"Don't kill them!" Ikaris shouted as he witnessed the creature slashing the hapless fellow in half. "We need them alive."
This envoy, loathsome as he was, needed his escort on his way back. Otherwise if he returned alone with the Hellhound Pack's annual tribute he would only look more suspicious.
With exemplary alacrity, the Tartarus Enforcer flipped the cleaver in his hand in reverse, presenting the blunt edge of his blade to the front. The monster then swung his weapon like a baseball bat and as if aiming a homerun smashed the head of a Werewolf over two meters tall.
A horrible crack sounded, along with yelping noises, and his second victim was shot like a cannonball into the envoy's wooden chalet, smashing the front door. Ikaris's lips twitched in annoyance at the sight.
" That' s what you call not killing?!" He snarled angrily, dying to beat up the monster. Unfortunately, he knew he had no chance of winning.
To make matters worse, the Tartarus Enforcer shrugged off his complaints, continuing to knock out, or rather smash, skulls with every turn. Nevertheless, Ikaris let out a sigh of relief when he saw that none of these blows were lethal.
When his target was an ordinary Beastman, the giant had the good sense to hold back his strength. Still, his victims ended up badly injured and would require constant medical monitoring over the next few days.
Taking advantage of the mayhem sparked by the Tartarus Enforcer, Liam suddenly slipped past them like a blurred shadow and snuck inside the residence where the envoy was staying. Ikaris wanted to go after him, but two of the emissary's elite bodyguards blocked his path.
"So you're the troublemakers." A massive, muscular Werewolf snarled, baring his fangs with a piercing killing intent. "This monster in armor seems to obey you. If I kill you, this thing will be left without direction."
It was sound reasoning. The one who had just spoken was a Werewolf standing about 2.5 meters tall with woolly black winter fur. His comrade was almost as big but with a reddish fur. If not for its distinctive morphology, it could have been mistaken for a Werefox.
Instead of answering, Ikaris quickly scanned the battlefield and saw that of the six elite bodyguards, apart from the two obstructing his path, the other four were gone. One of them had gone to stop Liam, while the others were trying to restrain the Tartarus Enforcer as best they could without much success.
The boy snickered in his head as he realized that Malia had been completely left behind. 'Huge mistake.'
The air suddenly distorted, forming mirages indistinguishable from reality. Ikaris inhaled an intoxicating fragrance and preemptively held his breath to avoid inhaling the pheromones released by the Kitsune woman. He focused his mind and the illusions in front of him dissipated at once.
This was only possible because of his vast Soul Strength. The other Werewolves and Beastmen with an overdeveloped sense of smell fell into the illusion helplessly and soon stopped moving, drooling. The Tartarus Enforcer then began to blitz them and within a few heartbeats not many were left standing.
The three elite Werewolves in charge of containing it were barely conscious, using their Divine Sparks to resist Malia's illusion and charm with great difficulty. When the young woman decided to use her Divine Spark in turn to enhance her innate Kitsune abilities, their Magic Defense was completely overwhelmed and they too fell into a trance.
This was the difference between a near-Sorcerer and mere Novices. The Divine Spark allowed them to use any magic, but for this reason it was very difficult to defeat a higher Realm Sorcerer in a direct magic clash.
Their only chance lay in their bloodlines, Secondary Sparks and abilities not depending on their Divine Spark. A powerful Soul Spark or Body Spark could also compensate for a disadvantage, but Malia did not seem to be at a disadvantage in either area. Werewolves had strong bodies but casting spells had never been their forte.
The two Werewolves that Ikaris was supposed to face resisted even less. Before they even had time to gather their wits to cast a defensive spell, the teenager lunged forward and stabbed their hearts, forcing them to defend themselves in extremis. Malia's Divine Spark enhanced psychic spell then hit them and they both froze.
Ikaris then clobbered them with several pommel slaps each and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Tsk, these guys are tough." He sighed as he massaged his shoulder. The skulls of those two Werewolves had felt like hitting a block of steel.
