Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint-Chapter 508: When the Rabbit Dies, the Hounds Are Boiled

If the King of Beasts is offered as a sacrifice, the Wolf King's wrath can be avoided.

One single life.

One single sacrifice guarantees Ende’s safety.

Orcma received this information from Urukfang. Acting unusually secretive, they swiftly gathered their elders for an urgent, closed-door meeting.

“Sacrificing the King of Beasts would make the wolves leave...? Is that really true?”

Grand Matron Halpha furrowed her deeply wrinkled face even further as she responded.

“Sniff. The Wolf King always seeks the King of Beasts. That’s why humans who wished to avoid battle with the wolves would banish the King of Beasts. The last time wolves and dogs fought was... Hmm, probably around the time your mother was born. Must be nearly fifty years ago.”

“Fifty years ago? Which country fought the wolves?”

“That would be the Holy Crown Church. The Empire and the Church never avoid a fight with the wolves. Their power is enough to crush a wolf pack instantly. But... sniff. Other nations aren’t so fortunate. Their circumstances are more complicated.”

Grand Matron Halpha had lived through two lifetimes past sixty. Even among those who practiced qi techniques, she was considered exceptionally long-lived. The fact that she survived without qi or magic was nothing short of a miracle.

She had no wealth, no noble bloodline, and no extraordinary skills, yet through sheer experience, connections, and wisdom, she had firmly secured her place among the elders. The oldest of the old guard.

“Since then, human nations have avoided fighting the wolves. I can’t recall exactly when, but I remember hearing a rumor about the Magenta Principality exiling the King of Beasts. It caused such an uproar that the Empire sent an envoy over. That was back in the days when...”

An elder’s words are like muddy waters—they seem unclear at first, but if you filter carefully, you can extract valuable insights.

Poina’s face lit up as she grasped the key information.

“...Then. If we exile the King of Beasts or let the Wolf King kill them... the wolves would have no reason to attack Ende.”

Everyone had thought of this possibility, but no one had dared to say it aloud—until Poina did.

A few of the orcs cast uneasy glances at her. But Poina was oblivious to their discomfort, too caught up in the brilliance of her own logic.

“We can’t negotiate a treaty with the wolves. That means we must lure the King of Beasts away and drop them somewhere far from here—where the Wolf King can hunt them down without any interference.”

“B-But... is that really okay?”

A hesitant voice muttered, but Poina immediately snapped her head around and glared.

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

“Well, I mean... The King of Beasts came to us for help.”

“Spring has barely begun in this city. We need time. We’re struggling right now, but we’ll adjust. We orcs can make this work. If humans could do it, we can too.”

Poina still believed in their cause.

The city was rough around the edges, but with effort, everything would fall into place.

Orcs could govern a city just as well as humans.

But for her vision to become reality... something had to be sacrificed.

“However, we cannot spill our blood for a fight that isn’t ours.”

“A fight that isn’t ours?”

“Exactly. This is a battle between dogs and wolves. Orcs have no grudge against either. We refuse to waste our lives over a promise made by the so-called Kings of Beasts in the past.”

Poina had never seriously thought about the conflict between wolves and dogs before.

But now, she could list over a hundred reasons why fighting the wolves would be a mistake.

She turned to the elders of Orcma, pressing her argument further.

“Even human principalities abandoned that promise when it became inconvenient. Forcing a border city like ours to uphold it is nothing but unfair. And for a city that only recently achieved true equality, it’s even worse.”

“The King of Beasts is just a symbol—nothing more. If we compare one beast’s life to thousands of humans, the answer is clear. A single life versus tens of thousands? The choice is obvious.”

“And don’t pretend we’re the only ones being selfish here. The King of Beasts is just as [N O V E L I G H T] shameless. If they truly fought for humanity, they would fight alone—without dragging others into it. But what do they do? They seek allies, asking people to die alongside them.”

“Bringing the King of Beasts into Ende in the first place was a manipulative move. They wanted to use us as meat shields against the Wolf King. That intent alone is unjust. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for them?”

