GOD Volume 1 Chapter 5

G.o.d —Divine Beginning of the End— Volume 1: The First Pet is a Swordsman

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 5: Kidnap for Ransom… Decisive Battle!—translated by lucathia (proofread by Arcedemius & elisa)

Not long after entering the forest, Shooting Star lowered Bai Saya with a sense of urgency and hurriedly offered him the bottle of healing potion. Otherwise, he would really have saved him for nothing.

Although the injury on Bai Saya's neck wasn't deep, he had lost a lot of blood. Just entering the forest, a lot of time had been wasted. The blood loss alone could kill a man.

"Hurry up and drink it," Shooting Star urged.

The moment he drank the potion, Bai Saya once more experienced having a bitter and sour feeling travel from his mouth throughout his entire body. So this is a healing potion?

Before he lost consciousness, the last image that Bai Saya had seen was Shooting Star's s.h.i.+ning, golden eyes, and he had the feeling that he would never wake up again.

When Bai Saya opened his eyes once more, before even figuring out his location he gazed up at the blue sky, incomparably thankful to the heavens. Being alive is great! Then, he once again saw that pair of s.h.i.+ning, golden eyes, and it was even accompanied by a voice that really grated on the nerves at that moment.

"Why are you looking at me with such pa.s.sionate eyes? I'm going to get embarra.s.sed!"

Shooting Star was smiling so much that his eyes arched. Xiao Bai's gaze just now was really pretty. His gentle amber eyes held moist tears, his expression full of grat.i.tude. Not bad, not bad. He still knows to thank me.

Bai Saya abruptly sat up, his gaze hardening, and he angrily said, "This is a murderous gaze! You actually used a knife on my throat!"

"If I didn't do that, we wouldn't have been able to escape," Shooting Star pouted. That gaze full of grat.i.tude must have been a misunderstanding. It had even tricked him into feeling happy for a moment, thinking that he could seize the chance to have the other person become his pet.

"There's no need to be so angry. I mean, you just drank a high quality healing potion and you're already up and about again."

"That's not the problem!" Bai Saya found it hard to believe that Shooting Star felt not an ounce of guilt. "You came to save me without any preparation and ended up having to slit my throat before we could escape. I don't know why Dan was willing to let us go, but if not for him, wouldn't you have been captured, too?"

"You dare to bring that up? It's all your fault!" Shooting Star jumped up, his face full of fury.

"Me?" Bai Saya couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Exactly, you!" Shooting Star poked Bai Saya's chest, hard. He yelled, "Which idiot do you think rushed out there without thinking? And he even lost so messily and was captured, about to be sold off as a slave."

When he heard that, Bai Saya's anger diminished. Guilt slowly rose to take its place.

"Hmph! If I hadn't seen the Goldenstyle Merchant Guild's troops entering Mannen's castle, and was afraid that you would be taken away after tonight, I wouldn't have rushed in so hurriedly to save you!"

With that, Bai Saya's furious expression disappeared completely. So that's how it was. I am indeed at fault. He apologized guiltily, "I am truly sorry. I am in the wrong. I was too impatient."

"Hmph hmph! Good that you know."

Seeing Shooting Star's anger recede, only then did Bai Saya relax enough to ask after important matters. He looked around them, noting that they seemed to be in a forest.

"Where are we?"

"We're not far from Mannen's castle. I was in a hurry to feed you the healing potion, so I didn't take us far."

Bai Saya immediately grew worried. "Why did you stop here? What if they catch up with us? How long was I out?"

"Not long. Almost an hour, I think?"

When Bai Saya heard that, he shot up to his feet. "Let's go! We can't stay here!"

Shooting Star snapped, "No need to hurry! That half-demon Dan deliberately let us go. Since he did so, he wouldn't go out of his way to chase us down!"

Bai Saya felt that Shooting Star's words made a lot of sense.

"Hey Xiao Bai!" Shooting Star asked curiously, "Did you already know that Dan person before this? Why does he care so much about your wellbeing?"

Bai Saya shook his head and said, "I didn't know him. I only met him once when he came to the prison earlier to take away the elf."

