The tiger below, as if sensing the sarcasm in Levi's voice, snapped its head back and let out a pitiful roar of anger. The sound, translated through the mental tether, was clearly screaming:

'How dare you joke at a time like this? My entire generation is in jeopardy!'.

Levi blinked, surprised by the sudden, direct anger. 'What did I do?'. Then, realizing that he was the one who had driven them into this danger zone, Levi managed a wry smile.

Thanks to the tiger's huge size and the fact that Levi was crouched low on its back, the rushing wind didn't bother him. He even had time to glance behind them at the pursuing pack.

The streak of vengeful tigers was relentless. Their heavy paws pounded the earth, and their sheer speed was quickly closing the distance.

Through the psychic link, Levi felt the frantic map of the area flooding his mind. The tiger was running in wide, panicked loops, trying to create distance, but the surrounding plains and low, scattered brush offered no cover.

Levi quickly grasped two critical things: the tiger's sheer panic was boosting its speed, but its lack of focus would lead them straight into a corner.

The beast had one sole objective: escape the clan, not protect Levi or strategically lose the pursuit.

"No, not there!". Levi commanded mentally, yanking on the tether and wrenching the tiger's attention back to him. The tiger's head snapped slightly sideways, fighting the command but forced to follow.

'We need a bottleneck. Something to slow them down'. Levi directed.

He scanned the sparse tree line ahead, his eyes locking onto a narrow, twisting canyon entrance carved into a rocky ridge.

'Turn left! Canyon!'.

The tiger whimpered internally, its conscious mind screaming against entering an unknown, confined space, but its body was forced to obey.

With a desperate, ground-churning skid, the great cat executed a jarring turn and hurtled toward the narrow gorge.

They reached the canyon entrance in a rush. Levi immediately realized he had misjudged the width; the gap was too tight for the tiger's massive frame. He knew he had to command a turnaround, but then everything changed.

The environment around them suddenly became transparent. The canyon walls, the ground, and the sky— everything ahead of them— seemed to turn into crystalline glass, as if seen through pure water.

Shocked by the abrupt, impossible change in reality, Levi was a step too late in ordering the tiger to halt and reverse.

The tiger lunged forward, trying to squeeze between the sheer rock faces. For a split second, it looked like the enormous animal would crash headfirst into the stone walls.

Instead, the tiger, along with Levi riding on its back, suddenly phased straight through it.

Still wedged between the solid rock, Levi quickly recovered from his shock. He realized that the tiger's ability was not simple invisibility.

Its true power was the ability to render itself, and anything it carried, transparent— not just to sight, but to physical matter.

His resolve at keeping this creature unexpectedly shot up to it's highest peak. He shamelessly ignored the fact that he had almost considered using the tiger as a bait to ensure he escaped successfully.

As they phased through the solid rock, a bad feeling settled deep in Levi's gut. The sheer, relentless hostility shown by the streak of tigers convinced him of something— the tiger he was riding and the animals pursuing them had some sought of history.

'Could it be they are from the same clan?'. Levi wondered, the thought sending a chill down his spine. Then doesn't that mean.....

He quickly twisted around to look back. The scene he witnessed instantly confirmed his fears.

The rest of the Tiger Streak had now surged through the narrow gorge, effortlessly phasing through the rock just as Levi and his mount had done.

This meant they all possessed the same terrifying power of transparency.

Before he could hold it, a scream escaped Levi's mouth as the enraged, massive bodies burst into view.

The tiger beneath him released a raw, high-pitched shriek that sounded dangerously close to that of a tigress.

The terrifying nature of the pursuit had just magnified tenfold.

They hurtled out of the narrow canyon, the walls giving way to open land again. The rush of air hit Levi as he tried to put some distance between them and the pursuing streak.

Levi knew he needed a stronger distraction. He brought his hands together, his fingers quickly intertwining into a bizarre, knotted image.

The shadow cast by this hand gesture formed the distinct head of a buffalo. The shadow instantly faded away like dust, and in its place, the massive, resurrected buffalo materialized.

