CHAPTER 119

The chieftain of the Spirit Fox Tribe, Neterre, was on the verge of losing his mind due to the sudden flood of emergency communications.

"The encirclement that went out to the Night's Quarter has been annihilated!"

"Sir, General Winter is upon us!"

"Reports are coming in that General Winter has appeared in Edora, causing refugees to flee!"

"There's also news from Taikan that General Winter's 'darkness' has arrived!"

Bang!

"Damn it! What the hell is going on?"

Though Neterre shouted in frustration, slamming the table nervously, it wasn't that he couldn't assess the situation.

If he were such a fool, the Blood Wolf King would never have placed him in this position in the first place.

It was just that the situation unfolding before him was hard for him to believe.

'The seal on General Winter has been broken!'

General Winter was not only a necessary tool for ruling, but also a secret that had to be kept hidden at all costs.

There was no good that could come from it roaming around in broad daylight.

However, General Winter was already disregarding his wishes, freely striding across the Black Snowfield.

Just like 40 years ago, General Winter was bringing with her thick darkness and an intense cold wave, causing destruction everywhere.

Reports were pouring in of city walls being swallowed by darkness and beastmen freezing and being buried in the snow.

And somehow, as if by some trick, General Winter's path only seemed to be affecting Fury tribe and cities aligned with Fury tribe.

In other words, someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes.

"Lord! We are receiving a flood of protests asking why General Winter is being found in Fury tribe's domain!"

"Many are demanding answers quickly...!"

"Why the hell are they asking me that?! Tell everyone to shut up and mobilize their troops to stop General Winter! Warn them that if anyone tries to take advantage of this situation, I'll be the first to chop off their heads!"

"Y-Yes, understood!"

The subordinates delivering the reports had no choice but to withdraw, their heads ducked low in fear of Neterre's anger.

'For now... I need to make sure the cities stay tightly under control, so they don't get any ideas. If I can maintain leadership by focusing on capturing General Winter, I should be able to prevent any defections.'

Even amidst this chaos, Neterre was desperately trying to find a way to keep the Fury tribe's ruling system from collapsing. If the Fury tribe fell, so would his power.

'Melvinger...! It must be him again! That bastard who caused all that trouble in Anthromorph!'

Hadn't the second lord, Barasen, gone to assassinate him, only to be killed instead?

For Fury, Melvinger was an enemy that had to be killed at all costs.

"Find Melvinger's exact location! I'm certain he's involved in this mess too!"

As his subordinates hurriedly sifted through the reports, one of them shouted.

"We've found someone we believe to be Melvinger!"

"Where? Where is he?"

Neterre snapped his head toward them, ready to take action himself if necessary.

But then...

For some reason, the subordinate reporting in had turned pale as a sheet.

"A-At the front gates of Fury..."

"What?"

Just as Neterre was about to shout in disbelief—

BOOM!

A massive shockwave shook the ground, shaking the entire city. This meant the barrier protecting the city had taken a huge hit.

And then—

Whiiissshhh!

Outside the window, thick darkness was rushing in across the sky, and a brutal cold wind was piercing through the gaps between the buildings.

Melvinger had brought General Winter to the Fury tribe!

"That madman!!!"

Neterre's scream echoed through the building, reverberating with fury.

***

"[Pierce],[Pierce ], and[Shatter]."

Boom!

Crash, rumble—

Elric let out a shout of triumph as the magic he unleashed finally shattered the sturdy barrier stone that had boasted incredible durability.

Screeeech!

But at the distant cry of General Winter, Elric clicked his tongue once again.

"No time to rest, it seems."

In the distance, General Winter could be seen rushing toward them once more.

『As always, I can't help but feel bad.』

"...?"

『For the enemies that have had to face you, that is.』

Mephistopheles' gaze, fixed on General Winter, was now tinged with pity.

General Winter, infuriated beyond belief, was engulfed in a raging fire of darkness, emanating from her very body.

And it was no wonder. Elric had been relentlessly tormenting General Winter.

Poking her with magic, scratching at her, even throwing sand into her eyes… It was exhausting just to watch.

Had it been an all-out battle, that might have been understandable. But this wasn't that. Naturally, General Winter's fury had reached her boiling point, and she had completely lost her mind.

The malice was so intense that Elric's skin prickled from time to time.

[....]

Even the God of Camellias nodded in agreement.

Up until now, she had never paid attention to anything Mephistopheles said, and had only harbored a burning grudge toward General Winter. But just this once, she agreed with Mephistopheles and felt a hint of sympathy for General Winter.

"Well, it's not like this is new. Why are you so surprised? Ugh, here we go!"

Elric chuckled and, treating the situation casually, used levitation magic to lightly land on Fury's city walls.

Below him, the Fury tribe had become a chaotic mess, as darkness and a cold wave suddenly swept through.

The blessing of the tail, which had protected them until now, had stopped functioning the moment General Winter's seal was broken.

"Melvinger is over there!"

"That guy! Get him first!"

The fighters of Fury pointed at Elric and shouted at the top of their lungs.

Some even launched themselves toward the ramparts, ready to attack.

『You seem to be quite popular with the beastmen.』

"Seems that way. At this rate, I might just become a superstar in the Black Snowfield."

Elric thought he might as well personally attend to his "fans" and leaped into the city.

To anyone watching, it looked like a crazy move—diving recklessly into the heart of the enemy.

"Huh? Wha-wha-wha?"

"That madman!"

"He's going to cast another spell! Get out of the way!"

Ironically, it was the beastmen who were the first to panic and retreat.

"[Impale]."

Elric summoned a blizzard and began raining ice arrows down on the heads of the beastmen.

