Ardin could feel the intense pain on his chest. The kick was so strong that it made it hard for him to breathe, and he felt a few of his ribs crack. However, the pain was nothing compared to the trauma he had just experienced. His heart was still pounding wildly, and it was so loud that he could hear it with his ears.
He closed his eyes, trying to calm down, trying to process what happened. He tried to compare that terrifying man to the strong people in his head. Two names came into his head, and one of them was the direct descendant of the Tynayr Clan that he met in the shop, and the second one was the captain from the Gosthone Emporium’s hunter department, his direct superior.
"What are you going to do now, Boss?"
Ardin snapped when he heard the voice, pulling an arrow and was about to throw the arrow toward the voice. He stopped in time because it was his people’s voice. His body relaxed, putting down the arrow.
"I don’t know," He replied tiredly.
"Don’t tell me you are going to listen to that man after what we experienced!" The Demi-God Rank was angry that his boss considered listening to the terrifying man’s order after the humiliation.
"You also have experience, you fool. Do you think people like us could afford to offend someone like him?" Ardin got angry when his subordinate confronted him. The incident would be a nightmare for the rest of his life. Not just the fearful aura, but also the humiliation.
"Who cares? How is he going to look for us when he doesn’t even know our names and our affiliation? He doesn’t know where we come from. If we tell Lord Gosthone or Captain Loenze, they will kill that man, and we will witness that man die just like that stupid Berils!"
Berils was another person who had the Shepherd of Beast Spirit class and was killed by a combination of efforts from three giant emporiums. The three emporiums killed Berils to take his collection of Beast Spirits, and they got to witness how strong their captain was.
Ardin calmed down, processing what he had just heard from his subordinate. Meanwhile, his subordinate seemed to realize that he had almost convinced Ardin. Just a little push, Ardin would be convinced, and that terrifying man would die by Lord Gosthone’s hand.
"Why are you hesitating in the first place? It’s not like you take an oath or sign a contract with him. We are free from him the moment he sends us back here! Let’s report this to Captain Loenze."
Ardin was convinced when his subordinate pointed out that he indeed did not take an oath or sign a contract, "Alright, so what’s the plan?"
He might not get his revenge right away because Lord Gosthone would not kill that right away after hearing the report. Lord Gosthone would let that terrifying man nurture and gather more Beast Spirits before Lord Gosthone killed the man. Ardin did not care how long it would take as long as he could get his revenge, then he would be satisfied. That might get rid of his trauma as well.
Ardin’s subordinate glanced toward the two unconscious men. They were comrades, but they were not that close.
"We kill them and tell Captain Loenze that that man spared us because that man wants to send the Gosthone Emporium a message that he will come for the Gosthone Emporium. This would be enough to convince Captain Loenze, and that terrifying man would be Lord Gosthone’s next target."
"We can also add that this man also hired Berils’ old caretaker as well!"
Ardin’s subordinate managed to overcome his trauma and got back on his feet in excitement, thinking he had made a brilliant plan.
Ardin did not like the fact that he had to kill his two other subordinates, but it would be more convincing that way. He was about to say something, but his eyes widened in shock as a giant shadow emerged behind his subordinate.
The shadow was around ten meters tall, and the shadow had the shape of a giant wolf. With a single sweep, the giant wolf gobbled half of his subordinate’s body.
Ardin got back on his feet and used his Bloodline Transformation, taking out a spear from his inventory. Then he noticed that the remaining two subordinates were also dead, losing their heads. He did not recall that a shadow-type Beast Spirit existed in this area. He was confused about where the wolf came from.
"Master is being generous to give you a second chance even after you threatened him. But you are just too stupid to realize how lucky you are to come back alive from my master’s place for you to plot against him."
Ardin immediately realized that the shadow-type Beast Spirits belonged to that terrifying man. That man sent this wolf to follow him out of caution, and he was caught plotting against that man.
Ardin calmed down, composing himself. The wolf might be strong, but not as strong as that man. He had a chance to win this time and maybe brought back a rare shadow-type Beast Spirit as well.
However, another shadow loomed over him, and he felt a presence behind him. He slowly turned his head and saw another giant shadow wolf behind him. Before he could do anything, the wolf snapped at him, and that was the last thing he saw.
Azhug brought Tang Shaoyang to join the other staff. Azhug’s staff was unique, a combination of four different races, yet they worked in harmony. Their love and passion toward the Beast Spirit united the four different races to work together.
A troll, a Dryad, a cat-folk with dot patterns on her fur, and the last one was a Fae. A truly unique combination, and this might be the first time he met Dryads and a Fae.
Two were tending the wound of the gold-rose furred cat, the remaining two were helping the unconscious cat that was still unconscious. One was tending the mother, and the second was feeding the kitties next to their mother.
Azhug explained to him the reason why the mother was unconscious. The mother was starving, and she had to feed her children as well, and the Ogre told him the likely scenario of what happened.
Meanwhile, the Void Sparrow family perched on the ceiling, watching from above. They were the ones who seemed to be lucky among his three new Beast Spirits. It took around fifteen minutes to tend to the Auspicious Mytherean, and the dignified cat went to sleep right after. The two immediately helped the Snow Caracal mother after.
Tang Shaoyang watched as they injected something into the mother and cast a spell he did not know. It seemed like the situation was more dire than he thought because the three staff members were quite intense when they treated Snow Caracal’s mother.
After another ten minutes, the staff relaxed. It seemed the Snow Caracal mother had passed the critical condition. Three of them turned around and reported the condition to Azhug, not Tang Shaoyang.
Tang Shaoyang did not take offense because they were currently working under Azhug, not him. He overheard them that the wound had been patched, and the Snow Caracal mother would survive.
"Thank you for your service," Tang Shaoyang nodded at the staff. "I have a lot of questions, but before we talk more about the Beast Spirits, we need to have a discussion about your contract. Azhug proposed to me that I must hire you all to hire him, that’s one of the conditions he put in his temporary contract. I agree to hire you, but I still need your consent and your conditions for the contract."