Chapter 001: Cold Armor Beast
These former staff members of the Leopard King’s Palace were extremely familiar with everything in the palace. Without guards, they could simply dispatch troops to take over.
However, each staff member of the Leopard King’s Palace was irreplaceable. It wouldn’t take just a day or two to become familiar with the entire palace again!
After all, a place as large as the Leopard King’s Palace couldn’t be fully understood in just a few days.
Seeing Du Fan waving at him, the man hurried over.
“What’s inside?” Du Fan asked, pointing at the area from where beastly noises were coming.
“My lord, that place was originally called the Leopard Garden. Several magical beasts live there,” the former staff member replied promptly upon hearing Du Fan’s question.
“Take us to see them,” Du Fan said, immediately interested upon learning that magical beasts lived there.
In a palace, especially in a place like the Frozen Alliance, the magical beasts that could be kept there must be of high rank.
“Then please follow me, my lord,” the staff member said respectfully.
The Frozen Alliance revered strength, which led to their custom of admiring the powerful. When capturing Leopard City, Du Fan had been flying in the sky, so the people of Leopard City remembered him clearly. Those who could fly must be at least at the Saint level, so in their eyes, Du Fan was an incredibly formidable expert!
This staff member surely also knew Du Fan, and his expression showed great respect for him.
Led by this staff member, Du Fan and his group crossed a huge swimming pool and arrived at a large house behind a grove of trees.
The house was unbelievably huge! Its first floor alone was fifteen meters high! It was entirely built with the same stones used to construct city walls.
Upon entering the room, they saw three huge iron cages right in front of them!
In one cage was a massive magical beast, three meters tall and six meters long, with a leopard’s head, a lion’s body, and a crocodile-like tail! Its entire body emitted a dark, eerie glow! Upon closer inspection, the beast had scales that resembled iron armor!
“Cold Armor Beast!” Du Fan exclaimed upon seeing it.
The Frost Armored Beast is merely a mid-level eighth-grade magical beast, yet it is extremely practical! Its scales cover its entire body, granting it very high defense. Moreover, it is an ice-type magical beast, but its magic level is quite low—capable only of casting low-level spells such as ice balls and ice arrows. If not for these relatively weak magical abilities, it wouldn’t be classified as a mid-level eighth-grade magical beast.
However, its close combat capabilities are incredibly strong! Its four sharp claws can easily tear through the armor of heavy-armored knights, and its strength is astonishing!
Just by looking at its robust body, one can imagine the immense explosive power contained within this magical beast, which stands over three meters tall and is more than six meters long!
Its large tail, resembling that of a crocodile, is another formidable weapon for attack. This nearly two-meter-long tail has sharp bone spines on both sides, each over fifteen centimeters long. When facing enemies, its tail serves as a powerful offensive tool. Additionally, its tail is segmented, allowing it to swing flexibly left and right, as well as attack upward or downward.
Turning his gaze away from the Frost Armored Beast, Du Fan looked at another cage, where a giant ape was kept. This ape was covered in needle-like hairs, had arms thicker than its legs, and a broad chest—clearly showcasing its immense strength. Seeing this giant ape, Du Fan immediately thought of King Kong from movies in his past life! Yet, this ape was only about five meters tall, a scaled-down version of King Kong.
Thunder flashes could be faintly seen in the ape’s eyes—those eyes resembled the atmosphere before a storm, dark and flickering with sparks of light. Each flash was like a bolt of lightning.
“Thunder Ape!” Du Fan called out loudly again.
The Thunder Ape is a high-level eighth-grade magical beast that can shoot lightning between its eyes. Since the speed of firing lightning is synchronized with its gaze, its efficiency in casting lightning is extremely high!
Moreover, its strength is astonishing—truly indescribably powerful.
The last magical beast was actually an immature Windsplitting Leopard!
Once mature, the Windsplitting Leopard becomes a sacred-tier magical beast! An immature one like this is even more precious than an adult one!
