I Just Want to Farm, But My Beasts Keep Evolving!!

Chapter 206: Rose vs Woolie!!

"Alright, let this fight begin!!"

Woolie didn’t wait for her to move. The moment the words left Raiden’s mouth, his hooves dug into the dirt, violet lightning crackling down his horns like a live wire about to snap.

"Woolie Woo!!!" Be careful!! I’ll end this in one hit!!

He shot forward like a cannonball, horns first, sound cracking behind him as he broke the sound barrier on farmland that had definitely not been zoned for that.

Rose didn’t move.

She just watched him get closer and closer, tiny head tilted, her red eyes gleaming with something that looked like curiosity mixed with hunger.

"Hiss~" (ᴖ ω ᴖ)

A wall of blood erupted from the ground a foot from her just as Woolie got close, solidifying mid-air into something that looked disturbingly like a spear.

Woolie barely had time to register it before it was already flying at his sides.

BANG!!

He twisted at the last second, taking the hit on his shoulder instead of his chest, sliding back three feet from the impact.

"Woolie Woo?!" (⊙o⊙)?

That actually hurt?!

Raiden watched from the sidelines, his arms crossed, as he savoured the fight between them. It was a rare chance to get Woolie beaten, and he wasn’t able to miss any of it.

"Be careful, Woolie!! You are not going to lose to her, are you??"

Woolie shook off the pain and charged again, faster this time, lightning wrapping around his entire body now, turning him into a violet blur. He wasn’t playing anymore.

Rose flicked her tail.

The pool of blood behind her, the one that hadn’t fully soaked into the ground yet, rose up like a living wave and split into a dozen writhing tendrils, each one sharpening into a blade at the tip.

"Hiss Hiss!!~" (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

They moved like a swarm, faster than Woolie could track, faster than his lightning-charged legs could dodge. He tried anyway, weaving left, right, ducking under one, only for three more to converge exactly where he ended up.

SLASH!!

Woolie went down hard, rolling twice before skidding to a stop, smoke rising off his black, scorched wool where the lightning had tried and failed to protect him from harm.

This left Woolie in shock and surprise. How was she able to harm him so easily?

"Is that it?!" Raiden shouted, half in disbelief, half goading the sheep into combat. "Come on, Woolie, get up!! You can do better than this!!"

"Woolie Woo!!!" This Emperor doesn’t fall from something like this!!!

He stood up once again, legs shaking, dual coloured lightning flashing around his body once again, even stronger than before.

Blood dripped down his side, this time, it was his own.

Rose’s eyes flicked toward it. Seeing the blood drip off Woolie’s wounds made a happy expression appear on her face.

"Shiss~" (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

"...Oh no." Raiden had figured out what she wanted to do with it.

"Woolie, RUN—"

It was already too late.

The blood pooling from Woolie’s wound didn’t fall to the ground anymore. It paused and lifted straight off his fur like it had been summoned, twisting through the air in a thin red thread that snapped directly toward Rose’s open mouth.

That thin red string quickly became a small river of blood flowing towards her, as she relished the taste.

She drank it mid-air, not even bothering to form it into a weapon first. Just straight absorption, like a kid slurping the last bit of a juice box.

Woolie felt it the instant it left his body — a full-body shudder, his knees buckling, the violet lightning flickering out entirely.

"Woolie Woo...?!" Why do I feel so... weak...

"Because she’s literally drinking your blood!!" Raiden yelled, torn between stopping her or not. He wanted to test if she was going to stop by herself or if she would drain him dry.

Just a few seconds later, Rose’s small body pulsed once, twice, a faint crimson glow spreading across her scales as she stopped absorbing Woolie’s blood. She didn’t grow bigger after drinking it; she didn’t need to.

The power radiating off her in waves was thick enough, suffocating everyone like standing too close to a bonfire.

"Hiss..." A happy expression appeared on her face, just like she just had a full meal.

She raised her tail again, and this time the entire pool of blood behind her, gallons of it, still fresh from the earlier "incident", as it rose up as one massive, roaring wave shaped vaguely like a serpent’s open jaw.

Woolie looked at it. He looked at his own trembling legs before he looked at Raiden.

"Woolie Woo..." I regret nothing.

He tried to coat himself in thunder, but failed. He felt way too weak. It was a very bizarre method of fighting that he had never faced before.

He stood up shakily before he dug his hooves into the ground and charged forward resolutely, screaming a battle cry!!

The blood jaw swallowed him whole.

BOOOM!!!

The impact sent a shockwave rippling across the farm, kicking up dirt and scattering every other farm animal in the vicinity.

When the dust and blood mist finally settled, Woolie was lying flat on his back in a fresh crater, twitching occasionally, wisps of smoke curling off his singed wool.

Rose sat perched on his stomach like she’d just won a wrestling match, tail curled contentedly, not a single scratch on her.

"Hiss Hiss!!~" ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

Raiden stared at the wreckage for a long, long moment.

"...Yeah. Okay. That settles it." He rubbed his face with both hands. "Rose wins. By a landslide. By several landslides, actually."

Woolie groaned weakly from the crater. "Woolie... Woo..." This match was unfair!! Rematch. I demand a rematch.

"You lost the match fair and square. Learned to accept the loss, buddy." Raiden walked over, scooping the tiny, smug serpent off Woolie’s stomach and cradling her against his chest.

Rose nuzzled into him immediately, all traces of Empress-of-Blood menace gone, replaced by pure, unfiltered cuteness.

"Shiss~" (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

Raiden looked down at Woolie, still sprawled in his self-made crater, then back at Rose’s innocent little face.

"You know," he said slowly, "I think I finally understand why Aunt Ruby’s title was Empress of Blood. Just a tiny wound and the opponent will turn helpless in front of her."

Somewhere behind them, Neva quietly took in everything she’d just witnessed, already plotting her fight against Ruby with a happy expression on her face.

"Sha Sha!!"