Chapter 55
The Beast Tamer (Part 2)
Erin’s group stared at the assassin before them, ready to move at a single moment’s notice. In contrast, the beast tamer was completely calm and relaxed, simply sitting on top of the large wolf he had taken control of as the rest of the pack surrounded him. The ocarina he used to control the animals was in his hands, ready to be played when necessary.
“No need to look so tense, ladies and gentlemen,” the beast tamer said with a chuckle. “After all, this won’t have to end badly at all. The only thing you need to do is simply surrender and this will become far easier for all of us.”
“And what exactly do you mean by that?” Erin asked. “By this becoming easier, what does that imply?”
“It’s quite simple, really. For most of you, it means that you get to die quickly, as I will instruct my wolves here to kill you swiftly,” the beast tamer answered. “The only one to be left alive is you, my dear. My boss made it very clear that you are to be brought to him alive. And since I rather like where my head is right now, I would like to not disappoint him.”
“Sounds like a pretty deal to me,” Ryle said while glaring at the assassin. “You expect us to just roll over and take that shit?”
The beast tamer simply smiled as he played a quick tune on his ocarina. Immediately, all of the wolves surrounding him, except the large one he was riding, jumped down from the cliff and surrounded the four people at the bottom. There was nowhere for them to go.
“Are you certain it’s a bad deal? If I give the signal, these puppies will tear you apart in any manner I want them to,” the elf said with a small grin. “And believe me when I say this, I can make them kill you as slowly and painfully as possible.”
“Who are you?” Erin asked, trying her best to stay calm. “You said that your boss ordered you to come after us. Is that person some general, like Lune?”
“Oh please… Do you really think I’d work for some small-time trash, like him?” the elf said as he held back a few chuckles. “I work for far bigger people. And this time I got my order from the biggest person around.”
Erin’s eye went wide as she realized what this meant. This person had been sent by none other than one of The Five Overlords themselves, Golorath.
Or as she used to know him, Gabriel “Gabe” Porkins.
“I guess you’ve come to realize just how big of a person is behind me. Yeah, you guys must have really pissed him off big time for him to personally request this of me,” the beast tamer said with a grin. “As for who I am, the name is Dryzal the Beast Lord. One of the top warriors within Golorath’s troops. And the last person most of you will meet.”
“I’d like to see you back up that big talk!” Ryle shouted angrily. “Just for the record, we’re the ones who beat The Four War Maidens, before sending their boss after them! We’ll be more than happy to give you the same service, pal!”
“I’d be more than happy to do that. Just because you asked,” Dryzal said before playing another tune on his ocarina. This got the wolves tensed up and ready to charge the prey before them. “Just
so you know, I did offer you all the chance to make this easier for you all.”
Suddenly, one of the wolves jumped towards Arkay with its fangs ready to bite down on him. The cat boy had no way to defend himself, but thankfully Ryle was more than ready to protect him by delivering a powerful kick to the head of the wolf. The hit crushed the beast’s skull and killed it instantly.
“You okay, Arnie!?” Ryle asked to which the cat boy nodded.
“Thank you, Ryle. I-” Arkay began to say, only to stop upon noticing something. “WATCH OUT!”
The blonde turned around just in time to see another wolf lunging at her with its jaw open. She barely had the time to put her arm in front of her, thus preventing the beast from taking a bite out of her face. However, the wolf still had its jaws on her forearm and was now mounted on top of her, as its massive size brought both of them down to the ground.
Seeing his friend in trouble, Arkay went to assist her by pouring as much magic as he could into killing the bloodthirsty beast. He fired off fireballs, small enough to not harm Ryle but large enough to harm the wolf, in a rapid succession to take the beast down. Despite this, the wolf remained standing with its teeth dug deep into the blonde’s arm. It was clearly on its last legs, as the barrage of fire had done its job of harming it, but through the magic controlling it the wolf was not going down easily.
“GET YOUR DAMN TEETH OUT OF ME, YOU FREAKING ANIMAL!” Ryle screamed in rage that was fueled by pain, as she slammed her fist into the wolf’s skull, finally killing it. “Take that, you damn mutt…”
“Hold on, Ryle! I’m coming over to help!” Arkay shouted as he began to run towards his friend, not realizing that another wolf was coming at him now.
“Look out, Arnie!” Erin yelled, as she jumped in to save the cat boy, burying the blade of her sword deep into the beast. “Keep your attention on the wolves! The moment you take your eyes off them, they will come at you!”
