Prime Originator

Words filled gratitude were expressed to Lumi from across the battlefield.

Although [Banshee Scream] only allowed her to stop the Bone Army from moving for a few seconds, this was more than enough time for the warriors to cut down the enemies before them and take a breather.

The hours of intense battle have left them sweating, tired, and wounded. Lumi's help was the break they needed to continue soldiering on for a bit longer without retreating and recuperating. 

"Looks like you got yourself some reinforcements, but no matter. One rouge Banshee is not enough to save you pitiful humans from your inescapable fates! You will only get weaker while we grow stronger!" A Bone King sneered.

Chief Valencia refused to comment, but her eyes grew brighter as she fought the 7 Bone Kings. It was an unexpected windfall to receive help from a Banshee.

It was known that Banshees or vengeful spirits, in general, had never been fond of living beings. Although they were once human and regain parts of their memories as they grow stronger, their nature was changed after death.

As such, it was very rare to find a Banshee willing to assist humans. In fact, it was the first time she heard of one. Clearly, this Banshee was not simple.

Nevertheless, Chief Valencia did not have time to ponder too deeply as she was kept busy by the 7 Bone Kings she was fighting.

The 7 Bone Kings were only Lesser Demons, but they were quite troublesome to deal with, even for a Battle Master like her. 

Although she could suppress them with her unrivaled strength and slay them numerous times, they continued to revive without fail. Not only that, they did not get any weaker but also become stronger instead. 

On another part of the battlefield, Leon bulldozed his way through the army of undead with Lumi's help and managed to join up with the other warriors on the other side. 

The warriors were immediately surprised by Leon's small build and young age, but none of that really mattered. What they respected was strength, and strength was something they had witnessed from Leon. 

"This Little Brother, you are very strong! Which great tribe do you hail from?" A Great Warrior approached amicably, but it was hard to determine this from his fearsome expression when he cut down the enemies ferociously.

"I don't belong to any tribe," Leon answered as he blew another several dozen Bone Soldiers with his bone spear.

Although it might draw some suspicion, it was easier to say he was alone than to say he was affiliated to one. If these tribesmen were really committed to doing some digging, they would eventually find out his lie. 

"Hahaha, is that so? How about joining our tribe? We can use a Great Warrior of your caliber." The Great Warrior offered. 

"I'll think about it." 

Leon rejected indirectly. He gave off the impression that he was used to the vagabond life outside of tribes.

"Hahaha, take your time thinking. There's no hurry, no hurry…" The Great Warrior laughed it off lightheartedly. 

He did not see anything wrong with the person's reply. Vagabonds were all like this. Although there were not that many of them, there were indeed quite a few warriors that chose the vagabond life to avoid responsibilities and commitments to their tribes.

"It's rare to still see someone like you come and aid us in our times of trouble," Ironhead interjected into their conversations. 

Vagabonds were usually selfish people who engage in banditry or had been exiled from their tribe for felonies they committed. In short, vagabonds were generally not good people. 

"As a fellow human, I naturally cannot standby and watch you all fight alone. It is times like these that humans should be united more than ever. If the Darkmoon Tribe falls, it would also implicate the other tribes and people of the plains." 

"Hahaha, well said! It's great that there is still someone like you out there. We never expected any help from others, to begin with. It is already a great blessing that they don't come and kick us when we are down. What is your name, Little Brother? Just for those words, I—Piss off!"

The Great Warrior suddenly roared after being interrupted by the undead and swatted them all away with a hefty swing of his giant club.

"Ahem, sorry about that. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Even if you decide not to join our Darkmoon Tribe later, you will still be regarded as a friend of I, Strongarm."

"And I, Ironhead." 

Great Warrior Ironhead added with a look of admiration when he glanced at Leon. The relationship between the human tribes in the Infertile Plains was not harmonious at all. 

"Whether we be friends or not, we can worry about that after overcoming this Bone Calamity. My name is…" Leon gave it some thought before he said, "Leonhardt." 

"Leonhardt… Strong and brave. It's a good name!" Great Warrior Strongarm praised. He found the name uncommon, but it was a warrior's name, nonetheless.

