Pilate Yeshua, Captain of the 25th Beast Extermination Squadron, coldly watched the battle from atop his steed. The forty-seven-year-old man was no stranger to the horrors of war, having been steeped in bloodshed since he was twelve. Due to his upbringing, Yeshua watched with an apathetic gaze as the beastkin bitterly fought the contracted hybrids.

Yeshua’s gaze narrowed as he watched a lycan crush a soul pet’s head with his bare hands. The captain hated and envied the beastkin’s supernatural strength that allowed some of their members to go toe-to-toe with the strongest soul monsters. Once upon a time, humans cowered in the face of that overwhelming power. However, the situation had long since changed. Humans didn’t need to fear that power. They had created an overwhelming strength of their own!

As Yeshua expected, several soul monsters immediately surrounded and slaughtered that beastkin. That was right. Quantity could beat Quality!

Since the battle was going as expected, Yeshua took the time to inspect his troops. Roughly one hundred humans stood in the backline, leaving about ninety-some hybrids to confront the beastkin head-on. Of the hundred humans, only the sixty-or-so Soul Students could be considered battle-ready. He brought the remaining Soul Apprentices so they could remain in proximity to their hybrid contractees.

The slave contract forced on the suicide squad had one glaring weakness: Proximity. Unlike a regular contract, the contractee could unilaterally break the slave contract if they escaped far enough. Unfortunately, the slave contract also gave the contractor to induce a cardiac arrest at any time on the contractee. So, fleeing was usually not an option. Soul Apprentices needed to stay within one kilometer of their contractees while Soul Students must remain within five kilometers for the contract to stay effective. Soul Soldiers like Yeshua could push that boundary to fifty kilometers before it began to lose its effects.

To avoid splitting the squadron and ensure the hybrids were battling right, Yeshua kept his soldiers just behind the frontlines. Now and then, a beastkin would try to attack them, but the drilled soldiers’ soul pets made short work of them.

Despite the battle’s smoothness, Yeshua’s brows grew increasingly furrowed with each passing second. He surreptitiously glanced at the walkie-talkie in his right hand, wondering what was taking Denuchi so long. The lycan was always prompt in his missions. This was the first time he had delayed this long.

Yeshua closed his eyes and ‘sensed’ Denuchi’s location. Sure enough, he sensed the lycan lurking within the mountains, which meant he should be in Lazuli Caverns. Unfortunately, while he could feel Denuchi’s location, he could not figure out what the lycan was thinking or doing. For all Yeshua knew, Denuchi could be in the middle of a fight, sleeping or getting thrown in a cell.

Frustrated, Yeshua was about to order the hybrids to increase their aggressiveness when his hairs suddenly stood on end.

Danger!

Years of honed instinct guided Yeshua to duck to the side. Whoosh! The captain paled as an arrow whistled past him arrow fly past. He quickly turned around, and his brows furrowed when he saw a soldier clutching his bleeding throat in shock.

As the soldier collapsed, a hybrid suddenly shouted, “I’m free!” and immediately turned to flee. Unfortunately, he did not make it far before another hybrid drove a sword through his throat. Yeshua had a rule that any escaped hybrid was the squad’s responsibility. If that hybrid had successfully run, Yeshua would have executed the remaining members.

Yeshua’s collective responsibility rule ensured very few hybrids managed to escape even if their masters died.

Yeshua barely had time to register the hybrid’s death when that feeling of danger returned. “Yulik, Bane Shield!”

Following Yeshua’s command, Yulik, his Globe-Trodding Demon Steed, stomped its hooves against the ground. Vwoosh! A column of dark aura stormed out from the ground and enveloped the duo in a dark ball.

Clang!

Yeshua angrily glared at the arrow that bounced harmlessly off the dark ball. The assailant aimed the second arrow at Yulik! Fortunately, he caught the arrow’s trajectory and tracked it to a watchtower roughly 100-meters away. Unfortunately, Bane Shield was a stationary skill, so it temporarily restricted Yeshua for ten seconds.

