Second World

Jack almost stopped upon hearing the notification but luckily, he didn't let himself get distracted. Otherwise, Tumwa's flying knife would have stabbed his head just now.

"Peniel, what is the chance that Therras got the wing thingy like Terraxx?" Jack asked the hidden Peniel via his mind.

"Well, it's not a sure thing. So, I don't know. His grade is sure to become a mythical grade, though," Peniel answered.

"If it stays the same, my identity is blown," Jack said.

"Not necessarily. Someone else could have gotten a Therras beast pet. It's not an exclusive pet, even if it was rumored to have gone extinct."

"Its armor, remember? I say that is pretty exclusive," Jack countered. "If it grows wings like Terraxx, its armor should rearrange to accommodate the transformation, right?"

"Yeah."

Jack never stopped dogging Tumwa while talking with Peniel in his mind. He failed to deal any meaningful damage to the mythical-grade orc. He even had to constantly dodge and parry to make sure Tumwa didn't land a clean hit on him. Her damage was too high and each of her projectiles caused different status ailments.

Being a fast long-ranged combatant, Tumwa was also able to occasionally throw her knives or spells at Four Winds and the armored basilisk, preventing the two from fully cooperating against Mkulme.

With each passing second, Four winds' royal barbarian blood and Jack's hold on the armored basilisk were running out of duration. Once either of those two happened, their chance of winning would further drop.

Seeing this situation, Jack weighed his option. If he called Therras, there was a chance that his identity was revealed. The worse thing to happen was the orcs here immediately tried to apprehend him without giving him a chance to explain. He could try using his supreme dragon form and flee.

The other option was he gave up on this tourney and looked for another chance to meet the grand chief.

But after some thought, he figured that there was no safe way to make the meeting happen. His messenger was rejected even when the messenger brought a message stating that Themisphere would return Verremor's national treasure. Since it was so, he could only go the unconventional means.

Of course, he could also come into Verremor with a full army holding the banner totem for everyone to see. But many things could go wrong if he came with such a force. Their two countries were just in full conflict not long ago, some eager orcs might start attacking without considering the consequences. If that happened, another war would ensue before he had the chance to talk with the grand chief. He preferred there was no more bloodshed before the peace talk.

He guessed this was currently his best chance. Even if he was found out, perhaps the orcs were still reasonable enough to let him talk instead of just attacking him. Thinking about all this, he decided to take the gamble. He summoned Therras.

When he expected Therras to appear beside him as usual, the ground nearby cracked instead. The cracking happened right under where Tumwa was. All of a sudden, the ground erupted as something large burst out.

Tumwa was getting caught by surprise. Therras broke out of the ground and struck Tumwa with its two antler-like horns. It also threw her high into the air.

Jack saw it then, the two wings that resembled giant webbed claws on Therras' back. It was also a level 62 mythical now. Jack was very excited to see his pet's transformation.

While Tumwa was still in the air, Therras used its Autocratic Roar and Imperious Pressure back-to-back. Tumwa was afflicted by different kinds of status ailments from the roar, while the gravity field from the Imperious Pressure caused her difficulty in moving.

*

"A Therras beast...?" Kabaka Proudtusk, Verremor's grand chief, muttered after seeing the summoned pet.

"I thought only the current Themisphere king has a therras beast?" One of the lord chiefs, who sat on one of the ten main chairs, said. This lord chief was named Kima Mountking. She was the older sister of the Verremor's strongest warchief, Makubwa Mountking.

"Therras Beast was very rare, but it's not unique. Other beastmasters could have tamed one," Another lord chief within the council, Woga Braidedbeard, offered his opinion.

"Hmph! Even so, the therras beast is the mascot of our nation's enemy. How dare an orc chose one to be his pet?!" Another council member, Jinga Loudmaw, said.

"He is an outworlder," Kima said. "He didn't know about ours or our enemy's history. He was not at fault. The Therras beast is indeed a powerful pet to have. You can't blame him for taming one."

"This therras beast was even one with perfect form," Woga said. "I heard the one owned by Themisphere king is wingless. This meant our nation now has a better therras beast than them. We can use this to insult Themisphere, lowering their morale."

Kabaka was silent as the others discussed the Therras Beast. The therras beast in the arena wore armor. The war report also mentioned that Themisphere King's therras beast wore armor. Medium pet armor was difficult to come by, but several high-level blacksmiths provided the service. So, it was not strange seeing the pet's armor.

Kabaka turned to Umeza Giantkiller who sat a distance away. He was one of the officers who were on the same battlefield as the outworlder who later became Themisphere's outworlder king. He was the one who had seen the outworlder king's pet directly.

Umeza was seen having creased brows.

'Is he creasing because of the situation of his tribe's representatives in the arena? Or is he creasing for another reason?' Kabaka wondered.

*

Inside the arena, the situation greatly reversed once Therras was out. Afflicted by status ailments and having a heavy body to move, Tumwa was unable to resist when Therras followed up its assault using Overbearing Stomps. She continued suffering damage as she was unbalanced by the tremor caused by the stomps.

Jack left Tumwa to Therras. Therras was the same grade and even one level higher than Tumwa. Therras speed was also boosted by its armor so it won't have trouble catching up to Tumwa if she tried to flee.

Jack went to aid Four Winds as his situation seemed direr.

When Therras was summoned, Mkulme transformed. It seemed that Mkulme was not serious even when he was ganged up by Four Winds and the armored basilisk. Only after Therras showed up, he realized he had to quickly finish his two opponents so he could aid Tumwa.

Mkulme's beast form transformed him into a large red-furred ape.