Chapter 183

From the beginning, the girl preferred to live quietly. She disliked both being bothered by others and bothering others herself. She just wanted to quietly go about her own business and live her life. But the world forced her into trouble.

“This damn world.”

It was annoying and unfair. What had she even done? She was just flying through the sky when some lunatic suddenly picked a fight with her.

The so-called “Emperor of the Sky,” standing tall in the heavens, took a dislike to Yanid, who was flying through the air, and charged at her.

Had this guy been drinking? Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Yanid was flustered. She had been minding her own business when this monster started picking a fight, and her teeth instinctively gritted.

“Ugh!”

But now, she had the strength to fight back. If someone attacked her first, she wouldn’t back down. She grabbed the creature’s beak with both hands as it tried to peck at her and slammed it down.

It didn’t go as planned. Since they were in the air, there was nothing solid to anchor her strength, so despite her power, it didn’t land effectively.

“Bwak, kyaa!”

The massive creature screeched. Its voice was similar to an eagle’s. Despite its ferocious appearance, the sound was oddly cute. Of course, Yanid didn’t find it cute at all.

The monster began to change its mind. It abandoned the thought of punishing this challenger who dared to fly in its presence. This tiny thing was holding its own against its massive size.

It wasn’t exactly winning, but it wasn’t losing either. Its arms were trembling, but so were the monster’s. At this point, size didn’t matter. The monster took the fight more seriously.

“Kkyaak!”

Something resembling a dragon wrestled with claws that looked like they belonged to a giant eagle. It was a spectacular sight, but the only spectator watching this scene felt something other than awe. She was so dumbfounded that she covered her eyes with her hand.

“You crazy woman! That’s a monster!”

“What do you… care?!”

They clashed in the air, growling at each other. One of the monsters residing in the plains, the aerial monster Griffin, roared. With the head of an eagle, the claws of a hawk, and the body of a lion, this massive monster was the king and ruler of the skies.

No one, except for the Phoenix and the Demon King, was allowed to float in the air. Originally, even the Phoenix wasn’t allowed. It was only after being burned to a crisp that it was reluctantly tolerated.

When this tiny creature violated its authority, it couldn’t forgive it and charged. But despite its small size, it was stronger than expected. Even when it tried to stab with its beak, it was blocked by dragon scales, and it clung on with surprising strength.

Their flying abilities were almost equal, but Yanid was much smaller, making her more agile. Feathers were falling off in clumps, and patches of skin were starting to show.

The enraged monster roared. The memory of charging at the Phoenix and having all its feathers burned off, leaving it unable to fly for a while, was still a trauma.

Now, this tiny creature was targeting its feathers, which was infuriating.

Of course, Yanid wasn’t stupid enough to target the feathers. It was just a coincidence that she ended up grabbing them. The girl growled in frustration.

“The flesh won’t tear. Every time I try, I just end up grabbing feathers.”

“Who fights a monster like this?! Use a technique! Or magic! Or let me teach you holy magic! You’re my saintess, after all…”

“I’m not interested.”

“Please, just show some interest!”

“Kyaak!”

Ignoring the Evil God completely, Yanid unleashed a roar. But even the Dragon’s Roar, which was said to make all living creatures tremble, had little effect on the monster.

It did leave the monster momentarily dazed and paralyzed, but once the paralysis wore off, it became even more ferocious.

Yanid also extended her claws to counter. The two seemed like they wouldn’t separate until one of them was dead.

“That roar is only good for briefly stunning physically strong beings! Please! You can’t even handle a monster properly, and you really want to go to the Arctic?!”

“Who says I can’t handle it?!”

Yanid took a deep breath. The malice within the girl seemed to condense in that breath, as a dark, sinister energy swirled in her mouth. The monster finally realized something was wrong and tried to throw her away and flee, but the Dragon’s Breath had already been unleashed.

A stream of dark energy cut through the air, leaving a trail. Everything in its path was swallowed by darkness. It pierced through the Griffin, killing it instantly.

“Kkeeeek!”

A pitiful scream echoed, and the girl panted heavily. The massive body floating in the air crashed to the ground, causing a loud rumble. The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.

“Dragons are truly amazing creatures…”

The Evil God muttered with a horrified expression.

“Even with nothing in their head, they can unleash such power.”

“Shut up.”

The girl snapped and tried to continue on her way, but she frowned when she saw a giant snake blocking her path. The snake’s nine heads stared at her, clearly on guard.

Even among monsters, relationships aren’t great. They only serve one creator, Grimudo.

That Griffin had seen this nine-headed Hydra as nothing more than a juicy piece of meat. It hadn’t attacked only because of the order not to eat each other.

The radiation the Hydra emitted was a threat to ground creatures, but other monsters had some resistance to it. Its pride, its venom, was essentially useless.

That’s why it didn’t die from its own radiation. So, there was no sense of camaraderie. The Hydra never liked the Griffin much anyway.

But regardless, it acknowledged its strength. It was only natural not to underestimate the small intruder who had just killed the Griffin.

“Hiss, hiss!”

