The Hybrid (blessed or curse)---Chapter 13---The only way to freedom has always been fight ----

Minos did this to the other corpses of the hooded figures before he ran out of energy, as the ashen dragon left his body, transforming back to a bird before dissolving into Minos's forehead.

Lifting the village chief who was already unconscious, he placed him on his shoulder and started the long walk back to the village.

As soon as Minos reached the village, he was surrounded by the villagers who saw their chief on his shoulder. Busting out of the crowd, Xin and some elite bodyguards immediately surrounded Minos with their spears pointed straight at him.

Seeing this, Minos dropped the chief on the bare floor before facing Xin.

"Take him to a healer," Minos said before turning to the direction of his hut, but he was still stopped by the elite warriors. Minos became irritated and was ready to beat the crap out of them as he already began channeling his ki. This time, instead of the normal 30% he could channel before, he realized that he could now channel 45% of his ki. With excitement, he opened his window bar and realized that the seal had been weakened by another 10%. 

Channeling his ki around his body, Minos's muscles expanded around his legs and arms. Even though the expansion couldn't be compared to when he was using 100% of his power, either partial or full transformation, Minos was still happy as he thought that if he could merge with his pet a couple of times, he could break the seal completely.

Seeing the increase in body size, the elite warriors were no longer as bold as they were to block his path. The chief bodyguard moved over to the chief who was still on the floor, carried him from the ground and placed him on his shoulder, moving out, and the rest hurriedly followed him.

Seeing this, Minos let out a light chuckle and his body returned to its normal size before moving towards his hut.

The villagers who saw this were intrigued as most of them had never seen a person who could change his appearance at will before.

Xin shuddered after seeing the transformation but gathered courage and followed Minos into his hut.

As Xin barged in, she met Minos in a half-naked form, with little clothing covering his lower half, revealing his back which was filled with injuries.

During the fight, Minos noticed that after the hooded figure said his incantation and started his attack, the man usually scratched his back with his claw whenever he had the chance, and it was a lot as Minos couldn't even see the hooded figure. The weird part was that after merging with his newfound pet, all injuries from punches to kicks were healed, but his back wounds remained fresh.

"What really happened to the chief?" Xin asked as she knew the chief didn't have the power to cause such injury to Minos. 

Minos stopped trying to clean his wounds and just faced Xin and said, "Please inform me when the chief wakes up," before turning back to the wooden mirror at the edge of the room, still trying to touch those places he had been scratched.

After a while, Minos was still trying to get those places, but no matter how much blood he cleaned from the surface, more were still resurfacing, and it just felt like an endless circle of cleaning. About to give up in frustration, Minos felt a light touch on his back and turned sharply to see Xin with a rag in her hand and a bucket as she gently tended to his wounds. 

Due to the height difference, she even brought a small stool as she carefully tended to his wounds. 

"This is bad," she muttered loud enough for Minos to hear.

"What is bad?" Minos asked.

"It seems you've been poisoned with aphrodisiac herbs," Xin said after examining the wounds.

"Aphrodisiac herbs, what are those?" Minos asked sharply.

They are stimulants, sexual stimulants. It seems the man wasn't going to kill you; maybe he wanted you to die out of pleasure. Xin said as she stopped wiping the blood.

Is that why my wounds can't heal, or is there another reason? Minos asked as he sensed there was more to this.

The aphrodisiac herbs were mixed with some medicine I can't describe, and that's the main poison that stops your wounds from clotting and causes your blood to gush out like water. Xin concluded as she saw nothing else that could explain this phenomenon.

"Xin!!! Stop now!" Minos ordered as he immediately distanced himself from her. Sweat filled his body, and Minos was holding on to his last restraints of self-control.

"Get out, scram, leave my sight, please." Minos said in a pleading tone as he couldn't control his urges for much longer.

After a while, Minos lost consciousness and couldn't remember exactly what happened that night.

Next Morning

Minos woke up to a serious headache as if he had just drunk 12 bottles of Hennessy at once. He tried to recall what had really happened last night, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't remember a thing.

"Sire," a maiden said, coming inside Minos' hut.

"Sorry, who are you?" Minos asked, as he had never seen this lady before.

"Oh, pardon my manners. My name is Li Song, but you can just call me Song. I am the new maiden assigned to you by the chief of this village." Li Song said, bowing her head.

"Erm, what happened to Xin?" Minos asked, already getting a bad feeling about this when he connected it with last night's event.

"Xin quit this morning." Li Song replied honestly, still putting on a charming smile while lowering her chest towards Minos, who seemed deeply bothered about something to even pay her any attention.

"Miss Li, you can go. And please, if you see Xin, tell her I need to speak with her. It's very urgent." Minos said, dismissing her as he had no use for someone like her.

"Okay, sire. By the way, the chief invited you for dinner as a way of saying thank you for saving his life." Li Song said before leaving Minos' hut.

"I doubt Xin will even agree to see me, if I really had my way with her last night." Minos said before deciding to find a way to locate Xin.

"Oh, right. My back is all patched up." Minos said in shock, after realizing that his back was in a terrible shape last night.

The day went by fast, with Minos trying to meditate but eventually failing, as his mind was occupied with a certain maiden who refused to see him, as she hadn't visited Minos' hut yet. He even tried to enquire from Li Song about her whereabouts, but her response was "I haven't seen her since I told her that you requested to see her." Frustration was clearly written on his face, and it was finally time to see the chief.

Even as the guest of honor, Minos never intended on honoring the chief's invite, but he figured that if this was a feast to honor him, then everyone living in this little village must be present, including Xin.

Hurriedly, Minos rushed towards the chief's house, after asking for directions from the villagers who seemed to look at him with admiration and gratitude for saving their chief.

*Chief's Chamber

Inside the chief's chamber, Minos was asked to sit at the round table next to the chief, as all types of delicacies were presented. After a casual look at the food presented, Minos immediately activated his beast eyes, as he began his search for Xin. But not long after, he gave up, as he couldn't even catch a glimpse of her shadow, let alone her.

Scanning through the dishes with his beast eyes, Minos realized that none of them seemed to be rigged.

Seeing this, Minos started to devour the food until his own part of the table was looking empty.

After the feast, Minos entered the chief's private chamber as he wanted to talk to the chief and request his freedom for saving the chief's life as initially planned.

"So you want me to free you as a reward for saving me?" The chief asked after a while of silence.

"Yes, that's exactly what I said." Minos said, looking at the chief.

"We are at war with an army like that man you fought yesterday, and I know this land won't survive it. You can take my life, so there will be no debts owed." He continued, drawing the nearest bodyguard's sword and placing it on the table.

"Great Minos, I'm sorry, but the only way you can gain freedom is to fight and help us defeat the enemy. After that, you're free to go. I promise you that with my life." The chief said, dropping down on the ground with his head bowed towards the ground.

Seeing this, Minos knew he had no choice, as even if the chief allowed him to go, he would still need to face the other group of aliens immediately after he left the village barrier.

Standing up, Minos walked towards the door of the room, as he needed to be sure of what he was going to do before accepting anything.

Leaving the room, Minos' gaze fell upon Xin, who was just about to enter the chief's chamber.

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