[Author’s Note] It’s true that the protagonist is a bit weak… They’re not even a month old yet! Balancing things out might have caused some distress for you, dear readers. I was looking at “How much can a regular human adapt if they’re born as a magical beast and roll around in the forest for weeks?” from my perspective, and unintentionally caused some discomfort. As an apology, I’ve written and published another chapter with great effort. I hope you don’t hate Alpha too much… This is all I can do at my current skill level. I’ll strive to improve!
24. Magical Beasts and Long Live the King
071 – Magical Beasts and Long Live the King #2
━ R-Run away!
━ Those scrawny hyena pups, gyaah!
The once rowdy festival had turned into a bloodbath in the blink of an eye.
Hyenas were rampaging everywhere, biting into the necks of the crowd, celebrating a bloody festival.
【What are they after? Millennia-old snow?】
Lao-Hoo, who had been quietly keeping his mouth shut, finally spoke up with a heavy tone.
Suka snorted dismissively.
━ I have no interest in that dry grass. What I want is everything that should have been mine!
【Are you aiming for my neck? I like that tenacity, so I’ll allow it.】
With that, King Lao-Hoo rose from his seat.
Just that simple act caused the atmosphere to thicken, making everyone hold their breath.
━ Kihih, hehe.
━ Hehe…
The hyenas looked at each other blankly, shivering in fear.
Their short tails drooped lower and hid between their legs.
The mere sight of the forest king rising made these unwelcome guests panic and lose their spirits.
━ An old beast whose eyes cannot see! Don’t be afraid! Once today passes, we will leave this cursed wasteland and dwell in this fertile land!
Suka, undaunted by Lao-Hoo’s overwhelming presence, growled back.
But already, the hyenas, crushed under the aura of the forest king, were trembling, unable to move even a hair.
━ Worthless creatures.
Displeased, Suka growled as he swiftly moved through the beasts, leaping into the air.
His front paw aimed squarely at Lao-Hoo’s neck.
━ d*e, coward!
With a thunderous roar, Suka’s paw struck Lao-Hoo’s head.
【Kyaah!】
Perhaps because he couldn’t see, Lao-Hoo was unable to evade the attack and let out a massive scream.
Reeling while clutching his forehead, Lao-Hoo contrasted with Suka, who landed gracefully and shouted towards the surroundings.
━ Behold! The setting sun of the old king! History changes today!
━ Kihih.
━ Hehe!
Feeling invigorated by Suka’s opening attack, the hyenas regained their spirits and charged at the beasts.
━ What in the world is happening?
I swatted away the rampaging hyenas with my front paw.
Yet even as they had their flesh and teeth torn off, the hyenas quickly rose again and came at me.
How could those with such dried-up bodies possess this kind of strength?
However, as I watched the brown fur of the hyenas soak up the red, I began to vaguely understand their resilience.
━ You guys are just like me.
━ Hehehe.
The hyenas were frothing at the mouth, as if on some kind of drug.
Their bloodshot eyes seemed to simmer with rage and resentment over everything they couldn’t have.
━ Your stubborn life ends today, Lao-Hoo!
Suka charged towards the massive tiger Lao-Hoo.
He skillfully dodged Lao-Hoo’s swiping paw, inflicting effective injuries to Lao-Hoo’s neck and forehead.
━ We, we’re starting a fight to change the forest’s owner…! I’ve never seen anything like this!
Leaf trembled behind me, hiding.
‘There are just too many crazies.’
As I surveyed the endless stream of hyenas pouring out from the bushes, I frowned.
I pulled out the longest of the spikes growing on my back and handed it to Leaf.
━ Jab it wherever you see fit. You protect your own body.
━ U-Okay!
━ Kihih!
Hyenas gone wild came at us from all directions.
‘Do others see me like that too?’
Watching the hyenas that continued charging at me, despite their bones crunching and bl**d spewing, made me frown involuntarily.
I hadn’t realized it when I was doing it, but seeing others in a frenzied state left me speechless.
━ Hey, be careful not to get bitten or scratched by those guys.
I warned Raccoon Leaf to avoid getting rabies.
Leaf nodded as if understanding what I meant.
‘Nothing in this west goes according to plan.’
