Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: I Want to Eat Meat, Nya
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It was the moment Torquetor appeared.
The Beastkin flattened themselves to the ground.
Some couldn't even breathe.
As if daring to lift their heads was the ultimate taboo.
But Torquetor didn't spare a glance at the rabbits.
He simply approached the piled-up food at a leisurely pace.
Crunch-
Then he opened his massive maw and devoured everything in just a few bites.
All the food the Beastkin had gathered, risking their lives all day long, vanished in an instant.
Normally, the dinosaur would burrow back into the earth, seemingly satisfied.
But not today.
Torquetor didn't move.
Instead, his gleaming eyes began scanning the kneeling Beastkin one by one.
His gaze was as if searching for something missing.
'Why... won't it leave, nya...'
A trembling voice leaked from Ruby's mouth.
That was when an ominous premonition gripped her chest.
Something caught Ruby's eye.
A young Beastkin at the far end, trembling from head to toe.
The child wasn't even an adult yet.
'No way...'
Ruby's face paled.
That kid hadn't met his quota today.
The sole condition for Beastkin to survive in Torquetor's territory.
Offering a set amount of food every day.
And if they failed to meet that quota...
Torquetor began to move slowly.
Each massive footfall shook the ground.
His target was clear.
The trembling young Beastkin.
"N-No... No, nya..."
The young Beastkin shuddered as if sensing death.
But escape was impossible.
No one could flee from Torquetor.
Torquetor loomed over the child and lowered his head.
That was the moment.
The Beastkin child lost control of his bladder.
He knew all too well.
Once that maw opened, he'd be swallowed whole.
"P-Please... spare me, nya..."
The Beastkin child begged for his life.
But it was futile.
Torquetor's mouth split open in four directions—up, down, left, and right.
That was when the hot breath and saliva from within splashed across the child's face.
"Wait, nya!"
Ruby shot to her feet and stepped forward.
Torquetor's gaze shifted to her.
Her entire body trembled under that stare.
With shaking hands, she pulled something from her bosom and set it down.
It was the jerky from Shihanbu.
"H-Have this too, nya."
Ruby knelt politely and placed the jerky on the ground.
Torquetor turned his attention away from the child.
He sniffed at the jerky curiously.
It carried a special scent, different from the usual offerings from the Beastkin.
Gulp-
The jerky vanished in one gulp.
A moment of silence followed.
And then...
Rumble-
His massive body began sinking slowly into the earth.
He seemed satisfied, thankfully.
Only then could the Beastkin exhale in relief.
"Th-Thank you, nyaaaa!"
The young Beastkin who hadn't met his quota ran to Ruby, tears streaming down his face.
He rubbed his ears against her cheek.
For Beastkin, their ears were the most sensitive and precious part.
Exposing them to anyone outside family was the highest expression of affection.
But Ruby gently pushed the child away.
There was something more important than bonding right now.
"Why didn't you meet your quota, nya!"
The young Beastkin's face turned ashen at her words.
After hesitating for a long while, he spoke in a quivering voice.
"... The fruit in my area dried up, nya."
Ruby sighed and looked around at the other Beastkin.
They all wore exhausted expressions.
Drained after foraging for food all day.
Still, she had to say it.
"From tomorrow, everyone gather a little extra, nya."
One Beastkin replied weakly.
"Luckily, I have some spare in my area, nya."
"Mine will be ready for harvest tomorrow, nya."
Hopeful remarks trickled in one by one.
But their voices carried resignation.
They were barely scraping by with their own quotas.
They knew covering for others would cause problems later.
As the conversation ended, the Beastkin looked ahead.
Where Torquetor had eaten, scraps were scattered.
Fruit peels, fish bones, shattered nut shells...
The Beastkin rushed over without hesitation and began gathering the remnants to eat.
Even food already chewed once,
or slathered in saliva—they didn't care.
To them, it was still precious sustenance.
Ruby picked up a small fruit peel and popped it into her mouth.
She muttered quietly.
"If that human hadn't given me the jerky, right now nya..."
Ruby shook off the horrific image rising in her mind.
Instead, she pictured Shihanbu's face.
Strangely, it calmed her heart.
"Next time I go, I should bring some fish, nya."
Muttering that, Ruby swallowed the fruit peel in her mouth.
