Fuck! What is the password?! Why didn’t the three of them warned us about this?! Were they trying to sabotage us?? Or did they simply forget?

Shit shit shit! I can’t lie my way out of this by saying ‘I’ve forgotten, teehee’. That will cause even more suspicion leading to the gatekeeper asking us to remove our hoods. Damn it, what is the password? What can I even think of?!

I closed my eyes to think of anything. Absolutely anything that might help me figure out the password. What is it.. what is it?!

Someone’s face appeared before me and her words came screaming back to me. I sure hope this is the password or we’re screwed.

“Fear— the new blood,” I said out loud.

The moment of truth now. I no longer knew whether the water dripping from my forehead was from the rain or from my sweats.

“Geez, you had me worried when you paused. Don’t make me scared like that,” sighed the gatekeeper as he gestured someone to open the gates. Thank you, Moi! You saved our asses once again!

The gate opened slightly, just enough for one of us to head in at a time. We walked in with a slow pace, careful to not arose any suspicion from anyone. We passed the food to one of the guards as instructed and he told us to head back into the ‘stables’. The stables being the place where the beasts are kept and we’re supposed to care for them. Oh, we’ll care for them alright.

Making sure we were out of sight, we leaped onto one of the shelter to understand our location and the den’s layout. The cover of darkness is really helping us out as there was barely any torches or braziers inside the den. The beasts are highly dependent on using smell and their hate for fire is apparent now. I’ll be fine as I can use Conceal to hide my presence, but the both of them are going to have a rough time in this pure darkness.

“Zen— how did you know the password? Shit, my ass was sweating when the gatekeeper asked for it,” whispered Rose.

“No shit, I was shitting bricks. That was the most intense few seconds I ever faced. I thought we were done for,” whispered Lily.

“Hey, language you two. The audience aren’t looking forward to the both of you cursing like this,” I chuckled softly.

“You and your curse again. Leave us out of it, Zen. Focus at our task,” sighed Rose.

“Right, you both stay here while I use Conceal to assassinate the leader. The complete darkness is perfect for my spell. I can make my way to the middle without gaining attention,” I whispered to them.

“Perfect for your spell but not your eyes. None of us are suited to see in the dark. Which is why…” Rose trailed off and started chanting softly.

“Holy visions,” she casted.

Since when she had this spell? I never heard of such a spell before. My vision brightens to the point I can see my surroundings clearly. While not exactly bright daylight, it was bright enough for me to understand my surroundings.

“I never knew you has this spell, Rose,” I gave her a speechless look.

“It’s not as good as Holy Light as the duration is about 10 minutes. Make good use of it,” she smiled.

“Zen, you do what you do best. We’ll find our way. Don’t worry about us,” Lily placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Alright. Please, don’t you dare die on me, the both of you,” I leaped down from the shelter we were standing on and headed towards the large looking shelter in the middle.

***

Hmm. No door. Just some cloth covering over the entrance. Now I just need to… good, I’m in. I made the cloth moved naturally as though the wind blew in. I made a quick check with my pocket watch and five minutes had passed since Rose casted Holy Vision. Five more minutes to assassinate the leader. Where is he though?

I was surprised there was a ramp leading upstairs. I guess he had no use for stairs when his feet are larger than a human. I cautiously made sure to take a quick peek at each corner in case of any surprise. It was absolutely silent throughout the den and inside this shelter. You would think there would be howling with so many beasts around.

It was so quiet that I can practically hear the creaking sounds from where I put my weight on. Is the leader even upstairs? Where the hell is he? Entering a room, I heard something snoring.

There you are. Mothafu… he has a mattress! All the others were forced to sleep on some straws or the ground while this asshole is sleeping all comfortably here. Why I oughta—

“Sniff sniff, A human? How long has it been? Who sent you? Father?” the leader raised his head even though I was completely still.

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“I smell you, but, I don’t see him? Ahh.. a member of the Dark Guild using Conceal? Do you really think that is going to help you?” he raised his arm as it started growing larger.

