Epic of Caterpillar

[Chuluun Temulun Perspective] [Temulun Tribe Leader Perspective] [Day 107-109]

Since I became a leader than things have been being pretty annoying…

I need to take care of everyone wellbeing, and even hunt for them! What a hassle…

The elders are also telling me to teach the young?!

I ain't a teacher ya know…

What a pain in the ass…

Well, it's not that bad. Since I was born, I was predestined to become someone great, and here I am, the leader of the Temulun Tribe.

Our tribe has the power of our demi-human ancestors, and we can shapeshift into animals and monsters.

Pretty awesome skill, isn't it?

They call me "gifted" because I can shapeshift up to three times, into three different monsters, but no ordinary monsters!

Mystical Creatures! And after training for all these years, I can even transform into a Chimera, they say that I can even rival the leader of eh Qayag Tribe… I would like to fight that old man one day.

Due to being the strongest of my tribe, I need to be the leader.

Being strong is not just that, it comes with a lot of responsibilities, but I think I'm doing fine.

With the help of the elder and my wife, I think I can handle just fine!

Well… Everything was fine, just some days ago…

However, something strange is happening on the Vast Plains.

A monster… A demon has arrived, in less than three days, it took the Chakha Tribe and the Khatum Tribe…

This… I've never thought that those two strong tribes, stronger than us, would ever disappear out of the blue like that!

This is bad, very bad…

I know that I am an idiot, so I can't find a way to solve this outside of fighting the demon myself…

However, the elder and my wife came to a solution… Although we cannot escape from the Vast Plains, as we are no cowards, we will ally with the Qayag Tribe.

After all, we are the last two biggest tribes left. I hope that the old man of that tribe understands the situation and becomes a little bit more open-minded…

Aside from hunting some more Shadow Mammoths and Orcs, the day was quite peaceful…

However, I am worried… I can't stop having this weird feeling… My animal instincts are telling me to be extremely wary…

Sigh… Well, no point worrying, time to eat and then to bed…

Things didn't go so well, this old man of the Gayag Tribe said that he doesn't want to join a group of weaklings and that he can deal with the demon himself…

What a bastard, I want to teach him a lesson.

I'm gonna beat the crap outta this old man!

Ugh… That old man… He's the real demon here!

What the heck was that?!

When I was about to win using my Chimera form, the bastard transformed!

What?!

The fight extended quite a lot.

Both of us fought almost for our lives, the thrill of life and death was exhilarating…

But the old man won.

However, I still left him with some scars and some broken bones.

Which he healed almost automatically with his crazy demon regeneration…

Anyways, after such a fight, he seems to have taken a liking on me, and ended up accepting our alliance.

That old bastard! No, that old demon is quite simple. I think we are the same, we just resolve things fighting.

Want to join? Fight me and show your strength!

And then I showed him all my strength! How's that?!

He was surprised! Hahaha!

I can't wait to spar more with him, but for now, I want to rest, that old man gave me some strong blows, even my Chimera body couldn't tank all the damage.

At the end of the day, we gathered both tribes on the same place and began defensive preparations.

Well, our people don't like each other… But we just forced them to get along!

How? We just made them all fight!

Everyone sparred with each other until they got to know each other well!

Afterward, everyone celebrated the sparring, and we did a big feast.

The Qayag Tribe is full of muscle headed people, and the same could be said for my Tribe, so after fighting, we got along pretty well.

I didn't know that our differences could be resolved like this, perhaps, this alliance could become something greater.

But for that, we must defeat that demon! I'm not going to back down!

The preparations are all ready, and I have been intensively training my troops to whenever the demon comes.

I also sparred some with the Qayag Tribe leader, that old man just keeps getting stronger with each second, he's the real monster!

As we were feasting on the day's hunt, something strange happened.

The sky suddenly turned pale green, as we were surrounded by a giant magic barrier, something strange, resembling an arch or a sphere of some sort…

What is this?

