Chapter 105: The Beast, the Beast King, and the Human - 1
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105: The Beast, the Beast King, and the Human - 1
The scent of blood reached Nabi, and she flinched as if burned. Though the air was thick with mana herbs processed from catnip and World Tree leaves, her head snapped up, eyes darting around the room.
She looked terrified, or perhaps anxious.
“Nya-at?!”
I quickly grabbed Tyr and backed away. After sniffing the air for a long moment, Nabi approached the corpse. After confirming the colonel’s death several times over, she trembled, looking down at the body.
“No, this can’t be, nya. My servant, my servant’s servant is dead, nya.”
Of course, it didn’t seem like she was angry about her servant’s death. Just as a drug addict doesn’t mourn the death of their dealer.
“Nya, the one who gives me my tribute is gone, nya.”
She was merely lamenting her loss.
Even though the paper packet was open and mana herbs were scattered everywhere, Nabi writhed as if she had lost her supply forever. She clawed at her own face, oblivious to her nails scratching her skin as she wailed.
“Nyaaa—! Nyaaa!”
Ah, just as I thought.
I tried to be careful, but…
Cats do as they please.
A real cat that couldn't overpower a human might be one thing, but there was no reason for the Cat King to obey human commands, receiving mana herbs one by one as a so-called ‘tribute.’
After all, if Nabi decided to attack the human holding the mana herbs and steal them, how could anyone stop her?
Not with force. There was only one way to stop her.
She had been tamed, of course.
She had been taught, through the deaths of a few people, that she could never obtain the mana herbs simply by stealing them.
When her stolen supply ran out, Nabi would return in a frenzy. They would then torment the feral Cat King with the last remaining speck of mana herb, letting the drug slowly, bit by bit, eat away at her body and mind. This process was repeated every time Nabi stole the herbs.
How many times had it happened? Eventually, Nabi learned to obey human commands instead of harming her handlers.
She deceived herself by calling it payment and tribute.
I’d only managed to learn this by reading Lieutenant General Ebon’s mind, suspicious as to why a cat would be so obedient. That was why I had been so wary of the scent of blood spreading.
Tyr, tense, murmured beside me.
“…The Cat King’s state is peculiar.”
“Well, even a human junkie would be in a peculiar state.”
This must be another reason why Lieutenant General Ebon entrusted such an important item like the mana herbs to the colonel instead of managing them himself. Killing the handler would be the trigger for the Cat King’s rampage.
…Though there were a few other reasons as well.
The colonel’s death caused Nabi to react as if she had broken.
“Nyahak! He’s dead, nya, the stupid servant of a stupid servant is dead, nya!”
Creek, creak. Her head bobbed up and down, her pupils dilated.
“Nya, no, nya. Nya, my tribute, my happiness…”
Slowly, her tail began to twitch, her body twisting into a bizarre shape.
“Nya, two, three, four… Ah, no, nya. Four isn’t nearly enough, nya. I’ll run out by tomorrow, nya…”
The sight of her breaking down was unsettling to watch.
A cat driven mad—no, a cat truly insane from drugs. This image of the Cat King, who must have once been clever, playful, and exceptionally tidy, was as unnatural as a mismatched puzzle piece.
In response, Ralion snorted and stepped forward. Tyr, sensing the ominous atmosphere, pulled me back.
I didn’t resist her grip. From my perspective, I looked like the one in the most danger.
I suggested, “Okay, let’s make eye contact with Nabi and slowly back away, shall we? Like we’re dealing with a wild animal…”
“Kyahahak!”
Nabi’s pupils flashed into vertical slits. The fur on her entire body stood on end as her hidden wildness targeted me and lunged.
“Dammit!”
I can’t read a beast’s thoughts. And this was the Beast King, an opponent my pathetic strength could never hope to face. Even if I managed to wrap a rope around her neck, a single shake of her head would tear my body to shreds like it had been put through a thresher.
Death was upon me. Just then, Tyr shielded me and shouted.
“Ralion!”
[Hee-hee-hinnnng!]
With a thud, the horse with blood-red hooves blocked my path. Seeing the heavy hooves aimed at her, Nabi leaped into the air to dodge.
A threatening growl was directed at Ralion.
“Tyr, I take back what I said about you being weaker! Ralion alone is more than enough to pull his weight!”
“Enough nonsense, get out of here! Leave this to me!”
“No, to deal with that thing right now, we need…!”
It was in that moment I glanced away.
Nabi appeared before me as a blur. She was so stealthy that even the sanguine horse and Tyr were too slow to notice.
A cat’s stealth is that of a hunter. It instinctively strikes at its prey’s opening.
