The dawn mist hung thick over the rooftops of Sombit City as the merchant caravan prepared for departure.
Six heavy wagons creaked into motion, the iron-shod wheels rattling against cobblestone before transitioning onto the rutted forest thoroughfare leading toward Kerak City.
Lucien Novar walked alongside the central cart, his strides calm and steady.
Perched on his shoulder was Lumi, her small snowy body nestled comfortably against his neck, blinking lazily under the pale morning sun.
Ronald, the mercenary leader, matched Lucien’s pace.
Glancing at the small ball of white fur, the scarred veteran furrowed his brows in genuine concern.
“Hey, Lucien,” Ronald spoke, adjusting the leather scabbard of his heavy broadsword.
“I’ve been meaning to ask—why do you carry a pet cat everywhere with you on these trails? These mountain routes are crawling with savage beasts and cutthroats. An ordinary pet can easily get killed out here.”
Lucien smiled inwardly.
It amused him how people continually mistook Lumi for a harmless domestic kitten.
If Ronald knew the truth, his jaw would hit the gravel.
Even without considering Lucien—whose raw physical might was already fully equal to a 3rd-level Blood Quenching powerhouse—Lumi herself was a peak level Tier 2 magical beast.
With physical density and bone strength rivaling a peak Bone Forging expert, she alone possessed more than enough power to instantly slaughter any rogue band wandering these border forests.
In the eastern frontier of the Triad Kingdom, Blood Quenching bandits were a nonexistent myth.
If an outlaw possessed the torrential aura of a Blood Quenching master, they would not lurk in damp woods ambushing trade wagons; they would assault and extort entire border cities.
Bandits dared not approach settlements precisely because cities were guarded by one or two Blood Quenching figures, such as city lords or grand clan patriarchs.
Bandits of that terrifying caliber only existed near the royal capital, where their movements were kept in check by the supreme powerhouses of the Soul Forging Realm.
Recognizing that Ronald’s caution came from goodwill, Lucien offered a light nod.
“Don’t worry, Mister Ronald. I will protect her.”
Ronald sighed, shaking his head with a wry chuckle, assuming the youth was merely naive.
The caravan pushed through the primeval canopy throughout the long day.
By nightfall, the dense pine forest grew suffocatingly dark, forcing the convoy to pull off the road and establish camp in a clearing bordered by massive granite boulders.
The mercenaries set down their heavy shields and built a modest campfire.
Rather than roasting fresh game, everyone pulled hard, dry rations from their bags.
In the wild forest, the rich aroma of sizzling fat could lure nocturnal predator packs from miles away, and no escort leader invited unnecessary slaughter while safeguarding commercial cargo.
Lucien sat quietly beside the fire, chewing a piece of dry bread while Lumi gnawed patiently on dried venison beside his knee.
Suddenly, the night breeze died.
Snap!
Thud, thud, thud.
Heavy, undisguised footfalls tore through the brush from every direction.
In less than ten breaths, nearly fifty armed figures stepped into the amber glow of the campfire, forming a tight, suffocating perimeter around the caravan.
Every bandit carried serrated scimitars and notched halberds, their clothing stained with dried blood and mud.
Forty-seven of them radiated the dense, aggressive aura of the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
Before the mercenaries could even draw their steel, the ring of outlaws parted.
Three menacing figures strode forward into the firelight.
The two flankers were burly brutes clad in spiked leather, radiating the pressurized aura of the 5th level of the Bone Forging Realm.
In the center walked a tall, gaunt man with a shaven head and a pair of cold, triangular viper-like eyes, wearing dark mail armor.
From his frame radiated an oppressive, bone-chilling spiritual pressure that weighed down on the clearing:
7th level of the Bone Forging Realm!
The gaunt man raised his jagged scimitar, pointing the blood-stained tip directly at Ronald’s chest.
“Surrender every single coin, beast core, and crate of cargo you carry to us,” the leader declared, his voice raspy and cruel.
“We are the Sand Viper Gang.”
The Sand Viper Gang!
A collective gasp of absolute horror rippled through the caravan.
