Beauty and the Beasts

The tree that Parker was on was surrounded by beastmen. The tigers took turns trying to climb up the tree, but the highest any of them managed to climb was ten-odd meters high. Parker only had to scurry up to easily get out of danger.

With the great commotion going on here, Bai Qingqing started getting uneasy. Parker had been gone for too long.

“Cortis, let’s go and take a look.” Bai Qingqing’s face was a little pale. Perhaps it was because she was cold. But Cortis attributed it to that group of beastmen.

“Okay.” Although no emotion could be detected in his voice, his heart was overwhelmed by a deadly desire to kill now.

It seemed like his territorial sense had weakened. If this happened in the past, those beastmen who intruded upon his territory would long have been dead. No way would they still be making a ruckus and startling his mate now.

With Bai Qingqing in his arms, Cortis slithered over. Parker, who was the first to spot them, roared with excitement on the tree. “Roar!”

“It’s Parker!” Bai Qingqing said, pointing at the leopard on the tree.

The tiger beastmen froze, then looked towards the snake beastman uniformly, their bodies overtaken by caution and fear.

Parker ran along the tree branch and onto the tree right above Bai Qingqing, then jumped down and stood with them.

“Roar—” Parker rubbed his face against Bai Qingqing’s calf intimately, then licked the dried mud off her calves.

Rosa and her entourage of beastmen had arrived too. Looking at her mate that was now lying on the ground, intense fury and hatred could be seen in Rosa’s eyes. “Bart, who killed him?”

The wolf beastman howled at Parker.

That was just as Rosa had thought. If the snake beastman wanted to kill them, he wouldn’t have stopped at one. She ordered sternly. “Kill that leopard for me!”

It wasn’t that she felt pained about the loss of that mate. She simply needed to regain some face seeing that her mate had been killed.

“Roar!” The tiger beastmen roared unanimously, seemingly ready to attack.

Parker’s fur exploded as he got ready to climb onto a tree any moment now. He didn’t feel at all fearful. There was no way these tigers and wolves could harm him in this forest, and when he got back to the village, he would be under the protection of his tribe.

Even if there was only one four-striped beastman in their leopard tribe, they now had Cortis with them.

“You really killed someone?”

Bai Qingqing’s voice snapped Parker out of his thoughts. He looked up at her. Seeing her pale face, his heart rose to his throat.

“Huff!” Parker let out an aggrieved sound.

It was perfectly normal for beastmen to fight while hunting. But Parker understood how soft-hearted Bai Qingqing was. Will she dislike me because I was too violent?

They had interacted for some time now, so Bai Qingqing understood the meaning behind some of the noises Parker made—like this one. Bai Qingqing felt frightened, but facing so many ferocious beasts, what she was most worried about was Parker’s safety.

“Cortis.” Bai Qingqing tugged at Cortis’s arm and stared at him with a pleading look.

Cortis gently patted her shoulder and placed her on the ground. He then swept his tail as he faced the enemies, bloodthirst flickering in his red eyes.

With the assurance that Cortis wouldn’t stand by and do nothing, Bai Qingqing felt slightly more at ease.

Rosa seemed unfazed by the four-striped snake beastman. “Vincent, you go deal with him.”

Vincent didn’t so much as glance at Rosa. He ran towards Bai Qingqing’s side on his four limbs. Behind him, Rosa’s mates revealed their fangs as they prepared to pounce on and kill the leopard.

The startled Bai Qingqing couldn’t help hiding behind Cortis as she gazed at the white tiger’s ferocious face.

“Screech—” A bright and clear screech of an eagle could be heard from the skies. A black figure came dashing down, landing on a tree branch on Bai Qingqing’s side.