"It's Kenneth! He hired mercenaries to hunt down the elemental beast that I poisoned first! That elemental core should be mine for advancing!"
"Kenneth, you scoundrel! Leila is supposed to be my fiancée! She's your future sister-in-law! How could you?!"
"How could a wager for enlistment quota be binding?! And you clearly cheated!"
"Kenneth! I've been a centurion for years and I've never seen a First-Ringed pull off that kind of performance, what's your true background, kiddo?"
"Good job! Next time there's a mission to eradicate elemental beasts, I'll leave you a second-tier elemental core to help you advance to a Second-Ringed Mage sooner!"
"You fool... Disobeying orders, even if your beheading operation succeeded, your comrades could still be in danger!"
"As punishment for disobeying orders, starting today, you're assigned to Duke's logistics team. Be careful not to get played to death by them..."
"Only First-Ringed? Kneel down and bark like a dog a couple of times, don't want to? Hmph, then fight me."
"How could... you advanced to Second-Ringed in just a few days?! Don't come any closer, I'm a nobleman's—"
"It matters not. By taking the life of one of my soldiers, you shall henceforth bear twice the workload. You are now enlisted into my retinue."
"You really saved my life. Your self-made magic, engulfed in flames, reducing all to ashes. Let us dub it 'Ashwarden'. Henceforth, it shall be your title."
"Quick! Summon a physician! It's Ashwarden, he encountered an unknown elemental beast while hunting away from the group, consciousness is fading—"
"Thank the Supreme Caesar, you are still alive. For now, you'll be doing paperwork."
"Ashwarden, you understand. You're not getting any younger, and your mana affinity has been declining since the severe injury. Without some stroke of luck, staying in the army won't lead to advancing to Third-Ringed."
"You should return to your hometown. Ironwood currently requires a prominent figure to oversee matters concerning the Dragon Nest volcano. Consider it a glorious homecoming."
"The army no longer requires your services. Simply live out your days in your hometown like an ordinary veteran. A bit of hunting and tending to the children wouldn't hurt either."
"As a token of gratitude for saving my life and as a farewell gift for the years of camaraderie, take this..."
Flashes of the past flickered before his eyes, finally returning to the present as Kenneth opened his eyes.
The tangled masses of charred corpses, the towering flame giants, the spirit of vengeance wielding a great sword—none of these existed anymore. All that lay before him was a field of scorched earth covered in ashes, and the warm morning sun splashing across his face.
"Am I... still alive?"
Recalling something, Kenneth reached into the pocket of his inner lining with a trembling, feeble hand, pulling out an ancient badge engraved with interlocking ring patterns. This ancient artifact, personally gifted by a duke, was now covered with fine cracks and devoid of any mana fluctuations.
Just moments ago, it was this artifact that had miraculously saved him from being slain by the massive dark sword.
"Ha... hahaha..." He wanted to laugh out loud, but his body was so weak that he could only emit breathy chuckles.
*Crunch*
The crisp sound of ashes being crushed underfoot rang in his ears as a figure approached slowly.
"Kid... what are you waiting for?" Kenneth's voice was low and weak. The eyes that once burned with anger and fighting spirit were now inexplicably calm, reflecting only the person before him—Julius.
At this moment, Julius was no longer enveloped by the ominous black and red flames. The Vengeful Sword Revenant, formed from the will of the deceased, had dissipated moments earlier due to the fluctuations emitted by the ancient artifact. Now, he was merely a Nivian boy covered in appalling burns and charred black, looking like he could collapse at any moment.
But the true victor of this battle was clear.
Kenneth knew better than anyone that his hunt was over. Even employing the strongest techniques he once prided himself on in his prime, he had been utterly defeated by Julius's sword strike—if not, the duke's ancient artifact would not have activated.
"You won, kid..." Kenneth's breathing grew fainter, "Your anger... heh, it indeed has the right to judge me."
At this moment, his mana was completely depleted, and his body was so weak that even bending his fingertips was a luxury, yet a smile of relief played across his lips.
