บท 22: Humans?

"Alright, we've talked enough. She is really here. That was a pleasant talk with you, three-eyed monkey. Unlike those two who really didn't seem to listen to me."

Little Gorilla nodded frantically, with eyes filled with respect and politeness. He noted down what the Overlord beast said to him, burning his heart–finally finding the purpose to his passion in serving his master.

"Don't forget…"

"You're yapping this early?"

The telepathy suddenly shut down. Little Gorilla shivered after hearing another feminine voice intervening the Overlord beast, to which what seemed to be the cause of the Overlord beast cutting his telepathy with the Little Gorilla.

Although the feminine voice only said a single sentence, Little Gorilla shivered in fear from her voice, seemingly containing a deep terror and power. Little Gorilla breathed heavily, even staring at his hands quivering. He closed his three eyes and tried to calm himself. When he finally did, he tried to determine who the feminine voice was.

However, he suddenly realized one thing…

'She was talking in Master's language!'

Little Gorilla gazed at his master sleeping in peace with Snow accompanying him and couldn't help but be filled with wonder. He couldn't help but also wondered if his master knew who the feminine voice was.

'I'll ask Master later! Later!'

Little Gorilla climbed through the trunk of the gargantuan tree and grabbed a tree branch, hanging there for a while, scouting for dangers. As he was doing the same thing again and again through other gargantuan trees for five minutes, he suddenly felt tired and his focus was drifting away.

He was about to grab another branch but he lost consciousness and fell on the sky, coincidentally landing beside his master. There, a human and beasts were sleeping in tranquility despite being surrounded by thousands, if not, hundreds of thousands of snakes.

Suddenly, a woman appeared and spoke, "Another participant, it seemed. To also form a bond with beasts? Two at that? One even a Corrupted rank when he is so very weak? So unusual. This guy might have some use despite being so weak on this trial."

The woman was silent for a while, scrutinizing Kaiju's appearance for a whole minute and continued.

"He certainly did not receive a Genesis Serum before, so he might have come from an ordinary background. How did he even end up in the Hellish Trial? Is he stupid?"

The woman squatted beside Kaiju, motioned her hand above Kaiju's skin and her nail suddenly lengthened and sharpened. She pierced her nails easily through Kaiju's skin and pulled it a second later. Kaiju's blood dampened her nail as she brought it to her mouth and tasted the blood.

The woman's eyes opened wide abruptly, and then stared dazedly at Kaiju, appearing in shock.

"He has Pain Tolerance, Rare rank at that! That means, he could endure pain the very same level an Awakener can handle. Also, if he reaches the Awakener rank, his Pain Tolerance, despite staying at the Rare rank, would amplify, too."

She stared at Kaiju for a long while, her eyes filled with curiosity and wonders.

"How much did he go through to obtain this skill? Not only that, there was Poison Resistance, too. I know, I know, you've already explained it. Alright, I'll take him with me, he is very valuable. A beastmaster, not being awakened yet, perhaps something he earned through unknown means, is certainly a big help in my plan."

She grinned.

"Still, he has less skills than I thought. I guess that is to be expected from an ordinary kid. Well, he can still learn more about it during this trial."

The woman stared at Kaiju and her smile brightened.

"Interesting."

***

Kaiju dreamed of a monster, the latter was blurry, so much so he could barely scrutinize its appearance. Despite that, he felt it was familiar, so, so familiar. However, he couldn't recognize what it was, who it was, which type of monster it was… it was so strange.

It has wings, it has tails, it has a towering physique, yet faster and nimbler as it was battling another monster. Kaiju felt like the monster he felt familiar with was a beast, too. The assumption must have originated from his title, Beastmaster.

Kaiju couldn't enjoy the battle unfolding before him–it was like watching a video with a very low quality that he could barely understand what was happening. Even so, he had the desire to watch the battle, enjoy it even though he couldn't…

Kaiju was perplexed, but he enjoyed the battle anyway.

When the battle was about to conclude, the world suddenly crumbled. Kaiju felt it was a shame he couldn't know who won, though he was rooting and felt confident the monster he felt familiar with would be the victor.

As the dream - he was aware of it - was about to change scene, he suddenly heard voices.

"Where did you find this kid, Qwanisha?"

"Qwanisha?"

"I mean, dear?"

"Alright, I let you slide. This kid, I just saw him lying lifelessly with two beasts on the perimeter. I was about to kill the two beasts but it seemed they formed a bond, giving me that strange feeling. This is unexpected, Max. A new participant in the trial is actually a beastmaster!"

"Max?"

"You focused on that? Alright, love."

Kaiju was baffled by different voices, not seemingly echoing inside his mind but in his ear. He soon realized it came from reality, not from his dream.

He woke up abruptly and warily swept his eyes on his surroundings. Of course, the first thing he did was to make sure Snow and Little Gorilla were in his embrace, safe and sound.

The first thing his eyes spotted as he scrutinized his surroundings was a dark skin gorgeous woman in her middle-age, carrying him in her arms.

Despite not clearly being able to see through her face due to her breast, he knew what was the creature carrying him.

His Emotionless skill had long been expended. Although the long term psychological impact on the skill gradually dulled his emotion, it was not to the extent yet he could not overreact against a surprising revelation.

"Humans!" He shouted in shock.