Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan-Chapter 142: Piggyback Through the Jungle

Vex turned on his heel and headed toward the arched entrance of the tree hollow.

He took three steps before he realized the soft patter of bare feet wasn’t following him.

He paused and turned around.

Ren was still by the white furs. She had managed to stand, but she was swaying slightly, bracing her hand against the wooden wall for support. Her knuckles were white from the effort.

Vex raised a skeptical eyebrow, his vibrant orange eyes scanning her trembling form.

"Do you still feel sick?" he asked.

Ren hesitated. Some color had returned to her face thanks to the water and mushrooms, but the room was still doing a slow, lazy spin every time she moved her head. And more importantly, her legs felt like overcooked noodles. The ache in her thighs was a persistent reminder that she was not built for the endurance of a beastman.

But she wasn’t going to admit that.

"A little," Ren nodded, swallowing her pride. "Just... lightheaded."

Vex sighed, shaking his head.

"Then stay here," he said dismissively. "You will only slow me down. Rest, Little Rose. I will go find them."

’And watch them tear each other apart,’ Vex added in his thoughts, a wicked glee bubbling in his chest.

He was already picturing the scene. The proud snake and the brute tiger, locked in mortal combat, rolling in the dirt while he sat in a tree, eating a peach and enjoying the show. He could already imagine the look of "sorrow" he would fake when he returned to deliver the bad news to Ren that they had tragically eliminated each other.

"No," Ren blurted out, pushing herself off the wall. She took a wobbly step forward. "I’m coming. I have to go."

Vex frowned. "You can barely stand. Stay. Recover."

"I am coming, Vex," Ren said, her voice stubborn even if her knees were knocking together. "I need to stop them."

Vex studied her for a moment. He saw the fire in her green eyes, warring with the exhaustion in her body. She was infuriatingly stubborn.

He let out a long, dramatic sigh of defeat, his shoulders slumping.

"Fine," Vex grumbled. "I’ll have to carry you."

Ren’s eyes widened. Nothing was free with Vex. He would probably ask for a massage, or a feast, or something far more scandalous.

"I’ll give you more soaps!" Ren shouted quickly, cutting off whatever negotiation he was about to start. "The lavender ones! Just carry me!"

Vex blinked. Then, a slow, predatory smirk curled his lips.

He had absolutely no intention of asking for payment. The opportunity to have a loosely dressed, beautiful female pressed against his back was payment enough.

But he wasn’t going to tell her that.

"Soaps," Vex mused, pretending to weigh the offer. "I did just use the last of the bar you gave me... Very well. It is a deal."

He turned around and crouched down, presenting his broad back to her.

"Hop on."

Ren let out a breath of relief. She hobbled over and awkwardly clambered onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck—careful not to choke him—as Vex hooked his hands under her thighs and hoisted her up effortlessly.

He stood, adjusting her weight.

Ren frowned. "Wait," she said, looking at the back of his head. "Wouldn’t this be faster in your beast form?"

Vex started walking toward the cave entrance, his stride long and smooth.

"I am very fast on two legs, too," he replied casually.

He stepped out into the dimming light of the forest.

"Besides," Vex added, his voice dropping to a husky whisper. "If I were in my beast form, I wouldn’t be able to feel your breasts pressed firmly against my back like this."

Ren froze.

"They are quite soft," Vex continued, describing the sensation with the detail of a sommelier reviewing a fine wine. "Warm. Heavy. I can feel every curve squished against my shoulder blades."

Ren’s face went from pale to nuclear crimson in a nanosecond.

"YOU PERVERTED FOX!" she squealed, smacking his shoulder with her hand. "Stop talking! Just walk!"

Vex threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the trees as he carried his flustered, red-faced cargo deeper into the woods.

They walked for what felt like an hour. The sun was dipping below the horizon, and the forest was bathed in the grey-blue hues of twilight.

"Are we going in any particular direction?" Ren asked, peering over his shoulder into the gathering gloom.

"I am tracking," Vex replied, stepping over a large root without breaking stride. "Though it is difficult."

He sniffed the air loudly.

"You stink of him," Vex complained, wrinkling his nose. "It is hard to pick up his scent in the air when you are marinated in it."

Ren rolled her eyes. "Just find him, Vex."

Vex focused, his ears twitching. Foxes had excellent hearing and a nose that rivaled any hound. He was trying to pick up on the specific musk of the Tiger King.

"I haven’t picked up on his—"

Vex stopped mid-sentence.

He halted so abruptly that Ren bumped her chin against the back of his head.

"Ow! Why did you stop?" Ren asked, rubbing her jaw. "Did you smell him?"

Vex stood perfectly still. His nostrils flared, inhaling deep drafts of the evening breeze. His brows furrowed, the playful smirk vanishing instantly, replaced by a sharp, calculating frown.

"Vex?" Ren whispered, sensing the shift in his mood. Her grip on his shoulders tightened.

Vex smelled it.

The wind was carrying two very distinct scents.

The first was undeniable. It was the metallic, copper tang of blood. Tiger blood. Kael’s blood.

But that wasn’t what made the hair on the back of Vex’s neck stand up.

If Kael was fighting Syris, Vex expected to smell snake blood—cold, slightly acrid. But there was no snake blood in the air.

Instead, there was a second scent. It was heavy, musky, and aggressive. It was another tiger.

But it wasn’t a tiger Vex knew.

He knew every beast in this forest. He knew their scents like he knew the back of his hand. This scent was foreign.

It was an outsider.

Vex narrowed his orange eyes, glaring into the darkening shadows of the dense thicket ahead.

"I smell blood," Vex said ominously.