Chapter 119
When Zeke subdued the demon beasts, the barbarians charged in again with their weapons.
Since they had taken heavy damage from Zeke, the regenerating demon beasts couldn’t withstand the barbarians’ concentrated attacks and died.
Before long, the surrounding trees and rocks were covered in the demon beasts’ black fluid.
SCREECH!
After finishing off the last demon beast, Zeke approached King Fist.
“King Fist, it’s been a while.”
King Fist nodded.
“Brother Zeke, thanks for help.”
King Fist pulled Zeke in for a hug.
Then the other barbarians approached the two.
“King Fist, that human?”
King Fist introduced Zeke to them.
“Brother Zeke. Very strong.”
“Seems so. Really human?”
Zeke nodded at the barbarians and said.
“I human. Nice meet.”
Though barbarians were reclusive, they weren’t the type to ignore debts of gratitude when helped.
They acknowledged Zeke as a warrior.
Zeke said to King Fist.
“You Rock tribe? Why with other tribes?”
King Fist’s face darkened at Zeke’s words.
“Demon Beasts increased. Joined forces with tribes.”
It seemed the Rock tribe alone couldn’t handle the demon beasts, so they joined forces with neighboring tribes.
Zeke showed a surprised expression at King Fist’s words.
‘Barbarians rarely join forces with other tribes, the situation must be serious.’
Just then, Richmond emerged from between the trees.
“Huff huff, Master. How could you leave me… ? Eek! B-barbarians…!”
Richmond was terrified seeing over a dozen barbarians who could chomp down even monsters gathered together.
Zeke spoke to Richmond.
“They’re not enemies, so don’t be scared. Besides, aren’t you too cowardly for a lich?”
Richmond wiped his cold sweat and said.
“W-well, I spent my whole life mostly researching monsters, so I don’t have much combat experience.”
“You’re quite peculiar in many ways.”
“Hehe.”
King Fist, who had been waiting for their conversation to end, asked Zeke to come to the village together.
“Can come to village?”
“Fine. Father is tribe chief .”
A human being invited to a barbarian village was as rare as an outsider being invited to the Ishtar family.
‘Should be fine since he’s the chief’s son.’
At King Fist’s suggestion, Zeke and Richmond followed the barbarians to the village.
“Whoa.”
Richmond’s jaw dropped when he saw the entrance to the barbarian village.
A fortress made by piling up enormous rocks as walls stood atop a mountain.
It seemed even high-risk monsters and demon beasts wouldn’t be able to enter such a place.
In fact, when enemies attacked the fortress, barbarians would intercept by throwing rocks from above.
Actually, rocks thrown with barbarian strength were more fearsome than any weapon.
This was why even human knights, no matter how strong, couldn’t touch barbarian territory.
Zeke, scanning the surroundings with dragon eyes, realized something surprising.
‘There’s magic installed all over the fortress?’
Ancient magic, not modern magic, was installed throughout the fortress.
Even if magic corps came and used large-scale siege magic, the fortress wouldn’t fall and would instead deflect the magic, causing damage to the enemies.
Zeke realized barbarian civilization was more advanced than he thought.
“Brother Zeke. Wait bit.”
King Fist and other barbarian warriors approached the fortress entrance and worked together to push aside a huge rock.
RUMBLE!
A house-sized rock moved sideways with a loud noise.
After the group entered, the barbarians pushed the rock back to its original position.
Zeke and Richmond gaped at the bizarre opening method.
King Fist and the barbarians led the two inside the gate. Once inside the village, an amazing sight appeared.
A never-before-seen barbarian city sprawled inside the fortress.
Houses made of carved and stacked small rocks lined the mountain, and the wide road paved with flat stones, the plaza, and stalls also made of stone were impressive.
One barbarian was selling monster meat and leather at a stall, and there were places selling various goods.
There were occasionally shops dealing in items from humans or other races.
Zeke marveled at the barbarian shops.
