Unsuccessful Negotiations

The wind over the rocky beach carried the fishy heat exhaled by the giant beasts.

At Rain's signal, Tuka took a deep breath and forced himself to step forward several paces. His ears twitched slightly as he used the Voice of All Things to catch the violent, coarse pulses of beastly intent in the air. Then he clasped his hands before his chest and uttered a string of complex ancient syllables to the Lion Mink Tribe's leader.

"@#￥%&*!!"

As Tuka spoke, he turned and pointed at Rain.

Listening to Tuka's translation, the lion-headed leader gripping a greatsword did not lose the suspicion and vigilance in his golden beast eyes. Instead, they only grew stronger. He suddenly stepped forward, crushing the hard rocks beneath his massive clawed foot into powder.

"Roar—!"

The lion leader let out a low roar. Through Tuka's Voice of All Things, his response slammed brutally into Rain and the others' minds:

"You brats from the Greatwood Tribe! You're obviously with these black-clothed freaks! For eight hundred years, you've occupied the Holy Land and driven us behind the Forest Sea, where there are no Primordial Giant Trees to shelter us. And now you've brought these scum from the outer seas here... You want us to hand over our prey? Dream on!"

His attitude was extremely hostile. To these isolated Minks, the Greatwood Tribe was their "mortal enemy," while Rain's group of pirates, radiating terrifying auras, looked more like accomplices the Greatwood Tribe had brought in.

Behind him, several gigantic spotted leopards over ten meters long were already struggling to restrain their beastly instincts. Their tails, several meters in length, lashed uneasily against the ground with piercing cracks through the air, ready to pounce and tear into them at any moment.

"Boss, these big cats aren't very cooperative. Looks