A sharp cry echoed through the sky.
A giant eagle with white feathers and golden eyes appeared, swiftly descending toward Muria. It gently landed on his shoulder and let out a clear chirp. Muria, standing atop a ferocious beast resembling a T-Rex, nodded, understanding the eagle's message. He then gave an order in the Titan language to the beast beneath him, a highly intelligent apex predator.
Upon receiving Muria's command, the creature roared in excitement, causing the surrounding trees to tremble as their branches scraped against the enormous body. Even the ground beneath them seemed to stir with faint sounds. From the surrounding forest, several more massive beasts, similar in appearance to the one Muria rode but smaller, burst forth.
"The hunt begins!"
Muria, sitting on the back of the leader of these giant lizard-like beasts, led a hundred of them toward the location the white-feathered eagle had scouted. They crossed mountains and rivers, eventually arriving at the shores of a vast, clear lake, where Muria discovered a herd of creatures seemingly trapped while trying to drink water.
These creatures, resembling a cross between rhinoceroses and wild oxen, were enormous. Many stood around seven to eight meters tall at the shoulder, with some exceptional individuals even reaching nine or ten meters. Without a doubt, these giant herbivores qualified as prey for Muria's warbeasts, which was why the eagles had targeted them.
Already in a predicament, the herd panicked further at the sight of obvious predators approaching. The leader of the herd let out a loud cry, urging its kind to retreat as quickly as possible. But the herbivores were in a dire situation. The white-feathered eagles in the sky relentlessly attacked them, preventing any escape. If the herd's formation broke, their young would be exposed to the predators circling above. Already, several calves had been snatched by the eagles during an earlier attempt to flee, leaving only a few drops of blood as a grim reminder of their fate.
"Excellent!"
Muria observed over a hundred fierce eagles identical to the one that had led him, circling above the herd. Every so often, an eagle would dive down, causing the giant herbivores to cry out in fear. The eagles kept the herd in disarray, ensuring they couldn't escape.
"Begin the hunt, but listen up: only kill the adults and the elderly. No killing females or young ones."
After relaying the order through the leader of the lizard-beasts, the warbeasts charged forward. Saliva dripped from their jaws as they sprinted, driven by their rapid growth and powerful digestion. These warbeasts were perpetually hungry, which only made them more ferocious in battle.
As the warbeasts broke into the herd of herbivores, mounds of earth rose up, and yellow-scaled creatures emerged from the ground. They curled into balls and barreled through the herd, sowing chaos. These beasts resembled armadillos but were far more dangerous. Each of their scales was razor-sharp, turning them into rolling spheres of blades when curled up.
But this was only one of their attack methods. They could also extend their limbs, equipped with sharp claws, while their heads were adorned with horns perfect for both digging and attacking.
As the two types of warbeasts unleashed carnage, the white-feathered eagles descended from the sky, joining in the feast of slaughter. Blood bloomed like flowers on the lakeshore as the herbivores, despite their comparable size to the warbeasts, stood little chance against these predators bred for killing.
Their thick hides were no match for the sharp horns and claws of the warbeasts, nor for the talons of the eagles. Even the most resilient parts of their bodies were easily pierced by the warbeasts' tail blades, the armadillo-like creatures' horns, and the eagles' claws.
The bloodbath erupted in a short span and ended quickly. The herbivores, which had been migrating along the river, were almost entirely wiped out, leaving only the females and young that Muria had ordered spared.
"Let them go."
At Muria's command, the warbeasts, despite their hunger and desire, obediently cleared a path. In their minds, their master's command was absolute. The surviving members of the herd, now only a fraction of their original number, hesitantly fled after several test runs, finally escaping the site of slaughter.
Only a few males remained in the herd, barely enough to ensure the survival of their species. However, with most of the predators in the area already wiped out by Muria and his warbeasts, the balance of life in this wilderness remained precarious but intact.
After all, Muria was here to conquer, not destroy. Though the warbeasts craved flesh, Muria made sure to leave enough creatures alive to propagate the species.
"Once these guys finish feeding, we'll have to move again. Otherwise, the ecosystem here will collapse." As he watched the warbeasts devour their prey, Muria fell deep in thought. Because of their bloodline limitations, the three different types of warbeasts could coexist peacefully and feed together without conflict.
"I already have three kinds of warbeasts," Muria said with a smile, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as he gazed at the three hundred or so creatures under his command.
Following his mother's request, Muria's father, Auston Igneel, had handed over a portion of the first batch of warbeasts to Muria for him to raise. However, since this first batch had already bonded with their true master, Auston, Muria could only command them, not own them. His role was more of a caretaker than an owner.
But as compensation, when these warbeasts matured and bred, all their eggs would belong to Muria. This relatively fair agreement had prompted Muria to agree without hesitation.
And so, Muria now found himself leading these three groups of warbeasts across the wilderness, hunting to speed up their growth and eventually acquire their eggs as quickly as possible.
His father, Auston Igneel, had been assigned a different world, one filled with many intelligent species, but none had developed a true civilization. This world had always been fragmented, never producing a dominant species to rule over everything. It was a realm ruled by numerous beast kings, each controlling their own territory.
Thus, Auston Igneel had freely unleashed destruction upon this world without drawing the attention of any powerful beings. And now, Muria could wander and hunt at will.
Auston had a unique approach. Unlike typical Titans, who preferred to conquer by force, Auston's methods involved both subjugation and selective slaughter. Thanks to the presence of the Primordial Lord, Archimonde, Auston had another option: he could harvest flesh to feed warbeast eggs, using them to conquer the world.
However, Auston, who enjoyed battle but not needless slaughter, chose a more balanced approach, primarily seeking to subjugate while killing only when necessary.
When selecting his targets, Auston often went by personal preference. If he found a creature pleasing to the eye, he would spare it; if not, he would kill it and feed it to his warbeasts. One such example was an eight-headed serpent. Auston had initially planned to kill the beast because he found its stench offensive, but at Muria's suggestion, he spared it.
Muria had proposed using the serpent, a legendary creature with strong regenerative abilities, as a living source of high-energy meat—a renewable resource. After considering the idea for a long while, Auston silently agreed, turning the serpent into a living food machine, a fate worse than death.
…
"It really feels like I'm working for my father," Muria sighed after another flawless hunt. In the end, the warbeasts he was raising weren't truly his; he'd have to hand them back to his father.
In exchange for raising the warbeasts, his only reward was their eggs. Wasn't that just like working for his dad?
"Now for the fourth kind," Muria muttered as he gazed at his growing army. His father had just sent him a new type of warbeast via a voidship—a giant ape-like creature.
This warbeast was more focused on defense than offense. It had four arms, each equipped with massive bone plates. When the creature brought all four arms together, it formed a giant shield, providing perfect protection for its body.
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