The assailant seemed to know they were caught as several arrows indiscriminately flew out moments later.

“Scatter!” Yeshua ordered to avoid getting caught in the flurry. “Damn it! I thought we took care of the archers!” Unfortunately, many soldiers failed to scatter in time despite his best efforts, resulting in over a dozen casualties. Worse yet, the assailant used poison-tipped arrowheads, so a nick was enough to kill the slacking soldiers.

Seeing the writhing corpses, Yeshua angrily roared, “Get that archer! NOW!” A sharp cry drew Yeshua’s attention to a brawl between the escaping and contracted hybrids. “And stop those foolish hybrids!”

Rao Wu, on his end, watched the chaos with a satisfied smirk. The hybrids’ infighting released more beastkin to attack the Extermination Squadron directly. He couldn’t hear Yeshua over the battle sounds, but he imagined the captain was very much frustrated right now. Rao Wu, however, was far from done.

Most test candidates would have focused on completing the objective as efficiently as possible. Rao Wu, however, never forgot his real purpose for taking this test: getting stronger with his soul pets!

Skree!

Rao Wu smirked when he spotted several Storm Eagles storming in his direction. The aerial units had arrived. It was time to skedaddle! Rao Wu jumped down from the watchtower as several wind columns blasted it to bits. The youth fell into a roll that carried him into a nearby building.

The aerial units did not follow him inside, waiting instead for Rao Wu to emerge. It turned out they made the right decision as roughly ten seconds later, Rao Wu jumped out of a window and then ran into the thick of the battlefield. The aerial units swiftly chased after the fleeing youth, shooting wind pillars that shattered rock and stone to dust.

In their haste to pursue, the aerial units failed to notice a Steelback Ape and Dusklight Wolf emerge from the same building moments later.

Ju Tu and Xian Da, following Rao Wu’s earlier instructions, chased after the group from behind, looking to ‘naturally’ join the battle. Ju Tu and Xian Da chose not to bite off more than they could chew, choosing to join the defected hybrids’ side to fight the remaining hybrids’ soul monsters.

Ju Tu, as usual, stood at the forefront, utilizing its powerful muscles to bash its way through the contracted hybrids’ soul pets. Due to the chaos, the contracted hybrids could not initiate a joint attack against Ju Tu, allowing it to dominate one-on-one battles.

Roughly seventy meters away, Yeshua’s eyes turned bloodshot as he glared at Ju Tu. “Whose soul pet is that!? You bastards didn’t detect a general-rank soul pet!?” Yeshua fumed at his lieutenants, but this was not the time to get prissy. “What’re you waiting for!? Go assist them before it routs the lot!”

Five soldiers summoned their soul pets and then charged in Ju Tu’s direction, looking to kill it quickly.

However, Rao Wu, who had been fleeing from the birds, suddenly turned and charged to intercept these soul trainers. Rao Wu gritted his teeth as he weaved through buildings to avoid the aerial units while closing in on the advancing party. Explosions and death reigned around the youth, but he kept his eyes peeled on the intersection where Ju Tu was currently battling seven soul pets by itself. The Steelback Ape used a steel beam it picked up from god-knows-where to smack the opposing monsters and keep them at bay.

Rao Wu knew, however, that would be no good when reinforcements reached it.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant in charge of the seven reinforcements wore a vicious expression once he was roughly 10 meters away from Ju Tu. Pausing, he raised his hand and then ordered his Black-Tooth Jackal to attack Ju Tu’s exposed back. The other Soul Students also ordered their Jackals to attack the unsuspecting Steelback Ape.

Within the blink of an eye, five monsters were attacking Ju Tu from behind. Adding to the seven that it was already fighting, that was a frightening number! Several freed hybrids lamented this powerful monster’s loss, and some even tried to rush to Ju Tu’s aid.

Unfortunately, the contracted hybrids stood in their way, preventing them from saving the Steelback Ape.

“Aaack!”

