Chapter 152: Something doesn’t add up

’HOLY SHIT!’ Kanan had not expected the beam to be that powerful. He knew that the new spirit core method made him vastly stronger, so he wanted to push the limits of his power.

Thanks to being the Shaman, he could absorb spirit energy at a higher and better rate than others, including those of the Typhon tribe, but he hadn’t expected his attack to completely vaporize the giant.

Even his hands were smoking from how much power he used. Surprisingly, though, they weren’t burning. If this were he in the past, his hands definitely would have suffered some burns.

’Well, if there was any Helsik Tribesman who didn’t like us Nemean folk being here, I’m sure they’ll hold their tongue now.’

Kanan had to be in the air to get a clear shot of the giant, and now that the giant was dead, he landed back on the second level where tons of eyes were awaiting him.

"Don’t worry, everyone. You’re safe now."

As if that was what they were worrying about. The Helsik Tribesmen just watched a person from another tribe produce an attack so powerful that it lit up the sky as if it were the sun.

They were shocked, scared, impressed, and everything else that could describe their expressions.

Reda teleported back to Kanan’s position and looked at him with a shocked expression, marching over to lightly punch him in the arm.

"Kanan, what the heck was that?"

"What?" He asked, rubbing his arm.

"Since when could you do something like that?"

"Just now."

She glared at him.

"I’m telling the truth. The idea popped into my head, and I went for it."

Reda could only laugh because that’s how insane it sounded. She knew that expecting reason from the Shaman wouldn’t lead anywhere, but to see an attack of that scale was something else entirely.

"Man, you have all of the Helsik warriors spooked."

"Seems like they aren’t the only ones." He pointed to the civilians.

"Heh, their reaction makes more sense. Come, the chieftess is looking for you." Grabbing Kanan’s arm, she teleported him to the docks.

---

When Kanan and Reda arrived, the Chieftess was giving out orders. She commanded her people to burn the corpses of their own, whether they were corpse warriors or not, and ordered others to start reconstructing the net.

The docks were nearly destroyed; most of it had turned into wooden rubble, but the look of relief on everyone’s faces told Kanan that all of them were more than happy to rebuild, as living to see another day was far greater than complaining about a destroyed dock.

Terin was the first to spot Kanan and flew over to him right away. "Haha! Kanan, my friend! Did you see how cool I was?"

"Yeah, Terin, you were cool."

"See, I told you we could become great warriors! That spirit tiger was just a stepping stone to our greatness!"

Kanan was still pissed off at Terin for dragging him along to fight the Spirit Tiger. Now, when he sees the jaw of a beast, it reminds him of the day the tiger bit his collarbone.

But it was all in jest. Terin was still Kanan’s best friend.

"You Nemean Tribesmen sure are something else. Color me impressed. I’d like to visit your village one day." Nyalok approached Kanan while riding a thick vine, being lowered to Kanan’s level until she got off on the docks.

"Glad you’re okay." Kanan smiled

"It’s all thanks to you. So, why don’t we have this conversation now?"

Kanan furrowed his brow. "What conversation?"

"About you becoming my mate."

Terin and Reda turned their heads so fast it threatened to roll off their shoulders.

"Another mate, Kanan? Isn’t Lady Omula your newest mate? That’s three, right?" Terin started counting on his fingers to make sure he had his numbers right.

"Oh, do you really do have three mates, huh? I thought you were exaggerating. Still, that is no problem for me. I don’t care how many mates you have, as long as I’m one of them. As the next chiefess, I want your bloodline in the tribe. Oh, and you’re handsome."

"It seems I have some competition," Reda muttered under her breath.

Loknya, who was still giving out orders, spotted Kanan talking to her daughter and approached them. Without his help, the Helsik tribe would have been destroyed, and she genuinely wanted to thank him.

"Warrior Kanan of the Nemean Tribe. You have my thanks. Without you, who knows what would have happened to our tribe."

"You probably would have died." Terin blurted.

Lopis elbowed him in the side.

"I’m just glad I was able to do something, Chieftess Loknya. But there is something I want to ask you."

"By all means. Ask away."

"Do you not have scouts that detect danger before it arrives at the village?"

"We do." She confirmed. "We position them far into the swamp and set up information chains to make it come faster to us."

"Then don’t you think that the information reached us a little too late? I mean, by the time the messenger arrived, your home was already being attacked. And it wasn’t even a scout, but a guard who gave you this information."

Nyalok sat on her thoughts for a bit. What Kanan said made complete and total sense. She had been so caught up in this battle that the thought hadn’t crossed her. She was just glad that her people managed to survive another day.

"Hmm, I suppose you’re right. This is something I’ll have to look into. Thank you for bringing it to my attention."

"No problem. Oh, and if I may ask, is there anyone who oversees the scouts? Maybe like a lead or head scout who’s more experienced than the others?"

"Yes. You’ve met him before, actually. It’s Carl, the one who brought you here."

[ERROR! ERROR! CARL DETECTED!]

’Pipe down, system!’

"Ahem, Carl, you said?"

"That’s right. After bringing you to us yesterday, he returned to his duties. In fact, it was him scouting the area that had you come across him yesterday."

’Something isn’t adding up. ’