VOLUME 11: CHAPTER 1

Author’s notes: Introductory chapters are really hard to write. Thanks for waiting.

VOLUME 11: CHAPTER 1

The War of the Three Gods.

It was a competition held in the nation of beastmen, the United Grakas Alliance, every four years. A competition held to determine who was worthy of becoming its next ruler. Only the winner of this competition would be granted the right to challenge the current Beast King for the position.

It was a prestigious competition held in the Magna Coliseum, and every time, tens of thousands of beastmen would come to watch the fights. The tournament was so popular that over the decades, it transformed the small town where the Magna Coliseum was located into the largest city in the entire United Grakas Alliance.

“I’m here to apply for the tournament,” said Van Bucky, a rabbit beastman with black fur.

The beastmen gathered near the registration booth stared at the rabbit for several seconds, bewildered by what they’d just heard.

A rabbit was joining the tournament?

The beastmen burst into laughter. The Rabbit Tribe was known to be the weakest tribe in the entire Alliance. It was the first time they’d seen a rabbit participating in the War of the Three Gods.

“It’s a rabbit!”

“What is a grass muncher doing here?”

“Hey, toothface! This is the War of the Three Gods! A mere rabbit wouldn’t be able to last even a single round!”

The beastmen around Van Bucky cackled in amusement. They sneered and laughed at him incessantly. They found it hilarious that a mere rabbit dared to even show his face here.

“Are you sure about this?” the beastman in charge of registering the participants said in a concerned voice. He was a bear beastman that was five times the size of Van Bucky. “Although there are rules set in place, there had been numerous occasions of participants dying in battle.”

Van Bucky ignored the jeers and taunts around him. He nodded, “I am aware.”

The bear beastman looked at the light leather armor Van Bucky was wearing, and at the twin curved swords hanging on his waist. Even with just his claws, the bear beastman felt that he could rip that puny armor into shreds. In this competition, those wouldn’t be enough as protection.

The bear beastman said grimly, “You will surely die.”

“I won’t,” said Van Bucky. “And despite my looks, I am freakishly strong.”

Those who’d been eavesdropping on the conversation laughed out loud upon hearing this. Some even started rolling on the ground, laughing.

“This rabbit is truly something else!”

“Did you hear that?”

One of them started imitating Van Bucky, “I am freakishly strong.”

“Hahahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

The bear beastman couldn’t stand the ruckus any longer. He stood up and glared at the participants. He roared, “Those who are already finished with the registration, get out!”

The intimidating glare of the massive bear worked wonders. Those who’d been taunting the rabbit started dispersing and left the place altogether.

The bear beastman sat down and sighed, “Name?”

“Van,” said the rabbit. “Van Bucky.”

The beastman tilted his head quizzically. “Bucky? How are you related to Strategist Fior of the Third Legion?”

“I am his older brother,” said Van.

“I see,” said the bear beastman. “Unlike others who are aiming to challenge the Beast King, you’re here for the reward, huh?”

The right to challenge the Beast King in a duel aside, the winner of the tournament would also be granted wealth or something of comparative value as a reward. They could ask for gold, for status, for land, and even freedom.

The failed conquest of the Third Legion in the Kingdom of Lukas almost four years ago was a popular topic among the beastmen even now. Not only did the Third Legion lose against a significantly smaller human army, the so-called Immortal Beastman, General Urkawi, also perished in battle. It was among the most shameful defeats that would go down the history of the beastmen race.

The warriors of the Third Legion who’d managed to return alive were either executed, imprisoned, or worse, turned into slaves.

“Strategist Fior fell into a mere slave after returning to this country,” said the bear beastman. “After winning the competition, you’ll be requesting the Beast King to free him from slavery, huh?”

Despite his massive size, the bear beastman was quite smart. Everything he’d said so far was spot on. Indeed, Van was here to ask for his little brother’s pardon.

“Yes,” said Van.

The beastman groaned, “I understand now. I understand your intentions, but it’ll be impossible for you to win this competition. The strongest warrior in the history of the Whale Tribe and the son of the late General Urkawi are participating this year. You won’t stand a chance.”

