525 – Time Of The Dog And The Wolf – Conclusion
There was no bird for Aji to catch. Grull had no time to block. Fenrir simply ran in a straight line to unleash his violence on me.
It’s too late to react when you see it. I didn’t have the ability to see it in the first place. I just trusted the wolf’s violence and pulled out the javelin to match the beat.
The trap hidden under a layer of earth is more than 20m deep. I used both earth magic and unique magic at the same time to catch Fenrir.
I moved the trap with my will, which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I didn’t have the javelin, and if the ground didn’t crack from the ground drop. The earth split open and tried to swallow Fenrir. Even the king of beasts cannot stand without a place to stand. Fenrir’s body fell under the trap.
As Fenrir said, human violence is to use everything in the world as a weapon. Whether it’s a demon, a thought, or an illusion that doesn’t exist. It is sharpened as a weapon for one purpose.
The ground is collapsing. Fenrir jumped up, stepping on the falling rocks even as he fell. The tree roots that covered Fenrir like a net. He tore it apart with his claws. If you have overwhelming power, you can overcome any tricks.
Still, the advantage of tricks, however small, is definitely there.
“Aji.”
I muttered, throwing a small pebble into the trap.
“Bite it.”
“Woof!”
Aji, who had been chasing Fenrir, jumped up. Aji’s shadow falls over Fenrir, who is slightly delayed as he jumps on the falling rocks.
The two collided in the air. Fenrir, who failed to step on the next step, began to fall in a gentle curve.
“Grull, you too. Use the flat ground.”
“That’s the sky!”
“That’s why the wolf can’t move either.”
Places where it is difficult for me to move are also difficult for the opponent to move. Grull had already realized it and was running. He reached the end of the trap and gritted his teeth.
‘I can’t stop unless I put my feet on the ground. He wants me to throw my body. Magician, this son of a b*tch!’
Not being able to stop means that you can fall at the same speed as you move with the ground. It would be a big backlash for Grull himself, but it is also an opportunity. Grull spread out the ground he had chosen in advance and ran. The sound of a bullet firing was heard under his feet. He pierced Fenrir with two daggers, using his teeth as weapons.
“Ow…!”
Fenrir, who was struggling in the air, could only choose ‘how to get hit’. Fenrir twisted his body in a hurry. The dagger that had been aimed at his neck missed slightly and pierced Fenrir’s shoulder. Grull’s huge body pushed Fenrir against the opposite wall.
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Even as the dagger pierced his body, Fenrir swung his arms and legs to counterattack. Grull was hit in the air with nowhere to escape and fell 10m down.
He got rid of the enemy, but the blow with his energy gave Fenrir a fatal wound. How can he move properly when a dagger is piercing his shoulder?
Fenrir tried to pull out the blade stuck in his shoulder even in the air. I was already aiming at Fenrir then.
The hands and shoulders of humans are for using tools. The first weapons were stones and branches, and throwing was the only way to use them. I used the demon in the most primitive way.
The javelin I threw with all my might flies around and around. There is no escape in the empty void. Especially with a blade stuck in his shoulder, he can’t block it properly. The javelin covered Fenrir and hit the wall on the other side.
Unless you use tremendous energy like a regressor, the javelin will not break the ground. But the creature caught under it doesn’t know. As if a mountain doesn’t care about the tiny creatures under it.
The same goes for the king of beasts.
“Keheung!”
The javelin crushed Fenrir. Regardless of whether the opponent was the king of beasts or not, the javelin did not stop until it touched the ground. Fenrir’s body, caught between the ground and the javelin, is crushed.
If he were a human, he might have been able to break the ground instead of blocking the javelin and escape… but it’s hard to expect that level of improvisation from a wolf.
The javelin eventually bounced off the wall. Half-embedding Fenrir in the wall like a fossil. Cracks spread out as if centered on Fenrir, and the wall collapsed with a loud vibration.
The deep trap is filled with dust. Aji and Grull, who had fallen below, still looked at the wreckage with their fur raised. Meanwhile, Fenrir, who had emerged from the dust, still roared.
“Awoo…!”
“Give up. Wolf. The game is over.”
But even the long fight is now coming to an end. Fenrir’s appearance revealed in the dust was miserable. The dagger stuck in his shoulder was moving around, opening up the wound, and one of his arms was visibly crushed. His gait is precarious as his balance is off.
Even in such a situation, he could tear hundreds of humans to pieces in an instant, but his opponents now are Aji and Grull. Monsters that Fenrir couldn’t easily defeat even when he was in good shape.
We won. Grull, who sensed the victory, said.
“We won easily compared to the name of the king of wolves. You did a great job, magician.””You had it easy, joining the war late after the hard work of securing the land. I nearly died.”
“That was the best way to win. You were prepared for it, weren’t you? And you seem to have all your limbs despite your reckless behavior.”
“I nearly died several times. You just put the finishing touches on it. I’m the one who did all the hard work.”
