Chapter 29~ Wolf Territory
The wolfmen were caught completely off guard. As seasoned night raiders, this was the first time they’d been the ones getting ambushed. With the beastmen’s IQ, they wouldn’t know what strategy even meant. Their warfare was all about brute force and aggression, never about tactics.
Even if they didn’t have the strength of the beastmen, a little cleverness could make these hefty opponents suffer.
In their own territory, the beastmen were invincible. Little did they realize this time they’d bitten off more than they could chew.
The smell of scorched fur filled the air before they realized they had set themselves ablaze. With flames on their backs, they wailed and rolled on the ground.
At that moment, they looked more like wild dogs than wolves.
Aistride swung her blade mid-air again, and silver blade flames enveloped the wolfmen, leaving them burnt to a crisp. Their supposedly impenetrable fur became their downfall, spreading the flames across their bodies.
The burning wolfmen rolled on the ground like giant fireballs, screaming in agony. They instinctively sought a stream. But in this wild land, the rain had almost stopped. Where was the water they needed?
Beasts have a natural fear of fire. Some wolfmen abandoned their comrades and fled for their lives.
Tillysha extended her hand to test the weather. The heavy rain had ceased, leaving only a few scattered droplets on her white palms.
Glancing back at her teammates, she had originally intended to drive away the enemy without waking them, but it seemed impossible given the ruckus.
Awoken from slumber, everyone was on high alert. The rest of the night would now require everyone taking turns to keep watch.
Not everyone was awoken by the commotion, though.
Back in the tent, a certain pink-haired little kitten curled up in the blankets, her breathing steady, her cheeks flushed red, looking like she might start snoring bubbles at any moment.
Seeing this, Tillysha couldn’t help but recall the image of a kitten curled up by a warm fireplace in winter.
How could Wenfu be sleeping so soundly through all this commotion?
Tillysha couldn’t help but chuckle wryly.
This was Ruglien, where someone could appear frightened one moment and sleep as if worry-free the next.
Without waking Wenfu, the group began taking turns on watch. Tillysha and Aistride volunteered first, as elves required little sleep anyway.
Princess Filisia also claimed she couldn’t sleep anymore. The three of them sat outside the tent, chatting casually while analyzing the situation.
Yimi hadn’t fallen asleep either, but she didn’t want to take watch. She was busy reading a book curled up in her blankets.
“Are the dark forest dwellers wolfmen?”
“Likely. Our current position is already close to the frontlines. It’s not surprising for wolfmen to infiltrate this far.”
Using the map provided by the beastmen, Tillysha marked their current approximate location with a red circle.
“It wasn’t us that these wolfmen were initially targeting. They were probably headed for the beastmen.”
“These wolfmen aren’t like the beastmen. Ignoring their intelligence, they at least know how to carry out night raids in small teams, leveraging their night vision advantages to strike the beastmen’s weak spots.”
“Intelligence-wise, they surpass the beastmen.” Tillysha paused and looked toward Aistride and Princess Filisia.
“Isn’t there something strange here?”
“Strange?” Princess Filisia was somewhat puzzled, but Aistride knitted her brows slightly.
“Wolfmen’s fighting capabilities are evidently stronger than the beastmen. Yet they’re stuck in a stalemate with them, without gaining much advantage.” Aistride calmly shared her observations, her attention to detail not lagging behind even the “heavenly child.”
“Exactly, that’s it.” Tillysha pointed toward the frontline.
“Wolfmen are more intelligent and better tacticians than beastmen. Besides, the beastmen chieftains are fighting on two fronts and must devote much energy dealing with the slave uprisings. Why are they still in a stalemate with the beastmen?”
Reminded, Princess Filisia also noticed the issue.
“Is it possible that the wolfmen aren’t fully committed to the war against the beastmen?” Tillysha voiced her speculation.
“Not fully committed? Then could it be that…”
“The wolfmen might have encountered the same problem as the beastmen.” Aistride understood Tillysha’s point and voiced it herself.
“…If that’s the case, it could also explain things.”
Still.
Princess Filisia felt something was off but couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“It feels a bit too coincidental.” Tillysha continued, pinching her knee.
“When both wolfmen and beastmen reveal the same problems, the forest separating them is obliterated. War erupts, exacerbating these contradictions to the extreme, leading Ruglien into utter chaos.”
“But wasn’t the forest destroyed by Tillysha?” Princess Filisia looked at her.
“That’s correct.” Tillysha too felt it was excessive worry. After all, she had willingly destroyed the forest with intent. It couldn’t have been planned by someone, could it?
And who could have the means and foresight to ruffle all of Ruglien? Not even her at her peak could achieve this.
“Do you remember the underground laboratory we found when we first entered Ruglien?” Suddenly, Tillysha recalled something.
“How could we forget?”
“That underground laboratory is clearly not something that can be created with the primitive tribal techniques of beastmen or wolfmen. Including the monster stitched together from body parts of various races.”
“Who knows? It might be another dark creation of the Demon Race. Outside the Demon Race, I can’t imagine any race cruel enough to extract the hearts of so many Light Races for specimens and experiments.” Princess Filisia declared decisively. The bloody and terrifying images she recalled still made her queasy.
Her doubts were justified. The 400 blank years of the Demon Race’s occupation of Ruglien left no one knowing what exactly happened within.
“I think the builders of that laboratory are likely closely related to the current situation in Ruglien.”
“The demons who built that underground laboratory must have an IQ at least on par with humans, or even higher. None of the Demon Races we have encountered so far meet this criterion.” Princess Filisia paused.
“The culprit is likely located deep within Ruglien, the now ruined former Imperial Palace.”
“The one who dwells there would be the Demon King.” Princess Filisia seemed very confident. “If we could k*ll the Demon King, the world would surely return to its past peace and harmony.”