“You’ve been allowing the beastmen from the other tribes to join the tournament without any questions, and yet hesitant in letting me in just because I’m a rabbit?” said Van.

“That’s not it…” said the bear beastman. “Your physique and theirs are vastly different. Unlike you, even if they lose, those beastmen have a higher chance of surviving the battle.”

Van tapped the hilt of his curved swords. “I’ve never once lost a battle before. I will win. Now, register my name for the competition.”

The bear beastman rubbed his brows. His head started to ache. It felt wrong letting this rabbit enter into his death in this competition.

Although the rabbit said that he’d never once lost a battle before, this was the first time the bear beastman heard of the name Van Bucky. And as far as he knew, the Rabbit Tribe did not have a powerful warrior among their ranks.

Well, there were stories of a powerful rabbit that had been serving as the Rabbit Tribe’s protector in the shadows, but no one had ever seen him. Thus, most beastmen dismissed this as nothing but rumors.

The bear beastman said in resignation, “Fine. I pray that the Three Gods would guide your soul in the afterlife.”

Although hesitant, the bear beastman wrote Van Bucky’s name into the list of participants.

“And I pray that you die the least painful death,” said the bear beastman. “It’s a shame to see someone walking clearly to his death.”

Until the end, the bear beastman did not believe that a rabbit could win this year’s competition.

***

The registration for the War of the Three Gods lasted five days. On the sixth day, the Magna Coliseum finally opened, and over ten thousand spectators came in to watch the battle. Despite it being only the preliminaries, the coliseum was already almost filled to the brim with audience.

“Hey, it’s really a rabbit.”

“And a black one at that…”

“The rumors are true, huh?”

“What is that pipsqueak doing here?”

Inside the waiting room of the arena, Van heard his fellow contestants talk about him. It seemed that rumors of a rabbit participating in the competition had already spread among the participants.

Van ignored the chatters. For him, the opinions of his fellow beastmen did not matter. They would find out whether or not he was worthy of joining this competition later.

The door to the waiting room opened, and an official of the arena entered.

“It’s time,” said the official. “The preliminaries are about to start. Follow me. Move out.”

“Finally!”

“I’ve been itching to fight!”

“I’ll show everyone that the Wolf Tribe is the strongest!”

The beastmen grabbed their weapons and went out of the waiting room. With the official at the lead, they passed through a stone passageway until they eventually reached a massive steel gate.

Before opening the steel gate, the official said to them, “To those who fear dying, you can still turn back now. Waiting beyond this gate is a monster the Beast King had captured from the Wasteland.”

Van’s ears twitched as he listened to the official’s words. It seemed that the elimination round was a group battle against a powerful monster.

“No one?” said the official.

The beastmen grinned fearlessly.

One of them, a beastman from the Wolf Tribe, spoke, “We aren’t afraid of dying. And no one will back down just because of some damn monster.”

The other beastmen nodded in agreement. Seeing this, the official said, “I see. May the Three Gods bless all of you in this battle.”

The steel gate was opened, revealing the arena to everyone. The crowd cheered as the warriors walked forward.

The voice of the Coliseum Master resounded through a voice artifact, “—And they’ve arrived!”

The crowd cheered even louder.

“The valiant warriors who chose to fight for glory! For the right of challenging the mighty Beast King of the Alliance!”

Van quickly surveyed his surroundings. He saw the massive cage covered by cloth at the center of the arena. High pitched screeches reverberated from within it. Every now and then, the creature inside would thrash about, and the covered cage would move and tilt as a result.

Whatever was inside the cage, it was apparent that it was gigantic and furious.

“Thirty warriors from Group A will fight against a beast from the Wasteland!” said the Coliseum Master.

There were ten groups participating in the preliminaries. And they had at least thirty people each.

The voice of the Coliseum Master continued to echo. “A monster personally caught by the Beast King himself! A monster gifted to us for this special occasion!”

The Coliseum Master, a snake beastman, opened his arms wide. His brown scales glimmered from the rays of the sun. His forked tongue flicked back and forth as he spoke.

“The rules are simple! Kill the monster from the Wasteland! Or if that isn’t possible, for fifteen minutes, just survive!”

