I Contracted a Demon, but It Turned Into My Pet

As Lucian infused mana into the barrier, the magical cage dissipated rapidly. Without hesitation, he retreated to a safe distance, keeping a close watch on the Sabertail Beast.

The sudden disappearance of the cage startled the beast for a brief moment. Then its tiger-like eyes locked onto Lucian, filled with violent intent.

Just being stared at by the Sabertail Beast gave Lucian a chilling sense of pressure down his spine. The aura of a predator like that wasn't something to take lightly.

The beast began to pace, its deadly gaze fixed on Lucian as a low, guttural growl rumbled from its throat.

Lucian never looked away, every nerve in his body alert. The magic array around his waist was already primed and ready.

Man and beast stared each other down for nearly three minutes.

In the end, it was the Sabertail Beast that moved first. This place made it deeply uneasy—it needed to escape. And in its eyes, the only way out was to kill the human standing in front of it. Fast. Before that terrifying female human returned, or it was doomed.

With a deafening roar, it lowered its body, clearly preparing to pounce.

Lucian reacted instantly.

Magic Mobility Harness—activate!

The array at his waist fired Razorbind backward, and the flame thruster, now relocated to his chest, erupted with a stream of fire, launching him swiftly in the opposite direction.

Lucian released his mana perception, allowing him to sense everything behind him. With that, retreating midair using the harness was no problem.

The very next moment, the Sabertail Beast struck. Its massive paw smashed into the spot where Lucian had just been standing, caving in the ground with a thunderous impact and leaving behind a massive crater and claw print.

A normal tiger's paw strike on Earth could easily kill someone. This… was a Sabertail Beast.

The earth trembled. Lucian's pupils contracted. While retreating, a magic circle materialized beneath the beast.

Verdant Rhino's Tier 5 spell—Greatwood Spike!

In an instant, a massive, spiked wooden spike burst up from the ground, aiming directly at the beast's belly. The spike was over two meters thick, the jagged edges longer than a human arm—and the abdomen was a vulnerable point on most beasts. A direct hit would mean serious injury!

But the Sabertail Beast sensed the danger. The moment Lucian cast the spell, it leapt into the air. The wooden spike stabbed only empty air.

"Raaah!" the beast roared in fury, now thoroughly enraged. It charged at Lucian with terrifying speed—far faster than any cheetah back on Earth.

Despite its three-meter height and a body over eight meters long, the Sabertail Beast moved with shocking agility. It covered dozens of meters in a single bound, swiping its massive claw toward Lucian mid-leap.

Lucian twisted midair, feeling the wind of the incoming strike. Without a second thought, he yanked on Razorbind, jerking his body to the side and narrowly dodging the blow.

But it wasn't over yet.

Still in midair, the Sabertail Beast twisted its body with frightening force. Its three-meter-long tail gleamed, suddenly extending into a razor-sharp whip ten meters long that lashed toward Lucian like a deadly blade.

Lucian's eyes went wide. If that hit him, he'd be sliced in half.

He clenched his teeth. A Blastfire Orb array appeared beneath him. Mana surged into it, tripling the force of the flames erupting from it. The fire even began to tint blue.

The explosive thrust sent Lucian flying upward at terrifying speed, limbs flailing as the recoil nearly shattered his spine.

But he dodged it.

The Sabertail Beast's tail whipped through the air, slicing through a massive tree over two meters thick like butter. The cut was perfectly clean.

From above, Lucian watched the tree fall, gulping hard.

What terrifying power. No wonder Lysera had said the Sabertail Beast was more dangerous than the Furious Bear.

Sure, the Furious Bear could also knock down a tree like that—but it did so with brute strength. The Sabertail Beast, on the other hand, had the range, agility, and lethal precision of a blade.

Both could kill Lucian in one strike, but in terms of threat level, the Sabertail Beast was far harder to deal with.

The beast landed heavily, then leapt again, bounding from tree to tree with alarming grace. Within seconds, it was nearly a hundred meters in the air, lunging straight for Lucian.

Lucian panicked. He immediately activated his magic mobility harness to dodge.

Thus began a high-speed chase through the forest—one man, one beast.

Lucian darted between trees using his gear, maneuvering with rapid directional changes. But the Sabertail Beast was just as nimble, bounding up trees and leaping through the forest canopy with near-equal speed.

Lucian's eye twitched at the sight.

This couldn't go on. To maintain distance, he had to constantly fire Razorbind and feed mana into the flame arrays for propulsion. The mana consumption was brutal—far beyond his natural regeneration rate. In less than three minutes, he'd run out, and once that happened…

He'd be dead meat.

He had to fight back.

While still in motion, Lucian began a counterattack, looking for gaps in the beast's movement and launching Tier 3 and Tier 4 spells in rapid succession. But they barely scratched the beast's defenses—only making it even more aggressive.

"RAAARGH!"

The Sabertail Beast let out a deafening roar, a golden ripple emanating from its mouth.

Gilded Roar!

A wave of force blasted outward. Lucian's head throbbed, his vision blurred, but he held on.

Then something terrifying happened—his Razorbind disintegrated in midair!

The Gilded Roar had disrupted its metallic structure through magical resonance. A Tier 3 metal spell like Razorbind couldn't withstand it.

With Razorbind gone, Lucian lost control and hurtled straight toward a massive tree.

At that speed, even with defensive spells, the impact could cripple him.

"Shit!" Lucian's face paled. He tried to cast Blastfire Orb to counter the impact, but it was too late.

Then—Nobu came to the rescue!

"Gujyu!" the little blob squealed. It expanded rapidly, wrapping itself around Lucian like a rubbery shield. They crashed into the tree with a bouncing thud, then rebounded and landed on the forest floor. Lucian was completely unharmed.

Nobu returned to its normal size and chirped at him, as if to say, "Gujyu~ Praise me!"

Lucian blinked in surprise, then hugged the little slime, nuzzling it with joy.

Nobu had just saved his life. Cute and useful—no, essentially cute and useful—Lucian couldn't love it more.

A little angel, for real!

"RAAAGH!" came another roar from behind.

Lucian hadn't forgotten—he was still being hunted.

Then an idea struck him.

"Nobu, can you absorb the Sabertail Beast's magic?"

"Gujyu!" Nobu's body wobbled up and down in affirmation.

Lucian grinned wide.

"Alright then—let's show it what we're made of!"