516 – Time Of The Dog And The Wolf – 4
“Kill them!”
“Wolf bastards!”
“Aooowww!”
“Woof! Woof!”
Starting with Grull’s massacre, a battle erupted between the Beast Paw and the wolves. The seasoned warriors teamed up in groups of three or four to protect each other’s backs, and the wolves often retreated with injuries from the qi-infused attacks.
Since they had brought an equal number of elites, they were not easily defeated by the wolves. They covered their gauntlets with dozens of layers of leather to block the wolves’ fangs and smashed the wolves’ skulls with sharp daggers or hammers.
While the Beast Paw warriors drove back the wolves, Grull was committing a massacre on his own.
“Die, Barammah… Heuk!”
The two swords Grull wielded tore apart the priest’s flesh. The qi-infused blades sliced through flesh like tofu and bones like cucumbers. While he was casually crushing the ribcage of one priest, Grull scouted for his next victim and picked out a spot on the ground in advance. His foot slid long over the ground.
Ground Strike.
His new form disappeared in an instant. At the same time, the mouth of another priest who had been calling out to his god was pierced by a blade. The cold dagger did not seem to be the god he was looking for, but it was enough to take his life.
“I don’t know what guts you had. You’re nothing….”
It took less than a minute to kill the priest and his group. As Grull shook off the blood, he heard a voice in his ear.
“…As expected of the Master. You’re strong. To think that Soo-in could reach that level….”
But I definitely killed them all? Grull flinched and looked back. A few steps away, the severed head of the priest was speaking with its mouth agape.
“Puppetry? Your main body is somewhere else, and only your consciousness is connected, right? Somehow, there’s no way you weaklings would appear before me in person.”
“Kukuku. That’s not all.”
Grull quickly approached and crushed the head with his foot, but the priest’s consciousness had already moved elsewhere. Grull looked around twice. It was because he felt an ominous aura from the priests he had killed in an instant.
“You crazy bastard. Were all twenty of these guys your puppets from the beginning?!”
“Puppets and sacrifices. They willingly gave their lives. To teach you, a beast, your place.”
The blood clung to his body unusually. It was as if bugs were crawling over his body. As the creepy sensation tickled his fur, Grull shouted urgently to his subordinates.
“You guys! Back off! Don’t step on the blood!”
“Blood for blood. Beast, know your place. ——.”
A sound that only beasts could hear. A smell that only beasts could smell. Piercing through their unusually sharp senses, the curse that Agartha had planted long ago ran wild.
The Curse of Frenzy. The curse spread over the Beast Paw, offered as a sacrifice by twenty priests.
Qi is a technique that separates the world and me. If you achieve the universe, you can block it in advance so that it does not reach your senses, and if you sense it, you can even control the effects on your body. If you reach reason, even your mind will become clear.
Grull, who had reached reason, was only slightly more sensitive. In fact, it was not the effect of the curse, but because of the Beast Paw warriors who had been cursed.
But that was enough. The priest had no intention of targeting someone who had reached reason in the first place.
“Grrr…!”
“Keuk, kak! Eummmeee!”
The unpleasant smell permeated the blood. The nervous noise that stimulated their sensitive hearing. The blood that stuck to them and tickled their fur. Narrowing vision.
The sharp senses of a beast are also a curse. The Beast Paw warriors, who were already excited because of the fight, were groaning in agony.
“These damn bastards. Stop exercising and practice your qi more! It would have been fine if you had just grasped the basics!”
“It’s… okay, Chief! But thanks to the qi you taught me, I can still identify the blood!”
“That’s not okay! What good is it to only identify the blood!” However, the warriors of the Beast tribe began to break away from the formation. The frenzied warriors swung their swords wildly at the wolves in front of them.
Casualties were mounting. Grull covered them with Earth Spike, but the Beast tribe warriors who had broken away from the ranks began to suffer casualties from the wolves.
“Chieftain, should we retreat?”
“What are you talking about! First worry about how we’re going to retreat!”
