The towering, steel-and-glass skyline of Jade City faded into the distance as Jayden arrived at the perimeter of the city’s bordering wilderness. Instead of taking the transit back to Emerald City, he had stopped here. He had one last piece of business to take care of.

He unequipped his tactical suit, leaving him in his casual jeans and t-shirt. He rolled his shoulders, stepped off the paved road, and crossed the tree line into the dense, untamed forest.

The moment his feet crunched against the dead leaves, the atmosphere of the woods shifted. The ambient chirping of insects and the rustling of small game ceased entirely. The beasts of this forest immediately felt the suffocating, predatory weight of his aura, even when suppressed. They all fled from his vicinity, making sure not to make contact with him.

Jayden ignored the fleeing shadows in the brush and headed straight toward the deepest, thickest part of the canopy. He wasn’t here for the average, lower ranked beasts, he already had a single target in mind.

As he stepped past a dense thicket of thorny vines, the canopy above rustled violently. A massive Serpenthis—a twenty-foot viper with scales like rusted iron—shot down from a thick branch, its jaws unhinged and fangs dripping with toxin, aiming straight for his neck.

Jayden didn’t even break his stride. He simply raised his right arm and triggered his Size Manipulation.

His hand instantly ballooned to three times its normal size. He caught the massive serpent cleanly by the head mid-lunge and clenched his fingers.

CRACK.

The Serpenthis’s skull shattered like brittle glass in a single, fluid motion. He casually tossed the twitching, headless carcass aside.

[+30 Exp]

[1x E-Rank Beast Crystal has been added to inventory]

Jayden dismissed the notification and kept walking. Soon, the dense silence of the forest was broken by a low, guttural cacophony. The sound of heavy branches snapping, rhythmic chest-beating, and furious, monkey-like chatters echoed through the trees.

He had entered Earth Smasher territory.

Dozens of heavy, ape-like figures swung through the canopy above him, tracking his every step. Their chatters grew louder, an aggressive chorus of displeasure. They were territorial, baring their oversized fangs and glaring down at the human intruding on their domain, yet none of them dared to drop down. The sheer density of his energy kept them at bay.

Jayden finally stepped into a massive, shaded clearing. Around fifty Earth Smashers were scattered about—some lounging on boulders, others grooming—but the second he entered, the clearing erupted into chaos. The beasts scrambled to their feet, their muscles tensing, hostile howls filling the air. The stalkers from the trees dropped down, boxing him in. He was entirely surrounded by a wall of black and brown fur, thick muscles, and furious fangs.

Jayden simply smiled, his hands casually tucked into his pockets. He knew they wouldn’t attack. And even if they did, it would just be a light warm-up.

Just then....

ROOOAAR!

A thunderous bellow violently shook the clearing, silencing the horde instantly. The Earth Smashers all stopped their chattering and lowered their heads in absolute submission.

Jayden’s smirk widened as the earth trembled under heavy, deliberate footsteps.

Then, a monstrous figure emerged from the brush. It was a gorilla-like behemoth, standing easily over ten feet tall on its knuckles, but unlike its brethren, its fur was a striking, pristine white. Scars crisscrossed its heavily armored chest, and its eyes burned with a fierce, intelligent malice.

It walked into the clearing with the complete authority of something that had never in its life been uncertain about where it stood in any hierarchy it occupied.

Then Its eyes landed on Jayden.

They were carrying a fury that was not the simple territorial aggression of the beasts that had surrounded him. This was something more personal than that. Jayden had walked into its domain with a confidence that challenged its pride. It felt offended.

Meanwhile, when Jayden saw the beast, his smirk widened. This white gorilla was obviously the leader.

And it was his target.

Earlier, on the run from Autumn City, Jayden had been thinking about the passive exp mechanics and the army he was building in Emerald city and what the equivalent architecture would look like in Jade City.

But he didn’t want to go about looking for and defeating beasts one by one. There had to be an easier, direct way. The answer arrived a moment later.

Earth Smashers.

They were colony animals. Their entire social structure was organized around a single authority... the leader, whose position was not ceremonial but functional, the actual organizational node through which the troop operated.

He had seen this firsthand weeks ago when he’d challenged the previous leader... the D-rank Earth Smasher. The way the troop had responded to the threat to their leader, the total, coordinated commitment of an entire community to the defense of one individual. That wasn’t just loyalty, that was structure.

And that meant if he could tame the current leader, he wouldn’t just be acquiring one beast. He would be acquiring the entire troop directly.

Jayden looked at the white earth smasher across the clearing and felt the beast’s aura flaring with an intensity that suggested it wasn’t a pushover. The beast was undoubtedly strong, stronger than the previous leader Jayden had defeated. But he needed to really know what he was dealing with.

