Beast Enslavement: A Failure's Path to World Domination

The refreshing smell of nature and immense greenery felt almost nostalgic to Arc, although, it mostly reminded him of the dropouts who died by his hand.

"Sigh— I guess I am in a forest again"

The gate from Ragnarok's lair connected to a forest in a world unknown to Arc. Nevertheless, he was determined to return home, to the cradle. That said, his current situation wasn't really all that favorable.

Both of his tier 9 beasts were out of commission for a month and he only had 450 coins to his name.

"That should get me one tier 17 at best. Just hope I don't run into any dangerous beasts tonight"

He then looked through his missions page and noticed both event and lifetime missions had been updated. He looked through his new Missions.

[

† Status. |] EVENT MISSIONS

† Missions —|] •Hunt 1 beast for dinner(0/1)

† Stables. Reward: 30XP 50 coins

† Inventory. |]•Start a Campfire

† Skills. Reward: 20 XP 10 coins

]

As for lifetime missions, there was one new addition

[Fighting Spirit: Earn XP for fighting stronger opponents. Reward: ??? XP]

"Uhm, what does this ??? mean?"

["The amount of XP you receive depends on how much stronger than you your opponent is]

"I see.....Well, let's set up camp"

It was dangerous to move around in the forest at night, especially when you have no combat oriented beasts.

Arc picked up a couple of shrubs around him for firewood hence completing the second mission. As for the first...

"Buster, search"

He had his eagle scan the forest for easy prey and buster also caught it easily. On it's way back, it saw something peculiar

It was a teenage girl running through the forest and a couple of mean looking guys on her tail. At that moment, a new event mission popped up.

[Help the damsel escape from bandits. Reward: 100 coins ]

"Wow! I guess I misjudged you, Ms Irene"

[What's that supposed to mean?]

"She's the one who assigns missions, right. I guess even she can't ignore someone in trouble. It was the same back then..."

Arc smiled a little softly

"I mean.... When she killed my friends, somewhere deep inside, I think I saw her as a heartless monster. However, thinking back on it.... It must have been hard for her too. She was just worried about my safety...."

[S-Shut up, fool]

"Huh? Why are you the one who's flustered, I?"

[Quit daydreaming fool! They've caught up to your damsel in distress]

Arc snapped out of it and activated his borrowed skill, shadow warp.

By using the shadow of Buster who was at the scene, he warped to the location of struggle.

The four bandits had surrounded her and torn part of her clothes while trying to hold her down

"PLEAAASE STOOOPPPP!"

The teenage girl screamed with tears in her eyes.

Arc sprung into action instantly. Spike shot poison needles incapacitating two of the bandits. The other two reacted to him and assumed battle positions. Apparently, one was a warrior-type and the other a mage.

"Ice spikes!"

Multiple ice needles came launching at Arc but he dodged them easily. The other bandit didn't miss this chance to charge in for a close ranged assault.

"A beast tamer's weak at close combat! You shouldn't have tried challenging us alone, pipsqueak"

That assessment was usually true. However, this "pipsqueak" sparred for two months against a master class hunter without any powers. Granted, he only managed to block a single blow all that time, however, the experience was invaluable. A mere bandit didn't stand a chance.

Furthermore, the man's thoughtless comment about his height ticked him off a little so he countered with a solid kick to the neck. As the bandit landed on the floor, Spike shot him with 20 poison spikes.

The mage-type bandit was shocked at how easily his companion was taken out as he was charging up an ice spell

"We underestimated you, kid.... I'll correct that"

All of a sudden, a horn grew out of the bandit's temple and the strength of his spell seemed to increase tenfold.

"Goodbye, brat... BLIZZARD!"

The wide range ice spell froze the ground and trees for several kilometers in Arc's direction, with snow dropping in the aftermath and the air so cold you could see your breath.

"That should do it—"

*WHACK

Arc landed a solid spinning kick from behind. He had summoned Cammy when the warrior-type charged to get behind the mage-type then used shadow warp right when the bandit released his spell.

Spike shot 20 spikes on that bandit as well while Arc walked towards the girl and extended a hand.

"Are you okay, miss"

Her eyes were yellow with fear as she pointed behind him

"L-Look out!"

The mage type had gotten up, looking more infuriated than injured. Even worse, he had another spell ready and aimed at them.

Arc grabbed the girl and warped to his campsite immediately. Shadow warp as a borrowed skill can be used three times in succession before a cooldown time of five minutes.

