©WebNovelPub
Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 280: Might as Well Make Yourself Useful
Looking at the men, Zaroth didn't know if he should feel disappointed or not.
He had already defeated a small army, so he was expecting an even bigger and stronger force. Yet before him were about a dozen men riding upon lizards' backs.
Only a dozen, not hundreds or thousands, and they did not wear flashy gear either.
Were these not men from the army but some kind of bandit group, or were they the elite of the elite forces their army had, and had judged that they would be able to take Zaroth and his dragon?
"Well, I really hope that it is the latter. I want to fight someone strong," he muttered as he took a step forward, ready to meet them with his odachi in hand.
Sparing a brief glance at every man heading his way, his gaze stopped at the weakest-looking one that was also at the front. Opening his palm, Zaroth threw a fireball, wanting to test the waters. Perhaps these men had the power to stop his attack, alter their course, or maybe even absorb the energy to fuel them further.
The fireball flew toward the closest man, but before it could hit, a light blue barrier appeared and stopped the attack.
"I see you still have it, Ian!" the largest man in the group shouted.
'I see, so this Ian guy has the ability to put on barriers stopping my attacks. It will be smart to get rid of him first,' Zaroth thought as he began to charge at them.
"Idiot!" the closest one smiled upon seeing their enemy's sudden charge and raised the spear, ready to thrust.
Thanks to added altitude that the lizard was providing, the spear was the best choice for attack as it gave him a longer range of reach while his opponent would not be able to reach him.
That was usually the case, but it seemed that it would not work, as before the spear met its target, sparks appeared, and then a giant spider, bigger than a horse, materialized.
Not a second after summoning Hellweaver, Zaroth tensed the muscles in his legs and jumped high into the sky, landing upon Hellweaver's back.
That action seemed to take the bandits by surprise as they looked at him with wide eyes.
Hugo only scoffed. "So, we have a beast master on our hands, huh?"
Formulating a plan in his head, Zaroth jumped once again, this time from Hellweaver's back as he aimed for one of the men. Hellweaver meanwhile focused its fury on the lizard and the man before it, and charged at them.
The man that Zaroth had jumped toward also had a spear, and he would be hit before given the chance to react.
With a twisted smile, the spearman thrusted forward. "You are going to be hit, sucker!"
Just before the spear could reach him, however, a large cloud passed over them, and the sun that was illuminating the area made the surroundings a tad bit darker than before. It wasn't enough to cause a terrible change for the bandits, but it was enough for Zaroth to activate Darkveil. As a result, the demonic skill caused the spear to not even leave a small mark on his white robes.
A portion of a second later, Zaroth was standing before the dead body of the beheaded man. It seemed that the barrier did not activate this time. Zaroth didn't know how it worked, but as long as he was able to counter it, then it was all good.
The bandits didn't even realize that their ally had been killed, as a few other beasts materialized out of thin air: four normal-looking wolves, one bigger—Silverfang—and lastly, the most dangerous one, a dark sleek panther—Nightshade.
Hellweaver had already finished off the man and the lizard before it and was now scanning for its next target.
Hugo grimaced. His team was about to be wiped out in mere moments. His mind went into overdrive as he tried to think of a plan, but he couldn't focus as a loud ear-splitting noise disorienting him.
Silverfang's howl was as effective as ever, Zaroth admitted to himself. Then he opened his mouth and tried to replicate it.
Unfortunately, his attempt was a failure. All that came out was a strained noise that barely resembled a howl. His voice cracked as he wasn't accustomed to using so much of his throat. His face got a bit red out of embarrassment, though it was impossible to see thanks to the mask.
"Uhg, whatever!" he shouted as he focused on his next target.
After taking down another bandit, Zaroth scanned the battlefield, looking to see if his beasts were encountering any trouble. The only two men who posed any real threat were Hugo, the leader, and the one who had been blocking his beasts' attacks—this must be Ian.
Deciding it was the smartest choice to focus on Ian, he did so as he approached the man from his blind spot.
Ian was busy fending off three of his unnamed wolves, so he didn't have the luck to see him until it was too late, as Zaroth's odachi pierced his heart.
Pulling the weapon out of the man, Ian collapsed on the ground dead, and Zaroth looked at him with a bit of a grimace.
He tested it into multiple people, but sadly, it seemed that his theory had been right. After killing the Demigod, killing these weak people did not make him or his demonic skills stronger at all. He had either made them as strong as possible or needed a stronger opponents.
"If you are talking about strong opponents…" Zaroth muttered as he gazed at the last man standing.
Hugo was a two-meter man wielding two great axes.
He bore numerous wounds on his body already, and his right hand was pulsing as there seemed to be Hellweaver's poison coursing through his veins, and yet he was able to stand alive, fighting the four unnamed wolves, Silverfang, and Hellweaver at the same time.
It seemed that he was going to die any second now, as Nightshade was just about to get out of her shadow, ready to deliver a fatal attack.
And Hugo had no idea of her existence, that alone demonstrated how powerful she had become after her evolution. It was highly likely that she could eliminate the man on her own if she chose to do so.
"Stop! Get away from him!" Zaroth suddenly commanded, making his beasts stop their attacks and take a few steps back.
Hugo looked at them with a mix of caution and fear, he knew his end was near. "Do you want to spare me and turn me into a slave? Or perhaps something else?" Hugo asked as he gazed at Zaroth.
Zaroth scoffed at the words as he gripped the odachi in his hands tighter.
"No," he said coldly. "You're going to die. You might as well make yourself useful and become a sparring partner for a short while."
Visit fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm for the best novel reading experi𝒆nce.
Out of all the people here, it seemed that only Hugo could pose any kind of threat to Zaroth in one-on-one combat, and Zaroth wasn't going to let the opportunity to elevate his skills pass him by.