Ending Maker Chapter 69
Ending Maker Chapter 69
Chapter 21 - Crossing Paths #2
The Wild Lands were home to dozens of tribes, but among them, four stood out as particularly powerful.
The Angry Rhino Tribe, composed of mighty warriors.
The Great Storm Tribe, who lived with the wind and pursued harmony.
The Silent Wolf Tribe, which had produced exceptional hunters for generations.
The Red Moon Tribe, a tribe of shamans armed with mysticism.
Among the four, the one that had recently been expanding its influence the most was the Angry Rhino Tribe.
They had subjugated and absorbed the surrounding tribes by force, and although only a few months had passed since their expansion began, their territory had already doubled.
"For the Angry Rhino!"
"For the Great Chieftain Seven Horns!"
The tribes dwelling in the Wild Lands each had their own wild gods, but not all wild gods were strong enough to establish their own sanctuaries.
Moreover, the Angry Rhino, the wild god of the Angry Rhino Tribe, was one of the most powerful beings among the wild gods.
For a wild god who had not even properly established a sanctuary, there was simply no way to resist.
"Aaaah! My children! My children!"
A wild god in the form of a girl with small horns on her head wailed as she watched her village burn, but it was futile.
Now that most of her power had been sealed by a binding curse, she was weaker than an ordinary girl.
"Divine punishment will fall upon you! The Golden Dragon King will punish you!"
"Shut up!"
"Aaaah!"
Sharp Horn, an Angry Rhino warrior, kicked the bloodshot-eyed wild god and did not stop there.
He grabbed the girl's golden hair and yanked her head up, then swung a fist bigger than her face several times.
"Ghk... khh..."
Bloodied by the brutal beating, the young wild god could not even scream. Sharp Horn kicked her one last time, then addressed the nearby warriors.
"Take her away! Make her understand her place!"
"Understood."
These were warriors of the Angry Rhino Tribe who had already fallen into corruption.
Having abandoned all reverence for wild gods, they no longer saw the girl as someone to worship—only as a toy they were free to abuse as they pleased.
As his subordinates dragged the wild god girl away, Sharp Horn wiped the blood from his hands and headed toward the center of the main camp, where a large banner stood.
He was going to report to the powerful being who had sealed away the wild god's power despite her divinity.
"We captured the wild god and killed the chieftain. As you ordered, we injured the warriors only as necessary and took as many alive as possible."
Sharp Horn entered the large leather tent, dropped to both knees, and offered his deepest respect.
"Is that so? Well done, Sharp Horn. You have not disappointed me this time either."
"It is all thanks to Lord Haragen."
Hearing the kindly voice, Sharp Horn bowed deeply again.
The Angry Rhino Tribe had changed ever since the man before him—Prophet Haragen—appeared.
The tribe had grown far stronger, and its successive wars of conquest had made it far richer as well.
And Sharp Horn had changed as well.
Originally, Sharp Horn had not been a particularly strong warrior because he had been born frail.
But Haragen had changed everything.
Haragen had transformed Sharp Horn's frail body into a large, powerful one, allowing him to become one of the Angry Rhino Tribe's strongest warriors.
That was why Sharp Horn worshipped Haragen.
He even accepted Haragen's claim that the wild gods were false gods—nothing more than beasts blessed with a little extra power—as absolute truth.
"You may go. We must depart for new lands tomorrow."
"Yes, Lord Haragen. Rest well."
Sharp Horn bowed his head once more and withdrew respectfully, keeping his head lowered. Left alone, Haragen frowned.
'How troublesome.'
He was not referring to Sharp Horn.
Haragen was satisfied with Sharp Horn's loyalty.
Haragen had deliberately empowered someone weak in the first place precisely to create this kind of absolute loyalty.
What grated on Haragen's nerves was the bad news that had arrived from far away.
'Zaracul.'
His connection to Zaracul, a mid-ranking Demonic Human of the Devil's Eye, had been severed.
Given the circumstances, he was clearly dead.
'What could have happened?'
Haragen wore the shape of a huge old man with a long white beard, but it had never been his true form.
He blinked the compound eyes occupying the places where human eyes should have been and considered the problem.
