Chapter 89: As long as they come back to life

Two days later, Aldric and Kiyome appeared outside the Lynx Tribe.

The place was smaller than Aldric had expected. Fewer than fifty wooden houses stood inside the valley, surrounded only by a simple fence meant to keep magical beasts away.

The moment the two Lynx guards saw Kiyome’s fox ears, they immediately relaxed their vigilance.

One of them even stepped forward and bowed.

"Lady Kiyome, we didn’t know you were coming, so we didn’t have time to prepare a proper welcome."

Kiyome had visited once before to negotiate an agreement for purchasing medicinal herbs, so they still remembered her.

"There’s no need to prepare anything."

Kiyome opened her fan and covered the lower half of her face.

"I received word that a group of bandits is approaching the valley. Gather everyone in the square. I’ll help you activate a protective barrier."

The guard’s expression immediately changed.

"How many are there?"

"A lot."

He did not question her further and immediately ran inside to raise the alarm.

Less than ten minutes later, most members of the tribe had gathered in the square.

The elderly, women, and children were brought toward the center first, while armed warriors formed a circle around them.

The Lynx chieftain walked up to Kiyome and said gratefully:

"It’s fortunate that you arrived in time. Our tribe will definitely remember today’s kindness."

The hand holding Kiyome’s fan tightened slightly.

She looked at the children being held by their parents, then turned toward Aldric.

He was still wearing a merchant guild cloak and standing beside her like an ordinary guard.

When he noticed Kiyome looking at him, Aldric immediately smiled.

"Begin."

The Lynx chieftain paused.

"Begin what?"

Kiyome raised her hand.

Nine purple talismans immediately flew out of her sleeve and embedded themselves into different positions around the square.

A barrier quickly rose.

The Lynx Tribe members were initially relieved.

But very soon, they realized that the barrier was not preventing anything outside from entering.

It was locking all of them inside.

The chieftain immediately turned toward Kiyome.

"Lady Kiyome, what is the meaning of this?"

She did not answer.

Aldric stepped forward, removed the merchant guild cloak, and threw it onto the ground.

"There are no bandits."

The Lynx warriors immediately drew their weapons.

The chieftain looked at Aldric, then at Kiyome, as though he still could not believe that someone they had once welcomed would deliberately deceive the entire tribe into gathering here.

"Kiyome, what have we done to offend you?"

"Nothing."

She finally spoke.

"Then why?"

Kiyome could not answer.

Aldric lost patience and directly raised his wand.

Flames immediately erupted in the middle of the square, blasting away three warriors who had tried to charge forward.

Panicked screams rang out.

The people in the center immediately rushed toward the barrier, but no matter how hard they struck it, the purple curtain did not move.

The Lynx chieftain roared and charged straight at Aldric.

Two metal claws appeared over his hands as mana rapidly covered his entire body.

Aldric did not dodge.

An earthen wall rose in front of him and blocked the claws.

The moment the chieftain shattered through the wall, a whip of fire wrapped around his body and violently dragged him down.

Bang!

The chieftain slammed face-first into the ground.

Aldric walked over and planted one foot on his head.

"Too weak."

The remaining warriors charged together.

Kiyome opened her fan.

Purple flames appeared in midair before splitting into dozens of streaks that pierced the legs and shoulders of those in front.

They fell one after another as blood quickly stained the ground.

One warrior managed to avoid the foxfire and circled behind Aldric, preparing to strike at his neck.

Kiyome saw him.

She only needed to remain silent.

The blade would reach Aldric’s neck.

However, the image of the parchment containing the resurrection ritual immediately appeared in her mind.

Her fan snapped shut.

A thin wind blade shot forward and cut across the Lynx warrior’s throat.

His body collapsed directly behind Aldric.

Aldric turned and looked at the corpse before giving a satisfied smile.

"Well done."

Kiyome looked at the blood flowing from the wound of the man she had just killed.

Her face turned slightly pale, but she said nothing.

Near the barrier, a young Lynx girl was kneeling beside a woman who had been burned by the flames.

The moment she saw Kiyome, she immediately ran over.

"Fox Sister!"

Kiyome froze.

The little girl grabbed the edge of her dress, her cat ears trembling with fear.

"Please save my mother."

The injured woman behind her immediately changed expression.

"Lina, get away from her!"

But the child did not understand.

In her eyes, Kiyome was still the person who had just promised to protect the tribe.