The curse had collapsed due to the development of qi. The warriors of the Beast tribe were all learning qi, although there may be differences in their level of cultivation. Not all of them were under the curse of frenzy, and they were still in a position to help each other.
‘For now’. If they were scattered so much that they could not be covered by Earth Spike, they would be hunted down one by one.
There was a solution. Calm the frenzied warriors by cutting the back of their heads. However, using up all of their strength while fighting the wolves was nothing more than playing into the enemy’s intentions. It was a situation where they could neither do this nor that.
That’s when it happened. An army of over a thousand canine soldiers rushed towards Grull. Through the path that Grull had cleared in advance, a force that could almost be called a main force advanced in a tight formation.
They were not much help in a head-on fight, but now they were more welcome than anyone else. Tools for tying up the enemy like a noose or rope were effective against the frenzied warriors.
Grull exclaimed with joy.
“Reinforcements?”
“Oh, no! We’re running away too!”
“What? Running away?”
In war, there are main forces and units. And usually the unit retreats to the main force, the opposite rarely happens.
No matter how strong Grull and his men were, they were absolutely outnumbered and outmatched, so how could they retreat here?
There were too many sheep and cattle in charge of the traps to call it a joke. Grull asked about the sudden news of defeat.
“From whom?”
“From the dog soldiers! From the Baskerville family!”
Grull blinked.
“Baskerville?”
***
The empire’s strongest family of hounds. The Baskerville family. The main family and the collateral family produced countless hounds, and most of them were sold as bodyguards to the highest ranks of the empire. They were popular from ancient times because they learned etiquette and deportment from birth, and learned qi for hunting and escorting.
Hunting instincts and agility that were on a different level from ordinary dog soldiers. And loyalty that did not spare their own bodies for the sake of their masters was their characteristic. A loyal dog that always guarded its master, dignified and majestic, always watching its surroundings.
Those people were now slaughtering the canine soldiers.
Sapien swung his spearhead wide. Baskerville tried to dodge the point by twisting his body momentarily, but Sapien was an obelisk who had protected the city against such canine soldiers. He grabbed the spearhead and pressed Baskerville down with only force.
The main force is not helpful. Traps or ropes mean nothing to a master who has mastered qi. Only the obelisk can fight.
The opponent is also a master of qi, but Sapien’s level is enough. Sapien, who had gained a glimmer of confidence, shouted.
“Obelisks! Maintain the formation! The opponent is a canine soldier!”
The fact that the obelisk is holding up better than expected is probably because the experience so far has not been in vain. Sapien looked around the battlefield and shouted.
“Fight bravely! Are you going to lose to a canine soldier twice!”
“Why. How about losing to me?”
Sapien turned around with a gasp.
Puck, puck.
The two obelisks that followed him flew into the air, scattering blood. Beyond that, a Baskerville dressed in a black suit was holding out a fist covered in gauntlets. The obelisk quickly raised its shield to block the fist.
Poof. As the fist covered in gauntlets pounded the shield, a ripple spread over the shield. It was clearly blocked, but the qi penetrated the inside and shook the obelisk’s whole body.
Behind the obelisk that fell, bleeding from the corner of its mouth, a young woman with pointed ears smiled.
“Because we’re dogs?”Sapien realized it then. The obelisk wasn’t blocking him well. Baskerville, who was born as a knight of the nobles, wasn’t using weapons, so the obelisk in armor was just falling a little slowly.
“Why is Baskerville here…!”
“Oh. You know us. We can’t let you live.”
Baskerville’s eyes burned with a strange light. Blue flames formed a trajectory and rushed before Sapien’s eyes. Sapien instinctively raised his spear with both hands. The infinitely slow spear barely dug into the trajectory of the fist that was falling like a meteor. Clang, an incredible sound was heard that was hard to believe was from iron and a fist colliding.
‘It’s not just fast…! Her martial arts are stronger than mine!’
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Sapien, who was pushed back about 3 meters, grabbed his trembling arm. The reason he was able to react somewhat was because of his experience fighting a strong person who had recently come to his senses. Sapien, who saw Grull’s appearance in his opponent, was soon astonished.
