Shia, Sergio, Jamal, Blee'der, and the rest of the contracted nightcrawlers were left stunned for a moment...Even the mounts went quiet, their eyes widening as they gazed at Levi.
Calm and collected, Levi took a step back.
A second after the purified sunlight died out, hell broke loose!
GRRRRRR!!! KAAAW!! Neighhhh!!...
The three mounts roared, losing their marbles immediately!
"You bastard! Are you screwing with us?!" Sergio cursed as he tried his best to calm down the agitated wolf.
"What's the meaning of this?" Shia questioned.
She still had faith in Levi, knowing that he wasn't foolish to create such a mess without a result.
"Be patient."
Levi pulled another Luminus snack and brought it close to the agitated wolf. It was walking in circles in its place, but its vicious eyes never left Levi.
After noticing the snack, its viciousness died out immediately and started trying to eat it again.
"Sit," Levi commanded calmly.
Seeing that it still refused to follow his commands, Levi didn't hesitate to blow off the orb, causing the nightcrawlers to snap again.
Without waiting for anyone to interfere, Levi brought out the last Luminus snack and commanded coldly, "Sit."
Under everyone's shocked expressions, the blue-furred wolf sat down on all four paws immediately while whimpering softly, seemingly begging Levi to stop wasting purified sunlight.
Yet, what shocked them the most was the sight of the shadowy horse and the white feathered eagle also sitting down, even when they weren't being addressed!
"Good boy."
Levi smiled kindly and fed the snack to the wolf while slowly caressing its fur. Then, he suggested that Shia and Jamal feed their nightcrawlers too, so they would associate listening to commands got them snacks, and refusing to abide would result in their destruction.
Shia and Jamal did as they were told and watched as their mounts became much more respectful of their presence.
Shia looked at Levi in intrigue and asked only one question, "How?"
"Because my brother is the best at anything he touches." Arthur grinned proudly.
"I wish that was true." Levi chuckled, "The truth is, after thorough research, my mother discovered that Tier 1 nightcrawlers react just as intensely to wasting purified sunlight as they do to consuming it."
"So, I figured you could use it as a trick to make your mounts obedient if the pain of the divine chains wasn't enough."
Shia and her party were left astounded.
"How is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" Shia raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Because knowledge is wealth in this era." Levi replied.
While he knew that his mother's intelligence was on the high end after reading through all the research papers, he wasn't delusional enough to believe that she was the first and only person to find out such information.
In other words, this kind of knowledge was either kept on the low or sold to interested parties, following the same approach of evolution-related knowledge.
Shia and her party figured out what Levi meant instantly, leaving them a bit puzzled.
"Why haven't you sold it?" Sergio frowned, "I believe such a taming technique would have fetched you a reasonable amount of credits."
"Neither of you seems like the type to have money." Jamal doubled down as he scanned Levi and Arthur's clothes.
"Money?" Levi added sincerely, "I shared a piece of my mother's knowledge with you simply because it would have helped you. Not everything needs to be sold; if one doesn't know where to draw the line, it won't be long before he finds himself selling his soul."
Shia and the others were left a bit astounded to hear such matured wisdom come out of the lips of a teenager.
"Helped us?" Sergio narrowed his eyes at Levi while talking telepathically with his contracted nightcrawler, 'O'thnir, are his motives truly that pure?'
The rocky hog replied calmly, 'I am not sure, the boy is nearly impossible to read with his soulless gaze.'
...
Sometime later, Levi was seen sitting on top of the white feathered eagle, holding onto Shia's waist tightly. He had a big smile as he enjoyed the wind caressing his face.
Meanwhile, Arthur was left to sit on the shadowy horse behind Jamal. His experience wasn't as enjoyable.
"Aw, Aw, Aw, Aw..."
Arthur yelped in pain with each gallop, feeling like his balls were being crushed. Neither Jamal nor the horse was enjoying their time without a saddle. Arthur weighed more than 140 kg of pure muscle, an absolute genetic anomaly.
