It has been thirty minutes since the disaster began, by now YuJu and Anput had reached the vicinity of the mall, the reason it took them so long was that Anput had been limping almost all the way

"Thirty minutes, not enough time to get a class yet right? I really hope so, else I would face a few problems"

The mall's roof was no within view, just a minute and they would be able to reach it

But instead of going forward, he slowed down his pace until he came to a halt

"The more humans gather the more beasts are sent, these few are gonna be a hassle"

He was looking at a group of hounds as he said so, there were seven of them in front of him, all black with red eyes, relishing in the human meat they were eating

"Taking a detour would take too much time, and we're already late"

He motioned for Anput to walk forward while he started to slink into the darkness of the nearby buildings

"This is gonna be a tough one, try your best to kill them all"

His voice rang before it grew fainter until he was no longer seen, leaving the half limping Anput in the open

This would be the first time she would have to fight in a serious battle since all the other fights were planned and easily won, as even though she knew YuJu would help her if she was in a bind she would still have to walk a very thin line, one mistake could cause her a disability, and she didn't want to disappoint him either

"Rargh!"

She barked at the hounds to get their attention, and that she got but to her surprise only two of them broke off the group and rushed to her, probably because she was smaller and injured that they underestimated her

She narrowed her eyes and started to take a few steps back instead of rushing to meet them, by the time she positioned herself the hounds were already upon her

"Woof" "Raargh"

The two hounds barked, one jumping while it did while the other kept rushing straight at her

In response, she rolled sideways avoiding the jump, the one that was rushing turned toward her only to receive a headbutt to its face sending it toward it landing companion as they crashed into the wall

Anput didn't give the two a breather and followed with a bite to the first hound's neck while her front paw pushed down on its maw, keeping it closed and unable to harm her

Now she had the both of them stuck to the wall, one bitten and unable to move while the other struggled under the weight of the two of them

The hound the was stuck under kept thrashing as it tried to get up, after a few tries it decided to try and bite Anput's leg, but that was what she was waiting for

Pushing down with her paw's she made the other hound receive the bite for her with its jaw while she rotated to the side, ripping a part of its neck before letting go

Now the two hounds were entangled in a mess, the injured one was going mad from pain and retaliated toward its offending companion by pushing at it and biting back, while the other one who just let go found itself having to attack back or it would wind up dead

With the two hounds now at each other's necks Anput found the opportunity to finish both of them off in a few seconds

After dealing with the two mad hounds she turned to see the remaining five were already slowly making their way toward her, fierceness apparent in their red eyes

"Rargh!"

With a provoking bark, she started to make her way toward a set of stairs with a new plan in mind

Seeing her fleeing the hounds madly rushed forward, not intent on letting the killer of their kin run away

The half limping Anput made it to the stairs before the hounds could reach her but they were ever so close to, when she was halfway up two of them already started running up as well, the others went from the side in case she jumped

But that was exactly what she was intending to do as she sprang up a plant pot near the end of the stairs and leveraged it for a jump, sending it crashing toward the hound's face who tumbled down taking his friend with him

Now Anput was in the air aiming to land on one of the hounds and use her momentum to break its neck with a bite and then throw it at its companions, giving her ample opportunity to either change location or have another attack, a great plan if she could bark so herself but reality proved to be a harsh teacher

AS she was falling she saw one two hounds jump, one of them using the other to jump again, meaning they would tackle each other mid-air

Anput's mind halted for a second, she tried to think of other ways to counter this move but nothing came to mind, her insight stat made her able to think ahead and plan instead of attacking mindlessly like beasts but it would seem this was as far as it could take her

Suddenly she saw the hound suspend in midair for a second before it came crashing down on its partner, producing a rather loud cracking sound, probably injuring the both of them

The perpetrator were two hands holding the ankles of the jumping hound, it seemed her master deemed the situation bad and thus intervened

"Rrrargh"

Taking her anger out on the third uninjured hound she proceeded to continue with her earlier plan and kill it, then thrown its body at the hounds beside the stairs while she took out the two hounds that were barely able to move

a few seconds later she managed to outmanoeuvre and kill the last of the hounds before trotting to her now visible master, with eyes pitifully asking for forgiveness

