End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1005

Chapter 1005: Bonfire Banquet

They could absolutely fight the Golden Beastmen over the ruling power if they appeared in the Raging Flame Plane. Destabilizing the Golden Beastmen’s power would be a very easy matter.

The thing was that on the way, Lin Yun estimated that there were about twenty thousand Beastmen in the tribe.

That number was too small. The weakest tribe of the Raging Flame Plane had over a hundred thousand Beastmen.

The number of high-ranked powerhouses could match the Golden Beastmen, but there were too few of them overall. If they were in the Raging Flame Plane, they would at best pose a challenge to the Golden Beastmen’s rule, but they wouldn’t be able to take over the ruling status.

But even if they only had about twenty thousand Beastmen, they would be able to easily sweep the floor with the twenty-seven humans and three non-humans.

They were invited to the square, and the fragrance of barbecue wafted in. The tall Great Tribal Chief walked over with large strides, laughing heartily.

“So you are the heroes who saved our tribe’s brave warriors? Your valor already obtained our tribe’s friendship. We are conducting a Bonfire Banquet in your honor to welcome your arrival!”

The Great Tribal Chief’s voice loudly echoed like thunder. His voice was so loud that there was no need to use magic to amplify it.

Following his words, the Beastmen on the square raised their hands in a cheer. Furthermore, groups of strong female Beastmen carried 1-meter-tall jugs of wine over.

The humans were almost all mages, so their faces turned slightly green when they saw those wine jars that were big enough for them to bathe in, but they couldn’t decline now.

The Bonfire Banquet was a Beastman tradition. It would only be conducted when they welcomed some noble guests or for important celebrations. The three Heaven Rank powerhouses appearing together immediately raised the standard of that welcoming ceremony. If they refused the alcohol, it would be like spitting on their faces, and it might even make them hostile.

The group was led over to sit next to the bonfires. Dedale was unwilling to pass his responsibility to any others, so he was led to sit by the Great Tribal Chief. Dedale’s face turned slightly green as he looked at the hunk of barbecued meat as thick as his waist, as well as the blood dripping from the meat.

A loud sound echoed as a 1.5-meter-tall wine jar was put in front of Dedale. The Great Tribal Chief burst into a loud peal of laughter, picked up his enormous slab of roasted meat, and tore a big mouthful from it. Thin rivulets of blood dripped down his cheek as ate more than half of the meat in just seconds. He then picked up the huge wine jar in front of him and drank half of it.

“Friends, don’t be polite. Sharing good wine and meat is something we should do for a friend of our tribe.”

The mages all had greenish complexions as they looked at the portions of wine. And the half-cooked roasted meat still dripping blood made them sweat. Even the puppet was treated as a guest, so it had a pile of roasted meat and a wine jar was in front of it.

Lin Yun sat at Dedale’s side, feeling himself start to sweat. He secretly glanced at Dedale and saw that particularly large wine jar, as well as the 15 kilograms of half-cooked meat… And Lin Yun’s eyes seemed to be grinning.

Fortunately, Dedale had been leading for the past few days…

Lin Yun calmly used a knife to cut a slice of barbecue and then passed the rest to Xiuban and glared at him.

Xiuban was beaming with joy as he ate the meat covered in fat and blood and drank the dozens of liters of wine.

Next to Lin Yun, Dedale was a bit pale as he ate a bit of the meat and took a sip of the spicy drink before promptly shifting the topic.

“Sir Great Tribal Chief, you have been living here for so long… Do you know what’s going on with all the Undead on the prairie?”

As Dedale started inquiring about the Undead, the rest of the group tried to listen. They came to this tribe mostly because they wanted to ask about this. The group had almost been surrounded and killed, so how could they not want to get more information?

These Beastmen seemed to have been living here for a very long time, so they definitely had a good understanding of those Undead creatures. They might even know many secrets.

But as the Great Tribal Chief heard Dedale’s question, he seemed to be at a loss.

“The Undead? What Undead? You met some? Damnit, don’t tell me a Necromancer appeared!

Dedale frowned, feeling like this Great Tribal Chief was tricking him.

“It’s not a Necromancer, but a big group of the Undead, just like a tide. They have huge numbers, and they chased us into this canyon.”

The Great Tribal Chief shook his head, a trace of doubt still visible on his face.

“An Undead army? Impossible, we have been living here for such a long time and have yet to hear about any of the Undead here, let alone an army…”

Dedale didn’t understand why the Great Tribal Chief would lie to him, but it was such an easy lie so easy to see through. They had been living here for a long time, so how could they not have seen any of those Undead creatures?

