The Price of Forbidden Power
"Haaah… huff… ugh…."
On one of the many small islands belonging to the Beastman Union, inside a cave on a deserted islet, a woman lay collapsed. She was writhing, letting out pained groans. At a glance, one might think she was simply suffering from an injury, but—
"Haaah! Hraaaagh! Uaaaaaagh!"
She let out a roar as if filled with fury. The roar was so immense it shook the very foundations of the cave, a sound that defied imagination.
And yet, just as quickly as she screamed,
"Huff… huff… hruaaa…."
The sounds of agony spilled from her lips once more.
Groans and roars. Two sounds that could never coexist were erupting from her throat in turns. With every breath, her face turned as pale as a corpse.
"Huff… I… I must endure…."
Her hair was a vibrant orange mane, reminiscent of a lion, with black wavy patterns etched between the strands. Her long tail, attached to her naked, prone form, hung limp as if to signal her master's condition. The ears atop her head were also drooping, drained of all strength.
Under normal circumstances, she would have regained her energy and stood up long ago, but the woman could not. No, she could not.
"I must overcome… I must…."
She had to keep fighting the nature that sought to consume her inner self. Tai, the leader of the Tiger tribe, was clinging to her sanity with everything she had.
"Haaah… huff… huff…."
It kept ringing in her head.
Eat. Eat. Eat. Eat.
Eat and become strong. Become strong, become strong, become strong.
That is the form we must pursue. The form we must reclaim.
It is time to shed the skin of a human and return to our true selves.
Kill all the enemies that block your path, and devour them all.
Keep devouring them to show that you are the one who stands at the pinnacle.
You have the right, and you shall flaunt that right to your heart's content.
So eat. Eat. Eat. Eat.
Tear apart that mouse crawling before your eyes. Tear it apart, tear it apart, tear it apart.
Eat and return to your true form. Return. Return.
'Y-yes. I… I must return….'
She had to return to the form they were meant to pursue. To do that, she had to discard the laws. She had to break the curse they had considered a rule until now. And the first step to that was to consume raw flesh.
There was a mouse right in front of her; let’s start with that. Then, she would hunt larger prey.
Like a sleepwalker, Tai reached out toward the mouse. Before the mouse could even react, she snatched it up and shoved it into her mouth—
"No, no, no!"
Tai snapped back to reality.
"I… I almost ate it again…."
She threw the struggling mouse aside. It hit the floor and scurried away in a panic. Tai almost reached out for it again by instinct, but she pulled her hand back.
Realizing she had almost been consumed by her instincts again, she clutched her head with both hands.
'Is this the price my father spoke of?'
The position of the Tiger tribe leader had been inherited by Tai’s bloodline for generations. One might think that Tai, as the daughter of the previous leader, would naturally inherit the seat, but that wasn't the case. Just as other beastmen competed for the position of leader, the Tiger tribe’s leadership was also contested by Tai’s kin. The one who emerged victorious in that trial took the throne.
Tai had won that trial, and as the price of victory, she was able to succeed her father.
At that time, her father had said:
"Daughter, no matter what happens, you must never use the power of this crystal."
It was a crystal that every Tiger tribe leader had to protect. Perhaps because it received the tiger's energy, it was orange. After swallowing the crystal, Tai had heard the warnings from her father.
"You might feel forced to use it if a crisis strikes, but I hope you never do."
Her father had told her the story of the leader who had used this power.
"When our Tiger tribe faced the threat of extinction from human attacks, your great-great-grandfather used the power of the crystal."
Before the Kingdom stepped in to "protect" the beastmen under the guise of law, the Tiger tribe had been a target for human hunters. Though they possessed physical abilities superior to humans, the tigers were inevitably hunted when humans set their minds to it. When Tai's great-great-grandfather was the leader, the hunting was severe, to the point where humans mobilized a massive army to invade and occupy their island.
To protect his kin from such wicked humans, her great-great-grandfather had used the crystal's power. Using a technique called Monster Transformation, he became a giant tiger and slaughtered every single hunter.
One might think it ended well, but—
"Your great-great-grandfather, who used that power, devolved into a beast."
As the price for using the power, he was swallowed by his instincts. He became a predator that saw everything before him as prey, seeking to devour it all. The man who had used the forbidden power to protect his kin eventually became a monster that devoured his own people.
Later, when he returned to his original form and realized the sins he had committed, he was struck by immense shock and took his own life, terrified that he might devolve into a monster once again.
"So, daughter. Do not use the power, no matter what. No matter how difficult things get, never rely on the crystal. This father does not want to see you devolve into a beast."
Just as her late father had said, Tai did not want to rely on the crystal's power. She wanted to solve everything with her own strength.
She had wanted to, but in the end, she had no choice.
"Haaah… huff… hrugh…."
Grid, the heinous villain who had invaded their peaceful paradise, had fought Tai and defeated her. After her defeat, she had been remodeled.
