It took me the better part of the day to reach the vicinity of the baron's residence due to my speed with a few stops along the way to catch my breath and recuperate a little bit of my energy and in doing so, I increased my stamina and endurance by about two points each. I set out in the early dawn and from the red sky with the sun setting I could roughly tell that it's about early afternoon now. I do miss having a working phone with me but my device had long outlived its battery life and this world did not provide me with even a shred of leeway to have a magically accessible internet hotspot to my original world. But all in all, ten hours on the road honestly didn't seem that bad in my current state.
Along the road, I managed to kill a few lone beast wolves but nothing to the tune of the countless packs I had to deal with before. I think I really did a number on them in culling two major ‘armies’ of wolves. I was actually feeling pretty good about myself at that point. Of course, that was until I actually caught sight of the baron's castle and seat of power.
From afar I had caught sight of a quaint little medieval-like stone castle surrounded by moderate walls and a large enough keep inside. Surrounding the castle was a moat along with a few dozen buildings which were no doubt the residential and commercial buildings of the area and the baron’s main holding, forming a small town with a few small fields of grain and what I can assume to be granaries. Oh, and they were being ransacked as the town was also in the middle of being surrounded by an army of werewolves and beast wolves as you do. By that point for this world it might’ve just as well been another Tuesday.
I hid myself a bit behind some trees and kept a distance so that I was at least able to carefully observe the situation. The wolf army surrounding the city looked to be the strongest I've yet to face. From the looks of it, this army was twice as large as the one I faced during the first siege of Dansville. More than about two hundred of the bastards were there. I could spot the leader of this siege almost immediately. Another cloaked cultist whose cloak was more intricately embroidered surrounded by a few other cloaked figures who were most probably his guards.
There were about a dozen other werewolves who looked to be leading smaller platoons in the army made of beast wolves and a handful of regular wolves. The drawbridge towards the castle had been raised up by the defenders to prevent the savage beasts from entering. It was going to be a drawn out siege from the looks of it which typically wasn’t good for the defenders.
Some of the werewolves attempted to swim across the moat or jump across but the archers and crossbowmen on the wall did their damnedest to prevent the monsters from jumping and scaling the walls and judging from what looked like almost hundreds of dead corpses of wolves and beastfolk, the defenders meant business as well. A curious thing I saw was that quite a handful of men on the wall were also equipped with what I knew for sure were muskets, their thunderous shots roaring so loud that even I could hear them. Again, the technology of the world I felt was quite a bit all over the place. As expected from professional soldiers and knights, they fared quite a lot better than regular peasant levies. That being said, the army invading was also no joke. They were pressuring the defenders greatly. One of the few things the defenders really had an edge over the attackers were a more defensible position and the fact that the werewolves didn't seem to understand the concept of missile weaponry or ranged weapons.
And it was then did I realise that I spoke too soon as some of the werewolves with their insane strength grabbed large stones and threw them at the castle. The accuracy was in doubt but the power was respectable, managing to chip the castle walls a bit as well as the reinforced castle gates. If this went on any longer, the castle's defenders might not have been able to make it.
After analyzing the situation, again the most plausible conclusion I had come to is the usual ‘kill the strongest then slay the rest’ strategy that’s worked so well for me thus far. The 'boss monster' of this army is a couple of levels ahead of me but I had reckoned that I could deal with him, but of course I realised that first I'd have to eliminate the five guards around him. It sounds tough but considering I outleveled the boss’ guards and they were standing at a distance behind the general, I’d be able to deal with them if I went all out, banking on the fact that I’d most probably level up to deal with the boss right after.
Well then, Charles is my name, and assassination is my game. As always it was do or die. Stakes that I didn't really really think I'd ever get used to.
With a strong gust of wind to propel my attack, I immediately lunged at one of the guards, stabbing directly at his throat. Surprising even myself, the combined strength of my weapons, stats, and skills as well as the fact that I aimed at a vital spot, I actually managed to one shot my first target.
*You have gained 400XP!*
Not letting up my attacks for even a second as the bodyguards were still in a state of confusion at my sudden attack, I pressed on my momentum and struck down the remaining guards with a succession of quick strikes, aimed at weakening them and preventing them from escaping before I finished them off with strikes to their critical areas. I struck at their lower limbs to incapacitate them and while two of the utmost positioned guards managed to re-orientate themselves against me but the two guards I had managed to immobilize, I dealt with immediately with quick strikes to their necks.
