Chapter 654 – Everything can be connected (4)

"Grr… you're annoyingly persistent."

The Cat tribe leader was trying to catch his breath while frowning at Ron.

"Huuuuuu."

Ron's breath was also slightly heavy. His face was calm but his back was full of sweat. The old man's eyes observed the berserk tribe leader.

"I've heard stories about berserk Cats but this is my first time seeing it in person."

Berserk transformations were different based on the attributes of the Beast tribe.

Some of them, such as Tigers and Wolves, grew bigger and their strength increased exponentially. There were also transformations like the Whale tribe's where there were no physical changes but a medium was used to increase their strength.

The Cats had their own unique transformation as well.

'First, their whole body becomes covered in fur.'

Their body didn't grow bigger like the Wolves but there were some physical changes.

'Most importantly, they become extremely agile and don't make any noises in their movements.'

They moved very quickly and didn't make any noise when their feet touched the ground as they moved. This berserk transformation was probably why the Cats were known for being stealthy.

The tribe leader smirked while looking at Ron observing him.

"Keke. You sound very tired."

Ron didn't respond to the tribe leader. It was the truth.

Ron had barely caught up to the tribe leader.

"So persistent. Such annoyingly persistent old bastards."

The tribe leader commented while looking around.

"How they hell do none of you groan even after getting hurt? Your venomous aura should decrease with age but your eyes are all boiling with venomous aura."

The reason Ron was able to catch up to the tribe leader…

"...."

"...."

It was thanks to the people from the Molan Household surrounding the tribe leader.

Whether it was their arm or leg… They were all bleeding with injuries here and there but none of them had released a single groan.

"…You pestering bugs."

On the way here… Attacks that made the Cats who were running away with the tribe leader stop temporarily or forever had continued all around the forest.

They were all attacks by the Molan household.

They were so persistent in chasing the Cats that they forced the Cats to split up and escape in different directions.

Ron responded with a stoic expression on his face.

"You're left all alone thanks to those so called pestering bugs."

"Ugh!"

The tribe leader frowned.

The Cat that was taken down by Ron's dagger just moments ago was the last one who had been escaping with the tribe leader.

Ron had heard Dodori shouting behind him the moment before he jumped into the forest.

'Cale fainted! It's serious!'

On and Hong had run off earlier than he did and did not hear it. Ron realized that there was not much time. He needed to take care of the enemies as quickly as possible before returning to the Roan Kingdom.

Shhhhh.

Ron raised his hand and the people from the Molan household who had not made a single noise disappeared into the fog at his signal.

"Hmph."

The Cat tribe leader scoffed as if he found them ridiculous but still prepared for their attacks.

Oooooo– oooooo–

There was an eerie noise and the fog around them started to roar.

"Grrrrrrr. Did you really think you could survive after stepping into my domain?"

The tribe leader's fog ability… Adding on his extremely improved speed and soundless movement from his berserk transformation…

Those two together made it so that coming into the fog domain of a berserk Fog Cat was pretty much asking to be killed.

However, he soon frowned.

"…These crazy bastards!"

The rest of the Molan household other than Ron who had disappeared into the fog moved away from the tribe leader.

The tribe leader quickly swung the dagger in his hand.

Claaaaang!

Ron's dagger and the tribe leader's dagger slammed into each other and made a terrible noise.

They were inside the tribe leader's thick fog. However, the tribe leader could see Ron's face clearly because he was the master of this fog.

Ron was smiling.

"I'm pretty sure I said I was going to kill you, you bastard."

"…Is that why you sent your damn subordinates elsewhere?"

"That's right."

The tribe leader frowned.

Ron should not be able to see him inside this thick fog. But he was looking right at him. What was going on?

"...!"

The tribe leader then saw a faint red light in his fog and urgently looked behind him.

He could see a red fog trying extremely hard to break into his fog domain.

Small amounts of it were able to push its way into his fog domain.

'Those motherfucking mutant bastards!'

This was definitely On and Hong's fog.

Not just that, this was poisonous fog.

That red fog must be telling this damn Molan patriarch about his location.

The tribe leader started sweating.