"Come on, kill me," Kenneth continued softly, "This time, with your own hands, your own strength... bring an end to this hunt."
Not to die cursed by the souls of hunted victims, but to be torn apart by the fury and hatred of his own trained prey—as a hunter, as a corrupt old soldier who no longer knew the meaning of life and thrived on hunting the weak to fuel hatred for excitement, this was undoubtedly a satisfying, even long-anticipated end.
However, faced with such a request, Julius just stood quietly before Kenneth, almost disdainful of even granting him a glance, his eyes turned instead towards the arena, observing the black and red-clad HoundGuards mages in disarray.
After witnessing the flame giant and the Vengeful Sword Revenant dissipate under the strange fluctuations, the HoundGuards' subordinates were initially stunned. Only when they saw Julius standing alone amidst the ashes did they have to accept the bitter, incredible truth: their seemingly invincible Vice-Captain had been utterly defeated.
At that moment, they summoned their arcane rings and cast various spells, leaving the arena en masse to rush to Kenneth's aid as quickly as possible. Julius didn’t have much time, but for what he needed to do next, it was enough.
"Kenneth, the Ashwarden, it seems you've been mistaken from the start." Dragging his feet, scorched and stinging from extensive burns, Julius turned around and took a few steps in the direction he remembered.
"What...?"
"I told you, there are twenty-eight judges in this trial," Julius bent down, reaching his hand into the ashes, continuing to declare, "I am not one of them."
His skin blackened from the burns, his fingers emerged from the ashes, clutching something—a thing that seemed familiar to Kenneth.
"The one to judge you is not my rage," Julius said, slightly waving the object in his hand, a sharp gleam flashing through, dispersing the ashes to reveal its true form beneath, "And the one to bring about your end is not my power—you do not deserve such a quick death."
It was a sword, unlike the charred weapons Julius had wielded before, forged from fine steel with a smooth blade adorned with elaborate etchings and inlaid with precious metals and gems. Indicating its original owner's identity was the crest on the hilt—a red, fanged hound.
"That is...!" Kenneth's eyes widened in shock.
This was his sword, taken out for a boastful patrol by his nephew Karl, who was then defeated by Julius, who claimed the sword as spoils of victory.
Earlier, this sword had been brought here along with the twenty-seven charred weapons by Julius. While the charred weapons stood like tombstones thrust into the ground, creating a Sword Mount-like scene, this sword lay quietly in the field, unnoticed.
"Here is your final judge, your end."
*Hum*
Julius immersed his consciousness into the sword, reactivating the Vengeful Sword Revenant technique, as Karma was released and refined continuously into sword intent.
*Drip—drip—*
On the blade, an ominous black and red color appeared again, but this time not as flickering flames but as a more solid, blood-plasma-like substance, dripping in thick droplets toward the ground.
Like parasites seeking a host, the black and red droplets wriggled on the ground towards Kenneth, entwining around him, and then burrowing into his body.
And simultaneously entering his mind were the solidified Karma-induced flashback-like scenes, revisiting moments he had seen from another perspective.
A midnight frame-up, a hunt against his brother, an ambush on a comrade—countless scenes flashed through his mind, plunging Kenneth into a chaotic abyss.
"The rage of your past prey, the rage of the deceased, they are your judgment," Julius continued to declare, his face turning pale and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
The power of the path of vengeance is a foreboding one that brings pain to both friend and foe. The agony that Kenneth was experiencing was also felt by Julius, the caster driving this Karma, but he did not stop. Instead, he squeezed even more from his own soul, delving deeper into the consciousness waves within his sword, mobilizing more Karma.
*Gurgle*
More droplets of Karma emerged from the sword, quickly gathering on the ground into a flowing stream that continuously enveloped the body of their enemy.
Despair, pain, hatred—each drop of black and red liquid was a sin, each one a condensation of a deceased's last emotions, all clinging to Kenneth's body, enveloping him layer by layer like Julius had once transformed into the Vengeful Sword Revenant.
