As they approached the cave, where the fox and her cub were, each person in the group had spiritual weapons in their hands, and each of them had a sharp look on their face. At any moment, the spiritual beast that they were hunting could feel them and attack them by surprise.
Spiritual beasts could not learn battle techniques, but they had powerful bodies. And not only that, their senses were much more acute than the senses of humans, which gave them a significant advantage in battles and surprise attacks.
Therefore, spiritual beasts were much stronger than humans on the same level as them!
...
At the same time, inside the cave, a large fox with five tails was lying on her back, with a fox with one tail lying on her belly. During the time that had passed, the little fox had already grown a little and was now 30 centimeters tall and was quite active for much of the day.
At this point, the mother fox noticed that some humans were approaching her and her daughter. 'Ten humans are coming here. Have I been discovered?' She thought as she turned her head up, alert.
After a few seconds of sniffing the approaching group, she suddenly got up. She then brought her daughter to a narrow part of the cave. "Stay hidden here until mommy comes back." She said in silly language that her daughter could understand.
"Au! Au! Au!" The little fox answered her mother. She could not speak the human language until she reached the 5th stage. She also had a concise understanding of the beast language. After all, she was just a newborn. But she understood that her mother wanted to protect her in this place.
After that, the fox with five tails headed towards the place from which the group of bandits had been carefully approaching. 'Miserable humans, I won't forgive you if you're here for my daughter.' She thought as she growled and showed her fangs.
...
Some time passed, and the group of 10 bandits had already entered the cave and were getting closer and closer to where the mother fox was waiting for them.
"Get ready. She's not distant." Gul said seriously.
A few seconds later, a fox with a height of 1.5 meters appeared in front of the group, attacking one of the bandits without mercy. She was fast and had prepared carefully to attack the bandit group in the best possible way. And in fact, when she appeared, there was no time for the bandits to defend themselves when she ran towards them!
Pow!
"Caution!" Gul cried out when he felt she was coming towards one of them.
However, it was too late. The fox's fangs tore at one of the level 44's commanders' arms while her claws were covered in the blood of another bandit.
That fox had attacked two of these individuals with everything. With one of them, she had plucked one of his arms, using her sharp fangs, in a single bite!
With the other, she had made a deep cut on his chest, using her claws!
"Ahhh! My arm." One of the bandits was deeply sorry.
"Ahhhh!" The other bandit screamed when he felt the cuts on his belly.
"Shit! I told you to stay on the alert!" Gul complained loudly. He then thought to himself. 'This beast is already as strong as someone at level 45! If she weren't weakened by childbirth, we would only face death by challenging her!'
After this surprise attack, almost all the bandits started to activate their techniques. At the same time, two ran towards the deepest part of the cave. They wanted to kidnap the beast's cub as soon as possible!
Upon seeing this, the fox mother quickly understood the enemy's plan and immediately attacked them.
'Die, you bastards!' She thought as she ran towards the two-level 44 thugs.
However, at this point, the three-level 45 thugs attacked her from different sides, preventing her from moving on.
Air Blade!
Poisonous Art!
Fireball!
The three activated their techniques with much of their energy, sealing the fox's path. 'Shit!' She thought, as she used her physical power to defend herself.
Simultaneously, long-range attacks formed in the air in the three directions where these bandits were, illuminating the area where they were red due to the fireball about 5 meters in diameter!
Pow!
Boom!
One of the fox's tails was thrown in the fireball direction, while her claws created another blade of air, countering the enemy's technique.
Swooish!
However, she could not dodge the ball of black poison that hit one of her paws.
At the same time, the two bandits disappeared into the depths of the cave while searching for the fox's cub. 'No!' The mother internally cried when she saw that the two men from before were no longer in this place.
Spiritual Palm!
Devil's Court!
Pow!
Pow!
Several attacks were released by the bandits, causing the fox to take many steps back towards the cave's exit.
These attacks had been powerful, leaving several wounds on her body. She had one of her legs bleeding, with several black spots spreading over her body.
She then ran towards the group, attacking one of the bandits with everything she had.
"Grrr!"
"Ahhh!"
One of the bandits was attacked in full. The fox's speed was fast. Although she was at a disadvantage, she could still run and attack before the bandits activated other techniques. Her problem was that the group was too large for her to handle alone.
Chaotic Fists!
Chief Gul then activated his attack technique and punched towards the fox, just as it had attacked another bandit.
Pow!
She was then sent flying backward, shortly after hitting a wall of that place, with even more blood coming out of her body.
"Grrr!"
That was an attack that had bewildered the big fox. After all, Gul was already at level 47, and an attack from him would be bad enough for her due to the weakened state in which she was.
...
The fight continued for a few more minutes, with both sides suffering a lot. For the fox, she had already lost one of her paws, while she had significant injuries all over her body, in which it was even possible to see some of its internal organs!
As for the group of bandits, three of them had died during the short time that had passed. Of these three, they were all at level 44, and one of them was the one who had lost his arm at the start of the fight.
As for the remaining five men, one of them had lost one of his legs, while the other two were almost completely exhausted. Gul was the best of the group, who had no significant injuries, just a few scratches.
"Au! Au! Au!"
The little fox's noises sounded when finally the two bandits from before appeared on the spot with the little fox. Upon reaching this point, the two bandits were entirely shocked by the scene in front of them, with the bodies of their companions on the ground and the deplorable state of those who were still standing.
When looking at her mother, the little fox started to cry when she saw how injured her mother was. One paw was missing, there were perforations in various parts of her body, and her head was dyed red. Not only that, one of her eyes was completely swollen, while she was barely able to see.
The mother fox was so hurt that she couldn't see that her daughter was right in front of her. But she could still smell her and determine that she was being held by one of the bandits.
'Damn it! I couldn't stop them!' She lamented in her mind. After that, she said in a strange language. "I'm sorry, my child. Mom was unable to protect you."
"Au! Au!" The little fox replied as she let tears fall from her sad little eyes.
At the same time, Gul coldly smiled when he saw the fox's condition and said. "Hehe, you better stop reacting, or else we will kill your daughter."
Gul did not know those spiritual beasts on the level of this fox were as intelligent as humans, but he knew that she would understand his intentions.
After that, he took a large cell out of his spatial ring and placed it right in front of the moribund fox. "Hehe, come on, get in here. If you behave well, we can leave your daughter with you until the end of the trip. I'm generous, right? Haha."
After hearing this, the big fox slowly entered the cell. She knew that these humans would not kill her daughter since she was probably precious to them. But that did not mean that they would not do anything wrong, since the important thing was that her cub looked good when she was sold in some black market...
But she could still be tortured and healed before that happened. And as a mother, she couldn't take that risk. So, since she no longer had the strength to fight, for now, she could only accept this tragic fate of her and her daughter.
'Human wretches, if I have the opportunity, I will slowly devour you...' She furiously thought as she lay in the cell.
At the same time, Gul took the little fox and got a good look at it. "Haha, you will be the turning point for me!" He said after having a good laugh.
"Au! Au!" The little fox brandished angrily.
"Hahaha, how cute." He then turned to the remaining six men and said. "We will rest for a few hours, and then we will return to the Yellow City. We can't stay here for long, as we don't know if we were the only ones to find this fox."
Upon hearing this, the six men nodded their heads and then began to absorb their medicines and spiritual recovery pills.
Although these few hours were not enough to recover those who suffered the most, it was enough for them to return to the Yellow City. After all, there were not so many dangers in this region, and they could rest properly in their mansion...