Thing that goes bump in the nigh t(III)

You have leveled up.

His hand wiggled underneath the Boar, hoping to find any loot before anyone could find it. Instead, his hand grabbed something metallic, and he quickly wrapped his paw around it and stashed it away before anyone could notice. A satisfied sly smile erupted on his face. He followed after a message appeared before him.

You have won the territory battle against the Boss Boar Mammoth. You have gained 30 miles of the Boar Mammoth's territory. All monsters lower level than you will not attempt to attack. All monsters 80 levels higher than you will issue a challenge to your territory. You cannot decline a challenge. This territory can be forfeited if you wish to avoid taking over the territory. All areas in green on your map are your territory.

Would you like to take over this territory?

"Yes." He replied, pleased with himself.

You have gained Boar Mammoth's territory.

Now that he thought about it, he remembered learning something during the fight. It was called Roar of the Dragon's Challenge.

Dragon's Challenge

A dragon's roar has more than one function that causes fear, intimidation, and terror. First, it can be used to challenge other creatures of different races. The more powerful the voice of the challenger, the stronger the responder will react.

If this giant monster wasn't going to get off, he even thought of eating his way out, possibly unloading the heavy load. But instead, zero opened his mouth to tear into the meat of the Boar to dig his way out. Plus, pushing himself off his back didn't give him enough power to push the monster away. He needed a more stable footing to have enough power; right now, he only had half.

Just when he was bent on eating his way out, a large number of General Liam's soldiers helped pull the Boat Mammoth off him by throwing ropes around the tusks and pulling them together. Then, with a thud, the Boar fell onto the ground.

General Liam brought a torch and examined the body with a weary expression. "Who would've thought they would be monsters like this roaming around in the area so soon? I expected it to be deeper into the continent, not right at the borders of our kingdom." He spoke with a worried gaze. "Luckily, we stopped this large herd from a possible invasion, but we lost six hundred men." His expression was solemn, but moments later, his gaze changed into a stern expression.

"We need to double our guard at night." General Liam quickly spoke, his demeanor shifting into an even more serious one than before. "Get moving!" He ordered.

A large number of soldiers pulled away in a hurry. They rushed to their post, doubling up and patrolling as best they could. Others went back to cleaning up the mess that the boars had caused; some were finishing off the strays, while others stayed around.

Some had stopped to look at Zero, awed at his presence and appearance. Quite a few inched forward, hoping to touch him. Zero glared at them, telling them to back off. They scuttled backward in fear, not wanting to get bitten by Zero's gleaming white teeth.

Zero crawled his way out and looked at the kill before him. He fell onto his butt with a loud thump and sat down with glee. Fresh meat, well-cooked, was present before him, and the smell of bacon tickled his nose, making him hungry. He wasn't sure why he was constantly eating, but the amount of food he needed increased in under a day.

His mouth salivated again, making him snap forward and bite into the cooked meat.

Delicious! He swooned.

They cook meat on the outside and raw juicy meat on the inside with a good slew of blood. His claws grabbed both ends of the Boar Mammoth's body, digging into it to get a better grip. With a pull, the boar meat ripped apart, allowing him to chew before he swallowed the red meat with glee. He tore, ate, and gobbled it down like an alligator.

Everyone who was watching started with complete disbelief. They saw something out of the

animal channel, watching a predator eating its prey. This was a close-up view done live in front of everyone's eyes. They could feel the sheer primal power of a creature in the Wild; even though Zero wasn't a wild animal, it still brought out the intimidation and fear factor of what a dragon was.

Players walked over, trying to see what other loot was around the Boar Mammoth, but they couldn't get any closer while Zero was eating. Some grumbled. Others walked away defeated. Half of them felt cheated, while the others didn't care and let Zero have the kill. They saw him take the brunt of the Boar Mammoth's attack and knew he had played a pivotal role.

