CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER 277: BROKEN PRIDE...

A while later...

Muku was still lying on the ground unmoving. The Shadow Panther’s corpse lay next to him with a broken neck. It had been killed by Raya before it could react...

Raya who had turned into her tiny form sat on top of it with a smug look on her cute draconic face. Muku had tried his best to ignore her since she killed the panther. However, he couldn’t take her burning gaze anymore. So, he had to say something...

"Sigh. Thank you for helping me" Muku spoke the words which made him scrunch his face as if he tasted something bitter...

The reason for that was pretty simple actually. He and Raya had made a bet a while back. The bet was that whoever needed the other party’s help first, would do anything that party requested in return. Of course, the request had to be something reasonable.

But even then, Muku was quite prideful. For that reason, he had remained abstinent until the end. The panther wasn’t his first near-death experience actually. But it was definitely the closest, this was because he found ways to win the past battles despite the odds. But he couldn’t do anything with the panther.

Acknowledging his defeat was hard but there was nothing he could do... He could only console himself by thinking that Raya had only won because she rarely hunts.

Speaking of which, unlike humans who only have to kill a certain number to reach the peak. Beasts actually needed to consume meat then process the energy in that meat and slowly increase their strength.

The energy they got from their prey was the same as the KP humans got. However, they did it manually while humans did it automatically. Therefore, their ranking-up process was slower than humans as it took some time to extract the energy.

It wasn’t all bad though. This was because beasts gain more from a single kill than humans do. This allowed talented beasts like Raya to keep up with humans despite the disadvantage.

Though she still needed to rest for a few days while that energy was absorbed by her body...

Anyway, Muku felt that it was because of that long rest period while he constantly hunted which allowed her to win. After all, it was a lot easier for him who’s constantly seeking fights to get into trouble compared to her who’s resting most of the time. That totally made sense...

It made so much sense to him he casually forgot that he was the one who bit more than he could chew by going after a PR3 when he was just a MR3 noob...

"Hehe. You’re welcome" Raya replied in her cute little voice. She had been waiting for him to say it for close to two five minutes. And it sounded as good as she thought it would sound. She was quite pleased with herself.

"Tsk. So, tell me. What is it that you want? It better not be something extreme or I’m not doing it" Muku spoke grumpily.

"Oh come on now. Why are you such a sore loser? Is it because the panther fight was the first ever fight you lost after seeking it yourself? That’s gotta be embarrassing, right? I know I’d be embarrassed. Anyway, enough about your embarrassing feat. Let’s talk about my reward. You better not back out of it like you promised... Wait, I don’t think I have anything I want from you right now. You lost so quickly I didn’t even have enough time to come up with anything. Let’s talk about it when I think of something, okay? Just remember it loser" Raya replied.

Her every statement cut deep into Muku’s pride. If she wasn’t Soul Linked to him he might have committed murder on the spot.

"Whoa! To think you’re so embarrassed you are plotting to kill me for just stating the truth!. Who knew you were such a person?! I think I made a mistake when I made a Soul link with you. If only I could go back" Raya who sensed Muku’s killing intent which appeared for a second before disappearing mocked him ruthlessly.

She wasn’t nearly as scared as she sounded. Hell, she wasn’t scared at all. Not only was Muku practically handicapped at the moment, even if he had his peak strength she was confident she could take care of him easily enough.

She was after all a dragon prodigy even Mrs C looked highly upon. So, she really didn’t put Muku in her eyes even if she thought he was a pretty amazing human. Like they say, "there’s always someone better", and she was Muku’s "someone better"

With such thoughts, she ran her mouth in front of Muku until she was content.

"Can you just leave me alone?" Muku tiredly spoke after Raya kept on insulting him for a few minutes.

"Sure, I’ll leave your defenceless self alone in the beast world. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Bye then." Raya spoke then began floating away.

"... Please stop. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that" Muku called out in a somewhat pained and suppressed voice.

He didn’t want to do it. But the current him really needed Raya more than ever.

