Chapter 10 – Shadow Fiend and Buddy

Aiko observed for a while, noticing a pattern in their alertness. Each of them would spend around 12 to 13 minutes observing their surroundings, and then change over. That changeover when they were not alert was around 20 to 30 seconds, which was more than enough time for her to steal their food.

The darkness guided her again to an advantageous position, where she waited.

She dashed with her [Quick Jump]. Now that she had mastered it, she was much more proficient and accurate with it.

Aiko snatched the delicious-smelling meat and ran deep inside the forest. She could hear them cursing behind her, but she didn't mind. Darkness was her friend, Darkness would guide her away from the bad Humans.

The Forest quietened and she stopped running, she sat down and munched on the meat.

[EXP gained.][EXP gained.][EXP gained.][Level gained.]...

It was somewhat good meat, but not as good as in the Village, yet the Darkness wouldn’t guide her there. She felt sad but was comforted by it.

Aiko felt like a new guiding post was put in front of her, tempting her with delicious treats. She didn't know what to think of it. Could Darkness have taste buds? Or was it just pulling her leg?

A path opened up in front of her, and white paw prints were marked on the ground, guiding her with where to step. Darkness was her playground, and she felt safe in Darkness.

Her strength increased... slightly, it was too little for her to care much, but she felt another heart beating inside her.

It was a quiet yet powerful roar that strengthened her body with each heartbeat. Yet, she felt that her new heart had... issues. While it felt powerful, it also felt like gears trying to grind something that wasn't supposed to be there. Something was slowing, restricting those gears.

Aiko arrived at another destination. Beasts fought Humans and Humans fought Beasts.

She noticed one familiar sight. It was Buddy, he was held back by a powerful Human, while the weaker ones stood at the back throwing fireworks at him. To help or not to help... Buddy gave her delicious treats and allowed her to Evolve into this...

'Help him.'

Aiko made up her mind. The grass was of mid-height, which barely concealed her, but since moonlight wasn't considered sunlight... She got almost the full effect of her [Shadow Enhancement].

Aiko sneaked around.

"Careful! There is a Beast around!" Shouted the powerful person.

She was found out, but they didn't know her exact location.

Aiko sneaked around, feeling their connection. They were doing something.

Suddenly, one of the Humans slashed towards her direction, but it was too far off and missed.

Aiko used this opportunity and used [Sprint] in tandem with [Quick Jump]. She blasted through the grass, arriving at the furthest Human and using [Quick Jump] again with [Crushing Bite] on his neck.

He looked shocked at the small beast shrouded in Darkness quickly approaching him. His perception was much quicker than his body, but he wasn't able to react in time.

*Crunch*[Level gained.][Level gained.][Level gained.][Level gained.]....

His throat was crushed and he died immediately. She fell with him into the grass.

Suddenly, he 'opened' his eyes and started screaming. Attracting everyone's attention.

"It's an illusion! FOCUS!" The Powerful person shouted at them again, but it was too late.

She dashed again, this time towards the person in the middle. Humans often employ tactics where the person in the back or middle is the weakest or most susceptible to injury. She used this simple knowledge and dashed towards the girl in the middle.

*Crunch*

This time she didn't jump at her throat but crushed her leg. This unfortunate girl was only a Late Body refinement Cultivator. With Aiko's boosts in the complete darkness and mastered [Crushing Bite], her leg didn't stand a chance and was completely crushed.

The girl screamed, attracting attention again. The powerful Human was nervous and sweating, it was obvious he wanted to protect her.

Buddy used this brief carelessness and smashed his torso with his hooves, gravely injuring him.

Meanwhile, Aiko dashed again towards the most distracted person who was ready to run away. She did her combo of [Quick Jump], and [Crushing Bite] to instantly kill him.

"No!" The powerful person number 1 shouted, but no matter what he did, he couldn't help them. He was now tied with Buddy and he wasn't able to shake him off.

The Human Cultivators panicked, frantically using their fireworks all around them to retaliate, but to no avail as the Darkness had already guided Aiko away from the danger. The only thing that remained was a desperate show put up for Aiko to enjoy.

"Idiots! She isn't here!" The powerful person number 2 shouted while vomiting blood.

Buddy laughed with glee as he heard another *Crunch* in front of him. Yet another Cultivator was killed.

[Level gained.][Level gained.][Level gained.]....

The 3rd powerful person was desperate and launched fireworks towards her location, but she was far from slow.

Aiko had reached Level 13 from killing those Cultivators, thus having 209 Agility, which was boosted by x1.3 and again by x1.5 to reach a whopping 407 Agility!

She was comparable to a normal 3rd Layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator in speed! While he was much more powerful, he couldn't spare the time to properly prepare his Technique and as such, it only had the strength of a 1st Layer Foundation Establishment!

She dashed between the bombardment and

*Crunch*[Level gained.][Level gained.]

She bit another Cultivator's throat. Her speed soared through her levelling, but her help was no longer needed.

Buddy was able to pierce the powerful person's chest with his horn, piercing his heart in the process. He felt desperate and helpless, but before he could shout at the others to run, they were already killed by the aftershocks from Buddy. Of course, Aiko was far away, enjoying herself in the dark.

"Come out." Buddy panted, but still called. "I want to thank you for saving me!"

She moved as the Darkness guided her and landed on his back. He was ready to shake her off and blast her with his hoofs because of this but paused again.

"Are you the little one?" He frowned, the only thing similar to her would be the comically large ears.

Aiko nodded, smiling as her tail swished from happiness from being remembered.