*You have gained 400XP!*
*You have gained 400XP!*
Sensing the commotion I was causing behind him, the cloaked general had instantly leapt away and created some distance between us as the remaining bodyguards attacked me with ferocious speed. This was a tougher battle as despite them being lower-leveled than me, it was clear that facing ready opponents was a much more taxing endeavour than I had anticipated. The two beastmen bodyguards weren’t transformed yet but I could tell that they had at least some form of formal training as they coordinated their attacks together to beat me to which I now focused on repelling their attacks.
I thought that the werewolves were becoming conceited as the moment they saw that I was having a slightly harder time, they had instantly thought I was just a lucky bug that managed to land somewhat miraculous bows on their comrades. I caught a quick glimpse of the cultist general who had relaxed his footing as he began to smile, thinking that I was to be dealt with quickly by his guards.
The two bodyguards were doing their damnedest to try and injure and incapacitate me but I had managed to narrowly dodge them each time. Their attacks went on for another few minutes as I used every ounce of my strength to weave my body carefully left and right, crouching and dodging as if I were the actual wind to avoid their attacks. They were positioned parallel to me and coordinated their attacks so as to prevent me from catching any distance. It was at that moment that I had decided that it would instead be better to just come in between them.
As I had instead closed the distance, putting myself between the two bodyguards, they were caught by surprise and instinctively went to deliver fatal blows to me who was between them but in that moment, I dodged in such a manner that I instead made the two allies harm each other badly.
“Arrghhh! You incompetent fools!” I could here the General cultist’s frustration as I noticed he was starting to head towards my position angrily “Transform and end him already!!”
As he said that, I got the message that the two beastfolk were about to morph into their werewolf form and there was no way in hell would I ever allow them to regain any bit of strength therefore I exerted all power I can regardless of the damage to my own self. I put all my strength in my blade and stabbed the two guards in the area between their necks and abdomen. I could already hear the tearing of skin, bone, and muscle that I clearly remembered I heard during yesterday’s werewolf fight indicative of transformation.
I had dragged my blades down, opening a horrible tear on the bodies of the two guards, fully intending to gut them then and there. However they were still partially transformed and had clenched and pierced parts of my body with their claws.
“Arggggh!!!” I roared out in pain as it was the first time I’ve experienced this feeling. I had not the mind to even glance at what this was doing to my health bar as the pain was for real. The cultist general grinned as he approached closer with a drawn sword and without further ado stabbed me through my chest. I had been in battle before in my past life but I had never been damaged to this extent.
My body was getting weaker as my mind could barely hold in the pain but I did not care as I kept on the pressure to the two guards and so it did that finally the notifications came in and I felt the hold of the two wolves weakened.
*You have gained 400XP!*
*You have gained 400XP!*
*You have leveled up*
That was the notification I was waiting for. In an instant my strength was regained and I no longer felt like I was in mortal pain. A blinding light had come across me and the cultist general had instinctively taken a step back and pulled out his sword from me. The bodies of the two guards next to me had fallen lifelessly and my shredded and wrecked clothed could show the wounds I had sustained.
In what seemed like an instant, the visible tears on my neck, abdomen, and arms had healed up, reshaped themselves and closed up as if there were never any wounds there to begin with. I grinned as I stared at the cultist general who I could now engage in full strength one on one.
“What in the… world..?!” I could see the absolute shock on the cultist general’s face and to capitalise on it I immediately lounged at the general with all I had. As always, my body felt like it understood my instincts as I could feel the power of the wind quickening my moves and gales formed around me. I had engaged the cultist general in a melee and due to my relentless savagery, I kept the advantage in the battle as the wolf general was being pushed back. I even managed to get some stabs and slashes in, wounding him a bit.
As the advantage was on my side, I found out that this cultist general was a sly one and very quick on his feet. As he felt he was at a loss, the general turned tail and retreated straight towards the main body of the wolf army to get support from his minions. I wasn't about to let that happen so easily as I quickly laid pursuit to the cultist general. I didn’t know how exactly I did it, but using Windwyrm and concentrating a slash towards the beastfolk, I somehow managed to generate a moderate wind barrier of sorts in front of the wolf general. I was quite surprised as I saw my mana decrease in turn but it was apparent that the beastman was just as surprised as I was.
