Half-Elf

A vicious voice rang out from the Dragon Lion's mouth. It seemed not to have grasped the situation and still thought the Divine Wind Bear was a Level Nine Magical Beast!

"Ugly purple-scaled freak! Who are you talking about?"

Bill's voice was clear and sweet, but his tone was just as unpleasant!

"Hm? A Saint Realm Divine Wind Bear?"

Sparks and smoke curled from the Dragon Lion's mouth. Its mood was clearly unstable.

"Even a Saint Realm beast is no match for me. Die!"

Red light flowed over the Dragon Lion's body. It opened its mouth and spat out a huge mass of scorching flames, which shot forward through the air in a rapidly widening fan.

"Boom—"

A gale exploded into being. A violent storm howled through the air from nowhere, while lightning flashed at its heart and dark clouds loomed overhead.

For several kilometers in every direction, the world became a domain of storm and lightning.

The flames hadn't even spread ten meters before the gale instantly snuffed them out.

"Roar—"

Seeing that its magic had no effect, the Dragon Lion turned into a black blur and charged at Bill.

Like Teleportation, it suddenly appeared right in front of Bill.

Bill transformed into a giant beast twenty meters long and rose onto his hind legs. Purple sparks of lightning flashed around his two bear paws as he slapped the Dragon Lion twice.

"Bang—boom—crackle!"

The Dragon Lion was blasted out of its black blur and sent flying hundreds of meters. Smoke rose from its body as electricity crackled all around it.

The Dragon Lion's eyes were already bloodred. It sprang up, scraped the ground with its hind hooves, and charged again in an instant, turning into a streaking shadow.

"Boom—smack—"

A ball of lightning struck the Dragon Lion, blasting it out of its rapid charge. It fell to the ground, twitching as purple lightning crackled all over its body.

Bill had started condensing the lightning ball as soon as his bear paws sent the Dragon Lion flying. How quickly could a Saint Realm peak expert cast magic?

The Dragon Lion had lost all its earlier menace. It had no visible wounds, but its internal organs had been badly damaged.

Thunder Law magic had tremendous destructive power, and the Dragon Lion had taken two more hits in quick succession. Though neither had killed it, it had now lost all its fighting strength and was at their mercy.

"Can you talk properly now? How dare you scold my master?"

Bill Cleveland walked over to the Dragon Lion and looked down at it.

Even such a fierce and mighty appearance couldn't hide how adorable he was.

As expected, my Divine Wind Bear is just too cute!

That was what Lei Mo thought.

If Bill knew his master saw him that way, he'd surely cry himself to sleep in the restroom.

After all that effort, he'd defeated a powerful foe and transformed into a tall, mighty beast, only to end up selling cuteness from a different angle.

"Someone stole my child. I followed its scent here and ran into you, sir!"

The Dragon Lion was quick to submit. Lei Mo and Bill could kill him in an instant. He could always have another child, but he had only one life.

"Tell me about the area. Are there any powerful beings nearby? Magical Beasts count, too."

Lei Mo looked at the Dragon Lion, making it clear that if he didn't like the answer, he'd take its Magic Crystal Core.

The Dragon Lion grew even more deferential. It had already concluded that this lord hadn't stolen its child.

"For tens of thousands of miles around, apart from my family, there are only the Spirit Rock Leopards deep in the Elf Forest. There are several hundred of them, most of them Level Eight or Level Nine."

"But their leaders are two Saint Realm Spirit Rock Leopards. They're extremely powerful and incredibly fast, and they're skilled in wind and Earth Element magic. Their attacks, defense, and speed are all strong. They're rare Magical Beasts with no obvious weaknesses."

"The rest aren't much of a threat. There are no other Saint Realm Magical Beasts. I don't know about human experts, sir!"

Compared with the Divine Wind Bear, this Dragon Lion really was ugly. The "dragon" in its name came only from its scales, which did look a little like dragon scales.

But that was all. Lei Mo had no intention of taming this Magical Beast.

"I won't do anything to you. Do you know who might have taken your child?"

Lei Mo had no intention of taming the Dragon Lion, but being dragged into this for no reason still annoyed him, so he asked.

"I suspect it was that half-elf. I was in this area before and saw her twice."

The Dragon Lion answered respectfully, a glimmer of hope rising in its heart.

"A half-elf? I thought this place was far from the heart of the Elves' territory. How could there be a half-elf here?"

Lei Mo was puzzled. Hadn't he heard that the Elves had a small population?

"Sir, you may not know this, but the Elves really are few in number. There are still quite a lot of half-elves, though."

"Elves generally live very long lives. Even Elves below Level Nine can live for eight hundred years. With lifespans that long, some of them are bound to leave the Elf Forest."

"Elves are exceptionally beautiful, male and female alike. It's easy for certain well-known things to happen, and then they leave behind offspring."

From the Dragon Lion's explanation, Lei Mo learned that Elves' descendants generally had strong talents. These half-elves were all illegitimate children, yet they held high status; some were even made their families' heirs.

This had created a trend: whenever an Elf left the Elf Forest, humans would welcome them as honored guests.

Men were especially sought after. As soon as they came out, they'd be dazzled by every kind of temptation. Some families would even offer them a legitimate daughter—or the wife of a legitimate son.

All just to obtain Elf blood. Many male Elves had no idea they had one child—or even several.

Everything the Dragon Lion told him was something it had picked up, intentionally or otherwise, over its long life. Even a Magical Beast knew about this trend.

That showed just how long it must have been going on.

Could the Saint Realm peak expert Tagore Keaton had mentioned earlier—Natalia Saavedra—be a case like this, too?

Could her Elf father really have no idea he had an illegitimate daughter like her? It was entirely possible.

It seemed no man could keep his legs under control, no matter what race he belonged to.

"What's your name? Do you know Natalia Saavedra?"

Lei Mo asked, though he didn't expect much. The Dragon Lion wasn't very powerful; it might not know Natalia Saavedra.

"My name is Zachary Agul. As for Natalia, I think I heard of her several hundred years ago, but it was so long ago I can't remember the details, sir!"

Zachary answered respectfully. He was a Saint Realm beast, after all. Most people would have forgotten something they'd casually heard several hundred years earlier.

"Stay with me for now. I'll help you find your child. I won't let you be falsely accused for nothing!"

Lei Mo had developed a keen interest in the half-elf.

He had Franklin release his Divine Sense to search the area, and sent out quite a few Saint Realm souls as well.

"Master, I see a little girl. I don't know if she's the half-elf Zachary mentioned."

Franklin's voice rang out in Lei Mo's mind.

"Zachary, what does that half-elf look like? What is she wearing?"

Lei Mo asked the Dragon Lion, which was lumbering along beside him like a little truck.

"Elves usually have silver hair. Half-elves do, too. It's one of the main ways to tell whether someone has Elf blood."

Zachary hurriedly explained.

Then this little girl had to be the one. She had silver hair, and her age matched, but he still hadn't seen where the little Dragon Lion was.

"I found the half-elf, but I haven't seen your child."

Lei Mo told Zachary.

"Humans have concealment magic arrays. She probably has a concealment scroll on her and hid my child somewhere."

The Dragon Lion Zachary said with complete certainty.