2. Fight for mating rights.

Warning: Things that shouldn't happen in the normal world have been depicted in the chapter. Please refrain from reading. If you read it, please remember that it is a fantasy.

HP: 59.21/88.25

SP: 21/48

MP: 154/154

Her normal status was replaced with the three bars when she was in combat. Now that she wasn't in combat, it returned to normal. And it was the level row that interested her most.

[Level: 11 (3.2/12)]

Her kill total for the day was ten, including nine auraless and one white aura user suffering from the aftermath of fighting four hyenas.

If she were aura-less, then killing another aura-less would have given her 1 point. However, now that she was a white aura user, the kill would kill her just 0.1, while the white aura user would give her 1 point. However, every single point was important. 

As she was lying, Hilda felt a pair of eyes following her. It was a gnoll. Its head was covered with the skull of a big animal. The skull that had covered half of its face made it harder to see its eyes.

Even if she didn't want to, she could only lie before it, as it was an Indigo aura user. It was the shaman of the tribe.

Besides the skull helmet, it had a staff with several human skulls hanging from it. It was also wearing a necklace made of fingers. 

These bone ornaments weren't a fashion statement. It was a statement of their strength, like numerous skulls hanging at the waist of the chief.

"Yes, my lord." The beast tamer came running.

"That one."

"Oh! That is a good one. It can already use a white aura."

"How old is it?"

"One year and one month."

"Find a mate for it."

"For it?"

The shaman nodded, adding, "Find another one with a white aura, and let them fight."

"Another white aura? But they are over two years old."

"Why does it matter?" The shaman turned around. As it was about to leave, it added, "I have a feeling that they would have some powerful offspring."

Even after the Shaman left, the beast tamer stared at Hilda. It remembered every hyena it had bred. 

It did remember that neither of its parents had ever evolved into a gnoll. Despite her father's ability to use a white aura, an orc killed it, and her mother passed away the night she gave birth to her.

"How the hell did it become so strong?" The tamer couldn't help wondering. It looked at Hilda, asking, "If you were a little bit stronger, you could have beat Black Mane. Alas!"

'Black mane!' Hilda was sure that was the name of the strongest Hyena of the group. All the pregnant hyenas were carrying Black Mane's children.

Hilda had no intention of doing so. If anything, she intended to make it bear her child. The hyenas in this world were what they called futanari. They both had reproductive organs. 

Even if Black Mane had made quite a few pregnant, it could also get pregnant. However, that was only possible if she was able to dominate it.

She had seen Black Mane fight before. It could beat any hyena in the tribe. Although being alpha wasn't a thing, as the tamer was the one who had trained them, Black Mane was still the uncrowned chief of the hyenas.

'It is going to be tough!' Hilda was sure of it. Hilda could access the status window of those weaker than her. Black Mane was physically stronger than her, but only level 9.

Apparently, Level 9 was the highest level a hyena could reach. Only after evolving into gnolls can they level up again. She had seen one hit level 10 after it had evolved.

Of course, she was an exception. The tamer could control the minds of the hyenas but not hers. She just acted like she was controlled so she wouldn't get caught.

However, seeing the status didn't give her any advantage. Black Mane was one more point in the constitution than her. The charisma didn't matter; she was way more intelligent and wise than any of the hyenas, who only had a single digit in those categories. 

BlackMane

Age: 2/42

Race: Gnoll

Grade: Auraless

Level: 9

Sin: . 

Strength: 22

Dexterity: 19

Constitution:26

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 7

Charm: 9

That left two other stats. Although she had a two-point advantage in dexterity, Black Mane had a five-point advantage in strength.

'Adding three points to dexterity makes sense.' Hilda had no idea that an advantage in dexterity could compensate for the disadvantage in strength.

"Hey, get out." The tamer was back. He had taken Black Mane first. Now, he had returned to take her out. 

The Blood Axe group lived at the entrance of an abandoned mine. Hilda didn't know who made it. Despite its old age, it looked pretty solid.

The Gnolls tend to stay outside, while different mine paths are used for different purposes.

The most guarded one was for the food. They didn't have any food preservation techniques. It didn't matter; Hyena and the gnolls would eat even the rotten meat.

Housed in a distant path was the pregnant woman they had captured from another race. After that, there was a shaft for the expecting gnoll, and the shaft near the entrance was for the hyena.

Only the hyenas who were with the tamers were allowed outside the mine. She followed the tamer, leaving the mine.

It was literal chaos. Crackling laughter and the screams of the survivors filled the air.

All the captured men were stuffed into the food chamber while the tribe's gnolls were using the women. The gnoll didn't know how to light a fire. So, a few gnoll mages and the shaman lit the campsites.

From a distance, Hilda could see the chief was sitting with a couple of women on his lap. Hilda couldn't be sure but felt the chief was somewhat intelligent. 

Other than her, if she had chosen the one with the most intelligence, it would be the shaman. His choice of partner didn't surprise her anymore. 

