Farmer Mage

He sniffed in irritation when he heard one of the members approach him. There was some hope that he would be left alone at least for one day, but no, something always required his attention.

On the bright side, life had never been as easy as it was now.

“Lord leader protector alpha! There’s another that’s approaching the sacred land!”

He growled as he opened his eyes. It was one of the younger members of the pack. They always had the most ridiculous titles to call him, not that the older ones were much better.

It was one of the consequences of his actions when he convinced the pack to join him in taking Human Cal’s offer. Killing off all the dissidents, who happened to be the pack's oldest members, meant he was left with a bunch of whelps.

“Call me Leader. If I heard the rest of that nonsense, you can forget about your ration for a month.” He ignored how the whelp cowered at the thought of losing access to the powder.

“Yes, Leader! Do you want us to take care of it ourselves?”

He huffed in exasperation and rolled his eyes. The pack might be a nuisance, but Human Cal wanted them for some reason, so they existed for now. “No, I’ll take care of it. The same rules apply while I’m gone. Keep off the sacred land.”

“Yes, Leader!”

He left only when the whelp vacated the sacred land. He still didn’t agree with the tiny runt that found him when he was injured about Human Cal being a god, but he understood why she thought that was the case.

Human Cal’s land was… miraculous.

He felt himself changing by just standing on it, and that was just scratching the surface. Even though he couldn’t tell everything about what the land was doing to him, it was more than enough to decide to protect it with his life.

Human Cal's creation of the body of water fascinated and terrified him. At the same time, he knew he was witnessing something unbelievable forming before his eyes—not that he knew what it was.

He took his time as he slowly prowled to the target. The beast wouldn’t leave by itself, just like all the others that tried in the past.

Human Cal had offered the wolf pack an unbelievable deal when they were just required to guard the sacred land. He might not have been involved with the wolf pack back then, but they had inadvertently protected the land by picking off the beasts attracted by the sacred land’s allure.

The only thing that changed now was that they had Human Cal’s blessings and additional rewards in the form of that shiny powder. Of course, this was for the wolf pack.

He was allowed to stay on the sacred land and take a few drinks from the water. He could feel himself salivating at the thought of getting another taste, but not anytime soon. Human Cal didn’t seem too happy when he drank from it, so he needed to space out the attempts.

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He caught sight of his target. He narrowed his eyes when he saw more movement and corrected himself. Targets, not target.

The most infuriating thing was that these were the same type of beasts he had warned off a few days ago. He would need to be more convincing.

They were smaller than him, weaker than him. Naturally.

They reminded him of those house animals that caught rats for the weaker humans, who were abundant and lived in tightly packed groups. Of course, these beasts were much lower than those house animals and were black as the night.

They called themselves lurkers and used shadows to blend into the night to make themselves almost invisible. They were cunning beasts that were a challenge to the wolf pack, but to him, they didn’t amount to much.

It surprised him that they dared to return, knowing he would be waiting for them.

“Perhaps you all assumed I wasn’t serious enough,” he commented as he stopped before them.

“We brought help. You can’t horde this place for yourself.”

He didn’t bother trying to differentiate between these lurkers. They all look the same to him. He tried to find out who this ‘help’ was, but none stood out to him in strength.

“I don’t really care for your reasons, but it seems I must let your group know that this is unacceptable in another way.”Twenty lurkers were before him, and he looked at each one to see if any wanted to step up to be the representative voluntarily. None did, so he picked one at random. “You. Return and tell the rest of your pack about what happened here. If this still isn’t enough to warn you all off, bring every single lurker so I don’t have to do this multiple times.” 𝙍�

The lurkers tensed and looked more than ready to act since it was apparent they were about to be attacked, but it was too late.

He let out a soft howl that resonated across the wasteland. He practiced it in his younger years when he wanted to be lazy. The haunting sound summoned shimmering specters that dove into each lurker, paralyzing them with fear but keeping them fully aware of what was going on in their surroundings.

He leisurely walked towards the lurkers, rolling his eyes at the fear emanating from their bodies. “What did you think was going to happen? I would give you another scolding and let you go? The owner of the sacred land dislikes any disturbance. There will be no second chances.”

His fangs shimmered with a faint silver light as his jaws parted. In a blinding flash, the ‘battle’ ended, nineteen lurkers lying lifeless in an instant. Only one remained, trembling—the one he had spared to carry his message.

“Don’t look so scared. You will live, but tell me you understood my message.” He was satisfied when the loan lurker looked at him with terrified eyes, silently signaling that it was received. “Good. Leave.”

He watched the lurker sprint away as quickly as it could. He hoped this was the end of it, but he understood the lure of the sacred land. This would be nonstop until most of these beasts were eradicated. At least, there was a use for these bodies.

He looked back at the wolf pack, who stared with hunger. Even with the plentiful nourishment available in sacred land, the whelps were always looking for more and more. There were bottomless stomachs with hunger that could never be quenched.

This thought would usually be tinted with derision, but he remembered being just as hungry when he was younger. Some things were just how nature intended to be until they became stronger and older.

“Have your feast and make sure there are no signs of them left!” He returned to the sacred land and lay beside the lake with the wolf pack’s ravenous feasting in the background.

He stared at them momentarily before glancing at the large rock lifeform Human Cal had created. It always felt like he was being watched, and he always took those feelings seriously. The rock lifeform was Human Cal's most mundane creation, but that still meant it deserved respect.

He gave the rock lifeform a slight nod before closing his eyes.