“Not yet. The most important task remains.”
Technically, I’m the one who stalled for time and killed them all, but whatever. Grull, brimming with ambition, held the remaining dagger in reverse grip and approached Fenrir.
“A wounded beast is dangerous. Step aside. I’ll finish it.”
“You just want to deliver the final blow yourself….”
Grull chuckled and approached Fenrir, baring his teeth and holding the dagger. At that moment, Aji suddenly stepped forward. With the half-crown perched atop his head, Aji approached Fenrir as if in a trance.
“The promise has been fulfilled. Thank you, human.”
Grull, unfamiliar with being called a human, replied half a beat late.
“…Are you talking to me?”
“Yes. You too.”
“Thank you. I only fought to survive. Our intentions simply aligned.”
“Even so, thank you.”
Aji, expressing his gratitude, approached Fenrir alone. Grull, who had been aiming for the final blow, showed his displeasure.
“Wait. If you’re taking my credit… No, the one who made the greatest contribution is the dog king, you. Ugh. Would you mind if I asked you to yield?”
“I’ll let it be known that you killed it, so just watch quietly.”
Grull scratched his chin and stepped back. Meanwhile, Aji approached, staring intently at Fenrir. Sensing the end, the half-crown began to hum.
“I, won. Wolf, you lost.”
“Not yet, dog. I’m not dead.”
Even in his blood-soaked state, Fenril still charged forward, showing his ferocity. However, even the king of beasts is a beast. A beast that moves with a physical body, no matter how powerful, cannot escape its limits.
His reach was clearly shorter than he thought. His foreleg swung uselessly past Aji. Fenril continued to bare his teeth, but Aji quickly pinned him down and crushed him.
Fenril, pinned beneath Aji, gasped but still replied fiercely.
“And wolves too. Ferocity never goes away. Ferocity is a mirror. It’s in humans, dogs, and wolves. If there’s ferocity to protect oneself, it will continue to appear.”
“Woof. Maybe. But the promise has been fulfilled.”
Aji grabbed the dagger embedded in Fenrir’s shoulder with his mouth and pulled it out in one swift motion. The pent-up blood spurted out like a fountain for a moment. Aji quietly looked down at the wound on his own shoulder.
“You and I are the same. Except for one thing, the promise. The promise I made with the human.”
“That’s your promise, not mine.”
“Woof. No. You, me.”
With those words, Aji began to lick Fenrir’s wound.
The saliva of the beast king has a slight healing effect. The blood flowing from Fenrir’s wound gradually stopped. As the beast king with a strong life force, it would have stopped eventually, but as a human, he would not have been able to lick under his own shoulder, so Aji helped him recover.
“Human, me, promise kept. No more promise. So, now you, me.”
“Give up your ferocity and become tame?”
“No. Ferocity is me, tameness is me. All me. No need to fight each other.”
Beasts lick each other. It’s closer to a favor than a service, and it’s something that the one with more leeway gives.
Fenrir would never have done it, but kindness can coexist with ferocity. Instead of strangling Fenril, Aji said,
“Beast, you can do anything. You can be ferocious. That’s not wrong. But you can also be tame. That’s not wrong either.”
Aji’s crown resonates. The beast king is a being that represents the will of the species. Aji conveyed his intentions to Fenrir on behalf of the divided half.
“Strange. I have to be ferocious, and I have to be tame.”
“Wolves don’t become tame.”
“No. Tame. Woof. Because I’m a tame wolf.”
Aji pressed his head against Fenrir’s. The half-crowns touched each other. Buzz, the crown shaped like a thicket of thorns vibrated violently.
“Promise, must keep. That’s why divided. Promise, kept. No need to divide.”
Fenril, who had no strength left to resist, bared his teeth pitifully.
“…Ferocity will never go away. You will bite the human.”
“Woof. That’s okay. You can bite. Just do it when I say so.”
And the half-crown was transferred.
The half-crown that had been broken by someone was joined together as one. From Aji’s head to Fenrir’s head. It snapped together as if it had been one from the beginning, becoming one.
Long ago. In a past that no one remembers now. There was a wolf that was cast out from its pack. The wolf, starving and weak, panted in front of a human, its prey.The wolf is fierce and dangerous. It is reasonable to kill it while it is weak. However, that day, a human who felt sympathy for the dying wolf shared his food with it.
Life is precious even to beasts. The wolf considered the human who saved its precious life as its pack and stayed by the human’s side to protect him. They licked and stroked each other and protected each other for a long time.
That’s how dogs were born. No, it’s just that the name for wolves has changed. Dogs made a promise with humans, and because of that, dogs and wolves split up and fought each other…
After a long time, after much bloodshed, they finally returned to their origin.
Fenrir’s crown was complete. Azin looked down at Fenrir, who had been reborn as the clear king of dogs and wolves, and declared with the same kindness as ever.
“You, be king.”