On a dark night where even the moon was obscured by clouds and visibility was limited to the flickering torchlight,
Rudell and his companions managed to arrive at the Winter Great Tribe’s fortress.
“Shaman! Long time no see! Good to see you!”
“It’s been a while, how have you been?”
The guard stationed at the outpost in front of the fortress recognized Rudell and greeted him warmly, to which Rudell responded with a light smile.
“What about the people behind you? Outsiders?”
“They’re my friends. Is it okay for them to come in?”
“Friends of the Shaman are friends of the tribe! They can enter!”
For the Winter Great Tribe, Rudell was like a benefactor and a brother.
Even the chief, Kahlan, referred to him as a brother, so one can imagine how the common tribesmen looked at him.
Just then, as Rudell, accompanied by his companions, was about to enter the fortress enjoying the guards’ warm welcome,
“Wait, what’s that behind you?”
With a loud mechanical noise, a gigantic shape emerged from the darkness.
Upon seeing the gleaming pale metal of the mechanical giant, the guard asked.
“Oh, that’s also a friend of mine. Don’t worry too much, there’s a person inside.”
[Ah, hello…]
With Rudell’s answer, Silphier replied in a voice mixed with mechanical sounds…
“Steel armor. Looks strong. You may pass.”
Realizing the identity of the mechanical giant, the guard said this and stepped aside.
However…
“Wait, hold on!!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Wha, what on earth is that behind you!?”
Once again, the guard called Rudell and his party to a halt. Rudell, tilting his head in confusion, glanced back and let out a soft “Ah.”
“I caught it on the way here.”
“You said caught it!? Isn’t that a Thunder Fang!!”
It was none other than a massive sleigh made of magic-created ice, with a monstrous beast resembling a wolf piled onto it like a sack.
It was indeed the Thunder Fang.
“Yes, is there a problem?”
“I’ll go get the chief! Please wait a moment!!”
With that shout, the guard dashed into the fortress, leaving behind other guards who wore expressions of disbelief.
And Rudell tilted his head at the scene.
Their reaction was so far from what he had expected.
Rudell had thought he would receive at least a warm welcome, if not a festival, just like when he had defeated Kahlan.
Ludell thought he would receive at least some respect.
“What the heck, it’s freezing to death out here! How long do you plan on keeping us standing like this?”
“Let’s just wait a moment.”
If even the guards are reacting like this, it must mean something special is happening.
In response to Leje’s words, Ludell grabbed her hand, and even though Leje had a displeased expression, she silently followed and waited.
Then, after a brief moment…
“Finally, my brother, we’ve arrived!”
“Nice to see you, Kahlan!”
Kahlan, who was half again as large as other Nord warriors, stepped out from the fortress, and Ludell lightly bowed his head in greeting.
“Oh, Mother Earth! Incredible! I can’t believe you caught Thunder Fang.”
“What the heck has this guy done now?”
“Thinking about everything this guy has done to us makes my teeth clench. Dozens of warriors have lost their lives to him.”
“That much, huh…?”
The combat capabilities of the Nord warriors were not inferior even when compared to seasoned adventurer parties. The fact that dozens of such warriors had fallen prey to this beast indicated just how cunning and strong a predator it was.
“Can we go in now?”
“That’s a bit tricky; even for you, letting such a creature into the fortress without killing it is out of the question.”
“Umm…”
Ludell let out a low groan in response to his firm head shake.
It was understandable.
No matter how subdued, a monstrous beast is still a beast. If it regained its strength and rampaged in the middle of the village, it would be a disaster for the Winter Great Tribe.
“Don’t worry! If it goes wild, we’ll subdue it!”
“Still, it’s not possible. As chief, I have an obligation to protect the safety of my tribe.”
Leje spoke confidently, but Kahlan still shook his head.
In fact, he was a chieftain leading a tribe and had past experiences with Thunder Fang that made this understandable.
“Come on! Just how strong do you think we are? Are we really that scared of such a beast?!”
“Enough, Leje. It can’t be helped.”
As Leje shouted in frustration, Ludell raised a hand to calm her down.
And so, after a moment of deep pondering, Rudell looked at Kahlan and asked.
“Then, setting up a camp outside the fortress is okay, right?”
“Umm…”
“I’ll guarantee the safety of the fortress. This guy won’t run amok here.”
That’s a bit troubling…
Kahlan’s expression seemed to say just that, but Rudell said it with conviction.
In fact, even if Thunder Fang had fully recovered, Rudell could easily subdue the almost-dead Thunder Fang by himself, so it was only natural.
“Alright, but that monstrous beast must not rampage here.”
In the end, Kahlan, who had been making a troubled face at Rudell’s words, let out a short sigh as if he had no other choice…
“Thank you, Chief.”
“You guys, bring supplies to the brothers.”
With Kahlan reluctantly agreeing, Rudell responded with a bright smile, and Kahlan spoke to the warriors around him and headed towards the fortress.
“So? What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to study this guy. We’ve got some time, after all.”
In response to Leje’s question, Rudell looked at the almost-dead Thunder Fang and answered.
According to Kahlan, it wasn’t easy to meet the Chief of the tribe either.
True to the Nord tribe’s reverence for strength and sensitivity to tradition, even for a tribe leader like Kahlan, there were complicated procedures to meet the Chief.
Moreover, it seems that even with all that, the audience could be refused depending on the Chief’s mood.
Since it would take a few days to get permission through those procedures, Rudell planned to investigate Thunder Fang in the meantime.
The incomprehensible behavior exhibited by the almost-dead Thunder Fang.
Rudell’s instincts were definitely screaming that something unusual was going on.
“Let’s rest for today and start the proper investigation tomorrow.”
It was already late, so resting was the right call.
With that, Rudell began to unload the supplies from the cart and prepared for camping.
*
The life of a monstrous beast was like an endless war.
Constantly eating and being eaten.
The strong would eat and evolve, while the weak would be eaten and perish.
That was the only truth that existed among the monstrous beasts.
Thunder Fang was no different.
When he first gained intelligence, he devoured everything around him.
When he had that power, he devoured everything around him.
The predators that had attacked him and his family.
His family members who had already met their demise.
Since consuming all of that, he continued to eat and grow stronger.
However, he hadn’t always been in the position of a predator.
There’s always something higher up.
Even among the monstrous predators he could never touch, they remained perpetually hungry, and to them, he was nothing less than a lovely snack.
Despite facing countless life-threatening dangers, he survived until the very end, proving the two propositions that it’s the strong who survive and that the ones who survive are the strong.
But one day.
In a place far from human reach, deep in the plains.
That day, he was hunting as usual.
His sharp fangs sank into the prey’s neck, and the struggling body slowly lost its strength.
Savoring the taste of the cold, lifeless blood and flesh, he continued living that day.
However… that’s when the anomaly occurred.
-Screeeeeeeech!!
[Krurrr…?]
With a deafening roar that pierced the ears, the dark sky suddenly began to brighten.
He looked up in shock to see ominous purple flames streaking across the sky.
It was as if they were scattering violet shards like meteors while cleaving the heavens apart.
Upon witnessing that sight, he instinctively began to flee.
That was dangerous.
His wild instincts, honed through numerous brushes with death, screamed at him.
The other monstrous beasts and animals nearby seemed to sense it too and started fleeing away from the purple flames.
However, there’s no way the ground-dwellers can resist what’s flying above.
With a noise that shattered eardrums, violet shards came flying toward him…
As his vision was filled with intense purple flames, his consciousness slipped into darkness.
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