‘Grull level? Then… could it be that she came to her senses?’
“I didn’t plan on letting you live anyway. Fool.”
A sharp body could be seen under the tight-fitting suit. Straightly cut hair. Pointed ears and an invisible tail on top of that. A straight posture even in the middle of a fight.
Above all, eyes that seemed to be burning with blue flames. It’s Baskerville. Sapien said without time to be sentimental.
“Whose orders are you following?! Did the nobles of the empire order the attack?!”
“Master? Fool. If I had something like that, I wouldn’t be doing this.”
Even in the midst of this, the dangerous girl Baskerville stroked her hair with a sad expression.
“Fool. Will you become my master?”
“Don’t make me laugh! How many obelisks have you killed!”
“If you don’t want to, I can’t help it. I see. I’ll serve our king as I have been. But…”
Baskerville asked, tilting her head.
“Where is the traitorous dog king?”
“You…!”
“Answer.”
With an ominous feeling running down his spine, Sapien lowered his body, swinging his spear greatly. He blocked one, dodged one, and let one go. However, as Baskerville, who had dug deeper, kicked his abdomen with her foot while touching the ground, Sapien’s body was pulled out and rolled far away.
Baskerville was faster than he was in getting up. Her shoes crushed Sapien’s neck. Baskerville bent her waist with the public under her feet.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll go ask the next person.”
“Grr…!”
“Oh. Did I step too hard?”
Swish. Sapien grabbed Baskerville’s ankles with both hands. A pitiful gesture as if trying to tear it off. Baskerville smiled, showing her teeth.
“…I like that you don’t give up. But it’s too funny.”
However, Sapien was not resisting. In his eyes lying on the floor, he saw it.
The shadow of one person falling from the void.
It was an approach that even swallowed the sound, but perhaps it was felt by the instinct of a beastman. Baskerville’s fur stood up all at once. What she saw when she turned her head quickly was the figure of Shea holding a distorted space.
“Heavenly Swordsmanship! Thunderbird!”
Lightning flashed. Shea, who fell while kicking the clouds created in the void, seemed to be the embodiment of lightning. Shea swung the lightning greatly, scattering the power of lightning she had obtained from Claudia.
Blanca tried to jump, but Sapien was holding her ankles tightly underneath. She didn’t have time to shake him off, who was firmly attached to the ground with insect martial arts.
However, she had a loyal companion.
“Blanca!”
“It’s dangerous!”
The duty of the watchdog is to escort. Even if it’s a member of the same family, they will throw their bodies if they have to protect them. The two Baskervilles, who felt the attack with their beastly instincts, jumped in front of the trajectory of the attack instead of taking care of their own bodies.
And Shea’s attack covered all three of them. Thunder roared, fur burned, and blood burned. The blade thrown with lightning pierced even the protective martial arts and took the lives of two.
“Blanca Baskerville. You came out this time!”Thanks to their sacrifice, Hana, who had survived, had no time to grieve and faced the intruder who had broken in. For some reason, the boy who seemed to know her was showing hostility.
“…You. You’re strong.”
The price of being careless was the death of her kin. Blanca coldly calmed her mind and grabbed her sword. Expressing her anger only with her eyes, Blanca uttered the words she always said to humans.
“Will you become my master?”
Despite the unexpected offer, Shay was neither surprised nor angry. To Shay, who had come back in time, that question was not new. Shay snorted and replied.
“If I become your master, will you bite your tongue and kill yourself?”
“…In the end, you also want us to disappear.”
“In the end? I want you to disappear as soon as possible.”
“Damn. I can’t help it. Then we’ll.”
Blanca Baskerville grabbed Shutu’s wrist. And the change began.
Her fingernails grew through Shutu. Thicker and sharper than her fingers, they looked more like claws than fingernails. Blanca, who had taken out the beast’s fangs, growled, spreading a bluish aura.
“I have no choice but to become a wolf.”