[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 119
As Zeke subdued the monsters, the Barbarians also charged in, wielding their weapons once more.
Having already been severely wounded by Zeke, the regenerating monsters couldn't withstand the simultaneous attacks from the Barbarians and perished.
The surrounding trees and rocks were now covered in the monsters' black fluids.
Keeek!
After defeating the last monster, Zeke approached King Fist.
"King Fist, long time no see."
King Fist nodded.
"Brother Zeke, thanks for the help."
King Fist pulled Zeke in for a hug.
Then, other Barbarians approached them.
"King Fist, is that a human?"
King Fist introduced Zeke to them.
"He's my brother Zeke. He's super strong."
"Seems like it. Is he really a human?"
Zeke nodded at the Barbarians and said,
"I'm human. Nice to meet you."
Although the Barbarians were reclusive, they weren't a race that ignored the debt of gratitude when they received help.
They acknowledged Zeke as a fellow warrior.
Zeke asked King Fist,
"Aren't you from the Rock tribe? Why are you with other tribes?"
King Fist's face darkened at Zeke's question.
"Many monsters appeared. Joined forces with other tribes."
It seemed they had joined forces with other surrounding tribes because the Rock tribe alone couldn't handle the monsters.
Zeke had a surprised expression at King Fist's words.
'The Barbarians rarely join forces with other tribes. It seems the situation is serious.'
Just then, Richmond emerged from between the trees.
"Pant... pant... Master. How could you leave me behind... Eek! B-Barbarians...!?"
Richmond was terrified to see more than a dozen Barbarians gathered, the kind who could chew up and swallow even monsters whole.
Zeke said to Richmond,
"They're not enemies, so don't be scared. Besides, aren't you a lich? Why are you so cowardly?"
Richmond wiped away his cold sweat and said,
"W-well, I've spent my whole life mostly researching monsters, so I don't have much combat experience."
"You're certainly unique in many ways."
"Hehe."
King Fist, who had been waiting for the conversation to end, told Zeke to come to the village with them.
"Can I enter the village?"
"It's okay. My dad is the chieftain."
A human being invited to a Barbarian village was as rare as an outsider being invited to the Ishtar clan.
'It should be fine since he's the chieftain's son.'
At King Fist's suggestion, Zeke and Richmond followed the Barbarians to the village.
"Whoa."
Richmond's jaw dropped as he saw the entrance to the Barbarian village.
A fortress built on a mountain with massive rocks stacked like walls, their weight and size immense.
It seemed like even high-risk monsters, let alone monsters, wouldn't be able to enter.
Indeed, when enemies attacked the fortress, the Barbarians would intercept them by throwing rocks from above.
In reality, the rocks thrown with the Barbarians' strength were more fearsome than any weapon.
This was the reason why human knights, no matter how strong, didn't dare to touch the Barbarian territory.
Zeke, observing the surroundings with Dragon Eye, realized a surprising fact.
'There's magic installed throughout the fortress?'
Ancient magic, not modern magic, was installed throughout the fortress.
Even if a magic corps came here and used large-scale siege magic, the fortress wouldn't collapse. Instead, it would deflect the magic, causing damage to the attackers.
Zeke realized that the Barbarians' civilization was more advanced than he thought.
"Brother Zeke. Wait a moment."
King Fist and the other Barbarian warriors approached the fortress entrance and pushed a giant rock aside with their combined strength.
Rumble!
The house-sized rock was pushed aside with a loud noise.
After the group entered, the Barbarians pushed the rock back to its original position.
Zeke and Richmond gaped at the absurd opening and closing method.
King Fist and the Barbarians led them through the gate. Inside, they saw an amazing sight.
A Barbarian city, unlike anything they had ever seen before, unfolded within the fortress.
Houses made by carving and stacking small rocks stretched along the mountain, and the streets and squares paved with flat stones, as well as the stalls also made of stone, were impressive.
A Barbarian was displaying monster meat and leather at a stall, and there were other places selling various goods.
There were also shops that occasionally dealt in goods from humans and other races.
Zeke marveled at the Barbarian shops.
In his previous life, he had negotiated and fought alongside Barbarians, but he had never entered their village, so this sight was also new to him.
Richmond, who was very interested in monster bones, wandered around the shops with wide eyes.
"M-Master! Oh my goodness, they're even selling Caucasus and wyvern bones and leather!"
Zeke told Richmond to look around the shops while he went with King Fist to meet the chieftain.
His purpose was to ask about the whereabouts of Golin, whom he was searching for.
The chieftain of the Rock tribe, true to his name, resided in a building made by hollowing out a giant rock.
King Fist entered first and shouted,
"Dad! Brother Zeke came with me!"
Inside the rock, a Barbarian larger and more rugged-looking than King Fist was meditating with his eyes closed.
He slowly opened his eyes and glared at King Fist.
King Fist flinched and stepped back.
"W-what's wrong?"
Big Foot, King Fist's father and chieftain of the Rock tribe, slowly rose.
He was a giant figure reminiscent of the giants in legends.
It made sense that the Barbarians were said to have inherited the bloodline of ancient giants.
Big Foot opened his mouth and said to Zeke,
"My foolish son must have surprised you."
The chieftain, with a deep voice, spoke fluent Common Tongue.
Zeke replied to the chieftain in surprise,
"You speak Common Tongue?"
"That's one of the biggest reasons why other warriors don't want to be chieftain. Have a seat here."
Big Foot told King Fist to leave and offered Zeke a seat by the fire.
Big Foot brought a large pot filled with water, placed it on the fire, and put in a few branches.
After a while, when the water boiled, Big Foot poured the water infused with the branches into a huge bowl and handed it to Zeke.
It was a bowl to the Barbarians, but to Zeke, it was practically a washbasin.