"Ugh... Aaaahhh!" Kenneth screamed as more emotions and memories flooded into his mind, clashing with their corresponding original memories. Countless consciousnesses, like a pack of wolves, roared and wailed as they tore through the memory fragments that made up Kenneth's sense of self, devouring, twisting, and shredding them.
It was a torment unmatched by any physical pain, the primal fear most dreaded by any sentient being—the dissolution of self-awareness. Once all the memories that construct a person's consciousness turn to chaos, even if the body remains alive, what's left is but a walking corpse.
"I once promised someone that I would give all evildoers a chance to awaken, and your awakening is to understand what your end is."
Kenneth's body was now half transformed into a twisted mass of black and red, his screams quickly dissipating as his consciousness scattered, but Julius deliberately slowed down the output power to allow Kenneth to hear everything.
"Once, there was a swordsman consumed by vengeance."
"He pursued the enemy who slaughtered his sect, known as the Heartless Demon Spear, born devoid of compassion and morality, practicing the ancient forbidden Nine Yin Heartless Scripture, finding pleasure in killing and waiting for the vengeance of the deceased's kin."
"The swordsman knew well that such an enemy, even if defeated or killed, could never feel the bitterness and despair of his fellow sect members at their deaths."
"To counter the Heartless Demon Spear, the swordsman embraced the darkness, creating a series of sinister skills for the path of vengeance, using evil to control evil."
"And the ultimate judgment upon the Heartless Demon Spear, the technique that sealed his fate, was none other than this, the Vengeful Sword Ghost."
The Vengeful Sword Revenant was originally created not as Julius had used it before, by fighting with a revenant avatar fueled by hatred-filled Karma, but as a way to transform the souls and resentment of the dead into the most sinister sword intent, completely engulfing the enemy, transforming them into a twisted being who would eternally feel only the pain of those they had killed, endlessly reliving those memories of death in their minds.
"You will continue to live, but from now on, there will be no more Kenneth."
*Whoosh*
Karma was fully unleashed, and the black and red torrent of sword intent surged like a tidal wave toward Kenneth, washing over both his body and consciousness completely, transforming it all into a prison constructed of the collective consciousness of countless deceased, bringing him an eternal coffin of pain where only the vengeful revenant's body resides in perpetual torment.
And in the last moments as his self was torn apart and his eyes were submerged in the plasma-like Karma, Kenneth's self awoke for the last time, his gaze meeting Julius's eyes one final time. It was only then that he realized just how profoundly mistaken he had been all along.
In those azure eyes, although there certainly burned the black and red flames of vengeance ignited by Karma, there was not a trace of rage from Julius himself—what resided there was merely a tranquil calmness, as if all things in the world were naturally meant to be this way.
-Break-
"In your face!"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Within the enclosures of the towering scaffold, Hati lunged forward with all his might, swinging the shackles on his feet towards the front paw of the large red-haired wolf, only to have it easily dodged with a backward leap.
"It fell for it!" Skoll, who had been waiting patiently, swiftly tackled the red-haired wolf from the side, wrapping his arms around its hind leg and using the chains on his hands as a rope to tightly constrict it, refusing to let go no matter how much it struggled. "You two, get in there!"
"Howl!" Two forest wolves responded with resounding cries.
Though they didn't understand tactical commands, the wild instinct of the forest wolf brothers alerted them to the critical moment of attack. Immediately, one leaped from the left and the other from the right, one biting fiercely on the red-haired wolf's neck from atop, restraining it, while the other relentlessly tore at the wolf's vulnerable waist, attempting to rip its abdomen open.
"Ahoo!" The red-haired wolf, in pain, attempted to threaten the two inferior beings with its roars and bites, urging them to retreat immediately.
Seizing the opportunity as it opened its mouth wide, Hati swiftly reacted, seizing the chance to dash under the red-haired wolf's massive jaws, his chain wrapping around the wolf's lower jaw, before bursting into laughter. "Haha! You just never learn, do you?"
