Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 166: Chapter 166: Ancient subterranean mimic species

Scouts had followed every sign.

Hunters had searched the eastern routes.

Nerin had found carved markers.

Then nothing.

No camp.

No bodies.

No scent trail strong enough to follow.

They had vanished.

Now?

One simply walked up to the gate.

How convenient.

Swanly’s tail became rigid behind her.

Soren spoke first.

"Stop there."

The wounded male stopped.

His breathing looked labored.

"We mean no harm."

Raku’s heavy eyes narrowed.

"Nobody said you did."

The male swallowed.

"My name is Harek."

Soren’s face remained blank.

"I did not ask your name."

Swanly almost smiled.

Cold bastard.

Harek’s expression tightened.

"My people are refugees."

Soren’s silver pupils narrowed.

"From where?"

"The northern lowlands."

"What tribe?"

Harek hesitated.

Tiny.

Almost nothing.

Swanly caught it.

So did Soren.

"Grayfen."

Arion stood several steps away among the warriors.

His brows pulled together.

"I have never heard of it."

Harek looked toward him.

"Many tribes have disappeared since the Rot."

True.

Too true.

Harek lowered his head.

"We have lost our homes."

Behind him, the males among the trees shifted.

"We have lost our food."

Another step.

"Our children."

Swanly watched.

No female.

Her eyes narrowed.

Not one.

There were at least twenty males visible now.

Different supposed animal traits.

Wolf ears.

Boar tusks.

A spotted feline tail.

One looked vaguely deer-like.

But no females.

No children either.

Nothing that suggested a fleeing people.

No bundles.

No elderly.

No injured being carried.

No mothers clutching babies.

Just fighting-aged males.

Swanly had learned something in this world.

A group without females could exist.

Of course.

Hunters.

War parties.

Scouts.

But a group claiming to be an entire refugee population?

No women?

No children?

No old?

Bullshit.

Kael leaned closer.

"You noticed."

"Not one female."

His golden eyes hardened.

Harek continued.

"The infected have spread farther north."

That part Swanly believed.

Hunters had reported larger groups in distant areas.

More aggressive infected too.

"We need shelter."

Soren answered instantly.

"No."

Harek blinked.

"We only ask for somewhere safe."

"No."

"We have injured."

"No."

"You have food."

Soren’s expression became colder.

"That is not your concern."

Harek’s jaw tightened.

"We are beastmen."

"So are many corpses outside these walls."

Swanly almost winced.

Brutal.

But correct.

Something moved behind the settlement.

Heavy.

Druun.

The giant had heard the horn.

He approached slowly at first.

Then stopped.

His head lifted.

He smelled the air.

Everything about him changed.

His lips pulled back.

A sound came from his chest.

Low.

Wrong.

Swanly turned.

Druun stared straight at Harek.

Then roared.

The sound blasted across Ironwood.

Harek staggered backward.

Several supposed refugees reached for weapons.

Soren’s tail slammed once.

Ironwood’s archers raised their bows.

Thirty arrowheads pointed down.

Harek immediately lifted both hands.

"Peace!"

Druun surged forward.

"BOUND!"

The word thundered from him.

Then he slammed one giant hand against the earth.

Harek’s face changed.

Not confusion.

Recognition.

His eyes widened.

"You..."

Druun growled.

Harek stared upward.

Then whispered:

"The Bound One."

Silence.

Swanly’s blood chilled.

Raku slowly turned.

Nerin, farther along the wall, went completely still.

Kael’s claws extended.

Soren’s gaze sharpened.

Swanly called silently:

System.

The fairy appeared.

No snack this time.

Scan him.

Golden light flashed.

{Scanning.}

The system went quiet.

Too quiet.

Then:

{Host.}

What?

{These are not beastmen.}

Swanly’s heart stopped.

What are they?

Lines flashed.

{Species: Veilkin.}

{Classification: Ancient subterranean mimic species.}

Swanly stared at Harek.

He still looked like a wounded beastman.

{Primary ability: physical imitation.}

{Veilkin can alter external appearance, scent signature, ears, tails, claws and certain superficial characteristics to resemble beast races they have observed.}

Her skin crawled.

So that wolf isn’t a wolf.

{Correct.}

The boar?

{Not a boar.}

None of them?

{Probability of genuine beastmen among visible group: extremely low.}

Fuck.

The system scanned farther.

Then stopped.

Its tiny face changed.

{Oh-oh.}

Swanly went cold.

What?

The fairy smiled awkwardly.

{Nothing.}

What do you mean, OH-OH?

{Technically...}

SYSTEM.

{Remember the boundary ritual?}

Yes.

{Remember when I explained that ancient outsiders cannot cross land claimed by a recognized settlement without permission?}

YES.

The fairy pressed its tiny fingers together.

{There are exceptions.}

Swanly’s eye twitched.

What exceptions?

