Chapter 239: The Voice of the King and Thunder
Kellar plunged down from the skies the moment he spotted the battle formation from above. Before the young feline prince or his pack could take a step, Little Green beat her wings, unleashing gusts of air that carved a divide into the snow between both sides. The ancestral runes along her feathers flared at maximum intensity, suffocating the twilight in an emerald aura, while Kellar thrust his hand forward to cast [Fire Shield]. A wall of flames burst from the frozen earth, forcing the tigers back in chaos.
Landing nimbly on the ground, Kellar locked his gaze on the group.
"What happened here?" demanded Kellar, his voice ringing like thunder.
"They ambushed us, Great Shaman," answered Brak, gripping his heavy axe without lowering his guard. "If it weren’t for Fenrir and Ignis, we wouldn’t have realized the situation in time."
Before the tension could turn into a bloodbath, the White Tiger King himself leaped down from the upper crags with a roar that shook the mountain. Under the presence of their sovereign, the dozens of rebellious tigers collapsed to the ground, pressing their bellies against the snow without moving.
The Tiger King paced toward the front and, upon seeing his son causing such insubordination, delivered a swipe of his paw that sent him flying several meters into the rocks.
Kellar stepped forward, confronting the beast without fear.
𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"I expect an explanation for this," demanded Kellar.
"An explanation?" rumbled the Tiger King, raising his head in disdain. "Do I have any need to explain anything to a bunch of hairless monkeys? Consider that I am a king of my word and you will leave here alive, but if you ever set foot here again, nothing will be left of you."
"So you think you can do that?" countered Kellar with a smile.
The feline opened his jaws, baring a row of fangs, and let out a roar that shook the riverbed.
"I AM THE KING OF THE FOREST! WHO DARES...?"
"GARNIS...!" shouted Kellar, cutting him off mid-sentence.
In the last wagon, Thorin didn’t hesitate. He dropped the spark onto the fuse of the bronze piece, and the cannon detonated with a blast. The projectile, packed with fire and wind mana, flew just above the pack and slammed directly into the rocky cliff face behind the tigers. The explosion pulverized the rock and obliterated dozens of tigers, blanketing the area in fire, debris, and smoke, while the Tiger King himself roared in panic at the power of the weapon.
The Tiger King stared in shock at the smoking crater the Garnis had blasted into the cliffside. The pulverized rocks and the remains of his subjects torn apart by the detonation chilled his blood; the shockwave was echoing through the valley.
Kellar took a step forward, his eyes burning with intent.
"Do not think for a second that we are afraid of you," said Kellar, his voice coarse and commanding, cutting through the wind. "We slaughtered the Eagle King; we can annihilate your entire pack and leave nothing left of this mountain. You dare eat my food and break a pact with me? It is not so easy to invite the lion into your den and then try to chase him away, ’Tiger King’."
The feline was terrified. His instincts screamed at him that he would not survive a hit from that destructive magic. He took half a step back, swallowing hard as he tried to regain his shattered composure.
"Come now... Great Shaman, right? That is what they call you..." began the Tiger King, forcing a placating tone as he tried to buy time with submissive words. "We are beings of our word; there is no need for us to become hostile. A simple misunderstanding among impulsive youths should not ruin an alliance so beneficial to us both..."
However, before he could finish his words, a shriek echoed from the caravan’s flank.
Ten tigers that had slithered beneath the snow attempted to pounce on the supplies. But Fenrir, lurking within the shadows, erupted like a phantom from the dark; his steel jaws snapped shut around the first feline’s neck, severing the jugular and killing it. Beside him, Ignis roared with rage, catching another tiger between his massive glowing claws, hoisting it into the air, and slamming it onto the ground, shattering its spine.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The tribe’s soldiers didn’t wait for orders. Raising their repeating rifles loaded with Windstone-infused gunpowder cartridges, they opened fire. The bullets traced fast, luminous streaks that pierced through the felines’ fur with precision, slaughtering the remaining eight tigers on the spot before they could land a single claw.
The scene fell into a silence, broken only by the cannon smoke and the reek of gunpowder and blood.
Kellar turned his gaze back to the Tiger King, whose eyes trembled in panic as he watched a quarter of his warriors wiped out in less than ten seconds.
"So an ambush was what you were planning..." said Kellar softly, taking another step toward him.
Seeing his pack decimated with such precision, the White Tiger King felt a chill run down his spine. In that moment, he understood that Kellar was not exaggerating: the Overlord tribe possessed the firepower, the weaponry, and the strength to wipe his entire race from the face of the mountain without breaking a sweat.
Cornered by terror and the military superiority before him, the feline lowered his head and bent his front legs, prostrating himself upon the bloodstained snow.
"This can be settled easily," said Kellar, looking down at him with a cold gaze. "Submit to my tribe, and let your entire race join us as combat mounts."
Kellar had held that exact vision from the moment he saw him emerge from the blizzard: how legendary would it look for the tribe’s heavy cavalry to charge, with himself riding a majestic white tiger across the battlefield? Would there be anyone in the continent who wouldn’t be awestruck and terrified by such a sight?
The Tiger King swallowed hard, glancing at the crater blasted by the Garnis and the bodies of his fallen warriors felled by the rifles.