“There really is an Undead army, and it numbers in the several hundreds of thousands. Moreover, they are all Undead Beastmen, as well as Undead Wolf Riders and Skeletal Wyverns…”

Dedale had yet to finish his words when the Great Tribal Chief suddenly interrupted him and looked at him in an unfriendly way. “My friend, you obtained the friendship of our tribe by saving our tribe’s warriors, so we welcomed you in and entertained you as guests… How could you talk nonsense and blaspheme our Beastmen?

“We, the Beastmen, can’t turn into filthy the Undead. Under the protection of the great Beast Gods, the souls of all dying Beastmen only have two places to return to. One is to turn into an Ancestor Soul to guard the tribe, while the other is to return to the embrace of the earth. We definitely can’t turn into the Undead. Don’t even speak of an army of them…”

The Great Tribal Chief put down the roasted meat, apparently unwilling to budge.

Dedale’s expression became unpleasant, and he wanted to insist that he had met the Undead army…

“Sir Great Tribal Chief, I’m not blaspheming your clansmen. In fact-”

Dedale, as the leader of the Burning Tower, was now considered the leader of this group, so he couldn’t let others doubt him.

But the expression of the Great Tribal Chief sank as Dedale kept talking.

Lin Yun frowned. ‘That guy doesn’t understand the situation. Talking about Undead Beastmen in front of Beastmen… Isn’t that just asking for trouble? Moreover, it doesn’t look like that Great Tribal Chief is lying.’

“Sir Great Tribal Chief, what kind of meat did you use for this roasted meat? And this wine, it’s so spicy. I suppose that the brewing process isn’t that easy?” Lin Yun suddenly interrupted Dedale’s question and hurriedly shifted the direction of the conversation.

Letting Dedale ask again would definitely turn the situation sour.

Dedale frowned as he looked at Lin Yun, but he noticed Lin Yun’s signal and looked around at everyone. Whether it was the Beastmen or the humans, the atmosphere had frozen. Although he was unwilling, Dedale didn’t keep mentioning the matter of the Undead.

The Great Tribal Chief proudly laughed when he heard Lin Yun’s question.

“This is the meat of the Three-Horned Oxen that we are breeding. It tastes pretty good, eh? It has enough energy and is chewy enough. Moreover, this wine, hehe, I personally improved the brewing recipe. This is a wine for true males, it is powerful!”

The Great Tribal Chief smiled with delight as he bragged. Apparently, brewing this kind of spicy wine was a bigger achievement to him than advancing to the Heaven Rank.

He forgot about the matter of the Undead Beastmen in an instant, and the mood suddenly recovered.

The bonfire banquet continued for four hours. The Beastmen were singing and dancing, and the atmosphere was very good. Some Beastmen even held totems as they fought in the square to liven things up.

The humans didn’t obtain the answer they’d wanted and were somewhat absent-minded. Even Lin Yun was baffled.

He observed the buildings of this Beastman Tribe, and from the wear and tear, noticed that many of the buildings had existed for over a millennium. Furthermore, the tall fence surrounding the tribe was at least two or three millennia old.

These Beastmen had no concept of Planar Paths and planes. When added to the scattered pieces of information he had obtained on the way back, he was certain that these Beastmen had been living here for millennia.

After such a long time, how could they have not seen that army of Undead Beastmen, or not even know of the existence of the Undead?

But after observing for a while, Lin Yun could see that the Great Tribal Chief hadn’t been lying. He had certainly been at a loss when he heard about the Undeads, and he had truly been unhappy when Undead Beastmen were mentioned. There wasn’t been a single flaw, so Lin Yun judged that he really didn’t know about the army of Undead Beastmen.

There had to be something wrong there…

Lin Yun was doubtful, while Dedale was bewildered, utterly confused.

After the end of the banquet, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. They were all noble guests of the Beastmen, and their resting space was naturally arranged in one of those hundred-meter-tall buildings.

After a routine meditation, Lin Yun was about to take out his Book of Mantras to keep studying the incantations within, when he suddenly got an ominous feeling.

He promptly walked to the window and looked outside, only to see a scene that shocked him to the core.

The building they had been residing in had less than twenty floors, and they were occupying the 15th floor. At this height, they could directly see what was happening outside the tribe.

The tribe was situated on the edge of a mountain range, very close to the endless prairie, and from there, they could see everything within the boundless prairie.

Under the moonlight, Lin Yun’s eyes suddenly widened as he saw that the prairie outside the tribe was filled with Undead Beastmen.

It looked like an ant colony, and Kodos could be seen among them, glaringly standing out. There was also a large group of Skeletal Wyverns circling in the air.

Moreover, many of the Undead were entering the mountain range and unconsciously walking around before slowly approaching the tribe.

The large group of the Undead walking around looked like a huge group of patrolling soldiers, tirelessly investigating every corner.

Lin Yun was alarmed by the appearance of the Undead army. He wanted to wake up the others, but after turning his head, he noticed that the windows on both sides were already opened and that the others were already watching the Undead from those windows.