Chapter 225: Rose, Go Wild.

BOOM!!!

The compressed ball of wind crashed into the Triceratops with an earth-shaking explosion.

For a moment, everyone went deaf.

The forest in front of them was completely swallowed by a cloud of dirt, shattered wood, and flying stones.

The nearby trees bent violently under the pressure before several of them snapped in half, falling over one after another with loud crashes.

Raiden had to raise an arm in front of his face as dust blew straight at him. Rose tightened around his neck while Neva covered her tiny face with her limbs, peeking through the gaps with curious eyes.

"Sha Sha!!" Did big bird win??

"I don’t know yet. Don’t celebrate too early." Raiden answered, keeping his eyes fixed on the centre of the dust cloud.

Theodore stood in front of them with his chest heaving up and down. His body had lost the green glow from before, and the hand he held out toward Garuda was trembling badly.

Garuda was not doing much better.

The golden-winged eagle had landed nearby, its wings hanging low as it breathed heavily. The feathers around its body were messy, and there were several deep scratches along its side from the Triceratops’s horn.

Still, both master and Terra Beast kept their eyes forward as neither of them dared to relax.

Then the dust finally began to settle.

Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight in front of them.

The ground where the Triceratops had stood was completely destroyed. A huge crater had formed in the forest, nearly twenty metres wide, with cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.

The Triceratops lay at the centre of it all.

Its entire body was buried halfway into the ground, and its scales were covered in cuts from the compressed wind attack. Two of its horns had snapped. The remaining horn was cracked from top to bottom.

The gigantic Terra Beast tried to move once.

Its legs twitched.

Then its eyes rolled back, and it stopped moving completely.

Theodore stood still for a moment before a huge grin appeared on his face.

"I did it!!" He shouted, raising his fist in the air. "Did you see that, big sis? Did you see it? That was a Platinum-Tier Terra Beast!! A real Platinum-Tier one!!"

"Yes, yes, I saw it." Aria rushed toward him with a relieved smile. "Theo, that was amazing. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you feeling okay??"

"I’m fine." Theodore puffed out his chest proudly, trying to look as calm as possible. Before his legs immediately gave out.

Thud!!

Theodore landed on his butt with a dumbfounded expression.

Raiden looked down at him silently. Aria looked down at him silently. Even Garuda slowly turned its head away, as if it did not want to be associated with that embarrassing display.

"I said I am fine!!" Theodore shouted defensively, his face turning red. "I am just a little tired, okay? That attack took a lot of energy. It was my first time compressing such a large hurricane into one point."

"Sure, sure. Very fine." Raiden nodded seriously. "You only collapsed right after saying you were fine. That is exactly what healthy people do."

"Shut up!!" Theodore snapped, but there was no real anger in his voice.

Aria crouched beside him, checking his condition carefully. "You don’t need to force yourself, Theo. You have already done more than enough. That beast was much stronger than all the opponents we fought today."

Theodore’s expression softened after hearing her words.

He looked toward the unconscious Triceratops in the crater, then at Garuda, who was still trying to stand tall despite being exhausted.

"Back at the Inter-City Competition, I was still too weak," Theodore spoke quietly. "I saw people like Raiden and Woolie fighting, and I thought that if I worked hard enough at Archon Academy, I would catch up to them soon."

Raiden scratched his cheek, feeling slightly awkward hearing himself mentioned.

"But after entering Archon Academy, I understood how big the world is." Theodore continued. "There are too many monsters there. People stronger than me, Terra Beasts stronger than Garuda, people who trained their whole lives for battle."

He clenched his fists.

"At first, I felt frustrated. I thought I had made a mistake by going there. But now I don’t think that anymore. I have grown a lot. Maybe I am still weaker than some abnormal people around me, but I can protect the people I care about now."

Theodore turned toward Aria and gave her a bright smile.

"Big sister, don’t worry. As long as I am here, nobody will be able to hurt you."

Aria’s eyes turned slightly red.

She quickly looked away, pretending to fix her hair so nobody would notice.

"Okay." She spoke softly. "Then I will count on you, little Theo."

"Woolie Woo!!" Not bad, human. You can become one of Emperor Woolie’s generals in the future!!

