Chapter 136 - The Strong and the Weak!
There are three monster lairs in this world called the 'Unexplored Regions': The Dungeon, the Great Tree Sea, and the Dragon Valley, commonly known as the three great unexplored regions of the world.
Bete was born in the northern part of the continent, to the leader of a clan of Werewolves, a beastkin tribe that lived by hunting.
However, on a golden moonlit night, the clan of werewolves to which Bete belonged was destroyed.
The 'monsters' that suddenly appeared on the plains killed everyone.
The monsters that descended from the Dragon Valley at the northernmost part of the continent that night taught Bete what 'strong' meant.
The monstrous beast that brought the calamity stretched out its heavy wings, and its scales deflected all the wolves' attacks.
His powerful parents were smashed into pieces, his lovely sister was crushed, and his beautiful childhood sweetheart was bitten into pieces.
That day, Bete lost everything.
The simple truth of the survival of the fittest changed Bete from the inside out.
The strong can plunder everything, while the weak don't even have the right to live.
Realizing that he was also a weakling, Bete came to Orario, joined the Vidar Familia, polished his claws and fangs, and was determined to become a 'strongman'.
There was a huge scar on the left side of his face, a 'gift' from the monster he considered strong.
Bete left this symbol on his face to warn himself of his weakness at all times.
As the tattooist carved the design, Bete laughed at the sight of the lightning tattoo extending from his eyebrows down to his cheeks.
Because it actually looked like the 'fangs' he had been looking forward to.
This is the 'Wolf's Fang', a fusion of his desire for strength and a symbol of weakness.
"Half a year ago, I left Orario and returned to the plains where I was born," Bete drank his drink and told Luke the reason why he disappeared for half a year.
Luke knew that since Bete could sit here and drink with him, it meant that he had completed his revenge.
Bete had surpassed the monster he previously considered strong, and he firmly believed that he was on the way to becoming stronger.
The former strongman had become a stepping stone for him.
Bete, who had cut off the past and completed his revenge, returned to Orario.
However, just as he was about to move towards a bright future, what Bete saw when he returned to the Familia base was crying Familia members, the vice captain who had given up hope, and god Vidar who apologized to him.
…
Bete abandoned them, Bete had to abandon them.
The day Vidar Familia left Orario, Bete didn't even go to see them for the last time.
A werewolf who was already on the path of becoming strong would absolutely never recognize these wastrels who chose to give up.
Bete would never be defeated by the 'strong'.
Even if he was seriously injured, lost everything, and fell into despair, he would roar and keep moving forward.
He vowed to take revenge and successfully tore apart the flesh and blood of the being he considered strong.
However, in the end, it was the 'weak' who defeated Bete.
"I hate the weak."
"The sight of the weak and incompetent makes me angry."
"Hearing their cries makes me unhappy."
"If you're going to give up, if you're so weak that you can't fight back, then don't get in my way."
"The weak should not be on the battlefield! The weak woman should stay home! Weigh yourself! Your crying is annoying! It only makes me angry!"
Bete kept roaring.
Perhaps because he knew that Luke was different from those wastes who chose to give up, or perhaps because Luke was his only remaining friend in Orario.
With the help of alcohol, Bete vented the anger and unwillingness that he had accumulated over the past few days.
"I hate the weak, and I hate weak women even more."
"Do you want to join my Familia?"
Luke, who had been listening quietly to Bete's roar, invited him.
"Ha, I admit that you are very strong, but are all the members of your Familia as strong as you?"
However, Luke's invitation made Bete laugh.
"How many wastrels who can't do anything without the protection of the strong are there in your Familia?"
"I know that I can't beat you. In the past few years, as you have become stronger and stronger, the gap between us has become so large that I can't even estimate it."
"However, how many strong people like you are there?"
Bete saw Finn and the others following Luke at the beginning.
However, Bete didn't know them; he just thought that these people were Familia members brought by Luke.
Bete, who had always been working towards the goal of becoming stronger, knew even less about this city than Luke.
Although he had heard of the great reputations of Finn and the others, he had never met them, nor had he ever paid attention to them.
He finished the honey mead in his cup in one gulp.
Bete seemed to want to prove to Luke that what he said was right.
He gave in to his impulse, and his whole body turned into a silver lightning bolt, charging towards Finn and the others who were drinking next to him.
Bete, who was already a little drunk, didn't think about the consequences at all.
His full-force attack almost instantly appeared beside Gareth.
This fierce blow had completely surpassed the level of Lv3.
Even an ordinary Lv4 adventurer couldn't receive it.
Bang——!
Naturally, Bete flew out backwards.
The dwarf warrior just waved his hand lightly and sent him flying.
"You're wasting such a good drink. Be quiet, kid."
Gareth stood up and looked down at Bete who had a dumbfounded expression.
"Don't be too arrogant. You are also a weakling."
Faced with the real 'strong', Bete laughed.
He roared and charged again.
No matter how many times he fell to the ground, Bete would crawl up again without any discouragement.
However, the dwarf warrior who fought with him, 'Elgarm' Gareth Landlock, was a real monster.
Gareth stood still, holding a wine glass in one hand and suppressing Bete with only the other hand.
The huge gap completely crushed the last bit of Bete's strong self-confidence.
In the end, Bete fell miserably in front of Gareth.
He had exhausted his physical strength and couldn't get up.
'Ha, there really is such a thing. People who are so strong that it's outrageous.'
'Not one or two, but so many, right in front of me.'
Bete lay on the ground, tasting the humiliation called 'failure' for the first time in a long time.
Shaking with anger, he was also extremely glad that he had met so many strong people.
In the surprised eyes of Finn and the others.
Bete roared again.
He once again shed his identity as the strong and let out a roar that belonged exclusively to the weak.
His immobile body was driven by his will, and Bete got up once again and charged forward.
The brave and intelligent leader, the extraordinary mage, the powerful warrior, and the friend who grew rapidly and left him far behind.
They would never misunderstand the definition of strength and weakness.
More importantly, they were a group of people who would definitely not let the 'weak' stagnate.
If it was them, maybe...
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