RED-LION BEAST

"Nature means what kind of creature you are," Feirro immediately answered.

"What if I lie?" I asked out of curiosity.

"See that all-black-eyed guard standing beside the table of the one listing who's coming in and also at the table of the one listing who's coming out?"

I immediately squinted, trying to check on the two guards from head to toe.

"They are puppets made by wizards who can detect if someone lies." He held on to my right shoulder, so I turned to face him.

"Will you take your hand off my shoulder or I'll turn you into a mouse?" I raised my left eyebrow, glaring at his cold yet undeniably handsome face.

"Whoops!" He immediately took his hand off my shoulder.

"You two! What are you waiting for?" The guard on the table called us. He's looking at me from head to toe right now.

I quickly walk towards him and say, "My name is Alenna Delevigne from the city of Nalaknabak. I'm a..."

"Mortal!" The guard puppet beside him said, which made me look at it.

Well, I guess it's better that I am tagged as a mortal. I can keep a low profile.

"Your dress looks like that of a witch." The guard smiled at me and turned to face Feirro, who was standing beside me.

"My name is Feirro Erickson, and I'm from the city of Nalaknabak. I'm a werewolf!"

The guard puppet looked at him and verified, "Werewolf!"

I can't help but roll my eyes and walk through the gate. There must be a problem with that crap, guard puppet.

I looked at my own suit; it's a black long-sleeve dress whose length reaches my shin, a black and brown leather belt that reveals my small waistline, and black boots.

So, it's the color of my dress that makes me a witch, not my essence, which couldn't even be felt by those puppets. Maybe I could change this black suit into a white one and be a complete mortal.

Then I looked around and checked what kind of dress people were wearing here.

I can see most of the people are wearing suits made of hemp. It looks like they were poor or that people belonged to the lower class.

I can see a few wearing plain, and some have nature's design, light-colored dresses made of silk too. They looked more neat, attractive, and noble. I guess these folks were from an upper-class family.

The common thing that about 95% of the people have here is that they are wearing long dresses with long sleeves.

Only a few men were wearing dark-colored, fury, sleeveless shirts made of leather and trousers, like the casual suits of men in my city.

"The kingdom of Dolocab has five cities. We're in the busy market of the city of Yoconahap now. Do you want to buy anything?" Feirro asked.

His words reminded me of the man's medicine that we saved this morning. I immediately got the prescription from my magic bag.

"Let's find a pharmacy to buy some herbs first and then find a place to stay tonight." I handed him the prescription that Joque gave me.

"Whatever you wish, my beloved queen." He just suddenly appeared in front of me and kissed the air before running away.

What a psychopath!

I just keep on walking around, admiring the beautiful scenery in the streets.

There are a lot of street vendors here; they're selling street foods, jewelry, clothing, and many more things. There are a lot of big stores and restaurants around, too.

I stopped walking when a red-lion beast suddenly appeared and started messing around at one corner of the street.

It is destroying everything on its way, emitting fire, and killing people. With one loud roar, everyone started to panic, run, and hide.

"Why is there a beast here inside the kingdom?" I mumble!

Suddenly, a hand or something clutched my right arm. I turned around and saw Feirro.

"It's a red-lion beast. The top-7 strongest beast of all time." His voice was low, and I could see his face was a bit stunned by the beast.

I shifted my gaze from his face to the hand that was clutching my arm. "Let go of me, scumbag!"

But he didn't let go of me. "I know what you're thinking, but I won't let you..."

I pulled my hand out and kicked him, causing him to flop on the other side of the street. "Let me handle it!"

I smirked as my magic wand appeared on my right hand. I'm going to tame two beasts within the day. I chuckled, feeling all the excitement.

However, when I shifted my gaze back to the red-lion beast, I saw a man in a black hoodie cloak. He's wielding a sword that has a strong and shining blade.

The red lion kept on puffing fireballs to hit the man, but he moves so swiftly that you will only be surprised; he's already on the other side.

I'm sure that he is not teleporting since he doesn't take time staying in one place, but running because it takes time when he disappears from my sight.

"A vampire!" I mumbled.

Only a vampire can move as fast as he does. Sadly, no matter how many times he strikes the red-lion beast, he cannot kill it. Its whole body is impenetrable.

The red-lion beast's fire is known to ruin everything it touches. The one and only thing that can kill it, as stated in the books, is a sword made by its own fire.

Seeing that he is not attacking the beast with his sword, it looks like he knows that it is useless.

