novelraw Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171. Leaving the Forest (2)
“I ask again. Are ’those’ things your companions too?”
As Rorn bared his fangs with a deep growl, Evan shook his head firmly.
“No, they have nothing to do with us.”
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“Is that so? Then it would be fine to kill them.”
“But the one coming in front is indeed our companion. If you touch him, I will also stand before you.”
“This may not be the forest, but it is still the wolf god’s territory. And yet you dare to threaten me?”
“If my companion is threatened, I will have no choice.”
Rorn and Evan glared at each other intensely, engaged in a battle of wills.
After a tense silence, it was Rorn who finally relented.
“Fine. I will at least respect that attitude of risking your life for a comrade.”
“Thank y—”
“But as I already said, I will take care of the ones following behind.”
Rorn’s gaze was now directed past Gaiard, towards the dot-like beings rapidly approaching from a distance.
In the meantime, as Gaiard landed on the ground, Evan turned to him and spoke urgently.
“Why did you come back here?”
“It’s a long story. More importantly… what is this wolf bastard?”
“This one also has a long story. For now, this friend will be our companion from now on. So, calm down.”
Gaiard glared at Rorn, and Rorn, without paying him any mind, continued to stare at the approaching group.
“That aside, what in the world is that tail following behind you?”
“Tail?”
Gaiard finally looked back.
“A tail, you say……”
The moment he saw the group of vampires approaching from behind, he sighed and pressed his temples.
“Damn them……. So they followed after all.”
“Gaiard, what in the world happened, and where?”
“The situation is complicated. What’s important is that those bastards are of the same vampire race as me, yet they are currently siding with the Empire and slaughtering humans.”
“What did you say?”
At that, Rorn scoffed mockingly from the side.
“Hmph, a vampire who crawls under humans to suck their blood. I don’t know who’s calling who a son of a bitch.”
“Even so, vampires following human orders?”
Evan’s expression hardened as if he couldn’t understand, and Gaiard silently nodded.
It was a sign that what he had seen with his own eyes was undeniably true.
Without any more time for them to talk, the vampire Gento and his followers immediately landed in front of them.
“I was wondering where that foul dog smell was coming from, so you were with the wolf bastards after all.”
“Just as you said, Gento, what a suspicious combination, isn’t it? A vampire who associates with werewolves, not to mention humans.”
They looked at Evan and his party with smiles full of ridicule.
Their hands and mouths were still horribly stained with fresh blood.
Feeling their bloodlust, Rorn bared his teeth and growled as if ready to pounce at any moment.
However, it was Evan who stepped forward, restraining him.
“Are you really moving for the sake of the Empire?”
“That’s right. So you’d better become our food quickly. We’re busy people. It’ll be troublesome if they find out we snuck out.”
“So you’ve even officially become part of the Empire? You, vampires?”
Evan, too, could not believe that vampires had submitted to humans.
He was also an avid reader of the monster encyclopedia, and through that book, which he had read hundreds of times, he knew the nature of vampires.
“What’s the problem with that? As long as we receive appropriate compensation, we don’t care who we move for.”
“Appropriate compensation?”
Evan recalled the face of Tarkin I for a moment and sneered.
“There’s no such thing. Be honest. You’ve simply submitted to the Empire. And you’re just rationalizing it because you can’t admit it, aren’t you?”
“What are you babbling about, you impudent human bastard!”
Gento, who was provoked by Evan’s provocative words, charged forward, and at that moment, Gaiard blocked his path.
—Thwump!
However, in the head-on clash of strength, Gaiard was pushed back.
His strength had still not recovered from the aftereffects of the seal, while Gento, in the prime of his life, was overflowing with power from having consumed an abundance of human blood.
“What’s this? Are you going easy on me because I’m your kin? There’s no need for that.”
“Shut up……!”
“Tsk, there’s no talking to you like this!”
Gento relentlessly pushed Gaiard away.
Just then, from the side, Jack jumped in with a sharp kick.
“What now, this human?”
Gento, as if annoyed, swung his arm with the intent to sever Jack’s leg.
But.
—Pow!
Gento’s arm bent at an unexpected angle, and he was struck squarely by Jack’s kick, flying far away and crashing into the ground.
—Crash!
Jack’s eyes widened in surprise at his own strength.
It was the same for everyone else who was watching from the sidelines.
“It must be thanks to the power the wolf god gave us.”
In that moment of complacency as Jack felt the power dwelling in his body, the other two vampires rushed in quickly from both sides.
“You human bastard!”
“I’ll tear you to shreds and kill you!”
However, Rorn, who had caught their movements, instantly squeezed between them and grabbed their arms with both hands.
—Crack!
With pure physical strength alone, Rorn held the two vampires’ arms, then turned his head to look at Evan behind him and said.
“I heard you proved yourselves to the chieftain. So, I too must prove myself, just like you. My strength.”
Rorn had been waiting for this moment.
He wanted to clearly show the reason why he was revered as the best warrior in his tribe, right in front of the vampires.
It was not due to anyone’s coercion or request, but because of the instinct and pride of a werewolf warrior facing his nemesis, the vampires.