"How is it even humanly possible to get this big at sixteen without being a Daywalker...Did he take steroids? Is it even enough?"
Jamal murmured as he gazed at Arthur's gigantic hands holding onto his waist, feeling a bit of dread creeping up on him each time Arthur tightened his hands.
Although he was a Daywalker, he was still a mere Junior. In addition, he was of Psychic Specialization, meaning his contracted nightcrawler was geared towards mostly mental-based battles.
This resulted in his body and physical strength being quite weak. He was much weaker than Arthur physically.
Suddenly, the shadowy horse jumped over a small boulder on its path and snatched Arthur's soul with it.
Instinctively, Arthur hugged Jamal tightly, feeling like he would get thrown off the horse.
"Arghh...I...Can't...Breath..."
With eyes popping out of their sockets and a face as pale as a sheet of paper, Jamal kept tapping on Arthur's forearm while trying his best to catch his breath.
"Let go, you are choking him!" Sergio came to his rescue, scolding Arthur loudly on top of his wolf.
"Ah, so sorry...I lost control for a bit."
Arthur apologized with a foolish smile after relaxing his grip, leaving Jamal to cough uncontrollably.
"Hahaha...You almost got had by a civilian; a child even...Haha!"
Meanwhile, his contracted nightcrawler O'rro was laughing at him, uncaring about upsetting his partner even more.
Almost all intelligent nightcrawlers were assholes. It didn't matter if they were contracted or not, they would never miss a chance to bully someone.
"You..You..Get down!!!"
Ashamed and a bit terrified, Jamal immediately stopped the shadowy horse and pulled Arthur down.
"Sergio, it's your turn..."
Before Jamal could pass on the ticking time bomb, Sergio flew past him at great speed, kicking off a cloud of dust.
"..."
"..."
"..."
This left Jamal, Arthur, and the shadowy horse to stare at each other in awkward silence. A few seconds later, Arthur coughed, "I will be gentle next time."
The way he worded it pissed Jamal even more.
"Trust me, I promise I won't go hard." Arthur doubled down with an innocent look.
"Argh, just, just shut up and ride the damn horse!"
***
An hour later...
Shia, Levi, and Sergio were seen standing at the gates of the Harrowing Forest with their backs facing it.
As they were talking with each other, a tiny black horse appeared over the horizon, galloping at full speed in their direction.
"About damn time," Shia grumbled as she was waiting for over ten minutes now.
Soon, her irritation died down and was replaced with an amused look at Arthur sitting in front while Jamal hugged him in the back.
Since Arthur was built like a tank and Jamal looked like a tall stick, only his arms were visible.
Under the dreadful silence of the night, Arthur and Jamal's distressed voices echoed from a distance.
"Stop the horse!"
"I don't know how!"
"Pull its hair!"
Arthur used too much force, ripping a handful of hair, causing the shadowy horse to yelp in pain and stop mid-sprint!
Just like they had pulled the front brakes of a bike, Arthur and Jamal were sent flying in the direction of the main party.
"What in the..."
Shia facepalmed as she watched those two idiots hugging each other in midair; pure dread taking hold of their expressions.
"Mika, catch them."
Kreeee!
The white feathered eagle took off immediately and caught them with its talons a couple of meters before they got smacked by the ground.
Then, it brought them back to the party, dropping them off near Shia's feet.
"I swear if you guys leave with him again, I will beat him up!"
Jamal stood up, steam practically pouring from his ears...Everyone's teasing looks didn't make him feel any better about such a humiliating experience.
"Is he always this feisty?" Oblivious, Arthur asked while dusting his ass.
"That's the thing, he is usually the silent one." Shia chuckled as she watched Jamal put his Nightmount back inside another sealing totem.
Then, he took off towards the forest on his own, having no interest in talking about what happened.
After sealing their Nightmounts, Shia and the others chased after Jamal.
The moment they went inside, a sudden chilly wind blew past them, sounding akin to a harrowing scream of a child...