Chapter 376 - Fear

"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

Shadow is breathing hard as he leaned his back against a lonely stone column with an annoyed expression on his face while gripping his dual daggers tightly in his hands.

"Sh*t, is this some kind of a horror game or something?" mumbled Shadow in frustration as he hid from his attacker that attacked him a few moments ago, and if it wasn't for his abnormally fast reflexes even with the difference in their levels.

He would have died by the monster's attack in a single blow!

"Growl!!"

An almost two meter in height and three meters meters in length quadrupedal monster that looks like it was bred from the combination of a tiger and lion, along with the muscular body of a saber tooth tiger, is currently stalking Shadow as it slowly circled around the stone column while sniffing the air.

[Lv. ??? Blade Liger]

On the other hand, Shadow is also doing the same thing with his back against the wall as he's trying to think of ways to escape from his current predicament while trying to avoid the monster for as much as possible.

'I don't have much time. This bastard would slowly realize sooner or later that I'm hiding on the opposite side of this damn tall rock, and by then, I'm dead! Think, think, think!'

Shadow was a little anxious, and it wasn't because he's scared by the monster, but he's scared at the thought of him dying and wasting all the time and effort he had taken to reach this place.

Even with his anxiousness, he was still able to look calmly at his surroundings and formulate a plan for a narrow escape, and he just needed something, like an opportunity that would allow him to distract the Blade Liger for even just a second!

Unfortunately for him, he can't spot anything other than rocks, rocks, rock!

'Will I really fail here when I'm already this close to my goal?' thought Shadow in frustration.

An emotion he hadn't felt in a long time now and had been constantly having it.

He was frustrated not because he lacked skills, but at the level gap that is hard to bridge no matter how skilled you are.

Be it if you are an assassin, a special forces soldier, or even a god!

Just as the saying goes, all is fair in love and war, even in games!

'Tsk! Even with the help of Aron, I'm not sure if both of us can take on this Blade Liger' Shadow frowned, and he had this feeling inside him that the monster on the other side of the stone column might have already figured out that he had never left, but just a trick all along as he could already feel the changing tension in the air!!

Shadow quickly changed his weapon from dual daggers to his bastard sword, and summoned Aron beside him.

'Dammit, it seems I have no choice but to face it head on!'

"Roaaar!!!"

He had just finished having that thought when an angry roar reverberated from the other side of the stone column.

"Here goes nothing!"

"Groaaar!!"

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Shadow gave a yell to encourage himself, gripped his sword tightly, and had just charged out from his hiding place when that domineering roar reverberated throughout the canyon, followed by the ground shaking!

He quickly recognized that roar, and he couldn't help but curse inside, 'Crap!'

"Roaaar!"

And the monster he dreaded meeting the most appeared from his direction from another trail at the side.

[Lv. ??? Earth Drake]

And it appeared, the monster that looks like a Tyrannosaurus Rex's brother from another mother, followed by its youngling!

"Sh*t! Seriously!? How can my luck be this bad ever since I got here!? Had I used up all of my luck during my regression!?"

Shadow couldn't help but angrily cursed now that he's stuck between two apex predators!

At the same time, the Blade Liger's attention had already turned towards the Earth Drake as it kept letting out a threatening growl towards the latter.

Shadow, he, an apex predator among humanity, had now become a small prey between these two behemoths, and he doesn't feel good about it.

'This sucks!'

"Screeech!!!"

With the blood of an Empyrean Beast flowing through his veins.

Aron didn't want to lose out as he also let out a threatening screech even though it was shaking in fear, but it kept hissing towards the two, which surprised Shadow as he wasn't expecting those actions from his furry little friend.

"Awesome! But warn me next time, that shit hurts in the ears!" said Shadow to his partner as he could still hear a little ringing noise inside his head.

With that sudden screech from Aron, it had successfully grabbed the attention of the two predators towards it, which made it flinch as its fur stood on end.

"Eh??"

But the most surprising thing soon followed, which really baffled Shadow as he was slack jawed in surprise!

"Whimper~!"

The Blade Liger actually showed a look of fear when it finally noticed the little rabbit beside Shadow's feet and whimpered as it slowly started backing away like it had just met its mother holding a broom, ready to beat it up the Asian way!

"Roar~!"

At the same time, the Earth Drake also let out a whimpering roar with its body slightly shaking as it also started slowly backing away, while its youngling kept letting out a noise like it was confused about why its mother is scared from such a small monster that's even smaller than she is.

With no moment's hesitation, the three monsters fled from the scene.

"Wow, aren't you amazing~?" said Shadow, still reeling in shock as he couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Aro~!" Aron slumped on its butt on the ground as it let out a sigh of relief like it also couldn't believe what just happened.

Snap!

While staring at Aron with surprise, Shadow suddenly snapped his fingers as he also realized another thing ever since they arrived at Dragon Valley!

"So you were the reason why! Ahh! I'm so dumb! How could I not have noticed such an important detail!?" said Shadow as he slapped his forehead in realization and frustration.

It was when Shadow first arrived at Dragon Valley that no monsters came attacking them, and that was when Aron was accompanying him, but when Aron was gone and back at the Pet Space.

Monsters would magically appear and come attacking Shadow, and that strange event happened a few times, but Shadow never realized it because he might have been too conscious of the surrounding dangers inside the valley, and he might have just viewed those events as coincidences.

"But why though? I can understand that you are of Empyrean Beast lineage, but you're still small and can't really threaten those monsters" said Shadow with a tilt of his head while watching Aron, as he couldn't really understand the fear behind those monsters earlier.

Of course, Shadow would have that kind of question as he doesn't know that the society of humans and monsters aren't the same.

Shadow wouldn't hesitate to kill someone bad even if that person is the child of a country's emperor or king.

The monsters on the other hand might think twice, especially towards those powerful monster tribes with low population.

And the Jade Rabbits is one of them, their reproduction rate is so low that it's even worse than the elven tribes.

But they compensate for their low numbers with their strength and their vengeful spirit.

And Shadow had just witnessed first hand how scary a vengeful tribe could do even with the mere presence of one of their younglings that it could even scare those scary lesser dragons.

The downside is that their scary reputation only applies to those monsters who could already think for themselves and doesn't rely on their primal instincts.

Monsters who kill anything weaker than them as long as it's considered food in their eyes.

"Shit~! You're not leaving my side now, you're going to become my monster repellent from this moment onwards!" said Shadow with a devilish laugh while staring at Aron with a mischievous look.

"Aro~!"

Aron could only let out a shriek of resignation when he saw the expression on Shadow's face, as it knew that its leisurely life had just come to an end.

Half an hour later.

Shadow arrived beside a small clean pond in the middle of the valley with Aron in tow, and when he was just about to refill his empty jug of water.

He suddenly slowly stood straight back up when a sudden realization hit him!

"Shit~! That bitch must have known about Aron, and she didn't tell me!"