Nozras may have been feared for its perpetual battle for the throne, but it was also known for its particularly wild and dangerous nature. Numerous beasts roamed the vast land. Sometimes, those beasts were stronger than warriors, leading to the disappearance of entire clans and the fall of great fighters who sought to use them as stepping stones.
Rita knew nothing about all of that. She had not been trained for survival, but for murder. Even for bloody genocides. Her clan had taught her that as long as she was strong, she had nothing to fear except her own shadow. However, this time, even she hesitated. No matter how strong she was, one of the greatest warriors in history, the beast standing before her did not inspire confidence. In fact, she was almost afraid of it.
Reno was smiling widely beside her.
"Look, Rita. Our entry ticket to the capital."
Rita exclaimed in horror:
"What?"
She knew about that damn tradition that required a warrior to make a name for themselves outside the capital before entering it. But this went far too far. What kind of reputation did one need to kill a lores of that size?
Reno looked at the beast with enthusiasm, leaning on his knee like an explorer.
"It's the King of Ouhkor. A monstrous lores that didn't follow a normal evolutionary path at all. It attacks everything on its mountain, but it seems to be sleeping. I need to wake it up."
A lores was a creature that resembled a lion, but twice as tall and twice as massive. As the greatest predator in the world, it existed only in Nozras, as if nature had mercifully chosen to confine it to a land where it could be killed. However, this lores was particularly unkillable.
The King of Ouhkor was sleeping peacefully at the summit of his mountain. He lay within an enormous crater, as if he had flattened the peak with his sheer strength to make it his home.
His claws were easily the size of an adult human face. His paws were as thick as an average human body. He was far larger than normal. An adult lores was supposed to fit inside a truck. This one absolutely would not.
His mane was majestic, gleaming under the sun. In his sleep, he resembled a divine beast, his head resting calmly on his crossed front paws. And that might have been the problem. Who could truly know divine will?
A lores was not a calm or merciful animal. The world knew that when someone approached its territory, the monster would turn into a mass of hatred, relentlessly hunting the foolish intruder. While a normal lores was a beast that could be hunted, this one was called the King of Ouhkor for a good reason.
"Reno, are you sick?"
"No. I'm a warrior."
Reno did not hesitate for even a second. He grabbed his club and threw it at the beast. The weapon tore through the air and struck the creature squarely on the head. The impact was so loud that the birds scattered across the mountain fled in panic.
In fact, no animal wanted to stay any longer. All of them had sensed the dangerous presence of the King of Ouhkor. For their survival, he absolutely must not see them. Every species began fleeing down the mountain at full speed, creating a deafening uproar. Dust followed them, rising and falling at once in a spectacle that resembled an avalanche. It was as if the mountain itself had trembled from a violent shock.
The only being that could be considered part of the race of idiots stood there, watching the proud beast rise with a wide smile.
Rita felt the tremor. She felt the mountain shaking and the frantic movement of animals fleeing. She turned around only to see tons of dust rising into the sky behind her.
Only then did she understand the gravity of the danger.
"Reno? Why?"
Reno did not answer right away, because the giant lores began to move. Slowly, its smooth and fluid motions did not even disturb what surrounded it. Only a monstrous presence pressing down on the young couple began to manifest on the mountain. Small rocks and dust fell from its silky fur. It awakened as if from a sleep lasting a hundred years, like a mythical creature hidden from mankind for centuries. And soon, towering in all its size and imposing aura, it blocked out the sun from the couple like an ill omen. Its shadow enveloped them, like a hand reaching out from the darkness.
Standing upright, it looked even more like a divine beast. Its presence was so suffocating that Rita struggled to breathe. But as she observed it closely, she noticed something that made her even more uneasy.
Its eyes.
They were almost yellow, mixed with a light shade of deep brown. Yet they shone brighter than the sun it had just eclipsed. Its vertical, slit pupils did not reflect hostility at first, but superiority. It did not see Reno and Rita as worthy opponents, but as mere insects it could crush without concern. Its gaze did not even seem focused on them, as if it had wandered off to something insignificant. And that did not seem to be a problem. Rita could tell—it intended to dispose of them as quickly as possible and return to sleep.
As if they were nothing more than flies.
There was a reason no one dared challenge it. Even the proud warriors of Nozras stayed far away from it, because once it saw you, the only thing you could do was pray.
