The tiger heard footsteps approaching and immediately locked eyes with Nova, giving him a stare that seemed to say, "Come closer and you're dead."

Nova didn't shy away. Instead, he chuckled and, unbothered, lifted his leg and stepped forward, rustling the grass beneath his feet.

Challenged once more, the tiger rose and roared.

The soundwave made the trees' leaves tremble, and the geniuses who had just entered the forest shivered, most of them even resorted to crouch down in fear. Outside, the elders exchanged anxious looks.

One of them, a man with a bushy beard, couldn't take it anymore. He gritted his teeth and said, "The situation has clearly gotten out of hand. I say we should stop the competition and get our geniuses out. Who's with me?" He looked around to see if anyone would step up, but all he saw were conflicted expressions. Some deliberately met his gaze before shifting their eyes to Filibur, who sat with his eyes closed. This led him, too, to glance at the mage.

Understanding what he had to do, he said, "Sir, please allow us to go and save our young ones!"

Seconds ticked by without an answer as everyone held their breath. Nobody was willing to gamble with the lives of their future family heads, especially when they had the power to intervene.

When it seemed Filibur wasn't going to respond, the rank-seven mage finally opened his eyes and said slowly, "The tiger roared again. That means they are still fighting, which also means the participants are able to hold their own against it."

His words lingered in the air, and the elders sighed. Now that the elderly mage had made his stance even clearer, none of them dared press the him any further.

But then Filibur continued, "However…"

When they heard his voice once more heads swiveled toward him, ears perking up and sparks of hope igniting in the elders' eyes.

"Since you're so worried about your young talents, I'll add one condition. In five minutes, whether the tiger roars again or not, you may go and check the situation for yourselves. My only hope is that, if everything is going well, you won't ruin the competition… or I'll be forced to report you to His Majesty."

"Thank you, Sir!" the man with the bushy beard said respectfully. His body, once taut with tension, relaxed slightly.

The elders followed suit, their faces brightening with relief as they echoed, "Thank you!"

Standing to the side, the Areza family elder clenched his fist and prayed softly, "Just five minutes. Please, don't be your usual self… survive for five more minutes, Maelor."

Filibur gave them one last look and, seeing no complaints, closed his eyes once more.

/////

The roar washed over Nova, but he didn't bother with it at all, his thoughts were already elsewhere.

'If only I could take this tiger as my pet… It would make the perfect guard door for my army's base. Ahhh, how good that would be…'

When the roar ended, he snapped back to reality just in time to see the tiger's massive claws sweeping toward him.

Nova murmured, "I've had a bad experience with that before, wouldn't recommend." He pushed off the ground hard, dodging to the side. The claws raked across the earth, carving five man-sized scars into it.

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As soon as the tiger landed, Nova swept Dreadscape at its nearest paw.

A deep, hollow thump rang out, followed by the sharp crack of bones breaking. The paw gave way instantly, sending the beast crashing to the ground with a furious snarl. A thin red line, barely visible against its crimson fur except to trained eyes, opened across its paw.

Nova stood a meter away from the massive tiger, he tilted his head up and stared at it in brief silence. The difference in size was like that of a child standing before an elephant.

At that moment, from another direction, the one the participants had taken, Maelor stepped into the clearing. The first thing he saw was a tiger, longer and larger than he had ever imagined possible, lying flat on the ground and growling softly.

"Is that the tiger we need to fight for the bone tempering liquid? Doesn't it look a bit too strong?" he muttered. His gaze then shifted to what looked like a mere speck beside the beast. "Who's that? I don't recall any of the nobles' geniuses looking like him. Perhaps a hidden dark horse from one of the families, they do love their pointless secrets. Hmph, well, I can't let someone steal my prey."

Cracking his neck, he was about to step forward when the tiger suddenly sprang up faster than he could react. It swiped its massive paw at the ant-like figure standing before it, who seemed to have no intention of moving.

But just as the paw came crashing down, Nova swatted it aside with another sweep. The impact sent the tiger sprawling to the ground once more, a tremor rippling through the clearing.

Maelor's leg froze and he stood rooted to the spot, disbelief written all over his face. He whispered, "W-What happened? I couldn't see anything…"

Nova watched the tiger struggle to rise and sighed, remembering their previous encounter. 'I was only at the second stage when that big guy almost killed me. Now that I'm at the fourth, it can't even fight back. Truly, this is the perfect example of how far I've come.'

A roar, not as loud as the previous one, tore through the clearing.

Even with several bones broken, the tiger managed to stand. The pain of this simple action fueled its fury, and it paid no mind to the former as it clawed again at Nova with the injured paw.

This time Nova didn't simply swat the paw aside. His aura flared, wind dancing around him. With Dreadscape readied, he seemed to vanish from the spot as he took one step.

An instant later, the spear met the paw. The downward momentum of the tiger's strike collided with the spear's counterforce and immediately gave way and Dreadscape pierced through the paw from side to side, carrying Nova's force with it.

The tiger yelped in pain and crashed to the ground, now thrashing from unbearable agony. Nova landed nearby, a tangle of complicated emotions crossing his face when he heard the beast's cries.

'I've already won the fight, I shouldn't let it suffer any more.' He took light, measured steps to the head that kept jerking and said, "I haven't tried this yet, but it should be enough to send you off as painlessly as I can."

The tiger squealed and thrashed with every ounce of strength it had left, reason long gone, oblivious to Nova standing before it.

Nova raised his right hand. Wind gathered at his fingertips, swirling faster and faster as his mana core poured out more and more energy. The quantity was so great that, from a distance, it looked like a small grey-green sphere floated beside his hand.

'I still don't understand why such a simple action drains so much of my mana when my core should be as strong as a rank seven or even eight mage,' he thought with a frown. But he didn't slow down. With a swift motion, he pressed the ball of wind into Dreadscape.

For a brief instant, the spear seemed to come alive. Then, wrapped in a shroud of whirling air, its true form vanished from sight. None the wiser, Nova smiled, satisfied with the result.

He met the tiger's pain-clouded eyes and said softly, "I'll remember you for almost killing me." Then he thrust the spear at the beast's head.

At that very moment, as if sensing death itself, the tiger's gaze cleared. A swirl of emotions present in its eyes but it was already too late.

Dreadscape pierced through the tiger's skull like a hot knife through butter, the wind coating it shredded everything in its path until it reached the brain, which turned to mush on contact.

The beast's eyes dimmed, its thrashing ceased, and all signs of life faded in an instant.

A notification rang in Nova's mind, indicating the death of the beast and, this time, he didn't ignore it.

[Received 503,875,901,000 Stat EXP]

He saw the number and thought, 'Worthy of being the king of the Central Forest… a beast that could have dominated even the three kingdoms.'

After a long, deep breath, he pressed his hand against the tiger's body and stored it inside his Inventory.

"Now that this has been taken care of, I can finally get what I came here for." Nova was about to walk toward the large rock in the middle of the clearing when a shout rang out nearby.

Turning his head, he saw Maelor, eyes trembling in a mix of disbelief and fear, pointing a shaking finger in his direction.

"Shit."

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