Chapter 18: Diana
Minutes and hours passed, yet there was no movement from inside or outside of the cave. Diana was still unconscious and Drake hasn't moved an inch since he was already sitting in an optimal position holding his bow.
At some point, he heard heavy footsteps outside of the cave. Drake slowly nocked an arrow and carefully, without making a sound he lifted the bow, drew it and aimed towards the mouth of the cave.
The footsteps stopped a bit further from the entrance and Drake heard his prey sniffing the air. Realizing some beings trespassed in his cave, it let out a loud growl and charged towards the cave.
Since Drake was expecting such a situation, he waited until he heard the sound of one of his traps triggering he let his arrow loose. Soon after, the painful growled was heard and Drake moved from his position heading towards the trap that got triggered. Before arriving, he swapped his bow for his staff.
When he saw his prey, he realised that what he just hit was a horned bear. It looked like a brown bear similar to the ones he was used to with the only difference being a horn in its head. He fought against one before, back when he was in the fifth stage of Body Refinement realm, and he had to go berserk to kill it. Yet, now that he reached the peak, it posed no threat to him.
He slowly walked towards the bear that had an arrow stuck on its front right foot while the left one was held on the trap he placed earlier. The bear stopped trying to break free the moment it sensed Drake and turned to look at him growling loudly.
Since his communication technique was focused on relating thoughts to the target, he could also communicate with animals that had basic intelligence. However, the wild beasts would ignore everything and only think with their instincts making it very hard to communicate.
Drake stopped as soon as he arrived in front of the bear looking at it with madness written all over him.
"You know, I never tasted bear meat before," Drake said before swinging his staff downwards instantly killing the bear.
A few hours later inside the cave, Diana woke up. She slowly sat up and saw that Drake had lit up a fire and he was cooking something.
"What is that?" She asked. "It smells nice."
"Bear's leg. It used to live in this cave." Drake replied emotionless.
As soon as Diana heard that, she turned around and vomited. After coughing a few times, she looked disgusted at Drake reprimanding him.
"How could you eat another beast! That's disgusting. Not even humans eat one of their own."
"I am not eating you, so it's not really disgusting. This bear is not one of my own. Also, it smells great." Drake cut a piece of the meat and ate it. "Wow... It tastes great as well, no wonder humans hunt us for food."
Diana turned around refusing to look at Drake any longer while Drake kept eating not paying her any attention. After he finished eating, he threw some dirt to put out the fire. Drake took out the other talisman left to him by Darth, pondering if he should hear it now but he chose otherwise, so he stored it once again. He then turned to Diana.
"I've left you some food. You should eat it and get used to it. Other beasts eat the weaker ones, and that's the truth whether you like it or not. I will cultivate for some time first and then sleep. When I wake up, we will head out.
"I am pretty sure you know it as well that we should be running and hiding for now until we get away from this place so we won't be having much rest from now on. If you want to hear the other talisman they left for you, now is the time. Also, wake me up if you hear anything outside." Drake told her while taking out her ring and talisman and giving them to her.
He then sat down in a lotus position and started cultivating. He knew that he needed just a bit before reaching the peak of the tenth stage and trying to break through. He wasn't worried about the cultivating method for Soul Refinement realm as he recognised one of the books in his interspatial ring as the cultivation manual for their race.
Diana looked at Drake that closed his eyes to cultivate and then she turned to look at the bear's meat. However, she couldn't stand the thought of eating it, so she ignored it. She then used a drop of her blood to bind her interspatial ring, and she was thrilled to see that there were some fruits inside, instantly taking out some of them to satisfy her hunger.
After she was full, she shifted her attention to the bigger talisman, and she shattered it.
By the time Drake finished cultivating, she hasn't moved nor spoken a word while still looking towards the ground. He stood up and stretched himself as he was planning on falling asleep immediately. But he stopped when he noticed Diana had her eyes focused on him.