"You said you would help us..."

The hand holding Kiyome’s fan trembled.

Aldric approached from behind.

He looked at the little girl and asked:

"You’re planning to leave one alive?"

"She’s only a child."

"One life still carries Fate."

Aldric raised his wand.

The injured mother immediately tried to crawl to her feet.

"No! Please, she doesn’t know anything!"

A streak of flame pierced through the woman’s body before she could reach her daughter.

The girl stared blankly at her mother as she collapsed.

Then she began to cry.

Kiyome stood right beside her, but her legs felt rooted to the ground.

She could stop Aldric.

She could also open a gap in the barrier and let the girl escape.

But if she did that, Aldric would not continue the ritual.

Her tribe would never return.

Kiyome slowly closed her eyes.

A small explosion sounded.

When she opened them again, the little girl was lying beside her mother.

"Stop wasting time."

Aldric’s voice was cold.

"Maintain the barrier."

Kiyome stared at the two bodies for a long time.

In the end, she still raised her hand and poured more mana into the nine talismans sealing the square.

No one could leave anymore.

Aldric activated the System.

[Ding!]

[Detected a life community possessing stable Fate.]

[Number of targets: 213.]

[Do you agree to convert all Fate belonging to the targets?]

Aldric did not hesitate.

"Agree."

Red light covered the square.

Crying, pleading, and curses immediately filled the air, but Aldric merely raised his head and watched the golden rays begin leaving one body after another.

They continuously flew toward him.

The mana inside Aldric rapidly increased.

Even the injuries left by Rhea began healing under an invisible force.

The Fate he had already consumed also started replenishing.

He spread both arms and laughed.

"As expected, it works!"

Kiyome stood outside the red light and watched the members of the Lynx Tribe fall one after another.

Some continued holding their children until their final moment.

One warrior crawled toward Aldric even after half his body had already withered.

The chieftain beneath Aldric’s foot continued cursing him.

Aldric pressed down harder and ground the man’s head against the earth.

"Don’t look at me like that. Your tribe can only blame itself for being too weak."

A few minutes later, the entire square fell silent.

More than two hundred corpses lay inside the barrier.

Aldric checked the amount of Fate he had absorbed and quickly frowned.

"Too little."

Kiyome looked at him.

"You just took more than two hundred lives."

"But this amount of Fate isn’t even a fraction of Lathel’s."

He turned toward the map.

"Where’s the next tribe?"

Kiyome did not answer immediately.

Aldric glanced at the Lynx mother and daughter lying near her feet and sneered.

"Don’t tell me you’re only regretting it now. If you stop, then they’ll have died for nothing."

Those words made Kiyome tighten her grip on the fan.

Right.

She had already come this far.

If she stopped now, the people who had just died would have died without meaning.

Only if the resurrection ritual succeeded would today’s price become worthwhile.

Kiyome repeated that thought to herself again and again until she could finally speak.

"There’s a Spirit Deer Tribe to the north."

Aldric nodded in satisfaction.

Over the next three days, two more small tribes disappeared from the map.

The second time, Kiyome still took a long time to erect the barrier.

By the third, her movements were already faster.

Aldric no longer bothered pretending either.

He directly broke through the gates, killed those who resisted, then forced the survivors to gather so the System could convert their Fate.

Whenever someone knelt and begged for mercy, he simply asked Kiyome where the next tribe was.

At the end of the third day, Aldric spread the map across a large rock.

The amount of Fate he had absorbed was still not enough to complete the ritual, but his strength had clearly increased.

The lingering voices that had once tormented his mind were also being forcibly crushed by the Protagonist Halo.

He pointed at a mark deeper inside the forest.

"We’ll go here tomorrow."

Kiyome looked at the location.

Beside the tribe’s name was the symbol of a red fox tail.

The Crimson Tail Tribe.

Another branch of the Fox Demon race.

Aldric looked up.

"Is there a problem?"

Images of Kiyome’s own tribe appeared in her mind again.

Her mother.

Her younger sister.

The elders.

And the countless people she had once failed to save.

As long as Aldric absorbed enough Fate, they could all come back to life.

She only needed to continue.

She only needed to accept one more price.

Kiyome closed her eyes and forcibly pushed the cries of the Lynx girl out of her mind before answering coldly:

"No problem."

She opened her eyes and pointed toward the shortest route leading to the Crimson Tail Tribe.

"We leave before dawn."