I've indeed guessed right! Shooting Star was proud of his own deductive abilities. He was about to explain the demon race's nature of having a "checkmate" to Bai Saya when he saw the other person's furrowed eyebrows and very confused, idiotic expression. He suddenly felt mischievous and purposely pretended to be confused, yelling, "Then, why did he deliberately let us go?"

Bai Saya answered honestly, "I don't know either."

"I know!" Shooting Star jumped up and snickered. Faced with Bai Saya who was seriously trying to listen to him, he finally revealed the answer.

"He must have fallen in love with you at first sight!"

Bai Saya flinched, his hopes dashed. He had actually thought that Shooting Star would give him a proper answer. He helplessly said, "Stop fooling around. He and I are both male."

"Of course I know that he's a guy. But he's half-demon."

Bai Saya wondered, "What does this have to do with the demon race?"

"Don't you know?" Shooting Star widened his eyes, his expression saying that it was common knowledge.

"Know what?"

Bai Saya started feeling that something wasn't quite right because Shooting Star's golden eyes were sparkling again. He obviously thought it to be amusing, and Bai Saya had begun to understand that when Shooting Star found something very amusing, it was often when the people beside him would find it not the least bit amusing.

"Doesn't the Eastern Continent have any demons?" Shooting Star was in no hurry to tell Bai Saya. Instead, he raised a different question.

"I don't know. But this is the first time I have personally met those not of the human race."

"What? Doesn't the Eastern Continent have elves?"

Bai Saya nodded and explained, "But most of them don't like humans very much. They all hide deep in the forests. Generally, they cannot be seen at all. Today was the first time I've met an elf. In the past, I would only see their figures from far away in the forests."

"Right, was that elf stuck with you in the prison good-looking? Was the elf a male or female elf?"

When he heard about the elf, they had been in flight response then, so he couldn't ask further. Now that they had escaped, Shooting Star immediately began asking after the elf.

"Good-looking. But I'm not too sure of their gender." Bai Saya was somewhat apologetic. When he saw Shooting Star's incredulous expression, he hurriedly added, "But I know that their name is Alan."

"Alan?" Shooting Star asked suspiciously, "That doesn't sound like an elf's name."

Bai Saya was even more apologetic as he scratched his face and confessed, "Their name was too long, and I don't know the elven language, so I could only remember the first two syllables."

You sure are something! You have quite a serious appearance, yet your actual personality is so simple and naïve. With no other choice, Shooting Star tried to think it over and deduced, "Alan. Sounds like Yalan or Yalen. A name that starts that way sounds more like a guy's name."

"You know the elven language?" Bai Saya was truly shocked.

"Just a bit!" Shooting Star's expression was full of pride.

Bai Saya half-believed, half-doubted him. Suddenly, he recalled that he had been asking about what Dan liking him had to do with the demon race. He hurriedly pulled the conversation back on track.

"Wait, what about the matter we were talking about just now, about the demon race and Dan? Dan is half-demon, but what does that have to do with his saving me?"

"The nature of demons is to follow their desires. Morality and the like are only concepts that you humans possess!" Shooting Star blinked his eyes and corrected, "I mean, only us humans would have such concepts."

Bai Saya was a little puzzled as he asked, "What does that have to do with Dan letting me go?"

Only six of Xiao Bai's seven orifices must be working—nothing gets through his thick skull! Shooting Star suddenly shouted, "You're really a super duper idiot who can't be saved. What I mean is, he doesn't care if you're a guy or a girl. As long as he likes you, even if you're a monster, he can still marry you!"

"What?!"

When he heard the word "marriage," Bai Saya was really shocked. He recalled Dan's conduct. It really had been strange. He seemed to have wanted to keep Bai Saya instead of selling him off as a slave. Then, Bai Saya had been used as a hostage by Shooting Star to threaten Dan, and Dan had actually let himself be threatened just like that. In the end, he had even let them go… This… this was…

As Shooting Star watched Bai Saya's expression transition to a pale white and then to a sick green, he thought it more and more amusing. He intentionally added, "Dan seems to like you a lot. Since he looks pretty handsome, why not just accept him?"

Bai Saya loudly turned him down. "Stop speaking nonsense. That is definitely something that won't happen!"