SMAAASSSHHH!!

He destroyed his own shelter with a swing of his finger claws. I trusted my instincts and it paid off. Seems like my red dragonhide was thick enough to negate the damage from the claws. But this leader is getting much, much larger now. I guess he didn't mind destroying his own home.

The pack leader crawled on all fours as his body grew to the size of the Chaplain Beast. What is with those skins dangling from his back and covering his head like some cloak? Sharp bones started protruding from his spines in a gruesome way. It released a shriek that was much sharper than the Chaplain Beast and it hurt my eardrums. Is it planning to call the other beasts over?

"Ah.. I longed for him to try and assassinate me. To think it would take him such a long time to send someone over. But I guess I trained my beasts well. I commend you for actually finding this place," he slurred his words. I guess he had not spoken the human tongue for a long time.

"What makes you think Father sent me? Isn't there a more powerful being on this continent instead?" I asked him.

"The founder? Hmm— I guess my champion had failed then," he looked towards the direction of the city.

"You mean your Chaplain Beast? He's living his life in the South Pole by now," I grinned at him.

So.. he doesn't know what happened to his beasts, huh? So much for blood pact nonsense. There is no way he is able to kill anyone who went rogue and flee. So much for inflicting fear on his followers.

"Well well— it would seemed that a strong human had decided to— meet his death. Perhaps I would like to know your name before you die," he growled.

"You don't need to know my name when you won't live long enough to remember it. Just know that the fourth won't be showing you any mercy," I spat.

"Fourth? Ooo— he is going to love it when I tell him that I slayed a member of the great powers!” he licked his lips.

“Who? Your God?" I raised my eyebrow.

It was quick but I avoided his claws. He was causing a rampage that many of the his followers started running towards the edge of the den areas. This leader doesn’t give a damn about his lackeys at all. Hopefully they are smart enough to leave the den to escape.

He is surprisingly nimble for his size. Perhaps it is due to his extremely slim body structure that he can move this fast. He looked as though he had not eaten in years. I dodged all of his attacks as it was predictable. This is the leader of the pack? I am disappointed. No point delaying the inevitable any longer. I rushed closer to the giant four-legged beast and attempted to decapitate it, but my blade was stopped by— a spectral beast?

I leapt back but the spectral beasts refuses to release my blade, following after me as it attempted to bite me. I summoned Tengu-kaze and immediately slashed the spectral beast but it vanishes, only to reappear at the side of the pack leader.

Two spectral beasts stood at his side with distinctive features. The one who stopped my blade was a six-legged beast with a sharp tail on its back. The other was bipedal but its arms were located on the shoulders instead, making it incredibly disturbing to look at. The stuff of nightmares is what I would like to say.

"I will enjoy flaying you alive," slurred the pack leader.

My five minutes was up. I quickly tossed some incendiary bombs toward some shelters to brighten the area. I grinned at them. The leader assumed that he have the advantage just because he summoned some spectral beasts? Oh please, I have two celestial beings at my side. I tapped on the hilt of both of my blades and they responded to my call. Both of them appeared as spectral beings of themselves at my side. Kind of wished I could had summoned them using a bell, like calling a receptionist for help.

The leader’s eye widen at the sight of Kirin and Byakko. I am certain fairly certain he is aware how strong these two are and should not to be trifled with. It would appear that I can kill this leader without the help from Rose or Lily. You have a lot to pay for wreaking havoc in both Continents.

I charged towards the beast with Kirin and Byakko at my side. The two spectral beasts responded the same and charged towards both of them, leaving me to fight with the pack leader. It tried to swat me aside and squish me but I dodged all of his attacks. This beast is too weak to be a vessel or champion. Can’t believe I had my hopes up with this rather disappointing fight.

I sliced through the leader’s belly and was surprised by the amount of blood that spilled out from the wound. I avoided the blood splatter in the nick of time, realising something was up. Without notice, the leader started shrieking; clawing at his own body and spilling more of his blood. What is this beast trying to do? Suicide?