The Tartarus Enforcer finished knocking out those still standing and quiet returned to the village square. Malia, who had turned into a fox, regained her human form and she demurely scampered to put on her dress as Ikaris looked on in bewilderment.
"You didn't seem so prudish before." He commented as she returned with a hint of shyness on her face.
"Shut up!" She snapped, blushing slightly.
The truth was, Ellie had found out about her fox transformation and had asked her if she didn't mind showing her naked body to other men. Malia didn't understand at the time, but upon hearing the Swedish student's explanation she finally realized that this was not normal behavior.
She was so used to seeing these Otherworlders appear naked, not to mention Grallu's legendary nudity, that she had not developed this common sense. In fact, she was one of the few who dressed in Karragin, but that was because she could not stand the strange looks of men on her. Now that she thought about it.... When she wasn't wearing clothes, they couldn't seem to look her in the eye...
After Ellie's lessons, she now knew why. 'Damn it, I'm sure this Ikaris is a pervert like the others..'
The Ikaris in question watched her eyebrows furrow and relax with confusion, then shook his head and remembered that they had to find Liam. He ordered the Tartarus Enforcer to tie up and keep an eye on their new prisoners, and he and Malia ran into the envoy's home.
When they entered the house, they smelled many different odors, dampness, wet dog, cheap perfume, but also other less pleasant smells. Fearing the worst, Ikaris let his sense of smell guide him and soon found a room in the basement acting as a cellar or cold room.
He kicked it open and found the trapped men who had been unaccounted for until then. Those from Last Saint Village were unharmed, though pale and scared, but the dozens of other men were in an awful state.
They were often missing one or more limbs, with numerous bloody wounds as if their flesh had been peeled off like a kebab stick. The envoy or his Werewolf guards obviously had a special diet.
Malia frowned but was not as disgusted as Ikaris. Even in Karragin, a number of missing villagers were not due to the Crawlers but to cannibalism. In order to survive, some people were willing to do anything even if it meant forsaking their morals.
And Werewolves were one of the Cursed Races. Hunting their own pre-transformation species was an instinct deeply rooted in their genes and human flesh was as delicious and irresistible a treat as human blood to Vampires.
"Half of these men are too badly injured to be saved." Malia said apathetically as she saw the purulent wounds on some of them.
"I know..." Ikaris grunted sullenly.
Healing Magic existed, but he doubted he could find a Sorcerer skilled enough to heal these poor men, much less afford one. Having made up his mind, he freed all those who could be freed, then finished off all those who had no chance of survival, including three disfigured trunksmen whose only future lay in playing doorstop.
Those who had only lost a leg or an arm still had a chance of regaining a near-normal life, but for the others the loss of blood and the infection of their poorly treated wounds had determined that they would not have that chance anyway.
The procedure took no more than a minute and Ikaris and Malia then explored the other rooms with a gloomy look on their faces. In one of them they found the female prisoners who had the misfortune to share the envoy's bed.
Most of them had no injuries except for a few bruises and contusions, but their lifeless expressions were paradoxically even more heart-wrenching. Apparently, when the envoy was done with them, he had this altruistic habit of giving the used women to his bodyguards to have a little fun.
"Take care of them." Ikaris said to Malia as he noticed that these captive women were looking at him as if he was a hideous monster.
Bang!
As he walked up the stairs, he heard the terrified squeals of the envoy and realized that Liam had not been able to contain his ire. Ikaris burst into the emissary's room a few seconds later, sword in hand, and saw four people in the room.
Two teenage girls barely over 18, both naked and bruised, a pipsqueak who was also naked and curled up on the floor who must have been the infamous envoy, and a crazed Liam undergoing rapid transformation. Judging by the blood between the emissary's legs, the Alpha Werewolf had already begun to exact his revenge.
The two girls didn't seem to have been touched yet, but that didn't matter. When a Werewolf lost control of his emotions like that, he could no longer tell the difference between his friends and enemies.
"Oh crap..." Ikaris winced sourly as he saw a huge humanoid gray wolf replace Liam's human form.
