Chapter 16

Eugune couldn't help but smile, his voice filled with certainty as he spoke. "Yes! That's me! You remember, right?"

Merlin frowned, confusion expressed clearly on his face. He had many questions swirling in his mind and couldn't help but blurt them all out in one go. "What happened? Why are you here? And what's with that eyepatch?"

"Woah, woah…One thing at a time…I'll tell you. So, I was out gathering goods with my team but…"

Eugune began explaining his situation to Merlin, starting from his near-death encounter with the weird jaguar to how he'd found the ginger by accident. "There was a…Jaguar, I don't even know what it was, it jumped us and killed everyone…I barely managed to escape with my life."

He would speak again after a slight pause. "...I don't want to talk about how I lost my left eye." The dark-haired man shook his head in dismay, prompting the end of his story.

"...Okay." Merlin was curious about the eye, but he decided that for now he wouldn't push the matter any further.

"Anyway, how did you get the collar off? I thought you can't mess with it or else it would explode." Eugene pointed towards the ginger's neck, which still has a light trace of something tightening at the skin.

"Ah, about that…"

Suddenly, Eugune's deep blue eye dilated into a small dot as it landed on something towering behind Merlin.

Its scales were seemingly made of dark green iron plates, all overlapping each other in an orderly manner, it would've looked very beautiful if not for the monster's piercing green eyes that were staring down at the two of them coldly.

Most shocking of all was how long its large body had extended behind it. This behemoth of a serpent could surely crush a tank with its pure strength.

"Mer…Merlin…" Eugene's shaky hand pointed towards the monster in front of him.

"What?" The ginger frowned before turning around, after noticing the snake, he looked up, seemingly unfazed by it. "Oh. I was just about to talk about him."

"What about me?" Theodore slightly tilted his head as he stared at the one-eyed man. "Who's that?"

"Ah, this is Eugene, you remember him?"

"Eugene? 'That' Eugene? They look nothing alike."

"Yeah, I almost didn't recognize him because of the eyepatch, but I remember his thug-like build."

"Wait!" Eugene put his hands out, his face still showing shock and confusion. "What's going on here, Merlin? You're friends with that monster!?"

"Who are you calling a monster?" Theodore hissed angrily, speaking in a human language. "You can't recognize my voice? It's me, Theodore."

"Theodore? You mean Theodore Varon? But he's dead!"

"Well, I'm alive now."

"But you're…a very big snake."

"So?"

"...How!?" Eugene threw his hands in the air, clearly in doubt.

"It's a long story, but basically I've crawled back from hell to get revenge on Rhys." Theodore spoke in a voice lashed with venom. "And that f*cker just added to his sentence by kidnapping my father too."

"I…" The one-eyed man pursed his lips nervously, he decided that for the time being he wouldn't question things further. "A—Anyway…Did you get the slave collar off of Merlin?" Eugene took a guess, pointing his thumb towards the ginger.

"I did."

"Then…Can you get it off me too?" The brunet asked in a low tone, as if afraid of the snake's anger, he was being especially wary because of Theodore's unfriendly tone.

"Sure."

"I understand—wait, really?"

"Why are you surprised? You're not an enemy so I don't mind helping you." The snake swept his eyes up and down Eugene's figure, taking note that he had wounds and blood all over his body. "...And not just the collar, you need medical attention too."

"Thank you…" The dark-haired man let out a relieved sigh. "I thought I would be stuck as a slave for the rest of my life…"

Theodore didn't say anything and activated his skill: 'Embodiment of Chaos'.

[The Fragment of the Original is assisting you!]

[Proficiency increased!]

[Because you're familiar with this process, infiltration will take less time!]

Eugene was slightly startled by the dark, uncanny smoke that'd rose from Theodore's figure. "What…What is that?"

"Chill, it's okay, just relax." Merlin spoke in a calm tone.

"Relax!?" Eugene tensed his body as the black mist began coiling up his body until it reached the slave collar. "Am I going to be okay? It won't…It won't take my soul, right?"

"No, what are you afraid of? I went through the same process and came out fine!" Merlin tried his best to reassure the old classmate.

'Okay…Breathe, Eugene, breathe…' The dark-haired man closed his eye shut as he waited for everything to end.