The sanctuary of Rough Avalanche.
He was not a weak being like the wild god of the tribe they had hunted today.
Having no tribe under his care meant Rough Avalanche had no worshippers, but it also meant there was little reason for him to spend his power on anyone else.
Rough Avalanche had spent centuries cultivating his power alone. He was anything but weak.
In fact, he ranked among the stronger wild gods.
But even so, Haragen had never thought Zaracul would fail.
Haragen had given Zaracul a spell formation powerful enough to subdue Rough Avalanche with strength to spare.
So what could have happened?
Who could have killed Zaracul?
It was not Rough Avalanche.
If Rough Avalanche had been the one to kill him, Zaracul would have died much sooner.
Someone else.
Someone who had killed Zaracul while he was corrupting Rough Avalanche.
"Red Gale."
The strongest warrior of the Great Storm Tribe.
But he soon shook his head.
Had he not clearly placed the White Spider Lily curse on him?
'The closest one would be Madga.'
A mid-ranking Demonic Human who was in the middle of assaulting the powerful wild god Gentle Snow Breeze.
Rough Avalanche and Gentle Snow Breeze were both Wild Gods whose territories lay far from the Angry Rhino Tribe's stronghold, but Haragen had targeted them anyway because of the Great Storm Tribe.
Corrupt the nearby wild gods and isolate the Great Storm Tribe.
Break their power so they could no longer interfere with the Angry Rhino Tribe's advance.
'For now, leave this to Madga. Unify the northeastern Wild Lands.'
The Angry Rhino Tribe was based in the northeast and was advancing toward its final regional target: the Silent Wolf Tribe, which occupied the same region.
'Corrupt the Dragon Vein. Corrupt the wild gods. Turn even the Golden Dragon King into His slave.'
The Golden Dragon King, the king of the wild gods.
Having settled on his next move, Haragen took out a crystal orb and poured power into it to send his will to the distant Madga.
* * *
Three days had passed since Rough Avalanche left the rocky mountain.
Under normal circumstances, he should have reached the Great Storm Tribe's village long ago. He had not.
The reason was simple.
"Sob, sob! Where in the world am I?!"
After descending the rocky mountain, he had gone straight in the direction Yuder had told him.
It had been a very long time, but he had visited once before, so he trusted his memory and kept going.
A day passed.
There was nothing but snowfields.
He did not think much of it.
This area had always been nothing but snowfields, after all.
If he just kept going straight, surely he would reach the Great Storm Tribe's village.
Had Great Storm grown a lot?
Rough Avalanche smiled warmly as he recalled the tiny little runt, then continued walking.
And then another day.
Still nothing but snowfields. Rough Avalanche was beginning to get nervous.
"Strange."
By now, he should have appeared.
Great Storm should have come out to greet him.
At the very least, he should have seen some children from the Great Storm Tribe by now.
"Is he busy?"
There was, in fact, a much more likely explanation. Rough Avalanche stubbornly refused to consider it and kept trudging onward.
And then another day.
The present.
"Waaah! Where am I?! Where the heck am I?!"
Only now, after spending centuries shut away on his rocky mountain, did Rough Avalanche finally realize the truth.
He had absolutely no sense of direction and was hopeless at finding his way.
"What do I do? What am I supposed to do now?"
He was not his main body, but an avatar.
Moreover, since he had even left his sanctuary, his divinity, which had already been weakened, had grown weaker still.
If he were his main body, he could have simply used his divine power to fly, or contacted Great Storm, or at the very least sensed Great Storm's presence to get his bearings—but all of that was impossible for the current Rough Avalanche.
In his current state, Rough Avalanche was little more than a talking baby bear—nothing like the mighty wild god he truly was.
"Uuu...... I'm hungry. Hungry for the first time in hundreds of years."
In truth, he had already been hungry for two days.
When he was in his sanctuary, his hunger had been sated just by breathing, but once he left it, he grew hungry as if he really had become a baby bear.
"Sob... I'm sick of snow."
Eating it did almost nothing to fill his stomach.
But still, snow was the only thing he could eat right now.
Rough Avalanche sobbed as he scooped up snow damp with his own tears and ate it.
And at that very moment.
"Hm?!"
