CH 289

The Hala Forest flashed brightly. Since it was far away, nobody at the outpost noticed it—with one exception. A freckled girl with pigtails, who was stretching her arms while watching the sunset, suddenly glanced to her side towards the Hala Forest. Her gaze lingered for a few seconds before her lips curled into a smirk.

“Hmm. In the end…” She raised her shoulders with a nasal sound. “It’s a little unexpected. This would have been just the right time to… If he wants to fight after making her stronger, I’ll respect his taste, but it’s something he will never do.” She tilted her head and smiled again, saying, “It’s making me curious.” After stretching, she straightened her posture and continued, “Will the younger brother never be able to beat his older brother, or…”

* * *

By the time the expedition team was in the heart of the Hala Forest, the battle had entered a lull. The roar that ripped through the sky and shook the earth suddenly quieted as if it had been washed away. The surroundings were in a similar state. What used to be a jungle with dense trees and lush vines completely disappeared. As if there was a nuclear explosion, not even a single grass could be seen in the hundreds of meters in radius. The only thing left was the blackened ground that emitted great heat and steam. There was one figure standing alone in the empty, black wasteland.

She wasn’t in a great state either. Her wings were broken or snapped off, and her body was scorched in places. Some of her body parts had completely melted and were no longer visible. After standing for a while, she suddenly opened her mouth. “…Ah.”

She slightly stumbled before quickly correcting her posture and looking down. A man was lying on his back at her feet. The corpse was burnt beyond recognition and resembled a mummy. A battle to the death eventually ended up with one victor. The Sun King, the one originated from the sun and had evolved more than anyone else and even defeated Ismile, the top figure of the Nahla family, was eventually defeated by another king candidate.

“It might have been a little…dangerous,” she murmured and reached down, taking a part of the black corpse and slowly put it into her mouth before swallowing it. Then she gently closed her eyes. After some time, she opened her eyes and let out a small exclamation, “…I see. It’s amazing. What great information. There was a reason why he became so much stronger in such a short time.” She slowly savored the meal and nodded like she had come to a great understanding.

“Too bad.” Then she looked down at his pitiful body. “You must have only gotten a little taste of it. If you had digested this information completely, our position would have been reversed now.” She really seemed like she sincerely felt sorry for him. Soon after, the stems attached to her back split into many sections and stretched out. They attached to the burnt body and began to vigorously consume the corpse. She flinched and shivered sometimes as the amount of information was more than she expected. It wasn’t until she finished absorbing the body that she finally let out a long breath.

“I need to…rest a bit…” She glanced at the deepest part of the Hala Forest and turned around.

* * *

At the same time, a suffocating silence descended upon the cave as scorching heat permeated the air. It was quiet enough to hear people anxiously gulp. Although silence had followed the ear-splitting roar, which seemed loud enough to crumble the cave, no one recklessly acted out. At first, they thought that the king had recovered and was chasing after them with vengeance. However, they hadn’t heard a sound since then, let alone felt a presence approaching.

“What’s going on out there…” Apoline muttered in a tense tone.

“I’ll go out and check.” Hawa stepped up bravely.

Chi-Woo also agreed that they needed to check the outside situation for now, but it didn’t seem right to send Hawa alone, so they decided to go out together. When they went outside, hot steam came rushing. The air seemed to be boiling from the heat, but besides the scorching heat, their surroundings were surprisingly fine. It just looked a bit messy.

—That’s crazy…

But Philip, who had been high up in the sky, came down with a shocked expression.

—It’s gone… Completely gone….

Chi-Woo’s complexion darkened after hearing the situation. The area of hundreds of meters in radius had been completely burnt without a trace. He didn’t know what had happened, but it was clear it must’ve been something extremely unusual and serious. After assessing the outside situation, Chi-Woo went back into the cave and relayed what Philip saw to everyone.