Leon was slightly surprised that the person could faintly guess the meanings behind the name. This person was rather educated and not just a muscle head. 

Some distance away, Lumi was making a funny gagging gesture at Leon to express her distaste. How could he keep lying with such a straight face? 

But after Leon directed her a warning gaze, she simply poked her tongue at him before going back to blowing her whistle to stun the enemy.

At the same time, the two Great Warriors were busy sweeping out the undead mobs and did not notice the little exchange between Leon and Lumi.

Nevertheless, they were full of respect and admiration for Leon and Lumi. 

With these two on their side, the Darkmoon Tribe was having an easier time overcoming the Bone Calamity. Although most of the contributions came from Lumi, Leon's efforts could not be ignored either. 

There were myriads of questions they wanted to ask like how Leon became so strong at his age and how he managed to befriend the Banshee, getting it to help them, but these were questions for another time.

"Hahaha, what's up, brothers! I've come to help!" 

Raucous laughter entered the ears of everyone fighting on the northeastern side as another Great Warrior made his way over.

"Knucklefist? What brings you over to our area? Won't the little brothers under you suffer without you by their side?" 

"Hahaha, that's true! That's why I mustn't be gone for too long!"

"Knucklefist is right! I can't be gone for too long, either!" 

"Darkeye, you've come too? What the hell is going on here? Why are you all coming over to my side?" Great Warrior Strongarm frowned.

"Hahaha! With the Chief too busy fighting the 7 Bone Kings to give us any commands, and Scarface and Blackbear arguing back and forth over whether to retreat or not, that's when we noticed the situation on your side!"

"If we break the encirclement here and turn around to flank those Bonies, we can greatly change the tide in our favor!" Great Warrior Darkeye explained.

"For the record, that had been my plan all along!" Great Warrior Ironhead stated.

"Yeah, yeah. No one's going to fight you for your credit, alright? How was the trip to the Black Swamp, by the way? Did you end up locating the people the Chief sent you to find?" Great Warrior Darkeye asked.

"No, those people are probably all dead. I had my whole team pulled out the moment I noticed the signs of the Bone Calamity. Otherwise, my team and I would have been dead already."

As the Great Warriors chatted in the midst of battle, the Bone Army's slowly closing wedge was widened until their line finally broke apart.

The Bone Army on the northeastern side had been dropping rapidly with the aid of Lumi's [Banshee Scream], but with the appearance of two extra Great Warriors, they began to fall even more quickly.

In a short amount of time, everyone managed to cut down 150 thousand undead in the area and break out from the Bone Army's encirclement.

After that, everyone split into two groups. Great Warrior Dark led one group left to flank the northern side's Bone Army, while Knucklefist led another group right to flank the eastern side's Bone Army. 

Boom! 

Chaos suddenly broke out on the right side of the northeastern area. 

Everyone saw a twirling white storm of bone fragments and bone dust as a towering bone figure rose from within it. 

When everyone saw this towering bone figure, they all had sharp changes in expression.

"A Behemoth-class Bone Demon! A Bone Soldier had evolved into a Behemoth-class Bone Demon!"

"What! That's too early! How can there be Behemoth-class Bone Demon already?! These things only appear near the end of every Bone Calamity!" 

"Bone Calamities had always been getting stronger than the last one! There's no guarantee that the Behemoth-class Bone Demons would always appear near the end!!" 

While everyone was exclaiming in shock at the unprecedented case, Great Warrior Ironhead turned to Leon and said, "Care to join me in taking down this thing, Little Brother Leonhardt?" 

"Sure. This thing must be pretty tough, right?" Leon asked while eyeing the towering bone figure in the distance.

"That's right. You have never seen one before, right? It is quite fortunately for us that it is only a Behemoth-class Bone Soldier. Their strength is usually around the peak of Unranked Demons. Their quite close to being Lesser Demons but still not quite there yet. If It were a Behemoth-class Bone Knight or Behemoth-class Bone King… Well, let's just say that things would get ugly for us."

Great Warrior Ironhead explained.