The man's figure disappeared when he plunged into the green forest. But soon, they heard a loud roar. After that came the sounds of violence and an intense fight.
Many people hadn't seen the man enter the green forest because he was too fast and because they were busy running for their lives. But they noticed the change in the forest and turned back to look.
The shaking in the forest had intensified. And the trees were no longer being knocked down in a straight line. Instead, trees were falling down in a haphazard manner.
Arthur couldn't see what was going on in the forest, but he could guess what was going on and what the swordsman was fighting based on the sounds he heard.
From what he heard, the beast was a tiger. He suspects that based on the frequent roars that he was hearing. He also saw the occasional flash of red and spotted metallic fur in the greenery of the green forest.
The swordsman appeared to be evenly matched with the tiger. But he couldn't be sure.
He sat down on his seat and continued to drink.
Lady Vena copied his actions. She took a swig from the bottle of wine, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and said, "I bet you're pissed right now."
He replied glumly, "What use is being pissed?"
She asked in return, "Why are you pissed then?"
He sighed and said, "You're right. There is no use being pissed. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be pissed. Besides, I can't help myself."
She shrugged. "This kind of thing can't be stopped. It has happened before, and it will happen again. No one is targeting you specifically. Strong people use weaker people as bait all the time."
"The fact that that man thanked you shows that he respects you. His respect hasn't reached the point where he doesn't dare offend you. But if possible, he would like to smooth things out between you guys."
Arthur nodded. "At least he said he owed me. You didn't offer to pay for your use of my students."
She drank more wine and said, "Let's talk about this if my bait actually succeeds. From the looks of things, though, I doubt it will work."
"Predators don't like appearing in the same place. The python might be scared off. There's also the fact that most of the hunters have left the forest. So today's hunt might not happen."
He nodded. "Good. I hope your plan fails. I don't want any more beasts to appear. I cherish my students very much."
He is sure that the tiger must have eaten a lot of people when it appeared. Just thinking about the loss of his students and karma made him feel so much pain that he winced.
But then he heard a low-intensity sound. The sound was a hiss. It was quiet but had a large range, so it spread everywhere.
It was not the sound that a tiger should make. As if to assure people that the sound didn't come from the tiger, the tiger also roared in response to the hiss.
Arthur's face changed when he heard that sound. Many people's faces also changed. These people felt fear while he felt pain.
Only very few people were excited by the prospect of another powerful predator appearing in the vicinity of Death's Door. One of these people was Lady Vena.
She smiled, grabbed her black spear, and stood up immediately. Her figure disappeared into the green forest. All he got from her was her saying, "It seems this is my lucky day."
What she said sounded more like an afterthought. Her figure was long gone by the time she spoke. It is clear what is most important to her at this moment.
Arthur exhaled forcefully and said, "I hope that I don't get you one day. I hope for your sake that the opportunity for vengeance doesn't come my way."
He said that as he grabbed the bottle of wine and poured himself another cup.
This was one of the only two good things that came out of this event. The first good thing was that Lady Vena didn't have time to finish the wine, and he could still have some more despite her hoarding it.
The second good thing is that the sacrifice of his students was not in vain. By attracting two second coil beasts, they won't have to be used tomorrow as bait by Lady Vena.
Unfortunately, there was nothing to stop others from using them as bait tomorrow. In fact, there was nothing stopping Lady Vena from using them tomorrow.
The fact is that anyone can take advantage of him and his students. The second fact is that there is very little he can do about it.
These two facts made him remember that the wine should have been his right from the start. He shouldn't be grateful that he got to drink it because his mother was busy fighting a beast that she used his students to attract.
This made the wine taste bitter in his mouth. The wine was already bitter because of its toxic nature, but this time, it tasted much worse.
But he still drank the wine. He drank it because it was the best thing he could do right now. Rather than sulk and brood in anger, he would rather drink bitter wine and plot his revenge.
"At least, I got the swordsman's favor out of this. That should count for something. If it doesn't, then I will have to come back for revenge when I am stronger."
He can take revenge on his mother, but he won't just yet because he is not supposed to be strong enough for that. If he fights her, it might expose the fact that he has a triple boost now, not two like in the past.
Since he couldn't stop what was happening, he decided to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. It was quite a show too. The people who were running before had stopped to see the outcome of the fights.