53 The Chieftain of Centaurs

That night, the skies of Vance City weren't peaceful.

It was at a small market outside a mining area. It was also a place where many underground trade deals were done.

After all, this market was rather far from the city and there were only broken slums in the surroundings. Movements would leave behind traces, making it hard for an ambush to succeed, thus effectively preventing assaults from other gangs.

Even so, there was still a messy graveyard here that was used to bury those unlucky fellows who thought that this was a safe land and ended up sleeping here.

The residents here were also used to overlooking the scene of two trading parties failing to come to an agreement and breaking out in a fight.

At this moment, another trade wasn't successfully negotiated and both parties came to blows. If I had to point out something different about it, then I could only say that the scale of this conflict was slightly bigger…

The injured Ancient Red Dragon was howling in agony. The big window opened in its abdomen continued to bleed and her wings were tied together tightly by a pitch-black spider silk, unable to spread it open at all.

"Want to eat, but Ah Pa don't allow…"

The gigantic eight-legged spider kept harassing her, the mysterious venom that it left on her paralysed her physical body. In a state of dizziness and blurred vision, she was completely unable to leave the surface.

"Crimspur! If you continue acting so indecisive, our agreement will be cancelled. You will have to face the wrath of us, the Royalty Faction. Or do you think that your strength can rival with Ya Ding Si, or that your scheming can compare with Lionheart. If so feel free to just wage war on us directly. Do you think we won't dare to turn the 12 Senators into 10 Senators before you can return to Xiluo?!"

The roar of the blue crystal Bone Dragon in the sky made the indecisive two muster up their determination.

"The Corroded Plains of Ants!"

Following the furious howl of the Ant King, Lamost, the Soul World that belonged solely to him activated and the entire world changed. The badly injured Dragon Queen Molly was forcefully dragged into a decayed plains.

"Bzzst." "Sisi" A bizarre sound coming from the movement under the ground of the plains could be heard, making one instinctively feel threatened.

Soon after, ant holes opened up one after another and beige-colored giant Ant Soldiers appeared from within. They weren't very strong individually but there appeared to be no end to their number.

It didn't take long before the deserted land was full of holes. Below each and every hole was the kingdom of an ancient foreign ant-shaped race. Responding to the call of their king, countless Ant Soldiers opened their own ant hole. They were the soldiers and servants of the king when he was still alive. Just that this time, from the look of the Soulfire burning in their blue-green eyes, they were members of an undead army.

Before Lamost was killed, he had been the king of an ancient bug tribe. After his corpse was resurrected as an undead, his kingdom revived along with him.

The long years had caused their physical body to end up mostly decayed, resulting in their strength being diminished significantly, but his endless people were still his pride.

The Ant Warriors raised their oddly-shaped spears and wooden barriers and shouted their cheer before charging in fearlessly. The Elephant Ants which were about the size of a small hill served as their War Beasts while the Flying Ant Officers carried Poison Sac Bombs filled with acid and began their strafe of death. The Ant Queens standing at the very back started to release their Dark Witchcraft which was long-lost in history.

In an instant, the powerful Dragon Queen ended up being lynched by the army of Ants. When she killed one, ten others rushed up to fill their place. Her Dragon Breath burned hundred Flying Ants to their death, but a thousand more appeared afterwards. Furthermore, the troublesome Death Curses and Dark Witchcraft were fatal and dangerous.

There wasn't a single Undead Senator that was easy to deal with. Lamost may be weak individually, but he had a strong Soul World to make up for it. It was just that his powerful Soul World 'The Corroded Plains of Ants' depleted his mana extremely quickly, so he didn't use it often, causing his ranking to be on the lower side.

"Hmph! An idiot who uses his Soul World to make up for his lack of strength. If Ya Dang Si didn't harass the Dragon Queen, she would be able to fly away and the first thing she would do once she recovered would be to kill him even at the risk of aggravating her injuries. Idiot, individual strength is the the most important of all."

