Beauty and the Beasts

It was but a two-striped tiger beastman. Parker didn’t fear him at all. On the contrary, he felt a desire to battle. Digging into the ground, he was prepared to pounce at the tiger beastman when he heard the low growls of more than one beast.

 Parker instantly held back from attacking and warily glanced all around him.

 There were seven beasts, all of whom were Rosa’s mates. The one leading the pack was the three-striped wolf beastman Bart.

 Parker was shocked to see so many beastmen. Pretending he was attacking one of them, he dashed over, and the other party also came charging at him. Just as the two beasts were about to collide, the leopard nimbly leaped onto a branch that was at a low height from the ground and easily climbed up a tree.

 “Roar!” He dodged from the attack just like the last time.

 The tiger beastman whom Rosa usually rode on transformed into a human and started climbing up the tree after grabbing a branch. “I must kill you this time around to avenge my brother.”

 Parker wasn’t at all fearful. Sitting on a tree branch, he even elegantly licked his claws.

 The tiger beastman got even more furious at this sight. He jumped up vigorously with one hand gripping the tree branch. With his feet on the tree trunk, his big and burly body shook unsteadily from side to side.

 Parker, who was licking his claws, suddenly got up. In the blink of an eye, he leaped into the air. The tiger male frantically dodged the leopard’s mouth with his hands. Under the impact of the leopard’s pounce, he very nearly fell from the tree. However, Parker was biting firmly onto his hand now.

 Seeing that the situation was unfavorable to them up there, Bart transformed into a human and ordered. “All of you, transform into humans and climb up together.”

 “Roar!” The five tigers roared in unison. They straightened their bodies, transformed into humans, and started climbing up the tree as they were told. Bart took a look at his surroundings and climbed up a neighboring tree.

 The instant he bit the tiger, Parker started shaking his head wildly and forcefully. Crying out in agony, the tiger male struck at Parker with his other hand which had transformed into a claw.

 But claws were not as useful as teeth, after all. Sensing something attacking his head, Parker shrunk it back. Because he had dodged in time, he only suffered a few bloody scratch marks on the back of his head.

 The tiger male on the tree held his other hand over his left arm, which was drooping unnaturally. During the brief moment where he was licking his wound, unexpectedly, the leopard that had just escaped danger launched another attack, this time going straight for his face.

 The tiger male wanted to dodge from the attack, but it was too late. Sensing that it was losing the fight, with some quick thinking, he decisively jumped towards another tree.

 Kicking his legs, Parker also jumped down. The tiger male knew then that it was facing imminent death.

 “Roar!”

 Parker stepped on the tiger’s body in mid-air and bit a chunk out of the tiger beastman’s relatively smaller head now that he was in human form. Using the tiger’s body as a springboard, Parker landed steadily on the ground.

 Not stopping even for a moment, Parker started sprinting maniacally towards the City of Beastmen the minute he landed on the ground.

 Bart, who had just climbed up the tree, showed his teeth and said furiously, “He’s gone down! Transform into beast form and give chase! Leopards have poor endurance. Once he gets off a tree, he’s finished.”

 The tigers hugging the tree trunk roared excitedly and vehemently. However, the speed at which they descended the tree… was unbearable to look at.

 “Stupid.” Bart scolded in a low voice. He transformed into his beast form, jumped down from the tree, and started chasing the leopard.

 Beastmen had a keen sense of hearing. However, although they heard Bart’s words, nobody dared to complain, for they were only two-striped beastmen.

 With only two animal stripes, if they were to jump down from this high height, even if they didn’t become paralyzed, they wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for a long time. Why don’t I climb down a little more before jumping? The tiger beastmen thought to themselves.

 Only after going down to a safe height did the tigers jump down one by one.

 As the tiger who was bitten by Parker was too severely injured, he involuntarily transformed into his beast form. This transformation caused him to suffer injuries for a second time. After transforming into beast form, his broken head couldn’t be pieced back into its original shape. Through the cracks in his head, one could vaguely see the structure of the brain. Blood oozed out from his brain and soaked the ground underneath.

 There wasn’t a single tiger beastman that stopped to care for him—the instant they hit the ground, they started chasing after Parker.