Chapter 1531: Chapter 1529: Cat People
After experiencing quite a long period once again.
Richard felt the spatial fluctuations around him gradually stabilize, his feet standing on solid ground, and his surroundings quickly returned to normal.
The first thing he saw was the sunlight cast down from the sky, somewhat gentle, like the afterglow of sunset.
If this world is similar to Wizard World and Earth, the time should be around four or five in the afternoon... Richard thought to himself, then saw the fallen leaves swirling down in the wind, the air carried a refreshing and cool breeze.
Is this... in a forest during autumn?
As Richard thought about this, a black shadow rushed toward him from the front, its mouth wide open with a nauseating stench pouring out.
Hmm?
Richard was slightly stunned, not expecting such a situation.
But the next moment he reacted, after all, the space jump point isn’t a stable space channel, it’s inherently very unstable, one could end up anywhere and encounter anything.
Without hesitation, facing the unknown black shadow’s assault, he waved his hand and released a powerful Wind Blade. Meanwhile, he devised countless follow-up plans, such as what to do if the shadow resisted, if the shadow dodged, or if the shadow got enraged...
But a tenth of a second later, Richard realized he was clearly overthinking it.
The Wind Blade he released touched the shadow and immediately it shrieked miserably, with no resistance it got sliced in half. The over ninety-nine percent remaining power of the Wind Blade hadn’t even had a chance to discharge before it flew off into the sky, disappearing without a trace.
"Thud!"
The lifeless black shadow fell from the air, blood flowed freely, and Richard finally had the time to observe his surroundings properly.
As he had guessed, he was in a mountain forest that seemed to be in autumn. The trees around were not very dense, and many yellow leaves were falling, beautiful like a painting against the sunset’s glow, the distant rolling mountains were blurry in the twilight, transformed into a golden line, framing the picture.
Richard’s gaze shifted forward.
Nearby on the ground, the dead black shadow had already drained of blood, and from the sliced body, one could barely discern a creature similar to a wild wolf, but with sharper claws and teeth, presumably a mutated breed.
Although the wild wolf was a mutated breed, given its strength, Richard didn’t pay much attention to it. What surprised him more was that behind him there was a group of "people."
This group of "people," six in total, consisted of two human swordsmen, a male and a female, both in their twenties, relatively young.
The other four were rather unique:
The first was a fusion of cat and human, could be termed as Cat People. Wearing a garment adorned with iron patches, the exposed parts were covered in fine orange fur. Standing on the ground, nearly 1.6 meters tall, body slightly hunched, with graying whiskers indicating an advanced age.
The second was a fusion of tiger and human, could be termed as Tiger Man. Younger compared to Cat People, nearly 1.8 meters tall, not short even beside the human male swordsman. Coupled with bulging muscles and the four-finger Broadsword in hand, very intimidating.
The third was a fusion of rat and human, could be termed as Ratman. Entirely navy blue in color, holding a slender sword, eyes constantly darting.
The last one appeared almost indistinguishable from a human boy of about ten years old, with limbs and facial features showing no peculiarities, but the tail of a fox swaying behind exposed his true identity, evidently a Little Fox Boy.
The two humans and four Beastmen were all watching Richard with vigilance, weapons in hand, ready for action at any moment.
Richard squinted his eyes at this group of "people," then glanced at the wolf he had sliced in half, determining the true situation in seconds.
Most likely, due to some reasons, this group and the wolf were engaged in battle, attempting to kill it. As a result, when the wolf just leapt into the air, he arrived in this world, causing the wolf attacking the group to pounce towards him.
He timely reacted, killing the wolf in self-defense, but seen by the group of six "people," there might be numerous interpretations.
Perhaps considered as "monster stealing," perhaps thought to have ulterior motives, perhaps...
Regardless of the interpretation, it inevitably provokes hostility, leading to the current manifestation.
But looking on the brighter side, the other party was only showing hostility, not complete hostility, meaning there’s still a possibility for communication and information exchange.
So...
Richard thought for a moment, then faced the group, greeted in Ancient Wizard Civilization lingua franca: "Hello?"
Upon hearing the greeting, the other party exchanged a glance, then unanimously looked towards the elderly Cat People, seemingly deeming them the leader, to decide what to do.
Hence Richard followed suit, looking at the Cat People.
The Cat People holding a two-finger Longsword cautiously stepped closer towards Richard, mouth opening to utter sounds: "#%#%#%..."
Two seconds later, Richard figured out, the Cat People were speaking an Ancient Wizard Civilization language, not the lingua franca, more obscure than Lv Xi’s "Baluku" language, classified as a minor dialect, meaning to inquire his identity and origin.
The tone was not particularly polite, but at least it started a dialogue.
Richard contemplated for a while after hearing the query, replying: "I come from the distant East."
"East?" Cat People were taken aback, furrowing brows, then turned to discuss with the companions.
"East? Could it be the other side of Arukumu Forest?" suggested Ratman.
"Maybe further East." human male swordsman speculated, "I’ve seen people from the other side of Arukumu Forest, they don’t seem special, at least not capable of such swordsmanship he displayed just now. Not to mention his sudden appearance here, the mere hand demonstration of his swordsmanship’s power, able to kill our long-chasing Elite Ghost Wolf in a single strike, and sliced in half, indicates at least a mastery level, probable only from further East."
"But why didn’t we see his Sword?" Ratman asked.
"I heard, there is a very powerful swordsmanship technique from the East, manipulating energy to attack without using a sword, maybe that is such a method." male swordsman added.
"But why does he want to help us?" Little Fox Boy interjected, curious.
"Who knows, caution is better, especially since good people are hardly found these days." the young Tiger Man advised, very wary.
"Alright alright, we should be cautious." the elderly Cat People finally decided, "However, speaking of it, better not to antagonize him if possible, considering our current lack of extra effort to handle a powerful enemy, understood?"
"Yes, elder." responded quickly by the two human swordsmen, Ratman, Little Fox Boy.
The young Tiger Man was a bit reluctant but eventually nodded, addressing slightly differently from the others: "Alright, teacher."
"Mm."
After the discussion concluded, the orange Cat People turned back to Richard, sheathing the Longsword, expression slightly friendlier, cleared his throat: "Ahem, so a friend from the East, hello, welcome to the region West of Arukumu Forest. Our group departed from the southern Cam Village, heading to the northern Dunma Valley, where are you heading by the way?"
"I am here on a journey, haven’t decided yet, but I wish to visit some special and dangerous places, to broaden my perception, if you know of any, please inform me, I’d be very grateful."
"Journey? Special, dangerous places?" Cat People visibly surprised, stroked the whiskers multiple times, sighed, "In this world, where is not dangerous, yet you wish to perceive more dangerous places... I must say, your Eastern ideas differ from ours here. However, there are indeed several very dangerous areas en route to Dunma Valley, you’re welcome to accompany us, I’ll point them out on the way if you don’t mind."
Richard contemplated, nodding after a second: "Then it’s a deal."
"You’re welcome."
...
