Chapter 423: The Great Jungle of Adur (4)

“Don’t come any closer!”

Halkata flinched at the sharp cry, but Karyl resolutely kept walking across the frozen swamp.

“Anchar.”

“Who is it?! I told you not to let anyone in here! Father, how could you?!”

Halkata opened his mouth to respond, but the words never left his lips.

“He’s not to blame. I dragged him here. You’re probably losing your grip under the overwhelming energy of the ancestral spirits, but you of all people should still be able to sense my presence clearly. You can tell your father couldn’t have forcefully brought me here.”

“A... A dragon...?”

“You know your stuff,” Karyl remarked, staring at the door of the hut. “Then you must also realize it’s not merely draconic mana I possess. Do you really think Halkata could’ve stopped me? Hell, you couldn’t either.”

“Leave.”

Karyl’s cheek twitched slightly at the cold reply. Halkata looked on with a worried face.

[Pfft... Hahaha...! The great Karyl MacGovern just got a proper smackdown. Her temper might just be worse than Serica or Kay Rothschild,] Allen Javius snickered, clearly enjoying this.

“Don’t worry, Anchar. I’ll come inside and talk to you face to face,” Karyl warned.

“I told you to LEAVE...!!!”

This time, it was a low, feral growl that came from within the hut.

Clack—

However, that didn’t stop Karyl from trying the doorknob.

“I’m... not human anymore...!”

KRAAAANG...!

The door burst into splinters, revealing a massive silhouette looming in the dark.

“Getting shut-ins to come out of their rooms is kind of my specialty,” Karyl murmured calmly as a massive fist came flying straight at him. “Worst case, I’ll bring them out by giving them a proper beating.”

Shing...!

As if he had expected the punch, Karyl swiftly swung his Freezing Talon, frost trailing along its arc.

“A wolf, huh.”

A wolf leaped out from the darkness, snapping at his blade with its jaws and shaking its head fiercely from side to side. The beast was easily twice Karyl’s size, so large and muscular one could take it for a bear. Its thick fur had a deep brown hue.

Crunch... Crackle!

Even as Anchar trashed violently, desperately trying to sink her fangs into him, Karyl looked at her as though he was enjoying himself.

“A different beast than Hwarin, that’s for sure,” Allen muttered, eyes glinting with interest.

Unlike Hwarin, who stood upright in her lycanthrope form, it seemed Anchar had fully transformed into a wolf.

“Shape. It’s a technique only used by Druids, namely Wildlings born with a unique connection to the ancestral spirits. It lets them take on the form of their spirit, and it doesn’t use mana. These are ancient animals, so it’s not just ordinary transformation magic.”

“Most intriguing.” Allen nodded. “Hwarin’s skill simply enhances her physical abilities, but this... this seems to strengthen her mental resilience instead.”

Even in the face of Anchar’s imminent assault, he remained focused on analysis.

“Polymorph magic normally consumes a ridiculous amount of mana,” Allen went on, “but she’s getting stronger just by transforming? That’s nuts.”

“Right. It’s not unlike the mana-altering techniques used in the Eastern Land.”

“Think it could be applied to your soldiers?”

“Doubt it. If that were possible, it’d make more sense to train Wildlings who are genetically compatible and build a beast unit from them.”

“Now that sounds fun.”

“But Druids aren’t something you create. They’re chosen by the ancestral spirits themselves.”

“Hmm...”

“And besides, the Eastern Land’s mana alteration is better off focused on the Burning Darkness and the Snakel unit. It forces open the mana channels and expands them, which puts a massive strain on the body. You can’t just pick that up unless you’ve trained from childhood.”

“So it all comes back to the basics.”

“That’s enough. Even a handful of people using unique methods can create an edge.”

“I see.”

Halkata looked confused and torn as he watched the two calmly chatting in front of Anchar.

Who was she?

Anchar had always been different, from the moment she drew her first breath. Among the Wildlings, newborns didn’t go to their mothers first. From the moment they were born, they were taken into the Tomb of the Five Ancestors and left there for an entire day.

Anyone else would consider that cruel, barbaric. However, after spending one day in that tomb, without food or drink, the Wildling infants always came out stronger, healthier. The ancestral spirits made sure of that.

Each Wildling child was blessed by a spirit at birth, and their strength would grow according to the spirit they inherited—some were built like stone, while others flew like the wind.

However, Anchar showed no signs of spiritual blessing. For seven days, she didn’t come out of that tomb. Rumors spread like wildfire, everyone assuming she was dead, abandoned by the spirits.

Unable to bear it any longer, Halkata eventually ventured into the tomb by himself, against everyone’s warnings. And what he witnessed there was beyond belief.

A massive phoenix unleashing fire.

An elephant trashing with its tusks.

A brown wolf growling fiercely and baring its fangs.

A naga flashing its blue scales.

And a giant rhinoceros charging blindly into the fray.

All of them were locked in a chaotic battle, right over Anchar.

Halkata realized immediately what those creatures were—the spirits of the ancient beasts that had once roamed the Great Jungle. They were fighting one another, each striving to be the one to bless Anchar.

Their clash lasted another three days and three nights. During that time, the jungle suffered greatly—befallen by floods, lightning strikes, wildfires that ignited seemingly out of nowhere, and even snowstorms.

With no victor emerging, the spirits eventually agreed to bless Anchar together. And from that moment, she was considered the perfect vessel, a Wildling unlike any other.

Anchar was no longer a cursed child, but a divine one, a living idol. She was the most powerful of them all.

And yet...

Here stood Karyl, facing her down with utmost composure.

“Oh, come on. What’s so special about turning into a beast?” Karyl snorted as if in response to the look of shock on Halkata’s face.