What Gria said was the truth. For powerful fighting races like Undead Lords and the Dragon Tribe, their overwhelming talent restricted them from developing their own path. While their talent may be able to overpower most others, it also meant that the level of the other techniques that they learn would be much lower. However, for them to face the weak mortals, just using their physical body would suffice.1

In fact, in the eyes of a portion of extremists, mortals had to cultivate to reach the same height as them and they viewed this fact as an evidence of their great strength and them being high-born. If they desired strength, they just needed some time to retrieve it from their bloodline. To them things like cultivating and studying wasn't needed.

Of course, there were also quite a few like Einz Mezus, who despite being an Ancient Red Dragon reached quite a scary level of attainment in the field of both Wind Magic and Fire Magic.

However, those like Little Red were still the minority. Most of the members of the Dragon Tribe still relied on their physical talent to feed themselves. They normally just slept and waited to evolve by themselves with the flow of time. In fact, there were quite a few among the Dragon Tribe who didn't have Soul Imprint. But, simply by using their fearsome physical body and basic strength (basic stat), it was not that difficult a task to tear apart a few Legend-ranks.

As for Undead Lords, there were quite a few who were born strong and acted that way as well. Even more so, Ah Dang was a monster without any notion of power rank. However, even SemiGod Humans had to be careful around him.

Fine, our Lady Gria would never admit that she didn't have a Soul World at all and was therefore very envious of this powerful Soul World, especially when this Soul World had been praised by a certain someone and acknowledged by the masses.

"Hmph, so much for the Soul World that was the closest to the level of Undead Emperor… It's just that he has the same type of Soul World as the Emperor, that's why his had been overestimated quite a bit. What's the use when he can only sustain it for 3 minutes? Look, it's already revealing its true form."

The situation of the fight below changed. The panting Lamost finally found himself unable to sustain his Soul World any longer. As the illusory world started to shatter, the heavily wounded Dragon Empress started her counterattack.

Crimspur stood in front of Lamost to guard him. With a strong physical body, he made up for the deficiency of the Ant King. On other days, they had always teamed up like that. However, this time, from the look of the black figure that was suddenly descending from the sky, there was no chance for him to strike.

"Die!"

Gria dived and sent a fatal Phosphorus Dragon Breath down, plunging the lands into a sea of green flames. This kind of vicious poisonous flame was extremely acidic. If it got on you, it would immediately penetrate the bones and burn it to ashes. Even if it was Molly, in the face of this dangerous sea of flames, she could only retreat.

Her movement to dodge the flames gave Ah Dang an opportunity. From the form of a Spider which represented binding, he turned into an ink-green big-mouthed monster in a distortion. With the entire body of a gigantic deformed monster that seemed to have only a mouth remaining, he used his short legs to jump up in a manner reminiscent of a frog. Opening his wide mouth that was big enough to bite into mountains, he actually directly swallowed the Dragon Queen!

"…This wasn't eating. This was attacking!" For delicious food, Ah Dang was enlightened for once.

With her life in danger, the Dragon Queen gave a final look at her wings which were bound and corroding under the spider silk. Then, with a twist of her body, she actually retreated a few steps in an awkward position in midair.

"AHHHHH…. OWWWWWW!!" Even so, in the next second, dragon blood and a shriek of agony filled the air. The Dragon Queen had just suffered a heavy blow.

With that mouthful from Ah Dang, her two dragon wings disappeared. But the Dragon Queen smiled in response.

"Like this… I can finally fly."

The vicious Dragon Queen actually took the initiative to gift her own wings to Ah Dang. After getting free from the spider silk which restrained her mana, she regained her ability to fly. Losing her two wings as support, it would be more difficult, but the Dragon Tribe's ability to fly didn't just depend on their wings.

Using all of her remaining mana to fly, a formless wind lifted the Dragon Queen's massive wounded body and lifted her up rapidly.

Without any consideration for her mana consumption, her speed was actually much faster than usual. Even without the support of her wings, for the Red Dragons who were the most skilled in flying techniques among the Dragon Tribe, it wasn't difficult for her to shake off a Bone Dragon who was known to be slow.