Levi's command was simple, for it to cause mayhem in the pack of tigers.

The buffalo roared, ready to charge, but before it could take a single step, the lead tigers of the pursuing streak surged forward and slammed into the summoned beast.

The large cats quickly stumped the buffalo to death under their heavy, savage paws. The buffalo vanished in a puff of energy.

Despite the momentary delay caused by the buffalo, the attacking tigers were now almost upon them.

Suddenly, as if sensing an invisible threat, all the tigers stopped. This included the entire attacking streak and the tiger Levi was riding. They stood absolutely motionless, their heads twitching nervously.

Levi sensed the sudden, shared danger in the tether between him and his tiger but saw an opportunity.

He immediately urged his mount to move forward, though the tiger fought the command, its body couldn't break Levi's will.

It instantly turned transparent— becoming invisible and intangible— and hesitantly moved forward.

Then, something remarkable happened. The pursuing tigers let out quick, fearful whimpers and ran away in the opposite direction.

Only one tiger from the streak remained, looking extremely reluctant to leave. It held its ground for a moment, then eventually submitted to the unseen terror and fled,

but not before throwing a spiteful, threatening growl back at the invisible tiger Levi was riding.

Watching the retreating, fearful tiger, Levi couldn't help but wonder. Tired of calling his mount "the tiger" he decided on a name.

'Did Tige, no Hobbes, no Charger, Tigger, damn it, this is hard". Levi pondered for a moment before his face lit up.

"Did Xero mate with your mother?'. He said, proud of his naming sense.

Levi didn't see how Xero turned its head slightly to the side, giving a guilty expression that was unmistakable.

The thought that surfaced in its heart was. 'More like his fiancée'.

Seeing the tigers gone, Levi looked around the environment, seeing nothing different from the open land they were just running through.

But then, his eyes caught the lazy movement of smoke curling upwards in the distance.

'Humans'. He realized, his eyes lighting up.

He cautiously slipped down from Menma's back, intending to dismiss the Pawn. But then he reconsidered.

'If they are hostile, I would need its strength.' There were indeed this in this world capable of neutralizing Avatar technique.

He decided to keep Menma active. He ordered the tiger to remain transparent and stay close, following him from a short distance away.

Then, as a cautious advance scout, he summoned the antelope pawn and urged it to move forward toward the rising smoke.

Moving forward, Levi quickly reached what he could tell was a deserted camping spot.

He couldn't hold back his excitement; the chance to finally meet other humans and escape the endless forest was too great.

Without wasting a moment, he rushed forward, climbing the slope of the raised ground. Pushing past the thick tree trunks, he finally reached the top and looked down onto the sloping terrain below.

Beneath him, Levi saw a multi-terrain truck. It was built like a heavy-duty transport, designed with huge tires and a reinforced frame to handle all kinds of ground.

The truck was surrounded by bizarre, worm-like creatures, they had milky-white bodies and a disturbing feature: two heads.

One located at each end of the body. They also had two pairs of small hands located very close to their heads, which they used to drag their thick, U-shaped bodies along the ground near the vehicle. Their two heads rested just a few feet away from the truck.

Levi felt a sickening lurch in his stomach at the sight. But before he could vomit, he heard a sharp sound.

"Pssst."

His head snapped toward the sound. He immediately locked eyes with a middle-aged man standing nearby.

Before Levi could fully register the man's appearance, the man's eyes flashed with a red, starry color.

The next instant, Levi found himself in a boundless ocean. He was seeing his own body from a distance, as if in a third-person view.

His body was lying in a vast, red sea, but the terrifying part was that his head, two arms, legs, and waist had all separated from his torso, as if perfectly sliced apart.

'An illusion'. He instantly recognized.

The illusion shattered, and Levi immediately came back to his senses. However, he couldn't move. It felt as if his head, arms, legs, and torso were no longer connected; he couldn't feel any of them.

His body went limp, listing to the side, and then began to tumble down the sloping hill. His mind was awake, but he could no longer control or even sense his physical body.

In a single, shocking moment, Levi had been completely neutralized.

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