"I got it, I got it. I was just kidding." Shooting Star knew it was impossible, or else he wouldn't have suggested it. If Bai Saya truly were to run off with Dan, then wouldn't he have wasted his effort at trying so hard to capture his pet?

Even though Shooting Star had been joking, Bai Saya still had on an incomparably serious and furious expression, as if he had been shamed. Shooting Star knew he had taken the joke too far, so he immediately stopped mentioning Dan. He hurriedly changed the topic. "Xiao Bai, do you still want revenge?"

"Of course!"

The moment revenge for his s.h.i.+fu was brought up, Bai Saya immediately tossed aside all other matters, treating them as trivial. He pressed on, "Shooting Star, could you help me take revenge?"

Shooting Star gave a cold snort and said, "You finally thought of asking me for help? Earlier, didn't you boldly rush off by yourself?"

Bai Saya lowered his head and apologized, "I'm sorry, I was too impulsive. It's because s.h.i.+fu was like a father to me. This vengeance for my s.h.i.+fu and father figure makes it hard for me to stay rational."

Shooting Star abruptly turned around and poked hard at Bai Saya's chest. He asked, "Then, from now on, will you stay rational? If you continue to be impulsive, I won't help you!"

"I'll try my best," Bai Saya nodded. He knew now that being impulsive would not help him avenge his s.h.i.+fu.

Shooting Star crossed his arms as he pondered what to do. There were many methods to exact vengeance, but the degrees of difficultly varied a lot. He asked, "How do you want to avenge him? If we find an opportunity to poison Mannen to death, that should be the easiest method."

"No!" Bai Saya denied in shock. "I must use the martial arts taught to me by my s.h.i.+fu to personally defeat Mannen."

"But, you don't seem to be able to win against him. Besides, Mannen is such an important person. He wouldn't agree to fighting you one-on-one," Shooting Star retorted agitatedly. He hated when things were obviously very simple yet made into a super difficult situation because of senseless determination!

However, Bai Saya was very determined. "I must fight him alone and defeat him honorably to avenge my s.h.i.+fu."

"Why? That's really troublesome, and you might lose your life. Are you really so stupid that you don't know how to be flexible?" Shooting Star was so angry that he began yelling. He had the urge to split open Bai Saya's stubborn head on the spot.

Bai Saya fell silent for a moment before he slowly explained, "Ever since I was young, my s.h.i.+fu taught me martial arts. He also taught me that we must conduct ourselves justly and honorably. If I don't use my s.h.i.+fu's teachings to defeat Mannen, and instead use Mannen's methods, just like when he had poisoned us, then wouldn't I be justifying Mannen's methods and denying the righteousness of my s.h.i.+fu's teachings? I would not be exacting vengeance for my s.h.i.+fu. Instead, I would fundamentally be rejecting the principles taught to me by my s.h.i.+fu!

"I'm sorry, Shooting Star. Thank you for rescuing me. As for taking revenge, I'll do it myself." Bai Saya took a deep breath and said, almost like an oath, "No matter how difficult it may be, I must use martial arts taught by my s.h.i.+fu to personally defeat Mannen to avenge him!"

After he heard Bai Saya's explanation, Shooting Star was silent for a long time, so long that Bai Saya thought he no longer wanted to deal with him. He sighed and turned to leave.

"Stop right there! Come back."

Bai Saya froze. As commanded, he turned back and looked at Shooting Star in confusion.

"I didn't say I wouldn't help you. I was just complaining about the difficulty," Shooting Star pouted. Can't I even complain over something that's this difficult?

A glimmer of hope appeared in Bai Saya's eyes. "Then, you're willing to help me?"

Shooting Star's golden eyes rolled exaggeratedly. He chuckled and said, "I didn't say I'd help you, either!"

Now, Bai Saya was confused.

"I could help you…" Shooting Star let his sentence dangle, and his tone changed as he continued, "But it's not like I can help you for free. You should at least give me some compensation!"

"I don't have any money," Bai Saya replied honestly. He and his s.h.i.+fu had never been rich, and the trip over thousands of miles across the ocean to come from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent alone had nearly wrung him dry.

