For the sake of Lan, kill! Kill! Kill! This will be sung by bards…
"Lan, I don't like what you just said." 022 flew beside Ah Bai, at the same speed as Ah Bai.
Jiang Yunlan was puzzled. Her blank gaze turned to the transparent slime with its calm voice, and she asked weakly, "Which sentence?"
"What you said to Maple Syrup, Lan, did you really believe deep down that you couldn't handle so many beasts and that you would die this time? You forgot that you still have us by your side. Me, Ah Bai carrying you, Maple Red who went to the front lines with you, and all the orcs on the battlefield, we will protect you."
There was no anger in 022's voice, only helplessness at being unable to do anything about Lan. It had to be clearer and tell Lan directly how much it cared.
"You will not die, because we will protect you. So, don't fight with the thought of dying, or easily treat your life as something to be discarded."
Out of the corner of its eye, it saw Lan lower her head and couldn't help but sigh, "I'm not blaming you. It's just that the scales you use to weigh your choices never seem to include your life. I hope you can cherish yourself more."
Jiang Yunlan was surprised that it would discover this. She looked up at it abruptly, its ears standing up and its tail frozen.
"Fight with the thought of wanting to live. You fight to live, to live with everyone." 022 looked ahead at the road, not at Lan's reaction.
Feng Hong, who was following Lan, said, "I don't like what Lan just said about dying. If Lan is destined to die, we will die before her."
"We will protect you," Ah Bai said softly, clearly terrified of the beast tide, his voice trembling involuntarily, yet his tone remained firm.
Are we fighting with the premise of survival, not death? Jiang Yunlan heard their voices and gripped her weapon even tighter.
When making choices, she wouldn't put her own life on the scales, because there would always be something more important than her life. That wouldn't change. But she thought that what was being weighed down—her life—was equally important.
She was cherished.
She should also cherish herself.
Jiang Yunlan closed her eyes, then slowly opened them again. She had figured it out.
"I will protect myself, try my best to survive, and live with you all," she said firmly.
Only by staying alive can you protect the creatures you want to protect.
"Dealing with the beast tide is simply a matter of hunting numerous wild beast groups at the same time. Everyone, calm down!"
Below the watchtower at the clan's entrance, the beast-like Hati howled like a wolf, addressing his people. He glanced at them, who had finally recovered from their shock, and let out a satisfied snort, almost like a laugh.
It's good that no orcs retreated.
"Archers, prepare! Orcs who are skilled in beast form, follow me. It's time to lay down the liquid spider slime." Hati turned around first, walked to the bucket containing the liquid spider slime, and took a bucket that was half full.
When Lan returned from one of her outings, she brought back a substance that could maintain the stickiness of the slime for a long time. From that day on, the slime collected daily from the breeding area was put into a liquid block bucket that took a whole season to make and placed on the outskirts of the clan's habitat.
The alpha wolf led the beastmen, who had transformed into their animal forms, out of the clan and scattered spider slime across the vast grasslands.
Liquid spiders have a strong adhesive property, which is enough to restrict the movement of many wild animals.
In the distance, a dark mass of wild beasts galloped towards them, like a continuous stretch of dark clouds, making it impossible to count how many of them there were.
The alpha wolf tossed out the bucket of slime, roared, and led the orcs, who had just finished throwing the slime, back to the front of the watchtower. They ignored the bucket of slime rolling on the ground.
The wild beast is getting closer.
On the second battlefield, Iwata was unusually using a humanoid form in combat.
Today it was her turn to lead the patrol. As the sun shone on the grassland, she and her teammates patrolled the perimeter of their habitat, checking for any signs that the traps set by the clan had been triggered.
Upon seeing a signal flare appear in the direction of the watchtower, Yan Duoyu and the other orcs immediately increased their speed, wanting to rush over to the area they hadn't yet patrolled. They didn't expect that, after traveling quickly around the outskirts of the clan's territories, they would soon hear a tremendous sound in the distance.
The beast tide split in two, surrounding their clan from both sides. Before the other members of their clan arrived, the only orcs guarding this spot were those who had just happened to be patrolling there.
The beast is getting closer.
"call out--"
Gray Creek drew his bow and shot down a wild beast that was trying to rush into its habitat.
The skilled archers gripped their bows firmly and unleashed their arrows, striking the beasts one after another. Some of the leading beasts fell on the grassland, while others, wounded by arrows, continued their charge.
The orcs, including Yan Duoyu and Heitu, who were not skilled in archery, silently took out explosive packs and lit tinderboxes together. They lit the fuses with fire and hurled them at the beasts that showed no signs of slowing down.
"Bang!"
Some of the wild animals perished in the bombardment, their carcasses lying haphazardly on the ground. The surviving animals rose and leaped over the dead carcasses, unknowingly stepping on sharp thorns hidden in the grass.
There were no watchtowers here, so the orcs, including Yan Duoyu, failed to detect the beasts' movements in advance and set up slime traps. However, the spike traps that Lan had asked them to set up earlier stopped many beasts from entering their territory.
The eyes of the many beasts gleamed with a hunger for the orcs, their presence so dangerous that the orcs' keen instincts made them scream and flee.
But seeing the dwindling number of wild beasts, the beastmen were filled with intense fighting spirit. Not only were they unwilling to retreat, but they also wanted to move forward, so that these ignorant beasts would know what death tasted like.
