chapter 6

The direwolves ruled the roost over at the plains to the east, enough to give endless headaches to the merchants who plied their trade between the Eastern Empire and the kingdoms around the Forest of Jura.

Each one should amount to about... C-rank? If I remember correctly, at least I hope I am.

They're only dangerous because there's a pack leader, and from what I knew of, they didn't have any need to eat for survival.

No.

The current situation reminded me that this world centered around the motto "survival of the fittest". The wolves, not being able to live a life of luxury on the grounds that the eastern empire holds would want to become stronger.

And evolving is only possible if they kill stronger creatures than them or massacre thousands of weaker ones.

The Forest of Jura was a great place to do the latter, seeing as a ton of weaker races has grouped up under the protection thar Veldora's fearsome aura was giving.

But without him, there was no need for the direwolves to be afraid of laying waste on the forest's inhabitants any longer.

Er... It was never mentioned in the novels but... how many lesser creatures were massacred because of Veldora disappearing?

I offered a silent prayer to the unfortunate victims of the original and my brash decisions before turning towards the goblins that I had gathered around me.

Hmm... I never thought being looked at like this would make me uncomfortable

I was now technically the guardian of the goblins, which naturally made them look at me in an almost religious faith shining brightly in their eyes.

...I perfectly understand how you feel now original me, but no matter, I'll leverage this better.

"Seeing as all of you are here, this means you all know what is about to happen."

"Yes, sir!" the goblin leader instantly replied. "We are preparing for a battle to decide whether we live or die!"

Even though they tried to hide it, I could clearly some of the goblins shaking from the fear that they felt just by hearing they could possibly die in the upcoming fight.

"Good," I replied, "There's no need to get worked up, so everyone relax and follow my commands. If we do everything right then death would only grace our foes."

I tried to be the best version of a general that I could be and thankfully my words had some sort of effect as, even though they were still shaking from fear, they all were filled with determination to follow my words.

It didn't lighten the mood though...

Unfortunately, I didn't have the same talent as Rimuru to make people at ease but I was at least confident enough that I was a reliable figure in their eyes which was more than enough for the upcoming war we'll face.

Only one problem though.

I wasn't a slime.

In the novel, Rimuru had the advantage because the alpha direwolf had its guard down thinking he was just a measly slime.

However, I was a tiefling, a race far, far more intimidating than a slime and the direwolf might even decide to fall back once it notices my presence.

Even though I had learned how to keep my aura hidden as best as I could, the fact that a tiefling was still part of the demonic race was widely known.

The alpha might acknowledge that I'm stronger than them and retreat, which is good for the goblins but very bad for me.

Ranga and the other wolves were a pivotal asset of the early days of the goblin village, especially important to Gobta in events that would come later.

How can I make sure the wolves won't retreat?

<>Received. Tieflings are demonic creatures that are most widely known for their ability of stealth and trickery, a racial trait they acquired after being hunted down by demons and humans alike for sport and animosity.

Would you like to use the innate skill [Shadow sneak]?

YES

NO

Uhh, Shadow sneak? What's that? I'm not gonna get sued by Nintendo am I?

Obviously I pressed yes and in an instant, my entire body was covered in dark smoke and my perception of the world lowered to the point I felt like became an ant.

<>Negative. [Shadow Sneak] enables the user to hide in nearby shadows whilst hiding their aura in order to escape any outlying danger.

Souei would love this skill I'm sure, but thankfully that solves issue of the wolves possibly running away.

Nodding, I canceled the skill and went back to my original form, ignoring the bewildered looks of the goblins near me as I began to think of other fail safes I could have in case of any unforeseen events derailing my plans.

If I'm gonna ambush the alpha, that means the goblins would need to act as bait but if the alpha doesn't recognize someone as strong then that means the wolves would attack first...

"Goblin chief, please gather all of the wood that you can for the next 2 hours."

The wolves would attack in a few days, so we only got about 3 days left to make an acceptable defense.

Wooden stakes and walls would have been the norm but I lacked the original Rimuru's ability to weave [Iron Silk] around as some sort of trap, which means I had to make my own kind of trap without injuring or killing too many wolves.

The only skill I have right now is metal manipulation... but that'll just immediately kill direwolves if I use it.

Maybe I can set up trenches with small Iron spikes inside of them?

No.. that'll still harm them greatly, dang, I never thought it'll be hard to be powerful.

"I should relax, too much thinking makes the brain stupider." I shrugged and flicked my wrist, planning to entertain myself by using [Metal Manipulation] to trim the nearby trees.

"Hmm, this is pretty small..." I mumbled as I gazed at the small, hexagon shaped piece of metal that I was controlling before propelling it through the air.

Wait a minute...

It turns out, I could still do what the original did after all.