"I already knew without your telling me." Shooting Star rolled his eyes. Who can't tell that this fellow has empty sleeves billowing in the wind, and nothing but the wind to eat for his meals? No one would antic.i.p.ate him having any money to give! "I want something else."

"What do you want?" Bai Saya looked at himself. Other than the clothes on his body, he really didn't have anything else. Even his only sword was broken.

"You!" Shooting Star said with conviction.

"Me?" Bai Saya pointed at himself, not at all understanding Shooting Star's meaning.

"Yeah! You'll be my, my…" Pet! But the rigid Bai Saya would never accept such a term. Shooting Star smiled widely and changed the word. "You'll be my servant!"

"Servant?"

"Yes! If I really do help you succeed in your vengeance, you'll be my servant and serve me." Shooting Star lifted his head high, as if he were already Bai Saya's owner.

"That's…" Bai Saya grew hesitant.

Seeing how his future pet was quite indecisive, Shooting Star hurried to add, "For the sake of vengeance, you would even throw away your life, right? Then, what's so bad about being a servant? I definitely won't sell you off. I just want you to accompany me on adventures."

"Is that it?" Bai Saya was starting to be tempted. Seeing Shooting Star's childish actions thus far, rather than being a servant, perhaps the relations.h.i.+p would be more like that of an adventure companion?

Shooting Star nodded hard, and he also tried hard to prevent the grin on his face from looking too devious. But it was really difficult to force it down. Hehehe! My pet has almost taken the bait!

Finally, Bai Saya nodded and promised, "All right then. If you really do help me take revenge, I will be your servant."

Awesome! Pet number one—Bai Saya has taken the bait!

Shooting Star was so happy that he jumped around crazily for some time. Finally, he stopped, and the moment he did so, he saw Bai Saya smiling at him helplessly.

Shooting Star pretended to be serious and coughed several times. He said, "Then, you and Bones head over to my house. I need to make some arrangements first. I'll return later."

Bai Saya nodded and watched Bones scurry out from Shooting Star's bag and jump onto him. After this incident, Bai Saya was no longer averse to Bones. Rather, he felt that Bones was actually rather cute, and it was a true cuteness, not like Shooting Star's cuteness that was appearance only. In actuality, Shooting Star was a little devil whose expression wouldn't even change when he used a knife to slit someone's throat.

Shooting Star took out his whip. With a snap, the whip curled around a tree branch, and with a pull, he leaped right onto the branch. He lowered his head to look at his future pet below and said, "Return home obediently with Bones. Don't run around randomly."

Bai Saya nodded and had Bones lead the way. He turned to leave, only to end up advancing into the deeper parts of the forest.

Only when Shooting Star could no longer see Bai Saya's figure did he turn to take care of his own business. The entire way, he leaped across tree branches, advancing at a speed that made him seem like he was flying. He returned to the vicinity of Mannen's castle. He climbed onto a tree branch, his golden eyes s.h.i.+ning as he looked at the castle that wasn't very far away. His lips cutely curled up at the corners, yet it was also a bone-chilling smile.

"Hehe! No matter what, I bet none of you thought I'd dare to return right away, right?"

Shooting Star quietly sneaked closer to the castle walls. The walls were built out of stone, so there were obvious depressions and ledges across the surface. Besides, earlier, Bones had already located the best path to climb up, so all he had to do was carefully watch for when the guards would pa.s.s by him on their patrol. Then, he would nimbly dive into the moat's water and quickly climb up so as not to alert the guards.

"When speaking of nimbleness, who could possibly rival me, Shooting Star?" He couldn't help but praise himself. After doing so, he watched the guards pa.s.s by him. Shooting Star wasn't going to waste any time, or else he'd have to wait for them to circle around again.

He gave off practically no sound. With just a few leaps, he was by the moat's side, and he sank into the water like a fish. The moat wasn't very broad, as this was just a small castle and not a true citadel. With just a few kicks and then a few glides underwater, Shooting Star climbed up the opposite bank, and then he began to climb the wall.

Although there were braziers lit along the castle walls, Shooting Star nimbly climbed among the shadows. He carefully observed when the guards at the top of the castle walls would be patrolling elsewhere, and then he flipped himself to the top of the walls. In such an easy fas.h.i.+on, he had climbed right into this high security castle.

