Death... and me

Roan nodded, saying, “Some strong demon beasts come out to talk about some weird rule. Then they demand payment, then we refuse, then we fight, then stronger demon beasts come out because they can’t just let it go, yadda yadda yadda… This is kinda boring.”

Rean had to admit Roan’s words made sense. “Now that you mention that, it does seem very cliche.”

Netako and Hariado couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed after hearing that. Indeed, didn’t their action seem way too predictable? “H-Hmph! So what? As long as we get the payment, we don’t care whether it’s cliche or not. You better stop testing our patience, though.”

Rean looked at Roan before asking, “Fighting would only lead to more trouble since we can’t prevent those two from escaping. However, I don’t wanna pay either. What about running away? Would it be more out of the norm?”

Roan shook his head, replying, “Not really.” In any case, Roan couldn’t come up with any other ideas.

It was then that Sister Orb thought about something. [Hey, do you think that cat over there would fall for the same trick as the beagle from Treavin?]

Rean’s eyes lit up after hearing that. Back in Treavin, there was a demon beast that looked just like a beagle dog from Earth… although it was much, much bigger due to its cultivation. That demon beast ended up falling for Rean’s tricks when he started to treat it just like how humans treated dogs back on Earth. Since one of them was a cat…

”Wait a minute,” Rean said to the demon beasts before he completely disappeared.

Of course, Netako and Hariado were shocked to see that. Rean disappeared right in front of them, and they couldn’t even tell where he went. He literally vanished in thin air! Well, that only shows how unimpressive their presence was. Since the system didn’t block the entrance, that meant they were not the twins’ match.

”Hey, where did your brother go?” Netako suddenly asked with a dark expression.

Hariado didn’t like it either. “You better talk right now before we deal with you.”

Of course, those two demon beasts had their senses on full alert. What if Rean suddenly attacked them from the shadows?

Roan shook his head, though. “Don’t worry. He’ll be back in a few seconds.”

*Vup!*

Suddenly, Rean appeared beside Roan again. However, he held a huge cat teaser in his hand. Netako was a Void Tempering Realm Winged Abyssinian, so although he looked a lot like the part, he was still several times bigger than a common cat from Earth.

Netako and Hariado were even more shocked after that. Once again, they couldn’t tell how Rean appeared right in front of them. “What did you do? Where did you go?”

Rean shook his head before looking at Netako, saying, “That matters little at the moment. Look at this! If you let us go, I’ll give you this incredibly entertaining item.”

Netako and Hariado didn’t know what to say. It was obvious that Rean simply took a big stick and attached a hope with some rags at the end. That thing wasn’t worth anything at all! “Boy, are you making fun of our faces?”

However, Rean smiled before answering, “It seems like the cat senior can’t tell how incredible this item is. It’s something I prepared specially for you. Would you at least let me show you how it works?”

Netako looked at Hariado, who also had a suspicious expression. ‘I’ll go take a look. Perhaps it has something to do with their ability to appear and disappear. If something happens to me, I’m counting on you to support me,’ said Netako through a Divine Sense message.

Hariado kept his alert state high as he nodded in response. ‘Go ahead. However, if it’s actually something good, you will have to share it with me.’

Netako then approached Rean, who was holding the improvised cat teaser. “What is it? What’s the use of this thing?”

Rean smiled in response before finally beginning to wiggle it in front of Netako.

Seeing that, Hariado was now sure that the twins were absolutely making fun of them. However, just as he was about to attack… he saw a scene impossible to describe.

*Meow, meow, meow!*

Netako was rolling in midair as his paws tried to catch the cat teaser. As he did that, Rean scratched his back, making that Void Tempering Realm demon beast feel extremely comfortable. “Get it, get it, get it! Oh, it escaped! No, it’s back again! Get it!”

*Meow, meow, meow!*

Hariado was almost losing his head from the sight. Isn’t that cat pretty much putting its own life for those twins to take?

Rean didn’t have any intention to attack the Winged Abyssinian, though. “How is it? Do you like it?”

The rolling cat couldn’t help it anymore.

”I like it!”

”Do you want it?”

”I want it!”

”But what about the Divine Stones that you asked?”

”Who cares about Divine Stones? Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

Rean continued smiling as he asked, “What about your friend back there? He definitely won’t let you exchange the Divine Stones for this item?”

”Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him! Stop wiggling it and give it to me!”

Rean nodded after that. “Then we have a deal.” With that, Rean stopped wiggling the huge cat teaser and passed it over to Netako. “I really like demon beasts, you know? Unlike humanoid races, demon beasts hate to lie and go back on their words.”

Netako held the cat teaser as if it was the greatest treasure in existence. “Hmph! It’s good that you know. Now, gather your juniors and get out of this demon beast forest.”

Hariado finally lost his patience. “What the hell are you talking about? Why are you wasting your time with this piece of shit?! If you don’t want the Divine Stones, then I’ll take your part as well!”

Immediately, Hariado charged at the twins. He didn’t know what they did, but they had obviously played some tricks.

*Bang!*

Unfortunately for him, Netako immediately stopped the Silver-winged Vulture. “We have a deal, so I won’t let you touch them, understood?” said Netako as he still held the ‘amazing’ item.