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Chapter 10: Beast in Cat's Form

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Never fought before...

Bi Gong wanted to say he didn't understand those words, but their meaning was pretty clear.

"You, you ha-"

"Roar!"

His words were cut short by a powerful roar, full of valiant vigor. This roar was of a tiger, obviously Wonlai's.

It was the signal.

Bi Gong couldn't afford to deal with the cat's unexpected issue right now so he unhesitatingly turned toward the battle's direction. "Senior Cao should just wait here. The original plan included only the four of us so it shouldn't change much. Please be careful of your surrounding!" He spoke out before charging forward.

Remaining behind, Kyu Cao stared at the bull's advancing broad back. His gaze was both contemplative and curious.

Truth to be told, he'd been simply too immersed in observing how the group prepared themselves and acted before battle, that he had completely neglected to tell them that he had no experience fighting. Even spars with other martial artists, there were none.

Thinking of how this was actually a true battle, where these youths could be injured, and even die, he knew that he'd made a huge blunder.

Yet, the bull hadn't only not berated him, but actually advised him toward his security.

How strange.

He then focused all his attention on the battle that was developing just some tens of paces away.

Four young theriopes and a towering bear were entangling in a deadly dance. Each movement was reflected on a pair of deep, fiery blue eyes.

Wonlai dodged a swipe from the grizzly's paw, waiting for his teammates to seize the opportunity, and ambush the beast from behind.

This was proving to be more difficult than anticipated though.

The grizzly's swings were swift and brutal; those claws as long as his own forearms has a deadly long reach. The young tiger was sure, that trying to parry any of those attacks with his sword, would only result in miserable defeat.

They might have bitten more than what they could chew.

Finally, the figures of his teammates loomed behind the grizzly's back.

They raised their weapons, and attacked with their full strength. Bi Gong with a hack from his saber, Ti Ping and Li Ling with a piercing stab.

Under this aggravation, the three-clawed grizzly let out an enraged roar which threatened to rip the four's eardrums.

When they stepped, the three of them had solemn expressions on their faces.

The tip of Ti Ping's spear had a smear of dark red, the same as Li Ling's thin sword. Bi Gong, however, had only managed to trim a few strands of the grizzly's fur.

Tough. The three-clawed grizzly's hide was incredibly though.

It was as if each strand of fur was a thick tree and they were trying to chop it with a single swing of a sword; incredibly difficult with their strength.

Wonlai saw the three's expressions as they formed a circle around the grizzly and grasped the results, but was not too surprised.

Since the beginning, the other three's main role was to distract and hinder the three-clawed woody grizzly, while he was the main attacker.

Then he noticed something missing.

"Where is Fellow Brother Cao?"

Ti Ping and Li Ling didn't have the same leisure to glance around too, but they'd also noticed this anomaly.

"... He is not familiar with our tactics, so he will be only observing first." Not wanting to make Kyu Cao lose too much face, this was the excuse Bi Gong came up on the spot.

This, however, sounded like some arrogant words to the others, who revealed some displeasure. Particularly for Wonlai, who'd realized that this grade one martial beast might be too tough for them to handle. This sudden change was a great inconvenience, and his impression of the cat dropped somewhat.

No matter, originally, it was only the four of them.

"Maintain your distance, and be careful of its claws! Focus on distracting it, but if you have a good opportunity to strike, do it!" Wonlai bellowed. There was no response, but he trusted the others knew what to do. "We can just forget about that cat," he added mentally.

Some distance away, Kyu Cao observed the battle with rapt attention.

Wonlai used fast and powerful movement, demonstrating the superior destructive offense that tigers highly boasted of. With the assistance of the others, his sword now was free to dance decisively and ferociously, aiming for its opponent's life.

Li Ling always maintained some distance from the grizzly. She used her powerful and supple long abdomen to propel herself at the bear's side in a flash and attack, before quickly retreating her upper body.

She transformed a close range weapon into a middle range style, something only possible with the snake race's unique body.

Bi Gong slashed at the grizzly's body with a raw power that would turn whole boulders to dust.

He was also the only one who dared to use his weapon to parry the bear's attacks, though it looked like he struggled with it each time. He also was not particularly fast, opting to distract the beast's attention when it focused too much on someone else.

