TOMWDET Chapter 204

Battle Against the [Tiger] (1)

Life’s unpredictability lay in how reality’s developmental forces could directly conduct experience inheritance like in a game.

No one knew how Clemens had operated it, but those who possessed elements could all see from their elemental vision that a semi-transparent membrane had appeared one millimeter outside Su Li’s body surface.

Egbert carefully extended his hand and touched Su Li’s hair. It still felt like silk-smooth hair, and he didn’t sense any other obstructions.

“Can this really allow Lord Su Li’s body to store elements?”

Egbert found it somewhat hard to believe.

“It can.” Clemens was unwilling to explain the principles in detail.

The unique era when humanity’s initial birth and the demise of monster beasts were intermingled—who could guarantee that future humans wouldn’t touch things they shouldn’t touch?

For now, it was enough to confirm that Su Li’s body could store elements.

Castor had Lan Zhe, Egbert, and Roy successively hand over their alchemy storage rings, then passed all three rings to Su Li.

The young man’s expression was somewhat strange. “Although I had thought before that everyone’s rings had element absorption devices added, seeing it for real was still quite shocking.”

Castor said, “But wouldn’t the most shocking thing be you, who can use this power mode that seems to exist only in fantasy?”

Other humans used element absorption devices to merely increase elemental concentration within a certain range, then absorbed it themselves.

Su Li’s body, however, could directly accept unilateral elemental infusion.

And it was unrelated to attributes.

The green bean-sized dots on the rings were rotated, and large amounts of different elements were forcibly filled into Su Li’s body.

Among them, when a small portion of light elements was being manipulated, Clemens had originally worried whether Su Li would be affected by the [Spirit] again.

But then he discovered that the other four types of elements wrapped around Su Li’s body had directly driven the light elements to a remote corner.

They forcibly prohibited the light elements from entering the internal organs, brain, and joint areas.

This feeling made Su Li, after putting on his elemental visualization glasses again, say with slight bewilderment, “It’s like when I went to the seabed to find the mad mermaid, facing the underwater whirlpool, the elements bypassed my thinking and directly created the most suitable usage method.”

Clemens’s eyes lit up.

“You mean that when you use elemental power, the elemental power sometimes presents effects even better than you imagined?”

“Yes.” Su Li didn’t understand why Clemens was excited and answered with a calm expression.

“This is truly a miracle.”

“In the inheritance of monster beast civilization, this elemental characteristic only existed in imagination—no monster beast had ever possessed it.” Clemens’s tone carried a sigh he himself hadn’t noticed.

Although he wanted to die early, before dying, being able to see Su Li—someone whose mere existence was equivalent to a miracle—had inexplicably produced a feeling of fullness in his heart.

It was like…

“I could die right now without regrets.”

Su Li decisively said, “But I refuse to fight here.”

“If the newly built territory of the Winged Tribe is destroyed by you again, then after your death, your corpse probably won’t be able to remain intact.”

“I don’t care about those things.” Clemens blinked. “Death is the path forward; the body left in the human world is just the abandoned past.”

Seeing the young man’s brow furrow slightly, Clemens naturally changed the topic. “If you don’t mind, then let’s go to the previous battle location.”

“The traces left by weapons made by humans have forcibly leveled a large open space.”

“That place might have already become the most suitable place for battle.”

He spoke slowly and carefully, unconsciously attracting everyone else’s attention.

Clemens was about to continue when he noticed Su Li showing a half-smiling expression.

The [Tiger] cleared his throat and said as if nothing had happened, “Anyway, let’s eat first.”

“I hope my death, for humans, is something as simple as post-meal digestion.”

But this meal still wasn’t eaten well.

The mermaid had brought the giant rhinoceros to the table.

Matilda and Adonis repeatedly stole glances at the [Tiger].

Bartholomew and Elvi kept their eyes on their noses and noses on their hearts, not daring to say a word.

(TL: 眼觀鼻，鼻觀心 is a Buddhist/Daoist expression meaning to keep one’s gaze inward, restraining oneself, staying silent and composed.)

The one who finally broke the silence was the giant rhinoceros:

“For a king, do the lives and deaths of the Beast Tribe really have no meaning?”

“What answer do you want?” Clemens, troubled by chopsticks, decisively put down his utensils.

His emotions remained peaceful, but his speaking attitude sounded harsh to the giant rhinoceros.