He had seen the fog that had covered about half of the mountain as he ran away earlier.

'…How the hell can a twelve year old create such fog?! How can she be so similar to her father-?!'

On and Hong's father, the former tribe leader, was extremely weak physically compared to the other Cats because he could not go berserk.

The Cats were also a tribe that had to fight. Stealthiness and movement were the two most important things when it came to assassination.

However, the former tribe leader's fog ability was much stronger than anybody else his age.

"Hmph! Do you really think that the fog of an inferior punk will be able to surpass mine?!"

Oooooo– oooooo–

The fog roared again. His fog was quite thick fitting his title as the current tribe leader, making it so that they couldn't even see the grass on the ground.

Forget that faint red fog, even dust could not make it into this domain.

The tribe leader, the only one who could see in this fog, started to move.

He made no noise even though his feet were stepping on grass.

Slaaash-!

However, a dagger came flying at him even as he was moving stealthily and efficiently.

'How does he know where I am?!'

The tribe leader could see Ron's dagger that was flying directly at his new location.

He quickly blocked Ron's dagger.

'Fuck!'

The tribe leader could not say anything and just changed directions. It was to aim for Ron's side since Ron should not be able to see him.

Bang!

However, Ron twisted his body and blocked that attack with the dagger in his other hand.

There was a new dagger in his other hand that aimed for the tribe leader's neck.

Baaaaang! Bang!

Inside the thick fog… The tribe leader and Ron's battle continued.

"Unbelievable!'

The tribe leader was astonished that Ron was able to accurately block his attack and launch another attack when he should be the only one who could see in the fog.

'Holy shit, how?!'

Ron continued to pester away to take the tribe leader's life.

'This area only has my fog!'

The mutants' fog was not here and this was completely his domain.

So how was this old bastard moving as if he could see?!

The tribe leader couldn't even escape from these daggers aiming for him. He had to focus on Ron's attacks that were getting even sharper.

Baaaaang! Clang! Claaaaang!

The endless sounds of their daggers clashing ripped through the forest.

'Holy crap! Why the fuck is an old man so strong?!'

The tribe leader's forehead was dripping with sweat.

Dagger arts. Strength.

Ron was slowly starting to surpass the tribe leader in all aspects.

The Cats did not grow stronger when they went berserk. Their original strength remained the same.

'Unbelievable!'

The tribe leader's hand that was holding his dagger was hurting.

But he didn't have time to pay attention to that.

'How…how is he able to attack me when he can't see-?!'

Extreme swiftness and silent footsteps… There was also the Fog Cat Tribe's fog. The tribe leader had achieved victory over and over using these three things to take away the enemy's sight.

But he had no answer since all three things were not working here.

Claaaaang!

"Ugh!"

He finally could not help but groan while pushing away a dagger headed for him.

It was the moment the silence was broken.

"How?!"

He shouted while looking at Ron.

"How the hell did you do it?! Are you able to see me?! What magic did you use?!"

The tribe leader could see Ron smirking at him. The old man's entire body was covered in sweat but he said a single word with a calm expression on his face.

"Breath."

"What?"

Ron didn't care about the tribe leader's response and immediately started attacking again.

"Ugh!"

Claaaaang! Clang! Tang!

The battle started once again. Ron focused as much as possible for this fight.

In that last battle against the Cats at Sheritt's Castle of Light…

Ron had been training to go up against the Fog Cat Tribe ever since that time.

Ron's training had been simple.

'Find the enemy's opening.'

Ron was someone who became stronger in a different manner from Choi Han, Rosalyn, Beacrox and the others.

It wasn't important for an assassin to be stronger than their target.

What mattered was how well they could aim for an enemy's opening.

That was the important part.

Ron found the Cat's opening.

Rustle.

Ron couldn't help but make noises whenever he moved. But the Cat tribe leader made no noises.

However, the Cat tribe leader always made a certain noise.

It was the sound of his breathing.

He made noises breathing in and breathing out. Ron followed that noise and moved his dagger.

'His breathing is slowly getting heavier.'

Ron had cleaned his dagger and sharpened his senses day after day. His aging body was trying to make his hearing get worse but Ron continued to remember a certain moment in the past that would force him to sharpen his senses once again.