For a moment, the close cooperation of the two humans and two wolves proved effective, momentarily suppressing the red-haired wolf, despite its far superior strength.
But as an inheritor of elemental beast lineage with basic intelligence, how could the red-haired wolf sit idly by?
"Grrrr...!"
A vicious growl emanated from the depths of the red-haired wolf's throat as its crimson fur bristled, its entire body violently struggling, attempting to shake off these bothersome adversaries.
"Hold on! We won't get another chance like this!" Skoll hastily reminded.
At this moment, whether it was the brothers who had endured torture, the forest wolves whose legs trembled, or the two humans, they were all at their limit. If they couldn't deal with the red-haired wolf this time, only death awaited them.
"You damned mutt! Just die already!" Hati, driven by sheer desperation, disregarded the pain of the wounds pierced by the chains on his body, using his chain-wrapped hands to restrain the red-haired wolf's lower jaw, exerting all his weight to hold it down. Fueled by survival instinct and hormones, he even bit fiercely into the wolf's face like a wild beast, tearing off a mouthful of bloody flesh.
Beside him, the forest wolf gnawing at the red-haired wolf's abdomen had already ripped off the thick, blood-stained fur, only a little more and it would tear open the abdomen, causing its guts to spill out and perish on the spot.
"Ah-woo-woo-woo-woo!" The red-haired wolf, feeling the intense pain from its abdomen, let out a deafening scream, its crimson fur trembling more violently, and its struggling becoming more and more intense.
Hati and Skoll dared not slacken in the slightest, bracing themselves against their almost at-the-limit bodies, squeezing out a bit more burst of strength to counter the wolf.
*Sizzle*
At this critical moment of life and death, the sizzling sound of flames suddenly erupted.
"Those damn HoundGuards..." Skoll attempted to remind himself, but then suddenly recalled—he hadn't heard any chanting of spells.
And upon closer listening, he could discern that the source of this crackling flame wasn't the burning grassland, nor was it that cursed Kenneth who was far away, but rather, it came from a place nearby!
"Hati!"
Skoll barely managed to call out before a scalding hot blast accompanied by a charred stench erupted from the bulging layer of red fur on the back of the red-haired wolf, forcing Hati to look up again at the massive jaws filled with sharp teeth.
In the depths of its dark-red throat, faint but exceptionally hot red energy dots suddenly appeared, burning the surrounding tissue and causing wisps of white smoke to rise.
"What the hell...?"
As an apprentice mage with a condensed Arcane Ring, Hati's sixth sense as a mage quickly alerted him to the true nature of those energy dots, causing his face to immediately pale.
Elementals, each strand of which was said to be the primordial force composing the world and the remnants of the supreme gods of creation. Its existence itself was mutually exclusive with mundane life. Those among humans who comprehended its mysteries and mastered it became mages, while among beasts, those who were driven by it—
"Roar!"
Before Hati could recover from his shock, the red-haired wolf suddenly roared, and the energy dots deep in its throat suddenly converged, transforming into a massive red fireball that filled its entire mouth. Mixed with the flesh and blood that had been burned in the wolf's throat, it sprayed directly towards Hati's face!
"Damn it!" With no other choice, Hati had to release the chain wrapped around the red-haired wolf's lower jaw and desperately throw himself to the side.
*Boom*
The fireball exploded, sending sand and smoke flying. Hati was directly blasted away, narrowly avoiding a direct hit, but the residual blast from the fireball tore his left shoulder into a bloody mess, leaving a trail of blood on the ground as he rolled several meters before finally coming to a stop, battered and bruised.
"An elemental Beast! This red wolf has awakened as an Elemental Beast!" Someone from the HoundGuards who was watching from the sidelines exclaimed.
"Awakened by both survival instinct and bloodline? I've only heard of it before, never thought I'd witness it with my own eyes," Another newcomer to the HoundGuards, with less experience, marveled.
