Dealing with the Saber Pandas was easy. annoying, but still easy.

I suddenly have the urge to eat and i quickly devour the one on my hand, ignoring the fact that i am quite far away from the village or i am supposed to protect my village and not run around by myself.

being wild sometimes means that you forget what is most important for you.

i eat the Saber Panda, which I treat like fried chicken, while i walk back to the village. i can see the village in the distance and am glad that it was safe along with the Treants. seeing them like this made me think about which one will i protect when they are in danger. I guess I will choose the village and its people first because protecting the Treants was just a deal with Oak Treant.

When I reached Boroboro Village, Master Hokai welcomed me with a bow and I answered with a similar bow.

"Welcome back, Lord Yohan."

"Thank you for your welcome, Master Hokai."

"I will need to talk to you later, Lord Yohan.

it is about your training."

"ah... that.

Yeah, I kinda forget about that these days."

"Don't mind it, Lord Yohan."

Master Hokai then gave me a few pleasant words, which I think were kinda weird because i think we were already past being polite with each other. i just let him do what he wants, though.

He is old and probably going senile soon. As a good man, i must not patronize him and just let him enjoy his days.

As I entered the village gate, i met with some warriors who had just left their defensive post. I asked them to pick up the Saber Panda's corpses as it would be a good source of food. i also asked them to leave one corpse near the Treants, which drew a bad expression on the warrior's face. still hating, huh?

the warriors still do what i ask, even with sour faces and small, hate-filled conversations with each other. that is a good start!

i remember what Master Hokai said about never really living with the Great Beast and attachment, i think i can finally understand them after a while. they need time because the new change that I brought them was too fast and not everyone can take the change with that speed. If I were in their shoes, i would probably act the same way.

i have nothing else to do right now and there is no immediate danger nearby, so I decided to just take a light nap just so my body can heal. technically my body was already healed. i just want to sleep.

ZZZzzzzz

*****

About two weeks ago, at one corner of the Great Grassland under the Lone Banyan Tree.

A Saber Panda with a size of five meters long was sleeping alone under the shadow. around him were the smaller Saber Pandas who lay around restlessly, looking around with fear on their face as if someone or something was about to attack them.

Meanwhile, the Big Saber Panda is still sleeping calmly. ignorant of the behavior of its kind. its sleep was not any regular sleep, as he usually awakes when his kind felt restless. his sleep this time, was a method used by his master to talk to him.

in the dream world, the Saber Panda, whose name was Smilursa, is currently bowing deeply in front of the leader of Monsters, Kronus. His body, which was made of a sad and terrifying entity, wailed with a low voice, setting up a sad and painful background to the dream world.

"Smilursa, i have a mission for you."

"Yes, My King.

i am ready for your task."

"a new challenger has emerged in this world.

i want it dead as soon as possible."

"Consider it done, My King!"

"Good.

Enjoy your mission and don't forget to torture it first, else his death will be too pleasant for us."

Kronus left the dream world, leaving Smilursa alone in his dream world thinking about his king's order. a challenger, he thinks. it has been a while.

Smilursa then leaves his dream world and wakes up in the real world. He looked around and saw that his smaller kin were restless. At any other time, when things were normal, he would ask them and try to calm them down. but now was not such time. his king has given him order and he will do his best to please his king.

"My Kins! My Warrior!

Our king has given me an order to kill a challenger and I am going to kill him.

But I need your help.

spread around the Great Grassland and found me that challenger.

do not fight him as you were all too weak.

just come back when you find him and I will take care of the rest."

Smilursa casts a glance at his kind, the smaller version of him that has all his basic personalities and abilities but not his skills. he can see fear and unwillingness.

"Do not be afraid!

i know you are restless! i know you are afraid!

but our king has given us command and we have to do it!

else we are not worthy of him anymore."

"raise your head!

roar to the sky!

show the world that we are the Fearsome Smilursa!"

ROAAAARRR

ROAAAARRR

ROAAAARRR

The other Smilursa roared showing their willingness to obey their king despite their feelings.

"Go! And come back to me with good news! "

The army of Smilursa quickly went in all directions, going in pairs of two and three. Each one of them only has one thing in mind. Find the challenger!

