Tang Shaoyang came down off the cliff to the forest below. The guide told him the Lycanthrope’s home was just ahead. He halted his steps, looking back at the pillar of lava, “How long are you going to maintain that fire? That should be enough. You might scare them instead of luring the Lycanthrope toward us.”

“Tch, you are not fun,” Rosalie wanted to maintain the pillar of the fire until they killed all the Lycanthrope, a bit of show off. She just wanted to prove to him that she was strong enough to follow him. However, there was a truth behind Tang Shaoyang’s words. The pillar might scare the Lycanthrope which defeated the purpose of creating the pillar of fire. The night dimmed down as the pillar of fire dispersed.

As soon as the pillar disappeared, the howling rang in the night sky. The howl shocked the guide, halting his steps as he went behind Tang Shaoyang to hide. He felt like the howling was too close where they were, scaring him.

Tang Shaoyang said nothing since the guide was not necessary in this part. This was the part where they would fight the Lycanthrope. He spoke to Greed and Wrath through telepathy, ensuring Rosalie and Lu An did not hear his message for his companion before he turned around and said, “There’s a big group of Lycanthrope, around fifty, armored and armed.” As soon as he said that, his figure disappeared into the woods, shocking both Rosalie and Lu An.

Rosalie and Lu An looked at each other before they followed Tang Shaoyang. One disappeared into the shadow while the other one flew to the sky, leaving the guide alone, frozen, not knowing what actually happened, “Wait! Don’t leave me! I will pull my weight. I will fight too! Please don’t leave me, Sir!” Realizing he was alone, the guide screamed in terror. He was in the Lycanthrope’s main territory, alone. Of course, he was terrified to the point his legs and body were shaking.

“Sssshhh!” The guide jumped backward when he heard someone shushing him. He looked around to find where the voice came from, but no one was around but him. The first thought that came into his mind was to turn around and run. However, his legs did not listen to him. His legs went weak as he fell on his butt. Then he saw the black cat and the golden lizard in front of him. He recognized the two creatures, his kidnapper’s pets.

“Can you shut your mouth? You are too noisy,” The guide’s eyes widened in shock when he heard the black cat’s voice, speaking to him.

“I… A… U… Mmmm…” The guide wanted to say something, but he failed to form words. He was too shocked by the discovery of a talking cat. The talking beast was known as Mythical Creature, at least, that was what Salvation Fraternity told him. If he ever met a beast capable of talking, he should run away. He was on the ground with his feet with no energy, he was doomed if the cat really wanted to eat him.

Greed opened his mouth, yawning, but the guide misunderstood that, thinking he was about to get eaten. He looked down, covered his head, and yelled, “Please don’t eat me. My flesh tastes awful. Please don’t eat me.”

“What are you talking about, human?” Greed’s annoyed voice rang in the air. “You are too noisy. If you really don’t want my brother to eat you, shut your mouth and follow us quietly, understand!”

The Dark Predator was standing next to the guide, threatening the poor guide. He got what he wanted as the man cowered, shaking his head in horror. The beast did not know what scared the man, but Greed used the man’s fear for his amusement.

“He might die from a heart attack if you keep scaring him, Greed,” Tang Shaoyang’s voice rang in the air, announcing his return. The guide raised his head, looking at his kidnapper as if they were his savior. He was finally not alone with the talking beast anymore, giving him more courage to stand up.

Not long after Tang Shaoyang’s returned, Lu An jumped out of the shadow while Rosalie came down from the sky. The hunt was over. Both Lu An and Rosalie seemed not happy about the result, “This is not fair, Brother. You steal the start, and you don’t give me a single Lycanthrope to kill. At least, leave a few of them for me.”

Rosalie did not express it, but she agreed with Lu An. They did not know where the Lycanthrope was coming from. By the time they located where the Lycanthrope was, all of them were killed by Tang Shaoyang, leaving nothing for them.

Tang Shaoyang shrugged and smiled, “You have to find your prey if you want to be a hunter, no? From now on, I will take what I can take. We will fight for the prey regardless of their rank and level. I can’t give you two the easy prey anymore. If you want it, take it from me.”

With more factions joining the Tang Empire on the eleventh floor, time was not on his side anymore. He could no longer be a chooser anymore. He had to take whatever was in front of him to reach his intended target, no longer giving them to Rosalie or Lu An just because the target was low-level and low-rank.