"Where would Bipsha be? Someone like him shouldn't be too hard to find."

Shooting Star darted his eyes around. As if to validate his words, there was a turret in the castle that was more gorgeous than the rest. Even the walls had been painted a sparkling white. Although it was already very late, it was still brightly lit, and there were even sounds of activity drifting over.

"Hehe! If he doesn't live there, then I'll flip my name around!"

Shooting Star thought it over. Shooting Star flipped around would be Star Shooting? Why does that sound better than my original name… Ah, I shouldn't be thinking nonsense. Better focus harder.

He quietly sneaked over and peeked in from outside the window. It was as he had expected. To his left, Bipsha was currently hugging a beastman race catgirl with a hot figure, and to his right, he was hugging a young human man with delicate features. There were even five to six women with gorgeous bodies dancing in front of him.

"Hmph!" Shooting Star narrowed his eyes as he observed the scene. He even inwardly judged, "What low standards. That catgirl's face is so weird, and that man isn't even half as good-looking as Xiao Bai!" Who? Who's there sneakily saying that this is a case of sour grapes?

There are too many people here. I can't take action easily. But I wonder when this guy will be willing to go to sleep?

After watching for a moment, Shooting Star already started to feel bored. However, Bipsha didn't seem to tire of it. At times, he would watch the women dance, and then he would tease the catgirl, or he would poke fun at the young man.

Yaaawn. Shooting Star yawned widely and deeply, and his eyelids began to feel heavy. Unable to help it, he hugged his knees, and with his back against the wall, he fell asleep.

As he slept, his body slowly tilted to the side… Cras.h.!.+

"Ouch! My head!"

Shooting Star hugged his head and cried out. The sharp pain from his head momentarily robbed him of his senses. Only when his headache receded a bit did he raise his gaze, a bit confused. Where am I?

A guard was approximately five meters from him and staring at him with wide eyes. It was clear that Shooting Star's ludicrous actions had confounded the guard.

Shoot! I'm still in Mannen's castle! Shooting Star scrambled to his feet. He quickly pushed up with his hand and jumped into the room through the window.

The guard finally woke up from his stupor and hurriedly shouted, "Halt! There's an intruder! The intruder has entered the young master's residence! Hurry!"

Shooting Star cursed under his breath. I'm done for now. He had originally planned to secretly kidnap Mannen's son and then send a letter of challenge, forcing Mannen to meet them alone. Now, he had inadvertently alerted the enemy, and Bipsha had probably escaped already, so he could no longer use that plan… Shooting Star abruptly halted, discovering that his target was actually still snoring in bed. Even the ruckus outside hadn't woken him up.

"You sure are cooperative, Mr. Bipsha." Shooting Star said with grat.i.tude, "You are exactly a kidnapper's model hostage! I thank you in place of all of the kidnappers in the world!"

All right, enough with this nonsense. Just think about it. Even a top-tier fellow like the demon king can often suffer utter defeat as a result of speaking too much without hurriedly finis.h.i.+ng off the hero.

"Okay!"

Shooting Star took out a large woven bag from his backpack. A devious smile appeared on his face. He slowly approached Bipsha. Perhaps it was because he gave off too much of a wicked aura, but our model hostage actually trembled and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw from blurredly waking up was a cute face, and then it was complete darkness…

"Ah!!!"

When Mannen was alerted, he immediately rushed into his son's room and shouted, "Bipsha!"

The room was completely empty without a single trace of physical evidence.

The guard was shocked. "H-How could this be? We have already surrounded the place. Even a slime wouldn't be able to escape!"

"Scram!" Mannen was so furious that his battle aura exploded outward, out of his control, sending the guard flying with a single hit.

To the side, a mage that Mannen had hired with a large sum said, "There are vestiges of magic having been cast here. The magic undulations are quite high, too."

"What? Magic?" When he heard that, Mannen calmed down a bit. However, his eyes still held a ferocious intensity. He growled, "No matter who it is, I, Mannen Ford, will crush him completely for daring to lay a hand on my son!"

