Chapter 204: The Beast from the Scroll

Kellar stood in a small open area on the outskirts of the village, the barren testing grounds usually reserved for trial-firing explosive weapons. The soil was scarred with old craters and ash, offering an isolated space for what he was about to do.

"Well, this is a good spot," said Kellar, looking around before turning to the massive bear beside him. "Ignis, I am counting on you. Green, if it flies and tries to escape, bring it back."

Above, the great eagle released a sharp screech that echoed across the valley before spreading its massive metallic-feathered wings and launching into the sky, maintaining a watchful eye from the clouds.

On his shoulder, Freyja lay, acting as if the affair had nothing to do with her. Yet Kellar knew the little creature well and could spot a trace of worry in the twitch of her tail and ears. He stroked her head to reassure her and drew out one of the four summoning scrolls he carried.

"Alright, let’s see how this goes..." whispered Kellar.

Following the instructions Green had passed to him, he tore the scroll down the middle. A golden light burst from the ruptured parchment and projected onto the ground. Within seconds, a magic circle several meters in diameter began to spin over the earth, pulsing like a beating heart.

From deep within the portal, a terrifying bellow echoed out, shaking the surrounding dust. A massive, jet-black bull with two gargantuan horns came charging out at full speed, as if pursuing an invisible prey.

Crossing through the rift, the beast skidded to a halt and looked around. It measured nearly three meters tall and five meters long, possessing a muscular frame that looked forged from stone and golden horns that gleamed under the morning sun. Its eyes, blood-red with rage, looked bewildered in this unfamiliar domain.

The bull let out a heavy bellow and scraped its hooves against the dirt, preparing to charge. However, before it could take two steps, Ignis pounced. The bear’s frame, the size of a full-sized bus, slammed directly onto the bull, trapping it firmly on the ground with his claws and pinning it motionless in a single movement.

Ignis released a low, rumbling roar right into the beast’s face. His parted jaws revealed an intense red glow, showing the fire energy gathering inside his throat. The look in Ignis’s eyes made it clear: If you resist, you’re dead.

The bull, which had initially tried to thrash wildly to break free, froze the moment it felt the bear’s pressure and the heat of his breath. It stopped moving, remaining pinned flat against the dirt and trembling before the strength of the predator.

Kellar stepped forward toward the pinned bull, watching it with composure as he stopped a couple of meters from its head.

"Welcome," said Kellar, locking eyes with the beast. "You are now the property of our tribe."

The bull stared back at him, bewildered. How was it possible that he could understand the words of this small creature? And even worse... how dared he proclaim himself its master?

A second later, that bewilderment turned into hatred. Its eyes burned an even deeper shade of blood-red as it attempted to charge the human before it. However, Ignis kept it firmly pinned against the dirt, digging his claws in deeper. Even so, the bull’s rage surged higher, losing all sense of reason. Ignis’s threat of death was no longer enough to restrain it; the bull seemed ready to die as long as it could drag down the human who had dared offend it.

"Damn you! How dare you?!" the bull roared repeatedly in its mind during its violent struggle. "I’ll kill you! I’ll tear you apart! Mooo...!"

At that moment, Freyja leaped gracefully from Kellar’s shoulder and landed lightly right on top of the bull’s massive head. Her small white body was insignificant beside the mountain of muscle beneath her. Yet, the instant the bull looked up and saw her, it froze as if turned to stone.

In the beast’s eyes, the small white cat wasn’t a helpless creature... she was the very incarnation of all its primal terrors.

"P-Forgive me, Your Majesty..." the bull stammered through their mental connection, trembling violently from its hooves to its horns. "I... I did not know you were in this place..."

Kellar, hearing the bull’s words echoing through the link, was left stunned.

Your Majesty? Had he heard that right?

Had this gargantuan bull just referred to Freyja as "Your Majesty"? What was going on with the little cat on his shoulder?

Freyja raised a single paw, digging one of her tiny claws barely a millimeter into the bull’s hide.

"You are not even worthy of being used to sharpen my claws," said Freyja, her cold, majestic voice echoing through everyone’s minds. "But it seems my master likes you, so stop your damn racket and submit, or there won’t be enough of you left when I am done with you."

Hearing that threat, the bull squeezed its eyes shut, burying its snout into the dust and letting out a whimpering moan of terror. The three-meter-tall mountain of muscle trembled, lowering its head in an act of submission.

Kellar was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Since when did Freyja talk like that? Better yet... since when did she talk at all?!

Kellar was so used to seeing her sweet side—the affectionate creature who always sought his rubs and spoke into his mind with a soft, quiet voice—that the contrast left him frozen. He had never seen her so dominant. There wasn’t a single trace of clumsiness in her stance; instead, she radiated the unquestionable presence of an ancient ruler.

Freyja took a couple of steps across the bull’s head, leaped into the air, and landed right back onto Kellar’s shoulder. Instantly, she rubbed her cheek against his, letting out a soft purr and looking up at him with wide, devoted eyes, as if the tyrant from a second ago had never existed.

Kellar glanced sideways at her, feeling a bead of cold sweat trickle down his neck. He had almost forgotten just how terrifying she could truly be.