81 A Liger

The sun had risen and it was time for them to continue their journey.

Malakas flew into the air and they set off. Lindorm was still on his mind. The pressure that he felt from the Drako wasn't something he could erase from his mind. The rest of them were able to recover easily, but for someone as old as him, it was distressing. After all this time, he still hadn't broken through to transcendence.

"Hey, snap out of it. I know what you're feeling, but with your new contract, you will have talent like no other. Ghost here has been with me for under a year and he has risen from the lower solider level to the lower elder level." Raikou could feel Malakas' emotions through their lifeblood contract, so he transmitted his voice into his mind to alleviate the sorrow he was feeling right now.

Malakas nodded in response and continued flapping his huge wings.

A huge screaming sound was heard behind them, but Malakas ignored it and continued on its path.

"Malakas, slow down, and Ghost, go check it out." Raikou was curious to see what it was, but his mount was still in the dumps, so he didn't want to make him do something he didn't want to do, which was evident in his reluctance to turn around.

Ghost dove off Malakas and wings slowly came out of his back. He flew towards the source of the sound while they waited.

"Wait! How can you fly?" Malakas was confused. He hadn't seen Ghost with any wings in all the time they had been together, and that was why he let him ride on his back.

"Well if I told you I had wings, then would you have let me relax on your back?" Ghost laughed and shouted back at him.

Malakas snorted in response.

"How does he have wings? Your group gets weirder everytime I turn to look." Satella whispered in amazement.

"Why can't he have wings? I am badass, so my companions will also be badass." Raikou was feeling quite smug with their reactions to Ghost's wings.

(A/N: For all you that commented about this in the last chapter. How do you like them apples?)

He looked over to see Ghost flying back with something cradled in his arms. As he got closer, the thing started to become more visible.

It was a small lion. Or was it a tiger? Raikou couldn't tell. He inspected it to be sure.

Name: Shimba

Cultivation: Rank 3 1st Level | Age: 1

Species: Liger

(A/N: Anybody get the reference?)

A liger. Raikou had heard about such a creature back on Earth, but they were notorious for having extremely short lifespans. It was nature's way of balancing everything out, as they were born to be the apex of apex predators.

Ghost landed on Malakas' back and placed the small Liger down. "He was dropped out of the sky by an unknown entity. I wasn't able to get a proper look, because he was already falling when I got there, so all my focus was on saving him."

Placing his hand on the Liger's body, he could feel that it was slowly dying. There were no visible wounds on its body, so all the damage must be internal.

A bright light shone from his palm as he activated Blessing of Healing on the small cub. It was his first time using the skill on a target that was close to death, so he was quite nervous.

With time, the cub's heartbeat slowly rose in pace.

"He's going to live." Raikou sighed in relief and took a look at his energy bar.

Energy: 2140/3400

It was his first time checking, but it seems that healing someone on the verge of death sapped alot out of him. At his current cultivation, he could recover 500 energy in an hour, so he wasn't too worried about losing that much.

A whimpering sound left the cub as it slowly stood up. It wasn't able to speak until rank 4, so it looked at them with perplexion.

"Elves are inherently able to transmit their voices into the mind of others and receive the transmission back, so let me talk to him." Satella reached her hand out and put it on the Liger's head. He was reluctant at first, but he was able to recognise the lack of badwill towards him, so he didn't resist.

After a minute, she smiled and the cub leapt into her arms.

"I told him that we were going to the Ferus continent and we heard his screams, so we saved him. He doesn't have any memory of how he got here, but he said that his parents lived in a castle with beasts like them all around." Satella explained the conversation they had, which filled in some of the blanks.

The Liger was clearly from the Ferus continent, which was convenient for them. They could find his parents and explore along the way.

"They must be some bigshots to be living in a castle, so we may be able to get some rewards aswell. We'd be killing two birds with one stone." Raikou laughed.

Satella glared at him for insensitive words and he halted his laughter instantly.

Ghost coughed, "Whipped."

"What did you say?" His eyes darted towards Ghost as he asked with rage building up.

"Ahem, nothing. I said we're going to be reaching the continent soon."

Although that sounded nothing like what he said, Raikou let it go and sat down to look at the Liger cub. The cub was extremely big for its age, but what shocked him the most was that it was a rank 3 beast at the age of 1. It seems even on Epsilon, Ligers are a special species.

If it wasn't for Shimba having a family, Raikou would've attempted to form a contract with it, but he didn't want beast companions that had other ties to the world. It was a sticky situation to be around.

"Onwards to the beasts, again!"