The merchants turned deathly pale, their knees trembling violently, while several mercenary guards dropped their rations into the dirt, their hands shaking against their weapon hilts.
Across the entire eastern territory of the Triad Kingdom, the Sand Viper Gang was the most feared, bloodthirsty nightmare on the trade routes.
Their infamy was built upon a horrific, unyielding rule: even if a merchant caravan surrendered all its wealth without drawing a single blade, the gang never left people alive.
They would systematically execute every driver, merchant, and guard, leaving behind only one survivor whose tendons and meridians were deliberately shattered, sending a living invalid back to civilization solely to broadcast the terrifying cruelty of the Sand Vipers.
For years, city lords and prominent noble clans across the eastern regions had formed joint strike forces to hunt them down.
Yet the gang operated like venomous serpents, hiding their dens so deep within uncharted subterranean caves and dense ravines that imperial expeditions had returned empty-handed time and time again.
Seeing the sheer, paralyzing despair gripping the caravan, the fifty bandits threw their heads back in mocking laughter.
“Look at their faces!” one bandit guffawed, tapping his axe against a wagon wheel.
“They’re already wetting themselves!”
“Leave the old men for the blades, but make sure the cargo isn’t damaged!” another sneered, eyeing the wagons with greedy malice.
Amid the deafening despair and vulgar taunts, Lucien sat calmly on his log, completely unbothered.
To his eyes, these fifty cutthroats were utterly insignificant.
Their strongest fighter was merely a 7th-level Bone Forging thug.
If he held a weapon capable of channeling his pure Stellar Qi and Genesis Sword Intent without breaking, he could trade blows with 5th or 6th level Blood Quenching titans.
These men were nothing more than insects before an abyss.
Lucien glanced at Ronald, who stood rigid, his hand white-knuckled around his broadsword hilt, sweating profusely as he calculated the impossibility of facing three Bone Forging powerhouses at once.
“Mister Ronald,” Lucien spoke softly, his voice cutting through the tense silence.
“Do you need my help?”
Ronald blinked, looking down at Lucien with sheer bewilderment.
“Help? Lucien, what are you talking about? Your aura is only at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm! They have forty-seven men at the exact same level as you, two experts at the 5th level of Bone Forging, and their leader is a 7th-level Bone Forging monster! How can you possibly fight them?”
Lucien kept his faint smile, his piercing blue eyes steady and unwavering.
“Don’t worry about that. Just tell me: do you want my help or not?”
Ronald looked from Lucien’s calm, fearless expression to his terrified comrades behind him.
Swallowing hard, the veteran guard leader gritted his teeth and nodded with fierce urgency: “If you can do anything… please, save us!”
“Understood,” Lucien said calmly.
He looked down at the tiny white ball of fur sitting quietly by his boot.
“Lumi,” Lucien said, his tone indifferent as if ordering a meal.
“Get rid of all of them.”
Understood, Master!
Lumi’s crisp voice resonated in Lucien’s mind.
With a graceful, effortless leap, the small cub sprang from the ground.
Mid-air, the reality of the small kitten shattered.
Hum—!
Blinding silver light erupted from Lumi’s body as ancient celestial runes flared along her flesh.
In the span of a single heartbeat, her tiny form expanded rapidly, her bone structure cracking and swelling with explosive muscular density.
By the time her paws hit the gravel, she was no longer a fragile pet.
Standing before the terrified bandits was a colossal, full-sized adult White Tiger.
Her pure snowy coat gleamed like polished silver under the moonlight, etched with deep, metallic stripes that crackled with arcs of divine white lightning.
From her muscular shoulders radiated the suffocating, tyrannical aura of a peak Tier 2 magical beast—an overwhelming power equivalent to the absolute peak of the Bone Forging Realm!
Before the fifty bandits or their gaunt leader could process the horror unfolding before their eyes, Lumi peeled back her massive jaws, exposing fangs as long as daggers.
ROOOOOAAAR—!
A thunderous, earth-shattering roar detonated across the forest!
The sheer sonic shockwave tore up the earth, flattening the undergrowth and extinguishing the campfire in an instant, sending a wave of primeval terror crashing through the souls of the entire Sand Viper Gang.