Her calculations were well done, but…

"OUCH! Who is so inconsiderate, flying around with their eyes closed?!"

The Dragon Queen who was anxious to flee accidentally bumped into a gigantic Dragon who 'happened to be passing by'. If it was just a normal Young Dragon (within 10-meters), he would have been sent flying by the Dragon Queen. However, the one she bumped into just had to be an Ancient Red Dragon (30-meters and above) as well!

"Flying with your eyes closed, changing your path randomly and flying against the direction of the lane. Where did you learn your flying rules from? Aren't you afraid that 12 points will be deducted from you in one go, causing your flying license to be confiscated?"

The Ancient Red Dragon who was full of nonsense yawned and gazed downwards curiously.

"Ohhhhh. Isn't this my vicious old mother who ruthlessly killed her own husband, 1 son and 3 daughters? Why, were you so lonely unable to sleep that you sneaked out for a walk in the night? Hehe, looks like we truly are related. Shall we fly together?"

Molly, whose magic power and wind current had been messed up by the crash, could only dive down straight like a metal ball. In the end, she realized that the flow of air current had been completely controlled by the other party, causing her to be unable to even float. In the end, she gave up the useless struggle of flapping the remains of her wings, frustrated. She dived down straight like a piece of rock.

Below, the Undead Lords were waiting for her while sharpening their blades. In the end, she could only helplessly scream at the other Dragon.

"Einz Mezus! You won't die a proper death!"

Little Red simply yawned in response, turned around to glide away and continued on with her walk, leaving behind just a single message.

"Old one2, your teachings back then weren't wrong. The howling of a loser is really hard to listen to."

----------------

The heavy black clouds crushed the sky of Vance City. As the date of the auction drew closer, the atmosphere of the city grew more and more tense and suppressing.

A large portion of underground city lords didn't leave after the Conference. That auction which hadn't been publicized yet, had already spread across the entire city. In their eyes, the show was just about to start. The new and old Autarchs were sure to cross blows on the auction, causing a change in the splitting of powers in the entire Underground World.

A true God Equipment was going to be auctioned. An item that involved the absolute treasure of Xiluo's royal authority was going to be auctioned. The intelligence network of the various kingdoms and their Thief Guilds wasn't just for show. A month was more than enough for the news to spread furiously on the surface.

As the city was quite close to the tunnel leading to the surface, the city was already full of experts coming from different land and different races. At the very start, the Beastman Sovereign had tried to seal the tunnel but very quickly, he realized that it was an arduous and impossible task. The allure of the God Equipment was too great. The normal Beastman Soldiers were nothing in the eyes experts and if they happen to piss off the other party, they might just end up erased.

After their sentry posts had been cleaned more than 10 times, even though the order to seal up the path had yet to be lifted due to the 'dignity' of the Autarch, but in reality, the leader of those sentry posts had already been changed into the old and the weak. Of course, the soldiers who were being treated as cannon fodders weren't foolish. They gambled, played mahjong, drank alcohol and did anything else except for stopping the passersby from the surface at the sentry post. The sealing order had just become the eyes of the blind — decoration. Once again, the Lion King's reputation went down.

As the countdown to the auction started, not mentioning the appearance of the Chaos beings like Demons and Undead, usually the public enemies of the surface, even the Order beings from the higher dimensions, the Seraphims, God Envoys and War Angels, could be seen on the streets. What was even more incredulous was that they actually seemed to have come to an understanding. Despite drawing their swords and staring at each other furiously, they refrained from starting a war directly.

This kind of eerie situation made one feel the coming of a storm even more clearly. To be truthful, looking at this situation, I feel that even if they sent two SemiGods down and won the auctions, they might not even be able to bring it out.

The ones who got hit the worst was probably the alliance between the Beastman Sovereign and the Dragon Queen. Apparently, there were people who didn't have the patience to wait until the day of the auction. The uninvited guests who tried to lay their hands on the Scepter grew stronger and more and more savage. When the thousand-meter long Mosgiel Giant Beast plummeted rapidly from the sky of the city, not mentioning the Beastman who were caught in the blast, even I started to suspect Vance would be destroyed just like that.

