Chapter 265: What Is Stopping You?

Thud! Thud!

Standing at the center of the hall, Thoren heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the side entrance.

Each step came with an imposing momentum that shook the air. The atmosphere seemed to tremble under its powerful presence.

The air inside the main hall appeared to have frozen solid by an invisible, suffocating force.

Under this tense and oppressive atmosphere, Thoren’s expression did not change at all.

The mental pressure being exerted had no effect on him whatsoever. He maintained an indifferent, calm expression on his face.

From the side entrance, a giant Jackal Beastman walked into the hall. The first thing that caught Thoren’s attention was his notably defined, bulging muscles.

His muscles were brimming with unimaginable power and raw strength. Apart from that, the aura around him was noble and commanding, unlike any other Jackal Beastman Thoren had seen before.

Additionally, his robes were not worn out or out of place. They had a distinct human aesthetic, as if tailored by a master clothier.

[Jackal Beastman Chief (Mini Boss)]

[Level: 30]

Thoren only stared at these two details for a brief moment before he averted his gaze.

’As expected,’ he thought calmly.

For a town to be dominated and controlled by Jackal Beastmen, there could only be one powerful Jackal holding the reins of power.

Just then, a heavy thud echoed through the hall.

The Jackal Beastman Chief took his seat on his bone throne and raised his head to stare at the human standing before him.

For a long second, the two stared at each other without speaking a single word. Time seemed to have stretched infinitely while their locked gazes evaluated each other.

The Jackal Chief released the full oppressive aura of a Level 30 Beastman, while Thoren did not hesitate to unleash his Awakened Soul aura in response.

Bang!

The two invisible forces crashed together, creating a loud bang in their shared mental space.

Hmm?

The Jackal Chief was genuinely stunned, and his stoic expression faltered for a single moment.

He stared at Thoren, who seemed not to have been bothered by the clash at all, and nodded slowly with newfound respect.

“You are no ordinary human,” the Jackal Chief finally broke the silence.

Listening to the Jackal Chief speaking in fluent human language stunned Thoren, and his expression could not help but falter slightly.

Yet the Jackal Chief captured that brief moment of surprise.

“You do not need to be surprised that I can speak in your tongue,” he relaxed on his throne, but his piercing gaze never left Thoren’s face.

It was as if he wanted to unearth all of Thoren’s deepest secrets.

Yet the more he looked at the human, the more puzzled he became. The human before him was not the strongest he had ever seen by any measure.

He had seen many humans who were far more powerful than this one. Some had imposing presences that dwarfed his own completely.

Some were terrifyingly sharp, and merely staring at them was like staring into an ocean of blades, ready to cut him into pieces.

Yet none of those powerful humans were exactly like the very human standing before him now.

This human was cold and indifferent to everything around him.

He was like a deep, calm well, impossible to fathom or measure how deep his power truly went.

It was as if nothing in this world could thoroughly move his emotions. His confidence and pride were unlike anything the Chief had ever witnessed in a human.

“You reported to have news about my daughter’s jade pendant. Is that true?” he asked directly.

“I heard you promise to fulfill whatever request the person who has information or finds your daughter’s lost jade pendant makes. Is that true?” Thoren asked calmly, maintaining his steady gaze with the Jackal Chief.

For a moment, another tense silence descended into the hall. The two powerful beings stared at each other once again.

Now began another round of mutual evaluation.

The Jackal Chief could not understand where the human before him was getting his confidence from, talking to him as if they were equals.

Although his mental pressure had no effect on the human, there were various other ways he could capture and end this puny human’s life.

And it would be quite easy to do so.

Yet his sharp primal instinct gave an alarming signal. Not a signal of imminent death, but something more potent and dangerous.

Something primal and ancient stirred within his chest.

As he stared intently at Thoren, he noticed something. Something that he had missed previously in their exchange.

A scent.

Not just any ordinary scent.

But the distinct scent of his own kin.

The more he focused his attention on that scent, the more he uncovered a shocking and disturbing discovery.

Although the scent had grown thin and mixed with other scents over time, he could not miss the unmistakable smell of his kin’s blood.

“You have killed many from my kin,” he said slowly, his voice deepening.

“Likewise, you have killed many of my kin,” Thoren fired back calmly without any hesitation.

They might maintain a facade of peace on the surface, but each side was using the other for their own benefit.

The Jackal Beastmen needed the humans to develop and maintain their town. The humans needed the Jackal Beastmen town to serve as a safe abode from the deadly desert.

Without the Jackal town, humans would have no safe place to return to after venturing deeper into the desert. They would have to move from one temporary settlement to another, which was dangerous and troublesome.

In that process, many would get lost and might even lose their lives to the desert.

Thus, this was a strictly symbiotic relationship built on necessity, not trust.

“You are the first human I have seen with so many of my kin’s scent on his body who is still alive,” the Chief admitted.

“I do not know how you managed to survive,” his fiery eyes narrowed dangerously.

Although they allowed humans to live in their town, to all the Jackal Beastmen, the humans were nothing but outsiders. They found them to be a lower species unworthy of respect.

This was why they treated them as mere animals. A plaything for their cruel amusement.

Yet here was a human who had killed dozens of his kinsmen and walked into his hall without fear.

Rage boiled in his heart, and the temperature inside the hall rose a couple of degrees from his fury.

“I should kill you right now,” the Jackal Chief muttered, his voice filled with thick killing intent.

“What is stopping you?” Thoren replied with the same calm and indifference he had shown from the start.

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