Ch.202202. Invisible Mask (8)

Slash, slash!

Claws and talons tear viciously through the Rakan tribe’s village from all directions.

For them, it was a sickening battle.

Those who had shared meals with them until recently now charged with sharpened claws.

Friends who had helped each other for years after being driven away by humans now pounced, trying to trample them with four legs.

Their fellow tribespeople who had eaten from the same pot and endured each day together now bared their teeth without hesitation as enemies.

No longer as Rakan, but as Lycan.

Thwack!

“Gwaaak!”

The swiftest Rakan knocks away a Lycan that was about to maul a fellow tribesman.

“Chief…!”

“Get up quickly!”

“Ugh, how did it come to this?”

They had sensed periodic attacks before, but never had they come all at once like this.

The eye monster didn’t want the Lycans to die, so it had fought with hit-and-run tactics. Like a single leader commanding the Lycan forces.

Therefore, they too needed time to recover. Following the eye monster’s directives, once a battle occurred, they also required recovery.

But now, that wasn’t the case.

“Isn’t this a full-scale attack? It’s completely different from what we saw yesterday, making me think they’re planning something.”

“…I felt that too, but I don’t know what they’re planning.”

Why would those who had been trying to minimize losses while building a Lycan army now violate their previous approach so drastically?

This question rose as intensely as the heat of the beasts clashing in this place, but there was no time to ponder it now.

“Don’t scatter! Save endangered comrades first! Don’t let fallen allies turn into enemies!”

—Yes!

Even if they had distanced themselves from the empire due to friction with humans, they could still survive.

Even when monsters came, the Rakan tribe, beast-folk with werewolf powers, were not weak.

If humans came, they could quickly scatter and hide.

Even if pursued by humans, if a few tribespeople sent warnings ahead, they could evade pursuers, though pitifully.

Self-sufficient living wasn’t entirely impossible.

But having a collar fastened and falling to the status of a wolf was a fate worse than death.

So the leader, covered in wounds, declares: the neutralization of allies immediately leads to the creation of enemies. That must be prevented at all costs.

The monster’s mental interference magic, under normal circumstances, could be shaken off with the Rakan tribe’s unique resistance to status ailments by using their own magic.

But once fallen, they couldn’t draw out magic and couldn’t shake it off themselves. From then on, they would be exposed to that strange ampoule and the eye monster’s abilities, becoming eternal slaves. They would attack indiscriminately—family, friends, and all tribespeople they had lived with.

They would live as wolves of that creature and its snake-like human until death, without consciousness.

As if collared.

“Grrrrrr!!”

“Graaaah!!!”

“Kheuk, huk…”

“Ugh. Of all places, it pierced my shoulder…!”

Though they fought desperately, the difference in power was overwhelming.

The number of Lycans invading the village as wolves, not as Ain, already exceeded the entire population of the Rakan village.

The Rakans were outnumbered even counting the elderly unable to fight, newborns who couldn’t speak, and even unborn children.

Eventually, pushed back repeatedly, they reached a corner away from the village.

In front, the Lycan army led by the monster. Behind, the massive rock that existed to hide their village.

All paths were blocked.

“…Is this the end?”

The chief, limping on one leg, mutters bitterly while exhaling hot breaths.

Even the leader who had urged them to hold out longer to build a Lycan army had now let go of hope’s thread.

No one remained who could fight.

Once they had resolved to face death rather than wear collars, but now that extermination was the method, there was no way out.

Soon it would come and turn all remaining Rakans into Lycans.

‘Even knowing this wasn’t their full strength, I still harbored such hope.’

They had dreamed a vain hope while knowing they could be crushed at any time.

For the cornered Rakans, this was a cruel reality. Because they now knew there was no future.

Among them, a child bursts into tears and burrows into its mother’s embrace.

“Mommy…!”

“It’s okay. Baby, mommy will be by your side. Okay?”

The mother tightly embraces her child, knowing she might soon die or become a Lycan.