The spectators were ecstatic upon hearing the rules of the preliminaries. They were thrilled that the first day of the tournament was already a bloodbath. Although a monster from the Wasteland was dangerous, the rules stated by the Coliseum Master weren’t unreasonable. Even the weaker participants would be able to preserve their lives as long as they survived the fifteen minutes mark.

The Coliseum Master closed his eyes and savored the cheers of the crowd. After a while, he finally looked at the thirty warriors on the arena. He broadly grinned.

“I see several old faces,” said the Coliseum Master. “I hope most of you survive.” He said in a louder voice, “Very well! Let’s see what kind of monster they’ll be fighting against, shall we!”

Several beastmen from the bear tribe entered the arena and removed the cloth covering the cage, revealing the seven meters large gigantic scorpion inside. The entire body of the scorpion glimmered in a silver metallic sheen, and three long tails were seen at its back instead of one.

“A full grown Three-tailed Iron Scorpion! A monster from the Wasteland! As its name imply, its body is as hard as iron! Its large pincers are capable of cutting through boulders! And its venom is capable of rendering even powerful warriors paralyzed in mere seconds!”

It was a truly fearsome opponent. Looking at the members of Group A, Van was uncertain if these beastmen could even kill it. There were no members of the bear, gorilla, or whale tribe from their group. They did not have enough power to pierce through that scorpion’s armor. Van quickly realized that the only viable option for these beastmen to reach the next round of the competition was to survive the time limit.

The Coliseum Master climbed the stairs and went to the audience’s seat. He sat next to another bear beastman, who seemed to be responsible of suppressing the monster should it decide to climb up from the arena.

The Coliseum Master said, “Let the competition begin!”

The gong was struck, which signaled the official start of the preliminaries.

The lock of the door of the metallic cage was released, and the Three-tailed Iron Scorpion scurried out. It screeched angrily and struck its tails against the ground, sending dust and rocks flying about.

“Spread out!” roared a wolf beastman.

Although Group A did not consider the wolf beastman as their leader, they decided to listen to him for now. They spread out in different directions, and the wary ones even moved closer to the edge of the arena.

The giant scorpion screeched in fury, and at a speed that seemed disproportionate to its size, it scurried toward a dog beastman. The dog beastman couldn’t even react in time, and the pincers of the giant scorpion ripped his body into shreds in an instant.

Seeing this, the entire arena fell silent.

They were expecting the giant scorpion from the Wasteland to be strong—

—But not this strong.

The speed and strength it showed just now horrified even the Coliseum Master.

“H-Hey, we’re supposed to let them fight against that in the preliminary round, right?” said the Coliseum Master.

Even the bear beastman sitting next to him was uncertain of what was happening. “It was nearly dead when the Beast King brought it to us a month ago. It shouldn’t have fully recovered its strength yet.”

The Coliseum Master nervously swallowed the lump in his throat. “Something like this… If they fight that thing, most of the participants would end up dead before even reaching the next round of the tournament.”

“Should we intervene?” said the bear beastman. “If five bears work together, it should be possible for us to suppress that monster without killing it.”

The Coliseum Master hissed anxiously. “Let’s observe for now.”

The giant scorpion from the Wasteland was supposed to be injured and unable to fight at its fullest potential. If the higher ups found out that the monster the warriors fought during the preliminaries was at its peak condition, they might strip the Coliseum Master of his position. Or worse, he might be reduced into a mere slave to atone for this blunder.

Just the mere thought sent the Coliseum Master shivers.

“Please,” mumbled the Coliseum Master. “Anyone of you. Kill that monster.”

The Coliseum Master prayed to the Three Gods that a powerful warrior from Group A would emerge and take care of his blunder for him.

Although the spectators loved to watch thrilling battles, no one loved seeing one-sided massacres. Especially if the ones being slaughtered were their fellow beastmen.

“This monster should still have the injuries it sustained from its battle against the Beast King before!” roared the wolf beastman. “Find it and attack it! It should be its weak point!”

