Chapter 1075 — Book 2: Chapter 272: The night after the sunset (2)
13 min read ·
Swoooooooosh-
A breeze blew by.
Ryan was standing on the stage now that the explosion was gone.
The barrier cast around his hand blocked Eruhaben’s attack.
Pfft.”
Eruhaben looked down at him and sneered.
Ryan looked at Eruhaben and Wiesha behind him.
He then looked around.
“My liege!”
He could also read the anxiety in his subordinate mage's urgent voice.
This unexpected variable before the final execution, before the great deed, was making him anxious.
Ryan opened his mouth.
“Looks like more prey has entered.”
The old mage’s eyes no longer looked worried after hearing that.
‘He's right!’
The number of prey had increased.
Ryan would become an even greater god depending on the number of sacrifices.
‘We can't miss such a thing!’
The old mage figured out what he had to do.
He was not the only one.
Ryan's close confidants immediately started moving after figuring out what they needed to do.
“Capture that old snake right away!”
“Stop the White Snake!”
The mages and knights started moving.
However, their movements were not shabby.
“That’s the one that the Holy Knights and Inquisitors were unable to capture!”
“Don’t put your guard down! That woman is stronger than normal Beast people!”
The soldiers that they had stealthily placed for the great deed started moving in perfect order.
The mages immediately pulled out magic stones and created joint magic circles to prepare to fight the White Snake.
But they didn’t only pay attention to the White Snake.
“Quiet!”
“Anybody causing an issue will face my blade!”
“The situation will be resolved soon! Remain in your designated areas!”
The appearance of the White Snake and the Dragon…
They immediately made movements to make sure the residents did not act rashly because of the chaos.
The soldiers moved followed by the knights.
The Elf Knight, the one who had been guarding the door to the basement, was among the knights until he suddenly stopped.
“What is going on?”
He looked behind himself.
His subordinates were moving oddly slow compared to the other knights.
The Elf Knight scowled.
He walked up to his subordinates.
“Do you all want to die?”
He knew very well why his subordinates were acting like this.
“You don't want to fight the White Snake?”
Most of his subordinates were Beast people.
Although they could not properly go berserk, they were great as knights as their physical abilities were superior to regular people.
"I'm sure you don’t want to exchange blades with your fellow Beasts. But if you don’t you will die. And your family will also die.”
He too was being forced to do this to protect his hometown.
That was the reason he was threatening his subordinates.
“Move. Those around you are watching you right now.”
There were other knights and mages around them. Ryan's subordinates were watching them. If they didn't act properly right now, the aftershock would lead to the death of himself, his subordinates, his subordinates’ families and his hometown.
“Boss.”
One of the Beast knights asked with a stiff look on his face.
“…Do you know what is going on in the basement?”
“…I don’t know.”
He avoided his subordinate’s face.
‘It’s obvious they are taking the Beast people and doing terrible things.’
None of the Beast people dragged down to the basement ever returned.
He didn’t want to know anymore than that about what happened to them. He wanted to feign ignorance.
That’s why he coldly answered the subordinate asking about it.
“I'm sure you all already know enough too.”
Some of his subordinates were being forced to be knights. In order to protect their families.
Others were doing it as they were working for Ryan and wanted to carve out a little something for themselves.
The subordinate who asked the question was one of the ones being forced to do it.
He was someone who had tried to look into what happened to the Beast people in the basement a few times and had to be warned by the Elf Knight.
It made it so that the Beast Knights who wanted to look good to Ryan would ignore him or isolate him.
‘…Something is odd.’
However, the opposing Beast Knights were not trying to do anything despite this guy stepping forward.
No, they were actually full of fear and dread.
He didn't know what they were scared about.
“…I am showing you this because you are in the same situation as me, boss.”
“What?”
“Please see this before you make up your mind.”
“Hey, you little punk!”
He ended up raising his voice.
“Why are you telling me to read a note when the situation is like this-”
He had to flinch after reading the first sentence of the open note.
The note had two pages to it.
< All Beast people here will die today. >
< The end of the festival is your lives offered up as sacrifices. >
He saw something else as well.
The note that came first was on the bottom and the note on top came later.
