Andy, Tormented!

“Indeed, your capabilities have pleased the organization!”

“Thank you for the compliment. Furthermore, I propose we ask a certain Eminence of the Macallan Empire, my senior ‘Number Four,’ to cause some minor inconvenience for Francis, preventing him from observing the Battle God Assembly! I believe that with ‘Number Four’s’ current power and influence within the Macallan Empire, this should be easily achievable, wouldn’t you agree?”

Ilan’s smile remained as elegant as ever, but it was met with a scoff. “Don’t forget, the organization’s directive regarding Francis is clear: as long as he poses no threat to our plans, he is absolutely not to be provoked!”

“No, you misunderstand. I’m suggesting ‘Number Four’ use his individual standing within McAllen to orchestrate this, not the organization’s power! If done discreetly enough, Francis won’t connect it back to us. Assassinating from the shadows is quite an interesting game, isn’t it? Besides, if Francis attends the Battle God Assembly, who knows if he might interfere with Lord Philip’s plans? I’m merely considering the organization’s best interests.”

After a long silence, as the figure remained unresponsive, Ilan added, “What’s wrong? Are you unwilling to relay my suggestion?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… I’m unsure who to relay it to. The three leaders at the top… they’re all quite a handful!”

“Oh? Care to enlighten me?”

“Of course. Lord Philip suffered severe injuries on Mount Tianshan and hasn’t fully recovered; he’s currently conducting his ‘Composite Aberrant Beasts’ experiments while still ailing. Lord Rogliff, while continuing to raise military funds, must also contend with the relentless pursuit of Ted and Helen, especially that Sulan! Her toxins are so potent that even Lord Philip himself struggles greatly to counteract them! As for the other one…”

“What happened to Lord Brockman?”

“He’s gone missing! Lord Brockman was last seen in York Town… *hehe*, this is just between us, but word has it that Lord Brockman was stripped bare and nearly sold off as a male… *ahem*, male slave!”

***

At that very moment, on the edge of the Misty Forest, a dishevelled, naked Brockman, clad only in a grass skirt, wiped black mud from his face and looked up to the heavens, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. “By the heavens! I… I’ve finally escaped the Misty Forest alive!”

Indeed, the Divine Grant Earl! Lord Brockman! He choked back a sob! He wept with overwhelming emotion!

*Waaah!* No more being forced to fight high-level Aberrant Beasts to the death! No more carrying sedan chairs with my bare butt through thorn bushes! No more baking hundreds of pies every day…

Life, once again, had bestowed upon him the hope and courage to live!

“My lord, we… we made it out alive!” The once imposing and tall Sinos now stooped, wiping away a mixture of blood and tears from his eyes. Unbeknownst to him in his excitement, he accidentally reopened a freshly scabbed wound near his eyebrow – a scratch he’d sustained last night fighting a Golden Silk Ape to the death.

Blood streaked his cheek, but Sinos was numb to it. Bleeding? No fear. Crying? No matter. At the very least, Lord Brockman had witnessed his unwavering loyalty these past few days and had sworn to make him his closest confidant!

“My lord, we…”

“Sinos, say no more. To be alive… it’s truly wonderful!”

Their eyes met, a camaraderie forged in shared life and death, in hardship and suffering… *Ahem*, the crucial point being, they were also companions in shared torment!

“Hm? Why have you stopped moving?! Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? Hmph! Your current behavior has enraged the mighty Lord Andy! Sinos, do you choose to be eaten by Lord Andy, or will you fetch Lord Andy some food?! That Golden Silk Ape brain from yesterday wasn’t bad… so, I won’t make it difficult for you. Just two. I want to see them by dinner! Am I not merciful?!”

The icy voice pierced their hearts like a sharp sword. Brockman hastily replied, “Esteemed Lord Andy, we… we have already exited the Misty Forest. It’s impossible to hunt any more… Oh, please, do not be angry! There’s a village nearby, I’ll go procure food for you immediately!”

“Peasant food, Lord Andy dislikes!! A noble’s banquet, understand? Noble!”

“Yes, I understand, but I don’t even have a single copper coin on me! And besides…” Brockman lowered his gaze to his grass skirt!

Andy roared with overbearing arrogance, “Go at once! Even if you have to go butt-naked! You have only one hour. If you’re late…” Andy grinned menacingly, leaving the threat unfinished, but his ferocious aura instantly suffocated them both!