“There are people out there who can transform into lycanthropes, or even dragons. Turning into a wolf? That’s child’s play.”

“Hah...” Allen gave a chuckle.

Seeing how certain he was that Anchar’s attacks couldn’t touch Karyl, Halkata had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

“Anchar, listen carefully. I’m going to tell you how you can survive this. You need to accept the sixth ancestral spirit into your body.”

“Wh-What are you talking about?! She’s already like this, and you want to—!”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

“B-But...”

Halkata’s lips quivered as Karyl shot him a glare.

“Until she accepts the sixth spirit, she’s nothing more than a Wildling who can barely transform. Hell, she can’t even control that clumsy transformation, and she’s already losing her mind.”

“What...?!”

Halkata stared at him in shock.

“The sixth...? That’s the first I’ve ever heard of a sixth spirit...”

Although he was the chief of the tribe, this was news to him.

“What is it?” Allen pressed, clearly curious now.

“Tarak.”

Karyl’s eyes glinted as he stared at Anchar.

“Wait! You said you were going to save her! She’s like this because of the Tarak! How can you say that—?!”

A savage screech drowned out Halkata’s shouting. The wolf was engulfed in a glow, and in the next instant, a massive elephant charged forth. With its tusks lowered like spears, it hurled itself at Karyl with tremendous force.

“Hrgh!”

This time, Karyl raised the Freezing Talon with both hands, bracing the flat of the blade against the attack.

Crack—!! Crunch!!

Anchar didn’t stop. She kept pushing forward in her elephant form, finally managing to drive Karyl back.

Tap, tap—

At the end of her charge, Karyl gently tapped her thick forehead as if calming a pet. Halkata stood frozen, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“You’re right, Halkata. The ancestral spirits went on a rampage after the Tarak surfaced. They’re afraid the Great Jungle, the land of the spirits, is being tainted. But that’s not why she’s losing control. It’s not the Tarak. It’s the spirits. Their energy is too much for her.”

“...?!”

Halkata’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe that the spirits meant to protect her were now poisoning her from the inside out.

“The Five Guardians, what you call the protectors of the jungle, don’t have the same origin. Each one is completely different, and they’ve always fought among themselves. Now imagine all of them jammed into one body. Of course it’s a mess. And with the Tarak’s influence added on top of it, they’re only getting more aggressive, trying to defend their vessel.”

“You’re saying... Anchar is like this because the spirits are trying to protect her?”

“Spirits or not, they’re just ancient beasts from the Mythical Era. The real issue is that instead of working together, they’re tearing her apart trying to keep control.”

Fwoooosh...!

The massive elephant erupted into flames. Anchar morphed again, this time into a phoenix, the flap of her wings scattering embers through the air. She dove at Karyl with a sharp shriek, aiming to catch him in her beak.

“Power has to be overcome with power. To suppress these raging spirits, she needs something stronger than them.”

“That’s the sixth...”

“The Third Disaster, Lice, is a creature that barely has a form. Quite a peculiar one, really, as it’s both Tarak and not Tarak at the same time.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Lice breaks out, the land will be swarmed by tiny insects, like sand turned to gnats. They will cling to humans and suck their blood. In just one day, a fourth of the continent’s population will be drained dry.”

How could he forget? The Night of the Blood Moon—that was what people had called the day the Third Tarak had emerged. By dawn, the continent had been littered with bloodless corpses.

“Ancestral spirits? They don’t even compare. Lice is on another level, unbelievably powerful...”

Gulp—

“Anchar. You have to stop them.”

Fwoooosh...!

Karyl grabbed the phoenix by the neck. The Ein Trigger embedded in the back of his hand glowed, and a burst of the Blazing King’s power surged through him.

Just like that, he suppressed the phoenix’s fire. It seemed that not even legendary beasts were a match for the Blazing King.

“Haah... Haah...”

Anchar’s transformation was undone. She collapsed, drenched in sweat, and Halkata rushed to her side.

“But... How could I possibly do that...?”

Now in her human form, Anchar could speak clearly.

“Looks like you’ve finally come back to your senses.”

Having polymorphed over and over again without control, she was clearly worn out. However, her weary eyes were full of desperate hope.

“You can do it because you’re you. There are countless tribes across the continent, and they all have different beliefs.”

Karyl knelt down and looked her in the eye.

“The Tarak was born to erode faith and bring despair. Lice, the Third Tarak, is a reflection of the Wildlings’ despair in their own beliefs.”

“What...?”

“Lice was formed by the earth itself—dust becoming bugs. That means it’s a monster born of this land’s energy.”

Hearing that, Anchar hugged her shoulders, arms trembling.

“They’re like spirits, in a way. But there’s so many of them that no normal spiritualist could ever handle them. Only you, a vessel so powerful even the ancestral spirits envy, can suppress it.”

She looked up at him, fear still visible in her eyes. Still, Karyl didn’t doubt her for even a second.

“Don’t worry. You’ll pull it off.”

He reached out to scratch the chin of the Divine Beast beside him, gently pushing it toward her.

“This is the Divine Deer, one of the Three Great Beasts once thought to be extinct. It will help you. It will empower the land, and you people of the wild will thrive because of it.”

“Mew...”

Alkar seemed pleased with the energy Anchar gave off, giving a flick of its tongue to the back of her hand.

“Your power isn’t a curse. It’s a blessing. You’re the greatest Druid alive, the only one who can contain all the spirits of the jungle inside you.”

Karyl looked her in the eye.

“So what would you do if someone turned that blessing into a curse? Wouldn’t you want revenge?”

Anchar’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“Steal the power of the gods.”

“...!!”

“Make the Third Tarak your own. That would be the greatest act of revenge.”

With that, Karyl held out his hand to her.