Weyaâs tribe is located in a small valley on the outskirts of the Forbidden Mountain Range. It was quite remote, and it would be hard to find the place without someone leading the way.
âBoss, if it werenât for those footprints, we wouldnât have been able to find this place at all.â
âHahaha⦠I told you. Winter is coming, and these beastkins will definitely come out looking for food. Otherwise, they would starve to death during the winter.â The leader of the slave traders laughed happily. In front of him were more than 30 small beastkins, mostly female. There were also some elderly beastkins, as well as a few male beastkins lying on the ground, killed for resisting.
The small beastkins looked at the slave traders with fear in their eyes. They did not know what their future held, only that their loved ones had been killed.
âGrandma, why are they capturing us?â a young beastkin girl asked innocently to a goat race beastkin woman.
âHow tragic!â Maryâs murky eyes shone with tears. It was bad enough to be abandoned by the tribe, but to encounter slave traders was truly tragic. Mary scanned the 33 beastkin children around her. Their only fate seemed to be to become slaves. A sad life, a sad world. Why? They are so young and have yet to see the beauty of the world. Why are they already suffering such hardship?
But who could she blame? The other beastkins in their tribe who abandoned them? The slave traders? Or the âWrath of the Goddess of Ice and Snow?
Two days ago, in an attempt to avoid repeating the previous yearsâ tragedies, the elders of her tribe decided to leave the tribe and the Forbidden Mountain Range to save themselves or head south.
And at that moment, the tragedy began. The tribe was already short on food, and with so many beastkins, they took everything edible to avoid starving on the way. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled were left behind. Even the children who had barely survived after losing their parents last year were abandoned. The surviving parents took their children and left.
Most of the strong beastkins had left, and only a few who couldnât bear to leave the children stayed behind, but they were killed just now.
Now only the elderly, weak, and children remained, so the slave traders didnât even bother to tie them. They were all herded into a wooden house, waiting for the slave traders to decide their fate.
âLet everyone rest for a while. Weâll take them out of the mountains later.â The leader of the slave traders instructed.
âOkay!â
The slave traders left the wooden house and shut the door behind them, leaving a group of trembling small beastkins.
âGrandma, Iâm hungry. When will the elders come back?â
âYeah! Why did everyone leave? The chieftain left, and Sister Weya left too.â
ââ¦â¦â
The small beastkins chatted, innocent and unaware of the graveness of the situation.
Mary wiped her tears. She was blaming herself for not starving to death last winter. Why did she have to survive until now and witness such tragedy?
With their innocent eyes, the children asked innocent questions. How was she supposed to answer them?
âAh!â
A tragic scream erupted.
âEnemy attack!â
The furious roar of the slave trader leader rang out. âKill her!â
âDamn it, everyone, letâs go. Kill that beastkin. I want her skin.â
Mary was stunned. She listened to the chaotic sounds outside, her murky eyes filled with a glimmer of hope. Did the tribeâs beastkins come back?
Mina and Weya were also stunned. After Mina had dealt with two slave traders, she and Weya were hiding behind a rock near the tribe, discussing how to rescue the tribeâs beastkins.
Unexpectedly, a powerful female beastkin appeared, wielding a large two-handed sword, and ruthlessly cut through the slave traders.
âIs that a wolf race female beastkin? And a wolf race beastkin knight?â Mina recognized her and with widened blue eyes, said, âWerenât the wolf beaskins knights wiped out by the human royal knights? Did she escape before then?â
âA wolf clan beastkin knight?â Weyaâs pale red eyes trembled. In other words, they were the Beastkin Kingdomâs royal knights, the elites of the Beastkin Kingdom.
Although the Beastkin Kingdom was economically behind, unable to mine or smelt iron effectively, they did manage to smuggle some raw iron from the human kingdoms and created their own beastkin knights, with the wolf race beastkin knights being the most famous, capable of soloing several human royal knights.
If not for the Wrath of the Goddess of Ice and Snow, the glory of the wolf race beastkin knights would likely still be unmoveable.
Due to the natural disaster, the wolf race beastkin knights escorted the beastkin royalty out of the snow-covered kingdom. They faced a grueling journey and, upon entering human territory and seeking a route south, were attacked by the human royal knights.
Thus ended the glory of the wolf race beastkin knights, and even the escorted beastkin royalty were scattered.
âA wolf race female beastkin knight? Isnât she supposed to be guarding the princess or the queen? Why is she here?â
Mina was puzzled and asked Weya, âWeya, do you know her?â
âNo, I donât!â Weya shook her head. Though she had seen them before in the Beastkin Kingdom, she didnât know them.
The wolf race female beastkin was the most powerful beastkin Mina had ever seen. he was very agile and swung the sword in her hand with ease, killing or disabling those that she slashed. In a short while, she had killed eight people.
âWhatever. It doesnât matter whether we know her or not. If sheâs here to help us, then sheâs a good person.â Mina put away her military knife, took out her compound bow from her back, and opened a quiver.
âLetâs go!â Mina quickly nocked a long arrow, drew the bow, and aimed.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âAhhh!!â
âNot good! Someone is shooting arrows!â
âThereâs another beastkin over there⦠ah!â
âDamn it, a few people go over and kill that archer!â
ââ¦â¦â
Avery split a slave trader in half, glanced toward Minaâs direction with her cold orange eyes, and then focused on killing.
âPrincess, could you be inside?â