Seth wore a belt that held a set of arrows on his waist. As he was about to load the crossbow with one arrow, he heard the scream of the strongest man he knew in this world.

"-run!"

Immediately, Seth rushed his actions and tightly held onto the crossbow. His icy fingers grazed past the crossbow's trigger, ready to hit it if the situation called for it, which it probably would ‌soon. Gazing at his new elven friends, Seth wryly smiled. "Do you understand the plan?"

The elf male, who already assumed the role of a leader, nodded in affirmation. He constantly looked past the tent, towards the gory chaos that swallowed the vicinity.

"Good. I don't know about you, but I would very much like to start now." Seth's voice brought the elf back to reality.

He hid his fear and grabbed a dagger that hung on the weapon shelf in the tent. Quickly, he walked to the back of the tent and cut a large, human-sized hole in it.

Without waiting for the others, he escaped through the hole.

'Heh, you would think he would wait for his fellow elves. I guess fear has taken him.'

Following the others, Seth slipped into the canopy of trees. He made the mistake of looking back, which allowed him to glimpse at the beastly shadows a few meters away from him.

'Oh, sh*t. I don't want to be caught in that.'

He had fought one forsaken howler, and it was a tough fight. Yet, a horde of howlers currently preyed on the adventurers on the other side of the tent.

Soon, Seth established a suitable distance from the tent.

Beside him was the elf male who led the group. Seth whispered to him. "Which direction is it?"

"North-west of Ryithh's moon! The next human settlement is in that direction." The elf male pointed in a particular direction. He became more confident as he spoke.

Seth looked in the direction. It was just more land and trees meshed together with no end in sight. His eyes wavered as he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, those foolish humans were taking us to the closest settlement, which is the Town of Cravel. It is in that direction. I have been there before."

Seth argued, "But the adventurers were going to sell us there? I don't feel like walking into the lion's den. I have to tell you, I'm very delicate."

"Demon, feel free to stay here if you want." The elf snapped back, as he could not bear any more questions.

Meanwhile, the whimpers of the elven group increased. Now, they were sure to grab the howlers' attention. Without thinking, Seth followed the elf blindly. It was better than staying here anyway. The speed of the elf was quite moderate, so it was easy to keep up with him.

Suddenly, something happened.

One particular half-elf stumbled on a rock and fell to his knees. He screamed in fear as he struggled to stand up. Reaching onto a long vine from a nearby tree, the elf pulled himself back up. Immediately, his eyes lost all light as blood spread from his chest where a forked tail had found itself.

Using the tail, something unknown pulled the elf into the cover of darkness. What became of the elf was unknown. Only the crunching sound that dominated the silence indicated his fate.

As if possessed by the ghost of whoever the god of speed was, Seth dashed away. Running for his dear life, he casually glanced behind me to see the horde of howlers chasing the group.

'Oh rock, fuck, fuck! Why the sudden turn of events? Fuck my luck!'

Time escaped his mind as his legs turned into a powerful engine. One by one, the howlers ensnared the elves and half-elves. The howlers were gaining on them!

Seth's eyes glowed green as his survival instinct awoke his vampiric drive. He ran deep into the woods in the direction that the elf leader pointed, ignoring the screams behind him.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Twenty minutes turned into an hour. An hour turned to two hours.

Seth did not know when he saw the end of the trees. His eyesight caught onto the light that existed beyond that. Or was it an illusion? Was his despair severe enough to induce hallucinations?

'Heck if I care! I'm not stopping.' Seth quelled whatever negative thoughts ran rampant in his mind.

He was always simple-minded in situations like this. To him, there was no use thinking now. He would continue running.

One particular howler appeared beside him. It took a swipe at him with its claws.

Seth instinctively ducked, but he wasn't fast enough as a clean slit opened on his chest, cutting apart his clothes, which he had on him since the beginning.

His blood seeped out of the wound. Fortunately, the wound was quite thin. It would take a lot of time before it became a fatal concern.