"Haha, don't worry you did great, but next time think ahead, and don't assume all your enemy knows to do is bite and jump, they have intelligence just as you do"

He smiled while patting her guilt away, but he was really happy on the inside, the reason being that he had confirmed a theory that was up to debate before he had come back through time

It was said that beasts who were contracted gained a sliver of intelligence due to having a part of a humans soul inside of them, but that was a mere rumour that had no base as many beasts could gain intelligence, the dogs who just used each other to make a boosted jump was a testimony of that, but now that he had seen what Anput could do with but a few points of insight he was sure of it

this gave him more confidence about the plans he had in store for Anput as he dumped the three new points she gained by levelling to six into insight as well

"Let's go"

He hurried and started to run ahead, Anput followed behind with a sprint as her leg was healed with the new level

A minute later the two could see the malls front, and it could only be described as a huge mess, beasts attacked the powerless humans left and right, treating them like helpless chicken, and in panic they trampled each other, not thinking to fight back against these monsters, only a few could be seen holding off the beasts, some even beat them

One particular human caught his eyes, it was a redhead girl that looked to be in the early twenties of her age, she was holding a rather long knife and cutting whichever beasts that came into her way, granted she wasn't able to kill them but she was at least opening a path, as for who it was well that would be a few little girls behind her

"Great! saves me the hassle of searching for you"

He smiled happily, glad he came when he did or he could have missed her as she was heading out, that would have been the real tragedy

His speed suddenly skyrocketed, weaving through the beasts in a mesmerising yet strange way

The redhead was surprised by his appearance, when he was close enough she opened her mouth to talk to him but was silenced by a hand that came straight toward her face

She wanted to dodge but how could she escape his speed and technique, so the hand easily gripped her face, the next second she felt a crushing force invade her

YuJu didn't ask her for her affirmation or try to convince her, instead, he poured all his willpower into dominating her soul while activating his Token of Force-Contract, knowing her capabilities quite well he didn't want to give her the chance to resist or escape his clutches

The redhead felt a forcing object trying to pierce her bing which she resisted with all her power, but a sudden shock overcame her, making her willpower freeze for but a microsecond, enough though for a tendril to invade her

She felt this tendril reach into her very soul, sinking deeper and deeper, deep enough where she couldn't sense, and planting something there, then she felt it yank a part of her being and retreat out with it

After a few seconds of emptiness she suddenly sensed a connection form, tracing it she sensed the man in front of her was the source, a source of both pressure and comfort

"Phew"

YuJu let out a breath as he felt the familiar connection with the woman, he finally accomplished his immediate goals, now he just had to escape

"Let's go, Anput will open up the way"

He said before turning around and following Anput, who was finishing off any injured beast and scaring away the other

The woman was dazed, she wanted to rebuke the ma and ask him what he did to her but a sudden impulse made her want to follow his orders, and looking at the path opening in front of them and then at the little girls huddling behind her she grit her teeth and rushed behind him with the girls in tow

Thankfully there were many humans around so when the beasts saw Anput biting left and right, YuJu silently dodging every one of them and the woman swinging her knife the decided it wasn't worth the injury and attacked easier targets instead

with that, the group made it out the mall's vicinity within five minutes and started running through the alleys

"Wait! The children can't keep up, slow down"

Hearing the woman's voice he turned around and looked at her, seeing her both angry and cautious expression he sighed, ready for a long talk

"Let's go into that house"

He pointed at one of the houses nearby and walked into it, the woman felt it wasn't right to intrude but followed behind still, it wasn't the time to think about stuff like privet property after all

Once they were inside the house she saw YuJu take food and water out the refrigerator and start eating while giving some to Anput like it was his own house

"Mind telling me what you did there just now?"

He didn't answer and motioned for her to sit

But she just stood there not moving, she wanted an explanation now

Seeing this he narrowed his eyes and ordered her with a low tone

"Sit"

A feeling of pressure came over her, she tried to resist but it only built up more, finally, she relented and grabbed a seat, only then did the pressure fade away

"We can't stay here for long so keep you ears peeled and don't ask too many questions"

With that the introductions began