Fortunately, the two Underground Autarch had shifted their elite forces here. After paying a heavy price, the Scorpion-tailed Knights and Red Dragons managed to defeat the Giant Beasts3 who suddenly appeared and then just as suddenly disappeared. After someone pointed out the disappearance of the Dragon Queen over the course of the battle, another inconceivable rumour started to spread — Dragon Queen Molly had been assaulted and was heavily wounded.

The Dragon Queen had been dominating the underground for over thousands of years. Even more so, her individual strength was within the top 10 of the entire Underground World. (There were quite a lot of experts among the underground city lords. Autarchs only represented the influence) She was also well-known to be cunning. This kind of expert could escape even if they were defeated, so for her to be forced to the brink of death was quite unbelievable.

Furthermore, if it wasn't for the timely appearance of the backups from the Dragon City, the underground Dragon City might have had to elect a new Dragon Queen by now.

The ones who launched the attacks were the 5 Xiluo Senators. The reason? It was said that the Dragon Queen actually dared to owe the farmers their wages, so the head workers who failed in their protests for their salaries started to lynch her… Cough, alright, there was no farmers in this world, nor was there a head worker. The truth was the Dragon Queen hired assassins but she went back on her promise afterwards, saying that if they don't accomplish the mission, she wouldn't allow the Undead Lords to come into contact with the Scepter. In the end, the angered Undead Lords surrounded her to beat her up.

However, those who were aware of the situation knew that this was the revenge from Sulfur Mountain City. After all, the ones who had their promise broken were only 3 Undead Lords but the one exacting the vengeance were 5. Furthermore, they directly assaulted her just after a bit of disagreement. Not to forget, there were also grudges among the Undead Lords, making this incident very obviously have the smell of a scheme.

In addition to that, at the key moment, the one who prevented the Dragon Queen from successfully fleeing was the Disaster of Veron Einz Mezus who 'happened to pass by'.

Alright, I admit that it was my plan. To be able release all her frustrations in one breath, Little Red was so happy… She had finally exacted revenge for the grudges she accumulated after being lynched in Sulfur Mountain City.

"Aren't we being underestimated if stealing a few things could count as revenge? You hired Undead Senators as your fighters to attack me, so I shall also hire them to exact vengeance on you." This method of retaliation conformed to the hypocritical rules of peace of the Underground World. Even more so, it let the world understand that Sulfur Mountain City was not to be underestimated.

The individual strength of the Dragon Queen was the strongest back up for the Dragon-Beastman Alliance. Now that the news got out that the Dragon Queen was heavily wounded, the Beastman army which had already suffered quite a heavy blow delved into further chaos. The morale which didn't fall even after the Morsgiel Giant Beast was killed started wavering.

It was said that escapees started appearing in the military barracks that night. This was the first time ever since Shou had built his army. It was said that the Lion King's heart was broken. Previously, his head hair had turned white overnight. This time, his whole mane turned completely white.

The ones who wavered even more weas the arrogant Dragon Tribe. The Dragon Queen got into her high position by killing her husband. She depended on her individual strength to suppress and rule over 7 Dragon Cities. From the very start, the Black Dragons only viewed her as their leader in name, she was only able to dispatch the young Red Dragons. Now that she was defeated, everyone started pushing on the collapsed wall. The ambitious Young Dragons of the Dragon City were already plotting an opportunity for them to usurp the position while the older Elder Dragons even proposed to bring back Einz Mezus.

( Power Ranking for Dragons is;

Immemorial Dragons > Ancient Dragons > Elder Dragons > Young Dragons )

But to me, what I was most surprised about was the sudden visit of the important guest in front of me.