There are no adult Wind-Splitting Leopards yet, as their strength has not reached the Saint level. Capturing such young beasts and forcing them to enter a contract is much more difficult! Moreover, such magical beasts will become Saint-level creatures once they reach adulthood. It’s easy to imagine how difficult it is to capture a Saint-level Wind-Splitting Leopard known for its speed, whereas catching a young one is much easier. Of course, such young beasts usually live alongside adult Wind-Splitting Leopards. It’s unclear how the Wind-Splitting Leopards in the Leopard King’s Palace came about. “Where did all these magical beasts come from?” Thinking of this, Du Fan immediately asked the palace staff member who brought him there. “My lord, I am also unaware of this,” the staff member replied respectfully. “Since when have these magical beasts been here?” Du Fan asked further. “They were brought here last summer,” the staff member replied respectfully. “Elder Bishop, may I keep these magical beasts?” Du Fan suddenly said to Anthony with a smile. “Du Fan, these are already your spoils of war. If you want them, there’s no need to ask me,” Anthony said with a smile. “Then fine. I’ll have my elder brother arrange for someone to take these magical beasts away,” Du Fan said. “Elder Bishop, I plan to give these to my father and my two elder brothers. After all, they still ride warhorses. Although those warhorses are purebred and top-notch, they are far inferior to these magical beasts.” “Not bad. I can easily imagine how majestic Duke Green must look on the battlefield riding such magical beasts,” Anthony said with a smile after hearing Du Fan’s words. “Yes, just as the Elder Bishop said, chaos has arisen across the continent. If we don’t take this opportunity to strengthen ourselves, when will we?” Du Fan said with a smile. After walking around the Leopard King’s Palace, Du Fan found that some valuable items had already been taken away by the Northern Army. Seeing this, he thought to himself that the army truly didn’t care about the feelings of the Church. “Sigh, they’ve taken all those things away,” Du Fan said, looking embarrassed.
“As is tradition, the victorious party has the right to dispose of those spoils. Du Fan, you shouldn’t mind, right? Besides, do we in the Holy See lack such things?” Anthony said nonchalantly.
Soon, after touring the palace, everyone went their own ways.
……
“Third brother, how do you plan to distribute these three magical beasts?” George asked, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the three high-level magical beasts before him.
“Elder brother, which one do you like?” Du Fan asked with a smile.
“Well, of course it’s the Wind-Splitting Leopard. Haha, Du Fan, you know that once this leopard reaches adulthood, it becomes a sacred-class magical beast,” George said with a laugh.
“But…” George’s tone changed immediately. “With Father around, I think we should give this Wind-Splitting Leopard to Father!”
Du Fan nodded. “Then, second brother, choose one for yourself!” he said with a smile.
“Let’s go with this Thunder Ape!” George pointed at the giant Thunder Ape.
Seeing George choose the Thunder Ape, Du Fan nodded.
As the heir of the Green family, George likely didn’t get as many opportunities to lead troops into battle as Allen, who was himself a battle-hardened warrior. George clearly intended to give the magical beasts suitable for riding or combat to Allen. Du Fan understood this well.
“Elder brother, go and form a contract with that Thunder Ape!” Du Fan said.
Soon, the iron cage holding the Thunder Ape was opened. The Thunder Ape let out a fierce roar as soon as it was freed. After the roar, it lowered its head and saw a short human standing in front of it. Of course, this “short” person was still quite tall—1.82 meters—so he certainly wasn’t considered short among humans.
To form a contract with a magical beast, one had to subdue it if it wasn’t willing, a practice more common when dealing with high-level magical beasts. High-level beasts have pride in their hearts! To make them obey completely and follow one’s commands, one must suppress that pride! The best way to do this is to defeat the beast!
By releasing the Thunder Ape, it was George’s task to subdue it first, after which he could form a contract with it.
“Roar!” Glancing at George before him, the Thunder Ape let out a fierce shout, raising its massive palm and slapping at George.
Seeing the palm coming toward him like an umbrella, George smiled slightly and countered with a punch of his own!
The power of a Saint-level being was beyond even the strength-legendary Thunder Ape’s tolerance. The Thunder Ape was merely an eighth-level magical beast, and George’s punch sent its palm flying backward with force.
That power not only pushed the Thunder Ape’s palm away but also knocked it to the ground.
Realizing that this human possessed greater strength than his own, the Thunder Ape abandoned its contempt and got up, carefully observing George.
Soon, its eyes narrowed repeatedly. As they did, lightning as thick as thumbs struck George one after another.
Faced with these onslaughts of lightning, George remained calm. He moved his hands in circular motions, and soon, streams of starlight-like energy appeared before him!
The lightning fired by the Thunder Ape struck against George’s energy shield and vanished instantly, just like mud dissolving in the sea.
At that moment, George suddenly lunged forward! He rushed at the Thunder Ape, punching it repeatedly!
Soon, the Thunder Ape was forced to retreat hundreds of meters under George’s attacks. After several consecutive punches, the Thunder Ape was thrown far away. At that point, George stopped. Looking at the dejected Thunder Ape, he calmly stepped forward and pointed at it with one finger.