Yet Reno turned toward his girlfriend, still wearing his wide grin and eyes filled with madness.
"Because I'm the strongest."
However, a second later, Reno was struck by the feline's left paw and found himself falling from the top of the mountain with no footing at all.
Rita caught a glimpse of his eyes filled with surprise, as if he had expected the beast, given its size, to be very slow. But that was not the case.
In less than a second, Reno saw Rita, then saw the sky, falling backward in complete confusion. Rita herself saw Reno, then no longer saw him, and when she turned her head, he was plunging from the top of the mountain after a single swipe of a paw.
The situation was catastrophic.
"Reno!!"
She reached out her arm in a desperate gesture, but it was already too late. Reno was falling.
The beast did not waste any time either. Like a cat batting at a ball of yarn, it struck toward Rita to crush her against the ground. However, Rita saw the attack and interrupted her movement to dodge, sliding to the right as if she were gliding.
"Damn it. That idiot."
Now she was alone, facing the beast. She instantly thought of fleeing, but she had to catch up to Reno. At least, if she had the time…
The beast, surprised, made a strange face when its attack failed to hit its target, before launching another strike. Rita did not even have time to think further and dodged the second blow.
"Damn."
Rita quickly realized that she had no time to escape anyway. Even tumbling down the mountain was probably impossible. The only way out was to kill the creature, which at first glance seemed impossible.
"Damn!"
Rita then drew two daggers from her belt and raised them near her head in a defensive stance. All she could do was wait to find an opening in this monster.
The King of Ouhkor, still seated, did not take this insect seriously. However, after a brief consideration, it raised its second paw and began attacking with both. Rita moved gracefully between the attacks, knowing that each one could crush her bones. The lores watched her struggle, but as time passed, it began to grow tired of it.
Rita, on her side, had no plan in mind. She never thought in terms of plans. One simply had to destroy the enemy. However, that only applied when the enemy was of similar size. She had thought Reno was large and had called him a monster, but now she stood before a real monster—one as big as nearly two enormous boulders. And when it stood up, irritated by this chase, her face, once light brown, instantly went pale.
It could no longer even be called an animal. It was a giant truck armed with claws and a jaw so large it could probably swallow a car. Rita did not even want to describe the thing in her mind, knowing it would only discourage her.
"Damn!!"
That was the only word she could utter. Suddenly, with a small leap, both of the beast's paws, one atop the other, came down above her head. Rita dodged again, cursing the fact that this thing was so fast. The King of Ouhkor did not hesitate and attacked again. Rita saw its tempo increase brutally, while she could not land a single hit.
Very quickly, she lost her footing. To be precise, every jump or impact the mountain king made against the ground caused it to shake violently. Rita found herself in a terrible position as the beast's left paw drew dangerously close to her head. The impact seemed inevitable, as did her death.
For a fraction of a second, she closed her eyes, briefly thinking of her life, then still took a defensive stance with a dagger ready to pierce the feline's paw. If she survived, injuring it there might prove useful. Then she closed her eyes again…
However, nothing happened for three long, unbearable seconds.
She suddenly opened her eyes to see what had stopped the creature—and saw Reno, right near its head. The beast was making an ugly grimace, as if it had taken a nasty blow to the face. And that was exactly what had happened. Rita quickly understood that Reno had come out of nowhere and struck the beast's cheek with such violence that it could not stop its head from snapping aside.
Rita smiled.
In that moment, seeing Reno's arrival, she understood one thing: it was possible.
Strength might have been what she lacked to defeat this thing, but she quickly realized that her indestructible support had arrived, smiling. Strangely, despite the situation and their slim chances of winning, with Reno there she thought:
"It's possible."
Suddenly, she vanished.
Reno, meanwhile, had no footing left and inevitably landed on the beast itself. Without a bladed weapon, he pinched the creature's skin to hold on, then with his free arm struck it with overwhelming force.
"You like that, huh?"
The beast rose at full speed, feeling that its unwanted guest was hurting it more than expected.
However, in a fraction of a second, it realized it could no longer see out of its right eye. Something had taken advantage of the brief moment it was on the ground to gouge it out. The lores saw that something a second later.
Rita appeared to be floating right in front of its face. Drops of blood accompanied her through the air. She too was smiling widely now, her blond hair loose and flowing behind her.
"He asked you a question."