< In order to become a god, Ryan has been dragging Beast people into a swamp of dead mana while they are still alive to kill them. >
< The third floor of the basement is used for this. >
The Elf Knight could not move.
‘Sacrifices? Ritual? Dead mana?’
This information stated that what was going on there was much worse than anything he had ever imagined. His mind turned white after the truth he had been avoiding this whole time was right in front of him.
< Furthermore, Ryan is planning on offering two Dragons as sacrifices today as well. >
He heard his subordinate’s voice in his ear.
“Based on what is happening right now, I think that these notes are telling the truth. But you see… Boss, do you really think offering two Dragons and us Beast people as sacrifices will be the end?”
The Elf Knight slowly raised his head.
He observed his surroundings.
Finally, he saw his own face reflected in his subordinate’s eyes.
‘This is the last one!’
He heard the voice of his close friend, the Wind Elemental, at that moment.
His close friend, who still listened to his requests but had stopped talking as much after he started working for Ryan, whispered in a low voice.
‘This is the last chance!’
The Elf felt his close friend’s words stab deep into his heart.
The Elf was not the only one to hear that this was the last chance.
“Elder-nim.”
The old man did not answer the voice next to him and read the note in his hand.
He had eventually ended up the oldest in their tribe after being born past the cataclysmic period.
His parents and ancestors had all been hunted down.
They were all half Tigers who could not properly go berserk.
That may explain why he had aged so much despite being a Tiger that should have a long lifespan.
Or maybe it was because he suffered a lot.
The end of that suffering resulted in submitting to Ryan and living a life pretty much as a slave.
Just living that way may have put him at peace, but he had been unable to sleep for a while because of the concern and anxiety he got about the tribe members who were dragged into the lair.
However, he still could not let it show.
‘Because I'm weak.’
It didn’t matter if he died since he was old, but the fact that they were not kicked out of this place despite living like slaves meant that his tribe members were able to settle down here. He could not let them die.
‘That was what I thought, but-’
His old heart made him ponder if that was the right decision.
While everybody had been excited about today's festival, a note had reached him with the wind earlier today.
He received a note with new information one hour later.
These notes talked about everything that happened in Ryan’s lair.
The last note he got had the following sentence on the bottom.
< Today will be the first and last chance for you. >
< Believe what you see and follow me. >
The person giving the info did not tell him to blindly trust him and follow him.
He said to trust what he saw.
However, nothing had happened until 6pm, making the Tiger tribe leader unable to easily make a decision.
However-
“Senior White Snake-”
The White Snake was the last hope and the pride of the Beast people remaining in the world.
Everybody was hush hush about it, but they all believed that she was alive somewhere and that as long as the White Snake was alive, the Beast people would not go extinct.
The White Snake was as large as their hopes.
The Snake that had a body comparable to that of a Dragon gave off significant pressure.
She did not seem affected by the knights, soldiers, and magic spells attacking her.
Baaaaang! Baaaaang!
She dodged spells or blocked them with her body as she moved forward through the explosions.
The old man looked around.
Wolves, Lions, Bears…
He could mainly see predatory Beast people. Some were not, but Ryan controlled all of their lives.
The old man made eye contact with the others who were in similar positions as him as the tribe leaders or similar positions.
‘You guys received it as well.’
He was certain that they had received these notes as well.
It was just that nobody dared to open their mouths.
The amount of suffering they had faced until now was so heavy that they could not immediately make a move based on information they had received just two hours ago.
"What are you doing?”
A sharp tip of a spear appeared in front of the old man at that moment.
A knight glared at him.
“Go over there! Don’t have any foolish thoughts!”
Don't get some unnecessary hope while looking at the White Snake and start running wild.
The old man easily understood the meaning behind the knight’s words.
‘But is it really okay to stay like this?’
He peeked to the side.
“Senior.”
One of the few Tigers who had seen these notes… It was the Tiger who would be the next generation's tribe leader.
The old man could read the anger and passion behind this Tiger’s eyes.
‘But what can we do when we can't even go berserk properly?’
If they were told to fight, they could fight.
But the only ones facing off against Ryan were one Dragon and Senior White Snake. That was it.
Were they enough to win?
Even if they managed to kill Ryan, the Dragon Lord and other Dragons were still there.
