Right in front of Khan's gaze, one beast after another emerged from his surroundings. Numerous glares filled with animosity stared at him from beyond the treeline surrounding the clearing. Apparently, the forest was not as empty as it previously seemed.

But despite the commotion, the tiger's eyes were locked on one beast in particular, for he sensed enormous danger from it, just one single attack causing Khan to be injured. As for his target, a majestic stag with two pairs of antlers crackling with energy, he too watched the tiger in turn, as if appraising the threat.

And while the two most powerful beings in the clearing were having a staredown, the beasts continued to surround the clearing completely, eventually settling at a certain distance from the tiger, but remaining tense, ready to attack at any moment.

Despite their individual threat perhaps not being that high to Khan, together the beasts of the forest created a formidable pressure, their bloodlust felt by him; the tiger shuddered as he felt a tremor down his spine.

At that moment, Khan finally diverted his gaze from the stag, finally noticing the full difficulty of his predicament. Wherever he looked, his eyes always met the gaze of another beast. Nowhere was safe. Whatever path to escape may have existed previously was now cut off.

Khan felt goosebumps on his skin and the slightest trembles in his limbs. A thought came to his mind.

'Am I... afraid?'

He had perhaps felt this way only once before. Memories of his burning home came to his mind once again.

'Is this... fear?'

Yet, as soon as this thought came, an even bigger wave of anger, surging from his very being, overcame it just as swiftly. He let out a chuckle, which then turned into a roaring laugh.

"Hahaha... HAHAHAHA!!!"

The beasts surrounding him seemed momentarily intimidated, some taking a step back; but at that moment, the tall and mighty stag took a step forward, sparks of electricity dancing between his hooves and the grass beneath them. Despite this step being quiet as a breeze, the sound of it seemed to overpower the mad tiger's laugh.

Empowered and emboldened by this—as if it were a general's order to attack—the beasts responded with roars and shrieks of their own before they too began to advance.

As Khan felt the ground tremble faintly beneath his feet, he calmed himself down quickly, somewhat regaining his focus.

With the brief return of his rationality, he understood the severity of his situation, then swept his eyes across anything that might be useful. A faintly glowing, familiar form of a crystal on the ground caught his eye. It was a crystal that granted power, left in place of a bear he had slain.

Remembering the way it healed him before and gave him additional strength, he saw it as his closest way out.

The tiger abruptly leaped from his position to the side, his claws sweeping toward his target on the ground. As the beasts were still a couple of dozen meters away to stop or interrupt him, he succeeded, the crystal soon being midair and about to be swallowed by him.

And yet, just as Khan was about to succeed, the crackling sound that he now recognized rang out once more. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw purple arcs of energy gather on the stag's horns rapidly. The tiger knew that he now had mere moments to either take the hit and swallow the crystal, or abandon the item and dodge.

'I had taken him on before... I will gain more than I lose if I withstand it!'

With the plan formed during those milliseconds, Khan leaped up, opening his jaws as he jumped towards the crystal.

The gathered energy then erupted. A beautiful yet dangerous arc of energy, akin to lightning, moved faster than anyone's eyes could perceive. And then it struck the stag's target, his precision remarkable.

Yet at that moment, Khan was confused, for he didn't feel the numbing pain he was expecting. His confusion turned to horror, though, as he saw the crystal he was leaping towards suddenly become brighter, arcs of electricity enveloping it.

A loud explosion erupted the next moment, a colorful earthy cloud appearing out of nowhere. Along with it, a tiger's form could be seen flying away, his entire fur covered with dust and stone, with earth mana clinging to it.

Khan rolled across the ground, a thing he had experienced much more than he would have liked recently, before once again stabilizing himself, coughing as he stood back up.

"Cough Damn... Cough You!"

As he stood up, his face was revealed once more. Having taken on the brunt of the blast, it was the most damaged. It looked as if half the fur on his face had burnt away and then immediately turned to stone, creating a rather curious image.

And yet there was no rest for the wicked, as the shrieks that were previously distant were now right behind him.

Sensing danger behind him, Khan rapidly turned around, immediately attacking with his claws even without seeing his foe. His instinct proved true as he drew a bloody line across an insect's carapace as soon as he turned around, causing it to let out an enraged screech.

It was not alone, however, being only the front of the swarm that surged out of the forest covered in shadow.

Various insects and arachnids emerged, their target being one and the same.

Seeing such a terrifying thing, Khan had no choice but to use his ever-dwindling mana once again.

Flames surged along his claws, and the tiger attacked just before the tide of skittering legs reached him.