Without much delay and to break free quicker the wolf general immediately transformed himself into his werewolf beast form and tried to break through the barrier but he only managed to get himself blown back.
I wasn't one to let chances like this escape from my grasp and so with what energy I had, I tackled down the beast from the back with Galesword, stabbing it straight through his back, pinning him to the ground and causing him to howl in pain.
I can't say I'll ever like it but I was starting to get used to the smell of blood, but that didn’t matter as much because the rank odour from these beasts were vile enough on their own to invade one's sense of smell.
Under me, the werewolf was struggling with all his might, shaking and trying to flail me off of him. The constant struggling caused me to subconsciously increase the pressure of my wind attribute to keep me from being sent flying off as I also noticed my mana was being slowly drained. With what little mana I had left, I channeled it into my Windwyrm with a powerful gale force and stabbed repeatedly to the beast's neck and head. The feeling of striking the bastard's skull was like stabbing through rock but I knew it was doing damage as he started bleeding out fast. The wind barrier immediately dispersed after I ran out of mana and it was then I could see dozens of beast wolves already headed towards my way to save their general.
Well, it was definitely far too late for that. The cultist general had stopped struggling as the body of the beast morphed back to its beastfolk form, many of the wounds manifesting into a bloody and gory mess. He was dead.
*You have gained 1000 XP!*
As the wolves were baring their fangs against me, closing in for the kill, I quickly lopped off the dead general's head and threw it at the wolves. My energy was severely low and I was out of mana though yet I still had a substantial amount of health left. I needed time to recuperate my energy and mana reserves, but I was at an impasse on methods to do that. From my standpoint, the two ways I could go about this was to either run or fight until I level up... Running sounds good, but, if I could maybe try...
"You stupid mangy mutts!!" I shouted with the loudest voice I could muster which was amplified by my wind attribute. Perhaps taunting these beasts could confuse them for a bit. I could see from afar that I had also caught the attention of the castle’s defenders. Good. "Come over here if you want to try your luck with me!"
As I shouted, the army of wolves charging towards me slowed down until they were about a few meters away from me. The wolves in front of me were only the beast wolves and regular ones but I had a feeling these beasts could understand me.
"As you can see, I've killed your sorry excuse of a boss and his equally pathetic lackeys! You really think any of you could stand a chance?! You rely on your pack like a bunch of SICK LITTLE PUPS!! Well if you think you can kill me, step forward!!"
As I taunted the beasts, they stopped trying to charge at me blindly and began looking at me with caution as they started to circle around me. In the sense that I bought time for myself, I succeeded, but perhaps it had been better to deal with raging beasts than calculated predators. Oh well, lessons for the next time. If I even get a next time that is.
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This standoff went on for a couple of minutes with neither me nor the wolves making the first move. And just like that, I grinned and made a run for it to the opposite direction. This might spend a bit of my recovered energy, but my mana was recovering quick. I saw the wolves were stunned for a couple of seconds by my audacity before they gave chase. While being on the run, I bought just enough time for my mana to recover and in just a few more seconds...
"That’s a rule in warfare, mutts! Always expect the unexpected!" I shouted with a laugh before I stopped in my tracks and turned around to deal with them. I had gotten a little hang of my wind attribute and although it took me several swings, I managed to conjure up another wind barrier which effectively split the force chasing me into two.
"I’m going to end you all, so be prepared to..." without finishing my sentence, I immediately lounged at the pack and caught them by surprise as I closed the distance between us in a matter of seconds.
Swinging my Galesword and Windwyrm, I began to make quick work of these mutts. The difference in strength between myself and the beasts allowed me to slaughter even the black beast wolves with ease. If I knew it wouldn't be that hard, I would have just charged in straight from the beginning after killing the boss. But I digress as I realised that I needed to better manage my expenditure of energy and mana.
Slashing left and right and releasing flurry after flurry of wind-attuned strikes, I blew away the wolves like flies against a swatter. However, a consequence of the level gap between myself and the wolves was that the XP I got from slaughtering the beasts didn't fill in my progress bar as much as it did. Oh well, XP is still XP and any and all is appreciated.