Before I could regroup with my people, everyone began to die out of nowhere…

Sliced in pieces, smashed into minced meat, destroyed into ashes…

Invisible creatures were attacking us and even when some people tried to run away, this strange magic structure stopped them…

It's the demon…! He has come!

This was too sudden, we never sensed him!

How could my enhanced animal senses don't feel anything at all?!

Shit! Shit!

I need to protect my people! The elder! My wife!

Where are they?

I quickly transformed myself into my White Tiger form and rushed through the chaos, looking for my beloved ones.

However, as much as I tried to look for their scent, it was all blocked by the horrible smell of blood.

Suddenly, a giant blow came to my way and using my senses, I managed to dodge just in time!

What was that? It came from nowhere!

I tried to look for the invisible enemy, but I couldn't even sense their presence or smell.

Suddenly, a strange being descended from the skies and showed itself.

Revealing its figure, and the power it exuded… It was the demon!

But it was a woman! A beautiful and almost charming woman, pale white skin, scarlet eyes and purple hair… And a figure akin to a goddess of beauty!

However, she wasn't a human. Those gigantic horns, that deadly aura, those giant butterfly wings.

She was surely the one behind all of this!

I needed to confront her, and kill her!

I fought for my people, for everyone!

Using every technique taught to me, I gave it my all!

I used everything… Even after transforming into a Chimera…

I wasn't able to damage her…

She was… Overwhelmingly powerful…

An entity… Beyond my strength… No, beyond everything…

After several minutes of sparring, my body couldn't handle it anymore, and against my own will, it collapsed on the ground…

And then, the woman looked at me with those eyes…

Indifference…

She is not a warrior…

She doesn't have the spirit of a fighter either.

She is something beyond what I have believed my whole life… Someone stronger than me, but that at the same time is not a warrior or a fighter form heart…

A monster…

A demon…

The last thing I saw was her sword, cutting my head off as I lost consciousness…

So, this is death… At last, I fought bravely, as a true warrior

I die, with no regrets…

However, I hope that one day… I can encounter with my wife once again…

[Ukilen Qayag Perspective] [Qayag Tribe Perspective] [Days 107-109]

Hmph. It seems that the Chakha Tribe and the Khatum Tribe have met their end to an unknown demon.

To be expected from the weak, to die so suddenly.

Nothing to do about it, they were too weak, that's all.

The weak die, the strong survives.

And we will survive.

My people are strong, stronger than anyone.

We will survive for sure.

For that, I train them.

To become even stronger than yesterday.

For that, I taught them.

To hunt better than yesterday.

To learn how to fight better.

To know when to run, too.

Even the strong, needs to run.

After all, the one who survives at the end is the strongest.

If we can't beat the demon, we run, then train, then come back, and kill it.

It's simple. That's how nature and life are, simple.

We do what we need, we survive, and so we go like this.

Today, my children taught my tribe how to fight well. How to organize and how to train your body.

Us Qayag folk have the blood of the Fire Demon Tribe flowing through our veins.

Thanks to our ancestors, we can grow strong while training diligently. Our muscles are burning with blazing fire.

We train and learn the way of the fire combat, the way of the fist and the way of magic.

For the strong, to keep being the strong, we need to keep getting stronger.

Never stop, train every day.

Learn every day.

Hunt every day.

Fight every day.

This is the way of the strong!

Hmph…

However, I'm still worried.

The strong, worrying?

Yes, it's possible.

When the strong take care of the not so strong, we worry.

We prepare for now, for the demon.

I have gathered some people.

The talented, diligent and intelligent.

They will escape. And leave our legacy through the Vast Plains.

I hope that one day, the talented, diligent and intelligent can rebuild our Tribe.

Having that done, I trained my children, hunted and ate. Then slept.

Weird event happened today.

The weaklings of the Temulun Tribe have come to ask us for an alliance.

The weak, asking for help from the strong? I have never heard such a funny joke before.

The weak make good comedians, sometimes.

I told them to go away. No alliance.

The weak doesn't deserve the help of the strong.

I don't see any merit on it, what's the point?

They are not my children, neither my brothers.

Why do I care?

