The porcupine was almost paralyzed. As for the stag, it was on its knees. The same was the case with the Sting Fairy whose pair of wings were now cut into pieces.
The Pangolin was all bloody as well, its scales scattered everywhere.
The eagle had many scratches on its body with many deep wounds. If it tried to execute any of its skills, blood would burst out only leading to his death.
"Sigh…"
"Come guys, let's leave.", Shin announced about leaving the place to Deoras and the rest.
The beasts were surprised.
They thought that Shin would kill them this time for sure, but on contrary, he seemed uninterested.
"You are sparing us...?", the eagle asked.
Shin looked at him and sighed.
"Ha..."
"When have I not spared your lives?"
"The earlier two times that we fought, hadn't I let you go?"
"Yet you came again."
Shin sighed again and again.
Earlier, when he had fought with them, they thought that they successfully escaped from Shin due to their own skills. But in reality, it was Shin who let them go.
It was true that earlier Shin was weak, and on the first encounter, even he was injured, however, that was not close enough to how much the others were injured.
In the first encounter, Shin had encountered all five. They didn't come in a group rather, attacked individually when Shin invaded their territory.
What could have been a casual walk, turned into a bloody fight.
Needless to say, Shin emerged victorious and pushed back their territories even more.
Regardless, the fact was that he had spared them twice already, and this was already the third time.
But why?
Why didn't he want to finish them?
Wouldn't he get some exp or titles by killing these great beasts?
Well, there were three main reasons due to which he didn't want to kill them right now.
One - it was because he was already at a greater level when compared to them. By killing them, he wouldn't even get half the amount of exp to get into the next level. This did not mean that he wouldn't get any exp at all. He would get, but very less. Rather than killing them and getting exp, he could let them grow stronger to kill them at a later date.
This was equivalent to raring cattle for your own need!
Two - they kept other beasts in check.
These beasts were originally the rulers of the forest and ruled over almost all other low-leveled beasts. Therefore, their presence was enough to make others obey.
In their absence, the low-leveled beasts would end up invading Shin's town, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Because of their less intelligence, they might think that their great number would be enough to crush Shin and his forces. However, due to their low levels, they would only be inviting death, if they were to invade that is.
Three - many beasts were targeting Shin and his clan due to the Supremes' orders. These beasts could help Shin in reducing the number of the beasts that would enter the forest!
During earlier encounters, Shin didn't think about all this. He merely let them go as he was just too busy due to Aella, Clan Wars, and due to injury as well. Even though he was of a lower level when compared to them during the time when Aella was lost, he still defeated them.
And when he was training his forces for Clan Wars, he was a bit above their levels. This was the second time when they had challenged and Shin has defeated them yet again.
And now, they came in front of him the third time.
The difference in their levels was at least 10 and at max 20! He had nothing to worry about and seemed easygoing.
The strongest among the beasts was the Sting Fairy who was at Lv.79.
The Eagle - Lv.75.
The Pangolin - Lv. 74.
The Stag - Lv.71
The Porcupine - Lv.71
Also, with the evolution, he had somewhat become much calmer.
He also realized that it is better to have more friends and not enemies. Although he knew this from the start, he started to execute this in everything he did.
He looked at the beasts and said, "This is the last time I'm letting you go..."
"But do remember, I have no grudge against you."
"All I want to do is expand my territory. In the end, this entire forest will come under my rule.", Shin said.
"But..."
"But that would mean...", the eagle tried to tell something, but Shin guessed his words way before he even opened his mouth.
"But that would mean that you would lose a place to live, correct?", Shin asked.
The eagle merely nodded his head along with the rest.
Shin thought for a second and after smiling, suggested something to them.
"Look, I'm not forcing you, but if you want, why don't you come under my rule and join my clan?"
"Huh!?"
"Yes. This way, both of us will benefit."
"I will be able to rule the entire forest and you will be able to live here."
The eagle and the rest of the beasts just laughed inside.
'What does he mean by not forcing us?'
'He is literally giving us a mandatory choice! An order!'
'If we don't agree to come under his rule, he would just eradicate us as he conquers the entire forest.', all the beasts who were injured right now, thought this.
They led some clans of their own.
While they didn't have any specific names, they held the titles of Kings.
The Lv.75 Eagle had the title, Eagle King. The same was for the rest. The Pangolin King, Stag King, Bee Queen, Porcupine King - these were the titles the others held which were only possible to have only if one had reached their final evolutionary stages and had a clan of their own - basically subordinates or followers was a requirement.
These were the clans and the number of subordinates each of them had:
"…"
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