Loser System and Berserker Me

Chapter 192: Inevitable Downfall

A huge argument broke out in the Icewolf Tribe.

They decided to migrate in a rush, so they didn’t have time to prepare beforehand. They had only been able to leave so quickly because they had huddled up for winter, or else they wouldn’t even have enough time to flee.

There were understandably plenty of frustrations during their escape.

The Holywolf Warrior wanted her tribesmen to throw away whatever she deemed unnecessary so that they could distance themselves from the Tang army. However, her tribesmen begged to differ.

The Holywolf Warrior was their Khan even if they migrated to the ice field, not to mention that she was a powerful warrior.

There was always delectable roasted lamb when she was hungry, piping hot tea when she was thirsty, a warm tent when she was cold, and a shaman to attend to her when she was ill.

For her, spending the winter in the ice field only meant suffering a little and shedding a few pounds of flesh.

The same couldn’t be said for the normal tribesmen. Their assets comprised only their crockeries and a couple of livestock. Without those, they were likely to end up as a frozen corpse on the ice field.

Thus, the Icewolf Tribe moved extremely slowly.

Issues kept cropping up. Someone was always losing their livestock or had their grass feed stolen. These seemingly trivial matters easily escalated into huge fights involving dozens of people, as they could make the difference between life and death on the ice field.

Ironically, these fights only led to injuries, which further slowed the marching pace. It also didn’t help that they would bump into specters and hostile tribes now and then.

In the end, the Holywolf Warrior couldn’t stand it anymore. With eyes reminiscent of a vicious wolf, she roared at her tribesmen, “Throw everything away! Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before the Tangs catch up with us. You’ll be dead meat!”

Despite her scimitar’s threat, many of her tribesmen still refused to throw away their scraps. Even when their hands were whipped bloody, they continued clutching onto their possessions.

The Holywolf Warrior eventually went on a massacre to push her will. Under her suppression, the Icewolf Tribesmen finally tearfully parted with their possessions.

That greatly sped up their marching.

However, a new conflict broke out just as they were nearing the ice field.

Where do we escape to? How do we get there?

The chieftains had divergent opinions.

One wanted to escape northeast, claiming that they could catch bears and fish there to replenish their food supply.

Another wanted to head northwest, insisting that they would reach a grassland after crossing two lakes. The tribes dwelling on the grassland were weak, so they could plunder from them to replenish their supplies.

There was also one who proposed splitting the tribesmen into multiple groups and escaping separately, lest the Tangs catch them in a single swoop.

They spent the day arguing over it but couldn’t reach a consensus, so they decided to rest first and resume the next day.

“How weird.”

The Holywolf Warrior was feeling exhausted, body and soul, from arguing the entire day, but tonight was a surprisingly restless night for her. Her heart was palpitating fast.

Something felt off, and she had always trusted her intuition.

Thus, she called her aide over and asked if anything was amiss.

“Anything amiss?” Her aide shook his head. “What could be amiss? We’re already about to reach the ice field.”

“Did the others cause a fuss after returning?” the Holywolf Warrior asked.

“I don’t think so. They went to rest right after heading back.”

“Are there any Tang specters nearby?”

“Our scout just reported no white fog within a 15-kilometer radius. The White Calamity hasn’t caught up with us yet.”

“…” The Holywolf Warrior spent a moment in thought. “Relay my orders. Our tribesmen are forbidden from unsaddling their wolves and pegasi tonight, and our scouts are to expand their search radius.”

“Khan!” the aide exclaimed. “Even the finest steeds can’t last long in this cold weather. If we keep them saddled for the entire night…”

“I know. Distribute the pegasi to them.”

“Yes, Khan.”

The aide sighed as he walked out of the tent.

He didn’t think the Holywolf Warrior had been behaving like a qualified Khan. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the tribesmen turned against her.

The Holywolf Warrior continued pacing barefoot in the tent, but drowsiness didn’t come to her. So, she put on her armor and headed out, braving the snow to search the camp to see if she had overlooked anything.

Her powerful physique and exceptional skills allowed her to maneuver around with her usual dexterity despite the cold.

Soon, she arrived at the chieftains’ tent, where she noticed a faint light shining through their tent’s seams.

Are the chieftains not resting? The Holywolf Warrior was perplexed.

She flitted up to the tent without alerting the guards and placed her wolf ears against the tent. Those inside the tent spoke softly, but she could hear them.

