Chapter 012: Shadow Domain; Twilight Beast

Tian Lang, the now miserable pup, ran past the mountains and woods. He had underestimated the resilience of the two-legged creatures.

Low in number?

He wanted to flip some mountains and destroy more forests. They exasperated him that much.

They were slow, extremely slow. However, they came after him time and time again. More annoyingly, they always ignored the leopard beside him and targeted him as if they met their mortal enemy.

Whether it was at the dead of the night or under an unassuming bush, they hit him accurately as if he had a light that attracted all the two-legged creatures to him.

While he tried to fight them head-on, the leopard always hindered him. Naturally, his dissatisfaction toward this cowardly leopard knew no bound. He let it follow him but it wished to control his action?

Unforgivable!

As expected, a fight broke out between Tian Lang and the leopard.

But the result brought many surprises.

If the Shadow Leopard before proved tricky to deal with, now after its evolution and [Shadow Movement] it was straight annoying. Let alone the fact hitting it became harder, even the ones that landed phased through its body, kicking only air.

If it fought back Tian Lang could possibly find some weakness but it only dodged his attacks, never retaliating.

Maybe his only living grace was, the strong creatures, the ones with two mounds of flesh, appeared only once.

It was the same maid with the burly creature. They had extra two other creatures who stood before them.

The mighty Tian Lang obviously wanted to fight since their number went down by a huuuge~ amount! However, the hateful Shadow Leopard dragged him once again. Two attacks even landed on its body but it managed to flee successfully. Dumping him in a deep cave, it entered the ground to recover.

The exact moment Tian Lang had been waiting for!

For the last two days, he had no freedom. He had to get stronger and get rid of this leopard once and for all!

And now that the leopard was gone, he could fight with those two-legged creatures and grow stronger by eating them.

'Ah~

'How blissful they would taste.'

Tian Lang only pierced their skin once. Even then he knew without a doubt, they were absolutely soft and juicy. Their taste should be without an equal likewise!

He didn't want to eat the weak ones among two-legged creatures. He pledged to eat the mighty ones with twin fleshy mounds! For the mighty pup, only mighty dishes could fill his palate.

Right, wasn't there one among those four?

He must kill the others and eat that one.

Even Tian Lang himself knew as soon as the leopard disappeared, he would fight those two-legged creatures. How could the leopard whose thoughts were more flexible and experienced not know that?

It also understood Tian Lang the most in this world, and without a doubt more than Tian Lang himself!

Then, was there any possibility that the Shadow Leopard, which decided to follow him for the lifetime, would let him fall under the hands of those cunning two-legged creatures, who was searching for Tian Lang like hungry wolves?

Simply no.

As Tian Lang took a step outside the cave, his shadow flickered.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. Eyes sharp, he looked at the cave interior.

There, he saw a hole which wasn't there just a moment ago!

With cautious steps, he neared the hole. Poking his head, he found a vast interior and the still darkness which hindered him from getting an accurate extent. His paws had already stepped inside the darkness.

Two-legged creatures? What's that?

Tian Lang, the quick-learning pup had extremely good focus. Once he settled to do something, he never looked back. Indeed, however, only as long as something else didn't take his attention. Whenever it happened, he almost forgot the last thing in a matter of a heartbeat.

He had good focus, but his attention sucked.

Watching the weird behaviors of Tian Lang for days, the Shadow Leopard understood his simple mindset and created this stage for him.

During their escape, it chanced upon this Shadow Domain gate. If possible, it never wished to step on this place but the leopard knew, the last two that appeared had strength unmatchable to Moqi and Bi-Gao.

Powerwise, they hardly matched Tian Lang but how could Tian Lang, who struggled against those weaker than him, hope to defeat them? He had great strength and experience against beasts. But with his level of power, his experience was abysmal. Especially those creatures that relied on magical tools and even summoning beasts. They defeated opponents stronger than themselves.

Which was why, meeting them when they were prepared, Tian Lang would either send himself to die or get captured.

But once Tian Lang enters this Shadow Domain, even the unconsciously exuded King-like aura, which he exuded during tense state, would be erased. Then no matter what, those creatures would fail to find Tian Lang. Not only that, once one enters from a place, they would end up in an entirely different location.

However, Shadow Domain wasn't exactly a place for a walk.

Danger lurked everywhere. Those that entered the Shadow Domain without a path had strength unimaginable. However, the creatures of shadows were of one mind. They never put their nose where it didn't belong. Well, considering one side didn't irritate the other and their interests didn't collide. Of course, living beings weren't static rules.

This was something that came to the leopard naturally along with its evolution.

Considering Tian Lang's growing wisdom and unreasonable acts, the Shadow Leopard sweated in his shadow.

Not considering the leopard's worry, several pairs of golden, silver and various colored eyes and patterns opened and fell on the small frame of Tian Lang.

Many had hints of irritation at his brazen display of aura. Obviously, this creature was not one of their own. Yet, in this lightless world, the existence in his shadow didn't go unnoticed by them.

Tian Lang experienced a similar feeling. It was the feeling of intensely being stared at. The uncomfortable feeling irritated him but the strange, yet suffocating aura made him unable to move or even growl in dissatisfaction.

A pair of glittering sapphire eyes, much similar to Tian Lang's ocean-blue, opened above the crowd. As if bored with the scene the others swiftly retreated within the darkness.

Only two pairs of similar colored eyes remained in the vicinity.

Tian Lang felt intimidated just by the sheer volume of its eyes. Just a single eye had the volume of ten times of his body! Let alone the distance between the two eyes which gave him a misconception of staring at the eyes of two different creatures. But the striking resemblance and staring direction said otherwise.

