Cin's Ambition

"He sure runs fast. But that doesn't mean I'll let him get away."

After Kate's second Storm Impact, most of the bandits had fled, so there were now none close by. The forest made it hard to see their backs, and in a few seconds, the last Earth Realm bandit would be out of the range of her spiritual sense. However, Kate hadn't given up on punishing them. 

First, she had to keep them in place. Kate sucked in the air around her until her lungs were full and then used handsigns to cast a spell. Once the handsigns were complete, Kate screamed in the direction of the bandits.

"!!!"

With the amplified sound only travelling in the direction she faced, all living creatures that were hit by its vibrations lost control of their bodies and fell to the ground. 

"Wha wha."

As this trick would only last for a brief period, Kate quickly made her next move. She leapt several cales into the air, and once she was high enough that she could overlook the forest, she took out a special-rank knife artifact and gave it enough energy to make the metal crack before throwing it into the middle of the fleeing bandits. The knife exploded on impact, killing or severely injuring all of the paralyzed bandits.

The Earth Realm bandit had the least severe injuries due to his relatively high defence, but he was still too bloodied to move as fast as before. He tried to find a place to hide so that he could escape Kate's notice, but he was at the top of her search and kill list in a burned-out empty field. While he had just gotten off the ground with a blackened tree stump as support, Kate landed with a boom nearby. The bandit froze as the shock made him forget what would happen if he stayed immobile. 

"Before I send you to meet the rest of your friends, was there anyone behind the scenes helping or ordering you to attack this clan? Someone you think I might know."

"Wwwww, will you spare me, if I talk?"

"I'm only giving you a choice. Talk and die peacefully, or be sliced up like fruit by my winds."

"So I die either way?!"

"Be quick before I lose patience."

The bandit wanted to complain, but he could tell that Kate wasn't very interested in who was behind them, so bargaining wouldn't work. He didn't feel very motivated since his death was already decided, but since the Green Dog Bandits would be gone after this day, he felt it was only fair that the person who sent them here got dragged down with them.

"Three, two-"

"Wait! I'll talk! It was..."

"I see. I'll send you off then."

"Tha-"

Once she got the information she wanted, Kate removed the bandit's head with pressurised air from a finger flick.

"I don't need thanks from someone like you."

The rest of the bandits wouldn't be any trouble, so Kate and the survivors of the clan gathered them up so that they couldn't escape. Around the time Kate was wrapping up her mission, Shui had entered Cin's territory in his golden, rabid monkey form. His territory had increased with his new power, but he hadn't gained a lot of new followers due to the precarious situation he was in.

After showing off his power in the selection to enter the secret world of Malirin Forest, Cin had attracted the eyes of the great beasts. The blackrock snake great beast only accepted poisonous beasts under its protection, so it was believed that Cin would inevitably enter under the banner of the silver tiger or the crown panther. However, Cin had used absorbing the treasures from the secret world as an excuse to remain unaffiliated. 

"I'll be there soon, bro."

"Okay, there are some loud guys outside, but you can ignore them."

Before he arrived at Cin's den, Shui communicated with him through their pact. Thanks to his extraordinary spiritual sense, Shui knew what Cin meant by loud guys, but he didn't see a reason to ask about them before meeting Cin. 

"Raa!!!"

"EEE!"

"Coward!"

"Using human tricks!"

Outside the barrier formed by the protection array that Shui had set up on his previous visit was a varied collection of beast spirits and high beasts. Judging by the destruction outside of the array, these evolved beasts had been trying to attack Cin's den, but to no avail. Although high beasts were generally stronger than humans in the Earth Realm, Shui's tier 3 protection array wouldn't be broken by them as long as there was enough energy. And since these evolved beasts were living energy sources, there would be no danger as long as Cin occasionally hunted them for resources.

Since Cin told him to leave them alone, Shui slipped through the barrier without them noticing. At first, he was hit by a rush of hostility, but once Cin's harem members identified him, they brought him to where Cin was. Despite having relayed his arrival in advance, Shui found Cin being pampered by his harem. Many of them were simply too weak for him to mate with anymore, but Shui didn't notice a single one missing from last time.

"Ah, you're here, lil' bro."

"I told you I was coming."

"Sorry, I was just too relaxed."

As Cin sat up straight, the other wolves left the room for the two. 

"So, do you know why you're being attacked?"

"Yeah, Teil warned me before they got here. Apparently, there's a rumour that whoever defeats me will be chosen by a great beast as a direct follower. He asked me to join the silver tiger faction that he's a part of, but I had him give me some time."

"Given how proud evolved beasts are, there's a good chance that whoever made that rumour has a way to make it come true. That narrows down the list of who could be behind it, but what do you plan to do?"

"I'm not afraid of any high beast in the forest, but they aren't the ones I really need to watch out for."

"It's the great beasts and beast lords."

"That's right. The bloodlines that I've seen in the forest are pretty decent for the most part, so even with them fighting humans, it's strange that there are only three great beasts."

"Either the rest have hidden themselves or died, or none were allowed to be born."

"I'm thinking the same thing. Still, no matter what the answer is, my decision is the same. I won't join any of the great beasts. Instead, I'll bide my time until I'm ready to face them and then build my own faction."

"That sounds nice, but even assuming the great beasts don't make a move against you, I doubt the beast lord will want a new great beast it can't control."

"Don't worry, your big bro has already thought of that. It'll be risky, but I'll make sure that the beast lord can't openly make a move against me until I'm ready to fight."

Although Cin didn't have much life experience itself, its own intelligence, along with the memory of its parent was enough for Shui to trust it. 

"I'll look forward to it then."

If Cin asked, then Shui wouldn't mind helping him conquer Malirin Forest, but he knew his sworn brother was too proud for that. Still, he was fine with staying as a spectator.