“Betrayal?” someone said.

“Don’t put it like that. How’s that a betrayal? It’s the law of the jungle. The weak depends on the strong, and the strong claims everything. Great Tang’s Anxi Protectorate-General is sweeping through Transoxania, and no city or tribe can withstand his wrath.

“My nephew saw with his own eyes the Nierpo Tribe, a huge tribe with 30,000 men, getting massacred for hiding 14 pegasi from the Anxi Protectorate-General. There were no survivors, and vultures and crows were free to feed on their corpses. It was miserable.

“I also heard that Zeemu was flattened for refusing to let the Tang army through. The Anxi Protectorate-General siphoned out their king’s soul and turned him into a specter.

“Think about how many specters the Anxi Protectorate-General has—that’s the number of people he has killed. I heard that the vultures and crows have started pointing directions for the Tangs so that they can have a hearty meal in winter.

“The Anxi Protectorate-General is the incarnation of the Gatling Buddha, here to bring salvation to the world. If he’s angered, he’ll transform into the Black Lotus Lightning Buddha and create a path out of white bones. Some say he has undergone 3600 reincarnations in the mortal world, making him a true deity. Even the high shaman wasn’t a match for him!

“It’s only a matter of time before he becomes—no, he is already the strongest in Transoxania, the invincible Khan!

“Is there a future for us if we continue following the Icewolf Khan? At this rate, the only fates awaiting us are being killed by the Tangs or freezing to death in the ice field.”

“But… will the Anxi Protectorate-General accept our surrender?” someone asked.

It was commonplace for those on the plains to surrender to a stronger enemy. It was normal for a weaker tribe to become a stronger tribe’s vassal; there was no shame in that. Their only fear was that the Anxi Protectorate-General would ignore their surrender and massacre all of them.

“Heh! Haven’t you wondered why my nephew is still alive? He’s currently leading the way for the Anxi Protectorate-General.”

“You’ve already struck a connection with the Anxi Protectorate-General? You move faster than I thought!”

“Fufu! The Anxi Protectorate-General has said that he’ll let us live if we offer him the pegasi. He’ll likely reach in the next few days, so make sure to properly guard the pegasi in your hands. Otherwise, we won’t even get a chance to surrender.

“We’ll continue arguing in the conference tomorrow. Let’s drag it out as long as possible.”

“Do we have to wait for the Anxi Protectorate-General to arrive? We can reach out to the shamans and convince them to spike the Khan’s drinks. It’ll be a huge merit if we capture the Khan and offer her to the Tangs.”

At this point, the Holywolf Warrior couldn’t suppress her rage anymore.

Shoosh!

She sliced down the tent, revealing those within.

“Good, good!”

One by one, she eyed the figures standing within the tent. The chieftains looked back at her with flustered eyes.

So many familiar faces. One of them is even a hero-class warrior I groomed. Hmph!

“You traitors! You can die now!”

The Holywolf Warrior brandished her scimitar.

“There’s no choice! We need to combine forces to curb her!”

With their ploy exposed, the chieftains gathered in the tent had no choice but to fight the Holywolf Warrior to their deaths. A short but intense fight broke out.

The Holywolf Warrior proved herself to be a one-of-a-kind warrior on the plains. Her fighting prowess far surpassed the other chieftains. The chieftains resisted with all their might, but it was to no avail.

Realizing that this was not a battle they could win, the chieftains scattered in all directions and fled.

“Save us!”

“The Khan has gone mad!”

“She wants to kill all of us!”

“RUN!!!”

“She wants to monopolize our tents and livestock for her tribesmen!”

The chieftains frenziedly howled to incite chaos.

“Kill them all!” the infuriated Holywolf Warrior bellowed.

She summoned her guards and had them pursue the chieftains. She was determined to kill the traitors by hook or by crook!

Her actions triggered a chain reaction.

The confused tribesmen emerged from their tents, only to see the Holywolf Warrior and her tribesmen pursuing their chieftains.

“What’s the Khan doing?!”

“She wants to kill all of us!”

“We need to run!”

A pandemonium broke out among the Icewolf Tribe and its vassal tribes. Some desperately tried to escape. Some tried to fight back. Some exploited the chaos to plunder.

A furious snowstorm raged. A dreadful massacre unfolded on this biting winter night.