"What a jackpot! If we keep it for a while longer, it might be able to condense a decent elemental core in its body. We could sell it to those wealthy merchants who want to train their children as Pyromancers. At the very least, we could earn ten silver Gaiars..." a few calculating HoundGuards discussed, even starting to negotiate the profit sharing.
The senior members of the HoundGuards were more or less familiar with Elemental Beasts, and some even had experience fighting them. So at this moment, they were all chattering away with cool remarks. But for the two humans and two wolves who were in the midst of the red-haired wolf, which had already officially entered the realm of Elemental Beasts, the situation had taken a drastic turn.
"Hati! Say something if you're not dead!"
Cough cough cough... "I'm fine!" Hati struggled to sit up, gritting his teeth against the pain. "Hang in there! This beast can't spew fire again for now..."
As the fireball approached, Hati clearly saw the entire interior of the red wolf's mouth scorched by its own attack. Blood dripped continuously from its mouth, indicating its body was not yet accustomed to its new Elemental Beast attack techniques.
"Aoo..." Feeling the burning sensation in its throat, the red-haired wolf seemed to suddenly grasp something. It disregarded the two forest wolves that were still biting its back and abdomen, focusing all its attention on desperately summoning the searing new power within its body.
*Thump thump*
The next moment, strong heartbeats resounded, and a surge of heat flowed from within the red-haired wolf. The brutal power of fire followed each heartbeat, coursing through its body, causing its muscles to twitch violently and emit bursts of steam, forcing the two forest wolves to retreat, unable to bite down.
"This wolf... it's learned to enhance his own body proactively?" The experienced members of the HoundGuards showed a greedy light in their eyes. "By the Supreme Caesar! If it weren't for the Vice-Captain's orders, it should have been captured and used as a breeding wolf!"
Using elemental power to enhance oneself, in the ranks of human mages, only a Second-Ringed mage could achieve this. Ordinary Elemental Beasts also had to gradually master this technique under the guidance of their blood relatives. Yet this newly awakened creature had already mastered it on its own, showing itself to be an extraordinarily talented individual among Elemental Beasts!
"Not good! Its strength is increasing!"
Before Skoll could finish, the red-haired wolf’s eyes emitted a dangerous red glow. It suddenly exerted force all over its body, dragging the two wolves and the man on it and swung around at an unbelievable speed. With pure brute force, it broke free from all restraints and even lashed out with its tail, which struck like a steel whip, hitting Skoll who was caught off-guard behind it.
*Thud*
A dull sound echoed across the execution ground. Although Skoll tried to block with the chains wrapped around his body, he was still violently knocked to the ground, his wounds reopening and quickly soaking his clothes in fresh blood.
With one down, the red-haired wolf swiftly shifted targets to the two forest wolves, who had just begun to retreat. With a powerful swipe of its claws, it sent them flying through the air to land beside Skoll, whimpering in pain.
In an instant, the balance of power, which had been fairly even, shifted completely. Already exhausted and heavily injured, Hati and Skoll showed signs of fatigue from the continued fight, and the two forest wolves, already weak from hunger, were now utterly powerless against the awakened elemental beast.
Yet the red-haired wolf seemed to sense this and did not hurry to end the lives of these weaker challengers. Instead, it stood its ground, continuing to channel the elemental flow within its body to strengthen itself, while taking a perverse pleasure in watching them struggle, its gaze twisted with satisfaction.
But contrary to what it expected, the two humans, who were supposed to be the most vulnerable, had not given up.
"Hah... hah..." Hati breathed heavily, his vision blurring and the world spinning around him due to blood loss and a head injury, but he still struggled to keep himself upright, "Skoll, still able to stand?"
"Cough... yes for this time, maybe not the next." Skoll coughed up some blood, barely managing to rise from the ground, then looked towards the two forest wolves, "Get up, we had a deal, don't think about slacking off."
"Wooo..." Despite their trembling paws, the forest wolves managed to stand up after a few attempts, positioning themselves like two guardians on either side of Skoll.