The child, however, wasn’t afraid of death.

“That’s not it. You said he would appear for us too!”

“Baby…”

“You said he would come! That if we endured no matter how hard it got, he would come!”

The child’s voice echoes.

To the warrior who lay on the ground, barely breathing after losing much blood.

To the elder who risked his aged body to be of even slight help.

To the Rakan chief who until recently had told the now-crying child that everything would be okay, that they too had hope.

“Kal’Rix? Of course! The Alcaide of the Artena Empire. That person is the strongest warrior who saved not only elves and dwarves but all of humanity!”

“Someday he will appear for us too. They are heroes who never turn away from Ain like us.”

“When my child is in danger, he will surely appear. Don’t forget that, okay?”

Yes. They too had something they believed in until the end.

There was a figure who had appeared like a comet to the elves and dwarves when humanity faced extinction.

Kal’Rix.

They referred to that existence with this word.

‘One summoned from another world’? Though pronounced the same, neither elves, dwarves, nor Ain understood it in the human sense.

‘A guide who comes from a distant world to save Ain in crisis.’

This was the true meaning of the word Kal’Rix, as the Rakans understood it.

That’s why the child cries out.

Why hasn’t Kal’Rix appeared when the Rakan tribe is on the brink of annihilation?

They had not let go of hope because of the existence of a guide who would appear at any moment to save them.

No. Despite being overwhelmed by various emotions—emptiness, fear, and terror—they never broke that one belief.

They truly believed without doubt.

Even if it could be a lie or a superstition.

But now all of it had become a lie, a superstition.

They could no longer believe in the existence they had not given up on while struggling to survive against disasters and monsters.

‘Until the end, no guide appeared for us.’

This is how Kal’Rix would be remembered and forgotten by the Rakan tribe.

Clank!

“Gwaaah!”

Chains falling from the sky precisely wrap around two Lycans’ bodies.

The Lycans trying to break free with brute force fail to handle the suddenly released chain force and lunge at each other.

Grabbing the necks of the two Lycans, the figure slams them to the ground, using them as cushions to land.

Strangely, that was his first appearance.

“Black…?”

His hair, darker than pitch-black, fluttered in the night breeze.

***

Dozens of Lycans surround the human who suddenly appeared, seeing him as an interference.

Naturally, they wouldn’t leave him alone if he might interfere. The Lycans howled and tried to eliminate the human.

One Lycan lunges with nimble movements.

Slash!

The human unfailingly throws his chain like a whip at the Lycan.

It might touch the Lycan’s body, but such a chain shouldn’t be enough. At least a mace, sword, or spear would be needed to pierce the beast’s skin and cause damage.

But that wasn’t the case.

“Gwaaak!”

Though thrown like a whip, who said it was used as one?

This was merely to seal the Lycan’s swift movements.

The human, wrapping one arm and gaining momentum to jump through the air, looked more wolf-like than the Lycans.

Afterward, he flips backward and slams the Lycan, heavier and larger than himself, into the ground.

Then he flicks his wrist to release the chain and wraps it around his gauntlet.

A truly awe-inspiring movement. Watching that black hair flutter, one might wonder if perhaps…

Of course, even with that expectation, they weren’t certain it was Kal’Rix’s appearance.

“No. It’s not over yet…!”

No matter how much damage was dealt to a Lycan, it wouldn’t fall with just that. It could rise at any moment and pierce his back with sharp claws, piercing his heart.

Surely he wouldn’t show such a weakness?

The guide they knew was certainly a flawless being.

But reality was different.

How could they know?

That in that brief moment, he had reversed the flow of magic to knock it unconscious.

With this one throw, the Lycan was completely knocked down. It lay on the ground unable to even twitch, let alone counterattack.

“Awoooooo!!”

Stimulated by this sight, the Lycans began attacking the young man all at once.

One might somehow manage. But what if so many Lycans attacked simultaneously?

