WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 519: Hour of the Dog and the Wolf - 12

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The strongest card I had was Jizan. Even the King of Wolves could not overcome this club imbued with the Demon God's power. I had to stop a formidable enemy like Fenrir with Jizan alone.

How? Damn it. If I could do that, I'd be the regressor.

There was only one thing I could do. I angled Jizan diagonally, raising a barrier from the wolf's shoulder to her flank, one she could not pass without shifting her center of gravity.

That left Fenrir with two choices. She could go around Jizan to attack me, or crash into Jizan and attack me anyway.

If she had chosen the former, I would've been in trouble. Even strengthened by elixirs, I would die if I exchanged two or more moves with such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. Azzy or another strong fighter might arrive in time to help, but that was beyond my control.

Still, I trusted in the wolf's savagery.

"Yelp...!"

Without slowing down at all, she crashed into Jizan. That tremendous speed became a burst of impact in an instant, shaking Fenrir's whole body.

At the same time, a fierce impact struck my body. Fenrir's forepaw, reaching past Jizan, struck my shoulder. The moment that image was burned into my retina, my vision went black.

Pain tore through my back and waist as though I had been beaten senseless. My body convulsed because a bone had pierced my lung. When I came to, I was lying far from where I had been, upside down.

I had expected it, and I had reacted. I had won the mind game I played with Jizan.

But the stakes had been far too uneven. My body had been wrecked by one strike Fenrir delivered while accepting nothing more than a scratch. My side felt as if it had burst open, and I could not feel my left arm at all.

It was fortunate that I still had Jizan in my hand, but if Fenrir decided to press the fight...

Win or lose, my life would be the price.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Azzy barked fiercely and latched onto her. She clung as tightly as possible, attacking Fenrir without giving her even a moment to shake her off.

"Fight me!"

Fenrir, though, cleverly began using me. Taking advantage of a brief gap between herself and Azzy, she sprinted toward me. Startled, Azzy rushed in to protect me, but that was the bait. Fenrir turned in an instant and pinned Azzy down while her stance was broken.

"I don't need you, dog. Without your savagery, you're nothing but an obstacle."

"Woof woof! Don't run away!"

If she let go, I would die. Realizing that, Azzy dug in her claws and clamped down on Fenrir even while lying on the ground. Yet she could not counterattack while holding on. As soon as Azzy's claws dug into her body, Fenrir struck Azzy's face with her forepaw as though she had been waiting for it.

Boom. Azzy's body sank nearly a foot into the ground. Fenrir kept her pinned beneath her and spoke.

"Humans want to turn dogs into tools. That's their savagery. They want to make me into a dog, tame me, and use me."

"Woof! Woof! Whine...!"

"If you want to make me into a tool, you'll have to overcome my savagery too."

Thud, thud, thud. The ground heaved with every swing of Fenrir's forepaw. Even as Azzy was gradually driven into the earth, she did not release her claws. If she let go here, I would die.

Perhaps Fenrir knew that. She kept striking Azzy without pause.

"Awoooooo! Savagery doesn't belong to humans alone!"

Blood ran from the corner of Azzy's mouth. Fenrir was about to drive down another forepaw without hesitation, despite Azzy's miserable state.

Jizan spun through the air. It was not threatening, but Fenrir could not block it. The instant she ducked to avoid Jizan, Azzy shoved her away with all her strength and escaped.

Fenrir had lost the advantage, but she realized where Jizan had come from. Along with the fact that nothing remained to protect me.

Her eyes met mine as I panted after throwing Jizan. Nothing stood between Fenrir and me. Barking as if she would devour me, Fenrir pounced.

"Right. This is a fight for survival."

Then a hazy shadow appeared like a ghost. Two fanglike blades snapped shut above Fenrir's head and beneath her jaw.

Fenrir's tail stood stiff as she sensed danger. She pulled herself back through midair and avoided the blades. Gruel's daggers, however, stretched out like snakes and cut Fenrir's body. Two streaks of blood scattered through the air.

"Grrr!"

Fenrir bared her teeth at the powerful intruder. Gruel's surprise attack had failed, yet Gruel only laughed and shouted.

"This kind of fight suits me better than prattling on about politics and diplomacy with strained arguments! You fight to survive. How simple and easy to understand!"

Gruel of the Beast Faction. Having reached the Principle, Gruel had apparently been wasting time somewhere, but had finally joined the battle. What was with shouting so proudly after arriving late, though?

"You took long enough..."

"You held out well, didn't you? You're alive, so it worked out."

Fenrir rushed at Gruel, who answered calmly. The Beast King's speed was terrifying. It was too fast to react to with ordinary qi arts, but Gruel vanished from before Fenrir with a sudden flicker, like an illusion fading away.

"Against the King of Wolves, even I would be in danger without preparing the ground beforehand."

Calling it fast did not quite capture how strange it was. No matter how nimble someone was, moving required planting their feet and extending their legs. Yet without lifting a foot or moving a leg, Gruel moved faster than Fenrir just by sliding a foot slightly.

"While you and the King of Dogs fought, I prepared every patch of ground around here. Within this area, I'm faster than anyone."

Gruel moved a foot. Vanishing from sight as if pushing the ground away, Gruel appeared behind Fenrir. Fenrir twisted around warily, but Gruel followed at an angle as though expecting it and slashed wildly with the daggers.

