NOVPUB"Beautiful," Zarothuldn't help but mutter as he took a glance at Crimson Widow's opponent.
Both creatures were of Rare rank, meaning there shouldn't have been a significant gap between them. The spider was a terrifying sight—menacing and dangerous. One look at it made it clear that this was no ordinary beast, but something far more monstrous. Inntrast, its opponent…
A mesmerizing orange fur, its white eyes were like the moon themselves. The beast was so clean that it looked like its body was glowing.
An orange fox, its body was smaller than the average wolf, yet even from a distance, Zaroth was able to feel how much power the being had.
Howuld something be so beautiful and deadly at the same time? He wondered.
As the menacing spider charged, the fox opened its jaws and unleashed a deafening howl. Zaroth was forced tover his ears from the sheer volume. He had heard Silverfang howl before, but this was on a whole new level.
The audience mimicked his motion andvered their ears as well, while the spider seemed taken aback by the loud noise.
Zarothuldn't help but be impressed, he had read that one of the weaknesses of the Crimson Widow's is its delicate hearing, meaning a ear-piercing howl like this would have surely damaged it severely… This was what fascinated Zaroth—it looked like the fox knew the spider's weak spot and managed to capitalize on it immediately.
Before the spideruld evenmprehend what had happened, the white eyes of the fox seemed to spark, and a snd later, the arena was engulfed in flames.
Zaroth, having a dragon at his disposal and capable of using fire attacks, was mostly fine, but a quick glance around the arena showed that a large part of the audience had gotten up from their seats and taken a step or two back out of fear.
The spider's pained scream echoed across the arena as it felt its body being melted.
Not giving the spider a chance for rest, the fox charged, opened its jaws, and bit down on the spider's head.
"Incredible!" Zarothuldn't help but mutter. The fox had not only moved with lightning speed, but it had also leapt onto the spider's back and sunk its teeth into its head, rendering the spider unable to move or rotate anymore.
The fox's bite was not strong enough to crack the tough exoskeleton, but it wasn't needed, as it seemed the incredibly hot fire was enough took it from the inside out.
It made a few attempts to reach the fox behind its head, but in the end, it all proved futile.
Its limbs gave out, its eyes dimmed with the loss of life, and the spiderllapsed to the ground, shaking the arena as it fell.
It was supposed to be a fight between Rare beasts, yet it was so one-sided. Howuld this be? Zaroth wondered. The stunning fox seemed more like an Epic beast than a mere Rare.
It took him a moment to snap out of the trance, the fox was too mesmerizing to be just a beast.
Shaking his head off the unneeded worry, he glanced at the body of the spider and then smiled darkly as he saw that there was a certain type of energyming out of therpse, indicating that the beastuld be resurrected and tamed.
"Bingo!" he whispered under his breath, as he licked his dry lips. He was going to acquire the spider today.
He was clearly lucky that the spider had met its match, so heuld buy therpse.
'Still, that fox is incredible…' he had to admit, and looking at the glances the audience was giving the fox, he wasn't the only one that thought this way.
After the fire in the arena subsided, the announcer stepped into the center. A group of wealthy onlookers were already eager to purchase the victorious beast, but their hopes were quickly dashed as the announcer spoke.
"The winner is the fox. Unfortunately, the beast cannot be purchased, as it is the property of Destiny."
'Destiny?' Zaroth silently repeated the name in his head. This was the first time he had seen someone use their beast to enter the arena. It seemed that, unfortunately, he wasn't the exception.
"Still, 'Hollow' sounds mucholer!"
After the audience calmed down, the announcer spoke again. "Is there anyone that wishes to buy the body of the Crimson Widow?"
Zaroth observed the arena, waiting to see if somebody was willing to buy the beast. It seemed that nobody was interested, and he had to thank the fox for that, because the fox was so strong it made the spider appear weak, so nobody wanted to buy the body.
In the last moment, he raised his hand to indicate that he was buying it.
'I really am lucky, not only I got it, but even for cheap!'
*****
"I'm not even going to waste time thinking about whether you'd want to serve me," he said menacingly, placing his hand on the beast.
Its exoskeleton was still hot from the fox's flames, but other than that, its body was fine, meaning once it was resurrected, it shouldn't look too undead. n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
After a moment, he heard a voice in his head—the so-called system, a mystery he had yet to begin deciphering. How it worked remained beyond him.
[Crimson Widow judges your soul.]
[What is your purpose?]
"To take everything I want." Zaroth immediately answered, he had begun accustomed to being asked the question. However, what he hadn't expected was what the spider desired…
'It would probably want me to kill the fox or something similar,' he thought.
[Crimson Widow desiresnquest over the human that killed it.]
Zaroth's words got caught in his throat, as his mind raced.
"...human?" he spoke in disbelief out loud.
'But the spider died by the hand of the fox, not by a human, unless…'
"That fox… it wasn't a beast, but a human in disguise?!"