Zero didn't care about the large number of states he was getting. Instead, he leisurely ate away the Boar Mammoth as if it was a delicious feast. Five minutes passed by, and he was a third of the way done with eating the Boar.

"Prince Zero." General Liam spoke out loud. Zero froze and whipped his head towards General Liam with a bloody mouth filled with red meat. The General took a step back but stopped himself from going further. He coughed a couple of times, clearing his throat.

Zero gulped and stared. "Please don't call me Prince. I'm just Zero." Then, with an unconscious growl, General Liam tensed up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."

"No, it's alright. It's just weird."

"I see." He looked at Zero for a couple of moments, then back towards the Boar, he had partially eaten. "Are you going to eat all that?"

"Yes. I'm unusually hungry today, and for some reason, this particular meat is filling up my stomach. The little ones weren't doing that."

"If you don't mind, how many did you eat?"

"One hundred and twenty-five."

General Liam's lips twitched. "That's quite an appetite you have there."

"You're telling me. Usually, twenty of those little ones would've been fine." Zero turned back and ripped out another chunk of meat.

"I wanted to thank you for your help. I saw what you did by bringing the boss's attention to yourself. You made this whole fight a lot easier, which helped us cut down on the casualties."

"He had to do that." Agnis walked over; her hands patted Zero on his side. "His presence brings attention."

Zero snorted, putting out a burst of smoke from his mouth. Whose side was she on anyway? He didn't like how he was just thrown under the bus.

"Calm down, Zero. We need to explain the situation better, so we're better prepared for the next one."

"Are you sure? Because I feel like you did the opposite." Zero snarled, letting the blood and meat

spit on her pretty face. He didn't care that it messed up her look at all.

"What do you mean?" General Liam asked. "Please explain."

Agnis wiped away the blood on her face, then took a deep breath and began talking. "It's really simple animal instinct to defend what has invaded its territory, and Zero here had stepped in on the Boar's territory. If we didn't have Zero here, this Boar Mammoth would've picked us off slowly as we crossed its territory. So bringing it out by challenging its domain gave us a chance to deal with them quickly without searching for them."

"So, what are you suggesting that we do?" General Liam asked, thinking over what she had said.

"We use him as bait for the next territory, bringing out the boss to our doorsteps." Agnis started with a wide grin.

Zero tilted his head confused. Huh? Use him as bait? Wait, what? It didn't hit him until now what she wanted to do. For every new territory they went through, Agnis wanted him to call forth the boss of each domain before entering. This was becoming a territory battle just like how the animals in the wild kingdom did it, and now that he thought about it when he roared to challenge the territory boss, the Boar Mammoth shouted back with equal amounts of force. Plus, he got the Dragon's Challenge skill and gained territory.

"This time, you might not be crazy," Zero replied. He returned to leisurely eating the Boar's meat in front of him.

"Hmph. I never was." Agnis crossed her hand in front of her.

"Okay, let's say we use him as bait; how would he call the territory boss over?"

"That, I leave it to Zero to explain."

Zero sighed. If she was going to bring up an explanation, she should've gone all the way through instead of stopping midway.

"Don't worry about that. It comes with being a Dragon." Zero replied. "All I need to do is a roar, and if they roar back, the challenge is accepted. They'll come flocking towards us."

"Interesting. Then we should try what you stated." General Liam spoke.

"Plus, we won't have to worry for thirty miles from weaker monsters." He replied, in between each chew. "They're not going to attack now after I have become this territory's head."

"That is even better."

" Though there is one more fact. I forgot to mention."

"That is?"

"Stronger monsters that are stronger than me will still attack. I can't do anything about that but fight back."

"That could be a problem, but stopping the lower-level monsters from bringing unnecessary attacks would shave off at least 70% of the attacks. That is better than nothing; we might've had more casualties if we continued forwards without your blessing."

"I wouldn't say it's a blessing." Zero frowned. General Liam was making it sound a lot weirder than it should be.