With his claw's swipe, he easily cut through the frontmost attackers like a hot knife through butter. The spiderlings died without having a chance to cry out, and smaller insects were set on fire almost instantly.

As the many-limbed continued surging forward, unperturbed, despite Khan's struggle, he found himself being overwhelmed.

Khan tried to retreat swiftly as he saw that, but as he did so, a jumping spider leaped from within the varied crowd, straight onto him. And it was not the only one with such abilities.

The tiger leaped backward like a cat would when it saw a cucumber. Thanks to this, he avoided most of the 'jumpers.' The key word being 'most.'

Khan felt and saw multiple of the disgusting creatures land on him, one even landing on his face.

As soon as he landed, he frantically began to try and shake them off, but only partially succeeded. Despite three of the five spiders on his body being flung away thanks to his efforts, Khan felt a burning sting on his side soon after. This one hurt much worse than the previous two.

"Auughh! An insect! A MERE INSECT!"

While crying out in pain, he finally caught the spider that was struggling on his face between his jaws, clamping down and crushing it. Soon after, he rapidly turned around to see a spider with green markings biting into his side, injecting its foul venom.

And yet, it was left vulnerable due to this. Khan caught this spider in his jaws as well, tearing it out of his side in anger, ignoring the continuous pain. In his rage, he ignored the fact that bright markings usually meant a highly venomous being in nature, as none of it mattered to him anymore.

The spider's brief screech was cut off abruptly, as it met the same fate as its kin, being crushed in Khan's jaws.

As for the tiger himself, he felt woozy, his rationality and thinking fading in and out. Due to this, he swallowed the spider he would have spat out in disgust a few minutes before. And yet soon after, he felt a refreshing feeling in his mind, his wounds regenerating by a tiny amount. With his briefly regained mind, he understood what had just happened.

'The spider... had a crystal?!'

The understanding struck him like a thunderbolt, bringing with it hope for survival. Khan now saw the way out, and ironically, it was within those who wanted to kill him.

The tiger forced out the remaining strength within his muscles, forcing himself to move despite the venom coursing through his blood, or that very blood leaking from his many wounds.

'As long as I kill... I will live!'

During this brief episode, the tide of beasts and insects, birds and arachnids, did not stop their advance, and they were now upon him.

The spiders and insects of the shadow forest were first, as they were the closest. Khan felt them before he saw them, as many small creatures began crawling up his limbs. But this time was different; Khan was now truly desperate, and he went all out.

Stolen story; please report.

Flames surged within his throat before surging out with a roaring sound. The small insects were enveloped in the blazing wave of flames that was created, turning to ashes in seconds. As for their larger brethren right behind them, they screeched in pain briefly before curling up as their carapace burnt to charcoal.

Khan felt a wave of exhaustion enveloping him with that attack, as it took most of what little mana he had. But it all served a purpose, as he prevented himself from being eaten alive. Additionally, he saw multiple crystals glinting amidst the burning ground, calling to him like an oasis in the desert.

Khan's target was clear once again, as he rushed into the still-burning flames head-on, away from another wave of beasts who were right on his tail. This reckless action made the attackers behind him hesitate, and he himself felt the fires of his own making scorch his skin.

Despite the agonizing pain, he soon reached the crystal that was closest to him, grabbing and swallowing it greedily. The soothing feeling of mana could be felt soon after, replenishing his reserves and healing him once again.

Feeling his strength returning, Khan picked up the pace, moving even faster. But just as he was about to reach the second crystal, a familiar, annoying, and frightening crackle of thunder could be heard once again on this chaotic battlefield.

Under Khan's shocked and terrified gaze, the crystals, the crucial things for his recovery, were once again enveloped in arcing energy.

Already knowing what would happen next, Khan immediately moved away, multiple explosions ringing out behind him.

As he turned around, the only thing that remained of his hope was a cloud of elemental mana, and even that dissipated under a passing blow of the wind. Khan trembled as he turned his gaze once again to the stag that stood on the other side of the battlefield.

He trembled not out of fear, but out of sheer rage as he looked towards the proud figure, who hadn't moved more than ten steps since the start of the battle. Khan swore he saw pure smugness and disdain radiate from that glowing eye of his. Again and again, the bastard had hindered and injured Khan.

And with this, Khan snapped.

"Damn you... I WILL TEAR YOU APART!"

With this roar, Khan abandoned all sorts of plans he had made in the battle. He didn't care about managing his mana or picking out weak enemies to regain his strength. No, now he just wanted to rip that smug look off of that horse with antlers.

The tiger broke into a full sprint across the battlefield, his target being obvious. And yet, would everyone just stand aside and let him through? No.