Having eaten various meals and gained some abilities, I felt I’d already benefited enough.
Once I dreamed of being the king of the west, but seeing this chaotic festival made those thoughts disappear entirely.
‘If I stay here much longer, there’ll be nothing left of the king or anything else.’
I quickly made a decision.
The conclusion I reached was to escape this crazy festival and head to the little wooden house in the south.
Everyone was caught up in their bloody battles with the hyenas, so no one seemed to bother about me.
Even if I ran away like this, nobody would say anything, and no one would notice.
━ Kihih!
A hyena lunged at me from my blind spot.
It must have seen my lapse in thought as an opportunity.
As I swung my front paw, my tail moved on its own and struck the hyena’s head.
━ Keek!
The hyena that had lunged so many times finally seemed to have broken its neck, wriggling on the ground and unable to rise again.
‘Oh, my tail is pretty useful!’
Vroom, vroom.
Noticing my praise, my tail began to wag back and forth like a playful puppy.
━ Get lost, you little brutes!
I bellowed at the attacking hyenas.
━ Hehe…
━ Hehe.
Seeing a companion brutally killed, perhaps out of fear or the roar drowning them out, the hyenas’ frenzy slightly lessened.
I seized the chance and turned to Leaf.
━ Hey, Leaf. Isn’t there a way south?
━ Ah, I know…! Hic!
Leaf was deftly using the long spike I had given him to jab at a hyena’s head.
The hyenas collapsed as if hit by acupuncture from the miraculous healer, twitching and unable to get back up.
━ Wow, impressive.
His jabbing skills were so fast they were almost invisible, suggesting that this raccoon had a knack for using others as makeshift weapons.
━ Tell me the way south. I’m getting out of here.
━ Uh, okay! We need to go this way!
But the continuously charging hyenas kept blocking our path.
It wasn’t just the hyenas that were going wild.
━ M-My vision’s spinning!
━ I’m so hungry…!
The beasts bitten by the hyenas were also tainted red and seemed dazed.
They were fighting not only the hyenas but also biting and ramming into each other.
‘Is rabies spreading? Isn’t the contagion too fast?’
As Salome and Ilgast had said, rabies could take months to manifest symptoms after getting bitten.
Perhaps they were wrong, or maybe a new type of disease had emerged.
‘Don’t get bitten or scratched. It’s just like characters from a horror movie!’
I kept thinking of ways to avoid the hordes of crazy beasts.
Scanning my surroundings, I spotted a tall tree and bit Leaf by the scruff of his neck.
‘Let’s escape up the tree!’
The tree was taller than I expected, but I quickly climbed up without hesitation, thanks to my ample practice in tree climbing.
━ Kihih!
━ Hehe!
The hyenas looked up at me as I perched in the tree, licking their lips.
Fortunately, they couldn’t climb up, lifting their paws only to falter again.
I held my breath and hid among the leaves.
Leaf, like me, huddled behind a branch laden with foliage.
━ Kihih.
━ Hehe.
The hyenas looking up at us seemed to have lost interest in me and joined the fray with others.
━ Let’s just hold on and watch the situation for a bit.
I quietly suggested to Leaf, who eagerly nodded in agreement.
━ That sounds like a good idea. There are too many of them. If we wait, they’ll self-destruct soon.
Watching the chaos from above, I thought when everything calmed down, I’d sneak down the tree and make a run for it.
━ .
Thud! The tree shook violently.
Not just the tree, all the bushes in the west garden trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
【Hey kiddo, is that all your power?】
Lao-Hoo’s massive paw slammed into the ground.
With a mere swipe, the earth crumbled and a deep pit formed.
One hit from that swipe would surely reduce me to a mess of nothing.
While dodging Lao-Hoo’s relentless swiping attacks, Suka roared in frustration.
━ You’re nothing but a blind beast…!
【Seeing isn’t everything. The scent of a coward is so pungent that I can sense where you are even without sight.】
━ You won’t have long to keep attacking! There’s no way your wounds will heal!
Suka deftly weaved between Lao-Hoo’s paws, targeting his neck and face.
The thick tiger skin of Lao-Hoo continued to tear, bleeding profusely.