As someone who couldn't bear a child just yet, Hilda knew that girl wouldn't see the morning sun again.

"So that was the one you were talking about." 

"Yes. The tamer said it was just a year old but was already as strong as the strongest. Today's raid even took down an aura user."

Only then did Hilda realize that someone was sitting beside the chief. She couldn't see its body, shrouded in darkness.

"It looks intelligent." That voice spoke again. 

"The shaman had said the same thing."

Also, Hilda thought she saw it sitting next to the chief as they were talking, but she could not see it for herself.

'What the hell was that.' Hilda peered closer but could only make out two large silver eyes peering out from the darkness. 

Hilda was quick to check her surroundings. Yet there was nothing. There were no gnolls or humans they captured. Neither the tamer nor the chief were there.

The next moment, she was standing in the middle of the darkest night. A pair of eyes in the sky resembling full moons were staring at her.

"You are more interesting than I thought." That was the only thing she could hear. She didn't know where the voices came from. "Attack its left hind leg."

"Move." It was only when the tamer pushed her that she was awakened from her dream.

When she looked again, she realized she was back at the campsite. 

'Is it some kind of magic trick?' Hilda didn't know or want to look at it again. 'Wasn't any mental attack ineffective against me!?'

"How about we have a bet."

"A bet?" The chief asked. The chief quickly looked at the shaman.

"Esteemed guest, what do you want to bet on?"

"I think you are going to do a mating fight to decide the future dominator of your hyena herd. I want to bet on the younger one."

"You want to say the younger one will win?" The chief felt it was an easy, winnable bet. "Then I can bet on…"

He was about to accept it. As soon as his eyes met with the shaman, he fell silent. "What does the esteemed guest want if he wins the bet."

"I want that one."

"Please forgive us, esteemed guest. That is one of the strongest of the herd. We can't…"

"Then how about giving me all of their offspring? Storage was running low recently. I can have a few new ones."

"All?"

"Okay, three. No less." 

The chief was waiting to agree. But the shaman knew better. He had kept his eyes on it for a long time. The sign of intelligence it was showing was already higher than that of even a gnoll.

The fact that a dark elf like it was waiting to get it was enough proof he needed. He can train it to be the next shaman if it transforms into a gnoll. Even if it failed, he was sure it would at least become a greater or giant hyena.

"As you wish, esteemed guest."

As soon as he bowed, the chief asked excitedly, "What if Black Mane wins?"

Hilda didn't know what it showed him, but the chief looked at Black Mane excitedly.

On the other hand, Black Mane's eye didn't leave her. For it, Hilda was nothing but another mate. All it had to do was assert dominance over her, and it could fill her womb with its seed.

Black Mane had done it more than ten times. Every time a hyena would grow strong enough, or the tribes lost too many hyenas in a raid, they would let them mate. And Black Mane was always the top one.

'Not today…' Hilda decided to put all three points into Dexterity. 

[Dexterity: 21>24]

However, the gnolls around them were not in a hurry. The tamer let them sit on the different sides of the camp. 

Hilda wasn't sure what it was, so the chief handed something to the shadowy figure. 

'It must be something that they found from the caravan.' 

Hilda or other hyenas weren't allowed out during these party times, so she didn't realize. Now that she looked at them, she felt that the gnolls were having some kind of deal with the shadowy figure. 

'They are not merely lust- and hunger-driven beasts. To think they were able to deal with some kind of stronger creature… The world might be much more complicated than the caveman time I thought it to be.'

When she thought about it, it made sense to her. It was like making deals with wild wolves. 

The gnoll would hunt and take the human flesh and the weapons and stuff, while these beings could just take the things the humans were transporting.

'Even if humans could find out about the gnolls tribe, they might never be able to find the connection with the shadowy figure.' 

As Hilda continued to watch, she also found that the shadow had also given something back to the gnoll. Instead of the chief, the shaman took it from the shadow.

The rest of the gnolls weren't worried about the secret deal that was going on. 

A few women died as a result of the numerous gnolls using them repeatedly; those who survived had the worst. However, nothing in a gnoll party goes to waste. A few of them had already started feasting on the dead bodies.

Then comes the time for the fight. The tamer drew a big circle on the ground, ordering, "You don't get out of the circle."

After seeing how swiftly it entered the circle, Hilda realized the tamer must have used the soul connection to command Black Mane. Hilda also did the same.

As soon as she did, waves of crackling laughter filled the air. The gnolls excitedly surrounded the ring while screaming, taunting, and throwing meat in the ring.

The Black Mane looked at her and laughed. Its aggressiveness was communicated through sounds that sounded like laughter.

It came naturally to her when she needed it, but Hilda always felt communicating with a growl or roar was beneath her.

Black Mane continued to look at her from a distance instead of attacking her. 

*Growl*

This time, Black Mane's roar sounded different. And as soon as she heard it, a wave of weakness washed over her.

[The opponent had used ]

[All stats would be reduced by 5]