Emma slowed her descent, steadying herself just a few meters above the surface of the Nine Hell River. The humid air rushed toward her.
All six of her Mystical Beasts were water-based, and the dense water attribute energy around her instantly made her feel as if her combat power had increased by at least thirty percent.
If the battle took place in her advantageous terrain, she might not be able to defeat the Serpentkin man, but at least she wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage.
However, when she glanced in the direction the Serpentkin was heading, she realized he seemed to be targeting the person who had just given her that crucial advice.
Her brow furrowed, and she quickly followed after him…
“Boy, do you know you’re courting death?”
As the voice reached his ears, the Serpentkin man’s figure had already descended from the sky, landing right in front of Charles. The overwhelming sense of terror and oppression almost made Charles lose his footing.
Unlike humans, who rely on contracts with Mystical Beasts to enhance their combat abilities, the Serpentkin tribe relies entirely on building up their own attributes, making their combat power extraordinarily formidable. In the face of such absolute strength, Charles had no chance of victory—not even a sliver.
“Damn, I think I’ve gotten in over my head!” Charles cursed under his breath.
When he saw Emma being overpowered earlier, he had revealed the Serpentkin man’s weakness. That action had clearly infuriated him.
Cold sweat began to bead on Charles’s forehead, but he maintained a calm exterior. He knew that panicking wouldn’t help; if he wanted to survive, he had two options: either stall for time until Emma could rescue him, or find a way to slip into the shadows and use [Darkness Cloak] to escape.
Carefully, Charles edged closer to a patch of shadow cast by the moonlight through the trees, all the while trying to divert the man’s attention. “Come on, man, you were just fighting her. I’m just a newly promoted Level 2 Beast Master—surely you wouldn’t stoop so low as to pick on me?”
The moment Charles took a step, a cloud of black mist enveloped him, binding his body as if ropes had tightened around him, rendering him immobile. The mist then lifted him into the air.
“Spare me your slippery tongue. If it weren’t for you, that woman would be dead by now. Since you like meddling so much, then die for it!” the man roared, and the black mist behind Charles coalesced into a massive black serpent.
The serpent opened its blood-red maw and lunged at Charles, ready to devour him.
“It’s over… Am I really going to die here?” Charles’s face paled, and his heart pounded in his chest.
The disparity in their levels was so vast that even with the system, he doubted he could withstand the attack.
Damn it!
If only he had just stayed out of it and watched the fight. What was a small fry like him doing getting involved in a battle between a Level 64 Serpentkin and a Level 7 Beast Master?
“Nine Hell River marks the boundary—Serpentkin and Genosha are to remain in peace. Must you force my hand to once again flatten Atacama?”
A majestic voice echoed through the air, ethereal and omnipresent, as if it came from all directions at once.
Behind Charles, a massive figure appeared, towering like a great mountain. Its presence was so immense that it seemed to blot out the stars and moon in the sky.
As he gazed upon the towering figure standing several dozen meters tall before him, the Serpentkin man froze in fear.
The Serpentkin had an ingrained terror of this ancient war god, Ares, who had never known defeat in battle.
“Ares… Ares has been resurrected?” The words slipped out of the Serpentkin man’s mouth almost reflexively. He immediately released his grip on Charles, taking a step back in a desperate attempt to flee.
Ares was Genosha’s first war god from a thousand years ago, and in the legendary battle, the Serpentkin Queen Medusa had perished alongside him. His power was unmatched, far beyond anything this Serpentkin could contend with.
“Wait, no! Ares was petrified long ago! Hmph, trying to trick me, you little brat!” Upon closer inspection, the man realized the truth—high above in the air, there was a small brownish creature, and that was the true source of the voice.
A mass of black mist formed into a hand and reached out to grab it from the air.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
“Help, help!”
“Let go of me, or… or… could you maybe let me finish the nuts I’ve hidden before you kill me?”
The majestic voice vanished, along with the illusion of Ares’s figure. Charles quickly understood that it had been Mousie using its [Mimetic Illusion] skill all along.
Though the illusion hadn’t caused any real harm, the brief moment of distraction was enough for Charles to reach the shadows, where he could now activate [Darkness Cloak] and escape at any moment.
But if he did, Mousie would be in grave danger…
Mousie had risked its life to save him just now—how could he abandon his partner?
Joshua, feeling deeply humiliated by being frightened by such a tiny creature, allowed his fury to take over. The black mist transformed into two large hands—one for the human, the other for the beast—and he prepared to end both their lives.
While Charles hesitated, the black mist wrapped around him once again, the suffocating pressure even more terrifying than the Resurrecting Serpent’s coils from before.
His Divine Scale Armor creaked under the strain, clearly nearing its breaking point. Beside him, Mousie’s face had turned red, unable to make a sound.
“Pain… it hurts!” Charles groaned.