Ordinarily, a mere human could never face a Beast King. But those who had reached the Principle surpassed common sense. Wounds began accumulating on Fenrir's body, which had barely been hurt even while fighting Azzy.

'Even daggers wrapped in qi don't cut well. That strike would have severed the foreleg of an ordinary wolf.'

Gruel did not let down his guard even while continuing the offensive. More than ten humans would have had their throats cut by now, but Fenrir only glared at Gruel with bright, fierce eyes as the daggers sliced into her.

'She doesn't flinch from pain or get frightened, either. This is troublesome.'

The attacks slowed for a moment, and Fenrir lunged like lightning. Gruel reflexively used Ground Leveling to move away. Appearing around thirty meters away, Gruel staggered from a sudden impact. In that brief moment, Fenrir's claw had grazed Gruel.

'Without Ground Leveling, I couldn't keep up with that speed. Anyone who hasn't reached the Principle would just be a meat shield. Even this...'

"Awoooooo!"

Ground Leveling allowed quick movement over short distances, but because the ground had to be prepared in advance, it was unsuitable for traveling far. It could not be explained in numbers alone, but the ground Gruel had prepared covered roughly five hundred meters. The fight had to be settled before all of it was used up.

The gap in raw power was still considerable. Gruel wrapped his whole body in qi and thrust a blade toward the charging Fenrir. Fenrir instantly lowered herself and slipped inside.

Gruel tried to strike upward with a knee, then bring down a blow on Fenrir as she lifted off the ground. Fenrir's teeth were faster, tearing into the rising knee. Everyone knew a wolf's jaws were powerful. Gruel recoiled in shock, shook Fenrir off with qi, and opened the distance with Ground Leveling. Cold sweat ran down Gruel's face.

'It's a crude charge without any technique, but it's powerful on its own.'

...The moment Gruel thought that, Fenrir sharply turned her head and immediately gave chase. A chill ran down Gruel's spine.

Fenrir had already seen Ground Leveling three times. She had learned from it and figured out where Gruel had fled. Just as Gruel prepared for the collision...

"Woof woof woof!"

Azzy burst in and bit Fenrir. Fenrir immediately grabbed Azzy by the fur on her head and hurled her to the ground, but Gruel rushed in during that moment, forcing her back five or six steps.

'It would've been difficult to fight without the King of Dogs. I think I understand why they don't try to fight without the King of Dogs.'

Gruel was still better off. He had the strength to fight in that chaos.

The Beast Faction's warriors were fighting wolves around us. The Baskervilles and the priest were facing the regressor.

There would never be a better opportunity than this. I forced my trembling body upright. It hurt, and my head was spinning, but the elixirs were definitely working. My arms and legs moved with ease.

I was really starting to dread tomorrow.

While the two fought, I retrieved Jizan and prepared the final trap to catch Fenrir.

The fight continued. Gruel, who had prepared Ground Leveling, and Azzy drove Fenrir back. Whenever Fenrir was distracted fighting one of them, the other rushed in to exploit an opening. Fenrir gradually took damage from their coordinated attacks.

Still, everyone felt it deep down.

'We're lacking one decisive blow! At this rate, the fight won't end!'

I could not read a beast's mind, but Fenrir and Azzy must have been thinking the same thing. That was why Fenrir had baited Azzy with me earlier.

Right. We lacked one blow that could tear hide and rip apart organs, one that would work even against a Beast King. We needed the force of a powerful Principle or magic, or a relic like Skywarbler.

...And Jizan was now in my hand.

I had to do this.

"Wolf. Admit defeat already."

You used me to lure Azzy earlier, right? Then now it was my turn.

I would use myself as bait to draw Fenrir in.

"You're a Beast King, and you gained power by representing the savagery of other beasts... But you know it, wolf. Humans already rule this world."

Fenrir's ears perked up. The Beast King had taken human form to communicate with humans. Remembering that, I continued.

"One pig beastkin who has reached the Principle can fight you on nearly equal terms. Even without qi arts, humans can create magic and devices that will defeat you. The power of a single city is as strong as the pack you lead. If a nation's king marched here, a wolf pack like yours would be wiped out in an instant."

For some reason, my words caused the fight to subside briefly. Even with more dangerous enemies at her side, Fenrir stared at me with blazing eyes.

"If you can't win, accepting it is one option. Azzy may look stupid, but she's actually wise."

"Woof? Stupid?"

"Yeah. She became humanity's friend because she's stupid."

As Azzy tilted her head in confusion at the sudden insult, Fenrir bared her teeth and shouted.

"Because they're strong, I should run away? I should hide without baring my teeth? Human, would you accept that? Kill your savagery?"

"No. I don't need to. I'm human."

If humanity's power was strong, that made it my power. Besides, I was accepting it to some degree. I could not afford to die a meaningless death.

"But you're a wolf. No matter how many times you die and come back, you can't defeat humans with your strength. Savagery or not, survival comes first. If it lets you live, isn't it better to pull out your teeth, trim your claws, and cast away your savagery?"

"If you want to do that...!"

Fenrir kicked off the ground. She moved so swiftly and nimbly that Gruel and Azzy both lost track of her for an instant, charging toward me to kill me.

"Then do it! Pull out my teeth, cut off my claws! Gnaw away all my savagery and tame me! Break me with your savagery, and make me your dog!!"

Footnotes:

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