Just when everyone gave up on Ju Tu, the leading lieutenant suddenly let out a sharp cry as he clutched his bleeding throat. The surrounding soldiers barely registered the cry before another rang out as a different soldier clutched their throat in agony. This time, the soldiers saw the culprit.

A small Dusklight Wolf cub fell to the ground and then ‘sank’ into the soldier’s shadow. The keen-eyed ones spotted a little shadow then slide from that man’s shadow into another soldier’s.

“Keane, watch out!”

Keane quickly pointed his sword at the ground as he waited for Xian Da to emerge. Shockingly, this time, only Xian Da’s paw emerged to tear the man’s ankle before sinking once more into the shadows.

Keane groaned in pain as he doubled over in pain, but fortunately, he did not have to suffer too long. A gray-furred kafu child wielding a bone dagger suddenly appeared in his vision. Keane barely let out a groan before that dagger sliced his throat and then left him for dead.

“You!” One of the remaining two soldiers roared in anger as he raised his sword to cut down Rao Wu.

Rao Wu, however, ignored this soldier, and instead, threw his bone dagger at the second. As the second soldier blocked the projectile with her blade, Xian Da burst out of Rao Wu’s shadow and bit the first soldier’s unguarded leg.

Taking advantage of the second soldiers’ need to rebalance herself, Rao Wu spun around and raked his claws across the stunned first soldier’s throat.

Efficiency above style.

Raised in the jungle, Rao Wu always went for the kill when he attacked. As that soldier crumbled to the ground, Xian Da fell into Rao Wu’s Shadow, and then jumped out once more, aiming for the last soldier.

The soldier paled when she saw Xian Da and immediately let out a shrill cry that stunned the cub. [Banshee’s Scream] was a soul technique that mimicked banshees. It unleashed a piercing sound wave that momentarily stunned the victim for two to three seconds.

Typically, this might have spelled the end for Xian Da, but Rao Wu jumped over the incapacitated cub, caught his dagger that was still spinning in the air from the initial recoil, and then kicked the soldier’s sword.

Boom!

The soldier coughed up blood as she crashed into a wall. Rao Wu, never one to give up a kill, swiftly closed the distance and drove his dagger into her throat before she recovered.

…

Silence reigned over the battlefield as humans, hybrids, and beastkin looked at the bloodsoaked Rao Wu with shock and fear.

Rao Wu took advantage of the momentary pause to calm his breath as he retreated. He looked around, taking stock of the current situation. His sudden attack sparked a volatile reaction as the deaths freed five more hybrids. First, the released soul pets entered [Blood-Frenzy].

Blood Frenzy occurred when a soul pet’s master perished during combat. The backlash from the broken contract sent the soul pet into a blood frenzy where it looked to avenge its master. Preferably, by slaughtering its master’s killer. However, failing that, the soul pet would attack any living creatures in the vicinity until its madness passed.

The Black-Tooth Jackals, following their soul trainers’ deaths, immediately turned to hunt down Rao Wu. The youth surprisingly chose not to confront them head-on. Instead, he turned and dashed toward the humans. He wanted to use this brief period where they were still scattered to sow some more chaos. He mainly targeted the Soul Apprentices because they lacked a soul pet by their side (the hybrids used up their summon spot).

Meanwhile, the five newly-freed hybrids immediately joined their companions in fighting off the contracted hybrids.

Yeshua, unfortunately, read the child’s intentions. “Don’t hold back! Summon your soul pets and join the fight! Show these fools the power of the human empire!” Following Yeshua’s shout, the soldiers stopped holding back and charged into the fray with their soul pets.

Once again, the balance of power swiftly swung in the humans’ favor as they began pressuring the beastkin with superior numbers. During this debacle, the beastkin formed a reluctant alliance with the freed hybrids as both sides fought for their lives and freedom.

Rao Wu, meanwhile, remained a constant thorn in the humans’ side. Unlike other beastkin, the irritating kafu never fought head-on. Instead, he jumped into buildings, launched sneak attacks from rooftops, and harassed unsuspecting combatants with stone and sand. The young child’s shameless techniques drew the humans’ ire, but none dared to chase him too far for fear of losing their formation. Without each others’ protection, Rao Wu could easily kill them.