Seth dodged another attack from the howler, but its tail slammed him into a tree. The howler pounced on him instantly, its tails assuming its attack role.

"Please, f*ck off," Seth cursed.

He shot his crossbow at the central left eye of the howler. Exchanging an injury for the shot, Seth coughed out blood as the howler's tail slammed into him. It embedded the spiked parts of the tail into him.

However, the arrow he shot was successful!

It stabbed the left eye of the howler!

But Seth was not done.

Perhaps it was because of his pettiness as Seth Ravenswood or his wise resilience as Rhazien Az Morgen. Seth grabbed onto the tail that injured him. His right hand deftly slipped past the tail and grabbed an arrow from his waist. He brutally stabbed the tail of the howler.

Stabbing it with an arrow mercilessly meant stabbing himself too, as the arrow was long, but the gain outweighed the pain.

The howler screamed in pain. The throbbing ache that came from the stab was heart-wrenching to it.

"Yeah. I'm crazy too." Seth roared at the top of his lungs.

Nevertheless, he wasn't foolish to continue his battle with the howler. The other howlers were close.

Seth removed the arrow from his chest, in doing so, also freeing the wrecked tail of the howler.

The howler continued its moans of pain. Seth used that opportunity to continue his run towards the light that existed at the end of the forest.

As he got closer, a sense of fatigue washed over him, but he couldn't stop running. The horde was already upon him and the elven group, or what remained of the group.

Looking back, only the elf male and about three elves remained out of the original fifteen. All the half-elves had died. They were the slower ones.

Seth finally crossed the last canopy of trees. He slowed down as he gawked at the vast, cultivated grass that was adorned with various beautiful flowers. Some flowers glowed in the night. This set of flowers bordered a paved road that led to a tall wooden gate.

'I found it. I fucking found it!'

The howlers paused when they reached the end of the forest. They seemed to consider something, but that didn't stop them from capturing some unfortunate elves.

Finally, a roar echoed from behind the horde. The roar was unlike anything Seth had ever heard, a class apart from the roars of howlers.

It was only after this mighty roar sounded that the howlers finally crossed the forest.

In the blink of an eye, a blue dome appeared around the green grasses. It formed a shield that prevented the howlers from moving forward despite their violent attacks.

Seth sighed. "Ahh, is it over?"

He collapsed to the ground and tried controlling his rapid breaths.

Vampires were not consistent. The period after the exertion of [Vampiric Drive] was a period of weakness for them. A period when their senses would be extremely alert, but their bodies would be unresponsive.

Suddenly, his ears picked up on something.

He looked at the settlement's wall. On it were a few unclear humans. They stayed beside the ballistas that pointed at him and the elven group.

Seth heard the shout of one of them, "Die, foulbloods!"

He wanted to complain, "But I am not an elf. I'm a fucking vampire."

But he was too busy running away from the large arrows that rained on them to do that.

The power behind those arrows was so exceptional that the arrows crossed the barrier and attacked the howlers.

"Die, foulbloods!"

Seth decisively ran out of the barrier into the forest. Facing the fear of death, the howlers tried running away, but a roar from their midst stopped them from doing that.

Two of them attacked the incoming Seth. While Seth watched a large arrow absolutely destroy one howler and injure another, he shot his small arrow at the injured howler.

"What fucking settlement?! That's a slaughter town!" cursed Seth.

He jumped at the injured howler and stabbed its two central eyes, effectively killing it.

All around him were dead bodies of elves and howlers. By now, Seth was sure all the elves were dead. The large arrows had killed the last of them.

Seth stopped in his tracks as the sound of an incoming object reached his ears. He was out of energy. The last bit of burst necessary to evade the incoming danger was non-existent.

"Seems like I will be joining the crew of the dead. What a sh*tty game!"

The last thing he saw was the large arrow that impaled him. Blackness consumed him.