Chapter 238: A Song For The Beast Slayer

Minutes later, Tera stepped out of her shelter and was immediately met with silence.

The kind of silence that only happened when every single person in the vicinity stopped what they were doing at the exact same time to stare at one person.

The other clan members and wolves who had been milling around the settlement froze. Even the cubs stopped their shrieking long enough to look.

Tera smiled awkwardly and waved. "Hi."

Nobody waved back. They just kept staring.

’Why are they looking at me like that?!’

[Host killed a building-sized corrupted beast yesterday]

[They watched Host turn it into soup]

[(???)]

’I didn’t turn it into soup!’

Tera cleared her throat, about to ask for Calis when the clan members, and multiple wolves descended on her.

It was like a dam breaking. They rushed toward her with questions and compliments tumbling over each other, and Tera found herself surrounded by beasts who were looking at her with an intensity that made her want to dig a hole and bury herself there.

"Tera! How did you do that?!"

"You barely got hurt!"

"That thing was HUGE, and you turned it into NOTHING!"

"My cub has not stopped talking about you since we got back! He keeps pretending to fight invisible beasts!"

A male who had clearly been rehearsing a speech puffed out his chest. "Leader Tera, I want you to know that I have always believed in your strength, even from the very beginning—"

"You cried when the beast came out of the water," another male interrupted flatly.

"I was sweating from my eyes!"

Tera pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing.

When the wolves hounded her, it was somehow worse. They were the ones who mostly looked like she had descended from the heavens.

"SHE IS HERE!"

"Leader Tera has come!"

"You buried it under a mountain!"

"The ground shook when you did it!"

"I have never seen a beast killed like that! Not even the strongest alpha could do what you did! And you did it alone!"

"How is it possible that only your arm was hurt?! That thing was throwing its burning blood everywhere, and you kept moving like it was nothing!"

"I could not even follow you with my eyes near the end! You were too fast!"

One wolf dropped to one knee. "I have composed a song about your victory. Would you like to hear it?"

’HOLD ON A FUCKING MINUTE. THEY CAN SING?!’

[Beasts have voices]

’You know that’s not what I’m talking about!’

{PervyGoddess is side-eyeing the system}

[( ?°?°) !!]

The wolf opened his mouth, and Tera straightened. "Please do not—"

He started singing.

It was terrible.

The melody was off-key, the rhythm was nonexistent, and the lyrics rhymed "Tera" with "terror" approximately six times. A few nearby wolves winced but said nothing out of respect for the singer’s enthusiasm.

Some were nodding their heads approvingly.

{BeastWorldAddict is laughing hysterically}

{PervyGoddess pisses herself from laughing too much}

[(?0?)!!]

Tera’s eyes bulged, and it wasn’t because of the singing wolf.

These higher dimensional beings do not freaking feel higher dimensional at all!

Tera stood there with a frozen smile while the wolf belted out verse after verse about the "warrior who made the earth drink the beast’s blood."

{BeastWorldAddict is dying of laughter}

{PervyGoddess rates the song 2 out of 10}

When the song finally ended, the wolf looked at her expectantly.

"That was... something," Tera managed.

The wolf beamed as if she had given him the highest praise of his life.

Then the elders appeared, and Tera’s discomfort reached new heights.

They shuffled their feet, and the way they scrambled to Tera reminded her of how children raced to be the first to reach their teacher.

One reached her first and immediately produced a folded hide from behind his back. It was clearly the nicest fur he owned.

He held it out with both hands.

Then he fumbled it.

The hide slipped from his fingers and hit the ground. He snatched it up, dusted it off with frantic hands, and held it out again. His face had turned a shade of red Tera didn’t know beast-folk could achieve.

"For you," he said stiffly. "As thanks."

The second elder, who had arrived half a step behind, shoved past him and held out a neatly braided cord with small carved bone beads strung along it.

"I made this," the second elder announced, slightly out of breath from the scramble. "It took me all night."

The first elder shot him a venomous look. "I was here first!"

"Your gift fell on the ground!"

"It SLIPPED!"

The third elder, who was the oldest of the group and had clearly lost the foot race, arrived wheezing and empty-handed. He looked between the other two, then at Tera, and bowed so low and so suddenly that his back audibly cracked.

"OW!" He straightened up with a wince and tried to bow again, slower this time.

’What is happening?!’

[This system believes Host has secured their undying devotion]

[And fear]

[(⊙?⊙)]

’Fear?!’

[The elders witnessed Host pulverise a corrupted beast into an unrecognisable state and then continue pulverising it well after it was dead]

[This system believes they have reassessed their position regarding Host]

[Significantly]

[(???)]

Tera looked at the elders, who were now standing in a line and watching her with expressions that hovered somewhere between deep respect and the careful attentiveness of males who did not want to be on her bad side.

’Hehehehe. Okay, I like this.’

[(?????")° ° °]

[Host is taking delight in their fear?]

’Most definitely.’

Tera accepted both gifts with as much grace as she could manage and thanked the elders, who nodded vigorously before retreating. The same elder bowed again on the way out, caught himself before his back cracked a second time, and settled for a stiff nod instead.

Tera felt like a celebrity, except this celebrity status was already becoming too overbearing. Her clan members were mostly sweet to her, but Tera wished they could give her some breathing space.

But as she scanned the heads, she didn’t see Calis.

It worried her.

"Where is Calis?" she asked a nearby wolf.