Frustrated that its sadistic desires weren't satisfied, the red-haired wolf's eyes showed a hint of confusion, somewhat perplexed as it looked at the four beings standing together. It couldn't understand why they still maintained their fighting spirit, knowing that victory was impossible.
"Hard to understand? It must be difficult for a beast like you..." Hati immediately recognized the meaning in that gaze, having seen many similar looks of disdain, "Compared to us dealing with you, Julius is up against that bastard Kenneth at full strength. We can't let him down by not holding out a little longer!"
Naturally, the red-haired wolf couldn't comprehend human speech, but Hati's will was transmitted intact, even instilling a vague sense of crisis in the wolf, causing it to abandon the idea of amusement. It puffed up its fur, lowered its body, and prepared for a quick resolution.
*Shing——*
Just then, a clear and distant sound of a sword ringing filled the air.
For a moment, everyone, whether it was the Nivian brothers, the forest wolf brothers, the red-haired wolf, or the HoundGuards, all turned their gaze in the same direction, towards the source of the sword's sound.
On that scorched earth, a flame giant transformed by Kenneth’s technique Ashwarden stood towering, but it was unlikely the focus of everyone’s attention.
Everyone's attention was riveted on something next to the flame giant. There, a black and red energy swirled like a storm, and a dark, sinister giant humanoid, wielding a charred greatsword, struck down at the flame giant!
*Boom*
The charred greatsword collided with the nearly solid fiery body, instantly sparking countless black and orange-red sparks that reignited the already ash-covered battlefield.
"What the hell is that thing?! Why are there no mana fluctuations or elemental waves?!"
"Quick, call for reinforcements, use the communicator to contact Rex and Joanna! We can't intervene in that kind of fight!"
"Don't panic! Vice-Captain will surely be able to handle that thing!"
The tense atmosphere quickly spread among the HoundGuards, and even the red-haired wolf stood frozen in place, fearfully sizing up the black and red giant humanoid holding the charred greatsword, losing its previous composure.
"Is that... Julius?" Seeing the black and red energy, Hati suddenly felt an odd sensation, "He... no, it's them? Skoll, this can't be a hallucination I'm having before I die, right?"
The white-haired twin brothers exchanged glances, instantly understanding the real identity of that sensation.
"There's no mistake, Julius brought everyone here."
Compared to the fear others felt upon seeing the black and red giant humanoid, they felt more like a sense of familiarity, an impossible familiarity as if they were back in the family they had formed together, making them almost want to cry.
*Thud—Thud—Thud—*
In the distance, the heavy charred greatsword repeatedly swung down wildly, smashing into the fiery body of the flame giant, bursting with blinding bright light.
In contrast, the flame giant, as if it had lost consciousness, showed no sign of retaliation or defense, merely enduring the relentless attacks from the black and red giant humanoid without any attempt to resist.
*Boom*
Finally, with a mighty and forceful sweep of the great sword, the flame giant's head split into pieces instantaneously, and its body began to crumble apart. The brilliant flames scattered in all directions, like falling stars.
"Way to go!" Hati shouted, feeling a momentary relief from his pain.
"How is this possible..."
"That kid, did he turn into that thing?!"
Ding—
As everyone stood agape, an even clearer bell-like sound, crisper than the sword clanging before, echoed.
From within the disintegrating body of the flame giant, Kenneth's chest suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light, a storm of glittering golden energy spreading out like sand, swiftly enveloping both the disintegrating flame giant and the still-swinging black and red giant humanoid, leaving the onlookers in shock and confusion.
"Did the Vice-Captain use some kind of artifact?"
"It must be, he definitely had a hidden trump card..."
A few moments later, as the golden sandstorm dissipated, no trace of elemental power could be felt on the scorched ground, only two figures, one tall and one short, stood facing each other.
*Thump*
As the taller figure collapsed, the outcome was clear.
"That kid actually defeated the Vice-Captain?!"
"How could this be..."
"That kid must be seriously drained now! Go! Everyone, together! Move to support the Vice-Captain!"