Some beasts might have heard the battle sounds from before and were coming to check. As for why it took so long for any to arrive. Firstly, the Beast World was quite large. So it was pretty easy for the closest beast to be a few kilometres away.

And secondly, the Beast World was quite dangerous. For that reason, many curious cats or nosy beasts to be exact also got killed when they checked out random sounds.

For that reason, most who weren’t confident in their strength dared not check out battle sites... At least not within a short period. But there were always mavericks who didn’t follow any sort of pattern or reason. They’d do whatever they wanted when they wanted.

Fortunately for Muku, none of those were around. But that didn’t mean he was safe. And that’s why Raya’s presence was necessary...

"Fine. I’ll stay. You’re really hopeless without me" Raya turned back as she replied in a cheeky voice.

She wasn’t planning on leaving anyway. After all, if Muku died her strength would be compromised by half. Her soul would also be gravely hurt. Such a state wasn’t something she wanted to experience, especially in the Beast World.

Not to mention Muku’s adoptive mother. She was certain that the lady would kill her if she let Muku die. Even though they had only interacted with the lady for a little time. She was certain that the lady really loved this son of hers. As for why that was, she didn’t know nor did she have the guts to ask why.

But of course, she wouldn’t do everything for free despite those reasons. She turned into her big draconic form and started feasting on the panther corpse under Muku’s pissed gaze.

He had never tasted PR3 beast meat after all. Unfortunately, not only had it been Raya who killed it so it was technically hers anyway, he needed to keep her happy for the time being. Not to mention that he didn’t have the flame element. Or any ability which could cook meat for that reason. So, he was doomed to not taste the meat anyway.

The only meat he could eat was that from Unranked beasts which he could cook with regular fire. It tasted rather bland after all the high-level meat he had eaten in the past. But it was the only option.

He was actually just happy to be able to eat through the helmet at all. Apparently, the creepy mouth part of it could be opened with just a thought. As for why that was, he didn’t know, nor did he care. What mattered was that it could be done and he could eat...

.....

A while later...

Raya had completely devoured the larger than her corpse leaving behind just the beast core. As for how she could do it, Muku didn’t know. It always amazed him every time she did it.

"Hey. You once said that this armour protects me from gravity, right? Isn’t that how I could easily shrug off the gravity from the Middle Zone? If so, why is it that the panther was able to hit me with gravity attacks and pretty much dog walk me with it?" Muku asked after a period of silence. He had finally adjusted to the situation and accepted his loss.

"There’s your answer right there. One was gravity and the other was a gravity attack. One was a natural phenomenon while the other was a simulation through mana and mental energy. The obvious answer is that the armour only works on natural gravity. Though we can’t say that we’ve actually confirmed that it’s the armour which gives you that ability. But even then, the answer to your question is the same. Whatever gives you the gravity nullification ability only works on natural gravity..." Raya replied intellectually. She was also bored so she didn’t mind talking to him.

She didn’t even mock him as she had also gotten over that.

"Oh. That makes sense... It seems rather obvious too. Did I somehow get dumber somewhere along the Chapters" Muku acknowledged her answer then whispered the latter part to himself.

"It seems we can’t stay here anymore. Hang tight" Raya suddenly spoke after sensing something approaching them. And the presents seemed to be even stronger than the PR3 panther. Which could only mean it was a Pseudo R4 or beyond...

She didn’t wait for Muku to say anything before opening her large mouth and biting down on his mouth then running away while holding him up by his arm.

"Ahh! Stop! Stop! I can move myself!" Muku suddenly screamed in pain.

Raya let go of him so that she could ask him how he was planning on getting away in his broken state. But he didn’t fall to the ground like she expected. He began floating in the air. That’s when she remembered his Telekinesis.

If she were a human, a blush would have appeared on her face from embarrassment.

Muku didn’t say anything to her and proceeded to fly away in the direction she had chosen. It wasn’t the time for quarrels. Raya followed after him silently and the two successfully made their escape.

This was because Raya returned to Muku’s mindscape after a certain distance. This threw the beast which was following them off their trail.

Muku’s presence was completely covered by his creepy armour, after all...