A towering boar that had already tackled Khan before once again stood in his way, charging at him.

"Out of my way!"

Khan had no patience left to deal with him, though. Just before the collision of the two, Khan jumped into the air, leaping above the tusked snout and landing on top of the boar's face. His claws, fueled by nothing but rage, swept across the beast's eyes before the tiger himself ran across the boar's back, landing behind the beast.

Khan paid no heed to the squealing and living boar, instead continuing to move forward. As various beasts came in front of him, he either dispatched them swiftly or forcibly avoided them, even at the cost of injuries.

He was getting closer and closer to his target that way, and soon nothing but a couple of beasts stood between him and the stag.

And yet after evading an attacking fox, Khan was forced to change his trajectory. As for the reason? Well, it was nothing serious, just a continuous beam of crackling energy emanating from the stag's two pairs of antlers.

Just as Khan jumped to the side, this beam of death swept across the place he had just been standing, burning a line into the ground, nearly instantly carbonizing the fox that remained and some of the beasts behind it. The charging beasts seemed to be frightened by the display even more than Khan, retreating a short distance and surrounding the tiger and the stag.

The stag himself seemed to be no longer content with watching over the battle and intervening when needed; his mighty hooves now trampled over the burnt ground as he advanced forward, meeting the challenge of the tiger.

During the mad dash towards the stag, Khan got lucky and managed to replenish his mana just a little by consuming yet another crystal that the stag didn't get to destroy. But even so, the pressure and threat that the tiger felt from the herbivore was greater than anything he had faced before. The roles of predator and prey were blurred.

Despite this, he stepped forward. Khan began circling around the edge of the 'arena' that the beasts had created, the stag mirroring his moves.

"I have come this far..."

With the low growl of his words, his weary body came to a stop, the stag doing the same.

"I will not die here!"

With a roar, he charged forward with the greatest strength his body could muster. The stag, meeting his challenge, bellowed and lowered his head, the sharp and twisting antlers now ready to meet Khan's charge. The stag didn't remain on the defensive, accelerating towards the tiger.

Despite Khan's knowledge of his obvious disadvantage, the tiger didn't back down, blazing flames enveloping his entire body, an even greater strength surging from his muscles and bones.

As if to respond to him, energy gathered on the stag's antlers, this time remaining on them like on a stun baton.

"RAAGH!"

After a mere second, a roar and a bellow met, and so did the claws and antlers. A thunderous explosion rang out, forcing every nearby beast backward and raising a cloud of dust.

A conveniently passing breeze soon blew away the dust, however, revealing the outcome of the clash. As soon as it became visible, it became obvious that the clash had not yet ended.

The two opponents were locked in somewhat of a stalemate, each side not coming out unscathed.

Khan had multiple places pierced by the stag's antlers. It was obvious that many of his ribs were broken, and he was bleeding rather badly. As for his opponent, despite injuring his foe that much, the stag too was rather badly wounded.

Because the tiger had impaled himself on the stag's horns rather deeply, he was able to reach the stag's owner. The stag had many claw wounds on his head and neck; he too was bleeding, and such an injury no doubt would have been fatal had he been a regular beast.

But he wasn't. As his blood fell to the ground, it evaporated and turned into mist. The stag's wound was also gradually shrinking, mana flowing from within to heal it.

The reason Khan didn't heal in a similar manner was that his mana reserves were nearly empty, not enough to heal severe wounds. Meanwhile, the stag entered their 'duel' while having abundant amounts of mana, having used it only for ranged attacks.

"Gaagh... Cough Cough"

Khan groaned, coughing up blood. He wanted to continue his attacks, but at that moment, the stag flung him away from his antlers with a snort, the tiger finding himself on the ground once again.

The previously menacing and mighty lord of the northern forests, destroyer of human cities, now struggled to stand back up. One could only admire his willpower as he managed to do so despite the blood that streamed from his entire body.

He then roared out with a hoarse voice, but not at his opponent or anyone that was present.

"You! The coward behind this all! Will you not show yourself until the end?!"

As Khan looked around him, he didn't see any movement, causing him to roar out once again.

"So you will humiliate me until the end?! Not daring to show your face after having driven me to such a state. You truly have no courage!"

And yet at these words, the atmosphere suddenly changed with a crowd of beasts suddenly parting before something unseen to Khan. But even so, he sensed a threat even greater than the stag that had ultimately bested him.

Amidst the pressure, a lazy feminine yawn could be heard, and the stretching feline form was revealed amidst the retreating beasts. Curiously enough, a mouse could be seen trailing behind her, a rather peculiar sight.