The pain wasn’t coming from where the claws gripped him, but from his neck, where Aria had bitten him before. Blood seeped from the fang-marked wound, and suddenly, a purple light began to envelop him…
An ancient and commanding aura emanated from Charles, causing Joshua to feel a shiver run through his soul. He even felt an inexplicable urge to kneel.
“Joshua, I told you—you cannot harm him.”
A voice echoed from behind Charles, but it sounded more like a hallucination. Joshua snapped out of his daze, realizing that the boy before him was the very human the princess had instructed him not to harm that day.
“Hmph.”
Suddenly, Joshua released his grip and vanished into the forest.
The moment he disappeared, the massive black claw holding Charles dissipated, and the suffocating pressure lifted. Charles collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
His entire body was drenched in sweat. It was his first time facing such overwhelming pressure from someone above Level 60. Staring in the direction where Joshua had vanished, Charles remained in a state of shock for a long time.
“Are you alright?” A voice, ethereal and serene, came from behind him.
Before he could fully process what had happened, a slender figure in blue appeared before him, gazing at him with eyes as clear and unperturbed as a still lake. “I’m sorry I was late.”
Charles looked up, finding himself face-to-face with the Vice Principal of Nova Academy, Emma, for the first time.
A Level 7 Beast Master—one of the most powerful figures in all of Genosha, someone even the royal family would show deference to—and she was standing right in front of him.
As he observed her closely, a sense of awe welled up within him. Although the system had indicated that she was 32 years old, she looked no older than a young woman just stepping into adulthood. He had heard that high-level Beast Masters often possessed a sort of “elixir of life.”
Her pale blue hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin was flawless like jade, and her features were exquisitely delicate, carrying an ethereal beauty as if untouched by the mortal world—a fairy-like presence.
“Are you hurt?” she asked again, her voice soft and gentle.
Charles snapped out of his reverie, realizing he had been staring a bit too long. He scratched his head awkwardly and said, “When I heard them say that the Vice Principal of Nova Academy was fighting that black serpent in the sky, I imagined you’d be some… well, an older woman. I didn’t expect to see such a beautiful young lady instead!”
At the mention of the word “older,” a flash of annoyance crossed Emma’s lovely face, but when he followed it up with “young lady,” a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “I’m not exactly a young girl… Actually, I’m… ahem, 20 years old! And thank you for your help earlier. If it wasn’t for your reminder, I might have lost that battle.”
Recalling the perilous moments in the sky just now, Emma still felt a lingering sense of fear. freeweɓnvel.com
At that moment, the students who had been watching the battle alongside Charles all rushed over, their faces filled with astonishment.
“Was that thing that looked like Ares something you summoned?”
“I can’t believe my eyes! That was the Serpentkin who nearly defeated Vice Principal Emma, and you actually managed to drive him away!”
“You’re only a Level 2 Beast Master, right? How on earth did you do it?”
Surrounded by the curious and chattering female students, Charles felt a bit embarrassed.
To be honest, even he didn’t fully understand why Joshua had let him go. There had been a sharp pain in his neck, seemingly from where Aria had bitten him before. But when he checked now, not only had the wound healed, but even the bite marks had completely vanished.
“Squeak, squeak!”
“That’s right! It was Mousie who summoned Ares just now! You know, the legendary figure who could take on the Serpentkin Queen Medusa one-on-one, of course, he could scare that guy away! No, actually, it wasn’t just scaring him away, it was me, Mousie, who defeated that Serpentkin…” The little brown flying squirrel circled around Charles’s head, enthusiastically recounting its supposed victory.
Although only Charles could understand Mousie’s words, its fluffy, adorable appearance quickly captured the attention of the girls around him.
“Wait, stop!”
“Let go of me… Only my master can pet Mousie… Oh no…!”
Meanwhile, Emma glanced toward the riverbank, noticing that the Devouring Serpent had long since disappeared.
“What a pity, we almost had it. I’m injured as well, so let’s return to camp and rest for now. We can resume the search for the Devouring Serpent tomorrow,” Emma suggested. Then she turned her gaze to Charles. “This area is extremely dangerous. Why don’t you come with us?”
Charles thought it over. Since he planned to train in this area anyway, tagging along with them to get familiar with the terrain seemed like a good idea.
Nova Academy was one of the three major academies in the Imperial Capital, and getting to know the Vice Principal certainly wouldn’t hurt!
As Charles approached, the cloud leopards that served as their mounts began growling, issuing warning sounds.
Seeing the cloud leopards, Charles couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy. These creatures were far faster than any train!
The world he found himself in was at least ten times larger than the Earth he knew, with cities spread out across vast distances. Even high-speed trains would feel sluggish in such a sprawling landscape.
Mounting one of the cloud leopards, Charles felt the world around him blur into a whirlwind of motion as the creature dashed forward at incredible speed.
Suddenly, Emma appeared beside him, her captivating eyes studying him closely. “I can sense three completely different types of elemental energy within you. How interesting.”
Emma’s voice was soft, almost drifting on the wind, but it caused Charles to stiffen suddenly.