Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: I'll Give That Guy My Spear Arts
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"So?"
I took a step forward as if pressing him and continued.
"Who else refuses to acknowledge me?"
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"This isn't what I wanted..."
I smacked my lips and looked ahead.
There, the Eight-Tail Fox and Demonic Blood Ox knelt on one knee.
They had their heads bowed, exposing the crowns of their skulls.
It was the perfect pose of submission.
'This wasn't what I wanted.'
When they first arrived, I thought it was a gift from the heavens.
The ingredients for the antidote had walked right to me.
So after taking down the Black Silkworm Tiger, I provoked them.
I deliberately belittled and pressured them to make them snap and charge.
All to use their spirit cores as ingredients.
But then...
🗣️ SPIRIT BEAST MESSAGE 🗣️ I acknowledge you. We recognize you as the master of the western forest. Out of nowhere, they bowed their heads to me.
'Should I have made the Black Silkworm Tiger suffer more before finishing it?'
I hadn't realized it myself.
I never imagined forming a single dantian would make me this strong.
I truly had no idea a single punch could kill something that massive.
"...This makes it awkward to kill you now."
It felt wrong to just say 'die' to beasts in full submission.
I needed justification.
That's when someone caught my eye.
"Pyon! Pyon pyon pyon!"
It was the rabbitkin girl, meowing busily as she straightened her disheveled sack.
"Rabbit girl."
"...Wait, is that how you call me, pyon? I'm not Rabbit Girl—I'm Ruby, pyon!"
"Right, Ruby. Did these guys do anything bad to you by any chance?"
As I asked, I blinked repeatedly.
A signal begging her to say yes.
But my opponent wasn't cooperating.
"Nope, pyon. And I'm late, so don't talk to me, pyon!"
With that, Ruby slung the sack over her shoulder and hurried off.
I muttered as I watched her go.
"...No meat for you anymore."
Muttering to myself, I drew my sword.
I'd just kill the fox and ox and take their cores.
Conscience wasn't more important than survival, after all.
The moment I drew my sword and turned to them...
"..."
I was at a loss for words.
The fox and ox, who had been kneeling with heads bowed...
Had flipped over, exposing their bellies to me...
🗣️ SPIRIT BEAST PLEA 🗣️ Sp-Spare us! We had no choice! That's right! This is dinosaur territory! If the master of the land is weak, others invade, so we had to test your strength! They begged for their lives in the ultimate pose of surrender.
These guys were quick on the uptake.
"You two... Even if you do that, I... Hah, fine."
I sighed and sheathed my sword.
I just couldn't bring myself to kill them after that display.
"So, what can you do?"
At my words, the two sprang up.
The ox spoke first.
🗣️ DEMONIC BLOOD OX 🗣️ I know all the best spots around here for delicious eats! Flower crabs are in season right now—want to go together next time? "...Flower crabs? Those things with claws?"
[Yes! The meat is plump and juicy.]
At that, I wiped my mouth and glanced at the Eight-Tail Fox.
🗣️ EIGHT-TAIL FOX 🗣️ I'm great at finding herbs and such. The word "herbs" piqued my interest, so I asked.
"Then, do you know where mandrake grows?"
The Eight-Tail Fox nodded at my question.
I'd nearly made a huge mistake by almost killing it.
"Let's go. Right now."
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-So, who's the strongest?
If this question popped up on the Unique Gallery, plenty of people would answer:
The Divine Spear Rak of the Kaldreich Empire, who rose from mercenary to knight captain wielding a single spear.
"Murim Twin Blades Elf Begone" would claim he's the strongest.
Right now, that Rak was sparring alone in his training hall.
It wasn't a spar with an opponent.
It was an imaginary duel.
And the foe in his mind was the Black Silkworm Tiger he'd seen on Shihanbu's stream last night.
Of course, it wasn't just any duel.
He could crush the tiger with sheer presence alone.
That wasn't what he wanted.
So he restricted his physical abilities.
He abandoned his specialty, the spear.
He limited his aura to the extreme.
Under all those handicaps, he dueled the Black Silkworm Tiger in his head.
But...
Boom—
This time, he failed to dodge the forepaw strike and crashed into the wall.
"Well, damn. Lost again. That makes 327 defeats, right?"
He was fighting the Black Silkworm Tiger under the exact same conditions as Shihanbu.
And he'd just suffered his 327th loss.
"How did that guy, who just awakened his dantian, one-shot a beast like this?"
