Elemental Cats

Toz was understanding of their plight, and was already prepared to mount a resistance against the rats as soon as possible.

If he told the explorers guild about the rats, they would surely not let them be. Toz might even expect a reward from them for making and sharing this discovery.

But there was nothing wrong with some extra incentive from the monkeys, so he gladly accepted the firestones he got in exchange for hearing the monkeys out and being willing to cross the wasteland again.

After Toz accepted their request, Raznak asked if he wanted company during his journey through the wasteland.

All the beasts in the forest had united and created the Forest Alliance to maintain some sort of defense against the rats, as well as raise powerful fighters that could traverse the wasteland. Although, the monkeys didn't have any suitable warriors currently, while the other beasts did.

But since the monkeys were the beasts closest to humans, culture-wise, they were chosen as representatives. And considering Toz entered the forest in the area they were responsible for watching, it was natural for them to make contact first.

Now that the monkeys had accomplished their mission of encouraging Toz to cross the wasteland and get help against the rats, the other beasts in the alliance wanted to guarantee he crossed it safely by sending powerful fighters.

No one in Toz's gang wanted that. They enjoyed their own company and would preferably keep it that way. They expressed these thoughts to Raznak as well, but he was powerless when up against the entire Alliance. All he could do was mediate the situation when the fighters from the other members of the alliance showed up. They seemed to have coordinated it after hearing about Toz, as they arrived at almost the same time as one another.

A brutish gorilla, a standoffish horse, two shining beetles, and a snake.

Although all of them looked aggressive as they blatantly eyed Toz and his group, none of them had a dangerous presence. To Toz and the cats, it looked more like silly posturing by some pompous, weak, good-for-nothings.

The so-called powerful fighters noticed the disregard and got irritated. The horse, after loudly snorting, expressed her displeasure before anyone else could say anything.

"This guy crossed the wasteland? And you think he can do it again? What a joke!"

"Well if he didn't, did you?" Donk retorted with a nonchalant look on his face. Although he was slightly weaker than the five beasts of the alliance, he was confident he had managed to judge Toz's strength somewhat.

Last night, when the monkeys had been throwing Lucy up into the air, Donk had seen Toz's reaction. For a split second, he felt something take hold of his throat. As soon as Toz calmed down, the feeling disappeared into thin air. Donk was overjoyed he had managed to create a good relationship with Toz by exchanging food and firestones with him.

Donk was pretty confident no one else knew about Toz's strength and that only Raznak could be a match for him. And that is without the cats joining the fight, although he hadn't noticed any displays of strength from the cats, based on how difficult it was to sense their levels, at least the grey and black ones were skilled at magic. The red one was noticeably special just based on how she looked, and how her mere presence had a volatile aura when she wasn't playing with Toz.

The horse was shocked by Donk's response, and before she could continue, Toz gave Raznak a look, and the elder stepped up and began to deal with the situation.

"Now, now. No need for you young'uns to be so angry. And regarding Toz...

"If you have doubts regarding him traveling through the wasteland, do you think he just came into existence like a flower? Or maybe you doubt our Ash Monkey Tribe's judgment?"

"N-n-no, of course not." The horse looked away fearfully. Although he was strong, he couldn't compare to Raznak, the last monkey warrior. The monkeys were a large group, and Raznak was the sole leader of that group. Of course, he wasn't the only third level beast in the alliance, but he was crafty, and he could use elaborate magic.

He was also a great contributor when making plans against the rats in the past, so a large part of the alliance would side with him in the case of a dispute, especially if it was with the honor of the Ash Monkey Tribe at stake. They had sacrificed a lot of warriors when trying to reach the world beyond the wasteland.

After seeing the horse and the other alliance fighters calm down, Raznak offered an easy way to settle things so everyone would be satisfied. A spar. The spar would be between Toz and one of the beasts, and if that wasn't enough to show Toz had enough strength to clear the wasteland by himself the cats could step forth or Toz could fight against the other beasts.

The horse naturally volunteered to face off against Toz first.

They used a clearing in front of the village as the arena.

The horse got into a ready stance, setting its mane and hooves on fire.

Toz pulled out a sword. It was the same sword he had created with his mana, and reinforced and strengthened every night. The addition of fire mana had given the edges a slight orange hue, that looked slightly like light being reflected on the sharpness.

"Begin!" Raznak's shout had the horse setting off like a firework.

Toz stood still without reacting, leading the horse and most other beasts into thinking he was too slow to react. But the cats, Donk, and Raznak knew better.

As the horse approached him, Toz readied his sword, and when the horse was only a couple of meters away, he took a swift step to the side and swung his sword.

The horse, who had been planning on ramming the puny human with its overwhelming speed, was unable to react to Toz's movements and was instead struck by his sword. As she winced and prepared for the pain and splashing blood, Toz sheathed his sword. The horse was surprised, but when a feeling of lightness covered her head, she understood.

Toz had shaved her head and her mane was on the ground. The feeling of lightness was her hair coming off. For her race, their mane was their pride and joy, and Toz had sheared it all off in one swing. The horse almost felt like it had been better if he had taken her head instead. It would take years regrowing her mane, years she would have to spend living in shame.

Toz's display of combat awareness, skill, and precision had the other beasts hesitating about whether or not to spar with him. He had moved with absolute confidence during the entire fight, and it looked like he could have easily lopped off the horse's head instead of her mane.

Since none of the other beasts were significantly stronger than the horse, they would most likely end up in a similar, if not an even worse situation. The horse at least had a mane that Toz could chop off instead of a head. The beetles and the gorilla only had their other limbs, while the snake didn't even have that. If Toz needed to perform a second display of skill, he might set a more explicit example by mutilating the next one who challenged him.