Though he had negotiated with barbarians or fought alongside them in his previous life, he had never entered their village like this, so even he found these sights fascinating.
Richmond, interested in monster bones, looked around the shops with wide eyes.
“M-master! Good heavens, they’re even selling Caucasus and Wyvern bones and leather!”
Zeke told Richmond to look around the shops while he went to meet the tribe chief with King Fist.
It was to ask about Gollin’s whereabouts, whom he had come to find.
True to the name, the Rock tribe chief resided in a building made by hollowing out an entire massive rock.
King Fist went in first and called out.
“Father! Brother Zeke, came!”
Inside the rock was a barbarian even bigger and more fierce-looking than King Fist, meditating with closed eyes.
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at King Fist with wide eyes.
King Fist flinched and stepped back.
“W-why like that?.”
Big Foot, King Fist’s father and chief of the Rock tribe, slowly rose.
His massive build reminded one of legendary giants.
The saying that barbarians inherited the bloodline of ancient giants made sense.
Big Foot opened his mouth toward Zeke.
“You must have been startled by my immature child.”
The chief spoke in fluent common language with a deep voice.
Zeke replied in surprise to the chief’s words.
“You speak common language.”
“It’s one of the main reasons other warriors don’t want to be chief. Sit here.”
Big Foot told King Fist to wait outside and offered Zeke a seat by the fire.
Big Foot brought a large pot filled with water, placed it over the fire, and put in several tree branches.
After a while, when the water boiled, Big Foot scooped the branch-steeped water into a huge bowl and handed it to Zeke.
It was a bowl for barbarians, but to Zeke it was almost the size of a washbasin.
“Thank you.”
Zeke, curious about barbarian tea, lifted the washbasin-sized bowl with an interested face and took a taste.
It was slightly bitter, but the refreshing feeling was nice.
Big Foot stared at Zeke intently.
The bowl he handed over was not a weight that normal humans could lift.
Yet Zeke effortlessly lifted the bowl and gulped down the tea.
When Zeke emptied the tea and put down the bowl, Big Foot spoke.
“You’re no ordinary human either. A knight?”
Zeke nodded.
“Yes. I’m of Draker’s bloodline.”
At Zeke’s words, Big Foot briefly furrowed his brow.
The name Draker seemed to be known even to barbarians.
Big Foot soon relaxed his expression and spoke.
“Before being of Draker’s bloodline, you’re the human who helped my child. I’d like to repay that debt.”
Then Zeke said to Big Foot.
“I’m looking for a dwarf. A famous blacksmith. I heard his trail went cold around here.”
Big Foot nodded at Zeke’s words.
“You mean Gollin.”
Zeke brightened and said.
“You know him?”
“A master craftsman like Gollin deserves to be welcomed. Our tribe is confident in masonry, but lacking in metalworking skills.”
“I see. Gollin’s skills are well-regarded even among humans.”
Zeke took out the scabbard he received from Gelion and showed it to Big Foot.
“This was a gift from Gollin’s human disciple.”
Big Foot looked at the scabbard Zeke handed over and nodded.
“I remember this. It was Gollin’s first work mixing monster parts and minerals we caught. I remember how passionate he was about creating a weapon beyond weapons.”
Zeke was surprised by Big Foot’s unexpected words.
“You’re saying this scabbard was made here?”
Zeke asked doubtfully, as it seemed impossible time-wise.
“It’s been quite a while since we formed a connection with that stubborn dwarf craftsman. When he gets stuck making new works, he often visits here.”
“You mean this isn’t Gollin’s first time coming here?”
“About 10 years ago, he accidentally entered our territory, and seeing his special talent, we invited him as a guest, which started our connection.”
“Ah, I see. So is Gollin staying in this village then?”
Big Foot’s expression darkened at Zeke’s words.
“No, Gollin is in the village beyond those mountains. The problem is… contact between villages has been cut off for months now because of the demon beasts.”
