Bastard

Elon's reason for participating in the expedition? He was obviously tricked by the doctor.

It turns out that the dwarf king banned anyone from entering the western mountains until the spiritual beast was killed. This means that if he wanted to kill a black bear he would have to make use of the expedition.

Furthermore, this was such an obvious scam. Why in the earth would the doctor need a bear's heart?

"Hey blackie. There's something I want to ask," Ugly Bull murmured in Alonn's ear.

"What?"

"Your strenght, do it have relations with that thing back then?" Ugly Bull asked.

'He should be referring to the day I finished forging the great axes,' Alonn thought.

That day Alonn opened the first of the Mortal gates, and it was not a common sight in the eyes of the dwarves since it caused quite a phenomenon.

Alonn thought for a while and said, "Your great axe is really very special, it could be useful for you so treasure it."

"???" U' Bull was confused.

"Don't ask about things that you are not sure you will be able to hear the answer to," Alonn said with a smile and gave Ugly Bull a rabbit leg.

"For now, focus more on what's to come, this expedition is doomed to end with the death of either side," Alonn said as he patted the dwarfs shoulder.

"Damn boy, since when did you learn to talk like a elder?" Ugly Bull asked with a mocking look.

"Why did you always swear like this? You seems like a young thug, although you actually are a rusty dwarf," Alonn mocked back.

"I'm not rusty, I'm only thirty."

"What? And you still don't have a wife?"

"Hey guys, did you think these ballistae will be useful in the mountains?" Elon suddenly asked.

"If they know how to use it, perhaps." Ugly Ox answered.

"Indeed, such a big ballistae need to be wisely positioned."

"Elf warrior, our king desires to see you," suddenly a dwarf with blonde hair and beard approached the group.

"Huh!?" Alonn looked surprised at the dwarf who said that.

"Our King desires to see blackie?" U' Bull and U' Ox looked at each other in surprise.

Alonn thought for a moment and stood up.

"Well, I don't think it would be wise to refuse a king's invitation. Take me to your king," Alonn said.

"Be careful blackie, ou king could be very-" U' Bull was about to say something but was stopped by U' Ox.

"Good luck man, you will need it," Elon said with a bitter smile.

Alonn twisted the corners of his mouth and wondered if he should accept the invitation.

"Your name is blackie? Thats a good name. Come with me, our king is waiting," The goldi- the blond dwarf said as he pushed Alonn away.

"W-Wait, my name isn't blackie and I changed my mind, I won't go."

"I think it's already beyond your control," suddenly other dwarves appeared and surrounded Alonn as they pulled him away.

'Damn, this race is just really damn!' Alonn thought with clenched teeth.

"So you are the elf who is said to have the strenght of a black bear?" The dwarf king said as he looked to Alonn with narrowed eyes.

The elf had been dragged to the northern part of the camp, next to one of the ballistas.

'Are they blind? How can a bear shatter a wolf head with a blow?' Alonn wanted to say but didn't dare.

"It's an exaggeration, I'm only a bit stronger than my peers. I'm honored to meet the dward king!" Alonn said as he bowed forward with a fist on his chest.

"It's good to be humble, but here we value strenght more than anything and I can sense it within you," The dwarf king said with meaningful eyes.

Alonn was silent.

"Do you want to know the reason I called you?" The dwarf king asked.

Alonn nodded.

"Before nightfall the battle plan should be announced to the rest of the expedition warriors, soon we will enter territory know to be the enemy's domain," The dwarf king said and looked to the horizon.

"The enemy is not like a common beast, both in power and in intelligence. The reason the elven expedition failed was the actions of the spiritual beast, rather than just its power. That damn white horned tiger played with them on the mountains, which is it's territory," He said with visible tension.

"We need to outsmart it!" he shouted and looked to Alonn again.

"Do you know? We sent scouts just a few hours ago to collect information in enemy territory but none of them came back!"

"Do you want me to do the job?" Alonn asked directly, he was very pissed with the situation.

"Yes, but you won't be doing it alone. I will be going with you," The dwarf king said as he swinged his war hammer.

Alonn looked at the king from head to toe, wondering where his confidence comes from.

"Are you doubting my strenght?" The king asked with narrowed eyes.

"Impolite elf! Apologize to your majesty immediately!" Some dwarves got furious.

"Sorry for it, I need to know your majesty strenght to make a decision," Alonn said with a frown.

