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AR Chapter 329
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 04:00:06 +0000 UTCAfter taking a month to evolve and rest in New Nievtra, traveling once again was strange. With so many fewer of my people journeying together than on our journey to the Shandise, we moved much quicker than before. There was no need to coddle herds or search for large defensible camping spots, as we didn’t need to spend nights in the plains down below where the “umbral ophidians” lived. I hated that name, and referred to them as shadow wyrms instead.
Regardless of what we called the shadow monsters that lurked in the plains below, we stayed the nights in the mountains, and that paired with Solia and Hala’s fire magic’s presence gave us no small amount of reassurance as to our safety. With the encroaching winter, we saw more and more movement from the shadow wyrms, though. I’d expected the winter to be a time of greater lethargy from the massive monsters, but it wasn’t the case. The few times a pair approached us in earnest, though I’d considered indulging in a hunt, I recognized the importance of maintaining our strength as much as possible. Just a few threatening growls with [Murderous Melody] sent them scurrying away.
A full week passed in relative quiet as we traveled onwards. There hadn’t been any creatures noteworthy to me to purposefully hunt, but it wasn’t too long before we stumbled across another bear. This one, like the last, was a thickly furred heavyset beast, its paws huge and tipped with long deadly claws. Now that I’d evolved to Keel, though, I stood about as tall as it did when it stood on its hind legs and roared a warning in my face. Mrak obviously wanted to fight it himself, but I’d forced him and my guards to step aside and allow me my hunt.
“This can’t pose a threat to me.” I assured them. “I just want to stretch my body a little”
To ensure I didn’t slaughter it outright, I didn’t use [Murderous Melody], [Destructive Wave], or [Spear of the Many]. Even so, the large beast was impressively strong, but far from the caliber of foe I’d become accustomed to. Its heavy swings were easily dodged, and the time I blocked a strike with my arm, it’d barely broken through my guard. Its claws scraped against my scales with an uncomfortable sound. It couldn’t pierce my natural defences so easily, and I quickly found myself getting bored.
As soon as I realized I wasn’t enjoying myself, I ended it. My claws tore through its throat and the bear’s eyes went wild. Truly terrified, it fled. I didn’t want to drag the corpse back, though, so I leapt forward and, landing on its back, tore through its spine with one bite. The body went limp, and the bear died. Checking with my [Status], I learned the bear was, specifically, called a starred bear. Why that was the case, I didn’t know nor care, but its body fed us for the day. We stripped the bear bare and slept easily that night.
Three days into the second week of travel, though, Silf approached me with a spring in his step.
“I’ve found signs of keelish nearby!” He didn’t hesitate to explain. “What I’m seeing is rudimentary at best, I estimate at most 50 individuals. They show no signs of higher intelligence. There are certainly no khatif within, and I would say that they are less advanced than any other pack we’ve encountered thus far.”
I flared my frills in assent. As the rest of my pack readied themselves to follow Silf’s lead towards the keelish pack that existed here, I stopped them.
“We’ll swing by them last.” I commanded and continued walking. To their credit, none of my followers questioned my statement and simply followed in my footsteps. I mentally noted the location as we passed it by, and after several minutes had passed, I explained.
“Our travels will take us all the way to the northern edge of this continent. I would imagine that our journeying will take us another two weeks to reach that edge, and I have good reason to believe that there will be a large swarm of keelish there to bring into our fold. From there, we’ll make our return, to ensure that we have the fewest amount of keelish traveling for the shortest amount of time possible. Hopefully, by the time we return, we’ll be able to easily feed however many have joined with us.”
“A wise decision, Zaaktif!” Farahlia complimented. “I am glad you have such foresight. With this said, do you have any plans for what we will do as we travel north?”
“Merely to observe and locate whatever is of interest in the north part of our New Empire. We are to take note of any creatures that pose any particular threat to us, as well as any other that will serve us well as livestock. Finally, we never located the plants that Nevtala said we will be able to cultivate and eat, so if we can locate any specimens, we’ll mark them and attempt to return them to New Nievtra after our travels are complete.”
“Thank you for your wisdom, Zaaktif.” Farahlia bowed to me. Behind her, Hala and Farahlia’s Hak’Tal guards bowed as well. Solia and Silf as well as those Brutus had selected did no such thing. Seeing the rest not echo her as well, Hala, Krul, and Akta all looked embarrassed. Krul and Akta, not knowing me personally before this trip, still found themselves confused as to when to be subservient and when to stand on their own feet. They generally deferred to Farahlia, but at this point, they’d come to realize that she was more fawning than they themselves wished to be.
I ignored the unnecessary praise, given that I’d told her a dozen times a day to quit it and she still didn’t. Perhaps it was her nature, or her long-time method of survival, or maybe it was a deliberate flouting of my request, but whatever it was, my patience was wearing thin.
“Now, we continue onward, and will search for anything that is of interest to us as we travel. If it is something interesting, regardless of if you consider it to be of import, let me know.”
“Excuse me, sir?”
A refined male voice speaking in the human language interrupted my commands. Whirling, I looked and could see nothing. Below me, the voice coughed twice, as if clearing their throat. Looking down, I saw a rat. Was it the same one that I’d seen before? I couldn’t say. But that it was speaking to me was enough of a coincidence that I suspected it was.
“Hello sir. My name is Tar. Are you available to speak with me at this time or should I return later?”
