The Beast Beyond The City

Chapter 101 — The Beast Beyond the City

The northern gate of the city stood behind Aether as he entered the wilderness.

The moment he left the roads, the atmosphere changed.

The sounds of merchants and travelers disappeared, replaced by the rustling of trees and the occasional distant roar of beasts.

Aether continued forward without slowing down.

His Origin Sense stretched through the forest.

The powerful presence he had detected earlier was still there.

And it was getting closer.

Aether suddenly stopped.

The ground ahead of him trembled.

A massive figure burst through the trees.

It was a tiger-like beast nearly four meters long, covered in dark silver scales. Two curved horns grew from its forehead, while streams of Origin Energy surrounded its claws.

Aether immediately recognized its strength.

Stage 8.

The beast roared.

The sound shook the surrounding trees.

Aether's expression remained calm.

“Stage 8 already?”

He had only recently reached Stage 7.

Under normal circumstances, fighting a Stage 8 beast alone would be dangerous.

But Aether wasn't alone anymore.

He lowered his hand.

“Blackfang.”

The shadow beneath his feet moved.

Blackfang emerged with a low growl.

“Ironhide.”

The enormous shadow bear appeared beside it.

The horned tiger stared at the two creatures.

Then it attacked.

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BOOM!

The beast's claws smashed into the ground where Blackfang had been standing.

Blackfang had already disappeared.

It moved through the forest at incredible speed, attacking from different directions.

The tiger swung its claws repeatedly, but Blackfang avoided every strike.

Ironhide charged from the front.

The tiger's horns collided with the bear's body.

BOOM!

Ironhide was pushed backward several meters.

But it immediately recovered.

Aether watched carefully.

“Good. Its defense is impressive.”

The tiger roared and released a wave of Origin Energy.

Trees exploded around it.

Blackfang was caught in the attack.

Its body shattered into black mist.

The tiger turned toward Aether.

But before it could move, the black mist flowed across the ground.

It returned directly to Aether's shadow.

Aether smiled.

“As expected.”

Blackfang reformed.

The beast seemed confused.

Aether raised one hand.

“Together.”

Blackfang attacked from the side.

Ironhide attacked from the front.

The tiger was forced to defend against both.

Aether joined the battle.

His figure flashed forward with Shadow Step.

He appeared beneath the beast's guard and struck upward.

The impact forced the tiger into the air.

Ironhide slammed into it immediately afterward.

Blackfang followed.

The three attacks landed almost simultaneously.

The beast crashed into the ground.

It struggled to rise.

Aether appeared above it.

His Origin Energy condensed around his fist.

“It's over.”

His fist descended.

BOOM!

The beast stopped moving.

Aether landed beside it.

A private System notification appeared.

[Stage 8 Origin Beast defeated.]

[Origin Points +100.]

[Origin Points: 220 / 900.]

Aether looked at the notification.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

So the System didn't care who delivered the final blow.

As long as the target was defeated through his force, the Origin Points belonged to him.

That meant his shadows weren't merely soldiers.

They were another way for his cultivation to advance.

Aether looked toward Blackfang and Ironhide.

“Good work.”

The two shadows stood silently.

Aether then extracted the beast's Origin imprint.

The System responded.

[Origin imprint detected.]

[Compatibility with Origin Shadow Authority: 82%.]

Aether's eyes brightened.

“Eighty-two percent.”

This was considerably higher than the first two shadows.

He placed his hand over the corpse.

Dark Origin Energy spread across it.

The beast's remaining imprint was slowly extracted.

But instead of immediately forming another shadow, the energy stopped.

[Shadow formation conditions insufficient.]

[Current Origin Shadow Authority capacity: 2 additional manifestations unavailable.]

Aether frowned.

“So there's a limit.”

He wasn't disappointed.

Limits simply meant there was another threshold waiting to be broken.

He stored the extracted imprint within his Origin Energy.

The tiger's body gradually disappeared into the forest.

Aether looked toward the distant mountains.

The world was larger than he had imagined.

And there were countless powerful creatures waiting beyond the territories he had already explored.

He glanced at his shadow.

“Two shadows for now.”

Blackfang and Ironhide returned to storage.

Aether continued forward.

But this time, his goal had changed.

He wasn't merely searching for enemies.

He was searching for power.

And every powerful victory would make him stronger.

Not only because of his own cultivation…

But because his army could grow with him.

Several kilometers away, hidden among the mountains, something suddenly opened its eyes.

A massive creature slowly raised its head.

It had sensed the death of the horned tiger.

Its gaze turned toward the forest.

A low growl echoed through the mountains.

The hunt had attracted the attention of something much stronger.

And Aether had no idea that he was being watched.