Her breasts had grown, filled with milk, making them so heavy she could barely stand. The muscles she had gained through training had turned into lumps of fat, and her pelvis had widened, leaving her in a grotesque state with thick, heavy thighs.
Tai had lost all the strength she needed to fight as a warrior.
For such a Tai, only one path remained: to become livestock. After being tortured by Grid, she would go insane, and in that state, she would offer her body as he wished. As the price for offering her body, she would conceive the soldiers he desired.
Tai did not want that. She did not want to smear the faces of her father or her great ancestors.
So, she had used the power to escape.
And now, Tai was paying the desperate price for that escape.
'I must overcome this….'
She could not be intoxicated by instinct. She could not meet the same tragedy as her great-great-grandfather. She had to endure, no matter what. She had to cling to her sanity and control it. She must never devolve into a beast. With Grid still standing, she could not become the enemy that destroyed the Union from within.
For this reason, Tai could not return to Tiger Island. If she suddenly started rampaging, the already weakened Union might collapse.
So, rather than harming her kin, it was better to continue this battle against herself on an island where no one else lived. Tai did not yet know that while she fought this lonely battle, the destruction of the Union was already at their doorstep.
"Ah, so you were here, you damn tiger bitch. This place was a pain in the ass to find."
"…!"
Someone had come. Tai leaped instinctively. She didn't know if they were friend or foe, but she had to subdue them first. No matter how weakened she was, she could still beat one person. Tai swung her fist toward the human silhouette visible at the entrance.
Only the sound of air being sliced echoed.
"What?"
"What the hell? Why are you suddenly throwing punches?"
"Ugh?"
Tai was pinned to the floor with her arm twisted behind her back. Who on earth had come? Subdued, Tai barely managed to roll her eyes upward.
The moment she saw them, her eyes widened.
"You…."
It was a white-haired Gumiho. Her tails, ears, eyes, and even the hanbok she wore were all white. Tai knew exactly who this Gumiho was.
"Seol-hwa?"
Seol-hwa. The younger sister of Sua, the leader of the Gumiho tribe. She had heard that Seol-hwa’s whereabouts had become unknown after Fox Island fell, so why was she here? What had she been doing to end up in this place? Tai was filled with suspicion.
"Why are you here?"
"I came to find you, obviously. To give some medicine to a stupid cat."
"A stupid cat?"
"Yeah, who else would I be talking about if not you?"
Tai was bewildered by being insulted as a cat. The Seol-hwa she knew didn't have such a foul mouth. For a moment, Tai mistakenly thought someone else had taken over her body.
Seol-hwa continued.
"I heard the story on my way here. That you stupidly charged at Grid and got defeated. That you became a monster and ran away. That’s why I had to find you with this."
Seol-hwa showed Tai a compass of unknown origin.
"They say it reacts when it senses Magi, so I was able to find you. It kept pointing toward where Grid was, so I had a hell of a time. I wish that Arwen girl had given me something better."
"What do you intend to do to me?"
"I told you already. I’m going to give you medicine."
With those words, Seol-hwa pulled out a syringe. It was filled with black liquid.
Seol-hwa plunged the needle into Tai’s neck in one swift motion.
-*Thwack*
"Ugh?"
The unidentified black liquid was injected. Tai tried to resist, but it was impossible to shake off Seol-hwa, who was pinning her down with her knees. Eventually, the drug was injected, and the reaction was immediate.
"Uaaaaaagh, aaaaaaagh…."
An ominous black energy began to seep from Tai’s body. Seeing this, Seol-hwa smiled with satisfaction.
"It was worth begging Arwen for this. If I didn't have this to react, I’d be the one beaten to death. Thank goodness I won't die."
"You… you, what did you do to me?"
"A cheat code."
"A… a cheat code?"
"Simply put, I injected you with a drug that turns you into a berserker. Arwen was making it, and I begged her to let me take a sample. She gave it to me once I convinced her I’d use you to kill Grid."
Seol-hwa was currently cooperating with a woman named Arwen. They had one reason for cooperating: to kill Grid, the villain of this world. Since killing him with her own hands was tedious and scary, she intended to use a bomb to kill the villain instead. By turning Tai into that bomb.
Seol-hwa whispered into the ear of the suffering Tai.
"Now, go wild to your heart's content. Go and kill the devil."
"Ughhh…."
"The Union will collapse, but don't worry. Even if you all disappear, this world won't end, you know?"
"Seol-hwa, you dog… I won't let you… Aaaaaaagh!"
With the scream of a giant tiger, the cave collapsed.
●●●
"What did you just say?"
About a week later, Kang-rim received shocking news.
"Who is attacking right now?"
"It is Tai, the leader of the Tiger tribe."
The Turtle tribe warriors dispatched to check on the status of Fox Island knelt and confessed the truth to Kang-rim.
"Tai, the leader of the Tiger tribe, is attacking Fox Island."