Meanwhile, Ju Tu and Xian Da formed an incredibly dangerous duo as they killed their way through humans, hybrids, and soul pets. Utilizing a similar strategy to the one used with Rao Wu, Xian Da stayed in Ju Tu’s shadow as he charged through the battlefield, jumping out at unexpected times to attack ankles or go for the jugular when the opportunity presented itself.

Xian Da and Ju Tu’s cooperation got smoother the longer they fought. At one stage, three Black-Tooth Jackals jumped at Ju Tu from different directions. The Steelback Ape, confident in its partner, focused on two of the three assailants, leaving its back wide-open.

When the Black-Tooth Jackals reached the four-meter mark, Xian Da suddenly jumped out of Ju Tu’s shadow and then ran up the Steelback Ape’s back.

The Black-Tooth Jackals, who kept an eye on the ground, overlooked Xian Da until he leaped off the Steelback Ape. By the time they noticed, Xian Da had already dropped onto the last Black-Tooth Jackal’s back.

Without giving it a chance to recover, Xian Da unleashed Punishing Claws! The devastating attack tore a sizable hole on the Black-Tooth Jackals’ neck, sending blood spurting into the air!

Xian Da jumped off the monster’s back as it crumbled to the ground with pained cries and then sunk into its shadow. Utilizing Shadow Dance, Xian Da closed the three-meter distance to Ju Tu’s shadow, and then ‘swam’ through the beam’s shadow extended from Ju Tu’s.

The beam’s shadow coincidentally connected with a charging Black-Tooth Jacka’s shadow. At the one-meter mark, just as the Black-Tooth Jackal was about to jump at Ju Tu, Rao Wu burst out beneath its exposed belly and tore its stomach open with Punshing Claws.

Ju Tu, meanwhile, dropped the beam just as Rao Wu emerged, and then caught the last Black-Tooth Jackal by the throat. With a ferocious roar, it squeezed hard and crushed the monster’s throat.

Yeshua’s eyes were turning red at this point as he watched Ju Tu and Xian Da. He could not afford to send any more forces that way as it would weaken his carefully planned formation. “Find those monsters’ trainer! I don’t care where they’re hiding! Dig them out!” Yeshua never, for one second, considered they might be Rao Wu’s soul pets.

Beastkin could not contract soul monsters—this was an undeniable fact!

Just as Yeshua considered joining the battle himself, a significant change occurred in the beastkin ranks as a messenger brought a message from the underground town.

Following the terrible news, the beastkin instantly switched tactics, choosing to retreat into the tunnels slowly.

Around the same time, the walkie-talkie finally came alive with a burst of static. “Captain. We have obtained the Shamans’ Orb, but the beastkin blocked our escape. We’ll need to fight them off, so please prevent reinforcements from arriving, or we’ll get sandwiched.”

Yeshua cursed. No matter what, the Shamans’ Orb took priority. He could not let the beastkin army return to the city unchallenged. Thus, he ordered, “Chase them! We must obtain the Shamans’ Orb no matter what! I don’t care if we have to kill the entire city!”

Following Yeshua’s shout, the soldiers rapidly chased the beastkin and freed hybrids into the tunnels.

Rao Wu met up with an exhausted Ju Tu and Xian Da within the tunnels. The hybrid then muttered from within the host of hybrids. “Come back, Ju Tu.”

Ju Tu disappeared into a ball of light and then charged into Rao Wu’s chest. Fortunately, the tunnel was poorly lit, so the hybrids could not tell which of them recalled the Steelback Ape.

Of course, just like Yeshua, no one suspected the beastkin child.

Xian Da, meanwhile, silently sunk into Rao Wu’s shadow and then followed the youth as he prepared for the battle’s next phase.

Rao Wu licked his lips as he looked at the hybrids and humans chasing behind. “Xian Da, this is your stage. Go Wild!”