“Meow!”

A single cute cry rolled through the trees like a pebble into a pond, and the forest exploded into frantic motion.

“Damn it, you clumsy bear, you stepped on me!”

A bear blundered onto a turtle; the turtle snapped back, then tucked into its shell like a shutter slamming. The bear’s weight slid off that polished dome; its footing went slick like ice, and it toppled backward.

Thump—

The big lump of bear crashed onto a wild boar, and the boar’s tusks bit deep like thorned spears.

The bear’s temper flared, hot as sap in summer. A mere boar dared go for blood? If the boar didn’t learn who Daddy Bear was today, the boar wouldn’t learn ever.

The boar’s temper flared right back, sharp as frost. That terrifying black cat had been streaking through the woods like a shadow with claws; that meow was a warning on a drum: Little ones, clear the path. Stand in the road, and you die.

If that cat saw him planted in the center of the trail, it’d call it blocking the way, and he’d get swatted into paste. The thought grabbed him like a cold hand. He glared even harder at the bear. Pig Lord hadn’t even gone after you yet, mutt-bear, and you want to pound me?

They charged, like storm and stone colliding.

“Take this, boar!”

Daddy Bear moved first. One paw hammered down, and the boar sailed through the brush like a sack tossed from a cart. It hit ground, but the earth felt soft, like moss under a blanket.

“Roar!”

The Tiger King snapped. It had been skirting wide, striping shadows like flowing water; it knew that black cat was prowling close. Then a falling boar slammed into it like a meteoroid. It was the Tiger King. It ran from the cat, sure—but lose to a mere boar?

The Tiger King vaulted in a single bound, muscles coiling like bowstrings; it heaved the boar off its chest and kept coming, relentless as surf. You slammed into the king and want to trot off? In my eyes, you’re just a punching bag, nothing more.

Chaos spilled outward like ink in water. In time, every apex beast in the forest got dragged into the brawl.

A lone wolf yelped after a thrashing, then called brothers in, voice rising like a horn. Soon a pack poured through the trees like smoke. Bears, lions, tigers—they were fierce, but numbers are a tide, and wolves are many.

Daddy Bear bellowed for his own brothers; the Tiger King heard the pitch of trouble and howled for his court.

Life and death turned light as ash; if you refuse, you fight. Apex beasts flipped the switch to war mode, and the weaker animals scattered like leaves before wind, afraid of being swept into the melee.

The racket woke a Flame Lizard from its sleep, heavy as embers. In the Forest of Misfortune, it was the most volatile of magic beasts. Each year, it had days when rage rose like a volcano; it roamed and spewed fire, and countless animals fled in a beast tide.

Its temper was bad on quiet days; being woken made it boil.

It roared, a furnace door blown open. Little brats dared disturb its sleep? Without a lesson, they wouldn’t know who ruled this forest.

It started to crawl out of its den—then a supersized gopher appeared, with a black cat riding its back like a king on a palanquin.

“Hey, lizard. Spit flame on this crystal ball; see if it reacts.”

The cat’s voice was meow-tongue, a purr and trill, but the Flame Lizard heard the meaning clear, like words cut in stone.

Anger first, questions later. The lizard didn’t care why it understood; one breath of fire, and the two tiny things would char like dead leaves.

Whoosh—

It obeyed in the most disobedient way, blasting a sheet of flame like sunrise. It didn’t follow Ouyang’s request and aim for the orb. The fire wrapped Ouyang and Claudia, a fiery cloak from head to tail.

Flame roared for three whole minutes, long as a sermon. The lizard stopped, certain the cat and gopher were charcoal.

“Meow—so fire doesn’t work either?”

Ouyang eyed the dim crystal orb, frustration pricking like nettles. Ever since the orb had reacted, he’d followed the resonance like a river’s current to this place. Midway, the orb went quiet again; all he knew was that whatever triggered it was nearby. What exactly, he still didn’t know.

The Flame Lizard stared at the untouched gopher and black cat, stunned like a bell struck wrong. This wasn’t science. The ground had melted into glass, and those two were fine?

Unwilling, it drew a deep breath, belly glowing like a kiln. It would brew a grand fireball and punish those two freaks.

The gopher—big as a grown dog—shrank with each blink, Ouyang’s blessing fading like dusk. Claudia pressed paws to himself, checking here and there, afraid some piece had gone missing. Ouyang toyed with the crystal orb, mind deep as a well; neither gave the charging lizard a glance.