In only a matter of minutes, I'd slaughtered near a couple dozen of the beasts with ease. It was just in time that my mana depleted again and I had to face the other portion of the wolves that had given chase to me. It took a couple more management as the lack of mana meant I had to instead rely more on my actual physical attacks to deal with them, but dealt with them I did. Finishing the beasts near my vicinity, I immediately made my way towards the castle to offer relief to the defenders as much as I could. As I made my way to the moats, I slaughtered several more beasts along the way and in doing so...
*You have leveled up!*
Ah! back at full strength! My newly acquired strength allowed me to deal with the two werewolves headed straight for me with relative ease. I also found out that several quick swings with my Galesword and Windwyrm to the air was able to release wind-energy blasts through the air as projectiles, slicing apart the werewolves as they were greatly weakened and their bodies transformed back to their human forms. As I approached closer, the werewolves still managed to give out vicious attacks but their wounds held them back by a bit and I managed to make short work of them with a slight pivot.
*You have gained 300XP!*
*You have gained 300XP!*
After killing the two werewolves, I quickly spotted the others who up to that point were busy besieging the castle. Noticing that I had dispatched two of their comrades, their attention was now split. The werewolves decided to relieve pressure off the walls of the settlement and turned to deal with me with three of the faster werewolves already closing in their distance to me. There were six of them in total with a few dozen more regular wolves. I may have been far more empowered by that point but that was still most probably outside of my realm of capabilities to deal with especially considering I no longer had the element of surprise with me.
As if noticing my predicament, several loud thunderous blasts could be heard being released from the castle walls, again catching the attention of the werewolves followed by a volley of arrows and crossbow bolts. Three of the werewolves at the back turned again to help their comrades that were still sieging the walls while the werewolf closest to me was put in a predicament. The two werewolves to his back were being pinned by the missile volleys with the larger of the two shielding the smaller one thus effectively isolating the werewolf near me. I did not miss this opportunity as I hurriedly engaged the werewolf that was closest to me in a melee. I landed several clean hits as it howled out in pain and returned several strikes which I parried before landing in a quick jab to its chest area. I stabbed it one more time with Galesword on my left hand from its lower jaw causing it to grunt terribly while my right hand used Windwyrm to stab at its chest and savagely gutting it open once more. The beast transformed back and died shortly after.
*You have gained 300XP*
I dealt with a couple small beast wolves before I lounged at the werewolf couple that now looked more akin to a grotesque porcupine with arrows and crossbow bolts sticking out from their backs and arms. The larger one when it noticed me gave a ferocious howl but seeing its tired eyes, I could tell that it had been considerably weakened. The smaller werewolf might still have some energy to it but as it was now in turn supporting the larger one, its threat to me was minimal. I had regained a bit of my mana and I immediately unleashed a flurry of wind slashes towards them which cut them badly and even blew them back, causing them to fall to the ground, transforming back to their humanoid forms.
I saw something quite curious. The larger werewolf transformed back to a figure of a man of larger build with the characteristic wolf ears and fur on his sides while the smaller one was a woman with the same beastly characteristics. They appeared to be in their middle age as well. The man looked at me with ferocious if not severely wounded eyes with blood trickling down the sides of his face. Even in his human form, his fangs were still sharp as he bared them against me. The two were naked as most of the detransformed werewolves were and the grievous wounds were all the more visible. I slowly walked up to them and as the injured man-wolf lounged desperately at me I stepped aside and quickly pierced the man through the back of his head and I finally felt him grow lifeless. In annoyance with these wolves, I pulled my dagger out and roughly kicked aside the worthless corpse as I glared at the female werewolf.
*You have gained 300XP*
“Will!!! NOOOOO!!!” The female grew hysterical as she ran to the corpse of the male who I presumed was her mate or some close familial relation. I didn’t like the scene, but remembering that they were my enemies and may have very well committed worse atrocities, I couldn’t afford to lose this chance. As the wounded female was crying with her head on the man’s chest, I gave a quick slash to her neck to end her life. The sounds of flesh being hacked and bone crushed along with an interrupted cry could be heard as her blood gushed all over. I had intended to cleave her head clean off but I must have not used enough strength as her head only remained partially severed. But she was still dead nonetheless.