“R-Right! Thank you!” Arkay replied as he prepared to fire more spells, while standing before Ryle, ready to protect her from more oncoming wolves.
Lexton also joined the others, allowing the group to form a defensive circle. He dug through his jacket and pulled out a bottle filled with his healing elixir, which he then tossed to Ryle.
“Get your ass up already, Ryle!” the kobold yelled at the blonde. “We are all going to need to put in the work, if we want to get out of this alive! You don’t get to slack off now!”
“Slack off, my ass!” Ryle cursed as she poured the healing elixir on her wounded arm, causing the wounds to start closing up. “You’re lucky we’re too busy dealing with the wolves! Otherwise, I’d be kicking your ass instead!”
With the group now back at full fighting power, a brutal fight for survival started between Erin’s group and the pack of wolves surrounding them. Erin and Ryle were respectively cutting down and beating up the wolves that came at them, while Arkay and Lexton were doing their best to offer support. The cat boy was firing as many spells as he could at the surrounding beasts, while the kobold was using everything he had to keep the wolves at bay. Bottles and vials filled with all sorts of chemicals went flying at the beasts, which then burst into flames, exploded or burned their targets with acid.
However, the enemies were far too numerous for Erin’s group to defeat all by themselves. The pack that they were facing was massive and the wolves themselves didn’t go down easily. It was a struggle to take down just one, let alone multiple.
The prolonged fighting was starting to take its toll on the group as well. Erin and Ryle were running out of stamina as bruises covered their bodies. Arkay was barely able to stand, let alone summon any magic due to overexerting his abilities. There was even a trickle of blood falling down his nose and mouth because of this. Lexton was also starting to run out of weaponry to throw at the wolves. Only a bit more and the kobold would be completely defenseless.
As the group was struggling, Dryzal was leisurely sitting on his wolf while playing his ocarina every now and then to give his other beasts further orders. The elf had a smug smile on his face as he was thoroughly enjoying the desperate struggle before him. For him it wasn’t a battle to the death, but simply entertainment.
Erin was trying her best to think of a way to get them out of this alive, but it didn’t seem possible. The wolves were far too numerous and tough, and the one controlling them was too far away for the them to reach.
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“Anybody got any ideas? I’d be more than happy to hear any and all suggestions right about now!” the redhead said, hoping that her friends had at least something.
“We need to get the one controlling these damn things! This isn’t going anywhere!” Lexton replied. “Once the beast tamer is taken out, the beasts under their control break free! It might not be much, but at least it would give us a better chance at getting out of here!”
After hearing the kobold’s suggestion, Erin took her pistol and aimed it at Dryzal. She fired a single shot, but it was intercepted by one of the wolves, which used its body as a shield. The beast tamer himself wasn’t even the least bit bothered by the attempt at his life, as he knew the wolves under his control would protect him.
“Damn… I guess I should have expected that much,” Erin muttered to herself, before cutting down another wolf that tried to bite her.
Despite her failure, the redhead tried to think of a way to get to the beast tamer. Trying to shoot him down wasn’t going to work due to the wolves, but getting close could give them the chance to finally beat him. The problem was that he was on top of the cliff they had fallen down and there was no way the wolves were just going to allow any of them to climb up, if that was even possible.
Suddenly, an idea came to Erin’s mind. It could work, but she first needed to make sure that she had the necessary tools for it.
“Lex, what kind of stuff do you have left!?” the redhead quickly asked.
“I’ve still got one golem and a very powerful smoke bomb that also sends out particles that affect the nose and eyes!” the kobold replied while using his pistol to fend off the wolves.
“Why haven’t you used that stuff yet!?” Ryle asked angrily as she crushed another wolf’s skull with a brutal kick. “We could have used a golem here to help us out! Not to mention, smoke that blinds the wolves sounds pretty good!”
“The golem is literally the last good thing I have! I can’t just waste it without a thought!” Lexton yelled back. “As for the smoke bomb, it covers such a wide area that we would just get caught in it ourselves!”
“Whatever the reason is, I’m glad you have those!” Erin said. “Can you get the golem to clear us a path to the car!?”
“Huh!? Yeah, I can do that, but why would you want me to-!?”
“Just do that!” the redhead said, cutting off the kobold’s question. “Also, get ready to drop the smoke bomb the moment I say! And I want all of you to follow me, okay!?”