Suddenly, the area around the execution ground descended into chaos. The HoundGuards, initially stunned by the sudden turn of events, were spurred into action by the reminders from some of their more experienced members. They activated their magic, rushing out en masse, completely disregarding the half-completed Wolf Execution, and all hurried toward Kenneth's location.
"From what they're saying, Julius won!" Hati, who couldn't see clearly due to the fence, raised his arms in cheer.
"But we still need to hold on a little longer here..."
As Skoll reminded him, their attention returned to the red-haired wolf.
Clearly, the newly elementally aware beast had been frightened by the series of upheavals and was now devoid of any arrogance. The lingering fear made its movements hesitant as its eyes darted around, looking for an escape.
But when the red-haired wolf's gaze returned to Hati and Skoll, its pupils suddenly narrowed as if it had found the perfect solution.
Its instincts as an elemental beast reminded it that if it could devour these two white humans, also capable of manipulating elements, its injuries would heal quickly and its strength would greatly increase.
*Huff—Huff—*
In that moment, Hati and Skoll appeared in the eyes of the red-haired wolf as the most exquisite delicacies in the world. The fear in its heart quickly transformed into hunger under the drive of its instincts, and the heavy, saliva-dripping breaths it took as it approached became the loudest sound in the execution ground.
Soon, unable to resist its ravenous hunger, the red-haired wolf sprang into action, charging towards the exhausted Hati!
"Take this!"
Twang
Just as the red-haired wolf opened its jaws wide, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to Hati, a flash of silver shot through the air following a shout, forcing the wolf to jump to the side. It then looked up angrily at the intruder who dared to intervene at such a critical moment.
*Thud*
The silver flash struck the ground; on closer inspection, it was a crudely made crossbow bolt, its tip coated with a deep blue liquid that was still emitting wisps of white smoke.
From the direction the bolt was fired, a white-haired girl drenched in sweat was perched atop the high fence, holding a hand crossbow in one hand and swiftly loading another bolt with the other.
"Elsa!" Seeing a familiar face, Hati, who had thought all members of the White Wolf gang had perished in Kenneth's slaughter except for him and his brother, was overjoyed but quickly became concerned, "What about the HoundGuards? Did they all go to Kenneth?"
"We couldn't worry about that, the city gate was blown, and we started rushing here... Move quickly and keep up!" Elsa urged, firing another crossbow bolt to pin down the large red-haired wolf, then waved to the back, "Julius thinks we're in the way, so we'll just have to prove our worth and show him what we can do!"
At her call, five more Nivian children from the White Wolf gang climbed up the fence, raising their hand crossbows and firing in succession at the red-haired wolf.
"Get it! Kill it!"
"Don't miss!"
*Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh*
A flurry of bolts came one after another. The keen sense of smell allowed the red-haired wolf to detect the toxin on the bolts, forcing it to temporarily abandon its attack on Hati and Skoll. It dodged nimbly, its gradually emerging intelligence even beginning to consider simple strategies.
To the red-haired wolf, a few humans without elemental powers weren't much of a threat. Eventually, the bolts would run out, and it was confident it would find an opportunity to successfully devour the two elemental humans.
Just as it was fortuitously thinking this, a powerful presence suddenly swept over from outside the fence, leaving the red-haired wolf completely frozen in place, unable to comprehend what was happening.
"Oh right, there's also another helper I don’t recognize, she said she was Julius's friend or something?" Elsa mentioned, casting a cautious glance back.
"A benefactor, he's my benefactor," a young lady's voice replied. "Kids, watch for bumps."
*Shing*
All heard the sound of a weapon being drawn, and in the next moment, the entire sturdy fence of the execution ground violently shook!
*Boom*
With a gentle push from the sword-wielder, a thick column that formed part of the black ironwood fence came crashing down, tearing open a lifeline in this deadly arena and revealing the true face of the female swordsman.
Dressed in a simple long dress with chestnut hair tied back, the lady stepped slowly into the arena, her amethyst-like eyes no longer hiding their inherent sharpness.
"Rosaline da Fabia, uninvited but here to assist."