The beast's body began glowing unholy red colour and started catching fire. However, this is no normal flame at all. Instead of the usual orange looking fire, this one was blood red. It engulfed his entire body, brightening the entire den with his blood flame. I glance at Kirin and Byakko, both of them had easily beaten the spectral beasts and was either sitting or standing on top of them, preventing them from escaping. Alright, at least I don’t have to worry about getting backstabbed.

The pack leader lifted his left arm, dug into his own flesh and tossed some blood at me which immediately burst into flames. Oh boy, I need to dodge this!

FROOM!

Phew, I barely dodged that blood attack as it covered a huge area. With his height, he can spray his blood literally anywhere within this den. The good news is, the blood flame doesn't spreads like a typical fire, only burning from where the blood splattered.

Seriously though, how am I going to fight this thing? It is drenched completely in blood flame and I have only two ranged attacks. Tengu-kaze's wind pressure is not going to help me here aside from fanning the flames. Maybe a sharp wind pressure might help. Lightning Strike is limited to five charges and I don’t think it is enough to kill it. These beasts seems to be quite resistant to lightning aside from a point blank blast. What else can I do? C'mon, think you idiot. There must be a way for me to fight this thing.

As I maximised the processor in my head, the unexpected happened. The pack leader leaped directly at me, attempting to use his entire flamed body to eliminate me. Fuck, I am toast! How am I to escape far enough to avoid this? Will Rend even help me against fire? I really need to do something now!

Something impacted the side of the beast, changing his trajectory from me. But the solid punch to the beast's face slammed it to the ground for good. I was wondering where she went and thought the both of them was eating popcorn and watching me from a distance.

"About time you showed up. Almost got squashed here," I chuckled.

"Well sorry princess, we were busy killing beasts inside the cave. There was plenty of them and I thought you needed some help when I started hearing a ton of fires around the den,” she explained.

"Will Rose be fine on her own? Hate for her to be outnumbered in there," I asked with a worried tone.

"She'll be fine. Kirin and Byakko came to help us out and they stuck close to her," she watched as the pack leader stood up.

"W.. what? I thought they were... never mind," I gave up in asking when I noticed both of them were missing from my sight. Gee, you would think MY celestial beings would consider protecting their host instead.

"What am I looking at here? A flamed beast? No wonder you have difficulty fighting up-close," we watched as the beast lifted both of his front legs.

"It uses some sort of blood flame; using blood to continuously fuel the flames that he coated himself. He also uses his blood as flame projectiles so be careful. Fighting close combat with him is suicide," I warned her.

SLAM!

The beast slammed his two front legs in an attempt to squash us. We dodged the attack but the beast threw his blood towards our direction. Will Tengu-kaze's wind pressure alone be able to blow some of the blood away?

"Zen, stick close to me! Here, you know what to do!" she extended one of her gauntlet which glowed with bright blue.

I placed Tengu-kaze on her gauntlet and Byakko got to work. Wind particles started swirling around the blade along with ice particles. To think that Byakko is able to syphon Frozen Lightning from Lily’s gauntlet. Who knew Tengu-kaze had this kind of power.

I swung horizontally towards the blood that was falling in our direction. It froze the blood flames and turned most of it into frozen blood droplets. I am loving Tengu-kaze's ability to syphon elements with his wind capabilities. Okay okay, stop hitting me Inazuma. You’re still my main weapon dammit.

The pack leader shrieked once more after my successful attempt at nullifying his blood flame projectiles. What else is up your sleeves, Mister Leader? I can’t wait to destroy whatever you have.

"I can fight him up-close, my frozen lightning armour will protect me. I trust Byakko can maintain that? You just need to cover my six, Zen. I'm going in," said Lily as she slammed her gauntlets together.

Guess she is the star of the show now. Glad Lily came along to help us. Can’t imagine how Rose and I would fare fighting these beasts ourselves. Probably we might end up dead with all these fire abilities that they have. Protecting Lily is my priority now. Let’s fucking go.