Mage Hunter Minial, the Chieftain of the Centaur Beastman and well-known Myth-rank expert. If we were just talking about individual strength on the surface, he was even stronger than Shou. It was said that he had bad relations with Shou. His skills with the bow that combined the techniques of his predecessors with his own Magic Arrows was famous in the whole Underground World. More importantly, I had a grudge with him…

"Margaret has been well taken care of by you. Minial, you actually dare to appear in front of me. You really think that your strength is enough for you to do as you please? Are you not not afraid of us bringing you down?"

In the battle outside Sulfur Mountain City, Minial's Magic Combustion Arrow caused Margaret's 'Ice Aeon' to be cast prematurely and 3 of the precious Saint Stones were destroyed. Fixing them would require an astronomical amount of gold coins. Margaret would grind her teeth in anger every time this Centaur was mentioned.

A size bigger than normal Centaurs, he didn't have any defensive objects other than the copper Heart-Protecting Mirror. The huge bow on his back was rather eye-catching. If we just looked at the outer appearance, this gentle-looking Centaur with a long beard did have the aura of a scholar.

Right now, in the face of my enmity and challenge, the old Centaur smiled.

"I'm really sorry for that incident. I had been negotiating with Shou back then and through a series of coincidence, I was brought to Sulfur Mountain City. If it wasn't for the Forbidden Spell being too scary and if I hadn't been caught in its midst, I wouldn't have struck out. Besides, my attack towards the Lady Saint wasn't life-threatening and that should be enough to show my sincerity."

Despite it being an arrogant declaration, I instinctively felt that he was speaking the truth. After all, while being surprised that the Chieftain of Centaurs would side with Shou, Margaret was curious why she didn't meet the Magic Penetrating Cluster Arrow he was known for. This also proved from another point of view that he was indeed speaking the truth.

"The entire Underground World knows that we're different from those uncultivated barbarians who eat fresh meat and drink blood. I'm quite pleased to see the losses of Shou and his subordinates, the bunch of butchers. If I wasn't forced to play my hand, I'm afraid that my gifts and congratulatory letter would have been long sent to your residence."

I had also heard a little about this. Centaurs and Taurens were known as the 'Herbivore Alliance' and they had bad relations with the current Beastman Sovereign, Scorpion-tailed Lion Shou and his close subordinates. One side scolded the other as 'fresh meat-eating barbarians' while the other scolded them 'grass-eating hoofed livestock'. This had already become a common situation.

"Then, why're you here today?"

I thought that he would start rambling about a bunch of 'the enemy of an enemy is an ally' or similar kind of crap and just like other underground city lords, wanted to forge a secret alliance with us. But the old Minial smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Wumianzhe, since we have already come to this step, why are you still playing the fool? Just tell me directly if you have any terms. Can you allow me to saw my grandniece first?!"

"What!?" This tone, it felt like the helpless compromising of an old wealthy merchant with the kidnappers when his close relative was kidnapped.

"Stop feigning ignorance. I will give in to your terms. I've no idea how you found out that Anya is my only kin, the candidate as the next Chieftain of the Centaur Tribe. I had obviously hidden it so well for so many years… Speak if you have any conditions, just don't go too far. Otherwise, the bow and arrows in our hands aren't that easy to deal with.

"WHAT?!" This time, I was really surprised. That #1 misfortune lightning rod for me, the annoying silly lass who kept repeating her words was actually the candidate for the next Chieftain of the Centaur Tribe? If she really became the Chieftain, then wouldn't the entire Centaur Tribe be doomed?

"You… You all really didn't know?" The instincts of an expert made Minial realize that I wasn't feigning ignorance.

"I really didn't know! Who would treat that silly lass as an important figure?" After my shock passed, I simply laughed while shaking my head. "But, now I know."

Minial regrets his word deeply. Now, he had to pay an additional price for his carelessness.

"There's no problem for you to meet her."

But my decisiveness in letting her go made him extremely surprised. It wasn't that I didn't want to make use of this situation to extort something, but…

"… Quickly take her away. Hurry, before all of our plates are destroyed. Yesterday, quite a few of us used cups to eat dinner. Also, do you accept compensation bill? Given her rate of destruction, if you start accepting it late, you'll had to prepare more cash."

