So Many?

Nio was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming as it was peaceful. He was taking a nap in his dream. He relished the peace and quiet.

From the moment Liam arrived, his life changed drastically. So much so that he couldn't even return to his tree any longer and had to sleep where he could. But, unfortunately, there seemed to be no place that seemed entirely safe for the moment.

Only his dreams seemed to be peaceful. There was no Liam. The tree hadn't kicked him out. And that damn Biff wouldn't be insulting him every possible second of the day.

It was so peaceful in his dream that he suddenly felt bored. He usually liked feeling bored, so why was everything around him changing. Why was the world turning more colorful by the moment? Everything was fun and exciting, especially when he was interacting with Liam.

Nio had changed his viewpoint yesterday again. The boy had been fun to look at when he was doing the things, but when he had started demanding that Nio do things and test things out with his body. He had grown annoyed with the things he had to do, but at some point, he didn't even realize when it had happened, he was doing the things Liam asked but whined none stop.

He was himself. He only realized this fact when the Daylight Dreams invaded his nostrils again. He was somewhat satisfied by the outcome that they had achieved last night. But the moment he looked at the boy and saw the displeased expression, his mood also soured. He wasn't sure why Liam was acting like this, but somehow he started feeling disappointed.

What was he expecting, praise? This wasn't like Nio at all... or so he thought.

Liam hadn't said anything yet, only grumbled something to himself when Nio had looked at him, but he could somehow feel that he wasn't satisfied with Nio. And it didn't sit well with him.

His peaceful time in his dream comes to an abrupt end when Nio starts to feel the vibrations in the earth. Feeling that something was wrong, he deliberately woke up. It was a skill of his that he had developed long ago.

Well, he wasn't actually dreaming. To be precise, he was in his subconsciousness. The state that Liam recently became aversed with. To be fair, Nio didn't know what he was doing and just assumed that this state was a dream.

He had become incredibly aversed with it, especially with entering and coming out of that dream-like state. He did not know how to use it otherwise.

But he was feeling the ground tremble under his body at the moment. He knew this kind of tremor and looked with his senses. The immediate surrounding was fine until he spotted Liam running at his top speed toward him. Nio looked further back and discovered that one of the Tyrant Kings was approaching the boy fast.

Nio didn't react at first, but then he thought, 'Is he doing it to train me?' Then, Nio remembered some of Liam's words from yesterday.

"He is stupid to think I'd fall for this obvious ploy," he smirked at the human running and turned away from him. However, he still looked with his senses and found something strange happening.

The Tyrant King was stumbling, and its speed was also slower than usual.

'Hmm, what did he do?' Nio's curiosity has been piqued again, and he wanted to know what had happened to it.

'Did Liam do anything to it?' another question popped up in Nio's mind.

'If so, what could he possibly do to a Tyrant King?' Nio pondered the question and looked at Liam, who was getting close. Soon, Liam reached the area where Nio had been sleeping, but he didn't stop and ran forward.

"If you want to live, we need more than ten kilometers of distance from that place!" he shouted desperately, and Nio finally understood that something had happened and they needed to get away as soon as possible.

The next moment Nio reacted by picking up the boy and placing him on his body so he could ride him.

"You are way too slow!" Nio hissed at him, not forgetting to insult him in the process.

To Nio's amazement, Liam didn't say anything back to him.

"Not too fast. I still need it to follow my scent!" Liam shouted over the wind, which pushed him against the Nio's scales.

"Why?"

"Don't you want its core!?" he shouted back, and Nio licked his lips in response. He was slowing down so the Tyrant King wouldn't be left behind.

"What did you do?" Nio asked after some time when he confirmed that the creature was still following them.

"First, which direction are we going?"

"Why don't you answer my question first?"

"Because I don't want to endanger the kids, okay!"

"Fine, we're going toward the first place where you picked those kids up."

"Okey, I went to look at the Tyrant Kings. I managed to pour some of your poison into three of them while they were still sleeping. This one seemed to be one of them."

Nio suddenly stopped and turned around. He was moving at top speed toward the creature.

"Why didn't you say that earlier," Nio said cheerfully.

"Turn around! We need to go further away from this place!"

"Why do you keep saying that? It would be easy if my poison poisoned it."

"Damn it! Because there were over twenty of them there!" Liam cursed and revealed the most disturbing information that he had obtained.

"What?" Nio stopped and turned again, slithering further away. Still, he kept the pace. He still wanted the core.

"Why were there so many of them?" Nio couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know!" Liam shouted, exasperated by the whole thing. Feeling like this might be something the avatars had done, but it could be a simple thing like a mating period.

Liam and Nio made sure to check on the Tyrant King. But first, they had to ensure it was still following them and wouldn't just head back. So, sometimes they slowed their pace and, on some occasions, sped up so that it wouldn't stop its hunt.

After all, the Tyrant Kings knew it was the biggest and the strongest thing out there. What and who would be able to threaten it? Many had encountered a demon beast, but only a few survived. The demon beast liked the Tyrant Kings as they were a good source of cores and livers. The ancient herbivores rarely came close to their territories, and the herbivores weren't as territorial and tyrannical as Tyrant Kings. The Tyrant Kings practically offered themselves up for the few demon beasts on the planet.

Of course, the ancient herbivores would give them more, but naturally, the demon beasts were too lazy and rarely left their teritories.