Following the lead of the wolf beastman, the warriors from Group A continued spreading out. They quickly surveyed the body of the giant scorpion for any traces of wounds. They searched for any cracks within its shell their weapons could pierce through.

But to their horror, the giant scorpion was in a perfect state.

Forget injuries, there weren’t even any scratches on its metallic carapace.

The giant scorpion screeched again, and it opened its mouth and started spitting out poisonous bolas toward the beastmen warriors. The beastmen warriors nimbly evaded the poison attacks, and using this opening, they closed the distance between them and the giant scorpion.

“This damn scorpion!” growled the wolf beastman. He released his claws and struck the scorpion’s carapace. But to his dismay, it left nothing but scratches.

A jaguar beastman moved to the back of the scorpion and stabbed his sword at one of its tails—

—he tried to.

Unfortunately, the jaguar beastman did not have enough strength to pierce through the scorpion’s armor. His sword made a loud clang sound upon hitting the scorpion’s carapace, and did nothing but leave a scratch.

Another beastman attempted to cut down the tail of the scorpion, but the monster’s right pincer caught him off guard. The pincer cut through the beastman’s body easily, killing him in an instant, sending blood splattering about.

By this time, the spectators had gotten used to the strength of the monster from the Wasteland. They started cheering once again, hoping to see a spectacular fight.

They cheered as the beastmen warriors tried stabbing the giant scorpion.

They cheered as the monster from the Wasteland ripped a beastman’s body apart.

“How did the Beast King even capture this thing alive?” said the jaguar beastman.

“It’s too tough,” said a cat beastman. “This is the reason for the time limit, huh? I guess we just need to survive until fifteen minutes are up.”

Everyone else also arrived at the same consensus. They, too, realized that it was impossible to kill that giant scorpion. At the very least, they needed heavier weapons like a sledgehammer or a giant battle axe to penetrate that monster’s defenses.

“If you’re planning to just run, move away.”

A soft and calm voice was heard.

The jaguar and the cat beastman looked at the source of the voice and were surprised to see a black rabbit walking toward the giant scorpion.

“It’s the rabbit,” said the jaguar beastman.

“What is he planning to do? That lunatic!” said the cat beastman.

“Well, this is fine too,” said wolf beastman. “We need someone to distract that giant scorpion until the time limit.”

The beastmen from Group A smirked. One of them said, “This is why rabbits don’t survive long.”

Despite the jeers and taunts, Van Bucky continued walking toward the giant scorpion. Honestly, he was tempted to just wait it out until fifteen minutes passed by. This way, a lot of the members of Group A would have been killed by the giant scorpion and he would have less competitors in the next round.

But Van Bucky couldn’t do it.

Although he was from the Rabbit Tribe, he still held the pride of a beastman warrior. And his pride wouldn’t let him just flee from this monster from the Wasteland.

Van Bucky unsheathed his twin curved swords.

“I’ve never lost before,” he said to the giant scorpion. “Come!”

As though it understood Van Bucky’s words, the giant scorpion screeched. It struck its tails against the ground, and a second after, scurried toward the black rabbit.

Mana started coating Van Bucky’s curved swords. The world, seen through his eyes imbued with mana, started to slow down.

“I’m sorry—,” whispered Van Bucky to the giant scorpion.

Currently, everything around Van Bucky had slowed down to the point that the giant scorpion seemed to have frozen in place. The saliva dripping down the scorpion’s mouth hovered in the air, and its pincers which threatened to rip the black rabbit into shreds remained stationary.

“—But I need to save my little brother.”

In this world, where only Van could freely move, his twin swords were swung.

And like hot knife slicing butter, they easily cut through the giant scorpion’s carapace.

Although it felt like a long time for Van Bucky, everything transpired in just a few seconds. Those who had no idea of what happened were dumbfounded upon seeing the giant scorpion’s body split into four even pieces. Green blood spurted out, and without a single sound, the giant scorpion died.

The entire coliseum turned silent.

And after several seconds of processing what happened, the spectators burst into cheers. The ground rumbled as the crowd turned ecstatic.

They couldn’t believe that the monster from the Wasteland, who the beastmen warriors were helpless against, was killed by a single rabbit.