With each statement, her logic became sharper, stronger, and more undeniable.

Orcs owed nothing to dogs.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

Orcs made no promises to the King of Beasts.

Thus, Orcs had no reason to get involved in a fight that had nothing to do with them.

On the contrary, forcing orcs into this battle was unjust.

Humans had no right to demand that Orcma fight for them.

Poina had strung together dozens of arguments in mere moments.

She paused, organizing her thoughts, then firmly concluded:

“It may be painful, but if we make a decisive choice, we stand to gain much. By exiling the King of Beasts, we secure countless benefits. Orcs are now the ruling race of this city. We must make the hard, logical decisions.”

Her argument was so airtight that there was no room for doubt.

No one could challenge it.

Not that they wanted to.

Why should pig beastmen, a group historically oppressed by humans, now fight for a dog?

That was a struggle for those who sat at the top of the pyramid—for humans and dog beastmen, not for pig beastmen.

It was exactly the justification they had all been waiting for.

Grulta nodded in agreement.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Good. Then we’ve decided. Let’s summon Mayor Treavor.”

Even though Orcma had ruled over Obeli for nearly a week, Mayor Treavor was still handling most of the administration. Grulta’s suggestion made sense.

But Poina suddenly raised a hand to stop him, her eyes gleaming with realization.

“No. We can’t. He’s a noble from the principalities. And a dog beastman. He’ll oppose our decision.”

“Ah... true. Then what do we do?”

Poina hesitated briefly before breaking into a chilling smile.

“...First, we reveal the King of Beasts’ true identity.”

The wolves were no longer an unseen danger.

They frequently emerged, launching raids across Ende.

If they were an army, these scattered attacks would be mere scouting missions.

But each individual wolf was as fast and deadly as a knight on horseback.

“WOLVES! THE WOLVES ARE HERE!!”

As vast as Ende was, it still had outskirts.

Despite the evacuation orders, some people hadn’t fled in time.

Some had nowhere to take their sheep.

Some refused to abandon their crops just before harvest.

Some simply couldn’t bear to hand over their livestock to the wolves.

None of that mattered to the wolves.

“EVERYONE, TAKE COVER!!”

With a frantic shout, people grabbed their children and fled into their homes. They bolted their doors, shut their windows tight, and huddled together in underground shelters, holding each other close.

The city of Ende fell into complete silence.

Then, a wolf, circling the perimeter, leapt over the palisade.

The barricade had been reinforced, but the wolf vaulted effortlessly beyond its height. Moving with unnatural agility, it landed inside Ende, baring its fangs.

Clank.

The moment it took a step forward, a steel trap burst from the sand.

Like the snapping jaws of a beast, its jagged metal teeth clamped onto the wolf’s foreleg.

"Yelp!"

"Whimper! Awooo!"

As the wolves flinched and leapt away in alarm, a figure emerged from the brush—the trap specialist, Kito, wearing a nervous smile.

“H-Hehehe... What do you think? These are my specially modified bear traps... I stayed up all night working on them...”

Kito’s unique magic enhanced her traps, making them react faster and with greater force. Wolves were intelligent, but under the influence of her innate spellcraft, the traps had been perfectly concealed.

Nearly a third of the invading wolves were snared in an instant, unable to move.

"Beasts are just beasts... As long as we have traps, there's nothing to fear!"

Kito cheered, almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

But the wolves... paid her no attention.

After exchanging brief glances, they all did the same thing.

Crack.

One wolf stomped on its trapped limb.

Another hooked its claws into the metal spring.

Another bit into the latch, twisting its neck to pry open the steel jaws.

Crack. Crack. Snap.

One by one, the springs recoiled, returning the traps to their default state.

They understood the mechanism.

As if they had encountered these traps before.

As if they had been trained to disable them.

"W-Wait, what?"

Even for a strong beast, breaking free from reinforced bear traps should have resulted in serious injuries.