Ignored, the Flame Lizard puffed cheeks like a bellows and spat a massive fireball, straight at Ouyang and Claudia.

“Winter Bulwark!”

An ice wall rose in a hiss of white mist, a frozen rampart in a breath, guarding Ouyang and Claudia. Footsteps echoed from the mouth of the cave, boots tapping like pebbles.

The fireball slammed the ice; the wall melted in sheets like butter, and the ball shrank like a dying star. In the end, they died together, heat and frost snuffing out as one. The lizard saw a handful of humans breaking its duel, and rage flared like pitch. This was a fight between it and the black cat. Now humans rushed in—like two peerless swordsmen dueling atop the Forbidden City’s ridge, only for city enforcers to charge in blowing whistles.

In short, the Flame Lizard was very, very displeased.

“Claudia? Creator God above, I finally found you!”

A girl ran in, heart beating like wings, and hugged the gopher that had shrunk back to normal size. She was family to the human household that had adopted Claudia; as a child, she’d begged to keep him as family. Otherwise, her father would’ve stewed Claudia like soup.

Claudia hadn’t told them when he left for the Forest of Misfortune; he had slipped away like fog. Lately, he’d led the gopher clan and beaten the field-mouse clan, banners like grass in the wind. He hadn’t yet returned to his human home, and then he ran into Ouyang.

Ricky saw the girl dart forward and went pale as chalk. He sprinted to cover her, putting himself between the Flame Lizard and her like a shield.

“Miss Yulithilis, that Flame Lizard’s extremely dangerous. Please step back!”

At Ricky’s shout, members of the adventuring party closed ranks, forming a wall like stacked logs. The girl’s identity was too noble; if she got hurt, even if they lived to return, the kingdom’s duke wouldn’t spare them.

She had seen her pet Claudia facing the lizard’s flames, and heat had surged into her head like wine. She threw up a Winter Bulwark, then rushed in and scooped the gopher up. When the party ringed her, her thoughts cooled like quenched steel. The Flame Lizard was the culprit behind the forest’s beast tides. The kingdom had stationed heavy troops at Sutel Town, the closest post to the Forest of Misfortune, but they still couldn’t handle the lizard. She’d heard its origins were enormous, deep as old roots.

“Meow~ (Huh, little lizard… just now, something… did you throw that?)”

Ouyang had been studying the crystal orb, eyes narrowed like blades; he’d missed both the giant fireball and the girl’s Winter Bulwark.

Only when humans blocked the fireball and the lizard roared did Ouyang glance up and notice the harmless little fellow. At least, in his eyes, the Flame Lizard was harmless, like a salamander sunning on a rock.

The black cat lifted his head, slow as a moonrise, and looked at the lizard’s bared claws with calm eyes, dark as ink.

The Flame Lizard’s anger spiked again, like oil hitting flame. The black cat was looking down on it—on the uncrowned king of the Forest of Misfortune. “Kitty, are you ignoring me?”

Weird sounds spilled from its mouth, harsh and rolling.

“Mew-mew~ (Ignore you? Right—who are you? When did I ever take you seriously?)”

The adventurers stood there, listening to a terrifying Flame Lizard and a black cat trade strange noises, like birds calling across a ravine. The two of them… were talking.

Yulithilis set her hand on Claudia’s head, fingers light as falling leaves. “Claudia, what is the black cat saying to the lizard? Are they… communicating?”

Others didn’t know, but Yulithilis did. Her pet gopher Claudia had a miraculous talent: he could understand the languages of all beasts. It only awakened with Yulithilis’s power flowing into him like spring water.

With her support, Claudia opened that sense, ears wide as the world.

After a moment—

“Mistress, those two big shots are… cursing each other.”

Claudia’s voice sounded in Yulithilis’s mind, clear as a bell. She froze, stunned like a deer. Cursing? A black cat and a Flame Lizard cursing each other? She didn’t want to believe it, but looking at their postures, it was a squabble, plain as thunder. The girl’s worldview began to crack like glazing.

On the other side, the meowfolk and the lizard squared off.

The Flame Lizard cooled after its first burst, anger settling like ash. It realized it couldn’t read the cat’s strength, not even a shadow. With the black cat unreadable, the lizard didn’t dare strike lightly; even a win would be a bloody one, and the humans would reap the spoils like gleaners.

It thought it through. The cat wouldn’t move; it wouldn’t move either. So the scene became a duel of tongues, insults flicked back and forth like sparks in dry grass.