The Tin Knight-Chapter 76: The Tin Knight and The Land of Deep Green (6)

A renowned magic beast scholar of the Empire wrote the following in his book.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The Garden is like a nation in itself. It has territory, people, and lords ruling each region.

‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ The reason I call them “lords” and not “kings” is simple. Kings do not serve kings.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Other scholars deny my opinion. They say the Garden is an arena of warring states where several powerful creatures check each other and struggle for power, not a unified nation. They say the leaders of the packs are masters who reign over their own areas, and there is no higher being ruling over them.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I know the people of the Garden. I have confirmed the lords of the Garden. I have clearly witnessed all of this with my own two eyes. The only thing I haven’t directly witnessed and can only infer is one thing: the existence of the monarch.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ By the time this book circulates, I will have embarked on a new journey to the Garden. And I will return to announce the true ruler who governs the Garden.

Unfortunately, the magic beast scholar never got to prove his theory.

The military, seeing the scholar roaming around near the border each time with dozens, sometimes over a hundred people, requested the higher-ups to “stop that person before they unnecessarily provoke the Magic State.”

The upper echelons of the Empire accepted this request and issued a polite recommendation to the scholar, and when the scholar didn’t listen, they cut off his funding entirely.

If he had given up at this point, the scholar’s remaining years might have been relatively comfortable, but his passion refused to die out.

He finally forced through an exploration of the Garden with some of his disciples and became a meal for a young wolf.

Now, about 20 years have passed since then.

The wolf that had eaten the scholar was enjoying a sunbath, sprawled out on a large rock.

Although prey that had just had their breath cut off were lying defenseless around the wolf, not a single other beast dared to covet them.

The wolf was the master ruling this surrounding area and no one dared challenge his reign.

If it had been an ordinary wolf, enough time had passed for it to have grown old and died, but the wolf had not weakened.

Far from weakening, it was two to three times larger than its kin, its muscles were full of elasticity, and its fur gleamed with luster.

Near the wolf’s neck, something like a plant stem protruded like a prominent blood vessel, but the wolf didn’t find it uncomfortable.

It understood that the plant was a sign of the “something” that gave it strength.

The wolf first became aware of this “something” the day after it ate the scholar.

On that day, its body was unusually full of energy, and it didn’t tire easily even after running for longer periods.

A few days later. freёwebnoѵel.com

After hunting another outsider who had wandered into the forest, the vitality coursing through its body grew even stronger.

At first, the wolf thought it had just eaten high-quality prey, but as it gained more experience, it came to understand this “something”.

“Something” was the true master of the forest. Perhaps it was the will of the forest itself.

When it fought against outsiders, “something’ gave strength to the wolf.

It became stronger, larger, and more resilient to injury and weakness.

It even became able to handle the power called mana, which it originally couldn’t have handled.

The wolf revered “something”.

It knew that it wasn’t the only one receiving the favor of “something”, but it didn’t feel disappointed about that.

It simply looked forward to fighting more outsiders and receiving more grace.

Perhaps that was why.

Even when a subordinate reported the intrusion of outsiders while it was leisurely resting, the wolf was pleased rather than annoyed.

It was another opportunity to defeat new outsiders, to crave their blood and flesh, and to receive grace.

– Awoooooo!

With a magnificent howl, the wolf leaped towards the frontline where its pack was said to be engaging in battle.

Arriving at the frontline with wind-like movement, the wolf soon felt puzzled.

Although it had rushed here hearing that outsiders had invaded, what was actually fighting with its subordinates were other animals of the forest.

Those could be called outsiders too, but they weren’t the prey the wolf had expected.

Seeing a few cheetahs with yellow fur loitering around, the wolf growled lowly.

If the wolf’s feelings were to be expressed in human language, it could be summarized as, “Can’t that bastard manage his own subordinates properly? Tsk tsk, pathetic fellow.”

The leader of the nearby cheetah pack was one of the individuals receiving the forest’s grace, just like the wolf.

“Something” didn’t want the individuals receiving grace to fight each other, so they had been keeping a cool distance until now, but the other side had crossed the line.

Moreover, since a few of its allies seemed to have already been taken down, lying limp on the ground, the wolf couldn’t ignore this situation, even if it wanted to.

It was a scene that scholars would have marveled at as quite human-like thinking if they had seen it.

Grrrr.

Just as the alpha wolf was about to leap to deal with the fools who dared to invade its territory.

Shiver.

An ominous and evil energy spread like a ripple in ring-like shapes, enveloping the forest.

The moment the black mana made contact, the movements of the cheetah pack fighting with the subordinates suddenly became more violent.

Not only that, but the corpses of the subordinates lying on the ground twitched and then slowly rose up.

Bitten necks, intestines spilling from torn bellies.

Regardless of injuries that should have made movement impossible, they bared their teeth towards the enemy.

That was right.

Towards none other than the wolf and its subordinates.

The joint attack of the cheetah pack and the resurrected wolf pack flustered the alpha wolf and its subordinates.

Even in this situation, the alpha wolf easily crushed the cheetahs’ heads and broke the necks of the wolves that were once its subordinates, but the other wolves couldn’t do the same.

A cruel tragedy of fratricide unfolded, and new corpses piled up on the earth once again.

And as if in response, another black ripple spread.

The alpha wolf was terrified.

The corpses that it had clearly smashed with its front paws and teeth absorbed the mana carried by the black ripple and stood up again as if nothing had happened.

