Yet, what he failed to realize was that Cloudia had already locked onto him.

  Through her deep panion bond with Xue Taiyang, she had sehe young man's killing ioward Xue Taiyang long ago.

  She could feel her master's emotions almost as if they were her own. Her instincts were as sharp as Reon's Instinctual Awareness—and she kly where her prey was hiding.

  Would she stop from attag? Hell nah!

  Cloudia lunged forward with blinding speed, her movements swift and precise, cutting through the air like a phantom.

  "Huh?! Is it ing toward me? No... No way!" The young man's thoughts raced, yet his killing i remained. Panic surged through him as he realized—too te—that he had been exposed.

  FWOOSH!

  Before he could eve, Cloudia's form blurred, her illusory movements making it impossible to predict her attack.

  And then—CH!

  A searing pain tore through him as her fangs sank into his right arm, ripping it off in one brutal motion. The severed limb was tossed aside like discarded prey.

  The man's stealth was utterly shattered.

  GRRRRHHH!

  Cloudia's eyes burned with fury, her growl reverberating through the air. She was more ehan even Reon himself—seething at the fact that she had been uo protect him from the previous attacks.

  She had desperately wao emerge from the Inner Beast Domain to defend her master, but Reon had stopped her, saying it wasn't the right time.

  Now? She wouldn't hold back.

  FWOOSH!

  Before the young man could eveer the pain of losing his right arm—

  THUNDER CLASHED.

  A r shadow streaked through the battlefield, moving at an impossible speed. The Thunderous White Tiger, now at full health and fully recovered, desded like a bolt of lightning.

  In a fsh, anonizing CH echoed through the forest.

  His left arm was gone.

  The young man didn't even sehe attack. He barely had time to process it before the White Tiger, mimig Cloudia's ruthless efficy, flung the severed limb aside a out a deafening, guttural GROWL.

  GRHHHHHHH!

  The man stood there, his breath ragged, his mind spiraling into shock as he looked down at the gaping wounds where his arms used to be.

  His lips trembled. "No... No… No way…"

  Then, the pain hit.

  A soul-wreng agony unlike anything he had ever felt before. Losing two fingers had been nothing—nothing—pared to this.

  "ARGGHHHHHHH!"

  "ARGGHHHHHHHHH!"

  "HUHHH—AHHHHH!"

  He screamed and wailed, his agonized cries pierg through the forest, eg like a death knell. Blood gushed from his mutited body, poolih him as his mind spiraled into unbearable suffering.

  At the sheer iy of his torment, flocks of ordinary birds erupted from the trees, their wings beating frantically as they fled.

  As the dust settled, Reon emerged, his eyes burning with a cold, murderous gre.

  "Fug bastard… now, I'll sever every limbs in your body." His voice was ced with venom, his grip tightening around his sword.

  But as his gaze fell upon the young man, he paused for a brief moment.

  Half-dead.

  The man was already half-dead. Blood gushed from his severed arms, his once-arrogant posture reduced to a quivering, pathetic wreck. Yet, Reo no pity. No sympathy.

  The bastard had toyed with him. Made a game out of his pain.

  And now?

  He would pay for it.

  A slow, cruel smirk tugged at Reon's lips. "You like jumping around too much, don't you?" he said, his voice cold.

  SWOOSH!

  With a single, effortless swing of his sword, a dark arc sliced through the air—

  SHLNK!

  The young man's right leg was severed at the knee.

  "ARGHHHHHH!"

  His tormented scream ripped through the air, raw and urained, eg across the forest again.

  BAM!

  He colpsed, his body smming into the dirt, uo bance himself on one remaining, trembling leg.

  Blood pooled around him, his breath ragged, his mind drowning in pain and terror.

  The young man trembled, his body wracked with pain, his voice barely coherent through the sheer agony.

  "P-P-Please… f-five me, Brother… I-I-I'll follow you from now on…!" He stammered, desperation thi his tone. "I-I didn't e here for you! I used a teleportation talisman by ce… a-and when I saw you dealing with those bastards, I reized your face."

  His breaths came in ragged gasps as he tinued, his words spilling out in terror.

  "You… You're Xue Taiyang, aren't you? I thought you were just some loser! If I reported your secret to Niu Ling, he would definitely reward me more! My greed—"

  SWOOSH!

  A sharp ssh cut through the air.

  The young man's words died in his throat as his final limb was severed.

  "ARGHHHHHH!"

  His scream ripped through the forest yet again, an agonizing wail that sent more birds scattering into the sky, their panicked cries joining his in a symphony of terror.

  Reon stood over him, his sword dripping with fresh blood. "No one asked you to open your mouth."

  His voice was calm, almost pyful. "You enjoyed pying with me, didn't you?"