Turning his head toward Jareth, Tiberan ordered, "Capture that mage named Arix and extract as much information from him as you can. Depending on his answers, we may, sooner rather than later, enter a state of war against Blackridge."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Jareth said with a bow, walking toward the door. But before he could leave, Tiberan called out.

"Wait."

Jareth turned back to face his king and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Tiberan said, "Send a message to Wulfric. Report to him what that young man said, and offer him an alliance to invade Blackridge."

Although Nova had suggested it, Jareth never thought his king would actually do it. Perplexed, he said, "If we ally with Lotra to attack Blackridge, I'm afraid the Empire won't let us go unpunished."

The king waved a hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter. Once Blackridge falls, the Empire won't be able to find fault with us. Why would they declare war on us over a destroyed kingdom?"

Jareth knew his king was right, but accomplishing it would be far more difficult than he thought. Still, he nodded and said, "I will inform the Lotra king."

When the Lord Commander left, Brynden finally spoke up. "Your Majesty, what about me?"

Tiberan glanced at him and said impatiently, "You stay put and don't mess things up." With that, he left, leaving a dejected State Advisor standing alone in the hall.

///////

Walking down the street, Nova thought, 'He sent me away too suddenly. Does he know something I don't? Or did something happen?' Soon after, he shook his head lightly. 'It doesn't matter. As long as he and Wulfric attack Avaro, I'll be able to heavily damage the armies of Westoria and Blackridge, maybe even kill them all in one fell swoop.'

Anticipation bubbled within him. If he truly managed it, the only enemy remaining would be the Empire, and without any kingdoms aiding it, it would only be a matter of time before he ground its army to dust.

'Now I just need to wait for the pieces to gather in one place. That means I have time to spare, and I want to fight.' A smile spread across his face. He glanced at Letto, who trailed beside him, and said, "This time I'll bring you on a very exciting hunt. Are you happy?"

Letto looked at Nova, a bad feeling rising in his chest. Gulping, he asked, "Hunt? What are we hunting?"

"The bloodstripe."

"Are you sure you want to hunt it now?" Letto asked, though his heart eased somewhat. In his opinion it was better this than going around destroying cities because, such a tiger, would be nothing for Nova to handle.

Nova nodded, thinking, 'Although Instructor Morai said to forget about it, I still have to try. Worst case, I'll just run away.'

The two made their way out of Westhaven without trouble before Nova grabbed Letto, who thought, Every time this happens, I feel like nothing more than an animal, and sped toward the Central Forest in Lotra.

An hour later, when they were only a few hundred meters away, the forest finally came into view revealing its true size. It was vast, filled with towering trees that blocked any glimpse of what lay inside.

"Do you know the bloodstripe's exact location?" Nova asked, his eyes scanning left and right, taking in the huge patch of dark-green in front of him.

Letto paused briefly to recollect his thoughts. "Well, the journal said it lived in the middle of the Central Forest, but there wasn't much more detail than that."

Nova nodded.

Now that he knew the approximate location of the tiger, he thought, 'Should I leave him here? If the beast becomes enraged and targets him instead of me, I might not be able to keep him alive. He has no real strength to speak of, not against a beast that even knights fear…'

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He debated for a few seconds before speaking out loud as he set Letto down on the ground. "Wait for me here. I'll come pick you up soon, don't get yourself into trouble."

"Hm? What? Why?" Letto hurriedly asked. "Did I do something wrong?"

Nova shook his head. "I'm just being cautious for once. Just do as I said."

Without looking back, he shot toward the forest, leaving Letto behind to murmur, "Is he… worried about me?"

Nova flashed through the forest, not giving any beast the time to react as he sped forward, hoping to find a trace of the King of the Central Forest. Yet minutes passed, and the only signs he came across belonged to lesser animals.

'I forgot to ask Letto how big this forest actually is,' Nova thought as he pushed deeper, the sound of rustling leaves and occasional roars filling his ears.

He ignored the cries of the beasts and pressed on. The deeper he went, the quieter it became, until even the roars faded into silence. 'There are fewer and fewer beasts fighting here… this place feels chaotically ordered in its own way. Does it have some kind of hierarchy every beast follows?'

