Chapter 90 - 85

I silently watched as the Underclaw’s body continued to squirm around even after losing its head as well as all of its arms. And accompanied by some loud crunching sounds, I gnawed the monster’s head into pieces before swallowing it down in a snap. At the same time, I used Gorge to boost the recovery of both my wounds and stamina. Unfortunately, even that didn’t seem to be enough to fix the damage that has been done on my claws.

'As I thought…'

Although the condition of my claws had improved after using Gorge, it still hasn’t been quite sufficient to restore it all into a usable state. And while I could fix that by eating and using the same skill on the Underclaw’s main body, I just didn’t have that much on time on my hands right now.

'They’re almost here…' By expanding the range of my sensory skill to its absolute limit, I was able to sense the incoming monster parade. And because they had already entered the range of my skill, it certainly wouldn’t be that long before they reach this place. 'Tsk! Such a waste…'

Having no other choice, I extracted the shadow of the corpse—after all, it would be a bigger waste of resources if I just left it here to rot. But to my surprise, I only got two stacks of shadows from the supposed powerful monster—which was to say only about the same as what I could get if I extracted the shadow of an ant.

'This is less than that of an Anties Captain! What, is it because of its missing head and limbs?' To my surprise, I turned to look at the Underclaw’s detached arm only to realize that it had also turned into dust. 'Wait, so separating a body part from its main body will not change that part’s outcome? If so, then is the reason because I ate and used Gorge on its head?'

Whilst I found myself wondering how exactly my shadow extraction works, I heard some rustling sounds on the nearby trees before sensing something silently landing on the ground. And of course, it was none other than the ape. 'Looks like you’ve also won. Though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.' After giving the ape a cursory glance, I decided to temporarily put the issue of shadow extraction aside. Because for me, it was already a good thing that I could at least use my Shadow Augment once.

At first, the ape looked around the area probably in search of the Underclaw’s remains. But after noticing the pile of dust near my feet, I saw him nod in understanding as a glint of interest flashed into his eyes. 'Right, despite seeing my Shadow Augment and Shadow Bullet in action, this guy still hasn’t seen me extracting a shadow from a corpse…'

With that in mind, I chose to act nonchalant about what had happened and just beckoned the ape to continue with our business. 'There’s no time for that. Let’s just continue with what we came here to do.' And so, with the ape on the lead as it was before, the two of us left the place and traveled straight north.

***

'So, this is the place, huh?' I thought as I gazed at the scenery upfront. 'The difference is really quite obvious.'

According to both the Tempest Wolf and Lightning Wolf, it would be easy to tell the difference between the trap littered spot, and the overall forest as a whole—this was apparently because almost no native monster of this forest dares to enter that spot. As a result, most plants and vegetation on that spot had remained untouched, thus making the forestry of the said part a lot denser than the rest.

'Well, seems like things are different now…' Although the two alphas said that pretty much, every native monster in this forest knew about the traps, that knowledge still didn’t stop the said monsters from rushing in inside. But considering how bad the situation had become, I could somewhat understand why. 'I suppose it’s better to take such a risk than just giving up and die.'

Using my radar-like skill, I confirmed that monsters had really started to disappear inside. And though it was possible to argue that they could have just died, the rate and randomness in which their presence had vanished were simply too abnormal. After all, if a large group of monsters had just ambushed them inside, then those presences would either disappear in mass or wouldn’t be able to pass a certain line. But as far as I could tell, the presences had been disappearing in a rather sporadic way to the point that it was hard to keep track.

'Hmm… Those tall grass and dense vegetation really made it a lot worse…' I wondered inside. But at that moment, the ape smacked me on my back before making a gesture that we should start doing our job.

'Yeah, yeah. I get it.' I quipped as I turned around. And just as we had planned, the two of us moved along the boundary of the trapped littered spot. On our way, we saw monsters after monsters rushing inside and all of them didn’t pay us any mind. And while it seemed to be a good thing at first glance, the truth of the matter was far more complicated than that. 'They’re almost here…'

From what I could tell, it seemed like the monster parade had now caught up. Because of that, the desperation of the native monsters had reached its peak, so now they didn’t even seem to care about anything other than running away with all their might. Naturally, this also meant that the situation had become even more chaotic, and the worst part was that it just continued to further escalate.

Not long after that, we finally found a good spot to gather and meet up. The said spot was a medium-sized plain, surrounded by tall trees on all sides. 'This is exactly what we need considering those three are bringing in all the members of their packs.'

'Okay, I suppose it’s time to chase those monsters out!'

Even though the native monsters were just passing by on that plain, I deemed that such a simple act would still be quite unfavorable for us. After all, the sole purpose of this land was to organize our ranks, so we couldn’t afford to have some random monsters ensuing some chaos in the midst of that. Furthermore, those random monsters could very well lead some enemies inside. So, for all that reason, we had to prevent any native monsters from going in, and what better way to do that than to unleased our hostility to scare them out. More than that, our hostility and aura could also serve as the guide for the alphas that were about to come. Well, that was at least what the Tempest Wolf had told us.

'Seriously, that Tempest Wolf really came up with quite a clever idea…' I sighed as I began to enact my supposed enemy’s plan.

***

Intermission: The Burden of the Strong

The day had been full of some unfortunate and unexpected development. Such thought was on the Tempest Wolf’s mind as he rushed into his lair, and this was after he left the supposed ‘outsider’ in the Lightning Wolf care.

To be honest, he never even dreamed that it would turn out like this. After all, who would expect that they would be forced to move out in just a span of a day? And while it was true that he had been making some preparations behind the scenes, he still thought that it would take some time considering how stubborn that Flame Wolf could be. But to his surprise, all hell broke loose, to the point that even that stubborn Flame Wolf was forced to agree and participate with his plan.

With all of that weighing down on his mind, the Tempest Wolf could only release a regretful sigh. 'If only this had happened earlier…' At the same moment that such thoughts flashed into his mind, the Tempest Wolf finally arrived.

Immediately after arriving at his lair, the Tempest Wolf saw that everyone had already gathered near the entrance. This was because before the meeting with the other alphas began, he had already ordered all his subordinates to return and gather up everyone. And since his closest and most loyal subordinates were all aware of his goal, all of them obeyed and followed their leader's command. That was why at this point, the entirety of his pack was all but prepared to move out.

While standing in front of his pack, the Tempest Wolf turned his head and look to the south. 'Seems like we will have to defend and fight our way through.' Since the monster parade was already too near, the Tempest Wolf was certain that they would eventually catch up, so they inevitably needed to fight.

'Now, it all depends on that wolf.' Though he didn’t let it show, the Tempest Wolf actually had some speculations about the true identity of that said ‘outsider.’ And in retrospect, the Lightning Wolf and even the Tempest Wolf might be the same. After all, all three of them knew that there were no other wolf-type species left in the caverns beside them. Well, that was at least true for ‘normal’ wolves like them.

'Based on his fixation, there is no mistaking it. And while his evolutionary path is quite worrying, the child nevertheless reached that point by himself.'

If the Tempest Wolf’s speculations were right, then that ‘outsider’ would surely come for his life one these days. At that point, as long as his role was done, then he wouldn’t mind fighting that ‘outsider,’ and was even prepared to lay down his life. Because no matter what, all of it was just simply the result of the choices that he had made. Although of course, he didn’t have any intention of letting himself be killed without fighting back.

'If you want my life, then you should prove to me that you have surpassed all four of us. This is ‘the burden’ of the strong that all of us—even your father faithfully abides.' As the Tempest Wolf reminisced about the past, he beckoned his pack to march straight forward.