【Indeed, healing is painfully slow. Just like your father’s talent. The wounds you inflicted on me from that encounter continue to sting.】
Lao-Hoo raised a paw to touch his eye area.
His distant eyes, the scar across his forehead, had turned red again.
bl**d streamed from there and ran down his blurred vision.
It looked almost like he was crying bl**d.
━ So, it was the black lion Suka that gave Lao-Hoo of the west forest his wounds.
Raccoon Leaf peered through the branches, watching the duel between Lao-Hoo and Suka.
I was similarly intrigued by their prowess, peeking through the gaps in the leaves to observe their every move.
━ Do you know about Suka and Lao-Hoo?
As I asked, Raccoon Leaf carefully spoke without taking his eyes off the fight.
━ I don’t know much, but I’ve heard from Lady Eve that a black lion with a magnificent mane ruled over the west forest…
━ The former owner, huh.
If that’s the case, then this fight seems to be between the former owner’s descendant—likely a son—and the current owner, Lao-Hoo.
Suddenly, a loud roar of pain erupted!
Lao-Hoo’s paw finally struck Suka’s body.
Suka flew a distance, spitting bl**d, obviously in agony.
【Same talent, but the power difference is staggering. How can a black lion’s cub be less than even a cat?】
Lao-Hoo taunted, his lip curling up.
Suka, writhing in pain after being knocked away, spat out a mix of bl**d and saliva onto the ground while growling back.
━ Don’t speak freely about my father!
Suka’s dark fur began to stain red.
Foamy white appeared at his mouth as his mane bristled in a threatening manner.
【Ah, the scent of deep frenzy is thick. Did you finally touch the taboo? Your father would be ashamed of you.】
━ Shut up!
Suka charged at Lao-Hoo with a roar.
【In haste to seek d*ath, I’ll make sure to send you to your father without any suffering.】
Lao-Hoo’s fierce paw shot down toward the charging Suka.
━ A-Aaap!
At that moment, a cry rang out, causing Lao-Hoo’s paw to freeze in mid-air.
Taking advantage of that opening, Suka struck Lao-Hoo’s eye.
【Kyaah!】
Lao-Hoo screamed loudly in pain.
bl**d erupted like a fountain from his now distant eyes.
That was undeniably a fatal injury.
━ Lao-Hoo, you also seem fond of your own cub, huh?
【What have you done to my daughter Mao!】
━ Ha.
Standing on top of Lao-Hoo’s head, Suka grinned coldly.
━ I wouldn’t say it’s cowardly. It’s merely doing to you what you did to my father and me.
【You little…!】
Lao-Hoo growled ferociously.
The ground shook, and the entire forest trembled with his powerful roar.
━ My king! I’ve captured Lao-Hoo’s cub!
━ A-Aap…!
From afar, someone appeared, biting the scruff of a massive cat.
I recognized it to be the black puma, presumably named Gallum.
The massive cat, Mao, bitten on the neck, trembled in terror with its tail tucked between its legs.
━ Well done, Gallum. You and the shadow panthers will sit at my side in this new era.
【You b*stard, Suka! My daughter Mao has nothing to do with this!】
━ Shut up, Lao-Hoo! How dare you utter such nonsense! It’s all on you! Remember that fateful day!
At Suka’s growl, Lao-Hoo let out a deep sigh.
【Huh, that was an accident. It was my immature mistake. Let Mao go. I’d gladly give my life for her!】
Lao-Hoo softened his previous roaring attitude and took a lowered stance.
‘What’s that about?’
His demeanor made me tilt my head in confusion, as it was unbecoming of a king.
━ Let her go? No way!
With rage bubbling from deep within, Suka spat out his retort.
━ Your daughter will face the same fate as me. The anger of having to feast on my father’s corpse in a forsaken wasteland…!
The black lion, now stained red, began to contort grotesquely.
Crack, crack.
His bones and joints twisted with frightening sounds.
━ My, my fury…!
Somewhere, there was a clear and melodic sound of a drop.
It jolted my mind and sparked a sense of déjà vu.
━ This is bad!
Watching the situation unfold, Leaf shot his head back from the bushes and yelled frantically at me.
━ Th-the lion is starting to become a ghost…!
