Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer
Chapter 106: Saviour (1)

Chapter 106: Saviour (1)

Each creature in the wilderness boasted a unique, often challenging, bonding ritual. Take the Tiaks, for instance, where one had to forcefully mount its back to establish a ’tame’ it and form a partnership with the beast.

Adrian had accomplished that part. Unfortunately, the Tiak still refused to acknowledge him as its master and got heavily injured in the process. Adrian might have been safe, but Huruk wasn’t.

While Suhi rushed towards ’Milka’ to check on his son, Skaha did the same for Huruk. The beast was alive but had severely injured itself. It had a massive dent on its forehead, and its neck was slightly swollen.

It wasn’t something Skaha couldn’t deal with in time and help Huruk heal, but he was confident that the beast would never be the same. As such, he had no use for Huruk.

"...forgive me for this," Skaha mumbled, getting up and placing the edge of his staff on Huruk’s neck before twisting it with all his weight.

The beast squirmed but stopped after a loud cracking sound was heard. Skaha had snapped Huruk’s neck to put it out of its misery before Ahuli learned about it, or else something much worse would have happened to the poor beast.

’It’s better to die like this than being fed to the wolves... alive.’

Skaha then continued after turning towards Adrian, "Looks like I was right. These beasts don’t suit you, after all. Let’s find you a direwolf and make you a proper rider."

Adrian nodded, and the group left the sector for a different one. On the way, they crossed the area where Ahuli and the rest were still trying to tame the Commander Wolf.

Only this time, Adrian could see quite a few of them had been injured, and some were even being taken out of the enclosures in makeshift stretchers.

"Quite some beast, isn’t it?" Skaha chuckled, noticing Adrian’s gaze on the creature. "I’m surprised Ahuli wasn’t about to get the ’lick’ yet."

Adrian raised his eyebrow upon hearing the tulka word ’lick’. Skaha understood what he wanted to know and explained what a ’lick’ meant.

Like the Tiaks, the wolves had a bonding ritual. To bond with a dire wolf, one had to defeat it in battle and hope to receive a ’lick’.

However, it wasn’t all that uncommon for the wolves to reject the ones who defeated them and refuse to lick the tribesman who defeated the creature.

A wolf’s lick was no ordinary lick, either. It has strong healing properties and symbolises many things, one of which could be directly interpreted as affection. Unlike the other beasts, when the wolves were tamed, they became highly affectionate and possessive over their ’partner’ and often licked them.

However, when it came to choosing a partner, the direwolves were extremely picky. They were also known for partnering up with someone stronger than them. It was a rule that had never been broken for anyone.

But once they picked a partner, they would readily give up their lives to protect their partner from injury. This was also one of the reasons why scouts preferred to use them as mounts rather than tiaks.

"Come on, let’s leave the beast to Ahuli and find you a strong wolf to ride on," Skaha commented, walking ahead.

However, it seemed Adrian had already chosen his ’familiar’ as he walked up to the sector where Ahuli was the only one left standing. The rest of them had either been knocked unconscious or were hastily tending to their wounds.

"Where are you going!?" Skaha shrieked, but Adrian showed no signs of stopping.

’If I can tame the big one, it would certainly boost my status within the tribe,’ Adrian thought as he ran towards the sector. ’Besides, having such a beast by my side would also prove beneficial during the siege.’

Someday or the other, the Banurs would launch an attack on the Tulkas. When that happened, Adrian would be there to cause havoc from the inside and for that, he’d need a pet. In his eyes, the Commander Wolf was the best suited for the job.

***

Meanwhile, Ahuli wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was the first time it had taken him that long to tame a creature, with the exception of Mammoroth, as their fight had lasted for over two days.

However, that didn’t mean the Commander Wolf was weak. Both were at the top but in different leagues. As such, Ahuli’s thirst to tame the Commander grew even more.

After all, the strongest wolf must belong to the strongest Tulka. It had been an unspoken rule. Ahuli couldn’t let anyone else tame the beast, or it might cause unnecessary drama within the tribe regarding him being the Chieftain.