“Ah.”
Damn it, this is why I hate felines. How can a mind reader get caught in a surprise attack?
I quickly raised my arms, but it was useless. Sharp claws were coming for me.
A creature with tawny fur leaped in front of them.
“Woof!”
That’s right, that’s my Azzy!
With the clatter of a chain, Azzy charged at Nabi. Her sharp teeth snapped shut, aiming for the airborne cat.
A surprise attack on a surprise attack. But the moment the chain rattled, Nabi had already reacted. She twisted her body and swiped a paw at Azzy.
Azzy tried to counter with her own paw, but…
Clank.
The chain rattled, and Azzy’s eyes wavered with it. At the end of the chain was Callis’s neck.
Instead of swinging the chain with the human attached, Azzy quickly turned and took Nabi’s blow with her back.
Thwack. The cat’s paw struck the dog’s back. Unlike dogs, felines are far more adept at using their front paws.
Unable to defend, Azzy took the full force of the blow and howled in pain.
“Yelp!”
Azzy’s body rolled across the ground. Even so, she stretched out her arm to keep the chain from being pulled taut. If the chain wrapped around her body, Callis would die.
But the impact was unavoidable. Callis, connected to the chain, was thrown violently.
“Gahk…! Cough, cough!”
Callis choked, her throat constricted. Azzy looked down at the chain and let out a desperate howl.
“Awoo! Awoooo!”
“Kyahak!”
“Grrrr…! Yelp!”
It was a penalty more severe than having one hand tied. If she swung too hard, the human’s neck would snap. To protect the human, the Dog King had no choice but to hold back her strength.
But there was no way to defeat Nabi, another Beast King, while holding back.
“Wheeeine…!”
She was barely managing to block the swinging paws with one hand. Thud, thud. Each time Nabi relentlessly slammed her paws down, Azzy’s body shook violently. Her skin tore and blood flowed, one entire arm turning a deep shade of purple.
But she couldn’t even think of counterattacking, nor could she block with her other arm. If the chain got caught on Nabi’s paw, the human’s neck would be gone in an instant.
“Kyahahak!”
Nabi’s paw flashed. Its trajectory seemed aimed directly at the chain on Azzy’s arm. Azzy instinctively moved, blocking the attack with her entire body.
“Yelp…”
Crash. The impact shuddered through her whole frame. Unable to withstand it, Azzy rolled across the ground, blood pouring from her mouth.
Just as Nabi approached the fallen Azzy, Tyr shouted.
“Ralion! Help the Dog King!”
[Hee-hee-hinnnng!]
Ralion charged, the ground trembling with his steps. The charge of the house-sized sanguine horse was a threat even to Nabi. She leaped left and right to evade the attack, then mercilessly tore into Ralion with her claws.
Defeat seemed imminent. I wasn't the only one who thought so. Tyr shouted with more urgency than I had ever seen from her.
“Hu! Let us escape while we can!”
“Wait! We need Azzy to catch Nabi! That chain!”
“Just fall back for now! I will handle it!”
“Do you think you can cut a chain that strong?”
It was Level 4 alchemic steel, the strongest steel available through conventional means in the Military State. Vampires weren’t exactly known for their powerful single strikes.
After a brief moment of thought, Tyr’s eyes glowed red.
“What needs to be cut is not necessarily the chain.”
Aha. So instead of the chain, you’ll just take off Callis’s head, the stake? No head, no leash? Wow, what a rational and ruthless suggestion.
…But I can’t let that happen!
“That’s a bit risky, don’t you think? Azzy is smart enough to understand cause and effect when it comes to death! She’ll be devastated if a human dies because of her! She’ll be just as powerless then!”
“Then what should be done?”
“We have to get that chain off! Can you get me over there?”
“Into the middle of that?”
Nabi was in the process of butchering Ralion. Though his flesh was being torn and his hooves ripped away, Ralion desperately tried to hold her off, but he had been on the defensive even against Azzy. He didn’t look like he could properly stop Nabi, who was now even more ferocious.
In the midst of it all, Azzy was staggering to her feet, and Callis was gasping from the repeated impacts.
“No. I cannot send you in there.”
Tyr shook her head firmly.
“I will go instead. I cannot die, so you stay somewhere safe in the meantime. Please…”
“I don’t think you’re very good at picking locks or untying knots.”
“I will manage somehow. If I can control the chain with my dominion through Bloodcraft and somehow pry it open…”
As Tyr muttered, an impossible presence appeared in her eyes.
It was Nabi.
Baring her sharp teeth, Nabi’s vertical pupils gleamed as she raised a paw, aiming for me. She had left Ralion and Azzy behind.
