Ultragene Warlord

d.
The golden mammoth raised his sword and shouted, ”Come at me if you dare! ”

The wolves were too frightened of this warrior to take the offensive.
As the golden mammoth headed back to the mammoth herd, none of the wolves dared to bar his way.

The mammoth returned the child to his mother, who sobbed as she thanked him profusely.

Just as the golden mammoth relaxed, the leader of the wolf pack suddenly pounced toward the mammoth in a blur of white, fast as lightning.

The mammoth mother ’s eyes opened wide as she shouted, ”Be careful! ”

The golden mammoth, who was still focused on the herd, never noticed the attack from behind.

Just then, a beam of white light split the sky and landed straight on the leader of the wolf pack, causing his attack to miss the golden mammoth.

Realizing that he had been foiled, the wolf leader immediately pulled away, howled into the air, and scurried off with his pack.

Upon seeing the wolves leave for good, the golden mammoth breathed out in relief.
He looked up at where the beam of light had come from, but there was no one in sight.
Even so, he bowed deeply to express heartfelt gratitude.

After that incident, the mammoth herd finally united in strength once more.

After one final day ’s worth of walking, the mammoth herd finally reached the shelter that the former herdleader had set up.

The elder pointed at the valley in front of them.
”It ’s right there. ”

Amidst wind and snow, the mammoths could see a thin, narrow path snaking down into the valley.
Many of the mammoths began to cry and weep.
After a hellish week, they had finally made it to their destination.

Just then, the howl of wolves caused the snow all around them to tremble.
The wolf packs appeared once again.
The golden mammoth shouted, ”Defensive formation, now! ”

It was only then that he realized how many other shadows had been hidden by the snow—not just the wolves, but also all sorts of other lifeforms.

”This is— ” The golden mammoth turned pale.
There were far more than wolves lying in wait for them.
It was hard enough for the mammoths to defend against the wolves alone.
If they had to defend against other predators simultaneously…

More and more shadows appeared from a distance.
From above, it was clear that a massive group of lifeforms was converging on the mammoths ’ location.

The mammoth herd felt an overwhelming sense of weakness and despair, so much so that even the path to shelter, to their new home, had turned hazy.
What covered and blinded their eyes wasn ’t snow, but tears.
For what had they worked so hard?

The elder glared at the surrounding lifeforms.
”It looks like they aren ’t going to forgive us! ”

Genetic lifeforms were hardly devoid of intelligence.
In truth, the strongest lifeforms, superior-grade and above, possessed intelligence on par with humans.
Some peak-grade lifeforms even boasted human-surpassing intelligence, such as the leader of the wolf pack.

Knowing that he wouldn ’t be able to deal with the mammoth herd himself, he immediately sought out the other lifeforms around with an offer of collaboration.

There were already a large number of lifeforms paying attention to the mammoths ’ movements, and the strongest among them quickly accepted the wolf pack ’s offer.

By then, the golden mammoth had come to a conclusion.
”All warriors, give up on defense! Carry the young and elderly on your backs and head straight for shelter! ”

If they were to stay and defend against the overwhelming number of lifeforms that surrounded them, everyone would die.
If they managed to make it into the valley, however, they might have a fighting chance.

There was only one path into the valley, and it was surrounded by tall, unscalable walls.
As long as someone could defend this path, the mammoth tribe might yet survive.
The golden mammoth was confident that he would be able to do so.