Zeke said while looking at Big Foot.
“While climbing the mountain range, I noticed the demon beasts’ reactions were strange. Unlike usual, their regeneration was faster, and they wouldn’t die even when killed. Are the demon beasts in this area always like this?”
The chief shook his head.
“No. Following ancient tradition, the Rock tribe has served as sentinels preventing demon beasts from going out into the world. In all those long years, even for us, this is the first time seeing such reactions from demon beasts.”
Zeke frowned at Big Foot’s words.
“Something strange must have appeared. Do you have any suspicions?”
Then Big Foot slowly opened his mouth.
“For several years now, humans have been coming to our land. They dug up the land imbued with our ancestors’ power, destroying forests and land.”
Zeke realized these were the ones Big Foot called hounds.
“We tore apart and killed all who came, but they kept coming without stopping. Unlike before, they moved secretly while digging up our land. And then…”
His expression darkened.
“They disturbed what should not have been disturbed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those bastards woke up the sleeping monster.”
Zeke felt something flash through his mind hearing Big Foot’s words.
‘Could it be?’
Big Foot said with a serious expression.
“The Nine-Headed Dragon has broken free from its sealed domain and come outside.”
Zeke’s prediction was correct.
It seemed the Hydra he saw in Kaisir’s resting place had escaped and come outside its domain.
‘The Hydra is a tainted dragon species but… did it affect other demon beasts too?’
I didn’t understand why the Hydra, which had stayed in the area where Kaisir’s sanctuary was for a long time, suddenly went berserk, leading monster beasts and causing monsters throughout the mountain range to become agitated.
Zeke recalled various experiments the Empire had conducted.
‘Did these bastards do something to the Hydra and the monster beasts?’
Given that the Empire had conducted all sorts of tests on monsters and beast monsters, they might have done something to provoke the Hydra.
Zeke spoke while looking at Big Foot.
“This means we cannot enter the village where Golin is until we deal with the beast monsters showing unusual signs.”
“That’s how it is for now. Although the young warriors from each tribe have gathered with other tribal chiefs to join forces, it’s too much for them alone to catch the Nine-Headed Dragon. Of course, if the tribal chiefs including myself were to step in, the chances of a successful hunt would be high, but…”
Zeke shook his head at Big Foot’s words.
“If that happens, the humans you mentioned might take advantage of that opportunity to attack the village.”
Big Foot also nodded.
“We were also concerned about that aspect and couldn’t move carelessly.”
“Is there nowhere else to ask for help?”
“We’ve contacted the Hermit of the Forest, but I’m not sure when they’ll arrive.”
When the words ‘Hermit of the Forest’ came from Big Foot’s mouth, Zeke felt his body suddenly stiffen and cold sweat run down.
Big Foot tilted his head at Zeke’s sudden reaction.
“What’s wrong?”
Zeke shook his head while sweating.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Zeke calmed his breathing internally.
‘If it’s the Hermit of the Forest, that’s Master’s alias. If I waste time, I might run into them.’
The master was one of the people he didn’t want to meet if possible.
Zeke asked Big Foot again.
“Then is the fate of the people in that village also uncertain?”
“If they’re in the fortress, even the Nine-Headed Dragon or beast monsters wouldn’t be able to take them down easily, but given Golin’s personality, I can’t guarantee he’d sit still in there. He’s a friend who tends to wander around even in dangerous places if it’s for obtaining precious materials.”
As Golin was famous for being an eccentric craftsman, he was more than capable of doing such things as a dwarf.
‘I hope he doesn’t grab an axe and charge at the Hydra himself just to get materials.’
Zeke felt that he needed to resolve this issue quickly and leave this place for various reasons.
Zeke stood up immediately and said to Big Foot.
“Chief, please gather the warriors.”
“Why the warriors…?”
“I’m going to beat the Nine-Headed Dragon and go get Golin.”