Woolie stood beside Aria with his front legs crossed, looking like he was a great emperor evaluating a new soldier.

Theodore’s face twitched.

"Who wants to become your general? I have my own Terra Beast, okay? Garuda is also very strong."

"Skreee!!"

Garuda let out a tired cry from the side, clearly agreeing with its master even though it looked like it was one strong gust of wind away from falling asleep.

"Sha Sha!!" This Golden Chicken was very cool!! But Neva can make a bigger tornado too!!

Neva jumped from Raiden’s shoulder, waving her limbs excitedly.

Raiden quickly grabbed her before she could create any unnecessary weather disasters.

"Don’t start a competition right now. We just finished one battle." He rubbed her tiny head. "Also, don’t make giant tornadoes until you learn how to clean them up afterward."

"Sha..." Neva lowered her head in disappointment.

Rose, who had been watching quietly from Raiden’s neck, tilted her little head toward the unconscious Triceratops.

"Hiss Hiss??" Is it dead? Can Rose drink its blood now??

"No."

"Hiss..." Rose looked genuinely sad.

Raiden sighed. Why did every one of his Terra Beasts have such strange hobbies? Woolie wanted to fight everything that moved. Neva wanted to play and blow up random things. Rose saw every living creature as a juice box.

This was not a team but a group of future criminals being raised by an unemployed farmer.

"Alright, enough talking." Raiden clapped his hands together. "Theodore needs rest, Garuda needs treatment, and we should get back to the camp before something else comes looking for us."

Theodore nodded and began feeding Garuda a few recovery crystals from his storage ring. The golden eagle swallowed them gratefully before its breathing slowly began to stabilise.

Just as everyone started preparing to move back, the ground suddenly trembled.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The sound was distant at first, then it came again.

Theodore froze in the middle of putting away his crystals. His face slowly turned pale as he looked toward the dark forest ahead.

Aria’s earlier smile vanished as well.

"That sound..." Theodore whispered in a weary voice as Raiden’s eyes narrowed.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The trees in the distance started falling one after another.

A huge silhouette broke through the forest, then another one appeared beside it.

Then another. Then one more.

Four gigantic Triceratops walked out from the trees, their red eyes fixed directly on the unconscious beast lying inside the crater. Each one was larger than the previous opponent, and the pressure coming from their bodies was enough to make the air feel heavy.

"Four Platinum-Tier Triceratops..." Theodore muttered, his lips turning dry.

Garuda tried to spread its wings again, but its body shook from exhaustion. It had barely managed to defeat one of these monsters after using everything it had. Now there were four.

Aria took a step back unconsciously.

Theodore gritted his teeth and moved in front of her despite his pale face.

"Big sister, stay behind me." His voice shook a little, but he stubbornly stood in front of her. "Raiden, take Aria and run. I will try to buy you some time."

"You?" Raiden looked at him strangely. "You can barely stand."

"I can still fight!!" Theodore shouted. "Even if I can’t win, I have to try. I promised I would protect her."

The four Triceratops lowered their heads.

Their horns began glowing with a deep yellow light as the entire forest shook as they prepared to charge.

Raiden looked at Theodore’s trembling back, then at Aria, whose face had turned completely white.

He let out a quiet sigh.

"Why are you acting like this is some final battle?" Raiden asked calmly.

Theodore turned back toward him in disbelief. "What do you mean? There are four Platinum-Tier Terra Beasts in front of us!!"

"Exactly." Raiden nodded. "It’s just 4 Platinums, not that big of a deal to be honest."

He gently lifted Rose from around his neck and placed her in both hands.

The little crimson serpent looked up at him with shining eyes.

"Rose." Raiden smiled lightly. "Can you take care of them?"

"Hiss Hiss!!" Of course, Rai Rai!!

Rose’s expression brightened instantly as she flicked her tiny tail.

Behind them, the blood of the unconscious

Triceratops rose slowly from the crater, floating through the air in thick crimson streams.

The blood twisted in the sky, then, one by one, it formed into dozens of enormous crimson spears, each one pointing directly toward the approaching Platinum-Tier Terra Beasts.

"Alright, Rose, Go Wild."