Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 215
Chapter 215
The hyena-drake leader was tightly bound by the great dragon’s tail. The tendons in both of its hind legs had been bitten clean through. Blood dyed a large patch of snow beneath it a vivid red. At this point, even if the dragon didn’t restrain its movements, it likely wouldn’t be able to move at all.
The grease buried at the bottom of the pit had completely melted in the flames. Thick black smoke from the burning tobacco rose up, blocking the beastmen’s line of sight. The dragons trapped inside had inhaled large amounts of the smoke, and the anesthetic component had begun to take effect. Even as their bodies burned, they no longer had much strength left to struggle; they could only collapse into the flames and watch themselves be slowly consumed.
The Azure Dragon gave the raging sea of fire a cold glance, then swung the hyena-drake leader up with a flick of its tail and flew to another part of the battlefield. The white giant wolf-god was entangled with several hyena-drakes. With a sweep of its massive tail, the Azure Dragon sent those hyena-drakes skidding easily to the side.
Hit head-on by the gust kicked up by the Azure Dragon’s move, the giant wolf-god staggered back a step before steadying himself. He lifted his gaze and shot the dragon a brief look, then let his eyes fall on the hyena-drake leader beside it.
The leader had already shifted back into human form. His long hair hung limp, covering half his face. The giant wolf-god couldn’t see his expression clearly.
“You intend to take him away?” Though phrased as a question, the giant wolf-god’s tone was full of certainty. The hyena-drake leader’s body stiffened at the words, but he did not lift his head.
“En.” The Azure Dragon responded lightly, though its gaze remained fixed on the distant inferno. The shrieks of the burning dragons continued to echo from that direction.
“Where will you take him? You know hyena-drakes cannot leave the forest.”
The Azure Dragon paused. “I heard there’s a salt lake at the forest’s edge. I don’t know whether it connects to the sea. I’ll take him there.”
The giant wolf-god let out a low snort. His gaze swept across the dragon and the man, then he turned to look at Qi Ze City, still cut off by the wall of flames. His voice carried a fatigue even he himself didn’t seem aware of.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Then get going.”
The Azure Dragon nodded. Whether the hyena-drake leader was willing or not, it coiled its tail around him and tossed him onto its back. With a powerful kick from all four claws, its body lifted into the air. Accompanied by a resonant dragon’s roar, it shot up into the clouds.
The dragon horde—already frantic from hearing their companions screaming in the fire—fell into even greater panic upon seeing their leader’s departure. Many hyena-drakes were already wavering. Some pterosaurs attempted to rely on their ability to fly and sneak toward Qi Ze City again, but now that the ground path had been completely cut off by fire, every siege crossbow on the walls and within the tribe was aimed at the sky. The moment a pterosaur entered range, it was shot down by volleys of arrows.
Finally, while the hyena-drakes were still torn between retreating or staying to wait for their leader’s return, the remaining pterosaurs flapped their wings and fled into the forest first.
The half-beastmen numbered few to begin with. Their only purpose had been to disrupt the dragons’ rear line and seize the chance to carry off their own companions in the chaos. Seeing the dragon horde already shaken and preparing to retreat, they took the initiative to withdraw to the side, leaving a clear path back to the forest. When the first hyena-drake finally couldn’t endure any longer and turned to flee, the others followed in small, scattered groups.
The bottom of the pit had been packed nearly full with all the expired grease stored during the summer, along with straw and firewood. The fire burned well into the night before finally dying out. The air was thick with the stench of scorched flesh. The pit, once packed shoulder-to-shoulder with dragons, held only charred black bones—aside from the ironshell-drakes’ fire-proof shells. All other flesh had long since burned to ash.
With the next day’s sunrise, the dragons that had surrounded the pit were nowhere to be seen. Only the bodies of dragons killed by arrows or by half-beastmen remained on the ground. As for the half-beastmen and the Azure Dragon that had suddenly appeared, they too had vanished.
“…Is it… over?” someone murmured uncertainly.
The others looked at each other, unable to react. They had expected a massive battle once all the fuel in the pit burned out. After all, the number of dragons this time had been far too large—this single pit had taken barely a third of them at most. Once the fuel was gone, they had no traps left that could completely drive the dragons back; a direct confrontation would have been inevitable.
Naturally, no one had noticed—blinded by the thick black smoke—that the hyena-drake leader had been carried off by the Azure Dragon.
Chen Qi had not slept all night. Dark shadows lay beneath his eyes. The moment he saw that the danger was truly gone, the tension that had held him taut finally eased a little. As he gazed at the empty, lifeless plain outside, a sudden thought struck him. He turned to look beside him—only to find that the little wolf cub who had been standing there was nowhere in sight.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Where’s Little Wolf?”
Exhaustion made Chen Qi’s voice hoarse, but his face was filled with anxiety.
Aze held his hand, a trace of sadness in his eyes, and comforted him, “It’s fine.”
When the little wolf cub left, it had looked at them deeply. Aze had felt something and looked up, meeting its gaze. He knew it was time for the little wolf cub to go, so he didn’t try to stop it.