For the beastmen, magic had always been something they despised, yet also feared as an unknown power.

The very idea of magic targeting their heads filled them with dread.

Especially since it was magic similar to that of General Winter. They had no time to gauge how hard the ice arrows were or how cold the blizzard would be.

In the end, regardless of their courage, the beastmen fell back in disarray, trying to escape the magic. Their formation broke as they tripped and stumbled over the Chains of Brutal Cold that Elric had set like traps across the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the battlefield descended into chaos.

"Aaaagh!"

"My leg! My leeeeeg!"

"Move! Get out of the waaaay!"

Elric calmly landed among the panicking beastmen, cutting through their ranks while unleashing more blizzards and ice arrows.

It was a massacre in all but name.

『This is really an eyesore.』

[…Fury was once one of the most courageous tribes among the beastmen. I never imagined they'd fall apart like this.]

To Mephistopheles, who had always led the proud Demon King's army, the beastmen of Fury tribe now seemed nothing more than a disorganized rabble.

Even the God of Camellias expressed regret at how the once-formidable image of Fury, as she remembered it, had been shattered.

Meanwhile, the devastation in Fury tribe continued to snowball, and General Winter's approach was drawing ever nearer.

"Melvinger! You bastards again...!"

At that moment, Elric found himself facing a beastman charging at him relentlessly through the other fighters. He immediately thought that this one must be one of the highest-ranking officers here.

And indeed, it was Neterre.

At this point, Neterre had come to believe that with the situation so extreme, there was no way he could survive the wrath of the Blood Wolf King.

But if there was one last hope, it was to take Elric's head and present it to the Blood Wolf King.

Even if it didn't save him, it might at least buy mercy for his family.

With that desperation, Neterre used his Beast Form and charged at Elric recklessly.

Or rather, he tried to.

If not for the interference.

Chiiing!

Herman suddenly appeared in front of Elric, deflecting Neterre's attack.

"Sorry, but I can't let you harm that friend of mine. He's practically my benefactor."

"Get out of my way!"

"I told you, I can't."

"Then die!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, Neterre and Herman exchanged multiple rapid blows.

And with Herman's arrival, the Blue Hawks also appeared from various locations, sweeping through the battlefield.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Following Elric's instructions, they were eliminating the barrier stones positioned throughout the city.

Thanks to their efforts, the barrier had almost completely vanished, and General Winter's approach was accelerating.

Screeeeech!

Screech-screech-screech!

In the distance, General Winter could now be seen breaching the barrier and crossing over the city walls.

The walls began to freeze over. Darkness descended slowly from the sky, like a curtain falling over a stage, gradually covering the ground.

"No, no...!"

"General Winter is coming over!"

The faces of the fighters turned pale with fear.

At that moment—

[Who dares to disturb my slumber—?!]

Rumble…!

The ground in the center of the Fury tribe began to shake violently. The surface split open, and buildings crumbled as an enormous fox-like monster emerged.

With six tails, it let out a long howl toward the sky, its blood-red eyes gleaming.

'So that's the Blood Wolf King, huh?'

Elric twisted his lips into a smirk as he looked at the creature.

Whatever he had been doing all this time, the aura radiating from him was neither mana nor demonic energy, but something entirely different, swirling around like a storm.

***

The darkness that had been engulfing Fury was pushed back into the sky, and the cold wave shifted in the opposite direction.

"B-Blood Wolf King!"

The beastmen, terrified, dropped to the ground, prostrating themselves in fear.

[You fools—! You couldn't even stop a mere human— and let this disaster unfold—?]

The Blood Wolf King was furious.

No matter how much Anthromorph and Melvinger struggled, he had never thought they could truly pose a threat, only annoy him like pesky flies.

Especially since he had recently been on the verge of a breakthrough in his "enlightenment," he had been trying to ignore external affairs as much as possible.

But the moment he took his eyes off the situation, everything had spiraled into chaos!

Now that it was clear that even the demons from Gregory, who had promised to help, had failed, he could no longer afford to remain idle.

"W-We didn't mean for this to happen...!"

"Please, calm your anger...!"

[Silence—! I will hold all of you accountable— for this failure—!]

The beastmen of Fury tribe trembled in terror at the Blood Wolf King's proclamation, which was nothing less than a death sentence.

Ignoring the trembling fools, the Blood Wolf King turned his furious gaze on the one who had disrupted his cultivation.

[Even those demons from Gregory turned out to be useless braggarts—! There's no one competent— anywhere!]

Grrrr...!

With a growling sound, the Blood Wolf King directed his anger toward General Winter.

[A mere monster without even a will of its own—! How dare you linger in my domain—! Begone at once—!]

Screeech!

General Winter stopped her pursuit of Elric and let out a terrible scream at the Blood Wolf King. She recalled the past when she had tried to break free from her seal, only to be stopped by the Blood Wolf King's tail.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A cold wave once again swept over Fury like a storm.

[Enough of this nonsense—!]

The Blood Wolf King raised all six of his tails, unleashing an energy that was closer to taoist power—or more accurately, a force akin to spirit power—in all directions.

And so began the clash between General Winter and the Blood Wolf King.

BOOM! BOOM BOOM—!

Rumble…!

Even though it was just one strike, the sheer force of the explosion and the ensuing shockwave wiped out nearly half of the city of Fury tribe.

And just below that chaos—

Elric grinned mischievously, taking out the Ice Crystal.

"[Absorb]."

As the Blood Wolf King shattered General Winter's power, the broken fragments were swiftly absorbed into Elric's Ice Crystal.

[T/L: You can read more chapters and support me here: https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]