“…..” This sentence caused both Tillysha and Aistride to fall silent.
“Does killing just one Demon King restore the world’s order back to normal?” Tillysha suddenly asked. “Is it that simple to save an entire world just by destroying one person?”
“There has never been someone with enough power to dominate an entire world.”
“Isn’t that true? No matter the right or wrong of the uprising armies, they have degenerated into the Demon Race opposing humanity. As long as they exist, the Light Races will never find peace.”
Tillysha shook her head.
It wasn’t that simple.
Her intuition told her it was far, far more complex.
On the morning of the next day, Wenfu stretched like a cat, tail upright, cat ears erect, her eyes shimmering with tears after sleep.
“Morning! Eh? Everyone’s already up?”
Seeing only herself left in the tent, Wenfu quickly dressed in her shoes and trotted outside, to find the team already setting up a pot to cook breakfast.
“Eh! Wait, Filisia sister, stop that!” Seeing Filisia reaching for the cooking utensils again, Wenfu panicked and quickly took over.
Everyone had their role. Aistride gathered firewood, Tillysha set up the pot, and Wenfu stopped Filisia from helping.
The only one really slacking in the whole team was a certain Golden-haired Loli who sat there reading a book without a care in the world, waiting for her meal.
“Did you sleep well last night, Wenfu?”
“Mm-hmm, super good, meow.” Wenfu’s rosy complexion suggested she indeed had a peaceful night, oblivious to the fact her cat life nearly ended.
“Naughty kitten.” Tillysha couldn’t help but flick Wenfu’s nose.
“Woof! What’s so silly meow!” Wenfu, holding her nose in displeasure, glanced down and noticed numerous burn marks and burnt fur on the ground.
“Eh? Tillysha sister, what are these?”
“Nothing, look at this.” Saying that, Tillysha pulled out a feather toy from her chest and dangled it in front of Wenfu.
“Don’t treat me like a kid!… Meow meow!” Despite looking away several times, Wenfu couldn’t help but reach out with her paws for the teasing feather toy.
As the feather toy swung back and forth, Wenfu’s curiosity was piqued, completely forgetting about the burnt fur on the ground.
Elves may not eat breakfast, but Aistride seemed keen on the breakfast atmosphere, eating a bit even though she wasn’t hungry.
After a simple breakfast, the Brilliant Sun and Moon team packed up the tent and continued their journey.
“Plop!” A not-so-soft object was suddenly thrown at Yimi’s head.
“Tillysha, what was that for?” Yimi looked at the culprit with a deadpan expression, only to find a brand-new notebook thrown her way.
“Diary keeping must be done daily. I entrust you with recording the team logs.”
“Is that any way to ask for help? Furthermore, why me?” Yimi seemed very dissatisfied with this division of labor.
“Because you’re the Heaven’s Child. Besides, when setting up camp, you kept slacking off.”
“Brilliant Sun and Moon doesn’t support idleness.”
“……Che.” Grumbling unhappily, Yimi plopped open her notebook, chewed her pen, muttered “I’ll eventually have to deal with you,” and then began the sound of her pen scratching against the paper.
In the seemingly lifeless wasteland, a few cylindrical buildings suddenly appeared, accompanied by the sound of flowing rivers.
Tillysha stopped in her tracks, and Yimi looked up.
No reminders were necessary; the sounds of battle were clear even to normal ears.
The circular buildings were surrounded by a circle of sharpened tall wooden stakes. A hastily made white cloth banner floated above the tallest cylindrical building, resembling a surrender flag.
On second thought, the beastmen probably didn’t have the technology for dyeing, so this banner was likely just for show.
This tribe had access to a stream or river, located upstream for easy water retrieval, and only the beastmen chieftains could have established such a settlement here.
However, it appeared they were facing some difficulties.
The hilltop hosted makeshift fortresses constructed by beastmen, while swift black shadows had already reached the halfway point up the slope. Facing the overwhelming attacks of the wolfmen, the beastmen were clearly beginning to falter.
Bodies kept rolling down the slope, both wolfmen and beastmen alike. Beneath the slope, a thick layer of stagnant bl**d suggested the battle had been ongoing for quite some time.
They seemed to have stumbled upon a live broadcast.
As they watched the brutal hand-to-hand combat on the hill, Yimi calmly documented it in her notebook.
Including the current state of Ruglien and her encounter with the new breed of Demon Race, she didn’t miss a single detail.
“Should we, you know, lend a hand?” While everyone’s first instinct was to steer clear of this mess, Princess Filisia licked her lips, indicating she wanted to join the fray.
Evidently, last night had been insufficient for her.
Wenfu was already trembling in fright.
“This isn’t our concern.” Tillysha shook her head. She wanted the warring parties to resolve their conflicts peacefully, but that seemed impossible.
“Let’s proceed. Advance into the wolfmen’s territory and see what lies at the end of it.”
Upon hearing that, Wenfu exhaled in relief.
Thus, they sidestepped the main battlefield and sneaked into the wolfmen’s territory via a perilous hillside path.
The beastmen were not particularly clever, much less so than goblins in trickery. They probably overlooked this critical strategic location.
Over this mountain, they officially entered the wolfmen’s territory.
Contrary to the desert-like expanse of the beastmen’s land, here they saw green fields for the first time inside Ruglien. The vast plains even featured a few rabbits.
Compared to the barren beastmen lands, this place was practically a paradise.
As they stepped into a forest, Tillysha once again felt the feedback from nature after a long absence.
Yet soon, she sensed something amiss.
Not just her, but also Yimi and Aistride’s faces showed a hint of doubt.
Why were there so few animals inhabiting this forest?
There were just a few, mostly hiding deep within the woods. The entire forest was eerily quiet and devoid of life.
