Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: The Tyrant's Dash
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"There are signs of fierce resistance. It's like two savage beasts got tangled up and fought. Looks like the Tyrant attacked Ruby, then fled."
Barshu said, examining the ground.
"The Tyrant may be a fearsome demon, but Ruby wouldn't go down that easily. And she wouldn't let it slip away by mistake either."
Jade said.
"But it did flee."
Hur pointed east after tracing some invisible-to-Jade mark with his hand.
"That's the direction the Tyrant ran."
"Toward the Goat King?"
Jade asked.
Barshu nodded, and Saf nodded after him.
"The stench is coming from that direction too."
Barshu said worriedly.
"My guess is Ruby let her guard down for a moment and the Tyrant got away. She didn't have time to alert you, so she just gave chase. But she won't catch it. The Tyrant is faster than any animal on these plains."
Hur added.
"Now the Tyrant will report everything to Gotran. We're done for."
It wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but their words naturally made Jade shrink back. Saf, however, said without a doubt.
"No. On land, nothing's faster than Ruby except the speed of thought. No matter how fast the Tyrant is, Ruby will catch it soon!"
Barshu and Hur looked unconvinced. No, they seemed not to even grasp what "speed of thought" meant.
Jade recalled Ruby's smile from before they descended to the village.
'That guy might just...
Jade spoke quickly to the two hunters.
"Barshu, Hur, I have a favor to ask. Could you follow these tracks? I need horses to ride too."
Barshu glanced back toward the village.
The villagers were huddled together under torchlight, not following.
"We have plenty of horses. But we can't catch the Tyrant on our mounts."
"No. If my thinking is right, we can. We just have to hurry."
"How do you figure?"
"I'll explain on the way."
Barshu conferred briefly with Hur in the Kuhn tongue, then said.
"Wait here. We'll be right back."
The two headed down the hill at a brisk pace.
"What are you thinking?"
Saf asked.
"I remembered something after hearing you say Ruby's faster than the Tyrant. Ruby wouldn't have let it get away in the first place."
Jade explained in advance to Saf what he'd tell the two hunters later.
"Ruby probably planned to take on the Goat King alone from the start. But to do that, she'd have to convince me, and the Kuhn villagers. She knows the weakness of her appearance all too well—she's been dismissed for it her whole life. She wouldn't have succeeded this time either."
Saf agreed.
"Even Barshu, who saw her subdue the Tyrant right in front of him, didn't believe it. Come to think of it, when she talked about combining forces earlier, he seemed focused on 'buying time to save the children.' So Ruby would've had to explain how she'd beat the Goat King herself."
"Ruby's not the type to bother explaining that stuff. She figures showing results is enough."
Barshu and Hur, once they entered the village, didn't come out right away. Another round of persuasion and debate was probably underway.
"Ruby's been thinking only about fighting nonstop since she was freed from the Baifell Temple. She kept saying she needed to 'loosen up,' remember? The moment she heard about the Goat King, she probably thought she'd found a sparring partner."
"She might provoke the Goat King or blow things up big time."
Saf said.
Soon, Barshu and Hur came riding up the hill from the village. Each led an extra horse.
Saf quickly finished what she wanted to say before they arrived.
"I believe in Ruby. But I hope she realized the children are being held hostage and acted accordingly."
"Yeah. I wonder if 'child protection' is part of what Ruby considers 'efficient combat.'"
♦
The Tyrant took advantage of Ruby's momentary lapse to break free of its chains, then bit her head and slammed it into the ground. Still not satisfied, it stomped her with all its might.
Boom.
Boom!
Boom!
Then the Tyrant charged off without looking back.
Faster than any beast on the plains could follow!
'I am the Tyrant! King of the plains, tyrant of the plains—together, we two shall rule the world!'
Even an immortal demon wasn't invincible in body. Tendons moved joints, lungs drew breath, heartbeats pumped blood—all the same.
The Tyrant slowed from exhaustion and finally stopped.
Looking back, Ruby stood right behind it.
"You here?"
Ruby asked.
"H-how...?"
The Tyrant gasped.
Ruby, not even winded, replied.
"How'd I follow? I let you go on purpose."