…

[The 'Slave Collar #784' has been breached by the effects of 'Discord', you can now destroy the magic circuits within.]

After that notification, Eugene's collar snapped open and fell to the ground, the man reached his hands up to touch his neck with a look of disbelief. "It's really off…"

"Now stand still, I'll heal your wounds." Theodore breathed in and gathered a ball of pale fire inside of his throat.

[The skill 'Uriel's Blessings' has been activated!]

Before the man could react, the flames doused Eugene's figure and the wounds would start to mend close. The burning pain from the injuries dissipated and not long after he would be left with a healed body.

"Oh, that's great!" He lifted his eye patch with a face full of hope, although it all crumbled away in an instant. "It's not healed..."

['Uriel's Blessings' cannot heal injuries that's more than a week old.]

"My skill isn't a miracle maker, sorry." Theodore would've shrugged if he could.

"No…my eye…my precious eye…" Eugene was horrified. He held in his tears and tried his best to accept the truth. "Ah, whatever! I can live with one eye! F*ck…"

"What's wrong with losing an eye? I mean, at least you didn't lose your life." Merlin raised an eyebrow with concern.

"You wouldn't understand…They're my precious body part!"

"Okay, just stop." Theodore sighed. "Merlin, we need to get moving."

"Ah…" The ginger suddenly was sweating profusely, he shifted his eyes towards Eugene. "Hey, can you come with us?"

"Where are you guys going?" The brunet asked curiously.

Theodore used his tail to point towards a rolled-up paper strapped to Merlin's belt. "It's on the map, we're going to the Ancient Cavern."

"Also known as, 'being sent to die.'" Merlin added, which didn't help with reassuring Eugene in the slightest.

.

.

.

Theodore slithered ahead of the two men as he flicked his tongue, receiving the information on his surroundings.

'A pack of direwolves…Oh, two drakes fighting with each other.'

His senses had become abnormally sharp to the point that he could practically 'smell' and 'hear' just by using his tongue.

If he's focused on a particular target, he could even 'see' them clearly as if he was using his eyes.

'System, what's the max level for each skill?'

[Once a skill reaches Level 5, 10 or when reaching a certain requirement, it will be locked from leveling up any further. However, a maxed skill can undergo 'Evolution' and change into another skill.]

'Can I see what they'll turn into beforehand?'

[Positive, although because your skill 'Gaze of Wisdom' is still not at the sufficient level, you cannot see the evolution lines of Bloodline Skills.]

'Good to know, thanks.'

"Theo…" Merlin dragged his feet across the ground, making a lot of noise from kicking the pebbles and twigs. "We've been walking for an hour now…Could we at least rest?"

"I know you healed my wounds but I'm still hurt, emotionally." Eugene seemed like he'd just taken a shower, his entire body was drenched in sweat and he was panting heavily.

"What do you even—Okay fine, we can take a break." Theodore sighed as he stopped by a tree, coiling his body and rested his head on top of himself.

The two men were ecstatic to know that their legs wouldn't fall apart from tiredness. They each picked a spot before sitting down.

"Are we even close to reaching the cavern or whatever?" Eugene slumped forward, glancing at Theodore with his singular eye.

"Close, maybe half an hour away from here." He responded after another tongue flick.

"Half an hour away from dying…" Merlin sighed, his gaze went dull as if he'd given up on everything.

"Don't say that!" Eugene lightly smacked the ginger with the back of his hand. "It'll be fine! If Theo can rekt a bunch of Forest Trolls then whatever we're facing would go down the same way!"

"You're being way optimistic." Merlin looked at the one-eyed with doubt.

"You're the one who's pessimistic! Aren't you his friend?"

Theodore hissed, catching the two men's attention. "Stop it, you both had gone through a lot, so cut each other some slack."

They all went silent afterward. The quietness lasted for a few minutes before finally Theodore would perk up his head. "Let's get going now before it gets dark. I want to hurry up and get this over with."

"Sure." Merlin and Eugene stood up as they brushed dust off of their pants.

Although, as they were about to leave, Theodore's eyes landed on movement towards his left.

In only a fracture of a second, something shot towards him at incredible speed.

'!?'

Luckily, Theodore wasn't slow despite his massive size, he edged his body to the side and the 'projectile' flew passed him until it eventually landed on a tree somewhere near Eugene.