“Alright, if you say so!” Lexton replied.
“Understood!” Arkay said.
“Got it!” Ryle said.
Acting upon the instructions given to him, Lexton dropped the vial holding the golem on the ground, releasing it. The liquid monster immediately charged at the wolves, pushing them out of the way, creating a path to the broken RV. As soon as this happened, Erin began to run towards the vehicle, with her group following close behind. The wolves were soon behind them, but this was all according to Erin’s plan.
“NOW!” the redhead shouted, signaling Lexton to drop the smoke bomb.
As soon as the bomb was dropped, it exploded into a dark green mist that caused the wolves to sneeze and howl in pain. The beasts were also forced to to stop their chase, as their senses were now overwhelmed from the smoke bomb’s contents, leaving them completely disoriented.
While the pack of beasts was left unable to give chase, Erin’s group was able to climb on top of the RV. There Erin put forth the next phase of her plan.
“Ryle, throw me at the top of that cliff!” the redhead commanded. “After that, follow with the others as soon as you can!”
For a couple of seconds, Ryle looked at Erin like she was crazy. While she could get to the redhead’s side fairly fast, there was a moment when she would be facing Dryzal and his wolf on her own, something that the beast tamer was surely going to use to his advantage. However, upon seeing the determination behind Erin’s eyes, the blonde immediately knew better than to argue. She just had to trust her friend.
Without any complaints or arguing, Ryle grabbed Erin by the back of her shirt and used all of her power to throw the redhead to the top of the cliff.
“HERE YOU GO!” the blonde yelled as she let go of Erin, allowing her to fly through the air.
This sudden turn of events took Dryzal by surprise, as he had thought that he would just be able to sit back and watch the wolves do all the work. Despite this, the beast tamer wasn’t the least bit threatened by the sudden appearance of the redheaded assassin on the same cliff. He still had his large wolf to protect himself with and was more than certain that it would be enough.
Erin landed on top of the cliff in a harsh tumble, but was soon up on her feet. She had her sword at the ready and was staring down her opponent, who was still leisurely sitting on his wolf.
“I have to admit, you’re proving to be tougher than I thought,” Dryzal said. “But aren’t getting ahead of yourself a bit too much? You can’t honestly think you’re enough to take on both me and the alpha wolf I’ve got here.”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on beating either of you. I was just thinking of making a deal with you,” Erin said with a smirk, before she placed the blade of her sword at her own neck. “You better think carefully, before you make any sudden moves now.”
“Is this a joke?” the beast tamer asked. “How are you supposed to threaten me by taking yourself hostage? Have you lost your mind or something?”
“Don’t you remember the orders you got from your boss? You needed to take me in alive,” the redhead replied, causing Dryzal’s eyes to go wide. “I see that you’re finally realizing what I’m getting at. Now you either take your pets and leave us alone or I kill myself and you’re going to have to explain that to your boss. Either way, it’s your loss, isn’t it?”
“N-Now hold a moment here! Let’s not do something that we might end up regretting!” Dryzal said as he began to slightly panic. “Think about this rationally! If you kill yourself here, then there won’t be anything to stop me from doing whatever I want to your friends! So put the sword down and-”
“I think you’re misunderstanding your position here. You’re not the one making the rules. I am,” Erin said. “The way I see it, your best option is to leave us alone or else you’re going to have a very upset overlord coming after you. Isn’t that right?”
“Get real! If I do that, I can kiss my ass goodbye anyways!” the beast tamer yelled. “My job was to kill the others, while taking you in alive! As long as I don’t have you with me, I cannot return at all!”
“...Alright, then you can have me,” the redhead said, surprising Dryzal. “As long as you get me, you have nothing to do with my friends, right? Promise me that they won’t be harmed and you can take me with you.”
“Y-You’re serious? You’re actually surrendering yourself?” the beast tamer asked and received a nod as an answer. “I mean, that sounds like a good deal, but I was still ordered to-”
Erin didn’t say anything in order to retort the argument. She simply pressed the blade of her sword closer to her neck, just enough to cause a bit of blood to drop. This act immediately changed Dryzal’s tune.
“Alright! Alright! You win! I won’t hurt your friends, okay!?” the beast tamer said in a hurry. “I’ll just say I killed them and claim they fell off a large cliff or something! Is that alright!?”
