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‘Fishcakes!’ The moment those words left his mouth, I swore I almost blew my top.

‘I just knew you were still holding grudges the moment you gave us the cold shoulder. You’re still mad I sold you off to Meisian.’

‘But who are you to say that I got my just desserts? Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten how many times you sold me off to those siblings? Did your heart not ache when you sold us out? If I had to say, you’re the one who really got his just desserts. Hurts, doesn’t ?!’

Still, it wasn’t like all that mattered right now. What’s important now was to calm Meisian down.

“Meisian, listen to me… Sinmosa has already promised to lead me into the Hellhounds’ territory. I’ll find a way to persuade them to join our cause. After all, both of their clans have some bad blood between each other. I won’t ask you to face those Warhorses alone, so let’s calm down and talk…”

I think I had a rough idea of why she suddenly flipped on us: if it wasn’t the matter of the Warhorses, it probably was the issue of Shadowcat blood. Having explained the former, I proceeded to explain my thoughts about the latter. “I know I said I needed a whole Shadowcat’s blood, but…”

“Enough! The honor of us Shadowcats is not something you can besmirch like that! You want our blood -not a chance in hell!” Her eyes were practically spewing fire at this point. “Before I change my mind about letting you all go, leave! Else I’ll help you leave.”

“Meisian, let me finish…” I still wanted to explain, but before I could finish, I spotted a black silhouette leaping in from the side. I hurriedly grabbed Mo Na and Cinderel and tumbled to the side, narrowly missing that sneak attack.

“GRRR!”

Sinmosa growled menacingly at the Purgatory Shadowcat who leaped at us before knocking him away.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but rub my temples as I turned towards a decidedly lively Anmi and a visibly furious Meisian. “Even if you don’t want to, must you really resort to this?”

‘I swear these cats flip out faster than a blind man flipping through a book.’

“Hey…why am I getting dragged into this?” Standing near us, Jeerah narrowly avoided another sneak attack by a Purgatory Shadowcat. Ducking behind Sinmosa, she scrambled to our side. “Master! Don’t just stand there, summon that giant golem of yours!”

“There’s still no need for that right now.” I flatly refused her. “It’s not time yet.”

“Then when is the right time?”

I gripped down on the two little scamps and rushed over to Sinmosa and Sasani, then glared from the corner of my eyes at Anmi’s lively cat face. “We’ll leave for now.” I muttered under my breath.

Having chased away two more Four-star guardcats who eagerly offered themselves at us, Sinmosa firmly took up position behind us. “I’ll cover you guys, my brother will clear the path ahead.”

“AWOOOO!”

Sasani knocked away another pouncing cat before breaking into a roaring charge towards the main hall’s exit. It had to be said at this point that there were only four Five-star guardcats who constantly guarded Meisian at her side, the rest were all Four-stars.

With these two Hellhounds guarding the front and rear, our retreat wasn’t going to be a problem. I was just worried that more Purgatory Shadowcats might show up to hinder us, or perhaps some Six-stars or even their elders. We had best leave now, lest we really wore out our welcome.

Raging Flame Charge!

The strength of a Hellhound was without a doubt stronger than the Purgatory Shadowcats. Transforming into a fiery dog tank, Sasani blazed ahead, sending any cat in his path tumbling away in a meowing cat ball.

Yet just when we thought that we were in the clear, three larger guardcats suddenly dashed into view. The three of them bunched up in a wall in an attempt to physically block Sasani.

“ROAAR!!”

Faced with this feline wall, Sasani fearlessly pushed ahead. Then they clashed…

Sasani’s Raging Flame Charge boosted his speed to its absolute limit, but at the end of the day, he was just one Hellhound. Faced with three Five-stars banding together to block him, he was unable to make that final push.

Like a traffic accident along a speeding highway, the three guardcat captains were sent tumbling out the door. Sasani’s fate was the same, having lost his ability to charge any further as he tumbled backwards from the impact.

Sasani’s inability to break through the entrance was completely out of my expectations. I had never expected such resistance right at the very doorstep of the exit. Now that he was incapacitated, we definitely couldn’t leave him behind and escape ourselves. However, the biggest problem now was that we were once again surrounded by cats.

Another black silhouette flashed in from the corner. There was now a fourth guardcat captain blocking the exit. His figure was a lot larger than his three comrades. In all likelihood, he was about to evolve into the next tier.