These few days, we finally understood why Anya kept getting fired. It was enough that she was clumsy, a hardworking but silly lass was also cute. But, her luck was so bad that accidents could happen anywhere and everywhere. While wiping the glass, the glass would break; while moving the tables, the tables would collapse; she would even meet with the collapse of the rotten floor while wiping it. This was a little too much for one to bear.

The things she did made people mad, but when looking at her tearful and sincere apology and the fact that it wasn't intentional, just plain bad luck, it was hard to harden one's heart to criticize her.

"Quickly take her away. Do you see that file on the table? It's a report on the damage she caused. Remember to pay the bill before you leave."

Minial, who was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry, nodded his head, but…

"I'm not going back!" Unexpectedly, Anya directly refused to return home.

"Why not? Is it because those bunch of bastards back at home treated you badly? Rest easy, your 2nd granduncle will stand up for you." Shocked by the refusal of his grandniece, the dumbfounded Minial immediately replied frantically.

"No, that's not it. Big Brothers treated Anya well. It's just that Anya doesn't want to stay in Camule Grasslands."

"Why? It couldn't be that there was someone who was vying over the succession at the Chieftain. Don't worry, as long as I'm here, you will be the first successor!"

"That's not it either. It's not because of such a boring reason."

"Then?"

"No one wants to be the Chieftain or whatever. Anya just doesn't want to stay in the countryside for the rest of her life. Anya's goal is to become a rich lady of the city. 2nd granduncle, just look, there's nothing in the grasslands but grass and livestock. There's nothing nice to eat, no beauty products, no tall buildings or streets, no entertainment facility, no… (and 300 other stuffs)."

"…Anya had enough of the life where I had to relieve myself in the grasses. Anya's goal is to become a wealthy lady in the city. It might not be very successful in the start, but I'm finally on the right path after much difficulty, I'm definitely not going back. Those horrible days where there wasn't a single candle during the night and I could only sleep…"

The little Centaur spoke faster and faster, talking and laughing at the same time. On the contrary, the old Centaur's face was getting darker and darker. There were quite a few youngsters who left the Tribe for the sake of a comfortable life in the city, but he didn't expect his precious grandniece which he put all his hopes on would actually be like that as well.

"… The Big Brothers and Big Sisters here treat me well. Even if Anya accidentally commits a mistake, they never criticize me or fire me like the other bosses. I want to build my standing in the big city starting from here! I'll first save my wages, then buy a little house. If I were to just work a little bit harder, there will come a day on which I became affluent!"

"Enough!! I've really spoiled you too much. You aren't worthy of being the descendant of the line of heroes of Centaur. To throw away the traditions of the golden bloodline of the Centaurs so casually. Despite having the noble blood of the predator of the Grassland, but for a cowardly and weak life in the city, you're willing to become a pig waiting in the fence to be slaughtered. You're the shame of the Centaurs. Come back with me now, I shall train you properly."

Old Minial dragged the struggling Anya away. If it was just a few minutes ago, I would be more than willing to see such a sight.

But now, after hearing the declaration of this youngster, I suddenly recalled a Thief lass who also came from the countryside. She might have also had a similar goal — "I will dig treasures out, become the #1 wealthiest person in the world and live the life of a rich lady!"

Perhaps, other than their goals, the two lasses weren't in the least alike. At the very least, Lisa succeeded in striking it rich in the end but I didn't see the possibility of Anya's goal ever being fulfilled. But somehow, I felt the urge to help this lass.

Thus, I stopped them both.

"Centaur Chieftain, perhaps we could talk about some interesting things. Such as the Beastman Sovereign. Such as the Blood of the Demons. Un, for example, if the Beastman Sovereign of this generation had already been corrupted by the demons, perhaps, it's about time to replace him. Maybe, it's the time for the Centaur Tribe to rise. Look, if Vance City became your future territory, then, maybe, the youngsters of your tribe wouldn't always think about leaving the Tribe."