Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan-Chapter 153: Wake Up Scream!

Ren stood up, her legs wobbling like a newborn giraffe’s. The mud sucked at her feet with a gross squelching sound, threatening to pull her back down into the muck.

She tilted her head back, looking up at the circle of night sky.

"Hey!" Ren called out, her voice a harsh whisper. "Vex! You fuzzy idiot! Wake up!"

She figured he must be lying unconscious right near the edge of the pit. Viper said he hit him with a rock, but it’s not like Vex was a regular fox—he has three tails! Surely, he wasn’t out cold forever. And with those radar-dish ears of his, he should be able to hear her even in a coma.

She didn’t shout too loud. The thought of Vara lurking nearby—or worse, that terrifying Black Tiger coming back if he finished with the boys—kept her volume in check.

"Psst! Fox! I know you can hear me!"

Silence.

Ren groaned. She really, really wanted out of this pit.

The smell was getting worse, or maybe her fever was heightening her sense of smell. Either way, standing naked in a soup of bacteria was not on her vision board for the year.

She turned to the corner where Viper was still embracing the dirt wall.

"Viper," Ren pleaded, her teeth chattering. "We need to get out. We need to help Syris and Kael. That Black Tiger looked... he looked like he eats war tanks for breakfast."

Viper shook his head firmly, his forehead practically resting against the mud.

"No," Viper stated, his voice muffled but confident. "My King is the strongest Beast King in this region. Perhaps the world." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He stood a little straighter, though he refused to turn around.

"Earlier today, when we first encountered the Black Tiger, King Syris merely released his aura. The pressure alone forced that brute to his knees. It suppressed him completely."

Ren’s eyes widened. "Seriously? Syris is that strong?"

"He is the Snake King," Viper said, pride swelling in his voice. "His power cannot be rivaled."

Ren gulped.

A cold knot of dread formed in her stomach, completely separate from the flu.

The Rite of the Severed Fang.

The System’s warning replayed in her mind. ’They will fight to the death.’

Back in the swamp, when Syris had fought Kael, Ren had thought it was terrifying. But Syris had been holding back. He had only held Kael down like she asked. She had never actually seen him go all out, at full strength, with killing intent.

If he was strong enough to bring a monster like that black tiger to his knees with just his presence...

’Snakes are scary,’ Ren thought, shivering. ’Even in this world, they are terrifying.’

She looked at Viper again. Since she was staring at his back and lower half that was covered by a loincloth, a question popped into her brain. She had meant to ask it before.

"Hey, Viper?" Ren asked, staring at his muddy legs. "Can you... alternate? Between having legs and a tail?"

Viper paused. "Yes. It is a partial shifting ability. Only some high-level snake beastmen possess it. It is easier to navigate the forest floor with legs than a tail."

"Oh," Ren’s mouth formed a perfect ’O’. "That’s handy."

Silence engulfed the pit again.

Ren stood there, staring up at the bright, indifferent moon.

The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind a crushing wave of exhaustion and misery.

She clenched her fists. Her nails dug into her muddy palms, biting into the skin.

She wanted to sleep. Not in a mud pit, but in a bed. With a pillow. She wanted a hot bath. With bubbles. And soap. She was hungry. She wanted a cheeseburger. Or pizza. Or literally anything that wasn’t a mushroom.

She missed her world.

She hated this pit. She hated this godforsaken world where everything tried to eat her or mate her.

"Dave," Ren whispered, her eyes filling with hot tears.

She blamed Dave. Her clumsy sous-chef.

"This is all your fault," she hissed at the memory of him. "If you hadn’t tripped over that cooler... if you weren’t such a clumsy, butter-fingered idiot... I would be in New York right now!"

She looked at her muddy hands.

"I would be accepting an Emmy for Gourmet in the Wild! I would be wearing a dress! A nice, pretty, designer dress!"

The sorrow, the sickness, and the frustration came crashing down all at once.

Ren threw her head back and screamed.

"VEX!"

She didn’t care if Vara heard. She didn’t care if every tiger in a five-mile radius heard.

"WAKE UP, YOU USELESS KNOCK-OFF NICK WILDE!"

Viper flinched violently at her sudden outburst.

Ren’s throat was sore, raw from the flu, but she pushed through the pain, her voice raspy and full of rage.

"Get up, you flea-bitten narcissist!" Ren shrieked at the opening of the pit. "Stop napping on the job! And get your ass down here!"

She stomped her foot in the mud, splashing sludge everywhere.

"You are the worst rescue animal in history! Lassie would have had me out of here ten minutes ago! If I die in here, I am going to haunt you! I will turn your beautiful fur into a mange-infested disaster! Do you hear me?!"

She took a ragged breath and screamed again.

"YOU OVERSIZED ORANGE FEATHER DUSTER! WAKE UP!"

When she was done, the silence that followed was heavy.

Ren stood there, her chest heaving terribly, her breath hitching in wet gasps. Her wide, desperate eyes searched the pit entrance, hoping, praying to see his smirking face pop up.

Nothing.

Just the moon and the stars.

All hope burned out.

Ren’s knees gave way. She collapsed into the muck, burying her face in her hands.

"He’s not coming," she sobbed softly.

Viper didn’t turn around. He couldn’t. But his voice was softer this time.

"My King will come," Viper reassured her, staring at the dirt. "He will save you. When he is done with his fight, he will come."

Ren sighed, a broken, watery sound. She closed her eyes, feeling the fever burn behind her eyelids.

"That’s if he even survives the fight," she muttered darkly.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the pit.

A familiar, smooth voice drifted down from above, dripping with amusement.

"Why the long face, Little Rose?"