The saber-toothed tiger thrashed wildly, jaws snapping wide open to bite him, but couldn't land a single hit.
In no time, it was choked until its eyes rolled back, barely breathing—obviously about to croak.
Luna watched all this from a distance, clicking her tongue in disbelief.
No wonder Rhys Blackwood's a Peak of Tier Five Beastman—even the so-called king of the forest here, the Saber-toothed Tiger, wasn't his match at all.
Within moments, the saber-toothed tiger was strangled to death.
Rhys released the saber-toothed tiger, his body coiling mid-air, black scales glinting coldly in the sunlight, looking downright terrifying.
The next second, the black giant python shimmered with dark light, and shrank in size rapidly. In the end, it turned into a tall, outrageously handsome Beastman.
His features were sharp and deep, like some ancient god carved into stone—cold, distant, impossible to get close to.
It was none other than Rhys Blackwood.
Luna patted the dust off herself and crawled out from the bushes. Seeing the choked-to-death Saber-toothed Tiger on the ground, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
That damned saber-toothed tiger finally died. It almost made her hold in her shit halfway through, and she nearly got bitten to death on top of it.
She looked at Rhys, gratitude in her eyes. "Thanks for saving my life."
If this guy had gotten here any faster, she wouldn't have had to roll down the hill at all.
Still, no matter what, he did save her in the end.
Saying thanks was necessary.
Rhys's gaze settled on her, and seeing her wearing that grass skirt, he couldn't help but twitch his lip.
What the hell is she wearing?
How much can a couple leaves even cover, anyway?
Layers and layers of flabby fat all stacked together—he seriously couldn't bear to look. A beast skin skirt at least looks better than this mess.
At least it's not visible.
A trace of disgust flashed in his eyes as he muttered to himself, "So damn ugly."
Though her skin did seem whiter and not so rough and filthy anymore, and all the pimples on her face had disappeared. Looked way easier on the eyes now.
She finally had something resembling a female's look, but still ugly.
Especially with those giant buck teeth—just looking at them annoyed him. He wanted to yank them all out and redo them one by one.
Luna was baffled by the way he kept staring at her, especially at her mouth, all full of disdain with a hint of danger.
This asshole wouldn't actually try to pull my teeth out, would he?
She knew her big buck teeth were ugly, but that didn't mean you could just yank them as you please.
Forget eating, she'd probably start whistling when she talked!
She instinctively took two steps back, covered her mouth, and stared him down warily. "What are you planning?"
Rhys saw her acting like he was some deadly enemy, especially with those wary eyes, and inexplicably got pissed off.
His face turned even darker, speaking with a hint of annoyance, "I'm not planning anything—just wondering if your massive buck teeth are fixable. If they are, you better get them fixed soon, before they blind me."
Seriously, those teeth were just... a disaster for the eyes.
Even if her skin had gotten much whiter, and the pimples were gone, but those teeth—they really burned his retinas.
And that mound of flab—if he could, he'd take a bone knife and slice off all the extra fat.
He didn't even notice that he was paying more and more attention to Luna. If this was before, he would've been disgusted just to look at her for a second.
Never mind worrying about fixing her teeth.
Luna was surprised at what he said, glancing at him oddly.
This bastard actually cared about my teeth?
Wait, no, this was definitely just more of him hating on her.
Still, these teeth are ugly as hell.
She'd wanted to straighten her teeth for ages, but this wasn't the apocalypse, nor was she back in Chloe Callahan's modern world—no dental clinics here.
All she could do was wait till she raised the favorability enough to get a system reward and get them fixed.
She didn't keep her mouth covered. She dropped her hand and grinned mischievously, half teasing, "Of course I can fix them. All you gotta do is not hate me, treat me a little nicer, and my teeth will be as good as new."
Rhys was taken aback, not quite understanding her meaning. Him not hating her and treating her nicely would fix her teeth?
What the hell is she talking about?
Why doesn't any of this make sense?
But he didn't bother arguing. His eyes still full of contempt, he snarked, "Hurry up and change that thing, you're blinding me. Or is this on purpose, trying to seduce me?"
Luna rolled her eyes at how he was looking at her, utterly speechless.
God, this guy is so ridiculously full of himself. Who the hell wants to seduce you?
"My beast skin skirt got ripped up by the saber-toothed tiger. If I don't wear the grass skirt, you want me to streak around naked? If it's so hard on your eyes, don't look,"
she shot back bluntly.
Anyway, she was comfortable and cool in it.
And she covered all the important parts—wasn't showing anything off—so what was he bitching about?
Seriously, such a drama queen.
Rhys's face got even darker. He was even more convinced she was doing this on purpose to seduce him.
The more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt.
He didn't bother with her anymore; shifted into his beast form, grabbed the saber-toothed tiger with his tail, and took off.
He didn't even bother to say a word to Luna, didn't care what might happen to her, whether she was safe or not.
The leader only told Corbin Crowley to look after her, not him. He'd just saved her once; that was already a miracle.
Rhys moved fast, like he was afraid if he stayed Luna would stick to him like glue.
Luna saw Rhys leave in such a hurry without even a word, leaving her here, and felt a bit pissed.
She pouted, glanced at his disappearing back, and cursed under her breath, "Asshole."
Then she turned and headed for where she'd left her baskets, following the way from memory.
Eight baskets lined up beneath the chestnut tree, each piled high and full.
She smirked, grinning with genuine happiness.
Today's haul was pretty damn good. Once the tribe's Beastmen came back from the hunt, she could finally go home.
With all these Beastmen around, she'd find a way to drag all these supplies back.
She moved all eight loaded baskets away from Corbin Crowley's area.
She hadn't forgotten how that asshole told her to just wait right here back then.
Five beast husbands—apart from Kian Sterling, the rest were all jerks, one worse than the other.
Especially Zeke Veridian—he couldn't even be bothered to talk to her.
If "disgust" could be written on someone's face, his would have it tattooed there.
She sighed quietly, feeling her mission to win everyone over was an uphill grind. This wasn't going to be easy.
She shook her head, pushing all those messy thoughts aside, and started hauling stuff.
Every basket was loaded up and heavy as hell. She made several trips, sweating buckets and panting hard.
But finally, she got everything moved over there.
Luna rested a while, ate two wild bananas, and wolfed down a milk fruit, then just chilled beneath the tree to wait.
It was still pretty early; the guys hadn't come back from hunting yet.
She considered checking around the area to see if there was any other good stuff.
From far away, she noticed a giant wolf with silver fur heading her way. Its eyes looked savage and cold, blood smeared on its coat, and a massive, bloody prey dangling from its jaws…
It looked like a rhino, but not quite—she had no clue what species. Thing was huge, though, and seemed loaded with meat.
Clearly back from a hunt. Who else but Corbin Crowley?
She was surprised, but didn't bother going over—just sat under the tree.
Corbin Crowley was even rougher than Rhys Blackwood and hated her even more. She had zero interest in shoving her warm face into his cold ass for no reason.
Even if he was one of her "targets," she wasn't about to beg for his attention either.
Corbin Crowley saw her quietly sitting there, not running around, and was a little surprised.
When did Luna get so well-behaved?