“Sounds good, but you need to do a bit more to convince me,” the redhead said. “That ocarina is what you use to control the wolves, right? I want you to throw it away, so I know you can’t send your wolves after my friends once you have me.”
Dryzal frowned but complied. He took his ocarina threw it on the ground not too far from Erin. Seeing the beast tamer get rid of his instrument, the redhead lowered her sword away from her neck.
However, just as she did this, Dryzal pulled out a small whistle and blew into it, giving his wolf a command. Immediately, the wolf ran to Erin, tackling her to the ground and holding her down. The redhead dropped her sword from the impact of the wolf hitting her, leaving her defenseless.
“You fool! Did you think I was actually going to do as you said!?” Dryzal said mockingly. “Once I’ve made sure you can’t screw me over any longer, I’m going to butcher those buddies of yours and feed them to the wolves!”
Much to the beast tamer’s surprise, Erin didn’t try to fight back or even complain. Instead, she chuckled.
“What the hell are you laughing about?” Dryzal asked. “Were you planning to get captured or something?”
“Nah. But I did accomplish what I was planning,” Erin answered with a smirk. “I managed to keep you occupied long enough.”
Before the beast tamer could ask what the redhead was talking about, a loud yell cut him off.
“GO LONG, LIZARD BALL!” Ryle yelled as she tossed Lexton at Dryzal. The kobold screamed in shock and horror, before colliding with the beast tamer’s face and knocking him off his wolf.
image [https://i.ibb.co/ZM7L5WN/Ch-55-Pic-1.jpg]
“Urgh! You little bastards!” Dryzal cursed as he went to grab his ocarina, only for a fireball from Arkay to blow it up into pieces.
Meanwhile, the wolf was still holding down Erin, as it was unable to move without further orders by its master. This allowed Ryle to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick into the beast’s head, killing it.
Seeing that he was now practically defenseless, Dryzal decided that the best option for him was to make a run for it. However, his escape was cut short by Lexton grabbing onto his leg, causing him to fall. The beast tamer immediately turned his attention to the kobold and began to viciously beat him in order to get him off.
“Get the hell off me, you damn lizard!” Dryzal yelled while swinging his fist at Lexton, who refused to let go. Seeing as how his punches weren’t working, the beast tamer took out a knife to get rid of the kobold. “Alright! You asked for it!”
The blade of the knife never hit anything, as Dryzal’s hand was suddenly cut off. It took a moment for him to realize what had happened, but upon seeing his bleeding stump and severed hand on the ground, the reality finally hit him. The beast tamer screamed in pain while holding his bleeding arm.
“Hey, don’t start crying now. You asked for it,” came the commanding voice of Erin. Dryzal looked up to see the rest of his targets now standing over him while glaring at. “You’re the one who started this fight, remember? You should have been ready to get hurt.”
“D-Do… Do any of you have any idea… WHO I AM!?” Dryzal yelled angrily. “I work directly under the top brass of this continent! By doing this, you’re pretty much attacking-!”
A swift kick to the face stopped the beast tamer’s tirade.
“Do you think we care?” Erin asked in an angry tone. “We have already done so much to earn the scorn of your bosses. Do you really think your threats mean anything to us at all?”
“...O-Okay, maybe I put that incorrectly. Let’s calm down and try to talk this out, alright?” Dryzal said with a nervous and forced smile. “I get that we aren’t exactly on friendly terms after what I did, but think about this for a second. I’m much more valuable to you alive, okay? If you spare me, I can promise that-”
“Yeah, we have this shit before and we didn’t care then!” Ryle said, cutting off the beast tamer’s bargaining. She and Erin went to grab him and drag him to the edge of the cliff. “There’s only one thing we want to see from you!”
“W-W-What is it!?” Dryzal asked as he began to panic. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll make sure that you’ll get it! Just say what it is!”
“We’re wondering if you can fly,” Erin answered, before she and Ryle threw the beast tamer off the cliff.
Dryzal tumbled down and landed roughly at the bottom. The fall had left his whole body bruised and even a few bones broken. However, he was still alive and he desperately struggled to get up. Unfortunately for him, he was now before the wolves he had been controlling earlier, except it had been long enough since he had used his ocarina that the wolves had already broken out of the beast tamer’s control. They were now a pack of wild and hungry beasts, with a potential meal right before them.
Dryzal screamed as the wolves tore him apart.