As for the moment Ron recalled…

It was running away with the young Beacrox.

Running for survival… Running to save his son…

He was on the run, doing anything and everything to avoid the enemies. The scariest thing at that time was the noises of people breathing.

That symbolized that enemies who would kill him and his son were getting closer.

He remembered those days where he had to cover his mouth and his son's mouth despite their heavy breathing while shaking in fear after hearing footsteps or breathing.

Finally, Ron was able to completely restore his senses to be as sharp as it had been back then.

Claaaaang!

"This motherfucking old bastard!"

Drip. Drip.

Beads of sweat dripped down the side of Ron's face and fell down from his chin.

He had used a lot of his mental fortitude to focus for so long.

He then smirked toward the tribe leader who should be looking at him.

"I'm a bit old so it would have been difficult if you got stronger after going berserk. I'm relieved you only got faster. I'll be able to easily kill you."

The tribe leader's eyes roared with anger.

He accepted that he could not run away or hide in the fog and chose to put everything on the line to attack this old bastard.

"I'll kill you!"

He used every ounce of strength to attack Ron.

Claaaaang! Clang! Tang!

Their battle continued again. The tribe leader sneered after seeing that Ron was extremely tired as well.

"Keke. Fine! Let's keep fighting like this! You'll be the first to die, you old bastard!"

The tribe leader could see a tree behind Ron.

He lifted his foot and kicked toward Ron.

Pow!

The tribe leader swung his dagger the moment Ron raised both arms to block his kick and Ron barely dodged that dagger before his back hit the tree.

Boom!

There was quite a loud noise and the tribe leader saw the slightly stiffened expression on Ron's face before immediately moving his dagger toward Ron's neck.

"Time to finish this!"

A benign smile appeared on Ron's face as soon as the tribe leader said that.

"Who knows?"

It was so benign that the tribe leader subconsciously questioned what might be going on. Ron happily informed him.

"There are children who are learning everything I know."

Ron had taught stealth techniques and everything he knew other than assassination skills to the children who had lived the life of runaways as he had experienced.

Rustle.

A very quiet noise reached the tribe leader's ears.

It was above his head.

He heard it from the leaves on the tree.

He had to dodge Ron's attacks that were at a higher level than he had expected and the sound of their daggers clashing had been so loud that… He did not notice someone who was stealthier than most assassins sneaking into the fog.

'An intruder!'

The moment the tribe leader finally realized someone was in his domain…

The moment he saw that intruder land on the ground and start to move…

Slaaash-!

He heard something being slashed.

The tribe leader looked down after hearing the noise and could not move.

You, you-"

Something sharp had slashed his ankle and revealed the flesh underneath.

"You always have to be careful of what's underneath your feet, nya."

The tribe leader heard the voice of the younger of the inferior shits.

Hong, who had climbed across trees and stealthily approached him, smiled the same way Cale usually smiles.

Hong's small but sharp claws that were full of poison left some not too deep yet not too shallow marks on the tribe leader's ankle.

Drip. Drip.

Black poison was dripping from his claws.

"You shithead-, ugh!"

The tribe leader who tried to swing his dagger toward Hong stumbled as the world seemed to spin.

Hong moved his claws once more.

Slaaaash-

The marks opened even more and the black poison seeped in.

You, you-!"

The tribe leader plopped down on the ground and felt as if he was suffocating as he looked at the black poison.

Black poison.

This was most likely deadly.

At that moment… He heard On's calm voice through the fog. Rustle. Rustle. On did not hesitate as she approached the tribe leader.

"10 minutes. You'll die if you don't get the antidote for that poison in 10 minutes."

'What?'

The tribe leader focused his gaze even as everything continued to spin and raised his head.

Ron was crouching in front of him.

"I guess you'll die soon."

The tribe leader frowned after hearing Ron's calm voice.

'Die? I'm going to die from this inferior shithead's poison?'

It wasn't even a strong attack. It was just enough poison to slash his ankle.

But he could not ignore what they just said.

The poison was so strong that he became so dizzy that he couldn't even control his body as soon as it entered his body.