She had instinctively spotted the weakest link and turned to launch a surprise attack.
Ah. This is why I hate beasts.
“Hu!”
Tyr shouted urgently and stepped in front of me. Nabi’s paw aimed for both Tyr and me. It looked like the tantrum of a small girl, but Nabi was the Beast King. The immense power contained within was enough to tear up the ground and rip a house-sized horse to shreds.
Just as I sensed my death.
To block the incoming attack, Tyr reflexively raised her arm.
But that arm was as frail as a candle in the wind.
‘She won’t be able to block it.’
The Progenitor, Tyrkanzyaka, was an aggregate of power. She was a commander who created familiars from blood, strengthened her Kindred, and led an army of the Undying.
Dark knights shimmering with red blood energy, thirteen Elders led by the sanguine horse Ralion, and the thousands of vampires they commanded.
The Progenitor of vampires and the Queen of Shadow, who could conjure calamity from thin air. Tyrkanzyaka was the master of a power comparable to a nation.
‘However, my own body… is hopelessly weak. I am undying, and because of that, I have neglected my physical form.’
Her body couldn’t die anyway.
She could leave her heart exposed with no issue.
Instead of breathing with her lungs, she could drain the blood from her body and then return it.
In fact, she didn’t even need to imitate such things. She was perfectly fine without breathing at all.
Her Bloodcraft, having reached the realm of the Divine, had ironically robbed her of the ferocity of life.
‘And now, with even my Bloodcraft disobeying me… I am utterly powerless.’
She would not die, but the man behind her would. Whether she blocked the attack or not, the outcome was set.
Even so, Tyr stood in Nabi’s way.
‘Still, I cannot let Hu die.’
With her Bloodcraft in this state, she couldn’t even resurrect him as a vampire.
This man who was always cheerful, who was fun to be with, who had gifted Tyr her heart… a man as precious as her own heart.
A life regained after 1200 years, and perhaps something even more vital than that.
Perhaps, just perhaps… this feeling was…
Mulling over the emotion, Tyr drew out everything she had.
He must be saved. He must live.
‘By any means necessary, with everything I have.’
With that single-minded resolve, Tyr thrust her arm forward.
Towards the irresistible blow of the Cat King.
Squelch. Tyr’s arm exploded. Blood splattered uselessly. Along the trajectory of Nabi’s paw, flesh turned to blood. Against a power she could not hope to match, Tyr’s fragile body shattered like a wave against a rock, and the attack aimed for me, who was behind her…
However, the event where Nabi’s paw would shatter Tyr and reach me…
It never happened.
Because, though her arm was destroyed, it was not destroyed.
Bloodcraft is a type of Qi Art. Qi Arts are primarily used to strengthen one’s own body.
Even the Regressor, after learning Bloodcraft, had only used it to return her own blood or momentarily accelerate her blood flow.
But Tyr, whose boundary with the world had blurred in death, could extend that Qi Art to all of creation. She could dominate with the Sanguine Mark, strengthen others, and even resurrect the dead as homunculi.
If magic was the external manifestation of one’s inner world, the Progenitor’s Bloodcraft was the act of dividing oneself and scattering that self across the world.
It was very much like magic, yet entirely different.
The Divine.
But now that she had reclaimed her heart and clearly defined the boundary between herself and the world…
Her Bloodcraft, all her power over blood…
Turned inward, into Tyr’s own body.
Grip.
Tyr seized Nabi’s paw. Crack. With the sound of crunching bone, Nabi’s paw was twisted.
Her arm had clearly been blown to smithereens. Her tattered dress was proof of it. The scattered blood, the exploded bone and flesh, had ripped the fabric to shreds.
But in the blink of an eye, it was restored to its original form.
Her Bloodcraft, now with a clear distinction between her inner and outer worlds, would not permit her body to be scattered. The fragmented flesh was reassembled as if it were a lie.
Nabi’s eyes widened. Sensing danger, she struggled, but the hand gripping her was unmovable.
With the full power of her Bloodcraft directed entirely within her body, Tyr’s strength now overwhelmed Nabi’s.
“Nya, ah?”
“So this is what it was.”
Tyr spoke, only now realizing her own power after unleashing it.
“I have never engaged in such a brutish fight…”
It wasn’t just grip strength. It was Bloodcraft, dominating every single drop of blood in her body.
Using that Bloodcraft without waste, she ‘moved’ the blood within her.
Then, through Tyr’s now-defined body, that immense power was unleashed upon the world.
“To protect, I have no choice.”
“Nyanyang?!”
Tyr’s clenched fist exploded against Nabi’s chest.