New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The tiger woman took a moment to calm down her pounding heart. Her animal nature had taken control over her senses, feeling the impending threat, and she had reacted with all her might.

With all intents and purposes, her attack had contained killing intent. But now that she realized who she had thrown, her heart froze.

Dashing toward the king, still embedded in the tree, she returned to her human appearance, with only her ears and tail remaining.

"I'm so sorry, King Astaroth!" she immediately apologized, kowtowing into the dirt.

"I shouldn't have attacked you back! I should have dodged or taken the strike! I will take any punishment you deem fit!" she exclaimed, not even looking at him.

That's when she realized Astaroth was laughing his ass off.

"Ahahahahaha! That was blood-rushing! Who'd have thought someone could fling me around like that? I wouldn't have put all my strength behind a hit if I'd known. Ahahahaha!"

She lifted her head a bit, looking at him to make sure he wasn't faking, and noticed his upside-down body lodged in the tree trunk.

"Pfft!"

Slapping her hands on her mouth to contain her laughter, her eyes widened.

Astaroth looked at her with a big, dumb grin.

"If you want to laugh, at least help me down. You lodged me in here good. I'm stuck," Astaroth said, trying to wiggle free.

The tree crackled around him, but he was still stuck.

"Pfft! Yes, my king! Aha! Ahahaha! Right away, sir! I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh! Ahahaha!"

She trembled as she tried to contain her laughter, but Astaroth couldn't care less.

As far as he was concerned, this was a situation of his making. She could laugh all she wanted, but at least she should help him down.

Which she did, her body still shivering as she tried to laugh silently.

After helping him down, Selena tried her best to contain her laughter while Astaroth brushed the wood shrapnel out of his clothes.

"Of fine. I guess you still have a certain use. At least you have the speed and reflexes needed to follow me around. I guess Rodney thought about this long enough to come up with a viable solution," Astaroth said, as he finished straightening out his outfit.

"We should head back, sir. We shouldn't be outside the palace alone. Even if you are powerful enough to fight most things in these woods, it's better to stay safe inside the walls…" Selena said, glancing around.

She could already feel the gazes of curious monsters, but they were staying away. Selena thought it was because of her domineering aura, given that she used to terrorize most of those monsters.

But the truth was far from.

What they feared was the presence they had felt moments ago when Astaroth had changed into his demon form.

With how often corruption took hold of monsters in the Elven forests lately, even the monsters had grown to fear the essence of demons naturally. And he reeked of it, even if it was only for a short while.

"I just needed to stretch my legs, anyway. We can head back," Astaroth replied, sensing the monsters too, but not caring.

He could tell there wasn't anything powerful enough to hurt him in the immediate vicinity. A monster with that power level would give off an aura that could hardly be contained or hidden.

Astaroth ran instead of flying as they darted back toward the city. He used this time to get a feel of his new guard's true essence.

"Why do I feel like I've seen you before?" he asked.

He already had an idea about the answer to that question, but he wanted her to say it.

"We might have crossed paths before. It's been a long time, though. I'm actually surprised you haven't aged more than that in ten years," Selena responded, looking at him nervously.

"I seem to recall a white tiger from before the update. One that called me a flea. Does that ring any bell?" Astaroth asked, giving her a knowing look.

"I don't recall ever saying those words, ah ha ha ha," she laughed, her forehead suddenly covered in sweat.

"Don't worry about it. That was probably an accurate description at the time," Astaroth said, chuckling.

"Sir. You had defeated the ruler of the forest, Leon, back then. I believe you could have killed me if we had fought."

Astaroth looked at her with a snicker.

"I didn't exactly win that combat. I used a dirty trick and paid the price for it as much as he did. The difference is that I had allies to help me recover. He didn't," Astaroth defended Leon.

"A win is a win, sir. In the animal kingdom, it doesn't matter if you kill your prey after they are wounded. It only means you were more careful and cunning," Selena rebuked.

Astaroth could tell she was on the defensive about this one, and he assumed it was because she most likely won more than one fight precisely like that.

'A frightening mentality, given she is supposed to defend me…' he thought.

"In any case, that win was only one reason Leon followed me instead of betraying me on the first occasion. The other is that I made him stronger. Everyone becomes more pliable at the offer of power."

Selena tilted her head to the side, looking at him with curiosity. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

"How could a mortal make a being already more powerful than it, even stronger?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"By pulling in favours with gods, heh," Astaroth chuckled.

Of course, this wasn't something he could do at any time. But it had served him that one time.

He could see the shock in the tiger-woman's eyes.

Being able to pull a favour from the gods wasn't something just anyone could accomplish.

"Don't think too hard about it. It cost me just as much as it cost the god. It was more of a transaction than a favour. I'm not blessed by the gods, I assure you. Hell, I might be as far from their favourite person as is possible," Astaroth added with pessimistic laughter.

'I doubt any god will want to approach me with a hundred-foot pole, now that Gaius has his eyes on me…' he mused.

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