But the one who Kyu Cao found the most impressive, was Ti Ping.

The smaller rat held the long spear steadily like his own tail, and launched series of stabs that were almost a blur. Kyu Cao nodded his head at this; sure enough, rats were the race who could manage to do the swiftest movements.

"So this is how people fight," mused Kyu Cao to himself. It didn't look horribly hard.

At least, when he observed the movements of the four, he didn't get the feeling that it was beyond his abilities.

He was actually quite calm. A calmness that was born from confidence in oneself.

"Maybe I should try." They had originally counted on his participation, so he couldn't go about without doing anything. Moreover, while he didn't have a weapon, if it was at least only distracting the grizzly's attention, he should be able to manage.

Wonlai and the others were holding up against the three-clawed grizzly, but it was becoming evident that killing it would not be possible.

Furthermore, with such exertions, he would barely last a dozen of breaths more. Lest the others, whose Cultivation was a level lower than him.

They should prepare to retreat.

It was then, that he noticed a change in the corner of his eyes.

"Something is approaching!" He thought alarmed, his ears perking. But then, he saw it clearer. "Him?!"

What was approaching, was Kyu Cao.

"Why is he coming out now?"

Even if the cat came out now, he didn't believe that they would defeat the three-clawed grizzly.

Actually, he had to admit to himself; even if the five had fought since the beginning, they wouldn't have been able to kill it.

It was better to take this chance to make their retreat.

"We are withdrawing! Fellow Brother Cao, do-" The tiger didn't have the mind to finish, when his eyes widened in astonishment at what happened.

Kyu Cao ran toward the bear from the back.

He didn't have any weapon to aggravate it, so he did the only thing that he thought would definitely call its attention.

Without reducing his speed, he jumped, landing on the back of the grizzly's head with both feet. And using it as a foothold, he jumped again, this time backwards and giving a full flip midair before landing back on the ground somewhat unstably.

I might have overdone it, he thought. His vision was truly hindered when doing a backflip, that couldn't be safe in the middle of a fight.

The others only blinked their eyes blankly. Just what was he trying to do?

"Grrrrowl!!!"

A maddened roar exploded and shook the forest.

The three-clawed grizzly turned around and glared at the newcomer cat with bloodshot eyes.

Low-level martial beasts didn't have a high intelligence, but they had some semblance of it.

To begin with, did pride need intelligence to be felt?

How could the prideful Three-clawed Woody Grizzly, who was the mighty overlord of this part of the forest, bear that someone had stepped on its head?

Such humiliation, the greatest of humiliations! No living creature would be able to bear it!

It roared angrily once more. He ignored the four theriopes surrounding it and lunged toward the cat midget like an unstoppable and furious landslide.

Seeing this, Kyu Cao's eyebrow arched.

Why is it, that the grizzly looks much angrier now than when the others poked everywhere it with their weapons?

"Not good!" Seeing how the bear was truly enraged now and advancing furiously toward the cat, Wonlai and the others felt their hearts tighten. "Quick, we will provide support! Fellow Brother Cao, we are retreating!"

However, the grizzly's speed had increased due to rage, and as soon as the order was given it was already looming over the cat. It looked down with a vicious snarl, three sharp claws raised to bring down death.

Kyu Cao's expression continued to be impassive, but inwardly his thoughts were extremely solemn under the shadow of peril.

He unblinkingly observed the bear's movements.

Once that thick arm showed signs of falling down, he jumped sideways.

Kyu Cao was confident in evading that swipe, but he didn't predict that other swipe would also be coming from the side at the same time.

His slit pupils clenched ominously thin, giving his expression a feral and primal look, piercing and terrifying.

Without hesitation, he lightly touched the ground with his foot, and bizarrely enough, it was as if he had given a powerful stomp as his body swiftly changed directions with the same speed as before.

The new direction, was directly toward the three-clawed grizzly.

Kyu Cao put a foot on the bear's leg, and just like the cliff before, he ran up the beast's body.

The three-clawed grizzly saw the cat's visage approaching his own with rising fury, feeling humiliated of not having killed the midget with a single swipe of his claws and instead allowed him to get so close.

Quickly, their faces passed each other's, and then Kyu Cao rose above the bear's, two times his height.

