The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1028: Surplus Pig Roast

Karl smiled at the Chieftain. ”Those must be some good blankets.”

”The very finest ones that you can find. Sand Howler fur is resistant to both cold and heat, durable and self-cleaning. If you shake it, everything falls off. It doesnʼt even hold scents.”

Maybe they should keep a few of them, Karl thought.

A few fur blankets would be an acceptable stylistic counterpart to the silk comforters that Rae made. Plus, they could make cloaks out of them, the way that they had with the cut down Frost Giant capes during their early battles.

Rae thought that was a brilliant idea, and began cleaning the Totem so that she could stretch and tan it in her space.

”Did you need the bodies for anything? They donʼt smell like they would taste good.” Karl asked.

The Orc shrugged. ”They donʼt. But we feed them to the livestock, and the bones are good for making tools and such. Waste not, want not.”

Karl nodded and gestured to the remains of the one on the ground. ”In that case, you can have the rest of that one. We donʼt have an artisan who specializes in bone art.”

The Runecrafters could make items from bone, but they had plenty already, and they were too far from the Guild Store to send items directly there from here.

The Chief nodded in acceptance, then shook his head in dismay as he realized that Hawk had started bombarding the area with Meteors. It had turned the group of Sand Howlers into a war zone, with artillery explosions raining down among them and driving them into the two forces at the edges of their ranks.

Instead of planning a proper attack, the monsters were simply charging at the enemy, trying to escape the deadly rain.

But Hawk hadnʼt forgotten the assignment. While he was dropping spells on them, he had reduced the temperature of the fire enough that it wouldnʼt singe the fur. They were supposed to be collecting pelts, so he couldnʼt destroy them all.

Karl did notice that his meteors werenʼt the same as Remiʼs. Hers were actual stones. Hawkʼs were simply balls of magical energy, like a solid ball of [Rend].

[Hey, look over there. That is a great weapon.] Tian cheered, directing Karlʼs attention to his left.

One of the Orcs had made a blowgun, and was using it to fire a poison skill at the Sand Howlers. Tian wasnʼt interested in poison, but that tube would be great for firing stones at enemies.

[I will make you one later, with Runes on it to improve the function. If you fire stones through one like that, it will be just as good as using your skill directly.] Karl informed the little fox.

Karl watched as a Sand Howler leapt over Thorʼs back, headed for Tessa, who was transformed into her fully scaled Dragonkin form for battle. But the outcome was not what he expected.

Tessa casually swung her shield, shattering the creatureʼs skull and sending the body flying dozens of metres away, without interrupting the skill that she was using with her other hand.

When she had advanced to become a Dragon Crusader, she had gained a skill called Compliance, and it appeared that the physique improvement was no joke.

[Compliance] Creates an area of {Oppression} 10 metres per User Rank, and grants the Dragon Crusader the physique of a Red Dragon at their own Rank.

It would certainly take draconic strength to toss a two hundred kilo Sand Howler like a rag doll.

The Chieftain smiled at Karl. ”The women of your Clan are fearsome.”

Karl shrugged. ”And this is when they are in a good mood.”

The Chieftain laughed, and a few of the pregnant women watching the kids snorted in amusement.

A blast of black mist flowed over the battle from Nachtia, who had been fighting in human form, and nearly half of the remaining Sand Howlers simply dropped dead.

The Chief sighed. ”It seems to be our loss. There arenʼt enough of them left for us to catch up. The dragon does not play fair.”

He didnʼt seem to actually be upset by the outcome, but Karl knew that was mostly because the ladies had been well ahead of the Orcs even before Nachtia had used dragon breath.

”Are you just here to hunt monsters for the Black Dragon?” One of the Orcish ladies asked as the last of the Sand Howlers were eliminated.

Karl shook his head. ”No, weʼre also looking for the Great Temple, though it might be known by another name. The location of the lost System Stones. We have reason to think that they might be active again, and able to be found.”

The woman excitedly got to her feet. ”It is said that there might be a fragment of the lost Dragon Scale there as well. Finding the scale has been the dream of all Orcs for generations beyond record.”

Karl smiled. ”Indeed it has. I originally come from another continent, where the Orcs relocated to in search of the scale. They believe that they are close to locating it now, but they never gave up on the search.”

The woman looked proud of her peopleʼs perseverance. It had been thousands of years, but they kept their oath to find the lost scale fragment.

If rumours were to be believed, the whole thing might have been a prank by Supreme Lady Matilda. But Karl strongly suspected that he was actually in possession of the scale fragment. The more energy they poured into the scale that Hawk had recovered from the Capital, the more that it resembled a broken version of the legendary World Dragon Scale that the Systemʼs core was formed from.

With the battle ended, the counting began. The outcome was clear, but the precise numbers were important to the record keeping of the Orcs. Whether they won or lost, the combat capability of their tribe, and how it compared to others they met, was vitally important information.

”Now, how do you feel about a pig roast? We have a slight surplus of Royal Rank boars.” Karl asked.

[Maybe two. I collected too many of those ones.] Hawk agreed.

”A pig roast sounds wonderful. But we should start setting up the tables we promised before the ladies get back.” The Chieftain agreed.

[Tian? Can we get tables and benches, please? Simple stone is fine.]