But the wolves escaped flawlessly, as if they already knew what to do.

As if they had learned from experience.

Their leader, rather than bothering with the latch, simply bit through the entire spring.

Crunch.

With a mouthful of broken metal, it spat the fragments onto the ground, saliva-streaked steel clinking against the dirt.

Freed from the traps, the wolves charged into the town without hesitation.

"Aaaaaah!"

"Help—!"

"Woof! Woof!"

Gray fur flooded the streets.

People and dogs alike were mauled before they could flee.

The wolves did not stop after catching their prey. They tore down doors, scratched through floorboards, and dug through basements—tracking every last hidden survivor.

Wiping out the entire town was their clear intention.

"H-Heeheehehehe! Please, somebody help meeee!!"

Kito, now the hunted, ran for her life.

Three wolves gave chase.

Kito was fast, but not fast enough.

The distance shrunk with each passing second.

Stealing a glance behind her, Kito caught a glimpse of their snarling faces—

And burst into tears.

“Toeeeeeng—!!”

The one advantage of a rabbit beastman?

Sharp reflexes and unmatched agility.

At the last second, Kito twisted mid-air, vanishing from their direct line of sight.

The wolves snapped their jaws at empty space.

Even a skilled hunter could be fooled if its prey was truly unpredictable.

Kito had grown up running from threats in Ende.

She had years of experience escaping pursuers.

And she wasn’t just a beastman. She was a mage with Unique Spellcraft.

A rope unraveled itself mid-flight, tying itself into a snare.

A thrown trap locked into position the moment it landed.

Her magic turned the environment into a weapon, leaving only the wolves vulnerable to the triggers.

Still, she was running out of time.

Panting, she backed against a wall, gasping for breath.

"Aah... Aaahhh... I should have brought a guard...!"

Kito was supposed to be one of the city's key assets.

So why was she alone, setting up traps in hostile territory?

Why was she left vulnerable, without backup?

Kito retraced her steps—

And remembered exactly who had put her in this situation.

Her ears flattened in frustration.

"Those damn pigs!"

Orcma had ordered her to lay traps across the town.

Kito hadn’t refused—it was her job, after all.

But she hadn’t expected them to send her out alone, without guards or a proper battle plan.

They didn’t even tell her where to focus or how long to maintain the traps.

“This is the kind of brainless plan a pig beastman would come up with!!”

Why was she the one paying for their stupidity?

A rabbit beastman could delay a wolf.

But no rabbit could outrun death forever.

The wolves were already closing in again.

Shivering, Kito frantically activated her magic—

But she had already used up every tactic in this area.

There were no more tricks left.

Tears welled in her eyes as she squeezed them shut.

"Toeeeeeng... Is this really the end...?"

...But death did not come.

The pain she braced for never arrived.

Realizing she was still alive, Kito hesitantly opened one eye.

A figure stood before her, crouched low on all fours.

A beastman.

Its tail stood stiff, radiating a powerful aura of menace.

Its fangs flashed.

And then—

"Grrrrrr! WOOF!"

Azzy had arrived.

Ende was vast.

Even with Azzy’s keen senses, she could not monitor every corner of the city at once.

But as the wolves attacked, people fled inward, drawing closer together.

The city’s territory condensed, shrinking to a manageable scale for her instincts.

Azzy, indifferent to human infighting, had no hesitation when facing a real enemy.

Tearing through the streets, she intercepted the wolves one by one.

With each swift, brutal clash, another wolf fell.

The attack stalled.

The wolves, sensing the shift in the battle, began to circle the city instead.

But it was too late.

Azzy had been a whispered rumor before.

Now, she was seen by everyone in Ende.

She was no longer just a legend.

She was a presence.

Dog beastmen cheered for their King.

But the others...

They weren’t quite as enthusiastic.

Yes, jealousy played a part—Azzy was always so loved, so affectionate toward humans.

But more than that—

A rumor had begun to spread.

A whisper growing louder by the second.

“The wolves came because of the King of Beasts.”