[You have killed a man.]
[You have gained 100 Villain Points.]
'Mm...' Lei pulled his blade out of the assassin's stomach, making massive amounts of blood pour out at once. 'The way I deal with them changes the amount of Points I get. It would be more efficient to... Tsk. I don't want to rely on this System too much though.'
He scratched the side of his head with the hilt of his Saber.
'The Health Points and Endurance part make it kind of like... A game-like interface? I suppose it's supposed to make my transition to this new world easier. Still, one thing that's usually in games is Quests, right? And if the System requests or, worse, obliges me to do something I don't want to do... A Quest that if left unfulfilled will lead to the System and the abilities granted by it being Locked. I can see that happening. Though I don't know much about video games.' Lei sighed. 'I was more into gambling.'
"Young Master!" One of the Disciples shouted before running closer. Behind him, an assassin left bleeding out on the ground. "Should we go back to the carriage? Those remaining are probably too far now."
Lei's gaze moved towards the deeper parts of the forest.
'If that Sect sent them, then I'd rather delay the news of the mission failing for as long as possible. Those bracelets allow them to communicate, but none tried alerting that Sect. They're fragile though, so all of those bracelets broke. I'd like to get the System's input on them...' Lei clicked his tongue. 'So much for not relying on it. In any case, they probably allow communication, but only over a certain distance?'
The Disciple waited silently and patiently for the Young Master's answer.
"No. We still have time. Let's deal with all of them."
"Yes, Young Master." The Disciple answered with a slight bow. "But there are also Beasts we need to be worried about."
"That's fine. If we encounter or even feel like something is lurking in the darkness, we move back to the road."
The Disciple nodded, before getting back to the pursuit of the fleeing assassins.
'More Beasts to worry about, huh?' Lei ran forward as he thought. 'That Borara is all I want to worry about now. The way it cut through and tore that guy's body apart... With such ease too. I have no doubt that it could kill me. But with this Technique that increases my speed, it would have trouble doing so. I'm sure I have the endurance and speed to run away from it if needed too. But those would be the worst-case scenarios...'
He stopped as his ears suddenly twitched.
'What I want is to make it mine. The Disciples and Ui Feng were confused and scared at first...'
Lei swung his sword.
'I'm guessing Zhao Laohu never set it free. It was tamed through pain and fear in its younger years, and kept on a tight leash from then on...'
A trembling assassin who had taken shelter behind a tree lost his life right away.
[You have killed a man.]
[You have gained 100 Villain Points.]
'I doubt he made it fight even once. Its strength grew, and its fear remained. The Beast was supposed to be a sign of his strength, I suppose. He never made it fight... To keep the Beast from knowing about its own strength. From knowing that it had grown stronger. That the whip it feared so much can barely hurt it now.'
The Young Master turned around and started moving to exit the forest, towards the road.
'I'll leave the rest of the assassins to them. By now, it should...'
It only took two minutes at top speed to get back to the end of the forest. The carriage was within Lei's field of vision.
What interested him was what lay beyond it. But before he could look in that direction,
Ugh-
Lei instinctively brought a hand to his nose.
He had smelled it a couple of times already, but it was never this strong.
A pungent and metallic perfume.
The iron-heavy scent clung to the nostrils, both invasive and unsettling.
Lei hadn't grown used to it yet.
Two dozen meters in front of the carriages, blood.
Blood everywhere.
Large patches of earth had been covered by it.
They shone under the moonlight, as if puddles of water had been stained by a crimson dye. But they weren't. It was blood. All of it.
The clement moon allowed, by its light, to see the puddles in more detail. Swimming in the crimson water like black ducklings, were torn limbs, ruptured heads, and ripped-out guts.
The Silver-Grade Beast roared powerfully, making even the trees tremble, before grabbing another assassin's body, and splitting him in two.
Borara's dark fur, matted by the blood of its victims, glistened under the light, just like the carnage it left behind.
'Shit...'
Total destruction.
Its reins had been cut.
'That's...'
A massacre beyond what he had expected when cutting those reins.
The Silver-Grade Beast roared as it grabbed the last assassin, before sinking its fangs into his flesh.
"That's fucked up..." Lei whispered as he smiled nervously.
Every one of the assassins that had appeared on the road had been taken out.
The Beast's snout twitched.
It turned around, its one remaining eye shone through the darkness.
Everything had changed for Borara. The Beast was now aware of its extraordinary strength!
How will it act towards the one who shackled, hurt, and humiliated it for so long?