"HEH~ How long has it been since we had a shadow kin join us?" A sharp but thundering voice wondered aloud. Then pausing for a moment, it continued, "Right. Look at my manner, we have a guest outside of our kin."

Tian Lang's eyes turned sharp. A bit loud, but it was definitely the voices of two-legged creatures. He looked left and then right, but likewise, in this world he couldn't see or sense anything.

Suddenly, blue lights flickered in the world of eternal darkness as Tian Lang finally got his vision back.

But before his eyes could get used to the sudden illumination, a straight out giant figure greeted his sight. Giant legs supporting a massive body that Tian Lang couldn't make out the end of. It had small shiny deep-blue furs and behind the eyes, a pair of sharp crystal-like sapphire horns stood tall.

Tian Lang, the pitiful pup eyed the mighty beast with longing. Wasn't his target to be a big and destructive ...pup?

Now there was a destructive creature, his idol, standing before him, how could he not be moved!

However, his stirring emotion was short-lived as shock spread to his puppy face.

The giant beast suddenly got smaller and smaller, not long after its frame started to change. Before even two breaths of time passed, a glistening and twinkling two-legged creature replaced the giant beast!

W-what?!

Tian Lang gawked so hard that his eyes bulged to two times bigger!

The two-legged creatures are beasts in disguise?!

Heavens!

Cheated! He was deeply and heavily cheated! For a long time at that!

No one told him two-legged creatures were beasts in disguise! Hadn't it been for his limited knowledge, he would have demanded emotional compensation for even wishing to dominate them!

Who was he? The Alpha Mighty Pup!

Why would he dominate some random beasts in disguise?

If he had to dominate, he would dominate some creatures who are proud of their very existence of themselves!

While Tian Lang gawked at the giant beast, now a two-legged creature, while realizing the true origins(?) of two-legged creatures, he failed to notice his now floating body in the air.

With a pull from a foreign force, the leopard in his shadow got dragged up. Only then Tian Lang snapped out of his death and noticed the creature's appearance.

The appearances of the two-legged creatures' looked all the same to him. Even the beasts in the wilderness had a face more refined. Just some of the two-legged creatures had an extremely eye-catching appearance. And those gem-like eyes always reminded him of their differences more clearly.

A slight difference from the others he had seen so far, this creature had a pair of crystal horns on its head. But such a difference was nothing worth mentioning to Tian Lang, as those were the best features a perfect creature must have!

Overall, this two-legged creature was a size taller than the rest he had seen so far. Its sapphire eyes shone like crystals in this dimly lit area. Aside from the pale creamy inner skin, the furs on its head were of deep-blue colors without any outer skins.

And he always liked how enjoyable their skin and mounds of fleshes were. Soft and Squishy...

Reminding of this creature's power level, Tian Lang checked at its chest and this time, his eyes almost popped out!

As expected of a massive destructive creature!

This creature had a pair of fleshy mounds at least three notches bigger than the first two-legged creature he met!

If Tian Lang doubted his theory of bigger fleshy mounds equals stronger strength previously, with this concrete proof now, he had 100% confidence in it.

Indeed, even if no one told him, he could just figure it out!

After all, he was the mighty pup!

Tian Lang snorted, all the while his eyes were glued to the two-legged creature's fleshy mounds.

The blue-skinned creature was about to talk with the leopard however, noticing the fierce gaze locking on its chest, it stopped and smiled at the source.

In an instant Tian Lang felt his world darken, but only after a moment did he realize, it wasn't that he felt, it really did darken and at one point he failed to see anything.

"Awuuuh~"

He complained. His body hovering in the air, he failed to move. Out of option, he could only grumble.

The creature let out a helpless sigh, "No matter the Era males always think with their lower part." Skillfully misunderstanding the innocent pup, it ignored the pitiful complaint of Tian Lang.

Stroking the leopard's head, it pushed the furs from the two corners of its head, revealing a pair of dark bumps. "As I expected a [Shadow Leopard] with horns. If you can go through another evolution, you have a chance to become a Twilight Beast. Mu..." the creature slightly pursed its lips, "but it's quite hard evolving after Platinum Ranked and to Twilight Beast at that."

The Shadow Leopard met with the eyes of the creature. It seemed to say something.

"What? You already reached your limit and broke through this time with outside help? Still, I wouldn't say it's impossible but, at these times... it could be said almost impossible." The creature looked slightly disappointed and murmured in melancholy, "Is it really impossible for another [Twilight Beast]?"

The leopard couldn't understand why the creature looked sad but only expressed its thought to try its hardest.

At that time, space rippled, bringing a sigh from the creature. "Either way, you are not strong enough for this place. You can return once you become a holy beast. For now, let me take care of that contract for you. Since you managed to find a [Gate], you still have considerable potential. Humans can't utilize your power properly and would only limit your remaining potential."

However, when it wanted to, the leopard struggled.

The creature went silent and said nothing.

Then it turned to Tian Lang in the darkness, "Weird, you don't have a contract but you're a companion. Hmm, wait, are you Diamond Ranked?!" For the first time, the creature let out a voice of surprise. A Diamond Ranked non-contracted beast along with a contracted beast sounded almost unimaginable.

"No, something feels different about you... hmm, weird. You're not Diamond Ranked. I want to see what makes you weird, but you are already past your limit." The creature patted the duo, "Unfortunate but unless fate allows, this might be our last meeting."

The next moment they found themselves under bright sunlight, once again.