“Sir, two out of the three remaining candidates might have fought. Since one was injured, the other one must have thought of this as a golden opportunity,” Ru Amuh said with a serious expression.

Chi-Woo also thought that this was the most likely explanation. If this was true, the situation did not look good for them. Although they couldn’t figure out the result of the fight at the moment, if one won…there would only be two king candidates left, and one of them was basically on the verge of taking the throne. The Last Dragon had been right. The competition for king in the Hala Forest was reaching its end—no, it might be accurate to say that it was all over now…

‘No.’ Chi-Woo vigorously shook his head. Everything he did was like an expedition; it wasn’t over until they returned safely home. If there wasn’t an opportunity left to reverse this situation, they needed to create one by themselves.

‘What should I do…’ While he was pondering, he saw Evelyn interact with Hurodvitniru.

“Yeah…yes…I see… I’m sorry…I didn’t know your situation well…yeah… I understand now…” Evelyn moved her forehead away from Hurodvitniru and got up with a sigh. Then she quickly approached Chi-Woo and said, “We have to get out.”

“Sorry?”

“Her energy was already at its lowest, and I think she used up a lot of the energy she was saving up for childbirth to attack the Sun King earlier. Hurodvitniru is having a really hard time.”

“But…”

“What happened just now didn’t help. She’s extremely sensitive because the situation is unstable. Even though we don’t have hostile intentions, she seems nervous about us just being next to her.”

Chi-Woo hesitated to leave while Hurodvitniru panted heavily with her tongue rolled out, but in the end, he turned reluctantly at Evelyn’s suggestion to leave her alone for now.

* * *

It was not long before evening came. Once out of the cave, the expedition team first set up a campsite, had a simple meal, and then began a meeting. A variable that couldn’t be ignored appeared in their goal of ‘stopping the appearance of a king in the Hala Forest’—the last fenrir was preparing for the birth of a new god. Recalling the words of the Sun King, it seemed clear that there was some kind of connection between the kings and Hurodvitniru. Therefore, it was necessary to set a new course of action in consideration of this new variable.

First, the expedition’s first success was reaching the deepest part of the Hala Forest and confirming Hurodvitniru’s survival. If the Cassiubia League found out about this, their attitude would certainly change. Since it was for the fenrirs, they would immediately come to their aid. Honestly, the best method was to get Hurodvitniru out of the Hala Forest. Although it was a plan that strayed from their original purpose, saving Hurodvitniru was well worth abandoning their original goal.

However, this wasn’t a plausible plan. Judging from the reaction of the Sun King, it seemed unlikely that the other king candidates would stay still. Above all, Hurodvitniru herself was extremely reluctant to leave; she seemed adamant to stay in the cave even at the risk of her life.

Another way was to ask for outside assistance. However, this was also difficult because there was no divinity in the area. If they could somehow connect their devices, they could message Ismile at the outpost and ask for help, but it didn’t seem likely. In the end, the meeting ended with the conclusion that the problem needed to be solved with the current forces they had without any specific solution. By the time the meeting ended, it was deep into the night.

“By the way, when is she going to give birth?” Apoline asked with a slightly exhausted look.

“I don’t know.” Evelyn spoke softly and slowly reclined her head. “Personally, I think it’ll happen any moment now. It’s probably when the moon—”

While Evelyn was speaking, the whole expedition members felt their dim surroundings suddenly brighten up. When they raised their heads and looked up at the sky, everyone’s eyes widened. A round, full moon rose in the night sky. However, it was a little strange. The silver moon turned red and then blue before shifting between the two colors as if it had gone crazy. Furthermore, the expedition members looked up blankly and found the moonlight around them fading and gradually moving to another place. When they tracked the movement, they were led to a fascinating sight. As if water was being poured into a bottle with a funnel, the shining moonlight flowed and gathered on top of a rocky cliff. Then it flowed into the various caves on the cliff and illuminated the landscape. The cliff ended up glowing with brilliant moonlight, creating a stark contrast with its surroundings. The expedition members became momentarily speechless at the amazing scenery. It reminded them of a sanctuary of the moon where moonlight gathered.