A sudden chill made Rough Avalanche jerk his head up. A razor-sharp instinct prickled at his back.
'N-no way?'
Rough Avalanche swallowed hard and turned around. Then he saw it.
The frost wolf had been creeping up on him, but the instant their eyes met it abandoned stealth and broke into a full sprint.
"Grrr-woof!"
The beast even barked. His true body could have smashed it with one punch, but to his tiny avatar it was an enemy he could not hope to fight.
Rough Avalanche scrambled to his feet and began running frantically.
"GRR-WOOF!"
"Waaah!"
Roars and wails mingled together.
Rough Avalanche ran hard, but since he was a baby bear, his legs were far too short. The distance to the frost wolf closed in an instant.
"Save the wild god! Save the wild god!"
Still screaming for help, Rough Avalanche suddenly went tumbling. He had caught a paw on an uneven rise hidden under the snow.
"Aaaah!"
Rough Avalanche rolled head over heels and sprawled in the snow. The frost wolf bounded over him, landed ahead, then planted a massive forepaw on his chest.
"Ghk! Ghk!"
"Grrrr..."
The frost wolf snorted and lowered its face close to his. Saliva dripped between sharp fangs. Rough Avalanche struggled desperately, but could not budge it.
'Is this how I go?'
If he had known it would be like this, he should have just died in his sanctuary.
'No, dying is out of the question!'
He could not die. Did he not have a noble mission to convey the danger threatening the Wild Lands!
"Hup! Hup!"
Rough Avalanche began struggling desperately again, but only for a moment. As the frost wolf pressed down on his chest even harder, its claws dug into Rough Avalanche's hide.
"Aaaagh!"
It hurt too much.
Rough Avalanche could no longer endure it and screamed.
"Help me! Help me! Aaaah! Help me!"
It was a final howl.
The frost wolf did not waste any more time and opened its mouth wide.
And then a flame burrowed into that beast's mouth.
Bang!
The fireball buried in the frost wolf's throat exploded from within. The spell was terrifyingly precise.
The fireball had gone straight into the wolf's mouth by design, not by chance.
Its power had been controlled just as precisely.
The frost wolf died instantly from the fireball's explosion, but the damage never extended beyond the beast's body.
"Ghh—"
With its throat and innards burned out, the frost wolf collapsed with one final groan. Rough Avalanche blinked in shock at having survived, gasped for breath, then sprang to his feet.
"Wh-who are you?! I mean—who might you be?!"
Looking in the direction the fireball had come from, he saw a pair—a man and a woman.
That immediately gave Rough Avalanche an idea.
'They came to find me!'
Yuder and Cordelia.
Those two had saved him again!
"Cordelia! Cordelia!"
Rough Avalanche cried out in delight—and then stopped.
"It's not a person?"
"You must not attack it!"
"I know. It might be carrying a clue."
Voices came from the man and woman.
The voices reminded him of Yuder and Cordelia—the same sort of crazy couple—but they were not the same voices.
Now that he looked, their hair colors and appearances were different too.
The woman was pretty.
She resembled Cordelia.
But she was blonde, and her features were far sharper.
The man was handsome.
He also resembled Yuder.
But his hair was not black, but blue. His eyes were blue as well, not green.
'And he's much bigger too.'
Rough Avalanche blinked, then snapped back to his senses. As the two strangers closed on him at terrifying speed, he hesitated only a moment before throwing both arms high into the air.
"Wait! I'm not an enemy!"
"A talking baby bear? Cute...... no, that's not the point."
The blonde woman—Adelia—had already closed to point-blank range. She shook her head to refocus, leveled the short staff in her hand at Rough Avalanche, and demanded an answer.
"Who are you? What is your relationship with Cordelia? Have you met her before?"
Her eyes made it clear that the wrong answer could get him killed on the spot.
Rough Avalanche flinched involuntarily and spoke urgently.
"I am the wild god Rough Avalanche! Cordelia and I are f-friends!"
"A wild god? Friends?"
Adelia narrowed her eyes.
Little was known about the Wild Lands, but Adelia had at least heard in passing that wild gods existed.
And then Gale spoke.