"Heh! It has been a while since someone looked down on me," The king laughed.

Before Alonn could say anything else, he instinctively jumped back using True Qi. He felt an imminent sense of danger.

Indeed, the king was already swinging his war hammer towards the elf.

Bang!

The king's war hammer smashed the ground where Alonn was, creating a crater with two meters of diameter.

Alonn was immediately shocked by the king's strength, he is not sure if he would be able to create a crater on the ground like him.

"Fuck! Is it even possible!?" a dwarf shouted.

"Since when our king has such a strenght!"

"By the gods!"

The watching dwarves were shocked.

"Hahahah! Since you are able to dodge it, I believe you have the qualifications to come with me," The king laughed with scary eyes.

'This dwarf... certainly isn't normal. No matter how much a person trains their own body, no one will get that kind of strength with just physical training,' Alonn thought to himself.

'Could it be, is he a cultivator too?'

"So, you conceited elf, what do you think about my strength?" The king shouted.

"As expected of the dwarf king. All right, I accept your proposal."

"Hahahhaha! It was never meant to be a proposal, it is a order!" The dwarf king patted Alonn's shoulder.

"You must prepare yourself. I am going to have a chat with the captains to take some countermeasures," The dwarf king said and ordered a dwarf official to call the captains.

Alonn then went back to the place where his acquaintances were and said, "It looks like the dwarf king and I will be the new scouts of the expedition."

"What!" The others were extremely surprised.

"What do you mean? How can our bastard king have such a courage!" U' Ox shouted.

"Don't you respect your king?" Elon asked with twiched lips.

"Even if he is our king, he is still a bastard," U' Ox said.

"Why do you guys seems to hate him?" Alonn asked.

"Are you deaf? He is a bastard," U' Ox answered.

"Hah! Do you hate him because he is a bastard?" Elon was confused.

"Yes, a bastard is a bastard after all," U' Bull said as he massaged his beard.

"Do you know it is stupid, right?" Alonn asked with a strange look. It seems that the dwarf culture is really beyond his understanding.

"Are you defending that bastard!?" The U' duo eyes turned red and glowed ghostly.

"What? Someone is defending a bastard or THE bastard?" Some dwarves who were eavesdropping murmured, they were attracted by the constant shouting of the word bastard.

"N-No, what the fuck. I'm just saying this is stupid," Alonn racked his brains.

"You- damn! Has courage then come duel!" U' Ox shouted as he grabbed his great axe.

"Fuck it! I give up," Alonn said and sitted on the ground next to the bonfire.

"See? These guys are just too stupid to understand." Elon said.

"Shut up bowie, you guys are the ones being stupid. How can you defend a bastard!?" U' duo said.

"Okay Okay, just stop shouting 'bastard it bastard that'..." Alonn said and started to check his things.

After a while, Gard came over and said, "The commander, the king, ordered that everyone should start resting while it is possible, he and the elf Alonn will go explore the beast's territory and we shall wait until nightfall. If after nightfall they didn't return, we shall abandon the expedition and go back to the capital."

"Moreover, the task of explaining about the battle plan is handed over to us, the captains," He said with a sigh.

"Wow, there will be a battle plan!?" U' duo exclaimed.

Alonn tried to ignore the rather strange speech of the dwarves and asked, "Captain Gard, I have a question. Are these ballistae really useful?"

"Only if we get the information we need, they need to be wisely positioned. We need you two to get the information about the terrain so that we can come up with a complete battle plan, otherwise we will be depending on numbers," Gard said with a concerned look.

Alonn was silent for a moment before laughing.

"Captain, I thought you wanted fame and glory, don't tell me you are scared?" Alonn asked.

"You... There's no mood for jokes, the king is waiting for you," Gard said and pointed at onde direction.

"Just don't die without putting a fight," Elon said and patted Alonn's shoulder.

"What are you talking about? Blackie is invencible! He will never be hurt by a small beast," U' Ox said and slapped Alonn on the back.

"Shut up! Stop with the death flags!" Alonn shouted with sweat on his forehead. He walked away before he could hear more.

After descending the hill where the camp had been set up, Alonn found the dwarf king with his war hammer.

"Come on boy! I want to know if that beast is still stronger than me," he shouted.

"Still...? Are you implying that you got much stronger than before?" Alonn asked with a meaningful look.

"Cut the crap, aren't you like me? I can somewhat feel you as are strong as me."

