It wasn’t possible. Velik knew monsters. He’d spent most of his life hunting and killing them. He lived in their territories. He knew how they thought, how they reacted to the mere sight of other monsters or humans, and what they were capable of accomplishing. Building huts was beyond their capabilities. Living peacefully together was theoretically possible, especially if there was an elite controlling them, but coexisting with other nearby monster species was a stretch.

They would have to be a horde for that to work, and nothing Velik was seeing indicated a horde. All he saw was primitive civilization, complete with tools and shelter and collaboration. It didn’t make sense. No part of it could exist.

But then, those agents of corruption shouldn’t be possible either. This has to be something the divine beasts did, some experiment to domesticate monsters. It’s the only explanation that makes any sort of sense.

Velik watched the bipedal lizard-men trundle by, the guardians of the group alert and wary while the workers in the middle chattered away with each other. He couldn’t understand a word of it, of course, but he didn’t need to. They were happy, with no signs of the aggressive behavior he associated with monsters. He had to wonder if that would change if he revealed himself to them.

Eventually, he decided it didn’t matter. One isolated group of monsters that were obviously sheltering under a divine beast’s protection didn’t change every other monster in the world. Velik wasn’t stupid, but he was a fan of keeping things simple. There were probably far-reaching implications he didn’t care to consider, but the fact of the matter was that he couldn’t replicate the circumstances that had brought about a monster civilization, barebones though it might be.

What he could do was hunt down and kill Tesir. That was why he was in the caldera in the first place. Whatever happened to these monsters after was not his concern. Maybe they’d revert back to typical monster behavior. Maybe they’d thrive. Velik didn’t know, but it wasn’t important enough to make him reconsider his course.

Normally, he killed monsters where he found them. This time, he turned away and disappeared into the trees. It didn’t feel likely that they’d survive in their current state long after Tesir died, and he wouldn’t shed any tears if they went feral and wiped each other out.

The tiger’s scent beckoned him deeper into the jungle.

Every so often, he sensed magic around him. Each time, [Magic Eater] quickly broke it down. Though he couldn’t be sure what exactly it was, he suspected someone was trying to spy on him. It wasn’t working, but whoever it was wasn’t giving up, so he kept his guard up. No doubt Tesir knew he was coming, but Velik didn’t need the monster to know exactly where he was and when he’d get there.

He ran smoothly, following trails where he could find them and blazing his own where none existed. Some monsters attacked him. Others fled. Velik let the ones that didn’t get in his way go, but even being picky about things, he still built up several thousand new essence over the next few hours. Figuring out where to put it was a bit tricky, but anywhere was better than just leaving it to sit on his status window.

[Divine Wolf] felt like a good choice. It pushed up his power and regeneration directly, as well as enhanced all his senses and gave him an awareness of danger that he instinctively relied on. [Magic Eater] was also a potent defense, and [The Wanderer’s Path]

gave him yet another layer of senses in its ability to detect essence. That had proved instrumental in killing the last divine beast he’d come across, if only because it let Velik know when the monster was building new skills so that he could react in time.

It was the constant spying attempts that decided it for him. [Magic Eater] got another five thousand essence dumped into it, which his LPS translated as bumping up from rank 5 to rank 7. That also pushed his maintenance costs over a thousand, causing him to consider breaking down [Shadow Step] and [Flame Ward]. He decided to save them until after his battle with Tesir, just in case.

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With the spying magic seemingly taken care of for the moment, Velik turned his full attention back to the hunt. Tesir’s stink was everywhere, so much so that it had grown impossible to follow the trail as he got closer to the center of the caldera. That just made him even more wary, though.

If I had laid a scent trail to bait someone in, and then gone all over my domain to confuse that trail, I’d use it to cover for an ambush. And since I know the bastard can hide it when he wants to after that little stretch of desert, I would also be doing that if I were him.

That was sound logic to Velik’s mind, and it was why he wasn’t terribly surprised when a nearby tree exploded as a massive white tiger barreled through it.

* * *

The spell failed, again, for the twenty-third time in a row. She didn’t know how the experiment was doing it, either. Oh, there were plenty of ways to block scrying magic, but he couldn’t possibly know any of them. Even if he did, it should have been impossible for him to put enough mana into them to block her spells.

And yet, there was attempt twenty-four—another failure. The spell worked. She could keep track of Tesir with it. She could spy on random locations in his home. She just couldn’t get a lock on the experiment anymore. Barely four hours ago, she’d been able to spy on him with impunity. Just what did he do in such a short amount of time?

Is it possible he could actually beat Tesir?

That was a tantalizing thought, but she recognized it was merely the Other cheering the little wolf pup on. Its earlier rage at him escaping her was all but forgotten now. Kill Tesir. Kill Reisha! Kill that smug bastard Zelamir. Kill Shur—no, actually, if it’s all unraveling now, I’ll kill her myself.

She tried to clamp down on those thoughts. She was a divine beast. They worked together. They were better than any other being that walked the world. The only threats to their lives were each other. And he’s one of us. And he’s a threat! the Other giggled in her head. The only chance you have of survival is to let me free. Without my power, he’ll kill you just like he did that ugly bat.

She pushed the intrusive thoughts back down, but they gnawed at her. Reisha had just put the Other in its place. It had barely been a day ago. It shouldn’t have clawed its way free so quickly. Something about this kid was throwing her off-balance, and if she didn’t get away from him, the whole world would burn around her.

Maybe it’s for the best if Tesir kills him. This experiment has already cost us too much.

Maybe it’s for the best if he kills Tesir. Down with the old order, the Other argued.

She cast another scrying spell, this time on Tesir. He was in his tiger form, skulking through the jungle. Somehow, despite his size, he was utterly silent. Pausing only once to glance back at her magic, he glided through the underbrush while monsters and animals alike fled his presence. He called it a predator’s aura, and it was something he could turn on and off at will.

She thought he just enjoyed the thrill of terrorizing everything around him. It certainly wasn’t smart to let the aura seep out like that, not when he was chasing such powerful prey. Tesir must have agreed, because a minute later, the wildlife around him started to calm down. By the time he’d paced another half a mile of trails, he was an invisible ghost.

Even the monsters that directly laid eyes on him just ignored him like he wasn’t there. That was, if anything, even more impressive. It was one skill none of the others had ever been able to duplicate. They had their own lesser versions, but only Tesir could walk through a pack of prey animals without them reacting.

It’s better this way. The experiment won’t even know what hit him. Best case, Tesir subdues him. Worst case, Tesir kills him. Either way, the threat is over.

The Other cackled in the back of her head.

The spell unraveled abruptly, just like it had done when she’d tried to spy on the experiment. Tesir was close then. She cast a new spell, this one from farther away, hopefully outside the experiment’s range. It didn’t show much, just the tops of jungle trees and all its myriad wildlife. Birds flitted above the canopy and through the branches. Snakes, monkeys, and other animals went about their business. Monsters preyed on anything they could get their claws on.

And then a tree blew up in a shower of wood shards and branches thicker than her waist. The battle had started, and she had no good angle to see it. Frowning, she adjusted the spell, trying to swing it overhead to peer straight down at Tesir. It responded sluggishly, forcing her to pour more power into it, but eventually she got it into position.

Below, the battle had begun, and it took her breath away to witness the spectacle.