Chapter 44
A feral-looking man with dark brown hair appeared atop the wall.
He was a lean young man nearly two meters tall, but astonishingly, he was almost naked.
He sat comfortably atop the wall, using his long hair to cover only the important parts of his lower body.
Swish!
Around fifty burly men gathered around him.
They stood shoulder to shoulder atop the wall, all looking much the same.
“Hmm!”
Seeing them glaring this way with uniformly menacing auras, the elephant beastkin men groaned.
It wasn't just a matter of numbers; their physical condition was different too.
Unlike the elephant beastkin here, who bore injuries of various degrees, every member of the wolf pursuit party was in peak condition.
“……Captain, this place is dangerous.”
“What is?”
“The human who lives here is no ordinary human.”
As tension mounted between the two groups, one subordinate approached the young man who had appeared first and spoke cautiously.
Yet the man's pupils were trembling uneasily.
“I know. He raises a hatchling drake. From the looks of it, he seems to have caught a Black Drake too.”
“There is no need to fight him.”
“We are wolves. We even achieved the Great Unification. The force we have here would be annihilated, but if the entire tribe attacked, we could even kill a Black Drake.”
“That is true. But is there any need to make an enemy of him? We may become enemies later, of course, but I don't think we need to do so now.”
“You're afraid.”
The young man who led the pursuit bared his teeth.
No matter how great the disparity in strength was, the man looked as though he had tucked his tail between his legs before even fighting, so the young man glared at him with murderous eyes.
The man lowered his head deeply.
He did not deny it, since it was not a false accusation.
“I'm sorry if I offended you.”
“Then you should die.”
Splat!
Without a moment's hesitation, the young man blew off his subordinate's head.
He had smashed his face with a hand imbued with monstrous strength.
Yet none of the pursuit party seemed startled by the sudden action.
“We need indomitable warriors, not cowards.”
The young man laughed cruelly as he shook the blood from the back of his hand.
He said this while staring directly at the elephant chieftain.
Yet the middle-aged man did not even blink.
“You've grown a lot. It feels like only yesterday you were a brat.”
“You've grown old. You were once the beastkin's greatest warrior, but now you're an elephant without tusks.”
“Even so, I still have enough strength to stomp someone like you into the ground.”
“I'm sure you do. But as you can see, I'm not alone.”
The young man shrugged.
He was confident in his own strength, but he did not overestimate himself.
And wolves never fought alone.
“Of course you'd have to swarm me to fight me. Do cowards like you even know anything about a warrior's pride? You were born cowards.”
“What did you say!”
The young man was enraged.
But the stronger his reaction became, the deeper the derisive smile at the middle-aged man's lips grew.
Such a strong reaction meant that he was admitting it himself.
“Then come at me. Stop yapping like a little girl.”
The middle-aged man deliberately provoked the pursuit party.
He did so to focus everyone's attention on himself.
At the same time, he covertly moved his left hand behind his back and gave a hand signal.
It was a signal telling the tribesmen to flee while he dealt with the pursuit party.
‘Where should we go?’
But despite the middle-aged man's signal, the tribe's second-ranked warrior wore a bleak expression.
He had no idea where they could go now.
“I was thinking the same thing……!”
“What are these?”
The young man, who had been baring his teeth and growling menacingly, suddenly froze.
The chill voice coming from the air made his body flinch instinctively.
At the same time, everyone's eyes turned toward the sky.
Toward the human floating in midair with a hatchling Gold Drake in his arms.
Krrr!
But the hatchling Gold Drake's reaction was unusual.
Murderous intent streamed from its eyes as if it were furious.
The presence radiating from the human was intimidating enough, but the werewolves of the wolf tribe felt their knees buckle when their eyes met the hatchling Gold Drake's.
-Our Whid is angry!
-Because werewolves invaded our home. They entered its territory without permission, so how could it not be angry?
Kraaaooo!
It was exactly as Elestra had said.
Whid was genuinely furious at the unexpected intruders.
Though it was young, it was just as sensitive about its territory.
For Whid, this place was practically home.
Crack!
Whid pulled away from Jade and grew huge in an instant.
It had grown again in the meantime, and its body was now nearly four meters long.
“R-Run!”
“Aaaaah!”
Unlike the blood-covered elephant beastkin, who retreated as if they had no desire to fight, the werewolves could do nothing but wait warily for the young man's orders as Whid charged them.
Since it was obvious at a glance that they were hesitating over whether to fight, it charged without hesitation.
“Damn it! Attack! It's still a hatchling! We can take it…….”
“Graaagh!”
The young man's words did not reach the end.
His entire body had been torn to pieces in Whid's jaws.
Seeing their comrade's body torn in two by a single bite, the werewolves hurriedly beastified.
But even that did not change the result.
Crunch! Crunch!
Not a single werewolf escaped Whid's attacks.
Whether caught in its jaws or beneath its feet, they were all torn to shreds.
Of course, the werewolves did not meekly let themselves be killed.
Even after beastifying, they did not completely lose their reason like lycanthropes, so they attacked Whid intelligently, but unfortunately, their teeth and claws could not scratch its scales.
Kraaaooo!
If anything, that only further enraged Whid.
Eventually, the werewolves, sensing defeat, slowly backed away.
They realized that continuing to fight would mean dying like dogs.
And the same was true of the pursuit captain who had been swaggering in front of the elephant tribe.