Ruby scratched her nape and scanned the surroundings.
"Anyway, where's the goat army? Nothing here's."
The Tyrant sneered.
"You fool! You let me go on purpose to track His Majesty? But look. I knew from the start you were trying to trick me, and I lured you to this empty wasteland. Go ahead, do what you want. Kill me, roast me!"
"So you knew I was tricking you, pretended to fall for it, and tricked me?"
"Exactly!"
"Nah, from that full-speed dash earlier, looks like I did trick you. This just an excuse you thought up now?"
The Tyrant burst into laughter.
"What a naive little brat. You're all brawn, no brains."
The Tyrant spewed nightmare-inducing steam from its nostrils, continuing its threats.
"Now, those pathetic twins without their guard will die to my other comrades. Beg for mercy now, and I might let you live after ripping off limbs one by one."
Ruby let the Tyrant talk, glancing around. She perked her ears out from her long hair.
"You're spouting flower nonsense. I hear kids crying somewhere. This the place?"
At Ruby's words, the Tyrant stopped laughing.
Ruby twirled the chain and approached the Tyrant.
"Thought you'd lead me to the Goat King, but you led me to the captured kids instead. Or both."
The Tyrant backed away, asking.
"What are you gonna do?"
"Tie you back up."
"No. Don't."
"Why?"
"It hurts!"
"That's the point."
Ruby hurled the chain at the Tyrant's legs. It jumped to dodge, but Ruby had anticipated and snagged both legs.
The Tyrant crashed even harder to the ground.
Ruby began slowly spinning the chain with herself at the center, binding the Tyrant. Its body, dragged across the dirt, lifted into the air as the spin accelerated.
"Stop! Stoooop... ughhh."
Its voice turned into a grotesque squeal.
Ruby ignored it and checked ahead.
"Now, where'd those kids' voices come from?"
At the right moment, Ruby shortened the chain. The freed Tyrant flew over the hill, crashing with a thud.
Ruby leaped and landed beside it in one go. The Tyrant lay gasping from the impact.
Ruby examined the nearby ground.
"Seems like this is the spot."
Ruby tapped the ground.
It looked like ordinary dirt, but she felt stone structure beneath.
"Stone wall buried in dirt. The surface might collapse."
Ruby methodically stomped to find the entrance. Soon, she found a camouflaged lid of dirt and grass. Opening it revealed a passage downward.
"Huh? Pretty sophisticated structure. You guys didn't make this."
The Tyrant was too winded to speak.
"Not ancient, but old architecture. Stirs my curiosity."
The interior was so dark Ruby could barely make out outlines. No sign of the kids yet.
The Tyrant tried to stagger up. Ruby threw the chain, yanking its front legs.
It flailed as it was dragged to Ruby's feet.
"Enough already! Leave me alone!"
The Tyrant wailed pitifully.
"No, you flower-field freak pretending to be pitiful. Think I'd fall for that?"
Ruby dragged the Tyrant into the passage. The narrow entrance bashed its head against stone walls, cracking bone and tearing flesh.
Each time, it screamed it was dying, but Ruby pressed on as if deaf.
"Just kill me, you damn little shit!"
"'Damn little shit'... Been a while since I heard my name. Shut up. Your crying's drowning out the kids'."
"Then I'll scream louder!"
"Want help to scream right? Your voice was decent at first bud-burst, but if I yank the stem, you could scream real loud. What do you think?"
The Tyrant went quiet.
Ruby dragged it along the passage.
Wolf and horse reliefs adorned the stone walls here and there. The floor had patterns of circles and squares in regular motifs.
"Familiar structure. Memory's fuzzy."
Ruby paused, recalling.
"This is the Kuhn way of symbolizing earth and sky, right? Not asking you, so no need to answer."
Ruby stopped and listened again.
The children's sobs echoed faintly in the passage. Too quiet and bouncing everywhere to pinpoint direction.
"Guess straight ahead for now. Simple layout, no getting lost, and worst case punch through the ceiling...
As Ruby advanced slowly, pale ghost-like things hid in corridor corners, retreating when they spotted her.
"What are these?"
Ruby muttered, stopping again.