“What!?” The guide blurted out, shocked by the conversation. He was pretty sure he heard there were around fifty Lycanthropes coming for them, but it seemed all of them were killed already. It was not long before the players announced it, not even five minutes passed, and yet, fifty Lycanthrope was wiped out. That was unbelievable; the horrid creatures that had been haunting them for a long time were easily killed by the players. This kept reminding him of what Lu An said to him earlier. They were so weak, yet they had the ambition to capture the player.

“Then we will be rivals from now on,” Lu An understood what it meant, but he did not want to give everything to Tang Shaoyang for free, not without a fight, “How about we make a bet, Brother Shaoyang? The loser grants the winner’s wish?”

“Are you sure about that?” Tang Shaoyang smiled, squinting his eyes at the young Lu An. The latter nodded his head to confirm he was ready to make the bet. He was confident about beating his brother if it was a hunting competition.

“It seems you have been too cocky because no one could beat you, heh? Alright, let’s make the bet. The loser grants the winner’s wish,” Tang Shaoyang grinned, “Let’s start the wolf hunting!”

The poor guide was left with Greed and Wrath as the three players left them to hunt the Lycanthrope. At first, he was scared of the talking beast, but he had no choice but to follow the cat. The safest place would be around the talking beast. It would protect him from the terrifying Lycanthrope.

“Do you understand, human!?” The guide heard the cat’s voice, and snapped away from his thought to look at the cat, “Yes, I understand, Boss.” Even though he did not listen to what the cat talked about, that answer was the safe answer. He added Boss because the cat told him to call it Boss, and he had been calling the cat Boss since then.

“Good,” Greed looked satisfied with how obedient the male human was. It was quite fun to play with the humans. He moved his paw, signaling his new subordinate to get down, “Get down.”

The guide did not know what the cat wanted, but he obediently got down. The black cat jumped onto his left shoulder. He was caught off guard and also surprised, but then he realized the cat was assuming a sleeping position on his left shoulder, not attacking him. He was relieved and endured it even though it was uncomfortable.

“Do you want to take a nap too, Brother? You can join me on the other side,” Greed pointed at the empty right shoulder without asking the guide, “While it’s not as comfortable as Master’s shoulder, it is still better than nothing, no?”

The guide moved his eyes to the golden lizard. Their eyes met, and his heart jumped off a bit. He did not know why or how, but his instinct told him to bow down to this small lizard. The guide ended up falling on his knees, lowering himself so the golden lizard could jump onto his right shoulder. That was his subconscious action, doing it as if it was something he must do.

The golden lizard opened its wing, flying up to the guide’s right shoulder, assuming the sleeping position. The guide felt like he was left behind to take care of the pets, but it was not just a normal pet but a mythical creature.

“It will take a while for Master to hunt all the doggos with how big Andure Vale is. We can at least get half an hour of nap,” The cat spoke to himself while the guide listened to The Boss attentively, “It will be a blessing if I can get an hour nap. Just walk forward, not too fast and not too slow. You should be safe from the doggo, so there’s no need to be scared, do you understand, human?”

“Yes, Boss.”

𝑶𝒱𝓵xt.𝔠𝑜𝓂

“Good, now walk.” Greed slapped the guide’s cheek with his tail, closing his eyes for a quick nap.

*** ***

The pillar of fire indeed attracted the Lycanthrope toward them. After the initial fifty Lycanthrope, another big group of Lycanthrope moved. Tang Shaoyang intercepted them mid-way, by himself as he easily shook off Lu An and Rosalie.

While they were monsters, the Lycanthrope was more organized than he thought. Moving in formation together, they were maintaining the formation as he intercepted them. The Lycanthrope wore leather armor and armed themselves with a pair of daggers. The leather armor was finely made but the dagger was crudely made. All Lycanthrope took out their daggers, ready to fight.

“Hoho… It’s been a while since a human dared to enter our territory. Are you tired of living, human?” The leather of the pack lowered his dagger when it realized it was just one human.

“One Ancient Rank, eleven Epic Ranks, and the rest are level 900 on average. That’s a decent harvest,” Tang Shaoyang licked his lips.