Then, to the side, he noticed several massive tree trunks snapped in half, as if they were nothing but twigs. His eyes widened. 'Who did that?'

Curiosity overtook him. Approaching one of the trunks, he examined the break closely, piecing together an answer.

"This is obviously not the work of claws," he muttered. "It's some kind of blunt strike… as if an animal slammed its paws against the tree and snapped it apart. I want to test something."

Moving over to an intact tree, he knocked his knuckles against the bark. "Tough… but it should be doable, I think."

With that, he drove his fist into the trunk. Splinters burst into the air, and the wood groaned before giving way until a fist-sized hole appeared in the middle of it.

"I could only make a tiny hole without Dreadscape, while the other trees are snapped in half… seriously, the beast that did this is no joke. If I came here before unlocking my Aura I'd be in danger, I better be careful," he muttered, not thinking twice before drawing Dreadscape. His eyes narrowed as he resumed his travel, though this time his speed was several times slower than before.

Ten minutes later, as he neared the middle of the forest, a roar erupted beside him. A bear paw, the size of Nova himself, came crashing down from the side.

Alarm bells rang in his head, and he instinctively leapt upward as fast as he could. A moment later he heard a loud thud and looked down to see a massive paw grazing the ground, kicking up dust and sending small rocks flying.

From above, when the dust cleared, Nova finally got a full view of the attacker. 'This thing is bigger than two elephants put together, perhaps three… where the hell did it even come from?'

A bear more than a dozen meters tall on his fours was on his old spot. Its fur was thick and black, claws the size of large daggers. Its large hazel eyes fixed on Nova. A row of razor-sharp teeth peeked from its mouth, giving the impression of a menacing grin.

Nova frowned at the sight and, landing on a tree branch, said, "You think I'm an easy target? I'll use you as a practice dummy then."

With a wave of his hand, wind blades the size of fingers shot toward the bear, and before it could react, they sliced its body in multiple places, drawing a few drops of blood.

Being injured, the bear's grin twisted into a malevolent snarl as it quickly stalked the tree where Nova stood on and body-slammed it without warning.

With a thunderous crunch, the tree snapped. Nova cursed and leapt onto another branch, muttering, "This is the first time I'm seeing a bear body-slam trees…"

The bear not happy with having missed the prey and seeing Nova land on another tree, didn't waste a moment. It charged, slamming into the trunk and snapping it in half once more.

Nova frowned and leapt again, landing on yet another tree, but it wasn't long before that one too was demolished by the beast.

"A beast still remains a beast… no matter how strong it becomes," Nova muttered, annoyance flashing across his eyes. With a single leap, he landed on the ground several meters away from the bear.

The creature swivelled its massive head toward him and emitted a low growl before charging.

Seeing a mountain of fur hurtling toward him, Nova snorted and waved his arm. A wind blade, twice the size of his arm, shot toward the bear's leg at breakneck speed. There was no way the beast could dodge it at such a close distance, if it even saw the attack at all.

And sure enough, the wind blade struck cleanly, slicing through the bear's left foreleg and continuing forward, partially cutting into its hind leg. A loud, high-pitched scream erupted from the beast as it crashed to the ground. The force of the impact, amplified by its own speed, shattered several of its bones, leaving the bear sprawled and unable to get up.

Nova walked up to the bear's head, muttering to himself, "It's a pity my control over my wind core isn't perfect yet… otherwise, I would've reduced this beast to mincemeat. I need to take some time and hone it. Last time I couldn't look for Melissa in the palace lest I risked angering Avaro but next time I'll find her."

Looking down at the bear's expression, a mixture of defiance and pain, he smiled and pointed a finger at its forehead. "Who's the prey and who's the hunter? You died because you couldn't tell."

The bear's eyes widened slightly, as if it vaguely understood the meaning behind Nova's words. But that moment was fleeting; a wind blade pierced its skull, reducing its brain to mush.

[36,910,230,000 Stat EXP received]

'I'll keep this bear's body, seeing how strong it is, it might come in handy when I'm crafting,' he thought. With a wave of his hand, he stored the massive corpse in his Inventory. Then, looking deeper into the forest, as if staring at the bloodstripe, he muttered, "I'm coming."

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