<b><i>The Kneeling Lycan, rk (2)</i></b>


    The city of wolves, Wolfencer.


    …In fact, there are no proper walls or buildings, andpared to human civilization, calling it a ‘city’ is embarrassing.


    Still, the Lycans referred to it as a city.


    Because this was the only ce where the wolf-humans built civilization.


    The former Wolfencer was a paradise for wolves.


    All the wolf-humans gathered and built their lives, cultivating the interior, a city built together by the numerous tribes within the Lycan race.


    However…After the day of the Tribal Great War, Wolfencer changed.


    The Baraten tribe, one of the two major mountain tribes within the race, was expelled from the city after being defeated in the great war, and all the remaining tribes within the city were under the rule of the rk tribe.


    Lycans who did not recognize rk’s rule were all killed or expelled from the city, so the Lycans had no choice but to follow this reign of terror.


    Was it because of that?


    The paradise of wolves called Wolfencer was filled only with an ominous and gloomy atmosphere.


    Kwaaang–!!


    And in the central area of Wolfencer.


    A building built much taller than the surrounding buildings.


    The main gathering ce of the rk faction, also called the ‘pce’.


    From inside, the sound of furious destruction could be heard.


    A huge fist smashed down, shattering the chair’s base.


    “Do you think it makes sense to have lost Rak as well!!”


    Then an explosive roar was heard.


    It came from the one sitting on the ornately decorated throne-like chair, and the one who destroyed that chair.


    With a sturdy fur covering his entire body and a massive physique.


    A wolf’s face with a sharp expression.


    The leader and chieftain of the rk faction…


    The Lycan who called himself king, ke.


    “I’m sorry, Tol!!”


    “I’m sorry!”


    At ke’s uncontroble anger, the surrounding Lycan warriors all knelt and apologized.


    Just as the leader of the Baraten faction is called Tol Baraten, the chieftain of rk is also called Tol rk.


    However, the treatment is worlds apart.


    While Tol Baraten and the Awakened Warriors respect each other and have rtively rational conversations, inside rk it is only domination and submission.


    Just as the numerous werewolves in Wolfencer submit to the rk faction, the Lycans and Awakened Warriors of the rk faction had to submit to ke, the Tol.


    So even in this situation, everyone first apologized to the Tol in a humble posture.


    “Federick.”


    “Yes!”


    When ke spoke in a slightly calmer voice, one of the kneeling warriors in the front, a Lycan named Federick, answered.


    Federick was the chief of staff of the rk faction.


    “Exin it again properly.”


    “Yes. This incident is different from Duke’s case. Duke was moving around with Lycans individually outside of operation time when the incident happened, but Rak was killed while carrying out an official reconnaissance mission.”


    “…Are you sure?”


    “Yes. It’s information confirmed through the Rune of Kinship Records, an intrusion enhancement technique.”


    The [Kinship Records] Rune is one of the enhancement techniques of the Barbarian savage tribe.


    It is a kind of conditional rune version of the [Record Orb] item, which allows sharing the contents reported directly to the kinsman possessing this ability.


    It was thanks to this rune that the rk faction learned of Duke’s death, and it was also thanks to this rune that they were able toe up with countermeasures against [el Piercing].


    In other words…


    The information Federick was conveying now was all ‘fact’.


    Kwaaang–!!


    And again, ke’s fist smashed down.


    This time it was the left chair base.


    “How can that be!! For rk’s reconnaissance unit to have been defeated by those Baraten scum?!”


    Uncontrolled rage erupted from him.


    The reconnaissance units of rk and Baraten.


    For the former to lose in a sh between the two was absolutely unthinkable in hismon sense.


    Federick then tried to appease him with a frightened expression.


    “Ca, calm down, Tol. ording to the records, the size of the enemy forces was by no means a negligible level.


    “…Size of the forces?”


    “Yes. It wasn’t just Baraten’s reconnaissance unit. It was the 8th Unit led by Schilten, plus a coalition force of the humans who killed Duke. And considering that the enemy’s main force arrived at the end…”


    Federick paused for a moment before continuing.


    “An all-out war. This is Baraten dering an all-out war against our rk with full force.”


    “…What?”


    “…!!”


    “They did…!!”


    This time, not only ke but all the Lycans inside the pce were stunned.


    A deration of war from the Baraten faction.


    This was something that had not happened even once since the Tribal Great War of long ago.


    And on the other hand, it also drew a sneer.


    Force size, number of Awakened Warriors, individual power.


    The Baraten faction, inferior in every aspect, dered an all-out war?


    They couldn’t help but think, ‘Those guys must be so exhausted from the war that they’re walking into the abyss themselves.’


    “Hahaha! After living so long, really interesting things happen too. So, where are those trash’s movements…”


    “Tol! They’vee!!”


    Just as he was about to signal the beginning of the war.


    Another Lycan came rushing into the pce without hesitation and made an urgent report.


    ke frowned at this.


    “They?”


    “Long time no see, ke.”