She needed this to make it through tomorrow.
"... I wanna eat meat again, nya."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The western forest's edge,
"Here it is. I heard the mandrake's scream from beyond this point."
The Eight-Tail Fox said.
Shihanbu peered beyond the forest at her words.
It was like fog spewed from hell.
A thick purple mist blanketed the entire woods.
And he knew what that smoke was without asking.
The small insects that entered it.
Sizzle-
Melted away on contact.
Poison.
The deadliest kind—enough to kill any living thing with a single breath.
The influence of this place's master.
"Of all places, it had to be here."
Shihanbu scratched the back of his head irritably with a sigh.
Watching him, the Eight-Tail Fox cautiously stepped forward.
Terror soaked her face.
"M-Master... Are you really going in there?"
She had good reason to fear this much.
The Poison Dragon Ugly Crow, first discovered in the martial world's Sichuan Castle.
It had half-destroyed the castle alone in a day, rated danger level 12.
That monster ruled this place.
"If you go in..."
The Eight-Tail Fox's lips quivered.
"You'll die."
Despite her desperate plea, Shihanbu grinned innocently.
"Don't worry. I die either way without going in."
With 99% of his lifespan gone, he had nothing left to lose.
No mandrake meant death anyway.
Seeing Shihanbu's mad expression, the Eight-Tail Fox wanted to scream.
'You lunatic! We won't die if we don't go in!'
But she couldn't.
Shihanbu, who slew the Black Silkworm Tiger in one strike, terrified her.
Instead, she glanced at the Demonic Blood Ox beside her.
Conveniently, the ox was looking at her too.
In that instant, they read each other's minds without words.
'The moment he touches that poison mist, he'll be poisoned.'
'We run then.'
The two spirit beasts communicated with eye contact alone.
They planned to flee the moment Shihanbu collapsed from poison.
The signal for their plan sounded.
Step-
Shihanbu took a step, hurling himself into the mist.
Watching his back, the fox and ox were certain.
He'd soon writhe in agony, blood pouring from his seven orifices as he died.
Then they could escape and save themselves.
But something utterly unexpected happened.
"...What?"
"The poison... it's disappearing?"
The purple mist was melting away.
No—retreating.
As if surrendering before a mighty presence.
The poison touching Shihanbu was dying out on its own.
"So that's why he was willing to enter. Is that the 'immune to all poisons' humans talk about?"
The ox muttered.
Hearing it, the Eight-Tail Fox shook her head immediately.
"... No, nothing that trivial."
With denial, she looked back at the scene.
The poison around him was clearing miraculously.
This wasn't some paltry immunity or resistance.
This was purification.
The poison was being purified.
In that moment, an ancient legend flashed through the Eight-Tail Fox's mind.
Two hundred years ago.
The World Tree, which sacrificed itself to protect the elves from a Divine Dragon-class dinosaur.
The miracle of purification it displayed was eerily similar to what was happening before her eyes.
"What in the world... is inside that human's body..."
As the Eight-Tail Fox trembled and muttered,
Shihanbu turned and looked at the two spirit beasts.
"What're you doing? Coming or not?"
The fox and ox snapped to attention.
They hurriedly followed behind Shihanbu.
Thoughts of fleeing after his miracle had long vanished.
The fox and ox stuck close to his sides as they followed.
Shihanbu spoke to them.
"Alright, let me explain the plan again."
His voice remained calm as ever.
"Our plan's simple. Dig up the mandrake before running into the dinosaur and bolt. A head-on fight would be..."
Shihanbu trailed off mid-sentence.
Surprise flickered across his face.
"Wh-What... is this."
At his sharp cry, the two spirit beasts' gazes snapped forward.
On the poison-soaked ground.
Lay what looked like a dinosaur's head, yanked out and tossed aside.
It was the Ugly Crow's head.
The king of deadly poisons, danger level 12.
The dinosaur that survived dozens of subjugation squads.
That Ugly Crow's head lay discarded carelessly.
"How... did this happen..."
The Eight-Tail Fox swallowed hard, surveying the disrupted forest order.
As her pupils trembled in fear,
"This... is a sword mark?"
Shihanbu's words echoed through the poison mist, examining the clean cross-section of the Ugly Crow's severed neck.