"Nyagh!"

However, it didn't go as planned.

Kyu Cao's long robe got stuck on the grizzly's muzzle, awkwardly pulling him backwards.

The grizzly began to trash wildly, his rage burning to the heavens. It clawed at its face, tearing the delicate silk as easily as drawing lines on the sand.

Three sharp claws passed by Kyu Cao's side. They pierced a hole through his clothes, and almost through his stomach.

Kyu Cao felt his blood turn ice cold and a chill run down his tail, but something also snapped inside him.

Disregarding the bear's trashing, Kyu Cao turned around on its shoulders. He formed a blade with his fingers, and putting his everything behind, his arm went around the grizzly's head and his paw stabbed toward the eye.

The bear couldn't see this on its current position, and once he noticed something, a clawed paw had dived into his skull.

It directly exploded his eyeball, and ruthlessly continued to his brain, turning the insides of his head into a bloody mess.

A wretched bellow of rage and agony rose the heavens, attempting to disperse the clouds and shake the sun.

Then it stopped, just like that.

A profound silence overcame the forest.

The still body of the grizzly began to topple lifelessly.

Kyu Cao, who was about get dragged down with it, pulled out his paw from its socket, carrying a splash of fresh and warm blood with it. Then he jumped back, watching the huge corpse fall and create a small quake.

Wonlai, Li Ling, Ti Ping and Bi Gong had halted their steps not far away. They stared dumbly at the figures of the huge beast that lay on the ground, a pool of blood growing and soaking into the earth, and that not very imposing cat in tattered robes looking quite disheveled.

This simply... what was this?

The cat had surprisingly killed the three-clawed woody grizzly!

Their hearts had jumped to their throats when they saw his robe getting stuck on the bear's head, but the result had ended just as it was before their eyes.

They stared, but didn't approach.

There seemed to be some kind of somber atmosphere upon which they did not dare to intrude.

The cat was staring at his bloodied fist. The previous creamy white fur was now an almost black red.

He didn't look ruffled, relieved or happy. His expression was the same as ever.

Then, he turned around, making the four's hearts skip a beat.

That expressionless face actually seemed to only increase the pressure. As if everything that'd happened before was something which could be completely disregarded.

Kyu Cao regarded the group with curiosity.

He could see that their faces were odd, but couldn't decide because of what. He only knew that he had acted absurdly.

"What's the matter?"

Suddenly, that face seemed to be one of cluelessness and naivety, much more approachable, making the four inwardly let out of a sigh. They began to gather, and even some smiles appeared on their muzzles, the previous bad feelings gone.

"Fellow Brother Cao, that was... impressive." The tiger had to find an appropriate word. Quite honestly, the previous fight had been both reckless and messy, but indeed impressive.

Li Ling and Bi Gong nodded agreeing, and even Ti Ping had to admit to it.

"... Thank you." Once more, Kyu Cao could only gingerly accept the praise.

"Sure it was!" Rumbled Bi Gong. He was the most impressed of all. "But Senior Cao, I thought you said you had never fought before?"

Hearing this, the other three looked doubtfully at the bull, before turning toward the cat.

"Yes, this has been the first time I have fought against someone."

The trio's eyes widened, and shock filled their hearts. Sure, it was a sloppy fight, but they could have never imagined that it was like that because it was his first time fighting.

"Senior did pretty well."

"No, I really didn't know what I was doing. Fighting is harder than I thought. I was terrified for a moment there."

You were?! If you hadn't told us, we would have never known! They wanted to retort.

But next, they felt a chill run down their tail tips.

If it was true, then he'd fought fearlessly in his first fight to death.

Death was something not many were ready to face, especially at such young age. Even if they were trained soldiers, there would be some nervousness at the back of their minds which would dull one's movements and fog the mind.

But this cat, despite what he'd said, had seemed to remain calm during the whole ordeal, and during a moment there, he had actually exuded a calm bloodlust. A bloodlust so regal and domineering, that it was like an ancient mystical beast had been woken up from its slumber by an annoying pest, and had casually decided to squish it like the fly it was.

Even now, he looked aloof and unconcerned.

Bizarre. This cat was too bizarre, and a tad terrifying.