*****

A group of three Smilursa run toward Treant Forest, aiming to kill one or two for their magical wood heart. This magical resource was one of their favorite meals other than meat and bamboo.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Just as they approached the forest, they were stopped by a creature that stood on two legs. At that moment, they can feel that this is the challenger they are looking for.

But this group was closer to that of an animal instead of an intelligent creature. The first thing they did when they saw their targets was to test them. To find out what is so special about this creature.

Turns out they were really outmatched and only one of them managed to run away. This one Smilursa ran with all it had to go back to his boss but was stopped by another group of five.

These five were among the few who tried to oppose the current leaders. They wanted to stop being subject to the Unworthy King and now was their chance.

With the information from the surviving Smilursa, they quickly go towards the Treant Forest destination right after killing the surviving Smilursa to silence it.

They managed to find Treant Forest after a week of careful scouting. Unfortunately, they found them when the night was still on which means that their presence must be known by the boss of Treant Forest.

The five decided to wait until the sun rose before they started their attack. When they started to approach, a creature standing on two legs stopped them on their track.

The five of them were very happy. They found the challenger and now they just need to kill it. With no challenger to report, their current boss will fail on his command and the Unworthy King might leave them.

The group of five thought that their number was enough to deal with a challenger only to find that they were wrong.

One by one, the challenger killed them, leaving only one in a bad condition. This last Smilursa tried to run away, trying to go back home to inform his boss about the challenger, only to fail and be killed in the process.

*****

Another week has passed and the Big Smilursa is beginning to get impatient.

His smaller kin should already run and cover almost all the Great Grasslands. He waited for the whole week and none has come back.

What happened to them? Where are they?

the Big Smilursa kept waiting for a few more days and after another week a piece of information finally arrived at the Big Smilursa. it was from one of its younger kin, where it said that a group of five had gone to a place where a creature that stands on two legs protects a place where humans and the Treant Forest live together.

the Big Smilursa interest was picked. he didn't know it was the challenger but he knew something about them. they always tried to make things different. it is like their second nature.

demanded his smaller kin to lead him to the location. They will soon run to the said location at the younger Smilursa's maximum speed. unfortunately, his smaller kin was not as durable as he was. This one is just way too young, barely old enough to hunt by itself.

"You are too young and too slow.

just point me in a direction and i will leave by myself."

the smaller Smilursa then points in a direction with its head. the big Smilursa looked in the direction and then quickly dashed away at his top speed. The Big Smilursa ran for days, even going past a week when he realized that he must have taken the wrong direction or his sense of direction was deteriorating enough to make him veer away from the right direction.

"It seems like I am getting old.

maybe it is time for me to rise up to the next level."

Ignoring the fact that he was probably lost, Big Smilursa slowly backtracked his running path. trying to find the Treant Forest that lived together with the human village. his journey back somehow feels like a waste of time as he cannot see anything other than a wide green grass.

"It's been such a long time since I've lived here.

i am getting tired of this green grass."

Big Smilursa takes his time as he searches slowly. the grassland might be a wide open space with barely anything that stands higher than grass leaves, but it still has its portion of obstacles that might hinder one's sight. some hills and niches might put one in a position where you cannot see too far into the distance.

One day, the Big Smilursa then walked up into a hill and saw a forest. His old age told him that the grassland has no such forest except for one, the Treant Forest. What confused him was that the Treants were now placed in a neat formation. some of the tallest and oldest ones were placed outside making a circular line while those smaller and younger ones were placed inside, taking a shape that closely resembles human living caves.

"Is that what they said about Treant Forest living together with humans?"

in the middle of the settlements, there is one gigantic tree that stands alone among its younger kin. the Big Smilursa recognized this tree, it was the biggest and meanest creature he had ever known in his entire life.

"That scheming old tree is there, which means this must be the place.

if that challenger really works with that tree, they're are either too desperate or too stupid.

maybe both. probably both."

the Big Smilursa then went down the hills and approached the Treant Forest with a high level of alertness. that old crafty tree was known for its sneak attacks and unnatural life cycle. he might look like he is sleeping in one second and then a second later you will find his sharp roots drilling into your brain.

"dealing with a challenger was difficult already.

Now I also have to deal with the old tree.

I just hope I get a greater recognition of my king."