The nine heads flicked their tongues simultaneously, gesturing for her to leave. The Hydra, like Yanid, didn’t like bothering others or being bothered.

The order to guard this place wasn’t even directly from Grimudo. It was just a command from Epirna, using the Demon King’s authority. Such an order wasn’t worth risking its life for.

The monster was satisfied as long as Yanid didn’t bother it.

“You’re not thinking of fighting it, are you?”

Oberta, who had turned pale watching Yanid stare at the snake, tried to stop her.

“That’s a Hydra. It’s not that we can’t touch it because it’s strong. It’s because of its venom.”

“Venom?”

“Even a dragon with the most balanced body might not be able to handle that venom… It’s better not to test it.”

She could’ve boldly declared that venom didn’t scare her, but the girl didn’t. She had already expended a lot of energy just dealing with the Griffin.

Using the Breath pushed her body and mind to their limits. Using it consecutively wasn’t wise. And the snake was only on guard, not attacking.

She had just been curious, not feeling competitive. Soon, the girl flew past the Hydra.

She was tired. She wanted to rest.

“…Where did they go?”

But while she was busy fighting the monster, she lost track of the person she was chasing.

Whether they had flown up or gone underground, she couldn’t see them anywhere. Yanid was deep in thought.

*****

After passing the Hydra and running for a while, I created another shelter. Everyone looked a bit tired from running at full speed, but it was worth it.

We had safely passed one of the monster hordes, the Hydra, without a fight.

“It’s still amazing, this Night’s Shelter.”

“Right. It was already impressive when you made the spring, but now you’re making houses too.”

Lady Kisea finally had time to look around the shelter leisurely. This wasn’t the first time. We had made one earlier.

But because we had to pass the Hydra, we had to leave the shelter less than an hour after creating it. So, this was the first time she could properly look around, making it feel like her first experience with the shelter.

The Night’s Shelter had the ability to erase its presence as soon as you stepped a little away from the cabin.

Unless that giant snake, the Hydra, happened to come near us, it wouldn’t be able to find us.

We had run far enough that it wouldn’t reach us quickly. Even if it did, we would notice the vibrations from its massive body moving.

“Found it!”

Roka, who had been rummaging through the yard just in case, found a deer leg in a jar and licked her lips. She had tried it once before and liked it.

Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn’t, so Roka was lucky this time. Lady Kisea had already claimed the basket of wild berries on the table and was munching on them.

“Now that I think about it, the Eastern Plains being a harsh place to live isn’t just because of the climate. Lately, the monster problem has added to it.”

“Right. Those monsters are under orders, so they don’t attack just anyone, but still, living next to something like that can’t be pleasant.”

Lady Kisea, with her mouth full of berries, replied.

“Driving out those monsters and making the plains the land of the Beastmen is one way, but it might be better to just give this land to the monsters and let the Beastmen live alongside humans.”

“It won’t be easy to integrate like that, but with time and effort, it’s definitely possible.”

Moreover, the Beastmen now had two masters: Lady Kisea and Roka. Lady Kisea had even been granted a lordship.

If they could earn enough merit to be granted land, they could create a place for the Beastmen to live. And as masters, there were plenty of opportunities to earn such merit.

They had both the ideal and the realistic power and justification. They would surely succeed. The only question was what exactly she meant by “Beastmen.”

She said Beastmen, but maybe she was only referring to the wolves. Lady Kisea didn’t seem to care much about the other Beastmen we had met, like the Westerners or other tribes.

To us, they were all Beastmen, but from their perspective, they might be completely different races with no sense of unity.

“If that Epirna has taken the position of Beast King, then the tigers must be ruling the Beastmen now.”

“Ah, that’s different. Tigers don’t have a sense of camaraderie. Outside of mating season, they see each other as enemies, not as potential mates.”

This was the first time I’d heard this. The princess who asked was surprised, and so was I.

“Can such a race even exist?”

“But they do exist. That’s why their numbers are low. If there were more tigers and they had a sense of unity, Epirna could have conquered the plains without Grimudo’s power. But she didn’t. Maybe she couldn’t.”

“Then the Tiger Race…”

“Since Epirna took power, they’ve been the most oppressed. Even more than us wolves. There probably aren’t many Tiger Race members left besides Epirna. There weren’t many to begin with.”

If she wanted to become a god, the logical thing would be to first gain the trust of her own kind. But instead, she had exterminated them with her own hands.

Of course, not everyone in the world acts rationally. If Epirna was someone driven more by emotions than logic, it was entirely possible she acted on her feelings rather than her best interests.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

Does Epirna really want to become a god?

“The foxes have submitted to her, and the wolves and bears are barely hanging on, having escaped with only a handful left. Most of their traditions have been lost. The other races have probably just been subjugated. I don’t know what they’re doing now.”

To become a god, you need to gather many followers. But from what we’ve learned so far, Epirna isn’t gathering followers—she’s driving them away.

Or is she trying to gather malice instead of faith to become a Death God? That would be a difficult task, but it’s hard to tell.

‘Maybe we’ll find out when we reach that core area.’