“Alright. Then show me that strength of the tribe’s best warrior. I also want to see the power of the warrior the wolf god praised so much.”
“Yes, watch closely.”
Hearing that, Rorn squeezed his hands, and the two vampires’ arms simultaneously bent and broke.
Next, he forcefully pulled the two vampires into a head-on collision, then slammed them onto the ground.
—Pow!
Blood splattered, and the two vampires’ heads were crushed beyond recognition.
But they soon regenerated quickly and stood up again.
“You filthy son of a bitch!”
“I’ll kill you right now!”
Before they could even finish regenerating completely, Rorn’s hands had already grabbed their faces.
“I won’t even give you a chance to regenerate. A hundred times, a thousand times, I will kill you.”
Rorn mercilessly crushed the two vampires’ faces, rubbing them roughly against the ground.
Their regeneration speed could not keep up with the speed of Rorn’s attacks.
Meanwhile, Gento, who had recovered after being struck by Jack, formed a blood-red spear, filled with rage.
“I will pierce you all and kill you!”
The moment he charged with the spear, Evan stood in his way.
Evan’s sword moved smoothly, twisting the trajectory of Gento’s attack.
—Clang!
The enraged Gento continuously thrust his spear, but Evan, like an elusive wind, narrowly deflected and dodged all the attacks.
“How dare a worm-like human bastard!”
If Rorn had displayed overwhelming physical strength beyond expectations, Evan was toying with his opponent with elusive movements that made him untouchable even when he was right in front of them.
“Who in the world are you? Are you one of the Seven Extreme Stars?”
As Gento asked, unable to hide his astonishment, Evan sneered coldly.
“Seven Extreme Stars? You bastard, you really know nothing. If the one in front of you were one of the Seven Extreme Stars, you wouldn’t even know how you died.”
“Then who in the world are you……”
Before Gento could finish his words, Evan was already under his chin.
“Like this.”
Simultaneously with his words, Evan’s sword flashed like a beam of light, sending Gento’s head flying.
In an instant, blood spurted into the air, and before the head could even hit the ground, Evan swung his sword again dozens of times, dicing Gento’s body.
—Splatter!
Gento’s shattered body turned into a pool of blood, then soon began to gather and attempt to regenerate.
Seeing this, Evan gripped his sword again, but this time, Gaiard quickly stepped in to stop him.
“Are you planning to kill him just like this?”
“No, I don’t intend to kill him. I’ll just inflict enough pain so he won’t die, and listen to what I want to hear.”
“If that’s the case, leave it to me. I have a way to bind him so he can’t regenerate anymore.”
Gaiard approached and placed his hand on Gento’s body, which was regenerating from a pool of blood.
At that, Gento’s body, in the midst of regenerating, collapsed again, and he let out a terrible scream.
“Kuaaah!”
Before Evan, who was curious about the principle, could open his mouth, Gaiard added an explanation.
“There’s also the method of killing him until he exhausts his power, but if you control the flow of blood like this, regeneration becomes impossible. Only extreme pain, as if his internal organs are being squeezed, will remain for him.”
Evan immediately understood the meaning and nodded.
By the time Gaiard had completely subdued Gento in this manner, Rorn had beaten the two vampires he was fighting into a pulp, to the point where they could no longer regenerate.
“Save me……”
—Pow!
He had literally and relentlessly beaten them to death.
“Grrr.”
Gaiard, who had been watching this quietly, opened his mouth.
“That bastard is definitely not an ordinary werewolf. To dispose of two of his own kind so easily.”
“He’s a warrior personally guaranteed by the wolf god, so he should be at least this strong, don’t you think?”
“The wolf god, you mean that Fenrir? The one chosen by that monster wolf……”
Despite Evan’s explanation, Gaiard still looked at Rorn with an uncomfortable gaze.
“Anyway, that guy is on our side now. You don’t have to like each other, but refrain from unnecessary friction.”
“That depends on what that bastard does.”
As Gaiard shot a cold glare at Rorn, Rorn approached with a displeased expression.
“What? Do you have something to say? You mosquito bastard.”
“……”
As the tense atmosphere flowed again, Evan hastily intervened.
“That’s enough, stop! This isn’t the time for us to be fighting amongst ourselves. We have things to hear from this guy. About the Empire and all that stuff he was talking about earlier.”
As Evan strongly intervened, Gaiard and Rorn finally stopped glaring at each other.
“Right. Let’s just do that. Now, is it interrogation time?”
And so, everyone’s gaze turned to Evan.
“If you don’t tell the truth from now on, I will make you wish you could beg me to kill you instead.”
As if to prove that Evan was not just making an empty threat, Gaiard waved his hand.
“Kuaaah!!!”
At that, he screamed, foaming at the mouth with blood as if his organs were being torn out while he was still alive.
“I’ll talk! I’ll say anything! So please, stop!”
“Then talk now! What are you doing in the Empire, and what is the Empire planning now!”
“I will! Ugh!!!”
The vampire Gento began to confess everything he knew in earnest.
The current situation on the continent that he reluctantly spewed out was far more horrific and precarious than Evan had expected.