A-Achoo! Shooting Star, who was carrying a large bag, sneezed violently. His action was such a big one that even the large bag on his back hit the ground violently with a "bang." It could have been a mere trick of the mind, but a groan seemed to emanate from the large bag.

Shooting Star rubbed his nose and lifted the bag once more. He mumbled, "Is Mannen cursing me? Or is my cute Xiao Bai missing me? Hehe, I've put in so much effort. Xiao Bai must be missing me!

"But gos.h.!.+ It really is difficult to capture a pet after all. I can't sleep in the middle of the night, and I even have to come out and toil physically." Shooting Star's baby face scrunched up. Not being able to sleep at night ranked within the top three on his list of things that he detested the most!

"So freakin' heavy… I give up! Not going to carry him anymore. He can walk by himself."

Shooting Star threw the bag on the ground and moved to loosen it, revealing Bipsha, whose eyes were both spinning.

"Strange." A puzzled expression appeared on Shooting Star's face. "Weird. I only clobbered him on the head once. Why have so many new b.u.mps shown up?"

Oh well. It doesn't matter since the b.u.mps aren't on my head! Shooting Star reached out and shook the unconscious guy, calling out, "Hey, hey! Wake up already. If you don't wake up right now, I'll abandon you here."

Bipsha whimpered for a bit, slowly waking up. When he regained some of his senses, he immediately hugged his head and wailed loudly. Seeing that there were several b.u.mps on his head, it would have been strange if he hadn't wailed.

"So noisy!" Without any mercy, Shooting Star aimed for the largest b.u.mp on his head and harshly whacked him with a fist in the very same spot.

"Ah!" Bipsha jumped up, shouting in both pain and anger. He clenched his fists and actually swung them at Shooting Star.

Oh! He actually wants to fight me? He has guts, but no brains! Shooting Star pouted and took out a blood red whip. He had a cute smile on, but his mouth shouted scary words. "You want to fight me? You have guts! I'm going to whip you to death! Die!"

The whip cracked nonstop, and the sounds of it snapping through the air rang incessantly. You would feel physical pain just from listening to the sounds.

"Ouch, ouch! Stop hitting me. It hurts. Stop…"

Bipsha jumped around wildly from the whipping, trying to dodge, but the whip was like a living snake, hard on his heels.

Only when Bipsha knelt on his knees before Shooting Star, begging for mercy, did Shooting Star stay his hand. He gave a cold snort and finally stopped.

"Hurry up and start walking. Xiao Bai is still waiting at home for me!" Shooting Star complained unhappily. "Hurry up! Otherwise, I'm going to abandon you here!"

Then, just abandon me here! thought Bipsha with a despaired face. However, he immediately thought of something important. Where exactly am I? He finally took notice of his surroundings. It had never crossed his mind that he would see a dark swampland after looking around. Except for the small piece of dry land they stood on, everywhere else was muddy. This was a swampland where you wouldn't know if you'd sink or not after taking a step out.

"Where is this?" Bipsha swallowed nervously.

"Oh!" Shooting Star said nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter if I tell you. We're in the Metalligator Swamp."

"What?" He began shrieking, so frantic that he actually moved forward and grabbed Shooting Star's shoulders. He frantically shook him back and forth and said, "The Metalligator Swamp is very dangerous! Eight out of ten people who enter get swallowed by the red-eyed metalligators, which can't be pierced by any weapons, leaving not a single bone behind! I don't want to stay here. I want to leave!"

He was in such a panic that he randomly chose a slightly drier looking path and rushed out without considering the situation. Who knew that the moment he took one step out, he would immediately sink to the knees? No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't free himself.

"Idiot!" Shooting Star berated him.

"The true danger of the Metalligator Swamp isn't the red-eyed metalligator. It's this swampland!"

Seeing Bipsha frantically shriek, Shooting Star explained jovially, "This bottomless swamp is truly scary. The places that look like paths are the true, bottomless locations. The moment you step out, you'd end up just like you have now, watching yourself slowly sink down until you drown! Hehe! It wouldn't be wrong to call this swamp a great, man-eating monster."

"Save me! I beg you." Bipsha sank further. Only half of his thigh still remained above water.

