201 The Hunt (7)

When the old man sensed the winged snake's aura, he was in disbelief along with the other humans present.

'No, how could this happen?!'

Another great beast wouldn't mean much to him, but another beast lord, that would be a disaster.

The beast lord's grin grew wider as it saw the shock on the old man's face. When this giant winged snake had first appeared in its territory, it was indeed planning on killing it. Another great beast under its command would be nice, but the winged snake didn't originate from the forest so it was suspicious of it. However, when the winged snake was brought before it, he noticed that its condition was similar to his but to a worse degree. Both of them were injured beast lords, but while the beast lord's pseudo true core would allow it to eventually regenerate everything but his left eye, the winged snake's pseudo true core was damaged. Since a pseudo true core was like the essence of a beast lord's cultivation, it wasn't easily fixed. Luckily, the beast lord was able to order its descendants to bring resources from the secret world which would help it recover. And since the beast lord was its lifesaver, it was able to get the winged snake to promise to help it defeat the humans. The beast lord was still wary of it, but soon that concern would also be unnecessary.

"Hahaha! What's with that look on your face old brat? I thought you humans couldn't be beaten by me. So why do you look so distraught?"

The old man's shock quickly changed to displeasure as the beast lord mocked him. One beast lord was manageable, but two would be a nightmare. The old man kept a grave expression as the winged snake that was tens of cales long, flew towards them, and his expression got even worse when he saw it transform into an androgynous adult human with reptilian eyes and an apathetic expression, dressed in a loose robe.

'I hope this isn't a superior species.'

Unlike normal beasts, all evolved beasts possessed the ability to choose their gender and take a humanoid shape once they reached a certain level of power. For most evolved beasts, this would happen once they became beast lords, but for evolved beasts with at least a legendary beast bloodline they would need to be stronger. These evolved beasts would still be able to transform, but their gender would be neutral. Evolved beasts could still reproduce without reaching a high level of power, but it would be much harder and the child would have less potential.

With two beast lords in front of him, the old man knew that this hunt wouldn't be as simple as the rest.

"So old brat, don't you think it's time to beg for help?" the crown panther beast lord sneered.

The old man hesitantly reached inside his robe and took out a small shell. After crushing that shell, two Masters made their presences known in Silver City and quickly flew to join the old man in the sky. The two Masters were a man and a woman. They didn't look as wrinkly as the old man, but they also had heads of grey.

There were now three Masters so the faces of the city mayors brightened, but the Masters still had grave expressions as the crown panther beast lord grinned.

"As I thought, that old geezer isn't there anymore."

Besides the mayor of Silver City and the three Masters, no one knew who the beast lord was referring to. It was back when the beast lord first emerged and before it discovered the secret world. The humans didn't know about it then, so when it led the beasts and charged into Silver City, it managed to slaughter the humans and held the advantage despite facing these same three Masters. However, one feeble old man that looked as if he had one foot in the grave, stopped him with just a finger.

"Stay in the forest." the old man said.

Thanks to its instincts, it knew that this old man was dangerous, so it had no choice but to retreat with severe wounds. The beast lord wanted to take revenge, but it knew that the old man was likely a True Master, so it had no choice but to stay inside the forest.

The three Masters once asked that old man why he let the beast lord go and he told them that an arrogant beast lord would never allow another to surpass him so they wouldn't have to worry about a greater threat coming from the forest, but that seemed to have been the wrong choice.

Looking at the ugly faces of the three Masters, the crown panther beast lord laughed boisterously.

The beast lord boasted, "After all this time, finally, my goal is in reach."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. These old bones still have use."

Starting with the old man, the three Masters exploded with fighting intent as they glared at the two beast lords.

"Haha, fine. I'll take your lives first."

The four marks on the crown panther beast lord's head shined, and a male human figure appeared in front of it. The human looked to be in his late twenties and boldly exposed his muscular physique, wearing nothing but a single pair of trousers. This was the crown panther beast lord's human form. Due to the wounds that still affected it, the beast lord no longer fought with its own body, but with this incarnation of itself that it created with one of its bloodline abilities. The human form was weaker than its beast form, but it was this form that it always used to fight the old man so it knew that it would be enough.

The three Masters grimaced as they saw that neither of the two beast lords wanted to fight them in their true forms, but they weren't arrogant enough to believe they could beat the two of them if they used their full strengths. Since they were present when the crown panther beast lord raided Silver City, they had already tasted his full power and knew that they weren't his match. The three of them took out their preferred weapons and then the fight began.

The clash between the three Masters and the two beast lords rocked the forest to the extent that all other battles stopped, and both humans and beasts had to escape from the shockwaves that would occasionally result in several deaths. The fight was much fiercer than the last few times, making even the battle between the four city mayors and the silver tiger great tiger something that couldn't continue at such a close proximity.

As the fight reached its peak, despairful faces started to appear among the humans as they realized that the three Masters were being pushed back. Many of them were shocked when they first saw the other two Masters and thought that maybe things would turn out well, but now they couldn't believe that the ones they put their faith into were being pushed back.

In the end, once both sides were exhausted, the three Masters took the opportunity to leave the forest. Proving, that this time the beasts were the victors of the hunt.