Sinmosa turned around to eye her fallen husband. He was down on the floor, but he was not unconscious, merely out of strength. She exchanged a couple words with him in their language then turned around to explain to me, “He’s spent, we need to hold our ground for a while.”

“Don’t worry. If need be, I’ll summon the Devil King Idol. It’s just…”

If I were to release my Devil King Idol, at least half of Meisian’s castle would end up getting wrecked. And if that were to happen, the consequences would be quite spectacular… That was why I had no intention of summoning it right now. Meisian wasn’t really out to kill us or anything, she just wanted to chase us away. But based on their expressions right now, they probably wanted to teach us a lesson before that…

“MEOW!!!”

“GRRR!!”

The remaining guardcat captain meowed tauntingly at Sinmosa. Not one to back down from a challenge, she growled back. Just like that, cat and dog entered into a state one could only describe as strangely destined. A second later, both of them launched a simultaneous attack, and a furious battle of cat and dog ensued.

All three of Sinmosa’s jaws opened wide, glistening teeth apparent for all to see as she lunged at the guardcat captain. With a body roughly the size of an adult wolf, the physically smaller Purgatory Shadowcat managed to dodge the incoming bites with ease, even managing to swipe at Sinmosa’s back as he leaped away. Blood spurted out of the three claw marks. Her skin was ripped apart at the wound, black fur still clinging onto that cat’s claws. Blood was drawn… this was a deadly serious fight…

Yet this wound merely spurred Sinmosa on. She pressed forward and continued lunging at the guardcat captain, swiping at him between bites. However, the guardcat captain was significantly more agile than her. He adopted a cautious stance, retreating right after he scored a hit instead of trying his luck for another. With a leap and tumble, he easily evaded her second wave of attacks.

All that took place in mere moments, but that short exchange landed Sinmosa in a disadvantaged position. The cat’s agility was just too much for her to handle. That saying, “cats climb the wall, dogs crawl through the hole”, wasn’t without merit.

However, that wasn’t to say that a Hellhound would automatically lose to a Purgatory Shadowcat of his own star level. After all, their endurance and strength were much higher. Furthermore, in terms of single strikes alone, there was no comparison between a Purgatory Shadowcat and a Hellhound. A Purgatory Shadowcat was definitely more agile than a Hellhound, but that advantage came with a disadvantage as well.

The guardcat captain wasn’t able to land a lethal strike on her, but that didn’t mean Sinmosa wasn’t able to land one on him. All she needed was one solid strike to knock out that pesky cat. This match was a fight to see who made a mistake first.

“Woof woof woof!~~”

Seeing her mother hurt like that, the little puppy Cinderel immediately barked in her tender but worried voice. Her willingness to challenge her opponent now with her voice more than showed her bravery, but for her to actually try and charge into battle…

I anxiously grabbed her by her nape and carried her in my arms. “Don’t worry.” I softly comforted her. “Your mama can handle this herself, right now we need to keep your daddy safe.”

The moment I said “daddy”, she instinctively turned to look at her exhausted to the point of collapsing father. She barked a couple of times in disgust, as if to say, “How can that useless daddy ever be more important than mama?” That was probably why Sasani looked like his doggy face was about to cry.

As Sinmosa and that guardcat captain continued duking it out, the remaining Four-star guardcats weren’t slacking around either. They tightened their encirclement, maintaining a posture that was ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

“Mama, those kitties seem like they are attacking…should we get the big golem to come out?”

The situation definitely didn’t favor us right now, and that frightened my precious daughter a little. Yet I still felt that now wasn’t the time to do so. With its massive size, the main hall would probably be destroyed, and while the satisfaction from doing that would be sublime, the grudge of a destroyed house wasn’t…

The Devil King Idol could only be a last resort.

“Geez…if my master is not going to act, then I guess it’s all up to me now.” Suddenly, in the midst of our perilous situation, Jeerah miraculously stood out. She grabbed her thin Devil tail ,and like waving a cat’s toy, began shaking it back and forth in front of the guardcats. “Look guys, there’s something fun here!”

‘Just because they have the word cat in their name, doesn’t mean they are actually cats, you know… I don’t even know what to say to you… Also, what the heck do you mean by your master is not going to act…I bet you wanted to say I’m useless!’

‘Hmph, you were definitely going to say that. Fine, let’s just watch you make a fool of yourself then. As if they would ever be distracted by your ta…. No way… you’re kidding me… you stupid cats!’

Had I not seen this for myself, I would have never believed that over a dozen guardcats would actually be conquered by Jeerah’s tail…

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.