Chapter 71: - 71: Your Future Chief!

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Your Future Chief!

The beast in the cage thrashed its body against the cage’s bars and erupted into horrifying screeches, the type Xavier was well familiar with.

SKREEEEEAAARGH—!! RRAAAAKH!! GRAAAAHHH!!

"Now, you may face it alone or form a team to defeat it," the chief said, looking over the youth gathered in the plaza that had just become an arena. Four young warriors stepped forward—three boys and a girl—showing their willingness to face the beast together. The crowd cheered as they advanced. Other warriors moved back, giving them room.

Three of them carried weapons, short swords carved from bone, a long spear, the girl had a bow across her back. One warrior stood empty-handed, relying only on his fists.

"Release the beast," the chief ordered.

The bars of the cage fell open and the dreadhorn shot out, charging straight at the four warriors.

SKREEE—AAARGH!! HSSSKREECH!!

The girl immediately drew her bow and loosed an arrow between its legs, it struck one of the beast’s low-hanging balls and pierced it. The dreadhorn screeched in pain but did not stop, though its movements grew shaky.

GRAAAAHHH—!! SKREEEEE!!

The warrior with the short swords raced forward, slid between the beast’s legs, and leapt onto its back. He dragged both blades in a deep, long cut from shoulder to waist, slicing open its hide.

RRAAAARGH!!

The spearman kept his distance and stabbed at the dreadhorn’s chin. At the same time the man behind it scored small cuts across its ankles, making the beast lose its footing, falling on it’s back.

HSSSKREE—AAARGH!!

The unarmed warrior jumped. His fists darkened and hardened into stone. He landed squarely on the dreadhorn’s chest and began raining heavy blows onto its face, knocking out teeth. He did not stop. Blow after blow crushed the skull until the face was reduced to minced meat.

GRRK—!! SKREEE... ghhh...

The crowd’s cheers never faded throughout the fight. The Imperial Academy students watched in awe. Four Bloodmoor warriors no older than themselves had just taken down a full-grown dreadhorn on their own, while it had taken a hundred academy students to deal with only three.

"Aren’t these guys the same age as us? How are they so strong?" Allen asked.

"They grew up in these woods. They would know how to deal with the beasts that live here," Henry replied.

"But they didn’t even use its weak point—the horns," Allen said.

The girl with the bow, standing near them, overheard. "And where would be the fun in that?" she answered, then walked over to the fallen beast without waiting for a reply.

To the Bloodmoor tribe these creatures were both a necessity and a sport. Hunting them was essential for survival—meat for food, fur for clothing—but they took clear enjoyment from the challenge as well.

A few more beasts followed the dreadhorn: oversized wolves, bloodthirsty boars.

Groups of four or five young warriors dealt with each one in turn, marking their coming of age before the entire village. The crowd ate the freshly prepared meat while enjoying the spectacle. Some of the older warriors held themselves back from joining in the fun, knowing it would be disrespectful to the young ones the ceremony was meant for.

Kaya remained behind through every fight. She joined no team until all the others had finished and she was the only one left in the plaza who had not yet fought.

"Kaya, my daughter, do you plan to fight alone? We have no more low-level beasts," the chief asked.

Allen’s face fell at the words "low-level beast." Those were the same creatures the academy students had struggled against all morning.

"I will be the next chief. How can I hunt a low-level beast in front of all my people?" Kaya answered. "It will be harder than anything before, but I do not plan to fight it alone." She turned and looked straight at Xavier. "This paleskin will be joining me." She pointed her finger directly at him.

"Rora!" Professor Freya shouted. "I will not allow this. My students are unrelated to your ceremony. Leave them out of it."

Rora looked at Freya, listened, but did not answer her. Instead, he turned back to Kaya.

"Even if I allow you to bend some rules, asking for help from an outsider in this sacred ceremony is too much."

"I’m not asking for help," Kaya replied. "He wants to join the ceremony himself, and he is of age. Why shouldn’t we allow it?"

Rora looked at Freya. "You heard my daughter. If joining is the boy’s wish and he respects the way of our ceremony, then he may join."

Freya was surprised. She turned to Xavier. "Did you really ask that girl to let you participate?"

The situation was spiraling. It was clear Kaya had maneuvered him into this. He had never asked to join the ceremony, but he had accepted her invitation to the "game." If this was all a game to her, then so be it. Xavier stepped forward.

"Yes, Professor. I don’t mind taking part."

A smile curved on Kaya’s lips as she waited for him in the arena.

"Are you sure about this? You are not being forced, are you?" Freya asked, concern clear in her voice.

Xavier did not budge. "No, Professor. It’s all right. I want to do this." He walked past her into the arena and stood beside Kaya.

"You played a nice little trick on me there," he said.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Kaya replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Go ahead—bring out the beast!" the chief called.

His tribesmen dragged forward another cage, larger than the rest.

"All of my people, tonight we will witness my daughter—your future chief—mark her adulthood before your eyes as she hunts the most horrifying beast of the outer regions of these Red Forests," the chief announced.

At his signal the tribesmen pulled the thick ropes. The front bars of the cage swung open and a huge, slithering figure crawled out onto the arena floor. More than ten meters long, it had deep green eyes with vertical pupils and large, dark, shield-like navy-blue scales. A basilisk.

It wriggled into the open space, coiled its body, and raised its head. Its eyes scanned the crowd, then fixed on Xavier and Kaya in the center. A long, forked tongue flickered out. Venomous fangs gleamed at the sides of its closed jaw.

HSSSSSSSSSK... HSSSSSSSSAAAH