Aooowooooo—! The sound of a wolf howling came from deep inside the cave.

“This is…” Coming back to his senses, Emmanuel looked around in surprise.

“It seems like.” Evelyn, who had been distracted by the sight in front of her, quietly said, “it started.” A being who would become the god of fenrirs and resurrect their race was about to be born.

“Geez, what luck do we have… The timing is crazy. Now, we can’t even go out and ask for help.” Yeriel clicked her tongue.

They weren’t exactly sure, but it seemed the king candidates had been waiting for a specific time for an unknown purpose. And it wasn’t hard to guess that the time they were waiting for was after Hurodvitniru gave birth. Otherwise, there was no reason why they would be protecting what they considered a nutritious prey. Perhaps, as Sernitas did before, the god of fenrirs might be targeted as soon as they were born. If that was the case, it was an extremely cruel future for the fenrirs. The expedition members needed to stop such a thing from happening at all costs. Their already extremely difficult expedition became even more difficult with the added condition of protecting the surviving fenrir.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Chi-Woo smacked his lips and said, “Let’s all go to bed now.” After entering the Hala Forest, Chi-Woo was reminded again of how weak humans were. Besides the difference in their physique, it was a huge disadvantage that they needed to eat, sleep, and defecate to sustain their life and maintain their combat power.

[What if an elephant had the same intelligence as a human?]

Chi-Woo now understood a little bit why Ismile had asked him such a question. Since they couldn’t let their guard down, they decided to divide into two groups of two and one group of three for night watch. Chi-Woo, who was the first one on guard duty with Hawa, fell into thought. He couldn’t just stay still like this. Chi-Woo tried to figure out a way to overcome this hurdle. After agonizing for a long time, he suddenly burst into laughter.

In retrospect, things always turned out this way. Every time something happened, he was always forced to face a life and death crisis with his life on the line. ‘It’s amazing that I’m still alive.’ Although he had gotten much stronger, his situation wasn’t much different from when he didn’t know anything. It would have been great if things went smoothly for once. Why did he have to risk his life and give his all in everything he did? There was nothing that was easy on Liber…

After smiling bitterly, Chi-Woo suddenly felt someone touch his shoulder. Although he had fallen into thought, he hadn’t lowered his defenses. Chi-Woo could detect all movements unless it went beyond a certain range.

“What is it? Ms. Hawa…” Chi-Woo faltered as soon as he turned around because he couldn’t see Hawa.

“What?” Chi-Woo’s face stiffened when he saw Hawa looking back at him from the opposite side of the campsite. He still couldn’t sense anyone besides them. Then did it mean…?

Tap, tap. An unknown stimulus patted his back carefully once more, and Chi-Woo quickly turned around. It was only then that he saw it—a thing that looked like a tentacle slowly moved away as soon as he turned around. It slowly rolled up towards a figure sitting alone on a large branch of a beautiful tree. When their eyes met, the figure was already coming down like flowing water. She landed without even making the slightest of sound. Hawa and Philip, who always stayed next to Chi-Woo, finally saw her.

–…Hey. Chi-Woo.

Philip widened his eyes and hurriedly said.

–Release your seal.

His voice was shaking. Chi-Woo was taken aback by the sudden suggestion, but there was no time to even ask what he meant because after approaching him like a feather, she gently reached out with one hand.

–Release your seal! Right now! Hurry!

Philip shouted frantically with all his might. Hawa hurriedly woke everyone up, and Chi-Woo immediately readied his exorcism mana. The figure stopped walking.

“Hello.” A quiet voice that fit the late night greeted them. Chi-Woo might have been mistaken, but it sounded like it had taken her considerable courage to approach him. Her out-stretched arm stopped in the middle as if she was asking for a friendly handshake.