The Horse with a Horn was completely dumbfounded.

If he hadn't met her he would not have believed this was the same person, since she had a similar energy to those at the Peak of Beast Rank. Yet it had only been a month or so since they parted.

This was unbelievable for him. One had to know that it takes years to go from an Animal to a Beast Rank, and even longer from Low-Rank Beast to Peak Rank. Yet this little lass was already at peak, while just entering the Beast Rank!

"Do you want to help me? We will share the treasures evenly." He made this proposal.

Normally he would never do something like this, at most, he would only give all his helpers half unless they were his friends or fellow Beasts. Yet he couldn't help but to be respectful and aware of this fox's boundless potential. As such, he was willing to offer someone who was of much lower Rank the same benefits as those who he considered equals!

One has to know that her Agility has already soared to 454! In speed, she was comparable with the 3rd Middle Layer of Foundation Establishment!

Buddy noticed that sharp rise in speed. He wouldn't invite her normally, but since she could increase her speed so much, he could take her! It would also be much easier on him.

"What do you say, lass?" He laughed once he saw her nodding at him.

"Let's go then."

...

"Lass, we are coming towards quite a large group." He told her. "Two are in Nascent Soul, one is in Golden Core and the rest is in Foundation Establishment." He explained their prowess. "Your only mission is to distract them! Don't fight them! It's unlikely you will be able to hurt them like those guys in Qi refinement. I will try to take care of those guys at Golden Core and Higher, but if things get dicey we will call it quits!"

"What are you talking about, let's rip 'em!" The Panther suddenly appeared nearby. "I was smelling a powerful Bloodline from your side, so I was worried you had already croaked and been eaten by someone."

The Horse snorted. "You were only worried because you wouldn't get a taste of me!" He scoffed at him, but the Panther was ignoring him, speechlessly staring at Aiko.

"Oi, oi, oi, are you serious? Where did you find a Shadow Beast, do you know how rare they are?!" He demanded answers from him. It was already bad enough that he felt the Powerful Bloodline, but it just had to be THAT kind of bloodline? What did he miss?!

Buddy snorted again. "I’m surprised you can't even tell, considering you tried to eat her the first time you saw her."

The Panther was silent, he thought long and hard about where he might've met her, but he couldn't figure out where. There was a crazy thought at the back of his head, but he denied it with all his might.

"That's right, it's the lass that slapped Char's face during the face-off." He laughed heartily.

The Panther was flabbergasted. In his mind, there was no way that was possible.

"Let's talk later, we are here." Buddy trained his hooves and Aiko jumped down. The moment she disappeared inside the grass, the Panther shivered.

"My god... it's not completely awakened yet..." He shivered like a cat facing its worst enemy... water. He laughed awkwardly, getting into battle mode with goosebumps all over his body.

Aiko sprinted rather far behind, they were much faster, but this gave her time to circle the powerful ones and find the weaker ones.

While her speed was ridiculous, her biting power would work only on those in Qi refinement at best. So she would do what she was best at, running.

She dashed around them, they were already in the heat of battle, those Powerful Cultivators had already told them that there were 3 Beasts and they were on high alert, but this wouldn't stop Aiko.

She would get 50% of the treasure, in other words, she could exchange those treasures for more meat and power level more!

Aiko got closer, while those at the Peak of Foundation Establishement were aware of her, the others weren't.

She dashed around all the clueless bastards and used her mastered [Scratch] on their legs. While it wouldn't hurt them much, it would be god-damn annoying to pay attention to her while trying to dodge the aftershocks from the Nascent Souls' fight.

"AGHHH." "AHHH." "AAAA." "FUCK."

Questionable noises drifted from behind those Nascent Soul Cultivators, and they shook their heads. Their disciples couldn't even take care of a lowly Beast...

Those disciples had many scratches on their legs. Once she mastered her Skill, it provided a great decrease in consumption. Moreover, because her Species specialised in stealth, only those at Peak Foundation Establishment were able to spot her, but that was no good for those below it. Even if you were to tell them that she was there, by the time they turned around she was somewhere else.

Thus, those at peak started to chase her and tried to fire off their little Techniques towards her, but she would always hide behind those at lower Cultivation Layer, angering her pursuers.

"Friend... Please tell me I didn't anger her." The Panther asked with a crestfallen expression.

"Do I have to recall the amount of times you made her faint?" The Horse snorted in glee.

"Curses, my stupid habit!" He cursed himself.

This was the first time in his life he regretted chasing and trying to eat someone. But make no mistake, he is vastly more powerful than she is!

That is only considering her current strength. It has to be known that someone with a superior Bloodline, can suppress someone with a lesser bloodline.

That means if she grows a bit more... yeah, he would be at her mercy.

Buddy noticed his difficult expression and shook his head. "Bring her plenty of good quality meat and she might forgive you." He would help him just a little bit, but not much, since he still wanted to enjoy his misfortune.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" He thanked him, which stunned Buddy, this would be the third time in their 2,000 years of life that he would thank him. It felt like a dream for him...

"AGHHH."

Aiko was still torturing the group with her superior speed, so much so that the Golden Core tried to leave the battle in front of him to take care of her. Unfortunately for him, he had to shield them from most of the aftershocks or they would absolutely die, but they were being killed by that little Beast!

"Master!" The Golden Core pleaded.

"Do you think we don't know?! You have to stay there to shield them, otherwise we can't defeat these Beasts!" The Nascent Soul shouted at him.

The Golden Core flinched and didn't dare to move from his place any more.