...

The Mansion.

Melinda and Rita sat across each other in the lounge both holding a goblet of wine.

The two had not said a word since Hal and Marla left earlier in the afternoon to attend the competition.

Their silence was not for lack of something to say. They both simply enjoyed said silence along with the burning taste of the alcoholic brew down their throats.

After their duel, Hal had not allowed a threesome. Engaging the two ladies separately.

When they had asked why?, the pervert told them that he was too 'preoccupied' with the upcoming competition and wanted to focus solely on that for now.

This was an obvious lie. Hal couldn't care less who the most outstanding in the young generation was.

Whatever the reason, Rita was more than ready to wait. She sometimes shivered when she felt Melinda's gaze on her.

Melinda however acted as casual as ever. There was nothing to it.

However, once she was was alone with her thoughts, she could not help but think of this as an opportune moment to perfect disciplinary techniques needed to put unruly lasses in their place.

The two were very comfortable with the silence but they were bound to break it soon.

And sure enough,

"So, you tried to kill him," Rita said while taking a sip of wine.

Melinda rolled her eyes. These last three days, Rita had not let up bringing this up even though she knew it was not accurate.

"There are much easier ways to upset me, you know?" Melinda said with a smile.

"But it's working isn't it?" Rita smirked.

"Barely" Melinda dutiful went back to her quiet sips of wine.

Rita took a deep breath,

"How did a talented girl like you end up slumming it here?" She asked and Melinda gave a sideways glance,

"You know how"

"No, I don't. I know what you've told us"

"Exactly. You know the truth"

"Is it though? I mean who knows who is truly in the wrong? We've only heard a one-sided story from you, surely we need to hear the other parties before coming to a Conclusion" Rit said in a would-be casual tone.

Melinda turned to face her,

"Are you suggesting I'm a liar?"

At this point, Rita's eyes widened in mock surprise,

"Is that what it sounds like? Well, then I guess I really am calling you a liar. How does that make you feel"

The two stared at each other for a full minute before Melinda shrugged,

"You've got a point. If you want to believe my family's side of the story then be sure to do so should you ever meet them"

Rita's face blanked and she gritted her teeth in frustration but Melinda was not done,

"You are free to try riling me up again but it won't work until the terms of the duel are met" Melinda grinned and went back to her wine sipping.

"You are enjoying this aren't you," Rita asked with tight lips.

"Of course I am. What would be the point of a duel if I don't enjoy my winnings?" Melinda chuckled and Rita could not help but agree.

It seemed she would have to accept her fate in terms of this duel. Who knows it might actually be fun. Right?

'I better not hold my breath'

...

Meanwhile in Tretch forest,

The Hunt was on.

In the literal sense of the word.

The moment the participants entered into the forest they spread out and searched for Demon beast lairs, around or in which they were bound to find Rune tiles which were their objective.

"Jack, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

A group of commoners was crouching behind covers to observe the entrance of a cave in which a demon beast was resting at that moment.

The one called Jack was older than most of them, being in his thirties (which still qualified him as part of the young generation). He usually frequented the Forest to hunt Demon beasts and he picked his target knowing this particular beast was not difficult to handle.

The beast was called the Earthen badger and had been a wild beast until quite recently when it acquired the ability to sense Cosmic energy. It was now an Eight stage sensing beast.

Jack was at the ninth stage but was still very much aware that he was barely a match for the beast on account of its physical capabilities.

The others were at the Eight stages, unfortunately, the numbers would not grant them much of an advantage against a beast that completely outclassed them in almost all ways.

But by joining forces with Jack who was a fairly experienced hunter, all should be well.

The real issue lay in the fact that this was mostly a gamble. The lair might not even contain a Rune tile and a struggle with the Earthen badger could very well be a useless endeavor.

"Of course I know what I'm doing" Jack retorted in an impatient tone before he drew something out of his clothes and blew a short tune on it.

He blew for only a short while before a low-toned shuffle followed and an even lower toned growl was emitted from the lair and out came a Badger. Completely unlike any wild badger.

The presence of Cosmic energy had caused an obvious growth spurt and standing on its hind legs, it was as tall as Jack himself.

It's dark beady eyes looked Jack directly, already intelligent enough to know he was the source of the horrid tune that had annoyed it so much.

Jack however hid the tool he had made use of and readied himself for evasive maneuvers so he could get past the badger and into its lair to search for the rune tile.

He was about to begin when one of his companions noticed something and signaled to him, when it failed to get his attention, the companion called,

"Jack!"

"What?" Jack turned as he followed the companion's pointed finger to the Earthen badger's snout.

Held tightly within its sharp-looking teeth was the Rune tile Jack had been hoping to search for in its lair.

Now there was no longer any hope of maneuvering, it needed to be a direct assault for Jack was certain the beast would not let it go easily.

Jack turned to the others (Ten of them) and signaled to begin the attack and they did.

They all ran right towards the beast with their fist packed with the full might of their cultivation bases.

Unfortunately for them, the beast was far from being a fool or a stagnant target. The moment they made their move, the badger could pinpoint their location even if they stood behind him.

It stamped a paw on the ground and a wall of earth rose before one of the attackers who was unable to stop in time and...

*Slam!*

... Smacked right into the wall.

The others were quick to learn from his encounter and keep an eye out for another example of Demon beast peculiarity.

Evading the occasional walls of earth, four of them arrived in front of the badger and surrounded him on all fronts before they closed in and punched out,

*Bam*

*Growwwl!*

At first, they were excited, mistaking the growl as one of pain instead of the annoyed sound it truly was, the beast swiped it's arm round and sent them flying far away from it.

During that action however it had been distracted and that allowed the others (Jack excluded) to surround and attack it with even more ferocity.

Somehow, almost impossibly, they were able to force the badger on the defensive although to be fair, the beast had mostly been on the defensive, this time it was just not by choice.

But even as they attacked, Jack who was surveying the scene could tell it was not going to last long. The truth was that they were even more back footed since they could not level the playing field with the use of skills.

However, they had forced the Beast enough for Jack the hunter and Ninth stager to dash in and deliver the final blow, one the Badger could not sense or defends against.

*Bam!!!*

*Howwwl!"

This time, it was a sound of pain as the beast toppled over was vanquished.

Normally this would be the time when Jack would work on retrieving the pelt and dicing up the Meat for sale but he picked the rune tile instead.

All returns from the Earthen Badger would barely amount to 10 gold coins. The tile was more valuable.

Right when he and his fellows were about to celebrate the score and then seek out other lairs, they heard the sound of multiple tiles,

*Jingle* *Jingle* *Jingle*

They turned and came face to face with well dressed upper-class scions who were there for one thing only as made evident by their pointed stare at the tile within Jack's clenched fist.

The one in the forefront. The obvious leader chanced a glance at the dead badger but was not bothered. Instead, he stretched his hand,

"Hand it over"

Jack sneered,

"Make me"

The young man chuckled with his hand still outstretched,

"Of course, if that's what you want, then I will gladly oblige"

Following his statement, the young man let out his cultivation base to show he was also at the Ninth stage.

Jack readied himself with a show of his strength as well until six more from the well dressed upper-class group released their cultivation base to reveal they were at the Night stage as well!

'...'

Jack despaired.