The Tyrant said nothing.
Rustle rustle—several moved outside the faint glow from Ruby's chains and shackles. Ruby kept the chain on its hind legs and swung the free one, ensnaring a 'ghost.'
Hoping it might be a lost Kuhn child, she tugged lightly.
It was an ant. Ruby-sized, with eight legs and four antennae.
The ant clacked huge scissor jaws, threatening Ruby's ankle.
"These aren't native to the Kuman Plains, so Goat King made 'em?"
Ruby asked.
The Tyrant spat blood, yelling.
"Of course! Everything on the plains belongs to His Majesty!"
"Nah, you're lying again. By Jade's formula, that goat's darkness-aligned, not high-rank demon. Darkness types can't make these."
Ruby released the chain, and the giant white ant slinked into the dark.
"Jade, Jade... Heh heh heh, looks like you're just that human Jade's slave after all."
The Tyrant laughed.
Ruby walked on, asking.
"What're you saying? Me, a slave?"
"Have I ever wronged you directly? Ever seen me eat nomads? Yet you believe them blindly and ignore me. Just 'cause I can speak human tongue."
"Not 'cause you talk. 'Cause you're a demon."
"Demon? Fine, let's compare!"
Dragged by the chain, the Tyrant argued on.
"What's Gotran doing different from the ancient Kuhn king called Ran? The first Kuhnran, Batilran, who terrified the western continent, gathered nomads and built an empire. My king seeks to recreate that. Then return the fruits to the Kuhn! Isn't that fine?"
Ruby paused, tilting her head.
The Tyrant pressed heatedly, persuasively.
"You're not human, so judge rationally, not by biased good-evil religion. Look far: Kuhnran and Gotran seek the same achievement. If you can't judge right and just obey Jade blindly, you're a slave."
The Tyrant's voice swelled, echoing through the structure. The children's sobs vanished.
"Ah, I see."
Ruby's face lit up.
The Tyrant asked triumphantly.
"Well? Am I right?"
"Nope, you're wrong, but you jogged my memory! I've been here before."
Ruby looked around happily.
"The Kuhn king sat right there. Yeah, his name was Batilran."
The Tyrant asked in shock.
"H-how do you know someone from centuries ago?"
"'Cause I've lived centuries."
Ruby laughed loudly.
"Right, Batilran and I had lots of fun talks. Right here."
Ruby pointed at the floor where she stood.
"Standing right here."
"Liar, brat! You know one, fake the two."
"What's the two I don't know?"
"Every Kuhn kid of seven knows Batilran ruled 'Gran.' This isn't Gran. I dyed that place in terror myself. Gran's fifty miles from here."
"Then you don't know three."
"Three?"
"Batilran founded Gran, true, but before that he was just a village chief. This village was his base before the empire."
The Tyrant shut its mouth instead of retorting. Ruby had lost interest anyway.
"Yeah. I get why Gotran hid the kids here. He really wants to follow Batilran's exact path."
Ruby pointed at a stone chair.
"Batilran sat right there. We talked days and nights. Haha, all coming back."
"Batilran and... what'd you talk about?"
The Tyrant asked.
"Not telling you. Just Saf and Jade."
Ruby approached the Tyrant.
"Hmm, so you see me as Jade's slave?"
"Yes! If you were human, I'd get helping kin. But you're not human, right? Obvious. Yet you mindlessly obey humans. That's slave behavior."
Ruby sniffed.
"I don't think I'm Jade's slave. So it's fine."
"Haha, slaves never think that. But Jade sees you as one!"
"Jade doesn't see me as slave, that's why he's alive. But you do?"
Ruby grinned at the Tyrant.
Terrified, it clamped its mouth.
Ruby tapped her forehead.
"And you never wronged me directly? Forgot biting my head, flowerhead? Stomped me too."
"Th-that was self-defense...
"Shh!"
Ruby put a finger to her lips.
The Tyrant shut up.
The children's voices returned. Barely whispers, but Ruby's ears caught them.
Ruby took the passage out of five where sound came from. Doorway in intact days, now just traces.
At the end, a wooden-barred room held about thirty Kuhn children.
Ruby said gladly.
"Found them."