“Kill them!”

The Holywolf Warrior was so powerful that even hero-class warriors didn’t stand a chance against her. With a swift slash from her scimitar, she lopped off the head of a hero-class warrior.

“Pui!” The Holywolf Warrior spat. “These darned traitors!”

She cut off the hero-class warrior’s head and hoisted it up with a spear to relay to the crowd the price of betraying her.

Just then…

Squawk, squawk!

Strange noises echoed from the air.

The Holywolf Warrior looked up. A huge number of vultures and crows were circling the sky, calling their companions over as they waited for their chance to feast.

How weird. Do these birds hunt at night? And for so many of them to appear at once…

Hold on! Didn’t those traitors mention earlier that the vultures and crows are pointing the way for the Anxi Protectorate-General?

Could it be…

Her conjecture was swiftly proven true.

Glowing eyes started appearing at the horizon of the dark winter night, to the cawing of the vultures and crows. They initially looked like fireflies on a summer night, but they quickly grew so numerous that they looked like the starry sky.

And they were flooding toward the chaotic Icewolf Tribe’s camp.

“My gosh!”

The tribesmen screeched upon noticing the flags fluttering in the night sky.

“The Tangs are here!”

“They are here to get us!”

“Run!!!”

At the outer perimeter of the Icewolf Tribe’s camp, Shu Yichao raised his modao and issued his order, “Kill them!”

Shu Yichao didn’t notice the ping on his minimap at the start. There were plenty of red dots on his map anyway, so he thought he might as well clear all of them.

But it was a different story after someone told him there were pegasi here.

After switching mounts to the wolves, the ghost horsemen were no longer penalized by the snowy terrain. It was normal for them to catch up with the slow-moving Icewolf Tribe.

“Shit!”

The Holywolf Warrior jolted at the sight of the ghost horsemen charging into their midst and slaying her tribesmen.

What should I do?

“Kikiki…”

Sinister snickers echoed as a wave of specters, disguised as snowflakes, fell upon the Icewolf Tribe’s camp. Most tribesmen were torn to pieces before they could react.

The Holywolf Warrior immediately came to a decision.

I need to escape from here!

Watching her Icewolf Cavalrymen being zapped to a crisp by Shu Yichao’s lightning bolts, it dawned upon her that her Icewolf Tribe was doomed. What she should be focusing on now was how to survive this ordeal.

So, she stopped hunting down the traitors and hurriedly mounted a pegasus. The pegasus unfurled its wings and carried her into the night sky.

A cold, biting wind gushed at her face, forming ice crystals on her brows.

“Damn it. Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!” the Holywolf Warrior cursed. “How did things turn out like that? WHY?!”

Bzt!

There was a flash of white light below.

Alarmed, the Holywolf Warrior quickly crushed her talisman, and an energy barrier enveloped her. Thanks to that, she was spared from the tragic fate of being zapped down from the sky.

“That lightning…”

The Holywolf Warrior anxiously turned her head around and found herself faced with a pair of glowing eyes that induced the utmost terror in her.

Shit! He’s on my tail!

“Wuuu!” a miserable neigh could be heard.

The Holywolf Warrior might have been able to get away if she had mounted on an ordinary steed or an icewolf instead. Even though there was a ping on the camp, the Holywolf Warrior herself hadn’t been marked.

On top of that, Shu Yichao was focused on her pegasus.

If she had only strayed away from her tribesmen, Shu Yichao might have turned a blind eye to her. But of all things, she had chosen to escape on a pegasus…

That crossed Shu Yichao’s bottom line.

“Hmph!” Shu Yichao drew his thumb across his neck as he harrumphed. “You brat, where do you think you’re escaping to?”

A ghost horseman led a pegasus over, and Shu Yichao mounted it. The pegasus unfurled its wings and surged straight for the Holywolf Warrior.

Shit, I need to run!

The Holywolf Warrior kicked her pegasus, urging it to move faster. But…

“Wrathful Gale!” Miazova buffed Shu Yichao.

Shoosh!

Shu Yichao suddenly whizzed forward, swiftly catching up with the Holywolf Warrior.

The latter was horrified. All she saw was a shadow before Shu Yichao brought down his modao imbued with cataclysmic lightning down on her.

It shattered her armor, tore through her body, crushed her bones, and burst her heart.

It was a fatal blow!