"You know, when we were growing up, everybody was talking about how you are the future of our village. Even though we were the same age, you were getting most of the attention from everyone, having two of the strongest warriors of the village to train you. I was jealous.
"I was always looking for ways to prove to myself and the rest that I am better than you or your equal. But you never paid attention to me. You always looked for ways to train and get stronger. I was thinking how it was possible for a kid of our age to train as crazily as you did and not even complain."
Drake was looking at her emotionlessly. He thought she was just rambling and he was starting to get annoyed.
"When I saw you eating that bear meat, I instantly knew that you were a monster. You are not normal, I know it. I have seen the crazy look you have on your eyes; you have the eyes of a madman. It is the same look the other villagers had when they went berserk, but for you, that's your normal one.
"That scared me. I was planning on leaving right after you fell asleep so I can save myself from your madness. I thought that anywhere else would be better than being with you.
"But then I heard the message left for me from my father. He was explaining some things to me that made me realise that becoming a monster might be the only way to survive out here. According to him, we will be hunted down by every human in this world, and the only reason is that we are beasts. Under such pressure, there is no doubt that only a monster can live.
"Right now, I am powerless, and if I stay like that, I will die. So please, teach me how to become a monster. I don't care what I have to do, just show me how to survive."
Drake was surprised by her speech. Even though he had no feelings towards her and he was planning on abandoning her after taking her to a safe place, her plea forced him to recall the powerlessness he was feeling when he was being hunted down with every reincarnation of his. He pointed at the bear meat that was now cold.
"Eat it."
Diana froze on the spot. She never expected him to tell her to do something like that. But thinking about the words she said before, she approached the food and picked it up with her hands. She then took a big bite of meat trying to ignore the nauseating feeling that was making her want to vomit.
"As soon as you are done eating, stay at the entrance of the cave and be on lookout until I wake up. Like I said before, wake me up if anything happens." Drake hesitated a bit before taking out a bunch of red pills he had on his interspatial ring left behind by his grandmother. "Take these; you are in the seventh stage of Body Refinement realm, so your talent isn't that bad. They will help you reach the peak sooner. I was planning on trading them in the future, so you better pay me back."
"Thank you," Diana answered, taking the pills from him.
"Just to be clear, I am not planning on being your teacher. My path is different than yours. I will walk a path of blood. You are not suited for it. You can watch and learn until we get to a safe place then our roads will split."
"Is there no way to change your mind?" Diana asked trying hard to hold back her tears.
"No," Drake replied.
After that Drake finally went to sleep and Diana took her position near the entrance lost in her thoughts after consuming one of the pills.
In one of the entrances for the Great Wilderness, a blonde woman could be seen wearing red full body armour, with white stripes on its edges and a golden sun symbol, engraved on her chest area. She was riding a white lion that was at least two meters tall and four meters long. It also had three tails, each of them having a different colour on the hair tuft being white, red and blue.
Behind her were one hundred soldiers of the Holy Knights. They were wearing well-made but straightforward silver armours with the same sun symbol on their chests, and holding lances, were waiting for her orders. One of them moved closer to her, kneeling when she reached her.
"Bishop Daniela, everyone has gathered and waiting for your instructions," the soldier said.
"Listen up everyone. This is a mission from his Holiness himself, so failure is not an option. We are to search the Great Wilderness and find all signs of anything unusual taking place. Apart from that, we have also been ordered to capture any golden-haired monkey beasts we encounter.
"You will all split up and search all the outer area while I will enter the inner one. Cardinal Usher said he would be in charge of the core area. With your strength at the peak of the Body Refinement Realm, all beasts should be easy to deal with.
"If any of you encounters anything unusual or the monkey beasts, you are to notify me with sound transmission immediately.
"Is that clear?"
An affirmative reply that almost shaken the surroundings was heard.
"Then move out." Bishop Daniela ordered, starting the first hunt for Drake and Diana.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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