The weak is a nuisance. They don't deserve any help.

Hmph.

Oh? It seems that the weak wants to fight the strong?

Bwahaha! Amazing!

These weaklings never cease to amuse me, they are interesting sometimes!

Alright, if you want me to listen to you, then fight me, with everything you got!

This fight was certainly enlightening.

The ones who I thought weak, were not as weak.

They are quite strong, to be honest!

Although I won, he fought bravely, and had various powers behind his sleeves!

Impressive, he really cornered me back there.

Good.

After that, I decided to activate my ancestors' true power, transforming into the embodiment of their appearance and obtaining their strength.

With this power, I usually can finish off anything. Nothing that I've ever fought survives this power.

Not even those Knights or the Bandit Leaders, not even Mammoths or Wyverns.

However, the one who I tough a weakling survived.

He fought with all his strength and even damaged me multiple times. The thrilling of a battle of life and death was something that awakened my inner fighting spirit.

I fought with all of my power, yet he managed to take everything and keep retaliating!

In the end, I won. But he was still standing.

He looked at me with a smile. And to that, I smiled too.

Today, I've made a new friend. A new companion. A comrade.

I didn't kill him, I befriended him!

The strong needs to stay with the strong after all!

I immediately accepted his alliance; we will become one group!

Against the demon, we cannot possibly lose!

After our fight, he brought his tribe.

Our people didn't like each other, however, they fought. They sparred until they liked each other.

Hmph, this is the way of the strong.

We fight each other until we understand each other. We respect each other strength, and then we listen to each other!

If you are not strong, I won't listen to you!

Show me your bravery and strength, and I will listen to you!

After the sparring, everyone went quite well with each other.

We hunted together, and then we feasted. A big celebration over our alliance was done.

Afterward, I slept.

This is the first time that I have been this exhausted in my life.

That kid, he's strong!

Today, we sparred even more.

This kid grows stronger every day. The same with me.

Every time I fight with him, I can feel my body growing stronger and sturdier.

This kid, he's good! He's strong!

Then, I went to hunt with my people and his people.

We taught each other our techniques and skills.

These people are interesting, in their blood flows the strength of the animals and ancient demi-humans.

While in our blood, it flows the strength and power of the flame demons.

We are completely different, but at the same time, similar.

A strong companion is always good company.

When we hunted, we feasted. Lots of fun.

These folks know songs and dances, they are quite wild.

My people are the same, we complement each other well.

Other tribes called us savages, but this tribe doesn't.

They are playful and wild, like us!

We feasted and danced. Good times.

Suddenly, the sky turns green.

The happy and cheerful atmosphere, no more.

An overwhelmingly strong presence.

And this magic construction, surrounding us on a spherical form.

This is a trap… It must be. The demon!

He has come at last!

I will crush him! And get over with this!

We will survive!

While I looked for the demon intensively, I saw my people dying in terrible ways, however, they're died out of thin air.

Invisible monsters began to massacre my people.

Using my advanced senses and skills related to my demon ancestor, I managed to find the invisible beings.

I fought them; however, they are strong. Too strong!

Their weapons, stronger than my skin!

I adapted to the situation and fought with all my strength.

However, they beat me in numbers.

My people couldn't see them like me, and died horribly, trying to protect me.

This fills my heart with anger…!

Damned demon!!!

I fought the demon underlings, yet their strength never ceased.

They were overwhelmingly strong! Too strong! Like something I've never fought!

And then, it came.

The demon behind all of this!

It was a woman, a beautiful woman with pale white skin, scarlet eyes and gigantic horns, she flew with her butterfly wings.

Fight me, demon!!!

I fought the demon using all my strength, all my techniques, and skills, all my transformations!

Yet… I lost…

It seems that I wasn't as strong as I believed.

I was blinded by my ignorance…

And now, I am sitting here, near my death, but without regrets.

I fought bravely and did everything I could.

That was a splendid fight!

I slowly lost consciousness… But I smiled, because these last days, have been full of amusement!

Life is truly full of surprises, and I am happy to have been alive.