"The f*ck!?" The brunet exclaimed, surprised.

Merlin immediately call his bow and knocked an arrow on it, aiming towards where the attack was fired from. "What the hell was that?"

Theodore glanced towards the tree and noticed a burnt dent a few centimeters deep into the bark, smoke still rising from the point of impact. '...Lightning?'

He didn't have time to think much about it as another attack was sent their way.

Merlin didn't even think about counteracting with his mediocre arrow and instinctively weaved to the side. "Theo!"

"I know!" Theodore opened his mouth and a blast of fire shot forward, hitting the attack with an equally powerful force.

The contact immediately caused a massive explosion, and the strong gales almost blew away the two humans, though they managed to hold their ground.

"Grr…"

A hoarse, low growl sounded out from within the woods as heavy footsteps were heard afterward.

Eugene's eyes widened at the creature that'd emerged from the bushes. "That's…!"

It was an abnormally large jaguar with a fierce tiger-like build. The spots on its body were glowing a soft yellow as electricity sparks from them like a make-shift generator.

"You've seen it before?" Merlin took a few steps back, his bow raised and aimed at the beast.

"It's the same one I told you about…I'm sure of it!" Eugene knew it was the jaguar that'd killed his teammates, he'd struggled with it a bit before he'd escaped and managed to land a good punch on its right eye, which was still visibly swollen.

Theodore didn't say anything as he stared at the jaguar, his Personal Attribute 'Gaze of Wisdom' activating the moment he thought of it, the screen in front of him showed:

<<Thunder Cat

HP: 400,000/400,000

Lvl. 73

Rank: A

Variety: Jaguar

Yield: 900,000 EXP

Chance of Victory: 50%

Strength: Thunder Cats are one of the strongest variations of 'Elemental Beasts', they can manipulate lightning from their bodies and control them near limitlessly. They don't hunt like regular versions of themselves and will adapt their style depending on what element they wield and personal intelligence.

Weaknesses: Depends on each individual, for Thunder Cats, they typically don't like to deal with non-conductive materials such as the ground or rubber, although some do have extremely powerful lightning bolts that can shatter through even thick brick walls in an instant.

Description: A type of Elemental Beast, the Thunder Cats come in many shapes and forms, some of them might take on the appearance of a regular household cat or predators like tigers and lions, while in very rare cases they could take the shape of mythical beasts. A Thunder Cat usually lives in their regular counterpart's natural habitat, while some could choose to wander into urban areas to expand their hunting grounds, though most will stay within their marked territories and rarely step out of bounds unless they need to.

Expanded: This particular Thunder Cat is extremely cautious, it doesn't pick a fight needlessly and would choose to hunt those who it deemed weaker than itself. It's quite intelligent among its peers and can use trickery in battle. You should be careful of its lightning as well since they're very powerful even for Thunder Cats, and you do not have any form of protection against electricity, your Personal Attribute 'Scales of the Serpent' might not save you from them.>>

The jaguar let out another growl, as if trying to intimate them, although Theodore was used to these tactics and didn't yield to it, instead, he kept his head high and stared down at the cat.

"Theo…" Merlin became concerned, a drop of sweat ran down his temple.

"It'll be fine." Theodore responded as he opened his attribute window and swept his eyes through the list of skills.

<<Personal Attributes: Gaze of Wisdom (Lvl.6). Thermal Vision (Lvl.MAX). Venom (Lvl.5). Agility (Lvl. 3). Tongue Receptor (Lvl.5). Will to Live (Lvl.2). Deitify (Lvl.MAX). All-Speak (Lvl.MAX). Greater than Dragons (Lvl.MAX). Dragon's Heart (LVL.MAX). Scales of the Serpent (Lvl.1)

Skills: Ice Magic (Lvl.5). Ambitious Snake: Devour (Lvl.3). Master of Poison (Lvl.2). Persistence (Lvl.2). Flames of Pride (Lvl.3). Uriel's Blessings (Lvl.1).

