Emperor's harem: Transmigrated with SSS mana talent
Chapter 108: […You wouldn’t]

Chapter 108: [...You wouldn’t]

Kael raised his hand again.

Another Arcanum Vortex spiraled to life, distorting the air with its spiraling hum.

The boar didn’t hesitate.

It dodged with the same arrogant dip of its head, a little hop to the side, and that infuriating smug expression—as if it was humoring him.

Kael just smiled.

Not the nice kind.

The kind that said: checkmate.

The boar landed.

Right into a second Arcanum Vortex, already charged and waiting like a spider in the web.

Its eyes widened.

It twitched.

Then its entire body snapped sideways, mid-air, like a belly-dancing acrobat with a death wish—barely escaping the detonation that tore a crater into the forest floor.

The heat sizzled the edge of its fur.

Smoke curled from its flank.

It skidded to a halt, eyes narrow, breath fogging in the cold air.

Kael stared.

"...How the hell is it moving like that?

I can’t even touch my toes properly."

From the sword at his hip, Yue’s voice echoed, dry as winter bone.

"There’s a difference between a warhorse and a donkey."

Kael blinked.

Slowly turned his head toward the blade.

"...Are you calling me the donkey?"

Silence.

Then a soft, wicked chuckle.

Kael’s eye twitched.

"You just wait, bitch," he muttered under his breath, fingers flexing.

"Next time I polish you, I’m using sandpaper."

The boar stomped once.

The earth cracked beneath it.

Challenge accepted.

Kael sighed, already weaving mana between his fingers.

"Alright. Let’s do it the hard way."

The air grew heavier.

Dark clouds rolled slowly above the canopy, and Kael’s next spell flared brighter, sharper, laced with irritation.

The boar didn’t charge this time.

It circled.

Eyes calculating.

It had figured something out—Kael wasn’t just another magician with fancy tricks.

He was adapting.

Unfortunately... so was the beast.

Kael hurled another vortex—this one slower, wide-angled, baiting.

The boar sidestepped.

Another followed.

Then another.

A barrage of carefully-timed spells, layering across the forest like a closing net.

But the beast kept dodging.

Effortless.

Precise.

Kael’s brow furrowed.

He could end this. He knew he could.

Dreamweaver pulsed at the edge of his thoughts.

He could picture it now.

One movement.

One flash.

That was all it would take.

But he shook his head. Lips tight.

"No."

He’d made a vow.

Kaelion Drenlor, duke of Velmora, did not draw steel.

That man fought with spells.

Precision. Control.

Not blades.

The Devil could use both.

But Kaelion?

Kaelion had lines he refused to cross.

Even if Kael hated him for it.

The spell finally landed.

A direct hit—right across the beast’s backside and tail.

There was a meaty THWACK, followed by a brief, majestic pause.

The boar froze.

Its eye twitched.

Slowly—very slowly—it turned its massive, twitching head to glare at Kael.

A single tear rolled down its face.

Kael blinked.

Coughed.

"Wh—what? That wasn’t intentional."

Yue, silent for a full beat, finally spoke from the blade.

"...You aimed directly at its ass."

Kael looked away, expression flat.

"That could’ve been its spine. You don’t know."

The beast was trembling now.

Not in pain—but in sheer, unfiltered humiliation.

Its eyes locked with Kael’s, wide with betrayal.

The kind of look you give someone who just insulted three generations of your family and stepped on your garden.

Kael smiled, trying to salvage the moment.

"Hey... yeah, that’s the spirit. Now we’re enemies.

Come on! Let’s fight to the dea—"

He didn’t even finish.

Because the beast—already turning—spun on its hooved heels and bolted.

Straight into the forest.

Crashing through trees.

Gone.

Silence.

Kael stood there.

Blinking.

"...Wait. Wait, really?"

He didn’t move.

He didn’t even breathe for a second.

Just stared into the trees like he expected the beast to come back for round two.

It didn’t.

From the sword, Yue’s laughter exploded.

Not graceful.

Not refined.

Just pure, wheezing chaos.

"He ran. You spanked a Rank 2 beast and it ran crying into the woods."

Kael rubbed his temple.

"I did not spank it."

"You spanked it like a disobedient farmhand!"

Kael groaned

He started walking—stalking, really—after the creature’s trail, boots crunching over scorched leaves.

"You better keep track of which direction we’re going," he muttered.

"Because if I get lost chasing this embarrassment, I swear I’m using a steel brush next time I polish you."

Yue’s laughter stopped dead.

"...You wouldn’t."

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

"Oh, I would. I’d do it slowly. In circles."

Yue hissed.

"Bastard."

Kael smirked, grim and tired.

"That’s more like it."

And with that, he slipped into the forest shadows.

Pride bruised. Mana drained.

Determination?

Still irritatingly intact.

***

Kael trudged forward, boots dragging through thick underbrush, breath heavy and sharp.

His coat snagged on a branch. He yanked it free without slowing.

"I swear," he panted, "if that bastard beast doesn’t show up in the next five minutes, I’m eating him raw when I catch him.

Fur and all."

Yue’s voice floated lazily beside him—now in full spirit form, drifting like a ghost with better hair.

"I told you to leave it. We’ve walked miles. Uphill.

Through a forest that smells like wet socks and corpse moss.

Let’s go back to the girls before something dangerous shows up."

Kael snorted, not even sparing her a glance.

"Elara’s Rank 3. Selene’s... Selene. I don’t think they’re the ones in trouble."

He stepped over a half-rotted log, glancing toward the purpling sky.

"Besides, Rank 4 beasts and above don’t hunt till nightfall.

We’re good."

Yue nodded faintly, her ghostly form swirling beside him like smoke.

"...Right.

Hopefully they don’t get ambushed by several Rank 3 beasts at once or something."

Kael stopped mid-step.

Turned.

Stared.

"...Are you with the beast or with them?"

A pause.

Silence stretched.

Yue blinked.

Then raised both hands and said—far too quickly—

"No no, I’m with the girls! I’m with the girls, okay?!"

Kael gave her a slow nod, squinting.

"Mhm."

They resumed walking, still muttering under their breath at each other, half-exhausted, half-sarcastic—

And then Kael stopped again.

His foot hovered above the dirt.

His eyes narrowed.

"...Hold up."

Yue floated closer, her expression changing as she followed his gaze downward.

What they’d dismissed as random indentations at first—

Were not random.

They were footsteps.

Human footsteps.

Too even.

Too deep.

Fresh.