    And at the same time, the appearance of…


    Three ‘humans’.


    At the sight of them, all the Lycans inside gasped in even greater shock than before.


    The robed man, Dave.


    The man who bestowed ‘enhancement techniques’ upon the Lycans of the rk tribe, and led rk to victory in the Tribal Great War.


    The sub-faction leader of the <Ludenarck School>…


    Was standing among the humans.


    Dave, still wearing his robe backwards, spoke leisurely in an expressionless manner.


    “It’s the first time since crossing dimensions, isn’t it?”


    The second great war between Baraten and rk.


    Its beginning was gradually heading into an unknowable phase.


    ***


    Ippotrantion


    ***


    Awoooo–!!


    Kang–! Kagagang–!


    Pooshi–!!


    The howls of the enemy Virgens echoed, and various types of attacks mercilessly pounded them.


    The city of Wolfencer, the headquarters of the rk forces.


    There were quite a few scout units roaming around the area.


    They didn’t have an awakened warrior like ‘Rak’ who had luckily seeded in hunting earlier, but there were quite a few Virgen units led by Lycans as captains.


    And now, the situation was that the news of ‘Baraten dering all-out war’ had not been conveyed to the enemy’s leadership yet.


    The enemy scout units who were unaware that all forces were invading were helplessly swept away by our attacks.


    [Your flexible and refined movements and maximized physical attacks! The enhancements engraved in your body are gradually bing more powerful. Your understanding of runes increases greatly.]


    [‘Warrior Enhancement’ rune level has increased.]


    [You gain 2 strength due to the nature of the rune.]


    [‘Power of the Boiling Wolf’ rune level has increased.]


    [You gain 1 strength and 1 toughness each due to the nature of the rune.]


    War is tiring and strenuous, but its results were certain.


    Virgens, A-grade monsters, and Lycans of higher than A-grade ability.


    By hunting high-ranking monsters, the growth of runes naturally followed as well.


    ‘Now my strength is 100.’


    In this war, I mainly used runes rted to ‘physical attacks’ or ‘body enhancements.’


    As for magic, our team members’ assured assistance was enough without me, and the new runes I obtained this time were mainly specialized in physical attacks.


    Thanks to this, the proficiency of the rted runes kept increasing, and my strength finally reached 100.


    If my magic power reaches 100, all my main ability stats (strength, speed, magic) will exceed 100.


    It was an internal growth that provided definite motivation in waging war.


    “Kkreup…!!”


    At the moment when the information window popped up for a bit,


    I saw one of our team members caught by a Virgen in a crisis situation.


    It was the assassin-type team member, Do Seung-min.


    Without hesitation, I rushed toward him, leaped, and struck the enemy Virgen’s head.


    ‘Primordial Fierce Attack.’


    The newly acquired derivative skill [Primordial Fierce Attack] is a powerful physical attack skill.


    It unleashes all one’s power to disy destructive force.


    Since its power increases further when using martial arts, I always switched to unarmedbat with Act of Weapon Exchange when using this skill.


    Kwa, kwagaga–!!


    Awoo–?!


    Kwaahhaang–!!


    Thanks to that, its performance was beyond imagination.


    The Virgen who had cornered Do Seung-min died instantly, its head bursting from my single punch.


    “…Brother, are you a One-Punch Man?”


    “Stop the unnecessary talk and focus onbat. It’s not over yet. I’ve repeatedly said this, but assassin-types must never get caught from behind. Especially you, with your low endurance and no significant defensive runes, you must absolutely fight with evasion. Got it?”


    “Yes!”


    I quickly conveyed my words like a machine gun and gave him a brief lesson.


    In this war, I was particrly caring for Do Seung-min and took charge of his personal training.


    Apart from that day, he was the only assassin-type in our B-team, and with the [Silver Moonshadow] rune, he had plenty of opportunities to perform in this war.


    Although he often showed careless andcking aspects, since he had lived the Holder life from a very young age, he absorbed the lessons I taught quite well.


    With a bit of refinement, Do Seung-min could even reach A-grade Holder level.


    “Jae-hyun. Combat is over. No casualties in C-team.”


    After some time had passed and we hunted all the nearby Virgens,


    Lim Hyun, the C-team leader, came to me and spoke.


    During the war period, we had fought so many battles and exchanged so many conversations that our forms of address and tones had be quite casual.


    “Yes. Good work, senior.”


    “Is today’sbat over with this?”


    “Probably.”


    We could somehow advance further, but it would only drain our stamina as night had already fallen deeply.


    Enrichten would likely order the entire force to rest as well.


    Moreover, the news of the all-out war would reach the rk side tomorrow, and the war’s situation would intensify.


    To prepare for that, we needed to rest at least a bit.


    “Let’s go, team leader. The members are waiting.”


    “Yes.”


    Following Lim Hyun’s words, Do Seung-min and I roughly cleaned up the surroundings and followed him.


    The dimmed surroundings and scattered Virgen corpses.


    Above in the sky…


    For some reason, a full moon hung there.


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