“If you want to know whether, as a ruler, one must possess the quality of caring for country and people, then I can only say I don’t know.”

“From the first time I had thoughts of wanting to die until today, I have been filled with such thoughts every moment.”

“How could a monster beast who doesn’t care about his own life care about other monster beasts? Sending you to attack Rota County was to make Su Li, who could deal effective damage to me, hate me, thereby generating the hatred necessary to kill me.”

“As for choosing to abandon other Beast Tribe territories, whether Ergonikin or Tasahe City, these are all unimportant places to me.”

Clemens crossed his hands, supporting his chin, completely giving up on eating.

He seemed to feel that if he didn’t say everything that should and shouldn’t be said in one breath, there would be no chance in the future.

“The rules I established were never meant to make the Beast Tribe better. These rules were just attempts to use the entire tribe’s power to cultivate a strong one who could contend with me.”

“It’s just unfortunate…” Clemens glanced at Bartholomew.

Cold sweat on the unicorn’s back instantly soaked through his clothes.

“Bartholomew seems to have misunderstood me.”

“Elements, regardless of which type, cannot cause me obvious harm. Even light elements are the same.”

“Without reaching the level of light rules, light elements are meaningless to me.”

“I once expected that Bartholomew could kill me after developing his physical body to the limit, could tear apart my body, could crush my divine core. But I discovered… he couldn’t do it.”

“He couldn’t even break through the defense of those dark elemental bands outside my body.”

Clemens showed a bitter smile.

A guy who so sincerely prayed for death but could never embrace death…

No matter how sadly he smiled or how pitiful he looked, Su Li would never have any pity for him.

Just as he had said, Su Li had long known that he chose to send people to attack Rota County to make himself generate hatred.

But unfortunately, Su Li hadn’t generated emotions like hatred.

His emotions were few, and most were transformed into positive emotions given to those around him. Those negative, terrible emotions were all defined as necessary things to do in rationalized judgments.

For example, killing Clemens.

“Then… can you tell me why,” Elvi took a deep breath and forced herself to maintain momentum, “why you previously sent Bartholomew to unite with the mermaid to attack me.”

“When we were all in human society.”

This question only earned the [Tiger]’s counter-question:

“Why not?”

“Although I know Bartholomew has no way to kill me, no way to fulfill my wish, he is still the best manager in the hearts of Beast Tribe monster beasts on the surface.”

“As long as he has the status of the most trusted subordinate of the beast king, then someday, just like now, after I encounter my miracle and can finally embrace death, the Beast Tribe can naturally be taken over by Bartholomew.”

“He should have been a strong one who could kill dragons, kill pillars of the Winged Tribe, and even had absolute dominance over Water Tribe rulers. After my death, Bartholomew would inevitably become the successor of the Beast Tribe and was destined not to let the Beast Tribe be oppressed by the other two tribes.”

“If it were you, in my position, with a clear final goal and possessing that bit of ridiculous yet unclear sense of responsibility, what better choice could you make?”

There was nothing more.

For humans, what significance monster beast civilization had was not within the transformed monster beast’s cognitive scope.

As a transformed monster beast, the only thing Clemens could do was ensure that after his death, the Beast Tribe wouldn’t be oppressed by the other two tribes.

“I don’t consider myself a very good king, but I also don’t think a king must dedicate everything to their tribe. Doing what I can do and trying to fulfill my heart’s desires—even if the process is bloody and brutal, these are just the path I’ve chosen.”

The giant rhinoceros and Elvi clenched their fists.

The former wanted to hate Clemens for not treating his own kind as kin.

The latter couldn’t deny that, also possessing a king-like status as ruler of the dragon race, Elvi Bessemer had always been a monster beast with brutal characteristics.

The dragon race’s fame had always been an impression killed out drop by drop by dragons.

Overly complex emotions clouded their reason; they couldn’t speak.

Whether the giant rhinoceros, the dragon, or Bartholomew.

The one who spoke next was Matilda.

“I don’t approve of your actions. A ruler should shoulder their responsibilities, whether good or bad. If you know you’re brutal and bloody, even if you don’t want to change, you need to understand that what you’ve done is wrong, and you must bear this guilt and shoulder these sins.”

Whenever Matilda thought of those of her kind who were easily killed and beaten to pulp by the [Tiger], she trembled with anger.

“I can’t agree with that.” The one interrupting her continued provocation of the [Tiger] was the mermaid.