“I… I’ll go immediately!” *Oh, heavens*, even if he resorted to stealing, there was no way he could acquire enough funds for a noble’s banquet in such a short time! *Sigh*, never mind. He still had a necklace around his neck; he’d pawn that.

Andy nodded contentedly, then cast a cold glance at Sinos.

“Lord Andy, I understand! I’ll go prepare your refreshments immediately. One hour, no, half an hour, I’ll definitely be back!”

After both men scurried away, Andy yawned, shaking his head and muttering to himself, “I, Chris Andy, am a noble Snow Wolf with dreams and an appetite! *Sigh*, life without Lord Harry’s Brick really isn’t quite comfortable, is it!”

This Snow Wolf, as corpulent as a pig, not only resembled one in build but also in its movements. It used its snout to root out a shallow depression in the moist, soft earth at the forest’s edge, then lazily flopped into it, positioning its prominently protruding belly perfectly within the hollow before contentedly narrowing its eyes and drifting off to sleep. This, it seemed, was the most comfortable sleeping posture.

In a hazy dream, Butler Harry approached him, one hand clutching a Brick, the other a roasted Ferocious Boar patty. The smile on his pale face was terrifying, and the aroma of the roasted Ferocious Boar was so incredibly tempting that Andy, unknowingly, began to drool. His two front paws shot up, striking a charming pose on the ground, just like an adorable little puppy.

*Thump, thump!* Butler Harry drew nearer. His footsteps evoked a profound mixture of dread and longing… *Huh?* Would Lord Harry’s footsteps truly make such a booming sound? Why was the very ground trembling!?

Its fat paws scratched its head, and Andy reluctantly pried open his bleary eyes. Just as it was still pondering why it could sense something was amiss, *thump, thump, thump!* A series of dense thundering sounds reverberated through its chest. It snapped its gaze open…

*Heavens!* So many Ferocious Boars! His dream had come true! But… why were these boars alive!? And why were they stampeding towards him in a panic!? Why weren’t they roasted patties!?

The herd of boars drew closer, moving with incredible speed. Andy scrambled to his feet in alarm, but his movements were far too sluggish. Before his corpulent body could even fully straighten, the surging tide of boars crashed upon him like a mountain tsunami.

“Hey, I am the mighty Lord Andy! You should be utterly terrified, then flee in terror…”

These Ferocious Boars weren’t Aberrant Beasts; they were just common, low-level wild animals! Their primal intelligence screamed at them: *Damn it!* Behind us, an incredibly powerful Saber-toothed Tiger is giving chase, and in front… another incredibly powerful… pig? Wolf? Monster?

Never mind! Both sides were incredibly powerful, capable of devouring them at will. What were they to do?

In the eyes of a boar that could only best a common strongman, was there any difference between a Level Five Saber-toothed Tiger and Andy, who exuded the aura of a peak Level Nine cultivator?! Either way, it was death! Either way, they were just filling someone’s maw…

Have you ever witnessed a military encampment collapse on the battlefield? Blood-stained blades flash before your eyes, a comrade with whom you’d just shared a drink has half his head lopped off, blood mixed with milky-white brain matter splatters into your eyes. Whether it’s a path to escape or an enemy’s blade, your glazed eyes see nothing; you just charge forward… Absolute terror breeds only absolute chaos. The Ferocious Boars were now caught in just such a predicament.

*THUD!* The first few boars that encroached upon Andy’s vicinity were scared to death on the spot, but their massive weight and frantic speed generated an incredibly powerful impetus. The black, corpulent corpses, their momentum unchecked, slammed violently into Andy’s slowly shifting body…

The mighty Boar-Wolf monster had fallen? The panic-stricken boars suddenly found a path to survival! Without hesitation, they collectively spun their heads around and, in a flurry, charged straight towards Andy’s direction…

Aberrant Beasts chasing prey – such scenes played out daily in the Misty Forest, but today, Andy was having a particularly unlucky streak…

***

Not far off, Brockman and Sinos tremblingly made their way back, each clutching a large bundle of food.

“What do we do? I only found one monkey brain… but the time limit is already up! *Sigh!*” Brockman recalled Lord Andy’s terrifying demeanor with trepidation, a shiver involuntarily running down his spine!