*You have gained 300XP*
Dealing with the three werewolves took more time than I expected but regardless, I moved toward helping the defenders again. I saw that the wolf army had massively decreased in both size and strength and most of the werewolves had pulled back from a frontal assault upon the castle. I was still worked up from the earlier battles and I immediately threw myself in fighting more werewolves. These beasts, though still far more powerful than regular people, I’d say were a few levels weaker than the ones I faced before and I didn’t take much time fighting them. Their attacks were lackluster and I could tell they too were injured and exhausted. The wolves and wolf beasts were equally as exhausted and though I still kept a level of my guard up, I could afford to relax a little bit more.
After killing four more of those werewolves and another dozen or so wolves, the remaining werewolves - to my surprise - actually started speaking in their wolf form. I mean, I of course knew they could especially from what Alfred had told me about them, but it was still pretty surreal to see.
"RETREAT! Everyone, retreat back to the base!!" One of the werewolves cried as it immediately began running away on all fours followed by the remainder of the army.
I was dumbfounded as this was really messing with my expectations. I was expecting for these monstrous beasts to fight more savagely and to the death but seeing as they still had a concept of weighing the odds and actually retreating, I felt both relieved but also a little disappointed somewhat. The cowardly bastards, hahahahah! It was going to be a good old fashioned wild wolf hunt and this time, I was the hunter.
"You're not getting away, bastard mutts! I won't let a single one of you leave this place alive!!" I roared as I invoked my wind-attribute to aid in speeding up my attacks.
I began chasing down the retreating werewolves first as they were closest to my position. I managed to kill three more of those monsters before my attention moved towards the little stragglers. Cutting down a retreating enemy will forever be far easier than if they had regrouped and decided to stand their ground. A few more minutes of my dandy work and I had slaughtered most of the remaining beast wolves and other regular wolves but some of them had already put quite the distance between us and my energy reserves would have been wasted on trying to catch them. But at the very least slaughtering those wolves allowed me to level up once more. It seems after 5 times of leveling up, I would either gain a new skill or one of the skills I already had would be upgraded because this time…
*You have leveled up!*
*Your skill 'Plus Ultra' has been upgraded to level 2. Added effect: If you suffer damage till your HP reaches 0, you heal back a quarter of your health instantly whilst gaining invincibility to all damage for ten minutes. This perk can only be used once a day.*
Damn! I didn't think that that skill of mine could get anymore broken. But praise the Lord for that regardless. And as if that wasn't enough...
*You have killed a total of 300 wolves and more than a dozen werewolves! Your title 'Wolfslayer' has been upgraded to 'Wolfbane!'. Wolfbane - +10 points to stamina, agility, and strength. Better at sneaking, can see better at night. Additional damage when fighting wolves and werewolves or any other wolf-attribute enemy.*
*You have gained 1500 XP*
I snapped myself back to reality before I accidentally got myself killed due to hubris. When I pulled my attention back towards the battlefield, I noticed the drawbridge to the castle being lowered and a platoon of mounted knights riding out. I could also see that there were only a dozen wolves left who were running with their tails between their bloody legs and not too far from them, I spotted a single girl in torn clothes limping away injured with two crossbow bolts lodged into her with one in her left leg and another in her left shoulder. She must have been one of the werewolves who had attacked the castle in the foremost position but then again, the fact that she survived, perhaps not. If I focused my energy correctly, I might be able to...
Immediately I lounged at the girl at full speed, my momentum felt like I was driving a bike at high speed as the wind fluttered against my ear. I managed to tackle the girl down to the ground and just before I was going to finish the job...
"Wait, adventurer!" I heard someone shouting to me which caused me to immediately jump up, consequently letting the wolf-girl go. Looking up, I saw a party of mounted knights heading towards my position.
The armor they were wearing was characteristic of the ones I've seen during my own previous lifetime of living in the 1500s, with their armour hearkening back to the gendarmes of old, which could give me a general feel of the world's technology... Though given the fact that this is a fantasy-like world with magic in it, I think I'll spot quite a few anachronisms here and there and indeed I may as well already have, but I digressed.
