterned staff decorated with the nephrite out of the ring and waved his hand, reciting a powerful, apparently deadly spell like a fairy-tale wizard: «Hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo, argle-bargle, gobbledygook…»
The skinny boy listened to this nonsense for a whole minute. The absurdity of the situation had clouded his judgement. Birds must have learned to crawl and wolves could fly. What the hell was going on here? This sick psycho was driving him crazy!
Kyon waited until the participant ran out of patience and waved his staff, uttering the secret word: «Bibbity-Bobbity-BOOM!» – The last word sounded like a grenade explosion.
Everything went dark before the boy’s eyes. Unconscious, he flew to the feet of the fat freak who immediately started to rob him. His rings contained not only keys but also other things necessary for a two-week stay in the forest.
Kyon moved on.
As he walked a hundred meters away from the robbed participant, Triana appeared out of nowhere and asked him suspiciously: «You could wipe that weakling off the face of the earth with a wave of your hand. Why did you use my services?»
«No time to explain.» – Kyon waved her off.
The tigress grunted suspiciously. Why did the master avoid the question? Why did he imitate the sound of his powerful attack? Something told her that her master wasn’t that powerful after all. It all came down to the attacking formations.
«How did you make such a loud noise with your undeveloped throat? Humans can’t do that…» – Triana enquired, trying to get to the bottom of the hidden truth. She would be disappointed if the master wasn’t as strong as she had thought.
Kyon gave her a cold stare: «As you may have noticed, I can. No more questions, baby tiger.»
«Don’t call me baby tiger, fat ugly monkey!» – Triana snapped angrily.
Kyon could have bound the freedom-loving cat hand and foot, but he liked conversations with the supreme beast with a completely different mentality. She didn’t cross any boundaries. As for calling him names, she did it with no malice and fair enough in response to his teasing. Yet the name Triana sounded too proud and majestic for a straightforward and naive supreme beast.
«I forbid you to call me a monkey.» – He smiled broadly and added teasingly. – «Baby tiger.»
The tigress growled angrily but helplessly. It was awful to live in captivity…
Meanwhile it was evening. At the moment, the situation at the tournament was like this: about three dozen participants, who had been waiting at the cave, followed Dick Baker and his tournament formation… They formed a long line with clashes for resources along the way.
The fights rarely ended in disqualification. Some managed to escape, some were spared. So, the top three kingdoms kept trying to get rid of each other in order to increase the chance to take a higher place.
Kyon lured his pursuers one by one and plundered them with the ancient Knockout spell. In total, he had robbed 8 participants.
Triana cracked the best geniuses of the 7 kingdoms like peanuts. The tigress was so powerful that she alone could have defeated all the participants in the tournament at once. Her concealment technique helped her hide from noble-phasers’ scanning. Only the lord phasers could sense her starting from 10 meters. She was goddess-like in this forest, and this goddess was now serving a weak man.
«Why am I doing this?» – Triana complained once again. – «Can’t you beat them yourself? You impressed me with your strength during our fight, but now I suspect that you brazenly deceived me! You tricked me!»
«What do you care about my strength?» – Kyon asked quietly.
«How can I not complain if my master is a weakling?!» – Triana growled. It was as obvious to her as the difference between fresh and rotten meat. She couldn’t understand why the man had asked this ridiculous question.
Kyon chuckled, recalling a quote from one book: {Humans respect power, beasts worship it.}
Even in the world where power was everything, the difference in the local customs was apparent.
A person with intellectual abilities will easily find a good use for them. For example, Vladimir was happy to hire Kyon who was only a base phaser. Anyway, it would be hard to climb to the hierarchical ladder for a weakling. There was a great risk of getting worn down in the shadow of a powerful boss. Besides, the competitors would gladly crush the weak insolent careerist at the first opportunity.
As for the supreme beasts, they were highly opinionated. A weak individual is nobody. They can only dream of getting a high position and joining the harem of a worthy male / female. They were destined to be a laughing stock. Even parents would give up a weakling as a mistake of nature that was doomed to failure, destined to drag out the miserable existence of an omega. That’s why the tigress was concerned about her master’s strength. Indeed, would she choose to serve an emperor or a servant?
Triana continued to pry until Kyon suddenly ordered her to transform into a beast. The tiger transformation took her half a minute. Meanwhile, the master took out a leopard skin, ropes, and created a saddle, not without the earth element…
«Rr-rr-r-o-аа-аr-r!» – The supreme beast protested and tried to sidestep him.
«Where do you think you’re going? Come here, whiskered beast! I order you!» – Kyon insisted.
Triana obediently approached the master and allowed him to saddle her… Her lowered eyes, muzzle, and curled tail could tell anyone how embarrassed she was. If the tigress could blush, her fur would take a crimson shade. He put a saddle on the princess! He turned her into a pathetic mount…
Kyon held the tigress’s neck tight and ordered her to move carefully southwest with gradual acceleration. When the speed reached a certain point, he ordered to keep it up, or he would fall off. Running at this speed, they would break away from the other participants far enough to have some rest.
Late in the night, when they were a thousand kilometers, Kyon stopped the tigress on the hill, ordered her to take a human form and started to set up a tent.
Triana hastily made another pair of underwear, climbed onto a thick branch and watched Kyon with a displeased but curious look: {I feel fear in all creatures below the royal phase, but not in him. He didn’t show weakness even being at death’s door, looking into the born hunter’s eyes… How can he be so confident?}
In the dark of the night, Triana’s pupils dilated, her hunter’s instinct awakened. She felt an urge to scare the man to death. Without using the concealment technique, she hid in the dense crown of trees. Her glowing amber eyes watched the prey. The predator was waiting for the best moment for the “attack.” He deserved it, at least for putting the saddle on the third princess.
Meanwhile, Kyon was ready with the tent and walked away to make water. He had hardly emptied his bladder when a zombie bird saw a breathtaking scene. The strong-willed tigress pricked up her ears, stuck out her tight ass, showing her assets. When she saw her master bump into a tree for some unknown reason, she did a little butt wiggle just like a pet cat before pouncing on its target…