Chapter 239 –
The Warriors of Baraten (1)
The battle was over.
We were victorious, having hunted down not only the Werewolves of the Clark camp, but all five Lycans as well.
There were suggestions to keep at least one Lycan alive, but those top-tier monsters from the A-grade were too dangerous to spare.
Moreover, even if it wasn’t the Clark faction…
“Greetings, Lycans.”
…We still had Lycans left to converse with.
Only four Werewolves remained after the fierce battle.
And two Lycans from the Baraten faction.
They looked confused by my welcoming gesture.
-Human, did you just address us?
-It seems so? He clearly said ‘Lycan’, didn’t he?
-So this human knows our language and is well-informed about our tribe?
-Huh? No, I didn’t say anything, how did you arrive at that conclusion? That’s an insane stretch of assumption. Haha. And this is the first time we’ve seen a human here since being transformed.
-…True.
I spoke to them, but received only murmurs in response instead of answers.
It made sense though.
The [Language] Rune only allows listening at low levels, not communication.
So at my current level, I cannot use the Lycan language either.
Yet I greeted them in Korean regardless.
I did so knowing that Lycans possess highly developed language abilities and the [Language] Rune.
“You’re right that I am listening to you. I possess the Language Rune. And during the earlier battle, I deduced you also have the Language Rune after seeing you seemingly assisting us by following our operational orders.”
As I explained with a smile, the Lycans of the Baraten faction reacted rowdily again.
-Mr. Jiten! He knows we are proficient in languages! And he used the word ‘Rune’, so he is clearly influenced by the System…!!
-Quiet down. I can hear it too.
The wolf-humanoids, towering as tall as houses, were being incredibly noisy.
‘They really are huge.’
Around 3M tall perhaps?
With their gigantic bodies, I had to look up at the Lycans up close.
Anyway, the one who seemed the superior of the two, called Jiten, stepped forward to address me.
-Greetings. I am Jiten, descendant of the great warrior Baraten. First, I express gratitude for saving us, though your motives are unclear.
Jiten patted his shoulder twice and gave a brief bow.
I didn’t fully understand, but it seemed a courtesy of the Lycans or Baraten tribe.
“We didn’t save you for any grand purpose. But before we discuss further…”
I suddenly turned my head to look behind me.
Our squad members, still fully armed…
…Were staring this way with astonished expressions.
The emergence of the <Chamber of the Transcendental> made possible what was previously thought impossible – a human conversing with monsters, as Transcendents were not even considered monsters.
An unprecedented, paradoxical scene was unfolding before our eyes.
Even the most experienced Holders could not help but be stunned and tense.
“If you don’t mind, could you please speak in our language? My Rune level is still too low for me to use the Lycan tongue. Also, our squad members without the Language Rune cannot understand our conversation.”
I was speaking in Korean, while Jiten was using the Lycan language.
Thanks to [Language], we understood each other, but my squadmates could not comprehend it.
In response to my request, Jiten’s already fierce expression became even more furrowed.
-And why should I?
It seemed the pride of this battle-hardened race was not easily swayed.
I pondered an excuse with a troubled look.
“Well, we did sort of become your life-saviors, didn’t we?”
Thump!
“That’s what I was going to say. Hello to the other humans. I am Jiten, descendant of the great warrior Baraten.”
…..
That was easy.
Jiten patted his shoulder a couple times as he greeted my squad as well.
The fluent Korean pouring from his mouth.
This caused another wave of astonishment on my teammates’ faces.
By raising [Language] to high levels, one could naturally speak foreign tongues heard just once.
“Greetings! I am Haten, descendant of the great warrior Baraten! By the way, this language is peculiar. The pronunciation has many sharp spots here and there. Haha.”
Haten, the other Lycan, also introduced himself.
The two silver-maned A-grade Lycans looked similar, but upon closer inspection, Jiten had a larger build and more intense aura.
Additionally, his mane had a faint reddish tinge to it.
‘About to rank up?’
A change in mane color indicated the transition from A to S-grade Lycan.
Jiten seemed to be Haten’s superior while being on the verge of ranking up himself.
“Squad Captain, what is this whole…”
As I was observing Jiten’s presence…
Some squad members approached me from behind with looks of disbelief.
Although we knew from the start about the ‘Baraten Camp’ and the ‘cooperation of the Lycanthrophe’, this situation far exceeded expectations.