Forget nimble movements—even a human without impressive magic would soon be torn to shreds and mauled.

One minute? No, 30 seconds?

Within that time, the young man’s fate would be decided, and they would follow.

The Rakans had resigned themselves to this.

Clank!

The two chains wrapped around his wrists spread like hummingbird wings.

The two chains precisely wrap around the necks of two Lycans leaping through the night sky, and the human’s crossed arms slam into the heads of two Lycans jumping from left and right.

After their heads collide with a bang, he immediately throws them forward, and their bodies knock down five or six others.

Yet the beasts rushing toward the surrounded human from all directions were still numerous.

In a situation where anyone would give up…

The young man did not surrender.

He appropriately deflects the hands and feet of the approaching werewolves with magic-infused attacks, and actively uses his obscured vision to gain footing.

If he stops for even a moment, he will be caught.

Therefore, the young man never stops moving. He uses chains to seal the enemy’s means of attack, and as always, knocks them unconscious with his specialty of disrupting magic circuits.

Now, a path is perfectly opened.

Tap tap tap tap.

After sprinting through the opened path at full speed, he uses a tree as a stepping stone and returns with a punch.

The densely compressed magic penetrates even the Lycan’s claws, and the wolf struck by the young man’s blow collapses as if nothing had happened.

With that single blow, the beasts crowded on the left are pushed back, breaking the encirclement.

Now he just needs to catch those charging in a straight line.

One werewolf, recognizing the annoyance of the chains, tries to pull them, but Junon pulls from his side, and when the center of gravity is disrupted, a knee kick directly to the face knocks it unconscious.

Another Lycan hidden behind it immediately jumps out, but falls to a somersault kick.

Nothing could stop Junon’s movements, whether on the ground or in the air.

Sometimes with chains. Sometimes with arms and legs. Sometimes borrowing or reversing the Lycans’ strength.

No attack reaches him as he accurately retires them one by one.

Amazingly, it was a single human who was subduing the Lycans that the Rakans couldn’t drive away.

“Chief…!”

“Yes, that must be it!”

They believe without doubt that this person is the one the Rakan tribe has been looking for.

The Rakans, cornered, rush toward the Lycans broken through by Junon alone, squeezing out their remaining strength.

“He came, he came!! He came to us too!!”

With the appearance of the guide they had so longed for, strength began to emerge in the Rakans where there had been none.

***

Mental interference attack.

This beholder’s power, subtly different from status ailments, has quite poor compatibility with the Rakan tribe.

That’s why the Sung Hwang wanted to deal with them first.

After souring their relationship with humans and eliminating them one by one, he planned to devour their magic through sacrificial rituals and use the beholder’s power throughout the empire.

However, the link to the Lycans he had marked with mana was just severed.

“They’re struggling quite a bit. Indeed, a troublesome tribe.”

Wrinkles form on the brow of the Sung Hwang, who had always been smiling.

“Well, there can’t be many left anyway. They couldn’t possibly have turned the tables.”

Seeing the Rakan tribe desperately holding out was frustrating as he couldn’t gather full strength.

Having already significantly advanced his plans, the Sung Hwang wanted to conserve as much power as possible for what he would face in the future.

Of course, if all those he sent died, they would at least have taken enemies with them. Even if miraculously a few survived, humans would treat them as Lycans, so it wouldn’t lead to major variables.

“Either way, your roots have been pulled out. Hehehe.”

The Rakan tribe, able to resist mental interference magic, was the biggest variable in this plan, but now it was finished.

What remains is the welcoming ceremony for the Tembris party and imperial forces that will soon arrive.

The Sung Hwang puts his hands together in prayer toward the empire, then raises his face and narrows his eyes.

His pupils were filled with something that replaced faith.

“Oh God. If it’s inevitable that this world will collapse due to monsters, I only seek to prevent it.”

—All for humanity.

Once again, a chilling wind shook the Sung Hwang’s robe.