Why? Because unlike Skaha, the seat of the Chieftain was offered to Ahuli, not earned. Sure, he proved he was worthy of it after taming the Mammoroth. But he needed Skaha’s help to do that.

It had always been a sore spot for Ahuli, and he knew the tribals secretly judged him for it. This was a chance for him to shut their mouths once and for all.

That’s why Ahuli had been intentionally letting the others get injured, eliminating the competition one at a time. Now, he was the only one left standing. Finally, it was his time... or was it?

While he was lost in his thoughts, the Commander Wolf made a move and jumped him, slashing at his face. Ahuli, being quick to his feet, turned to save himself. But the claws were bigger than he had expected, and he got slashed in the chest.

Searing pain shot up in Ahuli’s body, but his face showed no signs of pain. He merely glanced at the wound before tightening his grip around his staff.

Usually, he would have used a spear, but Ahuli didn’t want to kill the beast accidentally or, worse, injure it irreparably. The staff would have to do it, but it didn’t seem the Commander Wolf was taking the Chieftain seriously, and Shuli was about to make the beast regret that.

He charged at the beast, the staff held tightly by his side. The Commander Wolf howled, and its underlings charged at Ahuli. Since Ahuli was only concerned about the Commander Wolf’s safety, he unleashed the full brunt of his strength against the direwolves.

He slammed the staff into one wolf’s head and, using it as a platform, jumped before landing a drop on the other wolf’s face. It was safe to say the first wolf was out of action while the other was nursing its wound.

But Ahuli wasn’t going to allow the wolf to recover. In a display of strength, he grabbed the stunned wolf’s waist and suplexed the beast into oblivion.

Ahuli was confident that only the Commander Wolf was left now. However, his prediction turned out to be wrong when the first wolf, despite its injury, jumped over him, biting Ahuli in his calf.

"Argh!" Ahuli gritted his teeth before furiously slamming his elbow on the beast’s back, snapping it in half and finally ending the beast.

Ahuli glanced at Commander Wolf, expecting to see some reaction. But the leader just stared blankly. Usually, a pack leader would be affected and show some reaction if their followers died, but this one seemed to use them as sacrifices to hurt Ahuli as much as possible.

’...she’s just like me,’ Ahuli scoffed.

The Commander Wolf was not male, which made her even rarer. But what attracted Ahuli to the beast was its ruthlessness as a leader.

Only someone cold-blooded could sacrifice their underlings to gain the upper hand in a battle, and Ahuli would have done the same to gain an advantage over a stronger opponent. In fact, he had done something similar to the rest who were trying to tame the beast by his side.

The more time he spent with the beast, the more Ahuli liked her. He knew it was a beast suited to be his mount. It had to be her, no one else.

The wolf soon began circling Ahuli, prepared for their final confrontation. With his staff in hand, Ahuli was also ready.

Suddenly, the Commander charged at him. Ahuli swung the staff with all his might. But to his surprise, the beast veered left at the last moment and hit Ahuli with her tail, smacking the staff out of his hands.

Ahuli was taken aback by the creature’s agility as she charged at him again. The Chieftain lashed out with his left hand, intending to hit the beast in the chest.

But again, the beast outsmarted Ahuli and dove down before biting his injured leg. Ahuli couldn’t hide the pain this time as the Commander tore a chunk of flesh from his leg.

Ahuli was losing blood fast as his people grew concerned about him. He was forced to lean against the fence, angrily staring at the beast about to attack him.

He could hear his tribesmen gasping, panicking to get weapons to deal with the beast. But even in that situation, Ahuli didn’t want the beast dead.

Using their hesitation to her advantage, the beast leapt again, aiming for Ahuli’s chest. However, someone jumped over the fence at the last moment, kicking the beast in the face.

"Milka? What are you doing here?" Ahuli asked, caressing his wound.

But Milka didn’t reply. Instead, he bravely stood between Ahuli and the beast as a wall.

***

Author’s note: Apologies for not uploading the Chapters as promised. The hospital visit took a lot longer than I assumed. But I’ll upload the bonus Chapter and one I owe for today later this week. Thanks for your support!

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