Dozens of kilometers away from where Mira was, a massive, dark grey bear could be seen sleeping in a large cave. The bear was about the size of a semi-truck, perhaps bigger, and weighed so much that his body sunk into the ground underneath him. Even as it slept, a heavy aura radiated from it, causing the cave walls to tremble with every breath.
Suddenly, its eyes opened, and it turned its head in Rhydian's direction. It sensed an abnormal power in that direction, which caused the blood in his body to boil. A deep-seated greed and hunger that he didn't even know he had erupted from the depths of his bloodline, urging him to check out this anomaly.
"A beast with an extraordinary bloodline has appeared in these mountains." The bear growled, but unlike those Rank 7 Star-Horned wolves, it could actually speak!
Meaning, it was a Rank 8 beast! If Mira were here, she would know that this beast was an Earth Titan Bear, a beast with a Sovereign-Grade bloodline!
"There have been rumors about a 9-tailed fox roaming the mountains. I didn't believe them to be true, but maybe they were on to something."
The bear grunted before standing up.
*BOOOM!**BOOOM!**BOOOM!**BOOOM!*
His very footsteps shook the cave, causing it to collapse on him, but the bear acted like he didn't feel a thing. Shaking off the rubble that fell on him, he marched out of the cave toward the direction he sensed Rhydian.
A grin emerged on his large face, and he couldn't help but think, 'Foxes always have the most tender meat. I wonder how delicious a 9-tailed fox would taste!'
Unlike some of the other beast clans, he didn't care about having a 9-tailed fox mate. He just wanted to eat her!
***
The Earth Titan Bear wasn't the only beast in the surrounding area to sense Rhydian's bloodline, either. Nearly every beast, as long as they were strong enough, could feel her bloodline when she used it to pressure the Star-Horned wolves.
However, many beasts didn't dare to think about confronting Rhydian as their instincts screamed at them to run! They could tell they weren't on her level and didn't intend to die a needless death. Thus, anything below Rank 7 ran as far away as they could.
They knew better than to get involved in a fight between powerhouses. Of course, a few ambitious beasts wanted to see if they could take advantage of the situation, but they were few and far between.
Rhydian, who was standing in front of a bunch of Star-Horned Wolves, felt numerous auras converging on her location, and her eyes turned somber. She knew Mira was meditating deep in the mountain and that nothing could disturb her during this delicate time, so she had to step up and protect her.
Before things got messy, she turned to the wolves and barked, "Woof woof! (Leave now!)" Then, she shot up in the air, hovering above the hole Mira sat in.
The wolves didn't quite understand what Rhydian was doing, but as she was their new lord, they didn't question her and instead ran away like she ordered. However, it wasn't long before they saw a massive bear walking toward them. Only then did they finally understand the severity in her voice!
The first beast to arrive was the Earth Titan Bear, who looked down at Rhydian in slight disappointment, but also curiosity.
"A golden winged wolf, huh? I thought you'd be the 9-tailed fox everyone is talking about, but it seems I got my hopes up for nothing." The bear muttered, but as it examined Rhydian's body, it became more perplexed.
"However, my instincts want me to consume you for some reason. How peculiar…"
He wondered but made no moves to attack. Although the bear could sense that she was only a Rank 7 beast, and as much as he wanted to consume her, his body warned him of danger. Clearly, she was a lot stronger than her cultivation suggested.
Rhydian stared at the Earth Titan Bear warily. She wasn't afraid of him, but a fight of their magnitude might level a good chunk of the mountain, which was the last thing she wanted to happen.
If she disturbed Mira when she was pressed for time and already in a horrible mood…
Just imagining those crimson-red eyes glowing with anger sent shivers down her spine.
However, luck wasn't on her side as four more beasts surrounded her position.
One of them was a giant, green serpent with wyvern-like wings sprouting out of its body. It moved through the air like a regular snake would slither through soft grass, then coiled around the mountain-top, and raised its head to look at Rhydian. The same look of disappointment that the bear felt shone in its eyes, but only for a second before greed replaced it.
The next beast to arrive was a giant Eagle! It had no notable features other than looking like an eagle and having a wingspan of 5 meters.
The third beast that showed up after the bear was a black panther. It snuck up below Rhydian's position without making a noise or releasing any Qi fluctuations. It was as if a ghost had appeared below her!
The last beast to arrive was a giant spider! It had 8 massive legs, which were several meters long, and a giant bulging abdomen. It was black all over, with white veins running down its body and legs as if it was already covered in a spider web.
Each had similar auras, meaning they were all Rank 8 beasts. Yet, the Earth Titanic Bear was the only one interested in talking. The rest just stared at each other, all thinking the same thing:
'This wolf is mine!'
They could all sense an extraordinary bloodline coming from the winged wolf, and though this typically wouldn't mean much since they were already Rank 8 beasts, they could feel their insides burn with a needy hunger, wanting to devour her whole!
Rhydian wasn't an idiot and could tell that they thought of her as nothing more than prey and could only release a mental sigh.
'I'm sorry, Master, but I might have to disturb your training. If you want someone to vent your anger on, you're more than welcome to use these idiots.' She thought before she steeled her resolve.
Then, without hesitation, she coated her wings in lightning and flapped them, sending a torrent of lightning at the spider, smiting it!
*BOOOOOOOOOM!*
None of the beasts were expecting Rhydian to attack out of nowhere, but they weren't inexperienced newbies that couldn't handle a situation like this. The spider didn't bother to move as webs came out of the white veins on its body, coating itself in a spongey outer layer of silk.
Rhydian has spent enough time with Mira to understand that the best way to defeat a group of enemies of similar strength to her or higher is to strike first and strike fast. Many of her fights never lasted longer than a few moves because she followed those two basic rules.
Keeping the pressure on the spider, Rhydian descended from the sky with her wings tucked in to gain more speed and dove head-first into it!
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Another explosion rang out as she took out a chunk of the mountain, but that wasn't the end. She could sense that she'd only caused minimal damage to the spider's exoskeleton and kept up the attacks!
She launched waves of lightning, fire, and wind at its eyes, legs, and abdomen, trying to tear it apart, but its defense proved to be tougher than she initially thought.
Unfortunately, she couldn't keep up her one-sided attack as the winged serpent and the Eagle joined the fray. The bear and panther watched from the outside, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. Though the former was more curious about the battle itself rather than the outcome.
Rhydian clicked her tongue in annoyance but quickly jumped out of the way, dodging their attacks.
While keeping an eye on the two of them, she didn't stop her attacks on the spider, as it was the weakest out of the five beasts here. Or at least, that's what Rhydian assumed. However, killing proved to be more troublesome than she initially thought, as its webs seemed to have some sort of elemental resistance and shock absorption.
'If I can't beat it to death or turn it to ash, then I can only cut it into pieces!' Rhydian thought as her claws extended and sharpened.
She pounced on the spider's abdomen once again and used her claws to rip through the webs protecting its exoskeleton. Within seconds, she had cut through it and began scratching at the surface of its outer shell. However, that didn't hold up well either, as it started to screech in pain!
*SCREEEEEEECH!*
With the spider's yell, the serpent, eagle, and wolf dove in on her yet again, causing the wolf to hop off the spider. While the three of them were technically enemies, they couldn't just allow the spider to die right in their faces.
After this exchange, they all glanced at each other with only one thought in their minds:
'He/She is strong!'