Shooting Star knelt down and propped both his hands on his cheeks. He said in a laidback fas.h.i.+on, "I have never seen someone get swallowed by a swamp before my eyes! This might be a once in a lifetime chance."

Bipsha panicked so much that he nearly cried. He hurriedly said, "It's not all that interesting. Isn't it just a pile of mud? If you want to watch, I can get my father to toss eight or ten people in for you to watch."

"No way, I only want to watch you," said Shooting Star cheerfully.

Bipsha suddenly froze. Finger shaking tremendously, he pointed behind Shooting Star. It took a long moment before he managed to shout in a trembling voice, "Ah! Alligator!"

Shooting Star looked behind him. There were indeed several alligators swimming over, their large, ugly tails moving back and forth. He turned back and scolded, "Idiot! Didn't I already tell you that they're red-eyed metalligators? Yet you're still going on about the alligators. If they were normal alligators, the average warrior wouldn't be afraid of them."

"D-Do they eat humans?" Bipsha asked, scared.

"Duh!" Shooting Star snapped, "Have you heard of an alligator that's an herbivore, or an alligator that's a carnivore but is so picky that it doesn't eat humans?"

Bipsha's face was mournful. One moment, he stared at the laidback Shooting Star, and the next, he looked at the red-eyed metalligators. Eventually, he began wailing and shouting that he didn't want to die. Seeing that the alligators were already close by, his eyes rolled back, and he actually fainted.

"So noisy, and he even fainted in the end. If I knew that'd happen, I'd have just let him sleep on. What a waste of time."

After Shooting Star grumbled his complaints while pouting, the red-eyed metalligators behind him opened their jaws wide and closed in. At this time, he quietly recited, "The element of light, the child of the sun, please aid me under your mercy that s.h.i.+nes upon the land…

"Spell of Sunlight!"

Light spread out instantaneously, the darkness of the swamp swept aside by this rarely seen brightness. It was so bright that people would not be able to keep their eyes open.

Even though this act of magic was fairly impressive, other than having light explode for an instant, it didn't really have any offensive power. There was no effect except for a moment of blinding light, but that was the strange thing. Those red-eyed metalligators were in such severe pain that they were writhing, and then immediately turned tail and swam away.

"Red-eyed metalligators. The red-eyes are a result of living in darkness for a long time. Even though they see well in the dark, suddenly coming into contact with light… Hehe! That would nearly blind them!"

Shooting Star turned around, joyfully watching the rare sight of the large alligators fleeing away with their tails between their legs.

"Shooting Star!"

Shooting Star turned his head and saw Bai Saya leap from one half-dead tree to another. He was hurriedly making his way closer.

"Cool, not bad! As expected of my (future) pet. He quickly grasped how to survive in this swampland."

At this time, Bai Saya had already leaped close to Shooting Star. He landed and asked in concern, "What happened? There was such a bright light just now. Were you attacked by the alligators?"

Shooting Star nodded.

"That's strange. I don't think these alligators have attacked me at all," Bai Saya mumbled in curiosity. At first, he had thought that these alligators didn't attack humans, but the current situation clearly proved otherwise. He came to an understanding and asked, "Is it because of Bones?"

"Exactly." Shooting Star nodded as if it were a matter of fact. Bones was an undead creature. No common creature would dare to approach it so easily.

"This person is…" Bai Saya saw an unconscious person on the ground. Half of his body was still stuck in the swamp. After he took a better look at the person's face, he immediately shouted in alarm, "Mannen's son? Why is he here?"

"Hehe! Of course, that's because I captured him." Shooting Star's golden eyes definitely twinkled dangerously. He smiled as he said, "As long as he is here, we won't have to worry that Mannen won't agree to fighting one-on-one!"

When he heard this, Bai Saya's eyes shone.

Shooting Star smiled, his eyes arching. Taking care of the battle would mean he had nearly acquired his pet. Hehehe! My beautiful dream of capturing beautiful pets is coming true step by step! Oh my elf, my angel, wait for your master!

Bai Saya was excited after learning that there was hope for the decisive battle, yet he suddenly s.h.i.+vered. He frowned in thought. The swampland is indeed too dark a place. We shouldn't dally here for too long…