The Tower of God’s treatment of the people who were left behind at the village was quite good. They were provided with everything they needed and Du Ze was even able to take a bath. Lying on a soft bed, Du Ze thought that the person who was most in need of rest was not here. He looked down at his hands. The transparent, immaterial condition of his hand never reappeared after the elf trial but the worry in Du Ze’s heart has not subsided much. He feels as though he doesn’t have a lot of time left.
The tribe’s beastkin are only fakes created by the Tower of God. They can’t talk and only move in a certain pattern. Du Ze explored the place, especially the huge wooden walls that circled the beastkin village and blocked their view of the battlefield. Even the sound of the Battle Hymn, which was said to be violent and loud, could not be heard. So Du Ze could only sit in front of the doors for a few days. He wasn’t worried about Xiu. Whether it is by the Moe Lord’s own power or the force that was helping him, the final victor will definitely be Xiu. Du Ze only had to wait for him.
On the tenth day, the reader was waiting for his protagonist. Although Du Ze had always known that Xiu would be the winner, he did not expect that it would be such a tragic victory.
The heavy doors slowly swung open. Du Ze was delighted and jumped up but the breeze behind the doors brought a strong odor that shocked him. A rich, intense blood smell was thick in the air, choking his nostrils with its potency. As the wooden doors opened, Ariel covered her mouth, Muir’s face darkened, the demon sisters hugged each other, and even Rachel, who was accustomed to bloody scenes, also looked disturbed.
The huge wooden doors fully opened and presented a scene out of hell, painted with flesh and blood. It could only be described as a meat grinder. Limbs and internal organs were scattered around and mixed together in a bloody mess.
Du Ze looked at the remains and found it hard to swallow his saliva. The bodies did not disappear because they were not copies made by the Tower of God; they were real people. From the position and condition of some corpses it could be seen that many of them died at the hands of their own comrades.
The scent of blood was making his eyes tear up. Du Ze blinked and forced himself to look at the terrifying mound of bloody corpses to find the person he was looking for. Then he saw the red lion beastkin that was standing on a pile of bodies. Xiu was now in his beastkin form and a considerable portion of his body has turned into a beast. His face and arms were covered with red tribal tattoos. Xiu was holding a person by his neck, lifting him up high. His long lion tail hanging down and waving back and forth in pleasure.
Du Ze was shocked to see that the person Xiu had grabbed was Gabriel! The demon’s face was bright red. Blood from his many wounds were dripping down and falling on Xiu’s face, emphasizing Xiu’s cruel, smiling expression.
“That is … His Highness?” Rachel hesitantly asked. Xiu’s lion ears twitched. He seemed to be be alarmed by Rachel’s voice. He turned back, revealing eyes of molten gold that swept over everyone then fell on Du Ze. For a moment, Du Ze felt that he was caught by the eyes of a beast.
“Be careful …:” a faint voice came from the pile of bodies. Du Ze saw that it was Old John whose body had been cut in half. The mechanical puppet warned them: “The little master has lost his reason-”
You don’t have to say it, this little student already knows! QAQ
He watched as Xiu threw Gabriel aside and came to him. Du Ze was frozen like terrified prey.
Fortunately for Du Ze, the leader of the beastkin gods arrived, inadvertently saving the reader. Gruumsh was with several beastkin gods. When he saw the state of the battlefield, the beastkin lord’s eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.
The appearance of the beastkin gods attracted Xiu’s attention. Xiu looked towards the group of beastkin gods and licked his paws, ready for the hunt. Before the god could speak, Xiu bent his animal legs then leapt up, straight as an arrow, towards Gruumsh.
“Ah …!”
Gruumsh used a blood spear to block but the strength of the attack forced him to the ground which cracked in a spiderweb pattern, centered around Xiu and the beastkin god. The sound of their crash was like the signal of the start of battle. The sound of drums came from all sides.. Louder and louder, the “boom crash thump” of every drumbeat stimulated the heart. When the drumbeat and heartbeat coincided, one’s blood heated up more and more.
Du Ze has to clutch his chest; his quickly beating heart was accelerating the flow of blood in his body. He felt hot and wanted release his emotions and destroy something.
Gruumsh stared at the golden beast eyes. He gritted his teeth and his veins bulged as he also began to transform into his beast form. The beastly transformation climbed up his body until it reached his forehead. The hands that gripped the blood spear grew long, sharp claws. The beastkin god roared, trying to fling off Xiu, who was above him.
Xiu jumped off the god, not because he was forced by Gruumsh’s strength, but because of the other gods’ attacks.