"Hahaha! So what if it's a beast tide? Come on, come on, I'll kill two for every one of you! Victory will ultimately be ours—"
Inspired by his teammates' fighting spirit, Gray Creek drew a new arrow, pulled back his bow, aimed at the beast, and shot. His usually cheerful face was now filled with only a thirst for victory.
"For the clan!" Gray Creek shouted.
The beast broke through the spike trap, roaring, its gaze fixed on the orc before it, fueled by hunger and a surge of murderous intent.
Locked onto by the eyes of a beast, Yan Duoyu drew her sword from her waist, gripped it with both hands, and calmly met the beast that wanted to tear her apart. Her desire to protect her people was no less than the beast's desire to devour them.
"For the sake of our people!" Yan Duoyu shouted.
Kurotsuchi fastened the iron shield to his left arm, wielding his sword in one hand as he faced the hungry wild beast, his sword swings becoming increasingly fierce. To enter the habitat and harm Lan, he would first have to step over her corpse.
"For Arashi!" Kurotsuchi shouted expressionlessly.
The orcs, their eyes bloodshot with rage, glared at the beasts trying to bypass them and rush into their roost, and roared viciously, "For the clan, for our people, for Lan—"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The amount of blood splattered on the grassland gradually increased; the orcs' bodies were covered with too much blood from wild beasts, their own blood, and the blood of their comrades. They fought with increasing ferocity, completely disregarding their own injuries.
The beastmen in their animal form clashed with the beasts that had broken through the trap's defenses. Hati turned and flung away the beast he had just killed, then brandished his claws and swung them at another beast.
Jiang Yunlan stood on the watchtower, observing the battlefield through binoculars. The clan had already used most of the beasts they had prepared to deal with, yet the hordes of beasts charging towards Xia seemed endless.
As the shadows of new wild beasts drew near, she looked at this group of birds and beasts, clearly different from the flocks in the woods, and calmly turned to ring the bell in the watchtower.
She was informing the beastmen that a new horde of beasts was about to arrive.
“This time it’s birds and beasts. 022, please tell the beastmen to watch the sky. Ah Bai, it’s your turn to watch the telescope. I’ll guard the tower’s safety.” As she spoke, she picked up her longbow, which she hadn’t used yet, drew an arrow, turned forward, and nocked the arrow, keeping a watchful eye on the strange-looking birds and beasts.
Among the beasts that appeared in the beast tide, there were many kinds of beasts that she had never seen before.
That's so strange.
I wonder what the situation is at the location where the red signal flare was launched, on the opposite side of the watchtower.
Jiang Yunlan could guess that the people guarding that place were Yan Duoyu and his team, who had been on patrol that morning. The defenses there were weaker than here, and she was a little worried. She frowned and focused all her attention on the sky above where the birds and beasts were about to appear.
She believed that Gray Honey and his group, who could also see signal flares, would go and make up for the missing combat power and defense on that side.
The winged beasts approached, and Jiang Yunlan and another archer in the tower simultaneously drew their bows and shot at different beasts. The watchtower was not spacious, and only three beastmen stood on it.
The bird has a strange appearance, and its body is covered with hard triangular feathers that look like scales, making it difficult to kill.
Jiang Yunlan used several arrows and finally found their weak point. She laughed and asked 022, which flew back to her, to tell the other archers about the birds and beasts' weakness.
022 agreed and flew out of the watchtower.
At this moment, the flock of birds and beasts with scales and feathers swept past the orcs such as Maple Red, Rock Flower, and Wolf Flame on the ground and arrived in front of the watchtower.
Many orcs attacked them, but the first orc to defeat their own kind was the orc in this strange building—the very small orc cub.
A bird cried out, and its kind responded. They decided that a few of them would go and take the head off the orc cub.
Jiang Yunlan saw several birds and beasts flying towards her. Calmly, she drew a new arrow, intending to shoot down another one. However, her judgment told her that she had to retreat back into the tower. She decisively abandoned the attempt to kill the birds and beasts and retreated rapidly, not forgetting to shout to the other fox-beastman with a bow to retreat as well.
These birds and beasts are too large to enter the tower. As long as they don't get close to the edge of the tower, they are safe for the time being.
"Huh?"
A sudden gust of wind appeared behind her, lifting Jiang Yunlan's body and making her watch as she flew out of the tower.
The figures of birds and beasts flashed in front of the tower, revealing powerful and sharp claws.
"Sorry, 022, it seems I'm not going to survive." Jiang Yunlan released her longbow, gripped the unused arrows, and prepared to perish together with the birds and beasts that attacked her.
"Lan!"
"bump--"
The longbow landed on the ground and swayed for a long time before slowly calming down.
Jiang Yunlan was pulled back into Ah Bai's arms by one hand, and they both fell down next to the telescope. She watched helplessly as the fox-beastman flew out, had his head taken by a bird-beast, and his body fell off the tower.
Blood splattered everywhere, and a few drops of red blood landed right on her cheek.
She blinked unconsciously and heard Ah Bai's voice in her ear.
"Lan, don't look." Ah Bai said softly, while his other hand gripped the binoculars tightly, blood oozing from the scratches on the back of his hand.
He remembered that Lan would be sad every time a member of his tribe went out hunting and did not return alive.
"Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly, shielding Lan from the occasional fierce winds with his body.
Jiang Yunlan snapped out of her daze and looked at him, her tone grave: "I wasn't injured, but we couldn't stop all the birds and beasts. Half of the surviving birds and beasts flew into their habitats."
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