"Thank you."
Curious about the taste of the Barbarian tea, Zeke took the washbasin with an intrigued expression and tasted it.
It had a slightly astringent taste, but it was refreshing and not bad.
Big Foot stared at Zeke intently.
The bowl he handed over wasn't something an ordinary human could lift.
Nevertheless, Zeke lifted the bowl without any difficulty and drank the tea in large gulps.
When Zeke finished the tea and put down the bowl, Big Foot opened his mouth.
"You don't seem like an ordinary human either. Are you a knight?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yes, I'm of Draker blood."
Big Foot frowned slightly at Zeke's words.
It seemed the name Draker was known even to the Barbarians.
Big Foot soon relaxed his expression and spoke,
"Before being of Draker blood, you are the human who helped my son. I want to repay that debt."
Then Zeke said to Big Foot,
"I'm looking for a dwarf. A famous blacksmith. I heard he went missing around here."
Big Foot nodded at Zeke's words.
"You mean Golin."
Zeke said with a delighted expression,
"You know him?"
"A master craftsman like Golin deserves to be welcomed. Our tribe is confident in stonemasonry, but our skills in handling iron are lacking."
"I see. Golin's skills are renowned even among humans."
Zeke took out the scabbard he received from Gelion and showed it to Big Foot.
"This is a gift I received from Golin's human disciple."
Big Foot looked at the scabbard Zeke handed him and nodded.
"I remember. It was the first piece Golin made by mixing materials from a monster we caught with minerals. I remember him being very enthusiastic, saying he would create 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 the story seemed chronologically impossible.
"It's been quite a while since we formed a bond with that stubborn dwarf craftsman. He often visits here when he's stuck creating a new piece."
"You mean this isn't the first time Golin has been here?"
"About ten years ago, he accidentally entered our territory, and we invited him as a guest after seeing his special skills. That's how we became acquainted."
"Ah, I see. So, is Golin staying in this village?"
Big Foot's expression darkened at Zeke's question.
"No, Golin is in the village beyond that mountain. The problem is... that communication between the villages has been cut off for months now because of the monsters."
Zeke said to Big Foot,
"As I was climbing the mountain, I noticed that the monsters were behaving strangely. Unlike usual, they regenerated quickly, and even when I killed them, they wouldn't die. Are the monsters in this area always like that?"
The chieftain shook his head.
"No. The Rock tribe has acted as guardians, preventing monsters from leaving this place, according to our long-standing tradition. In all that time, this is the first time we've seen such a reaction from the monsters."
Zeke frowned at Big Foot's words.
"There's definitely something strange going on. Do you have any idea what it might be?"
Big Foot slowly opened his mouth.
"Humans started coming to our land a few years ago. They dug up the land where the power of our ancestors resides, ruining the forest and the earth."
Zeke realized that the ones Big Foot was talking about were the Hounds.
"We tore apart and killed all the humans who came, but they didn't stop. Unlike before, they moved stealthily and dug up our land. And then..."
His expression darkened.
"They touched something they shouldn't have."
"What do you mean?"
"They woke up the monster that was sleeping."
Something flashed through Zeke's mind as he heard Big Foot's words.
'Could it be?'
Big Foot said with a grave expression,
"The Nine-Headed Dragon has escaped its sealed area and come outside."
Zeke's guess was right.
It seemed the Hydra he saw in Kaisir's resting place had escaped and left the area.
'The Hydra is a corrupted dragon-type, but could it have affected other monsters as well?'
It didn't make sense that the Hydra, which had been staying in the area where Kaisir's resting place was located for a long time, suddenly went on a rampage, leading monsters and stirring up all the monsters in the entire mountain range.
Zeke recalled the various experiments the Empire had conducted.
'Did those bastards do something to the Hydra and the monsters?'
It was possible that the Empire, which had been conducting various experiments on monsters and monsters, had done something to provoke the Hydra.
Zeke said to Big Foot,
"So you're saying that we can't enter the village where Golin is until we deal with the monsters showing these strange symptoms?"
"That's the situation at the moment. The chieftains of the other tribes and I gathered and had the young warriors of each tribe join forces, but it's difficult to catch the Nine-Headed Dragon with just them. Of course, if the chieftains, including myself, were to join, the chances of success in the 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 the gap and attack the village."
Big Foot also nodded.
"We were also concerned about that, so we couldn't move recklessly."
"Is there nowhere else to ask for help?"
"I did contact the Hermit of the Forest, but I don't know when he'll arrive."
The moment Zeke heard the words "Hermit of the Forest" from Big Foot's mouth, he felt his body stiffen and cold sweat dripping down.
Big Foot tilted his head at Zeke's sudden reaction.
"What's wrong?"
Zeke shook his head, sweating.
"N-nothing."
Zeke took a deep breath inwardly.
'Hermit of the Forest is Master's alias. If I delay, I might run into him.'
His master was one of the people he wanted to avoid meeting as much as possible.
Zeke asked Big Foot again,
"Then, are the lives of the people in that village also uncertain?"
"If they're inside the fortress, even the Nine-Headed Dragon and monsters wouldn't be able to easily harm them, but knowing Golin's personality, I can't guarantee that he'll be sitting still inside. He's the type to wander around dangerous places in search of rare materials."
Golin was famous for being an eccentric craftsman, so he was definitely the type of dwarf who would do that.
'It would be fortunate if he didn't charge at the Hydra with an axe in hand, saying he's looking for materials.'
Zeke felt that he needed to resolve the issue quickly and leave this place for various reasons.
Zeke immediately got up and said to Big Foot,
"Chieftain, gather the warriors."
"Why the warriors...?"
"I'm going to beat the Nine-Headed Dragon and bring Golin back."
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]