All of the beastkin were affected by the Battle Hymn. They surrounded Xiu and started to fight. Muir and Rachel did not hesitate to join the fight. However, compared to the beastkin who coordinated their attacks with each other, Muir and Rachel had to avoid Xiu’s attacks. Xiu was now completely crazy and can’t tell friend from foe. He blindly attacked everyone.
After disposing of two beastkin gods, Muir and Rachel had to quit the fight, but there were still two remaining beastkin gods and Gruumsh.
Xiu did not care about being outnumbered. The expression on his face was one of wanton recklessness. The three beastkin gods were able to suppress Xiu initially but as time went on, the tables were turned.
The loud Battle Hymn never ceased and it made all of the beastkin more and more crazy. Suddenly, a beastkin god growled and clawed at his nearest companion. The god he attacked roared and immediately started fighting the other god.
Du Ze stared at the fight, watching as the beastkin god bit his companion’s throat while the bitten god clawed out the heart of his attacker. Both beastkin died at the hands of their companions. The whole scene was both funny and grotesque.
Du Ze felt a chill in his bones. He had found out the cause of the decline of the beastkin.
[The Beastkin gave away their reason, received battle fury.]
With the information he got from the elves, Du Ze listened to the Battle Hymn that stirred the heart and wondered if it was one of the God of Creation’s masterpieces.
It’s likely that the leader of the beastkin gods is the only one who has information about this, but the god was currently “playing” with Xiu. Above the sea of corpses, the two beasts were fighting – it really was two beasts. Gruumsh and Xiu were both in beast form and were tearing at each other with their razor-sharp claws, trying in vain to reach the other’s heart.
Xiu moved to bite the god. Gruumsh tried to dodge sideways but he was stopped by something. It was Old John. The mechanical puppet only had half of his body left but he clung tightly to the beastkin god’s tail, dragging him down slightly. In a battle, even a momentary distraction is fatal. Xiu bit Gruumsh’s neck, severing his carotid artery.
Gruumsh’s huge body fell down and a red pillar of light appeared behind Du Ze. However, no one was looking at the exit portal. Everyone was staring at the beautiful beast standing on top of the pile of corpses. The beast’s soft brown mane was stirred by a breeze. He narrowed his golden eyes and suddenly jumped down, gracefully moving towards his prey.
As the beast moved nearer and nearer, even though he knew it was Xiu, Du Ze felt like his legs were about to give way underneath him. It’s a biological instinct to fear the beast, not to mention that Xiu was in an abnormal state.
The eyes of the lion-like beast were bright and penetrating, but they lacked reason.
The giant feline stopped in front of Du Ze. The mane under his jaw was stained with scarlet blood. If it were not for a silly, cute person’s habitual facial paralysis, Du Ze would have been crying as the beast approached; he felt as though he had become a sumptuous KFC Lunch Meal.
No one dared to make a sound, for fear of stimulating the beautiful but dangerous beast.
Staring into the golden eyes, Du Ze stretched out a trembling hand. He didn’t know what to do.
“Xiu …?”
Xiu stared at Du Ze for a moment. He suddenly lowered his head, smelling Du Ze’s fingertips, then rubbed his face over Du Ze’s hand.
The soft mane slipped over the back of Du Ze’s hands, fluffy and soft. For some unknown reason, at this moment Du Ze relaxed completely and all his fear left him. Before Du Ze could open his mouth again, he heard Violet make a surprised sound, then his shirt collar tightened.
When he realized what had happened, Xiu was already carrying him off by the collar
The giant beast, with Du Ze’s collar in his mouth, ran without hesitation into the red pillar of light. Du Ze saw red then light then steel gray – Xiu took him back to the hall and immediately ran into the door of light. In this way, they quickly arrived at the Gnome Ruins.
… what?!
********
Translator’s Notes:
Old John is so loyal, dedicated, and useful.
The heck? Did the others also go through the portal or did it close behind Xiu, trapping everyone in the beastkin trial? Oh, dear!
Even in his beast form, all Xiu wants to do is to run away to be alone with Du Ze. *grins*
What do you think beast form Xiu will do with his silly, cute prey/KFC meal?
Bananana 🍌!
*very slight spoiler here!*
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Donation is totally optional but I would appreciate it. If you donate you will get a special reward: early access to all first drafts. For example, I just finished the next scene after this where we find out exactly what (very NSFW things) Xiu does to Du Ze. Those who donated got access to that before I published today’s release. 😉 You can also get early access by donating.