The tribe leader's whole body was shaking.

"What's wrong? Do you want us to let you live?"

The tribe leader shouted in anger at Ron's nonchalant voice.

"Do you really think I would beg for my life?! I will never lower my head to those inferior little punks!"

The tribe leader's eyes were going dark. His eyes were closing along with the dizziness.

He thought that he was going to die like this.

He could barely make out the silver Cat that was approaching him.

"Who cares if we can't go berserk?"

On continued speaking to the tribe leader who was doing his best to keep his eyes open.

"We won in the end, nya."

"Ugh!"

The tribe leader sneered at the little thing saying that she had won.

"You won? Keke. Kahahaha! You won?"

He determined that he couldn't overcome this dizziness or prevent his eyes from closing.

"Yeah. We won nya. You jelly?"

The corner of the Kitten's lips curled up into a sneer.

The tribe leader fumed in anger after seeing that smirk.

'I, I can't die like this!'

He could not accept dying while looking at this shitty kid smirking at him. He opened his mouth to speak. He shouted with every ounce of strength he had left.

"You guys will die in the end! Once the temple door opens, you guys will di-"

However, he couldn't finish his sentence.

Darkness covered his eyes and the tribe leader could not open his eyes again. His body limped over.

On, Hong, and Ron just quietly looked at him.

Shaaaaaaaaaa-

The tribe leader's fog completely disappeared.

On and Hong's red fog gobbled up the rest of the Fog Cat Tribe's fog on Mount Nex.

"Ah."

"…Shit."

That made the last of the escaping Cats plop down in disbelief.

The fact that the tribe leader's fog disappeared meant that the tribe leader had lost…which probably meant that he was dead.

Hong looked at the tribe leader's closed eyes and started speaking.

"He fell asleep right away, nya."

Huuuu. Huuuu.

The tribe leader was in a deep slumber.

Hong's black poison was actually a sleeping poison.

"You fall asleep faster the more tired you are nya! This motherfucking tribe leader must have been very tired nya."

Hong, who described the tribe leader with a term that would make Cale gasp if he had heard it, excitedly looked toward On and Ron.

Hong, who was about to tell them that they should quickly bind him up and take him back with them, flinched after looking at the two of them.

"…Temple?"

On tilted her head and mumbled to herself while Ron urgently grabbed the tribe leader by the neck and started running toward the rest of their allies.

On and Hong were shocked at his action and quickly chased after him but Ron did not have the luxury to wait for them.

'A temple can only mean!'

The tribe leader had said 'temple' as what he believed were to be his last words before his death.

There was only one temple door for the Cats or the White Star's side to open.

'The sealed god!'

The sealed god, otherwise known as the God of Despair.

Their side did not know where that god was sealed.

Ron's mind was quickly moving as he thought about it.

'The summoning ritual is supposed to take place in Puzzle City.'

He combined the information he knew to come to a conclusion.

'Does that mean that the temple door of the sealed god will open in Puzzle City?'

Ron started to sweat for a different reason.

"I must inform them."

He needed to quickly inform his allies, especially the ones in Puzzle City, about this new information.

* * *

At that moment.

"Haaaaaaaaa. Man, that shield sure is sturdy."

Ancient Dragon Eruhaben looked at his front paw with a slightly fatigued expression.

His golden hide was slowly starting to crack as well. He observed his current condition before looking forward.

"…Kill… Kill the strong intruder..."

The Lion Dragon charged toward Eruhaben once more with its shield that didn't have a single scratch on it.

'It keeps saying the same thing. Is it really the guardian for something?'

Eruhaben thought for a moment before dodging the shield swinging toward him and attacking the Lion Dragon with his claw.

Continuing to keep the monster occupied…

Was the best Eruhaben could do alone.

Craaaaaaack. Craaaaaaack.

Eruhaben's hide continued to crack from his paw to the rest of his body.

—
Translator's Comments

"You fall asleep faster the more tired you are nya! This motherfucking tribe leader must have been very tired nya."

Hong, who described the tribe leader with a term that would make Cale gasp if he had heard it, excitedly looked toward On and Ron.

These children and their languages…

What will happen next?

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]