99: Chapter 99 Only in the New World is there any hope of survival.

After a moment, Karuge looked in the direction of the priest and spoke slowly: "What if they don't accept?"

Geer, the Tribe Priest stood in the shadows, motionless, as if deep in thought.

Karuge did not receive an answer and continued on his own, his voice suppressed with anger: "The Wind Flame Tribe won't agree, and the Burning Fang Tribe before them... it's the same, none of them intend to join forces."

He paused, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white.

"They just want to shrink back and watch. Wait for us to charge up, fight those humans from another dimension to a mutual destruction, and then jump out to pick up the spoils... These cowards!"

"They don't deserve to be called Flame Beastmen!" By the end, he was practically growling.

"Haven't they always been like this?" Geer, the Tribe Priest finally spoke.

Karuge turned his head to look at him, carrying a hint of confusion and helplessness, "Then what do we do?"

Geer, the Tribe Priest said slowly: "Since they are unwilling, then we shall do it ourselves..."

Karuge paused, stunned, and paced a few steps in irritation.

"Our people have scouted it. The camp they built at the entrance of the passage has hundreds of people stationed there. And every one of them is quite strong, about... equivalent to our Flame Core level warriors."

You have to understand, their Flame Beastmen only reach Flame Core level combat power once they are adults.

Even adding up their entire tribe, they don't even have a thousand Flame Core level beastmen.

Karuge's voice lowered, "If the other two tribes were willing to act together, relying on numbers, we could easily take them down. But now... just relying on our tribe alone?"

"Even if we could win, how many people would have to die? A hundred? Or even more..."

They could not afford such losses.

After he finished speaking, the tent fell into silence again.

After a long while, Geer, the Tribe Priest in the shadows spoke again.

"I have a way."

Karuge was stunned: "...A way?"

"Yes." Geer, the Tribe Priest took a slow half-step forward, the dim yellow firelight illuminating the lower half of his gaunt face and the old bone ornaments he wore.

"I have sent Karen to take the 'Tribe Totem' to the Flame Vein Hunting Grounds."

Karuge's pupils constricted suddenly. That place was only accessible to the tribe's beastmen after they came of age, and only when led by the chieftain and elite beastmen, could they take those adult beastmen there to hunt for their own mounts: Flame Running Horses or Flame Feather Vulture.

Ordinarily, they would never approach it easily, because it was the border zone between the Molten Mountains and the Scorched Plains, where the concentration of flame energy far exceeded other areas of the wasteland, making it a region where various medium and high-level magical beasts gathered on the Red Flame Plains.

"Geer, the Tribe Priest, you mean to..." Karuge suddenly thought of something, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Geer, the Tribe Priest nodded slightly, the bone ornaments making a faint clattering sound with the movement.

"Karen will take the totem deep into the heart of the hunting grounds. At that time, she will activate the Tribe Totem, and wait for those herds to be attracted, gathered, and lose control."

His gaunt finger pointed gently outside the tent, in the general direction of the passage, "I will use the totem to guide those out-of-control herds... to surge in that direction."

Karuge was completely struck dumb.

Geer, the Tribe Priest continued: "At that time, you will take everyone in the tribe, follow behind the herds, and once they have scattered those humans, you will rush into the passage, take them, and go to the new world."

After these words were spoken, the tent was terrifyingly quiet.

The campfire was still burning, and light and shadow danced in the deep sockets of Geer, the Tribe Priest's eyes.

After a long time, Karuge finally found his voice.

"You will die."

Controlling a stampede of that scale required continuously burning the power of the contract with the Tribe Totem, and that kind of consumption would burn the very life of Geer, the Tribe Priest away.

Geer, the Tribe Priest stood quietly, his expression calm to the point of coldness.

"As long as you survive, that is enough."

Karuge's body trembled slightly.

"In a world like this," Geer, the Tribe Priest continued, speaking very slowly, "Round after round of Assessment... we will die sooner or later."

There was no fear in his voice, nor any unwillingness, only a calm that had seen through everything.

"Only by going to a new world, perhaps... will there be a glimmer of a chance to survive."

Another long silence followed.

Karuge stood in place, head lowered, his crimson chest heaving.

He wanted to say something, but his throat felt as if it were blocked by a burning hot stone, and he couldn't spit out a single word.

Geer, the Tribe Priest retreated back into the shadows, and his voice sounded again, breaking the silence.

"Go make the arrangements."

"Let everyone in the tribe... be prepared."

Karuge looked up, gazing at this elder who had always led their tribe, the struggle and reluctance on his face finally fading away.

He didn't say anything else.

He simply took a step forward, his right knee kneeling heavily onto the rough gravel ground, emitting a dull thud.

He lowered his head and placed his open palm over his heart; this was the most solemn and ancient ritual in the tribe.

"May the ancestors..." his voice came from deep within his chest, low and hoarse, "bless us."

The ritual complete, he stood up and paused for a moment.

He cast one final glance at the other, as if wanting to carve that gaunt figure into his eyes.

Then, he lifted the thick animal-skin curtain with one pull, and the scorching wind rushed into the tent, causing the campfire to flicker violently.

His figure quickly disappeared outside the door, his footsteps heavy and rapidly fading into the distance.

Inside the tent, only Geer, the Tribe Priest was left, along with the pile of crackling, 'self-burning' campfire.

...

"Lava Monitor Lizard! The weakness is in the abdomen, that area where the color is darker and the scales are thinner!"

Tang Ningfei reminded them, flipping through the book compiled by the adventurers of the Torchguard Outpost.

Jiang Chen nodded and signaled to the four combat team members beside him.

Seeing this, the four members also nodded one after another, indicating they understood.

At this moment, in front of them was a giant lizard over six meters long, its body covered in heavy, dark red-to-black scales, constantly hissing and swinging its thick tail.

With Tang Ningfei's reminder, the rhythm of the battle changed instantly.

The shield-bearing member lunged forward, precisely blocking the incoming claws, and firmly drew the giant lizard's frontal attention.

Almost at the exact moment the shield block succeeded, the other three members moved.

The members on the left and right sides suddenly exerted force.

One swung his blade at the giant lizard's left eye, while the other threw a short spear, aiming straight for the gap in the scales on its right neck.

The third person crouched and rolled closer, swinging his blade as if to attack its hind leg tendons.

The giant lizard sensed this and jumped up, intending to swat him to death with its claws.

However, as its front claws were raised, its massive body twisted naturally with the movement, exposing the relatively fragile dark abdominal scales in an instant.

This was the moment.

Jiang Chen, who had already quietly taken his position, flicked his wrist.

Without any flashy movements, the Tang dao turned into a cold streak of light, slicing upwards from below at an extremely tricky angle.

"Puchi."

The tip of the blade precisely penetrated the exposed gap in the darker-colored abdominal scales, burying itself almost to the hilt, and then slashed sideways!

Scalding blood and a few fragments of internal organs sprayed out.

The giant lizard's hiss stuck in its throat, its massive body stiffened for a moment, and then collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

From attraction to the kill, it took no more than five or six seconds, no one was injured, and the entire sequence of actions was smooth and clean.

Tang Ningfei was not surprised by such a result. This was the level they should have.

She looked up at the fallen giant lizard.

"Is it dead?" she confirmed, as the damage caused by those monsters feigning death was not insignificant.

Jiang Chen walked up, holding the Tang dao, and with a flash of the blade, neatly severed the giant lizard's massive head.

Then he turned back and signaled in Tang Ningfei's direction.

"It's dead."