Chen Qi wanted to speak but held back. In the end, he only nodded and said nothing more, but his grip on Aze’s hand unconsciously tightened.
Many houses in Qi Ze City had been damaged by the hyena-drakes and pterosaurs that had descended from above, as well as by the close-quarters fighting needed to eliminate the remaining hyena-drakes. Many of the trees planted along the road had also fallen, some even uprooted, with reddish-brown earth turned up, showing just how fierce the battle had been.
After clearing out the hyena-drakes hiding in the tribe, Azhang sent people to reassure those sheltering in the cellar. The beastmen, who had been fighting for days, were finally able to take turns getting proper sleep. They stayed inside the tribe for two days, and only after confirming that there was absolutely no sign of the dragons returning did Azhang send people out to assess the situation.
Not only the inside of the tribe, but the outside was also in complete ruin. Two collapsed city walls encircled Qi Ze City, with countless hyena-drakes and ironshell-drakes crushed beneath the rubble. Two days had been enough for their long-cold bodies to freeze stiff, but no one had time to go out and clean the battlefield.
The four watchtowers on the inner wall were still piled with arrows and unused fireball oil, and other supplies. Because they had prepared so thoroughly—and because the dragons had retreated so suddenly—many things had never been used.
After coming out of the cellar, Ajing learned that the little wolf cub had disappeared, and he left the tribe with Aze several times searching. But aside from the messy traces left during the dragons’ retreat, there was nothing else to be found. After a snowstorm, even the footprints on the ground had been buried. If not for the endless corpses and the two collapsed walls, no one would have known how fierce the battle had been.
In the days that followed, the beastmen who couldn’t fight continued living in the cellar. After all, no one knew whether pterosaurs would descend again with hyena-drakes in tow.
During the day, the beastmen busied themselves repairing the tribe. Because of the cold, repairs were much slower than usual. Fortunately, aside from a few females injured in close combat with the hyena-drakes that had broken inside, no one had lost their life in this battle.
In addition to the repairs, Azhang sent people daily to maintain the moat. With the weather so cold, the water froze easily and had to be managed every day. There was no time to deal with the dragon corpses in the pit one by one; they could only lay new traps and fuel over them. After a snowstorm, the charred ash at the bottom of the pit was mostly buried, at least sparing the beastmen from seeing a giant graveyard the moment they stepped outside each day.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The Lion-Wolf Tribe, far from here, was not as fortunate as Qi Ze City. Even though they had laid many traps outside their city gates and had numerous siege crossbows and wooden bows for long-range attacks, the arrival of flying pterosaurs still disrupted their rhythm. Unlike the people of Qi Ze City, they did not mostly stay within the inner walls. After the outermost ice wall collapsed, the hyena-drakes descending from the sky forced them into direct combat.
The beastmen of the Lion-Wolf Tribe were not as skilled with weapons as those of Qi Ze City, and their coordination was naturally weaker. Many were caught unprepared by the pterosaurs and thrown into the dragon group, soon torn apart and tasted by the dragons. The dragons became even more excited, charging forward without fear of the rain of arrows, their eyes and minds focused only on the delicious flesh.
The battle was exceptionally difficult for the Lion-Wolf Tribe. They began fighting earlier than Qi Ze City and ended later, battling for almost a month. Only after about two-thirds of the dragon group had been stubbornly killed by the beastmen did the dragons finally retreat unwillingly, and the defending females had also suffered heavy losses.
After the last snowstorm ended, Qi Ze City gradually cleared the battlefield outside the inner wall. During this time, the outermost ice wall was rebuilt, though its size and height could not match the original.
The dragon corpses were gathered together. Except for the armor of the ironshell-drakes, which was stripped completely, the hyena-drakes and pterosaurs were piled at the outer edge of the ice wall, forming a huge mountain of meat.
Several messenger eagles circled in the sky. It was unclear whether they had come smelling the blood or were ambushed by hyena-drakes nearby, but the meat mountain was not far from the ice wall—a distance sufficient for the females to evacuate if danger arose.
Aze placed the last bundle of firewood beside the meat mountain, atop it chunks of grease and wax as hard as stone. After arranging the items, the female torchbearers stepped back. Aze drew a torch from his backpack, lit it from the torch of a nearby female, glanced at the gray sky, and threw it into the enormous meat mountain.
The orange flames quickly spread. After throwing in their torches, the females followed Aze back to the ice city wall. As the flames rose, the messenger eagles circling above gradually disappeared from sight.
“Summer is coming soon.”
Hearing his words, Aze, just returned to the city wall, slowly walked over and stood beside him. Outside the city stretched a sea of fire, the heat waves even stronger than those in the original pit.
“En. Summer is coming.”
They exchanged a glance. Chen Qi took Aze’s hand, their fingers intertwined tightly, and they smiled at each other.
==End of Main Story, but there’s 3 extras coming up==
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Final stretch! 1 of 4 for the week. Warning: long notes at the end of the last post! (Sorry in advance!)
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