How many times had this been repeated?

In a place so covered in blood and flesh that it was hard to recognize the original forms, the alpha wolf let out an irritated roar.

None of the subordinate wolves had survived. No, it was even difficult to distinguish which had been its subordinates and which had been outsiders.

They kept rising again and again no matter how many times their breath was cut off, it had to completely dismantle their entire bodies into pieces.

No, strictly speaking, there were some survivors.

The alpha wolf scanned its surroundings with yellow eyes.

It could see some of its kin who hadn’t participated in the fight and were hiding in corners, watching the alpha wolf’s mood.

For some reason, this strange “outsider” didn’t attack those who didn’t fight back, and the wolves who noticed this didn’t join the fight and just watched the alpha’s battle.

In fact, this was unavoidable, and also wise.

While it might be different for the alpha wolf who had received the forest’s grace and possessed special power, from the perspective of wild animals, there was no rhyme or reason to fight such unknown beings.

The judgment to not join the fight at all was correct, as fighting would only result in futile death and increase the number of enemies.

However, the alpha wolf had no intention of understanding this.

Crunch!

One of the surviving wolves was hit by the alpha wolf’s front paw and rolled onto the ground.

The claws enhanced by mana were enough to cut the skin like paper and scatter its contents.

Grind, crunch.

After mauling the corpse more than necessary, the alpha wolf tore off and ate its meat.

It couldn’t bring itself to eat the corpses touched by the black mana, as they felt ominous, so this would have to do.

After filling its stomach and looking around, it found that the surviving subordinates had all fled.

The alpha wolf didn’t care.

It was strong and could make a new pack anytime.

For that, it now needed to resolve the crisis that had befallen the forest.

The alpha wolf began to sprint through the forest.

Its target was the source of the black energy that had been continuously spreading at regular intervals.

An evil power that made the dead move and didn’t even allow rest.

Something scary and dirty that was repulsive even to touch was clearly there.

The state of the forest was miserable.

Blood was splattered everywhere, and groups of dead animals were wandering here and there in the forest.

Only a few special animals that had been “chosen” like the alpha wolf had survived.

There seemed to be quite a few cowards who had given up fighting, but they were of no help in the current situation, anyway.

As it advanced like this, the alpha wolf suddenly lowered its body and concealed its presence.

This was because the source of the evil power finally came into view.

A black human, tapping a strangely twisted tree on the ground at regular intervals, opened its mouth.

“Remote control is inconvenient like this. Having to constantly supply additional mana.”

A human with golden hair said, “You’ve been repeating this for hours now, are you okay with mana?”

“Well, about half left?”

“Wow... You still have half left?”

A human with green hair opened its mouth, “But, if we transmit mana to Sir Tin in this way, wouldn’t it solve the supply problem?”

“It’s possible because corpses moved by necromancy have the property of absorbing mana of the same attribute, but it’s usually impossible. If you sprinkle water on a dry cloth it absorbs, but if you sprinkle water on an iron plate, it just flows off, right?”

“I see. It’s not that easily solved.”

The alpha wolf didn’t understand what conversation the humans were having.

Although its intelligence had increased somewhat after receiving the forest’s grace, understanding human language was a separate issue.

The alpha wolf quietly suppressed its presence and observed the prey and the surrounding environment.

What caught the alpha wolf’s attention were two mounds piled up around the humans.

What made up the mounds were the corpses of animals.

Among the animals in the forest, particularly large, strong, and long-lived individuals.

That was right.

They were individuals who had received grace, like the alpha wolf.

Even as the alpha wolf observed its surroundings, the mounds continued to grow higher and larger.

This was because groups of dead animals kept bringing new “graced individuals” in their mouths.

It was difficult to understand why they were trying to pile corpses on the right mound, leaving the relatively lower left mound alone, but the alpha wolf decided to ignore that.

What was important now wasn’t which side the dead animals were being piled on.

The alpha wolf was enraged.

And excited.

This situation was undoubtedly a greater crisis than any the forest had ever experienced.

If it resolved this, the forest would surely bestow an even greater blessing upon the alpha wolf.

The observation was over.

Although it contained an ominous energy, the black human didn’t look that strong.

The golden human looked a bit stronger, but even so, it was no match for the wolf.

The green human wasn’t even worth paying attention to. That was nothing more than a bag stuffed with straw.

The alpha wolf tensed its body.

Leap. Strike down.

It intended to cut off their breath in one go with its front paws that could even split rocks.

Its strong and flexible limbs shot through the air, cutting the wind.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ rejoices at finding a new target!]

And something even stronger and more agile than the alpha wolf suddenly intervened.

The alpha wolf couldn’t react to it.

Just after something seemed to flash before its eyes, the alpha wolf’s head was already flying through the air.

As it soared high into the sky and fell towards the ground, the alpha wolf saw.

Using long vines as ropes, tying the neck of one large animal.

And with the remaining vine after tying that neck, tying the neck of another animal.

The sight of the Tin Knight dragging along a dozen or so necks tied together like stringing fish.

The Tin Knight pulled the dried pollack knot—no, boss knot he had brought and placed it on top.

The right mound, which had been higher until just now, became the same height as the left mound.

The Tin Knight placed the body and head of the alpha wolf, which he had just hunted, on top of the left mound, and proudly puffed out his chest.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares his victory!]