"Or maybe stronger..." Alonn murmured.

"If we manage to win against the beast I will give you the answers that I know you trully want," the king said with a smile.

"Really? I shall kill that thing before you take your words back."

"I like your spirit."

The two entered the forest and walked towards the mountains, that were already close and could be seen.

"The western mountains, it has been a while," the dwarf king said as he finally stepped on the rocky terrain outside the forest.

"Then, should we start to search for a place to lure the beast?" Alonn asked, more or less understanding the plan with the ballistae.

"You are smart," The king snorted and pointed to the north.

"That place is where I saw that thing for the first time. We shall go there."

"Wait, what? Shouldn't we avoid that place?" Alonn was surprised.

"Our scouts died even avoiding that place, we must do it differently," the dwarf king explained.

"Well, it seems that the information might be wrong and the beast don't have nocturnal habits," Alonn said with a frown.

"No, the information is reliable," the king shook his head.

"Yeah? Anyway, I will do as you say for now."

The two began to climb the mountain in the direction that the king had pointed. Fortunately, the mountain had regions where it was possible for carriages to pass so the ballistas can still be useful.

"A long time ago this place had a fortress and a gold mine so there's still many places where carriages can pass," the king said as he walked.

"Oh right, didn't you care about me don't talking to you in this way?" Alonn suddenly asked.

"You are polite compared to others bastards," the king said.

'Bastard... What the fuck are their problems with bastards?' Alonn thought.

"In fact, I am really a bastard son. But in this case my father was a builder and my mother... was the queen," the king said

'These guys are hostile to him because his mother has cheated on her husband...' Alonn thought it probably was the reason.

"But how is life! I managed to usurp the throne of my mother's husband and become the new king! Moreover, now I am the one that have bastards sons all over the kingdom!! Hahahhaha."

Alonn widened his eyes in shock and... a strange admiration?

"Not only this! But many of the noble children are in fact my own in secret! Those damn noble guys liked to bully me when I was little, but now I fuck their wife in secret! Hahahhaha!" The dwarf king seemed to like to talk about it.

'Fuck! I understand now! Even I am starting to hate this guy!' Alonn thought with a vein in his forehead.

"You know, my father was killed because of it and I only survived because my mother begged the former king. She suffered many things when I was little," The king clenched his fists.

'It's really okay for you to say it to me? Isn't it a secret story?' Alonn thought but continued listening.

"The reason I became king is not just about my own skill, but my own story. Every single dwarf knows how much I and my mother suffered. Because of it and my charisma I was able to keep my reign stable."

'Oh, it isn't secret. He is just talking to pass time,' Alonn thought a bit disappointed.

"Anyway, elf, can you sense it?" The dwarf king suddenly stopped.

Chill

'This...' Alonn immediately circulated all of his True Qi throughout the body. He could fear the danger just like that time with the wolf.

"I know it..." The dwarf king smiled to Alonn.

Suddenly, Alonn could feel a very familiar aura coming from him.

'This is...!'

"You aren't the only one to know this trick, boy. Prepare for the battle, we are at it's sight."

"Damn, I just wanted to explore the place," Alonn murmured and stood guard.

"We shall continue," the king started to walk again.

"What? Shouldn't we retreat?" Alonn was surprised.

"No! We need to go on! It will atack if we demonstrate weakness. Moreover, it should feel we aren't small fries."

"Tsk, all right," Alonn nodded and started to walk again, while maintaining the circulation of True Qi, his body was ready for battle.

"Pay attention to the terrain, if we manage to return after this battle we will need information," the king said with a tight grip on his war hammer.

"Shouldn't we just think about our own battle first? Actually, if we can't kill it ourselves maybe even with the others it will be impossible," Alonn said with clenched fists.

ROAR!!

Suddenly, a roar came from a cave further north.

"That place should be the abandoned mine, is it telling us to not approach?" the king frowned.

"Probably, or else it wouldn't give us it's own localization," Alonn said with sweat on his back.

"It may be a good thing for us. Now that we know where is it's den, we should try to explore the terrain arround." The king said with a smile

"Wait a bit, didn't you tell me before that the beast was smart? Why did it do it?" Alonn was pluzzed.

"Just as we can feel the danger it poses on us, it may feel the danger we poses on it," the king said with a confident smile.

"Isn't it just your own guess?"

"Come on, shut up and start looking around. Pay attention to your back, black bears might be around."