It wasn't a question.
Just admiration.
He already knew the reason.
When the Black Silkworm Tiger swung its forepaw.
At the moment its body weight centered on that strike.
Shihanbu had targeted that precise instant and punched its chest.
Using the beast's own momentum to shatter ribs and heart alike.
"He probably doesn't even realize it."
Shihanbu.
From the stream, his expression had just been one of simple satisfaction at his fist's power.
"That's what's scarier."
It meant he instinctively pulled it off without even understanding how.
Pure, violent talent.
"The more I think about it, the crazier that bastard seems."
His sigh was brief.
As Rak prepared to resume the imaginary duel, the training hall door opened.
Vice Captain Kasha entered.
Rak frowned at the sight of her.
He read the dissatisfaction on her face.
As expected, she vented her frustration the moment she reached him.
"Why?!"
"Why what?"
"Why send away the ones the Empire designated for grooming as successors, only to offer your spear arts to some guy you only know from a stream?!"
Kasha pressed him with a venomous glare.
Rak answered wearily.
"Simple reason. Those fools could never master my spear arts anyway."
They'd only scratch the surface even if they tried.
Wasting his spear arts on them was pointless.
"And above all..."
Divine Spear Rak stood and slowly thrust his spear.
A massive hole punched through the distant straw dummy's chest.
With a satisfied look at the sight, he twirled his spear back into place and grinned.
"I'm curious. Whether the spear arts I created work on dinosaurs."
Yeah. Rak was curious.
Humanity's weapons born to slay dinosaurs:
Martial arts and magic.
His spear arts, bloomed from that tradition.
He wondered if they truly worked on dinosaurs.
"And one more thing. Gotta show those backwater murim hicks."
Western aura versus eastern qi.
The world never hesitated to rank qi above aura.
Rak hated that.
So he'd prove it now.
By handing his spear arts to Shihanbu, he'd show the world aura was no inferior to martial arts.
"I failed this time, but next time, I'll definitely shove my spear arts down that guy's throat."
Declaring that, he closed his eyes again.
Resuming his duel with the Black Silkworm Tiger.
But less than three minutes later, his eyes snapped open.
The tiger's tail had smashed him into a boulder.
"Well, damn. Guess I have to admit it now."
Muttering that, Rak dropped his stubbornness.
In this moment, he acknowledged it.
That Shihanbu's talent surpassed his own—one of the world's top ten powerhouses.
"Still, can't fall behind the guy I'm thinking of taking as a disciple."
Muttering that, Rak closed his eyes once more.
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The sun set over the forest.
Ruby ran, gasping for breath.
"Faster! Gotta go faster, pyon!"
Ruby ignored the tearing pain in her legs and kept running.
The heavy sack on her back dug into her shoulders, but she couldn't stop.
If she didn't arrive before sunset...
"Don't think about it, pyon!"
She shoved away the horrific images rising in her mind.
Instead, she pushed her legs harder.
Barreling through thorny bushes.
Ignoring her toes shredded on rocks.
After running for what felt like forever, a familiar muddy scent hit her nose.
The northern edge of the forest.
She'd reached the mudflats where she and her kin lived.
"Phew... Made it... Not late, pyon."
Ruby clutched her chest in relief.
But the relief didn't last.
What she saw next stole it away.
Four beastkin knelt in a row on the muddy ground.
Their shoulders trembled; fear filled their faces.
The child at the end shook violently, on the verge of tears.
One rabbit spotted Ruby and snapped sharply.
"Ruby! Why're you so late, pyon?! Hurry up, pyon!"
Desperation and anxiety mixed in the voice.
Where the beastkin pointed, mountains of food piled up.
Gathered by the others scouring the forest all day.
Root vegetables, nuts, mushrooms, small fish.
But even that vast amount would soon vanish into one creature's belly.
"Sorry, pyon! Something came up on the way, pyon!"
Ruby apologized hastily and dropped her sack.
She added the fruits she'd picked from the cliffs and the grilled fish from the lake to the pile.
Task done, Ruby scurried to join the others.
That instant...
Boom—
The earth shook.
Mud erupted like an explosion.
A colossal shadow emerged from it.
A body at least fifteen meters long.
Scales like unyielding rock covering it.
Most terrifying: its maw.
A mouth that could split four ways—up, down, left, right.
Lined with human-head-sized teeth gleaming menacingly.
The master of the southern forest.
The dinosaur Traqueitor.