The feline, which Khan recognized as a cougar, advanced towards him while incoherent sounds could be heard from her mouth. Suddenly, she stopped, and a mellow female voice echoed.

"Aahhh... Ieya... Ah. Is that how you do it?"

While Khan kept his eyes on her without revealing any other expression, he was secretly shocked. It had taken him weeks of observing the cultists that followed him to develop the ability to speak. After all, it required a rather difficult manipulation of vocal cords, only possible due to the Mana Body he possessed. And yet this cougar needed mere seconds of observing him to replicate his success.

His thoughts were interrupted by her words, though.

"Master of the Hunt does not have time to adhere to your trivial requests..."

She yawned once again as if she hadn't gotten enough sleep.

"...Besides, we are more than enough, aren't we?"

Khan felt the threat from her intensify even more before letting out a question of his own.

"Enough for what?"

The female cougar then seemed to chuckle, her eyes meeting his own. Her shadow seemed to move, and water droplets began to hover around her.

"Why, to end you, of course!"

Khan's eyes widened as the cougar seemingly melted into the shadows—not like the wolf he had previously slain, no, far differently.

This shadow surged towards him like a raging tide, as quick as a roaring river. This shadow was... liquid.

Khan tried to evade with what little strength he had left. But...

"Urgh!"

He felt the tendons of his front limbs being cut as he toppled forward. He hadn't even seen the attack. As he tried to move in a direction, the shadow changed course, and in the blink of an eye, it was right in front of him.

His limbs could no longer hold him, and Khan toppled to the side. It was clear that his throat might have been cut instead of his tendons, but the feline seemingly wanted to toy with him.

"Broken already? Tsk tsk, the little mouse could take more than you."

A cougar emerged from the pool of shadows in front of him, staring down at him with undisguised disdain.

"I expected more of you. The master expected more as well. I guess we overestimated you."

"...Just finish me already."

"...Finish you?"

All of a sudden, the cougar chuckled.

"No, no, no. This is just the beginning. You see, the Master still has use for you."

"...What the hell are you talking about?"

The cougar ignored his question, instead turning behind her and calling out.

"Remy? Be a dear and restrain him. Wouldn't want this... cat to do anything stupid while the Master speaks."

Before Khan could understand what was going on, earth surged from underneath him, coiling around his limbs. He soon found himself completely immobilized, unable to move a muscle. The perpetrator revealed himself as a 1.5-meter-tall mouse, who was wearing rags that looked to be looted from humans. Additionally, he seemed rather fearful of the cougar.

Khan couldn't even struggle against the restraints if he wanted to, proving the mouse's remarkable control over mana.

And yet, Khan wasn't allowed to think any further on this topic, as a foreign presence bore down upon him, a voice appearing out of nowhere and reverberating in his mind.

"YOUR INVASION COMES TO AN END."

"Who... What are you?!"

Khan felt as if his mind, his very being, was being ripped apart as his very thoughts seemed suppressed, the intruder bearing ever deeper into his mind... his soul.

"YOU WILL BRING DESTRUCTION NO LONGER. YOUR CLAWS SHALL NOW PROTECT."

"AAAURGHH!!!"

Khan howled in agony as he was now unable to think, feeling that he could hide nowhere, that he would cease to exist if he resisted.

"YOUR FLAMES WILL SERVE A NEW PURPOSE."

"STOP IT!!!"

"I NAME YOU FELMYR. AND YOU WILL GUARD MY DOMAIN."

Khan then felt as if his very soul was branded, as if an anchor was tied to it. But he could not even utter a single word; his voice became hoarse, his mind scarred with fear and pain. So he didn't hear what transpired next either.

All of a sudden, the cougar that had been observing him nodded and spoke out.

"I hear and obey the Master of the Hunt."

With those words, her claws slashed out, hacking open Khan's throat. He felt his remaining life quickly drain away, quickly descending into blissful darkness, free of pain.

The cougar, whose name was The Huntress, wiped her claws on the grass beneath her before eventually licking it away. While doing so, she turned toward a certain direction and spoke out.

"Huh. It would seem we have more guests?"

The mouse, obviously being Remy, stared at the whole scene rather fearfully before following the Huntress's gaze. An unexpected scene met his eyes.

A team of humans stood at the edge of the clearing, clearly shocked as they stared at the whole scene that looked like a sacrificial ritual... which was, in essence, what it was.

A man at the back, who had a firearm in his arms, spoke out in a quiet tone, which was nonetheless heard by everyone due to how quiet it was.

"What the actual fuck am I looking at here..."