"Rough Avalanche, who was Miss Cordelia with? What was the name of the person she was with?"
Gale looked kind, but his eyes were terrifying. So was the sword in his hand—Rough Avalanche had not even seen him draw it.
Rough Avalanche backed away without thinking until he dropped onto his rear, then answered in a rush.
"Y-Yuder! Yuder and Cordelia! The crazy couple!"
Rough Avalanche squeezed his eyes shut and curled up as small as he could, and Gale and Adelia looked at each other.
"Seems right, doesn't it?"
"I cannot agree with the phrase 'crazy couple,' though."
"Right?"
A crazy couple, indeed. Who did he think he was, speaking so carelessly about someone's little sibling?
Gale and Adelia, who had found themselves in agreement in an odd place, exchanged smiles without realizing it, then each cleared their throat and turned their gazes back to Rough Avalanche.
It was Gale who spoke first.
"We will not harm you. Open your eyes."
His voice was clearly friendlier than before.
Rough Avalanche cautiously opened his eyes and looked at Gale and Adelia. He sniffed once, then was certain.
'They're Yuder and Cordelia's family!'
Probably an older brother and an older sister.
They smelled almost the same as the two of them.
"You said you are Rough Avalanche, yes? I am Gale Bayel. And this is Miss Adelia Chase."
At Gale's introduction, Adelia did not answer, but instead glared at Rough Avalanche with sharp eyes. Rough Avalanche flinched again, then looked at Gale and mustered his courage to speak.
"Are you Yuder and Cordelia's older brother and older sister?"
"Yes, we came all the way here looking for the two of them. Do you know where they are?"
Gale's voice was still friendly, but his eyes had sharpened again.
Thanks to that, Rough Avalanche gulped dryly, then rose awkwardly and spoke.
"I know. The two of them left to help Gentle Snow Breeze."
"Gentle Snow Breeze? What do you mean they left to help?"
Adelia's eyes were still sharp, but Rough Avalanche now understood.
Adelia was worried about Cordelia. She was by no means a wicked person.
"It's a long story. It's not something I can tell in just a moment. But let me say one thing in advance: Yuder and Cordelia are working to save the Wild Lands. From the threat of demons."
At Rough Avalanche's words, Gale and Adelia looked at each other. They were not as close as their younger siblings, but after traveling together for over ten days, the two had come to understand each other to some degree.
'There seems to be something going on, doesn't there?'
'It doesn't seem like a simple runaway case.'
Gale turned his gaze back to Rough Avalanche.
"Understood. Let us hear your story."
"Wait! Before that, I have a condition...... no, a request."
"A request? Have you forgotten that we saved your life?"
Adelia cut in sharply, and Rough Avalanche flinched, but he still had to see it through.
Gale stopped Adelia, who was about to raise her magic staff again, and spoke.
"Tell us."
"I must go to the Great Storm Tribe. Take me to them. On the way, I will tell you the story of Yuder and Cordelia. A-and anyway, if you want to get your bearings, you have to go to the Great Storm Tribe's village."
Because Rough Avalanche did not even know where this place was.
Gale nodded slowly.
"Understood. Let us do that."
"Is that all right?"
"That would be better. This place is unknown territory for us as well."
Gale whispered quietly into Adelia's ear so only she could hear, then spoke to Rough Avalanche again.
"We accept your offer."
"Th-thank you."
Rough Avalanche let out a sigh of relief and slumped his shoulders, and Adelia crossed her arms and looked down at him.
In her heart, she was crying out that he was cute, but she still spoke in a cold voice.
"There's no time. Hurry up and start guiding us. And start the story too."
Since he had mentioned the threat of demons, Yuder and Cordelia were probably exposed to danger even at this very moment.
At Adelia's urging, Rough Avalanche hesitated before answering.
"W-well, that is."
"That is?"
"First, do you know where this place is? I got lost......."
Rough Avalanche, embarrassed even as he said it himself, shrank down endlessly, and Gale and Adelia looked at each other.
And at the same time, in a completely different place.
"I leave it to you."
"Just trust me."
Count Chase, who had parted ways with Count Bayel, soared into the sky with his hands full of luggage.
The direction he headed was north.
The direction where his two daughters and various others were.