“Indeed, Lord Andy is probably about to erupt in anger again… We… Huh? My lord, quickly look at this…”

Sinos stared blankly at the scene before them – herds of boars stampeding across the very spot where Lord Andy had been resting. They appeared utterly panicked, as if fleeing for their lives. In the distance, a Saber-toothed Tiger, its eyes unfocused, seemed to corroborate this.

But where was Lord Andy? The incredibly mighty Lord Andy? A question popped into both their minds: the lord couldn’t possibly have left. How could an Aberrant Beast so noble and domineering as he tolerate a herd of boars trampling his resting ground!?

Brockman’s expression suddenly contorted, and he bellowed, “Sinos, quickly, we must drive away these boars! Otherwise, when Lord Andy returns and sees his resting place ruined by them, he will kill us in the most brutal way imaginable!”

Sinos’s heart sank. “Lord Brockman, you are absolutely right! We must hurry and drive away the boars, and that damned Saber-toothed Tiger! Why is it just standing there, stunned!?”

“What are you bothering with the Saber-toothed Tiger for? Kill it! We’ll make tiger penis soup for Lord Andy tonight! That’s sure to make him happy! Only then will he forgive our transgressions!”

Although both men had been wretchedly tormented these past few days, dealing with mere boars and a Saber-toothed Tiger was still easy enough. With their combined efforts, the boars fled, and the Saber-toothed Tiger was dispatched before it could even react – it remained stunned even in death! Why, it wondered, would such a seemingly powerful Boar-Wolf be so carelessly trampled by mere boars?

“*Phew!*” Brockman breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the scattered boar carcasses. He nudged one with his foot and, as if having narrowly escaped death, declared, “It’s safe, Sinos. Remember, if Lord Andy asks, we’ll tell him these boars and the Saber-toothed Tiger were painstakingly hunted down by us for his sake… *Hm?*”

Sinos gave Brockman a strange look. Following his gaze, in a small pit in the distance, a monster, half-buried and trampled into the wet earth, bruised and swollen, its body covered in black hoof prints, lay groaning as if at death’s door.

Yet, with every groan, an incomparably formidable aura made the very air tremble…

This aura… Brockman knew it all too well!

“Lord Andy…” Sinos cautiously walked closer. Brockman’s mouth hung slightly agape as he warily observed the scene.

Sinos nudged Andy. The corpulent wolf gave a half-dead grunt. What luck! If he hadn’t been modified by Number Five and the mutated Number Six, he would have been trampled into wolf-meat patties today.

How could this be? The mighty, tyrannical Lord Andy, the one who had tormented them for days… trampled by a mere herd of boars!?

Wait a moment. When Francis was telling him about Andy, it seemed there was something he hadn’t finished saying before being interrupted…

Brockman meticulously replayed Du Chen’s words from that day in his mind. Gradually, his heart sank to rock bottom.

“Sinos, what are you doing!?” Brockman saw Sinos extending a fist towards Andy, and was instantly terrified by the corpulent wolf’s former oppressive might.

But Sinos’s fist merely landed softly on Andy’s body. Then he turned back to Brockman, on the verge of tears!

“My lord, we… it seems we’ve been duped…”

“Damn it! So he was just a good-for-nothing! A useless brute with nothing but a terrifying presence?!”

Brockman slapped himself hard across the face, muttering bitterly, “So… what Brother Francis was trying to say that day, before he was interrupted, was that Andy was a good-for-nothing… Damn it, why didn’t I let Francis finish before taking action!?”

A semblance of Brockman’s former ‘Eminence’ returned to his face, and he grinned menacingly. “No worries, my dear Sinos. I think we should repay Lord Andy for everything he’s done, tenfold, a hundredfold… Alright, seize him! On our way to Auerbach Canyon on the Great Plains, we’ll slowly deal with him!”

***

Within Saint John City, the Shieb, Harry, was also missing Andy. *Sigh*, without that unfortunate Snow Wolf minion, whom would he torment!? He had just commissioned two specially made iron Bricks from the blacksmith! Andy, hurry back!

However, Harry quickly became excited. Ha! He could ride the Wyvern Carriage again! He was the only Shieb on the Three Continents who had ever ridden a Wyvern Carriage, after all!