"What should I do with this depraved girl?" I thought as I woke up once again with Euphy on top of me.
However, this time a sentence kept repeating endlessly in my head.
"What the hell did she mean by 'I just wanted to be romantic'? And then she just leaves like that and comes back as if nothing happened!"
"Hehehe," Euphy laughed in her sleep, wearing a spoiled smile.
I sighed and ignored it, as I felt another presence watching me from the treetops.
An owl, the size of a tall man, with hypnotic red eyes.
Clearly, a Sinner.
"You've been watching for quite a while…" I murmured, tired of that thing staring at me. "Why don't you attack?"
Immediately, I moved my aura, trying to identify any ability affecting my cognition—considering the creature might have mental powers.
However, nothing.
The creature merely stood there, observing with the same unchanging gaze, making no movement at all.
Grunting, I slowly moved away from Euphy, ready to tear the owl into a thousand pieces.
"Hey~ don't move, let me sleep a bit more~" Euphy complained, lightly punching me with her fist. "Just a little more, please~"
Sigh.
I stopped moving, and while searching for the hardest alternative, I slowly moved my aura.
Back then, when we left the castle, Euphy had attacked me with an aura-made ballista shot, and the attack by itself had been devastating.
However, at the time, her aura was equivalent to my third stage.
Which raises the question—what if the aura were stages above that, for example: Peak Wild?
Like mine.
What would happen?
Laughing, I slowly channeled a familiar power above my head.
[ Aura Control 3 → 4 ]
Sensing something was wrong, the owl raised its wings, ready to flee.
'I have to be careful not to wake Euphy,' I thought, altering the familiar ballista to be quieter.
WOOSH
Like a needle cutting through the air, the thin yet wide arrow pierced deeply into the owl's mind.
Its eyes immediately turned into two black, lifeless vortices.
[ You killed a Nightmare Owl ]
[ … ]
'Hmm, it seems it wanted to meddle with Euphy's dreams, or mine… well, not this time.'
BANG
The creature hit the ground with a heavy thud.
My eyes scanned the creature from afar, noticing that it was still breathing normally despite being dead.
'The mind is gone, but the body continues performing its functions… that means the meat will still be fresh even after hours!'
I laughed, closing my eyes once again, waiting for Euphy to wake up.
…
"Honestly, you getting stronger is cool and all, but the best part is that my bed keeps getting bigger and bigger!"
Euphy laughed while eating the owl's meat.
I merely snorted in response as I ate calmly. Still, I was seriously worried about the growth of my body.
More and more, I needed increasing amounts of food, and for all intents and purposes, I was still a teenager.
I was already larger than an adult tiger, and my final size promised to be monstrous.
I sighed.
Suddenly, Euphy let out a few giggles, drawing my attention. Her eyes were fixed on the sky.
"Look, have you ever seen this before?" she said as I sharpened my vision.
A small snowflake drifted down from the sky, sliding gently until it fell in front of me.
"Snow?" The more I looked, the more flakes fell, dancing through the sky. "This… is something."
Euphy laughed at my reaction and then said,
"I've never seen it either. I guess we can say we're sharing a first time."
I coughed violently as she kept giggling.
"I just hope this doesn't make the journey harder…" I said, foreseeing difficulties.
…
A few more days passed.
Euphy and I walked over the dense snow while I used the fire in my blood to keep myself warm against the increasingly intense cold.
In recent days, Euphy had been getting more and more… lively. Remarks like the earlier ones were becoming more frequent.
However, today her face looked somewhat gloomy.
Soon enough, I guessed the reason.
"Are we getting close?" I asked, to which she merely nodded, looking a bit downcast.
She then took a deep breath and turned to me with cold seriousness.
"It's time for us to part ways," she said. "We've already spent more time together than we should have."
I nodded.
"To be honest, I don't know why you gave me so much attention and even came all the way here."
Euphy tilted her head toward the sky, avoiding my gaze.
"Well… I had a feeling it would be fun," she smiled. "You know, I've been traveling alone for a long time, never meeting anyone even remotely similar to me. So it ended up being a nice change of pace."
"I see… Why have you been traveling?Where are you going? "
"To the edge of the world… it's actually quite close from here. Of course, I might take my time exploring Condor first, or get to know Axel better… to be honest, I'm a little tempted to steal magical relics from the houses of Lightning Tiger and Sun Eater "
She said it a bit embarrassedly as I laughed, already expecting something like that.
"You won't get mad, right? I mean, you're kind of a big deal in this kingdom, being a tiger and all…"
"No, just do as you please. If possible, even steal their clothes and leave them naked."
"Okay~"
BZZ BZZ BZZ
Suddenly, my ears perked up as I heard an anomalous sound, and Euphy did the same.
"That's strange…" Quickly, we headed toward the source of the sound out of pure curiosity.
With slow steps, we approached a slope, and below it lay a large frozen lake.
Amid the pale snow stood a boy who looked about ten years old, with white hair and blue eyes, dressed in a white robe.
"An albino boy in the middle of the forest… peculiar," I said to Euphy, who nodded in agreement.
"Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~" the boy hummed as he drew in the snow with a stick.
Completely oblivious to the dangers of the forest, he continued drawing peacefully.
Suddenly, he stopped.
Then, his eyes slowly moved toward me.
His gaze locked onto mine.
He sighed before standing up.
"There's something very wrong—stay back!" I said to Euphy, as the child merely sighed upon seeing a giant fire tiger.
Euphy immediately retreated, drawing her bow and preparing for a confrontation.
"You resemble the master, perhaps you are an acquaintance, but I suppose you're just another stupid beast," he said as small sparks emanated from his tiny hands. "In case of doubt: If you survive, I'll take you to him, since you must know each other. Otherwise, this will be your death."
WOOSH
His aura surged forward? and locked onto me?
My body weakened?
BZZ BZZ BZZ
Intense red lightning was summoned into his hand
"Bye bye!" He immediately fired toward me.
BOOOOOM
Gritting my teeth, I dodged at the very last moment.
The forest behind me was completely devastated, as if struck by a calamity.
"Power equivalent to a demon… damn it…"