{Creatures whose natural movement occurs beneath recognized surface boundaries may bypass certain forms of territorial restriction if they locate a sufficiently deep unclaimed passage.}

Swanly stared.

Then looked down.

At the ground.

Then back at the Veilkin.

You are telling me they can dig underneath us.

{Potentially.}

YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THAT?

{I did not forget!}

YOU ABSOLUTELY FORGOT.

{The probability was extremely low!}

THEY ARE STANDING AT MY FUCKING GATE.

{Yes. That has increased the probability.}

Swanly wanted to strangle her.

How deep?

{Unknown.}

Can they enter?

{If powerful enough and if they find a weakness below Ironwood’s claimed layer... yes.}

Swanly’s face went murderous.

The system slowly drifted backward.

{Should I go?}

Do not move.

The fairy stopped.

I am going to deal with you later.

{That sounds threatening.}

It is.

Swanly stepped closer to Soren.

She leaned toward him.

"They aren’t beastmen."

His expression did not change.

Only his pupils narrowed.

"What?"

"Not here."

His gaze remained outside.

She whispered everything quickly.

Mimics.

Underground.

Possible boundary weakness.

Soren listened.

No panic.

No visible reaction.

That was why he led them.

When she finished, his tail moved once.

Raku saw it.

Immediately understood something had changed.

Soren looked down at Harek.

"We do not accept you."

Harek’s face tightened.

"You have not even checked whether our people are infected."

"No."

"We can prove we are clean."

"No."

"We need refuge."

"No."

Harek’s desperation sharpened.

"You would leave innocent beastmen outside to die?"

Swanly stepped forward.

"You keep saying beastmen."

His eyes found hers.

Her ears lowered.

"What animals are the women in your group?"

Silence.

Harek blinked.

Swanly smiled.

"Where are they?"

No answer.

"Children?"

Nothing.

"Elders?"

His jaw tightened.

"We sent the strongest ahead."

"All of you?"

"We needed to locate shelter first."

"How fortunate."

Swanly leaned slightly over the wall.

"And where are the others?"

A male in the trees hissed.

Harek lifted his hand.

The sound stopped.

Swanly noticed.

Organized.

Very organized.

Soren’s voice cut through the silence.

"Leave."

Harek looked at him.

"We cannot."

"Then remain outside."

"You have space."

"Yes."

"Food."

"Yes."

"Water."

"Yes."

"Females."

Every male on Ironwood’s wall changed.

Kael’s growl ripped out.

Raku’s claws tightened.

Arion’s amber eyes darkened.

Nerin’s ears flattened.

Soren became completely still.

Harek realized the mistake.

Too late.

Soren smiled.

Not warmly.

"You should choose your next words very carefully."

Harek swallowed.

"We only meant families."

"No," Swanly said quietly.

"You didn’t."

Every bowstring tightened.

Harek lifted his hands.

"We came peacefully."

"Then leave peacefully," Raku said.

Nobody outside moved.

Soren raised one hand.

Every Ironwood archer drew.

The sound was terrifying.

Dozens of strings pulling at once.

Harek stared upward.

Soren’s voice became absolute.

"You will not enter Ironwood."

Behind Harek, several Veilkin shifted.

One male stepped forward.

"What if we refuse?"

Raku’s huge tail slammed into the wooden platform.

"Then we find out whether your head looks as convincing without your body."

Silence.

Harek lifted his arm.

The others stopped.

"We will wait."

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

"Outside my boundary."

"We have nowhere else."

"That is not my problem."

Harek turned.

The supposed refugees withdrew toward the trees.

Not far.

They remained visible.

Waiting.

Watching.

Swanly’s stomach churned.

Druun continued growling.

And as Harek disappeared into the shadows, he looked back once.

Straight at the giant.

"The Bound One."

Druun roared again.

Whatever those creatures were...

They knew exactly what Druun was.

...

The disturbance at the gate did one useful thing.

It pulled almost everyone’s attention west.

Selka noticed immediately.

Her guards were whispering.

"More outsiders?"

"They say refugees."

"Leader refused them."

Selka slowly sat upright inside the cave.

Her heart started pounding.

This was it.

The people Brea had contacted.

They had finally come.

Her hand moved over her swollen stomach.

Six months had made her pregnancy impossible to hide.

It had also made confinement unbearable.

Every day.

Same cave.

Same bars.

Same guards.

Same fucking faces.

She stood.

Then someone appeared beyond the outer bend.

Brea.

The spotted hyena female carried a water basket.

Her eyes met Selka’s.

Once.

That was enough.

Selka’s pulse exploded.

Brea approached the nearest guard.

"Water."

He barely looked at her.

"Leave it."

Brea lowered the basket.

Her hand slipped inside.

Then:

PUFF!

A cloud of crushed sleep-root powder exploded directly into the guard’s face.

He inhaled.

His eyes widened.

"What the..."

He dropped.

THUD.

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