He activated his Dragon Eyes and went through the beast’s info.

——————

Name: Earth Smasher

*Rank: C

*Ability: Enhanced Strength

*HP: 2000/2000 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

——————

Jayden raised an eyebrow. The energy rolling off this beast was staggering for a C-Rank. The Hp alone was absurd for its level. He speculated that it would be dangerously close to reaching B-rank, but Luna suddenly chimed in with a statement that said otherwise.

[This beast is only at the beginning of its power, Jayden] she stated. [It only recently evolved to C-Rank]

"It just reached C-Rank?" Jayden murmured, stunned. "But the energy I’m sensing from it is similar to that of a mid level C-rank beast."

[That’s because this beast is universally classified as a Rare Beast, much like your Winter Wolf] Luna explained. [So it would naturally possesses a far higher baseline of power than a typical monster of its rank]

Jayden smirked, cracking his knuckles. "I beat the Winter Wolf back when I was weak," he chuckled. "This should be a walk in the park."

He took a confident step forward.

The white beast mirrored him, stepping up with a low, bone-rattling growl, its massive fists digging into the dirt. It was ready to slaughter the teenage boy standing in front of it.

[-3 Ep]

Jayden activated his Beastlord Aura, releasing a concentrated wave of raw, oppressive dominance.

The lesser Earth Smashers in the area whimpered, collapsing to their knees or scrambling backward, utterly terrified by the predatory weight crushing their instincts. But the white leader just gritted its teeth. It dug its feet deeper into the soil, its muscles bulging as it endured the suffocating pressure, outright refusing to submit.

"Hm," Jayden hummed, amused by its willpower. He’d tried using his Beastlord aura as a way get the beast to submit, so as to avoid having a fight. But since his aura wasn’t enough, it was time for plan B.

He retracted his aura and stepped forward calmly. The beast tensed, ready to pounce, but Jayden raised a hand.

"Wait," he spoke, projecting his voice clearly. "I have a proposition."

To his surprise, the beast actually eased up a fraction. It tilted its massive head, raising a brow in genuine curiosity, then let out a short huff—a clear signal to keep talking.

Jayden smirked. "You can fight me here and now," he said, a cunning gleam in his eye. "and either of us could die. Or... we can fight in an honorable duel. If I win, you submit to me. I become your master, and by extension, the new leader of this entire troop. He met the beast’s eyes directly. "I’m challenging you for your title. You can refuse and look weak in front of your troop, or you can accept and prove you’re worth the position you hold."

The beast stared down at him. The silence in the clearing was deafening as it processed the challenge. Jayden’s words had deliberately struck at the core of its pride.

it looked at the troop... the fifty-plus beasts at the perimeter, all watching, all present, all registering every word and every silence between the words with the complete attention of creatures who understood that something important was being decided.

Then it looked back at Jayden. And slowly, it nodded in agreement, accepting the challenge.

"Good choice," Jayden smirked.

But then, the beast opened its mouth, and something unexpected and absolutely jarring happened.

It spoke.

"If human loses... I show no mercy," the beast rumbled. Its voice was gravelly, deep, and heavily distorted by vocal cords not meant for human speech, but the words were unmistakable.

Jayden’s eyes widened in sheer shock. His mind was refusing to believe what he’d just witnessed. A beast just spoke actual words, with its own mouth.

How the hell was that possible?

[Some beasts can attain a high enough level of cognitive intelligence to mimic and understand human speech as they rank up] Luna explained clinically. [And this beast being a primate-type beast and a rare one at that only made it more likely]

Jayden recovered quickly, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. Luna’s explanation was helpful and enlightening, but it changed nothing about the fact that he was determined to tame this beast, even if he had to beat it to a pulp first.

He stared at the beast, his smirk widening. "I wouldn’t expect anything less."

The leader stared at Jayden for a while, wondering why he was so confident. Then it turned to its subjects and unleashed a series of complex, chattering barks. The horde responded with an uproar of howls. Instantly, the entire colony mobilized. They bounded into the trees and charged through the brush, all moving in unified synchronization toward a specific location deep in the territory.

The leader looked at Jayden, gesturing with a massive hand to follow, before walking along the path as well. Jayden followed behind it calmly.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a massive, naturally formed meadow. It was a perfect, crater-like expanse of flattened grass surrounded by steep, rocky inclines. The Earth Smasher colony had already flooded the perimeter, sitting on the rocks and hanging from the trees, forming a literal colosseum of roaring, howling beasts.

There were all there to bear witness to the duel that was about to go down between their revered leader, and a stupid, reckless human.