Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan-Chapter 134: A Crown of Blood

The return to the White Tiger village was not a diplomatic mission. It was a slaughter.

Vara and Carik walked out of the forest line just as the sun was setting, casting long, twisted shadows across the ground. Vara had cleaned herself up as best she could, walking tall and proud, her chin lifted in defiance. Carik walked beside her, still stark naked, covered in dried blood and dirt, looking like a demon summoned from the deep earth to punish the living.

The sentries at the gate—two young, terrified tigers—didn’t even have time to scream. Carik moved with terrifying speed for a man of his size, snapping their spears and then their spines with sickening ease before tossing them into the bushes like discarded dolls.

They walked into the central clearing.

The remaining clan members froze. They stared at the nightmare duo. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of looming violence.

Elder Roa, who was organizing the distribution of the meager food supplies, dropped his basket. Apples rolled into the dirt, ignored.

"Vara?" he gasped, his eyes bulging. "You... you dare return? And you brought a... an Exile?"

He pointed a shaking finger at Carik. "Beast! Cover yourself! This is sacred ground!"

Carik tilted his head, a predatory gleam in his yellow eyes. He looked at Vara. "Is this the loud one?"

"That is the one who exiled me," Vara confirmed coldly. "He said I was a curse."

Carik grunted. He stepped forward.

Elder Roa tried to shift into his beast form, but he was old and slow. Carik grabbed him by the throat and the groin, lifted him over his head, and slammed him down onto his own knee.

The sound of the Elder’s back breaking echoed through the silent village like a gunshot.

Carik didn’t stop there. He threw the screaming Elder to the ground and proceeded to stomp on him, methodically crushing his chest cavity until the screaming stopped. The other Elders, watching from the shadows of their huts, cowered in fear, pressing their hands over their mouths, too terrified to intervene.

Suddenly, a growl erupted from the side.

The Wolf Clan.

Vara had chased them away weeks ago with her arrogance, but in her exile, and with Kael gone, they had crept back in.

"Defend the village!" a voice howled.

It was Vorn, the Wolf Leader, who thought he could claim this territory for himself now that the Tiger King had abandoned his clan.

"Intruders!" Vorn roared, shifting into his massive grey wolf form and charging, his claws tearing up the earth.

Vara didn’t even flinch. She just looked at Carik. "Kill them."

Carik laughed. It was a booming, joyous sound.

He met the Wolf Alpha head-on. He didn’t shift. He fought in his beastman form, using his fists and his teeth. Vorn snapped at him, seeking purchase on his bronze skin, but Carik was faster. He caught the wolf by the throat, pinning him to the earth with one massive hand.

"You have nice fur," Carik complimented him, ignoring the wolf’s thrashing claws. "Thick. Warm."

He didn’t use a knife. He didn’t need one.

Carik raised his hand. His fingernails were thick, black, and sharpened to razor points—natural weapons stronger than iron.

With a brutal swipe, he sliced through the wolf’s hide.

Right there, in front of the traumatized White Tiger Clan, Carik skinned Vorn with his bare hands. The sound of wet tearing filled the silence, a gruesome melody that ensured no one would ever dare challenge them again.

He stood up, blood dripping from his bronze skin, and draped the heavy, fresh grey pelt over his shoulders like a royal cape.

"Now," Carik rumbled, turning his yellow eyes to the trembling survivors. "Who else has a problem with my mate?"

Silence. Absolute, terrified silence. The wind howled through the gaps in the ruined walls, carrying the scent of blood and fear—a perfume Vara found intoxicating.

Vara walked forward with a large piece of dark leather—a loincloth she had stitched together from the hide of the Wasteland deer.

She walked up to Carik. She stood on her tiptoes.

"Cover yourself, my King," she whispered, tying the leather around his waist. "A King must look the part."

It was a symbolic gesture. By clothing him, she was claiming him. She was civilizing the monster just enough to rule.

Carik grunted, adjusting the leather. He liked it. It made him look important.

He sat down on a large, flat rock in the center of the village—the closest thing to a throne. Vara stood by his side, her hand resting on his shoulder.

She looked out at the broken, cowering clan. They bowed, pressing their foreheads to the dirt. They had no choice. Kael had abandoned them—left them to rot—and now they had a new master who ruled through fear rather than loyalty.

Vara was finally Queen.

But as she looked at the flattened ruins of the strange wooden hut Ren had built, her victory tasted bitter.

She knew Kael was out there. She was content knowing he would have turned into a Shadow Beast by now. But the thought of the mammal was a thorn in her side.

"My Queen," Carik grunted, picking a piece of wolf out of his teeth. "We should attack the Snake Swamp. You want the female mammal dead."

Vara shook her head slowly, her eyes narrowing.

She knew exactly where Ren was. She had orchestrated the kidnapping herself, making the deal with the Snake King to remove the mammal from the forest. She had hoped the Snake King would eventually kill her, or that the swamp would swallow her whole.

"I should have just killed her myself," Vara muttered, regret pooling in her stomach. "I shouldn’t have sent her away. I should have ripped her throat out with my own teeth."

She looked at Carik.

"Not yet," she murmured. "Look at them, Carik."

She gestured to the starving, injured tigers. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"We have no army. Kael broke them before he left. If we march on the Swamp now, Syris will slaughter us all. Snakes are venomous and many."

She clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palms. The game had changed. It was no longer about winning Kael’s heart; it was about stopping it. And as for the mammal... Vara would make sure her end was slow, painful, and devoid of any hope.

"We wait," Vara declared. "That little mammal cannot stay in the swamp forever. She is soft. She craves the sun. She will come back to the forest. And when she does..."

Vara smiled, a cruel, twisted expression.

"We will be ready."