An Animal Activist

After leaving the tribe, Leon and Dean headed straight towards the forest in the west. According to Kaleb, the beasts usually come from the eastern side, and Leon didn't plan on being surrounded by a horde of beasts while he was in the forest, nor did Dean.

The Gnurx tribe was surrounded by forests from three sides, leaving only the northern side free, that is the path people normally take when coming or leaving the tribe. Deep in the forest was a huge mountain that could be seen from the tribe. 

….

"Hmm, strange, where are all the beasts?" Dean asked, looking around. 

"Dean, we haven't even entered the forest yet," Leon said, staring at Dean weirdly. 

Leon wasn't the only one looking at Dean weirdly, even the two guards following them looked at him like he had a screw loose. 

They had only passed by two trees, which doesn't even count as entering the forest, yet Dean was asking where the beasts were. Did he expect the beasts to come out and welcome him? 

'At this rate, will he even be able to fight against even the lowest leveled ranked beast?' Leon felt slightly worried because of how anxious Dean was. 

From what he could tell, Dean's anxiousness is even starting to affect his reasoning. 

"Dean, calm down. The beast won't be able to kill you, you should know how strong you are. If you continue acting like this, then you'll make a lot of mistakes when fighting against the beast," Leon went close to Dean and gave him some words of encouragement. 

Hearing Leon's advice, Dean slowly calmed down. He was nervous, he didn't think fighting would make him this nervous. 

'How does the MCs who transmigrated to cultivation worlds start killing so quickly? That's unbelievable! Just look at how nervous I am!' Dean thought, with sweat dripping off his face. 

He recalled how almost all the MCs quickly adapt to the cultivation world and immediately start fighting and killing people. 

Where does their confidence come from? The author maybe? Or maybe they were all psychopaths but because of the laws on Earth, they couldn't show their true selves. It's either that... or he was a real p***y. 

Dean soon got distracted by all these thoughts, and before he knew it, they had walked deep into the forest. 

"Hey!" 

A sudden light shout brought him back from his train of thoughts. 

"An early-stage Rank one beast is just ahead. You shouldn't have any problems dealing with it," Leon pointed at the dog-like beast almost a hundred meters away. 

"Oh, okay," Dean replied not moving an inch. 

"Why are you still here?" Leon asked when he realized Dean wasn't moving towards his target. 

"Wait, I'll be going alone?" Dean asked. 

"Of course, how will you get over your fear if someone assists you?" Leon felt a little headache when dealing with the nervous Dean. 

"You see, it's not that I'm afraid, it's just... I like working with people, yes, that's it, I like working with people!" Dean said, trying to justify himself. 

'Who am I kidding, I'm dead scared. What if I accidentally die?' He thought while staring at Leon seriously. 

"You're scared?" Leon glanced at Dean. 

"No, I'm not," Dean replied firmly. 

"Then go and kill the beast," Leon pointed at the beast again. 

"I will," Dean turned around and slowly started walking towards the beast. 

After moving almost ten meters away from the group, Dean suddenly turned around once more. 

There was something Dean didn't dare to tell Leon, when he was still on Earth, he was afraid of dogs. Even though he knew the creature wasn't a dog, he still felt the natural fear he had towards dogs. 

'How do they expect me to fight against dogs?' He thought while walking back.

"What now?" Leon was starting to get a little annoyed with Dean's behavior. 

He didn't expect Dean to be this nervous. 

"I just remembered I wanted to tell you something," Dean said while scratching his head.

"I'm listening," Leon answered coldly. 

He could already foretell the results of today's trip, Dean wouldn't be able to fight against any beast, and when the beast attacks in the night, he'll find somewhere safe to hide. 

"You're such a nice friend," Dean said. 

"Okay, you've said what you wanted, now leave," Leon waved him away. 

"I just remembered I'm an animal activist," Dean's face turned serious when he said this. 

"An animal activist? What's that?" Leon asked with a confused expression. 

The two guards following them looked at Dean weirdly. 

'All you were told to do was kill a beast, why are you speaking so much nonsense?'

This was the thought running through their minds, but they didn't dare to say it out loud else they might face punishment. 

"We protect animals, not kill them," Dean declared passionately. 

"..."

Leon was left speechless by Dean's excuse. 

What animal activist? What protects animals? If you're scared you should just say it out loud, all I'll do is laugh at you a little, then maybe mock you for some time. Why bring up such weird excuses? Who would want to protect these beasts that would actively try to kill you the moment they see you? 

The only beasts that people usually protect are beasts that have bonds with them, who would protect a beast in the forest they had no bonds with?! 

Leon shook his already aching head.

"Just forget it, I'll deal with it myself. Besides, I haven't even fought any serious battles," He said before walking towards the beast. 

"That's probably best, I'll watch from here," Dean said with his serious face loosening up slightly. 

Leon slowly walked towards the beasts which looked to be feeding on another beast it killed. The reason he brought up the idea of coming to the forest was that he too wanted to test out how he'll react when put in a life and death battle. Had his father not sent them here, he was already planning on going to the arena to fight against a beast to better sharpen his fighting skills and instincts. 

The hunt was just a few weeks away, so the sooner he got better in fighting, the better for him. The same could also be said for Dean, he still didn't know why Dean was so scared. He felt this could be attributed to where he came from, maybe people from 'Earth' are always scared of battles. 

He couldn't be blamed for thinking this way, he hadn't seen anyone scared of battling before. What was puzzling was that when it came to sparring, Dean was quite active, but now, it felt like he was consumed by fright.