Bloodline Skills: Embodiment of Chaos (Lvl.3). Super Regeneration [50%] (Lvl.4). Corrupting Touch [50%] (Lvl. 3). Divine Blaze (Lvl.2). Coldest Death (Lvl.2). Predator of All (Lvl.1). The Great Cycle (Lvl.1)>>

"Grr…" The jaguar took cautious steps forward as its eyes met with Theodore's, despite not saying anything, both of them seemed to understand the same thing.

'One wrong move, I'm dead.'

However, the Thunder Cat was confident from the start, and when it was a few meters away from Theodore, it immediately sprung for his head with its jaw and claws opened wide.

In a mere second, the jaguar was already by his neck.

'!!!​'

Theodore didn't expect it to be 'that fast', he was preparing to dodge, but because he was caught off guard, the Thunder Cat managed to bite down on him.

"F*ck!"

"Theo!" His friends alarmingly cried out.

"Stay there! Don't—" He didn't get to finish what he wanted to say as the beast dug its claws into his scales, drawing blood and shutting him up with immense pain.

A sharp hiss came out of him as he thrashed against the jaguar's grip, he smashed himself onto the ground, hoping that the impact would at least cause the lock to loosen.

It didn't, instead, the Thunder Cat held on even tighter.

'Sh*t!'

[The Personal Attribute 'Predator of All' has been forcefully deactivated!]

'What!? Why!?'

[Your status as the 'Predator' has been stripped away!]

'Is it because I'm panicking? Or…No, I don't have time to think about it.'

After hearing the System's voice, Theodore managed to calm down, he didn't need to worry about dying in one hit, after all, his defensive stat was nearly reaching the third digit.

'I can't die to a f*cking cat. I have someone I need to kill.'

Theodore was standing still with his head perked up while the Thunder Cat was still biting and clawing at his body, however, it would soon realize that the wounds were slowly regenerating despite the damage inflicted.

[Congratulations! You have triggered a 'Hidden Quest'!]

<<Hidden Quest: True Predator

The big cats are certainly worthy of the title 'King of the Jungle'. Not many can withstand their powerful fangs and razor sharp claws and their roars resonated within every beast's souls, even the most prideful of all will submit to their might. However, are you going to let them steal 'your' name as the 'Predator of All'?

-Hunt and Consume a Gate Creature with the skill 'Predator of All' (0/1)

Time Limit: None.

Rewards: 1 Level added to the Bloodline Skill 'Predator of All'. 20 Skill Points. A new Personal Attribute.

(The quest will be considered a failure if your target escapes. This is your only chance at completing this hidden quest.)>>

'Of course not.' A growl escaped his mouth as he glanced at the jaguar, who immediately retreated as soon as it felt his murderous gaze. 'I'm not a prey, and will never be.'

The beast let go of him and sprung itself away, landing almost four meters away from Theodore, eyes fixated on his figure.

It didn't even consider the two humans a threat as if the entire battlefield consisted of only them monsters.

'I can use that carelessness to my advantage…' He would've been more happy to find out about this weakness, but because those two were truly useless in this situation, he didn't feel very ecstatic. 'Unless…'

"Theodore, you have a plan, right?" Eugene spoke, pulling him out of his own thoughts.

"Plan? Well, it doesn't involve either of you though." He edged to the side, using his large body to block his friends from the jaguar's view. "But you can help me with something."

"Like what?" Merlin began infusing his arrow with more mana, causing it to glow even brighter from the energy.

"What else?" Theodore would've smirked if he could. "If you can't do anything, then at the very least you can be bait."

"I f*cking knew it." The ginger sighed, he didn't sound surprised to hear what Theo wanted to do.

On the other hand, Eugene didn't appreciate being used as an expendable variable. "Wait! You're telling me to die?"

"No?" Theodore didn't take his eyes off of the jaguar, the beast was still stationary as if debating its next move, he'd seen its paws twitch a couple of times already, possibly because it felt the sudden urge to run away.

[The Personal Attribute 'Predator of All' is now active.]

[You are no longer suppressed by the opposing Thunder Cat.]

"But being 'bait' for that monster is the same as sending us to die!"

"We won't die!" Merlin shouted, causing Eugene to snap his attention to him. "Theo always has a plan, I trust him."

"I thought you didn't believe in him!"

"But this is the time when I 'need' to trust him!"

"It doesn't matter." Theodore interrupted without letting his attention slip off the jaguar. "We either kill it, or we get killed."