Chapter 264 Where Is Your Daughter?!
At first, Edward was startled by the appearance of the Long Ears, believing that they had run thousands of miles to come here and die.
However, be it out of fear of death or self-awareness, the Long Ears did not approach the battlefield even after joining the fight, and were merely firing from their crude bows or throwing beach pebbles at the normal Tigermen.
They would also immediately turn and run once they caught sight of any provoked Tigerman charging towards them. While their speed was the same as the Mountain Tigers’ and might be slower no thanks to their physicality, it remains that they weren’t fighting alone—the Players were standing in front of them.
Hence, the Tigermen who tried to attack the Long Ears would be attacked from the back by the second-rate Players with all variety of skills. They would be interrupted by the Long Ears again if they tried to retaliate against the Players, or be jointly beaten up by the Long Ears and the newbies if they tried to attack any second-rate Players who were freed.
In turn, the freed second-rate Players naturally joined the battle against the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior.
So, in no time at all, the Players who had been repressed on all ends since the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior showed up finally fought back by a notch, pushing the battle into a stalemate.
Still, the truth was that the Players were still at a disadvantage since the attritional battle had gone on for too long-most of their blue bars were empty, and they could only buy time with normal attacks or skills that don’t require mana.
Even so, Edward and the others were not in a hurry. They had already weathered through their most desperate hour and a stalemate was incredible in comparison. What was there to worry about?
Furthermore, all of them knew that the overwhelming might of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was gained in exchange for its own life. The decisive moment is when its life eventually burns out.
The Players might just have to wait to gain complete victory, and await the coming change…
***
“Chief, I brought every child in the village!”
In the ancestral hall, a scrawny Tigerman was reporting to Taiga in embarra.s.sment. “But I couldn’t find your daughter Nina…”
Behind her was a group of small Tigermen whose size was no different from human children around ten.
They were all staring timidly at the chief. Despite his usually gentle-look, the greatest Tigerman in their tribe looked murderous right now.
“Forget Nina for now. Where are the old and the women?” Taiga Roar asked calmly in return, clasping his hands behind his back.
“They had all gone out, volunteering to fight those humans alongside our youth to protect the village.” The scrawny Tigerman lowered his head in a bow and replied determinedly. “Even though our tribe might fall here, our future wouldn’t end here as long as these children live. They’ll be in your care, chief!”
Even as the Tigerman politely excused himself, intent on fighting to the death with his fellow tribesman to repel the invaders, he suddenly felt an unusual sensation of déjà vu.
Ancestral halls were a common building in every nonhuman settlement. Unlike the G.o.ds worshipped by most intelligent races, most nonhumans worship what their ancestors worshipped or even their ancestors, and their rituals were usually held here in the ancestral hall.
Therefore, the design of ancestral halls differed according to the nonhuman race, the most commonly seen being shrines filled with wooden ancestral tablets.
Being one of the more affluent of tribes, the Mountain Tigers had several statues of their ancestors, with more recent predecessors being held in memory with ancestral tablets.
Nonetheless, exposure to light had caused the color of both ancestral table and statues to fade or even change shape, which led to the claim that ‘the ancestors shuns the light’, and therefore most ancestral halls were built to be the darkest places in the village.
And the Mountain Tigers were no exception.
And because it had been too dark, the scrawny tiger didn’t notice it when he first came inbut when his eyes became used to the darkness, he found that the statues of the ancestors had been moved to face the walls as if pondering their misdeeds, and on their backs were unusual symbols painted in a red so dark it could well be black.
The other ancestral tablets were in turn moved to various corners in the hall in an utterly bizarre sequence. One could find the same dark red symbols painted on the floor just a few feet away from them as well.
“W-What’s going on?” The scrawny Tigerman was at once enraged and confused towards the desecration of the ancestral hall. “Has our enemy reached here already?”
Being their most important place, the ancestral hall was always kept closed. Only the chief and several high-ranked elders had the keys to it.
With those elders now fighting, the only one who could open the ancestral hall is the chief. So when could their enemy have come inside?
“No time to explain.” Taiga Roar’s face was solemn and spoke with a tone that allowed no refusal. “Have those children came and flee through the secret tunnel!”
The little Tigermen went ahead as instructed as instructed, but was stopped by the scrawny Tigerman, who was staring behind the chief.
There lay an otherworldly stone coffin which was painted with the same dark red symbols.
The scrawny Tigerman certainly knew that the stone coffin was, just as he knew that it should not be here.
The ancestral hall wasn’t exactly huge and did not actually have many secret tunnels, but even if the scrawny Tigerman didn’t know how to open them, he had some theories after praying in this hall for so long.
And the stone coffin was covering the one spot he thought to be most likely leading to one.
The uncomfortable feeling in the scrawny Tigerman’s gut grew.
It stared at Taiga Roar, and suddenly found that the wise chief had become very unfamiliar.
“I’ve just returned from the battle where our tribes fought hard against our enemy. That is why I a.s.sumed that my nose had become accustomed to the scent of blood that when I picked up the same scent of iron rust here in this hall, I thought that my nose has gotten accustomed to it.”
The scrawny Tigerman bared his fangs as his visage turned fearsome. “That’s not the case when I think about it now. Chief… no, Taiga! I’ve asked other tribesmen but all of them told me that they had not seen Nina leave your house! So answer me: Where is your daughter!?”