Leia frowned, unable to approve of Matilda’s attitude.

“Haven’t you noticed that the bloodiness and brutality Clemens refers to have always been others’ judgments of his actions? Whether in his eyes or mine, those things you consider bloody and brutal have always been the most basic elements of our tribal governance.”

“Your words are like denying the strength of the Beast and Water tribes. Don’t transfer your anger to others’ actions because of your own incompetence and powerlessness.”

“This is displaced anger?!” Matilda looked like she wanted to rush over and break the mermaid’s legs. “You’re just relying on the fact that the joint attack by the dragon and unicorn was stopped by Su Li.”

“Is that so?” Leia’s expression showed no obvious fluctuation.

The bloodiness that had dyed the entire sea red—Leia didn’t need to deliberately recall it; the image could now float in his mind.

“But for monster beasts, aren’t the things you disapprove of normal?”

“If we define all this by monster beast standards, couldn’t the wrong one possibly be just you, Matilda?”

“But…” Panic appeared on the Winged Tribe Queen’s face.

Su Li swallowed his last mouthful of rice, extremely grateful that he had always maintained the highest respect for food while eating.

Otherwise, he would definitely feel unable to continue eating now.

The young man put down his chopsticks, straightened his back, and spoke with calm, logical voice. “You’re sophistry.”

“Things that conform to reason among monster beasts are only because monster beasts haven’t seen what’s truly correct. The various rules that humans currently follow are indeed full of dross, but this doesn’t mean there’s no essence settled within them.”

“Harming others for personal gain, exploiting others for personal goals, dominating others for personal desires—these have always been wrong from beginning to end.”

“Humans and monster beasts are just unilateral perceptions based on their own presumptions. For this world, in macro terms, monster beasts and humans are fundamentally the same species. The original humans were just short-lived monster beasts distinguished from monster beasts by being unable to cultivate elements and having no various animal forms.”

“Current transformed monster beasts are just humans with additional animal characteristics, the ability to transform into animals, and greatly extended lifespans.”

Su Li looked at everyone at the table who had frozen for a moment, his expression calm.

The Western-style architecture, simplified in details and appearing somewhat rigid, though no longer gorgeous, still allowed the young man to have an arched window behind him.

Su Li, backlit by the blazing sun, had a voice cold as ice water.

“Stop using various preconceived information to measure yourselves, ultimately trapping yourselves in cages.”

Mentioning Western style, Su Li easily thought of gorgeous cages carved with various roses, thorns, and larks.

This world was like such a cage, firmly trapping everyone within. Before Su Li’s arrival, all people, all intelligent life, could never escape for eternity.

“I’m finished eating.” Su Li slowly stood up. His chair made no friction sound with the floor, and the young man’s departure was silent, leaving only a group of people and monster beasts sitting there like wood.

These words were different from Su Li’s previous casual remarks, complaints about himself, or habitual philosophical statements. Now he was just weighing simple information he had already discovered and then felt was no big deal.

But for people and monster beasts, it was no less than a bomb.

“How is that possible…”

“I don’t believe it.”

“If humans and monster beasts are the same race, then what meaning do many things have?”

“Meaningless things are themselves a kind of meaning.”

“But thinking that Lord Su Li protects not just humans, but even monster beasts mixed with the concept of humans, makes me uncomfortable.”

“Same here.”

“Want to fight, mere human?”

But in the end, they didn’t fight.

Not only did they not fight, but they quickly mobilized all available forces.

Those with insufficient power followed Castor to operate mobile elemental cannons.

Those with adequate power united together and went to the final battlefield that Clemens had chosen.

Regarding death, was Clemens expectant? As for killing Clemens, Su Li just felt this was merely a means to indirectly force the [Spirit] out and kill the [Spirit].

As long as the [Spirit] still wanted the [Tiger]’s divine core…

“It’s about to begin.”

On the plain, the young man who thought he had grown quite a bit and was satisfied with his height at this age faced Clemens, who also had nearly two meters in height.

“Yes.” The young man’s voice was low and powerful.

After confirming that they both understood each other’s meaning, those dark elements that had previously almost covered the entire heaven and earth were instantly withdrawn by Clemens and reformed into various dark elemental bands at his side.

Invisible airflow caused countless dust particles to rapidly scatter outward.

Humanity’s DNA-embedded danger perception was like modern society’s alarm notifications—just the awareness alone was enough to make one’s heart race uncontrollably.