2025-12-24 23:16:43
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Chapter 454: No Way Back
Just as panic started to crawl up her spine, Emily forced herself to breathe.She looked around, really looked around hard and then it hit her.“Oh,” she whispered hoarsely.This wasn’t random.She hadn’t angered anything.She had trespassed.The realization settled heavy and cold in her gut. The trees here were denser, the undergrowth trampled in strange circular patterns, bones half-buried beneath leaves, claw marks gouged into trunks, not careless scratches, but deliberate warnings. She had walked straight into someone else’s territory and stayed long enough to be noticed.As someone versed in different fields, especially zoology, Emily understood this better than she wished she did. Different worlds or not, beasts followed the same rules. Territory meant survival. Intrusion meant threat. And threats were eliminated.It didn’t matter that these weren’t creatures she’d studied in books. Behavior didn’t change just because evolution took a strange turn.Her first instinct screamed at
453: Walking Into Quiet That Will Soon Bite
Back on Emily’s side, things were… oddly peaceful.Too peaceful actually. She had already started walking deeper into the forest, boots crunching softly against fallen leaves while towering trees swallowed the light above her. Sunbeams filtered through the canopy in broken strands, painting the ground in shifting gold and shadow. Birds chirped somewhere far off. Insects buzzed lazily. If someone didn’t know better, they might have thought this was a scenic trail meant for a relaxing stroll.Emily absolutely did not trust it.“Yeah… this is how horror stories start,” she muttered under her breath, eyes darting left and right.Behind her, the beast padded along with absolutely zero sense of urgency. It didn’t even pretend to be obedient. One moment it was sniffing the ground, the next it was charging into bushes, scaring small animals half to death and sending birds exploding into the sky like startled fireworks. It chased a squirrel for three whole seconds, got bored, then tried to po
452: Learning to Think While Bleeding
Come to think of it, Kai had never truly fought using his head.That realization came slowly, settling in his chest as he stood there facing the Carnolion. Every battle before this, every life-and-death encounter, had been decided by brute strength, overwhelming force, or sheer endurance. He hit harder. He endured longer. He outlasted. That had always been enough.He had never faced an enemy faster than he was.Never faced something that could outthink him.So he had never needed to calculate his moves. Never needed to predict patterns or bait reactions. His instincts had carried him through every fight, sharp and reliable, forged through pain and blood. When danger came, his body moved before his mind even caught up.But instinct alone wasn’t enough now.The Carnolion prowled before him, muscles rolling smoothly beneath its hide, movements controlled and deliberate. It wasn’t rushing, wasn’t panicking and it was watching him the same way he was watching it. Measuring and waiting.Dam
451: Cruelest Upgrade
But even if Kai had known about Zora’s interference, there was nothing he could have done about it.Not now. Not in this situation and not against that woman.Normally, Carnolions were terrifying for very simple reasons. Explosive speed. Brutal strength. Inhuman agility packed into a predator’s body. They hunted by overwhelming their prey, crushing resistance through sheer physical dominance. They didn’t need strategy. They didn’t need tricks. They were built to end fights fast.This one was different.After Zora caught it, she hadn’t just restrained it or tamed it.She had forcefully evolved it.She had pushed its mind forward, tearing through natural limits, dragging its intelligence up until it rivaled that of a fully grown adult. Not the dull kind either. The kind that could calculate, adapt, and learn mid-battle. The kind that could recognize patterns, exploit habits, and bait reactions.And that was what made it truly horrifying.Yet despite that unnatural intelligence, the Carn
450: Smart Prey.
Hearing and observing this, Kai straightened up slowly.The casual looseness in his posture vanished, replaced by something sharp and grounded. His shoulders rolled once, joints popping faintly, breath steadying as his gaze locked onto the beast by Zora’s side. The Carnolion stared back at him, eyes glowing with predatory intelligence, muscles rippling beneath its hide as if it had already decided how this would end.Just as Kai expected, Zora didn’t bother with warnings.She patted the Carnolion’s head lightly, and almost affectionately.The change was instant.The docility vanished instantly. The Carnolion’s pupils shrank, its muscles coiled, and the next moment it exploded forward, the ground cracking beneath its paws as it dashed toward Kai with terrifying speed, claws carving grooves into the earth.Zora burst out laughing behind it. “Ahhh, there it is! See? You thought it was broken. Stop looking so betrayed.”Kai didn’t respond.His mind snapped into focus.This wasn’t a spar a
449: A Carnolion.
Just as Kai had expected, Zora was soon back.He sensed her before he saw her, the faint distortion in the air, the subtle pressure that always accompanied her presence, like reality itself was bracing.Kai didn’t stop his practice when it happened. His fists continued to move, steady and deliberate, each punch flowing into the next, his breathing controlled, his focus locked entirely on the Octane Fist.Then a shadow fell over the ground.Kai glanced up.Zora stood a short distance away, arms crossed casually, and cradled in one arm was a beast that immediately made his instincts scream. It wasn’t small. It wasn’t cute. And it definitely wasn’t harmless.The creature had the powerful, corded body of a lion, muscles layered thick beneath its hide. Its forelimbs ended in long, curved claws that gleamed faintly, sharp enough to tear through steel. Its movements, even while restrained, were unnervingly smooth, carrying the coiled speed of a tiger ready to explode forward at any moment.A
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