I'd love to watch how this vampire is going to solve the problem and kill the beast, but I'm afraid the whole city will be burned out already and many more lives will be sacrificed if I don't do anything.

I took a deep breath and clasped my hands in front of my chest, holding my magic wand upward. I can actually control the fire without the wand, but its strong power can help me instead of using my own spiritual energy.

I gathered and controlled some fire that the beast had emitted and made a large sword out of it. Without any doubt, I threw the sword of fire forward, and it penetrated the beast's forehead.

The beast fell to the ground and slowly disappeared until only a little, shining red, round ball floating in the air remained. It is the beast's essence, and it's now floating towards me.

The red ball stopped in front of me, and I couldn't stop staring at it because it was my first time actually killing a beast and seeing its essence anyway.

If only this beast hadn't damaged too much here and killed some people, I could have just turned it into a small one and kept it in my magic bag.

The essence could actually increase the beast's killer's spiritual energy, but before I could get the essence, the vampire suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Ahh!" I gawked and took one step backwards out of shock.

His head is covered with his hood, but I can see his handsome, pale face. His sharp phoenix eyes are almost enchanting me; his stares make me unable to move for a moment, and I am shocked.

"What a strong aura!" I accidentally mumbled, then I blink my eyes twice and quickly take two steps backwards.

In just a moment, I managed to hide my shock expressions and turned into an unruly disguise.

"Won't you thank me for saving your life?" I asked with full confidence.

"How dare you steal my prey!" His voice is low yet full of undeniable strength.

I gave him a shallow laugh and said, "A competitive cultivator. Go on, take that essence."

I crossed my arms, smiling as he glared at me.

"Useless!" His expression is still cold, yet I can feel how upset he was as he walked away.

I stretched my right arm and opened my hand, then the essence hopped on it and disappeared as it condensed inside my body.

I closed my eyes and felt clearly that an energy was moving all over my body, then slowly numbing my veins. I can't help but clench my hands, struggling to move, but I can't even open my eyes.

Then, I heard Feirro's voice: "Ale, are you okay?"

I felt his hand clutching my shoulders. He's shaking me. "Ale!? Alenna?"

Slowly, the energy feels very hot, like it's burning my veins. It made me panic, and now I don't know what to do anymore or what's happening around me. I just kept on struggling, trying to move, but I really couldn't.

Surprisingly, the darkness slowly disappeared, and I found myself standing in a crystal circle in the middle of the circling fire. I felt so hot, but I can freely move now.

I quickly summoned my wand and waved it three times to control and stop the fire, but my effort was in vain. I wave my wand again, and it seems like it is not working.

"What a bullsh!t!" My breath deepens; the hotness just added up as I felt so upset.

I'm a witch who can control fire. How come I can't do anything here now?

I kept on walking here and there, looking around, but all I could see was fire beyond this tiny circle that seemed like it could not enter.

"What to do! What to do!" I kept on murmuring while walking until I realized something.

This fire might be the power of the red-lion beast that is now mixing with my power after I absorbed its essence; that's why I can't control it, and it can also make me feel hot despite being a fire witch.

This crystal circle keeping me from the reach of the fire was my unconscious power, which acted up to save me by keeping the beast's essence outside. Luckily, I have this enough power to stand against the essence I had absorbed, or else I'll be dead on the spot.

I completely forgot about what was written in the book a while ago anyway. It says that once you absorb a beast's essence, you should have enough power and energy to control it and mix it with your own essence, or else you will die.

I calmly sat down, rested my hands on my lap, and closed my eyes. As a fire witch, no kind of fire can hurt me. Why should I be afraid of this little trick that makes me feel hot during the process of the red-lion beast's essence mixing with mine?

I tried to control my power and let the beast's essence come inside me. I thought it would be easy already, but the heat just flared up more as I stopped my power and let the beast's essence come inside me.

"Ahh!" I groaned. I had never felt this kind of pain before. I clenched my fist as well as my teeth, trying to make my whole body stone hard and numb to go against the burning sensation.

This essence is just too strong and too much for me to handle. I kept on struggling, fighting against the heat that already felt like burning my soul.

I couldn't imagine if this would be what you have to suffer every time you absorb an essence to gain power. Those cultivators using this method just to be strong were simply ambitious, coveting to gain power in a short time despite this kind of suffering.

"Ahhh!" I whined out of pain. I can feel how every cell in my body is burning. Am I dying?