The knight in front of the platoon looked to be an elderly gentleman, about the age of Old Alfred, and he looked to be the leader of the knights there.
"Brave hero, I graciously thank you for your aid against our siege, but I implore you to spare that beast. We might be able to get some valuable information out of her on all these matters so..." The old knight said as he motioned towards the girl that was still laying on the ground.
When I heard his reasoning, I nodded and immediately sheathed my weapons. Putting my attention back to the werewolf girl lying motionless to the ground I panicked thinking that I had accidentally managed to kill her. Luckily when I checked for a pulse, it was still there and the girl seemed to be breathing and alive. It seemed like she had fainted. And... I had wondered why I smelled something weird like...
...The werewolf girl was just too much. She had actually, quite literally pissed herself. Disgusting... I mean the blood everywhere was one thing, but urine and feces were just. Uggh!! I thought I would have actually thrown up.
Just as I was feeling a little disgruntled and very nauseated, I heard a loud and hearty laugh coming from the old knight. "To think you actually managed to make a werewolf soil herself... My my, you are quite something else, young man."
I smiled sheepishly as I saw a couple of knights tying the girl's hand with chains before hauling her on a horse and heading straight to the castle. The old knight soon turned his attention back to me before speaking again. "I believe you're going to ask for a reward then, eh boy? A skilled adventurer like you wouldn't want to leave empty handed now would you?"
*You have successfully aided in the defence of Surlock castle! You have gained 6000 XP! You have gained 100 Fame!*
*You have leveled up!*
Amazing! Leveling up by completing quests sure is one heck of a feeling. Maybe due to leveling up, I only smiled at the old man before answering him. "Yes, that would be quite nice actually, but helping you with the siege wasn't really my main objective."
"Oh, then what is your main objective for that matter? What brings an adventurer as skilled as yourself to the Surlock barony?"
"I bear a message from the head of the village of Dansville. If you would please take this to the steward of the castle, to a sir Patrick Blakebow." I handed over Al's sealed letter to the old knight
"Did you say the head of Dansville?" The old knight said before accepting the letter and when he saw the seal on it, his eyes shone before he instantly grinned and opened the letter "That old codger actually bothered to finally write to me after a fortnight despite the fact he lives a stone’s throw away from here."
The village was close to the castle, no doubt, but to call it a stone’s throw would still be stretching it. Not unless you had the throwing arm of Heracles. Also judging from that line and the chief knight’s way of speaking, I felt like an idiot for not realising sooner that I had probably been talking to sir Patrick this entire time.
"Forgive my rudeness, Lord Steward. I didn't realise it was you yourself who I'd been talking to." I immediately apologised and lowered my head which prompted the steward to chuckle
"Please no need to be formal! What do I look like? The baron? Save your etiquette for when that spineless fool returns from the Duke's backside." Sir Patrick said which prompted the laughter of the other knights. It was honestly quite a shock to see a knight badmouthing his lord like that not to mention in front of his whole platoon. And the fact that they all joined in the laugh. I mean I lived during the time when knights were still a thing though - granted - it was at the very end of the medieval era when I was born. But still... If it was one of my knights, I would've... Well, maybe he didn't mean anything by it and Al did say Baron John was quite the character.
As Sir Patrick read the letter, his face went from smiling to serious in a matter of a minute before he folded the letter back and put it into one of his pockets. "Charles, is it?" He said as he looked at me. I was surprised he knew my name before I even introduced myself properly. He must’ve been psychic.
"Don't worry, I'm no psychic. It was written in the letter as to your identity." Sir Patrick said as he smiled "Please, this is no place to discuss serious matters. Leave the men to clean up this place and follow me inside. Besides, it's already dark out. Judging from what this letter says and the events that have transpired as of late, we have much to discuss."
I nodded my head to the steward's request as I followed the man inside the castle area. I was worried for a second by how much of my identity Alfred had disclosed to the Lord Steward but I decided to trust Alfred at that point. Also from Sir Blakebow’s serious tone, I had a vague idea of what was going to be discussed, and I could only push myself to be more alert at times like these.
From the distance, I could hear a very loud wolf howl. An ominous sign indeed. In these dreaded times, I could only hope for the best as I prayed for the safety of Dansville while I was away on this mission to secure it.
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