“R-Retreat!”
He had both shoulders crushed while blocking Whid's downward forepaw strike, and he gave the order with his arms dangling uselessly.
But Whid did not allow the werewolves to escape.
Kzzzt!
“Its breath! Dodge!”
No sooner did the werewolves show signs of fleeing than Whid unleashed its breath.
It had spewed the signature electric breath of a Gold Drake.
“Aaaagh!”
“Krrk!”
Its breath had grown more powerful along with its body.
It instantly charred the hides of the werewolves, tougher and more resilient than orcs, black.
“Uuugh!”
In an instant, fewer than ten of the fifty remained.
Of those, only one was still capable of moving properly.
But the pursuit captain was effectively incapacitated because he could not use his arms.
-Kill them all! There are more behind us anyway!
-That's quite a lot. Looks like nearly two hundred.
At the spirits' encouragement, Whid delivered the final blow.
It used its long tail to knock the head off the pursuit captain, the only one still standing.
“W-Wait a moment……!”
As the tail attack came rushing in with a terrifying whoosh, the young man hurriedly tried to speak.
But Whid smashed the pursuit captain's head as if it were not worth listening to.
Kraaaooo!
Having slaughtered the werewolves in an instant, Whid let out a victor's roar.
It was proclaiming both that it had defended its territory and that this was its territory.
-Well done, Whid!
-Just as expected of our baby.
The two spirits watched fondly.
Though neither had given birth to Whid themselves, it was like a child to both of them.
“Hmm!”
“At that level, it could probably eat an ogre with ease……”
Meanwhile, the elephant tribe stared at Whid in astonishment.
They had heard rumors that it could grow huge, but they had not imagined it would be that strong.
They especially could not believe that the werewolves' attacks had no effect at all.
Although individual werewolf skill varied considerably, a young man serving as the pursuit captain was far from someone who could be dismissed.
Yet seeing him rendered powerless in a single blow left them utterly horrified.
The chieftain was particularly shocked.
Although its breath still had room to improve, its physical abilities seemed not far behind those of a fully grown drake.
Tap.
Jade stepped down beside Whid as it savored its victory.
Though invisible to everyone else, he had landed after riding Silaphe.
Kkyuuu!
Whid instantly returned to its hatchling form and leaped into his arms.
It wagged its tail like a windmill, as if asking to be praised.
“Good job, Whid.”
Grrr. Purr.
At the gentle hand stroking its back, Whid closed its eyes and purred like a cat.
Jade's praise had put it in an excellent mood.
Seeing Whid like that, Jade smiled and wiped the werewolf blood from its mouth and body.
“Um……”
“I'd like an explanation. I mean, why did you trespass into my home?”
The chieftain cautiously approached amid the warm atmosphere.
But no sooner had he opened his mouth than Jade's expression completely changed.
He glared coldly at the middle-aged man and the elephant tribe.
Grrr.
Whid too bared its teeth at the middle-aged man, as though it had never purred at all.
They had not come looking for a fight, but they had still trespassed into its territory.
As a result, Whid's gaze was savage.
“I will explain everything now.”
Beastkin generally lived longer than humans.
Some races had shorter lifespans, but elephant beastkin could live as long as two hundred years, and the chieftain, who looked middle-aged, was certainly no youngster.
But since they had been the first to commit a discourtesy, the chieftain humbled himself.
He was also in the position of asking for help.
‘Putting everything else aside, he's strong. Incredibly strong.’
They say you can see only as far as your knowledge extends; the middle-aged man had instinctively understood the moment he saw Jade.
He could tell how strong Jade was.
Perhaps one could say he had understood immediately why Jade was raising a hatchling Gold Drake.
At the same time, he desperately wanted Jade's help.
‘He's not an ordinary spirit mage. The aura flowing from his body is formidable too.’
Though Jade wore loose-fitting clothes, the middle-aged man instinctively sensed it.
Jade's physical abilities were also considerable.
The sword at Jade's waist surely wasn't ornamental, so the middle-aged man remained tense but calmly explained what had happened.
“In short, the werewolves are aiming for the Great Unification of all the beastkin in the Great Forest. By killing everyone who refuses to submit.”
“That's right. Judging by their silver fur, I suspect they may be distant descendants of the Silver clan.”
“Someone aiming to become king of the beastkin.”
“They targeted our elephant tribe first. By now, they are probably attacking the lion, tiger, and monkey tribes as well.”
“But do they have the capacity for that? No matter how strong their leader is, if they spread themselves that widely, their losses will be enormous too.”
Jade wore an expression of incomprehension.
He could not understand how the wolf tribe's pack lifestyle was enough to let them attack in every direction like this.
“They have enough numbers. From what I learned, they seem to have greatly increased their numbers while lying low for several years. They also have far more offspring at a time than other beastkin.”
“I see.”
Jade shrugged.
Apparently, Jade knew little about beastkin.
The two spirits perched on his shoulders knew no more.
“There is something I would like to ask of you.”
“You want me to serve as a shield?”
“Yes. I would like you to protect us only until our tribe can stand on its own. If you do so, I will serve you for the rest of my life.”
“You mean you want to become a slave?”
At the sight of the middle-aged man kneeling as he spoke, the elephant beastkin gathered behind him fidgeted uneasily.
But perhaps because he had warned them beforehand, they did not interrupt the conversation.