The Lycans suddenly speaking Korean was too much.
Even I would have struggled to accept it without prior knowledge.
“Let’s just converse for now, since we can understand each other.”
In cases like these, demonstrating is more effective than explaining.
After reassuring my team, I turned back to the front.
“Greetings. I am Squad Captain Do Jae-hyun, a Holder of the Ripple Raid.”
Thump.
I shook hands with Jiten.
His rough, coarse hands conveyed immense strength.
He was certainly no ordinary A-grade monster.
“Raids? Holder?”
“It seems this will be a long conversation.”
For a more comfortable discussion, we relocated briefly.
The Lycans turned out to be more than just brawn.
***
Ippotranslation
***
The conversation with the Lycans was more constructive than expected.
While they didn’t have the in-depth information that the ‘Transcendent’ dragons had, they were beings who were influenced by the system and clearly aware of its existence.
Should I say they are in the form of monsters holding Runes.
Especially in terms of information disclosure, much was allowed, so in some ways it was more helpful than conversing with the Transcendents.
“Oho! So you are humans influenced by the system from the other world?”
“Exactly! We are commonly called Rune Holders, meaning humans who possess Runes.”
In the back, Do Seung-min and Haten were excitedly chatting.
The two people…
No, the one human and one werewolf were conversing comfortably as if they had been friends for a long time.
Perhaps because Do Seung-min is exceptionally friendly among our members, he quickly became close even with the werewolf who should clearly still be regarded with caution.
“…That friend also seems quite friendly.”
“Haten is a bit peculiar.”
Jiten also nodded in acknowledgment.
It’s a bit noisy, but not an unpleasant sight.
In any case, as Do Seung-min casually broke the ice in conversation, the invisible gap between our members and the Lycans gradually narrowed.
Especially when those we had only considered monsters started blurting out key words like ‘system’, ‘rune’, and ‘skill’, everyone became interested and joined the conversation.
I turned back to Jiten and continued our previous conversation.
“So to summarize, you are descendants of the Baraten tribe within the Lycans, and you are currently at war with the Clark tribe to reclaim the city that was taken from you long ago, right?”
“That’s right. The Lycans we just fought were the vanguard of those dirty Clarks.”
The place we were standing was an area like the boundary line.
Naturally, vanguard troops would cross over while patrolling the area, leading to combat in the process.
That was the reason why Duke and the Clark Lycans had boldly advanced into the Baraten camp earlier.
This city originally existed on their continent Lafrion as well.
The entire city had transitioned to the current Earth.
Jiten didn’t remember the details about why and how the city was taken from them either.
‘It was probably erased by the system.’
While a lot of information was open, there were still erased memories.
In particular, when I was praised for hunting Duke and the ‘legend of the Dragon Knight’ came up briefly, when I asked about it in more detail, he just gave a formulaic response of “I don’t remember that part.”
It’s understandable to be frustrated by not remembering, but he acted as if it were a given.
The probability of that too being encroached upon by the system was likely high.
‘In any case, the important thing is that I convinced our members.’
I briefly looked around at the members of the raid party.
Some were chatting amongst themselves, but most were focused on either my conversation with Jiten or Do Seung-min and Haten’s conversation.
To that extent, through this special strategy, they were desperately trying to engrave the ‘newly learned information’ into their minds.
And the members probably grasped it slowly too.
That the condition for clearing this dungeon… Was ultimately to help the Baraten camp and defeat the Clarkk camp.
The decisive proof for this hypothesis was thanks to one item that Jiten gave me.
<Item Information>
◎Name: Token of Trust
…
…
◎Details
: A token of faith that the Baraten tribe Lycans give to comrades. The Baraten tribe considers this token very special, and has unlimited trust in those they give it to. Only a few warriors including Tol Baraten can possess this token.
It doesn’t have any special effects or innate skills, but…
It has peculiar detailed information attached.
In other words, even the system has acknowledged it.
That assisting the Baraten tribe and participating in the war will be the direction for clearing this dungeon.
We entered through the ‘Baraten camp’ entrance from the start, so it was actually laughable to consider another direction.
I lightly grasped the [Token of Trust] in my hand and said to Jiten, “Alright. Let’s go then. To your leader, this Tol Baraten.”
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