‘Wouldn’t we end up being chased down and killed anyway?
But if we don't fight, isn’t it the same?
We will be offered as sacrifices.’
The old man couldn't believe it.
‘How did things end up like this?’
It felt like death was inevitable no matter what he did.
“Did you not hear my order?”
The knight poked at the old man’s hand with the tip of his spear.
“You, what is that in your hand?”
The knight’s eyes clouded over after seeing the note in the old man’s hand.
Baaaaaang! Baaaaang!
They heard endless explosions.
“…Hey, what are you doing?”
The old man saw the tribe leader candidate step in front of him.
He probably did this to protect the old man.
The old man heard voices around them as he looked at the young Tiger's back.
"Are you not moving?”
“Why are these shits suddenly not listening?! “Do you want to die?”
The Beast people were not listening.
Not just the regular Beast people but the leaders, whom the old man knew had also received these notes, were not able to move.
Yes, it was not that they were not moving, they were unable to move.
Being given such information…
Now that they know the truth…
How could they listen to these enemies?
The old man tightened his grip.
The note crumpled.
Even if they were Beast people who could not properly go berserk, it did not mean that they were weak.
Plus, this old man was a Tiger.
The predatory Beast people's basic personalities were fierce.
“Die if we do this, die if we do that, it may end up the same.”
The knight scowled after hearing the old man’s mumbling.
"This old man!”
On the other hand, the young Tiger that got in his way laughed.
“Haha!”
It was a refreshing laugh.
The young man asked.
“Shall we do it?”
The old man remembered the last thing on the note.
< Please be prepared to run. >
Prepared to run?
There was nothing that needed to be done.
They had been on the run for their whole lives. They were always ready to run.
This world was a place where they could barely get themselves out alive. They had no belongings.
Even though they lived like slaves in this place for a few years, it did not mean that their experiences running away had disappeared.
‘Shall we do it?’
The old man answered that question.
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
Let’s try running away.
Shouldn't we do what we can to survive?
However, there was something that would definitely accompany them if they tried to run.
“T, this bastard-!”
Crack.
The young man grabbed the knight’s spear.
Fur faintly started growing from his body as well.
A half berserk transformation.
They needed to buy some time in order to run.
That meant that someone had to fight against the enemy for the tribe.
The old man looked back at the tribe members and shouted.
“We need to run!”
The gazes of the tribe members instantly changed.
He looked around.
The leaders of the other Beast tribes who made eye contact with him…
They also nodded their heads.
The old man nodded his head as well and started to move.
“Move.”
“Senior?”
Plop. Plop.
His body grew larger.
The reason he had been the tribe leader this whole time was because he managed to go berserk to a decent degree and was the strongest.
But his body was old now.
It was only right for him to be the one to buy time for the next generation.
The leaders of the other tribes seemed to feel the same way.
“Keke.”
‘All us old bones are stepping up.’
He couldn't help but laugh.
‘Yes, Senior White Snake is stepping in so it is only proper that us old ones are next to step up!’
Crack!
The spear easily broke as the old man grabbed it.
This was still quite weak compared to the original Tigers, but he was still strong.
“You shitheads!”
The moment the knight shouted in anger…
BEEEEEEEEEP—
There was a sharp noise.
“Ho.”
The old man sighed.
The door to Ryan’s lair opened and troops started pouring out.
Yes, their enemy was the First Star Dragon.
He was the trusted subordinate of the Dragon Lord.
Such a figure had more troops than this old man could have ever imagined.
Soldiers and knights continued to endlessly pour out from the lair.
Screeeech!
The closed gates opened and countless soldiers, knights, and mages appeared from outside the castle.
‘They really were trying to kill all the Beast people.
Well, I guess they need a ton of troops to take down two Dragons.
I guess it will be hell even if we manage to escape out of the castle.’
The old man scoffed.
However, his presence became even stronger.
If the situation was like this anyway-
‘I need to fight more.
I need to create more time for them to run.’
His fist started to move.
Bang!
His fist crashed into the sword the knight had pulled out.
—
Translator's Comments
Tiger Elder. Grandpa. We need more like you in this world. Sadly, author will just cast you aside as a useless side character never to be mentioned again 🙁
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