"Are you oka—"

The damsel was out cold. Arc had Buster stay on watch while he placed her near the campfire and lit it— his campsite was far from the bandits location but that didn't mean he should throw caution out the window.

Especially since the reward from the event mission hadn't come in yet. Arc knew the mission wasn't over yet. Nevertheless, he started skinning the rabbit buster caught earlier to make some stew for himself and the sleeping beauty.

The tantalizing aroma of the nearly ready rabbit stew tickled the nose of the sleeping beauty, awakening her from her slumber.

"You're finally awake miss. Care for some rabbit stew?"

Arc asked, handing her a bowl with an accommodating smile which contrasted the girls guarded expression.

Ofcourse, no one could blame her for being wary. After getting assaulted by bandits in the forest, waking up to a twelve year old kid alone in the same forest is suspicious on many levels

*GROOWWLLLL

Her stomach was defenseless at least.

"I-It's not poisoned, is it?"

"Hahaha, ofcourse not. Besides, if I wanted to hurt you, i would've done it while you were asleep, right?"

She reluctantly grabbed the bowl and started eating

"I-It's delicious!"

She screamed happily. Watching her expression change to a cheerful one made Arc smile softly as well. He waited till they were done eating and she'd calmed down to interrogate.

"So, why were those guys chasing you?"

"Guys?"

"Yeah, the bandits"

Her face sank a little

"Those were not people, they are a humanoid monster race known as oni. They kidnapped me and were going to defile me..... just because I am the princess"

She started sobbing. Arc was quite puzzled by these "oni".....after all, he'd never heard of sentient monsters, even in the cradle's library.

"P-Princess?"

She was shocked by his oblivious reaction.

"W-Wait, you don't know who I am?"

"Sorry, haha. I just arrived on this world so I don't know much about it"

"Arrived? Are you a hunter? No, you're far too young"

"I guess you could say I'm just a traveler. Although, it is my dream to become a hunter one day"

Arc stared at the starry sky reminiscent of his days back in the cradle.

"Is there someone you're trying to meet by becoming a hunter"

"Haha, Not really someone I want to meet but someone I want to fight alongside. She's incredibly stubborn and doesn't know how to respect her elders, but.... I guess for some reason, she gives me hope"

He replied, smiling nervously.

"Anyway, if you're a princess, your people should probably be out searching for you"

"They won't be able to find me in this forest, it is oni territory, after all"

Her face sank even further.

"So we just have to get you out of this forest, right?"

"Huh?"

"Just leave it to me! I'll be sure to get you out safe and sound!"

Arc declared, his left fist proudly on his chest. The lady burst into laughter upon his remark

"Fufufufu, but you're just a kid"

"Hey! I might be small, but I'm still quite strong. I saved you from those bandits after all"

"Fufufu, that is true....well then.."

She stared at him with a gentle smile, her pearl blue eyes and blonde hair blending with the illumination of the flame, making Arc blush at such heavenly beauty.

".....if you get me out of this forest, I'll ask my father to make you my knight, I'm counting on you, hero"

"Well, uhm, I-I"

His bowl slipped from his hand and he tried grabbing it, but it fell to the ground. The princess chuckled at his flustered demeanor while Arc cleared his throat to give her a proper reply.

"Being your knight sounds like it would be a honor, but I must respectfully decline.....you see, I already have my heart set on becoming a hunter and I'm also on a journey so I can't stay here for long. That said, I promise I will get you home safely, Ms....."

".....Selene. Selene von Baldur, the second princess of the world of Baldur"

*WHIRRRRR

Arc felt a strange sensation which was followed by an alert from I.

[Get your head out of the clouds, fool. We've been spotted!]

"W-What? How? There's no one around us"

[It seems one of the ogres had a search-type spell. They just locked in on the girl's location and are coming this way]

Buster could see them heading their way en masse. About twelve, no thirteen and they each had a horn.

Selene found it weird he was talking to himself but he didn't have time to explain. He put out the fire and grabbed her hand.

"H-Huh?"

"They've spotted us, we have to run!"

He hurried along, pulling her by arm, however

*KTCHAA

A long range shot landed perfectly in Selene's left thigh and she fell.

"I'm sorry about this..."

Arc said before carrying her princess style and rushing ahead at full speed. A single horned mage was unaffected by 20 poison spikes and had his power increased tenfold. There was no way he could take on thirteen without an attack oriented beast.

Which was why he was heading to get one right now. At the rate they were moving, they'll have no choice but to fight, to that end, he needed a beast in his corner to level the playing field.