"BOY, WHO ARE YOU?"The soldiers couldn"t hear anything but seeing the Alpha suddenly jump in front of Lowen and mouth something, shocked them all. This sudden turn of events stunned everyone and the fighting ceased, besides the wolfs seemingly guarding Clovis, the other wolves retreated to one side waiting for a command. Many soldiers let out a gasp of astonishment while others released a collective breath of relief, they finally had a moment to catch their breath. Everyone stared at this Alpha in bewilderment but the person most shocked, was, of course, the one the Alpha spoke to directly.
Lowen eyed this large silver wolf cautiously, its speed was as fast as his when he used his ki. Lowen couldn"t understand how such a large beast could move so fast, did this not go against the laws of nature. In Lowen"s previous world, there were no creatures that could move as fast as a ki manipulator. The main reason was that no beast could use ki but in this world, there were all kinds of strange creatures that Lowen had never before seen and some could even tap into magic, making their strength and speed evolve to unprecedented heights.
Lowen thought about this powerful wolfs question.
(Just why in the world would it want to know who I am?)
Roland had never said anything about animals being able to talk in this world, so Lowen was caught completely off guard. He honestly didn"t expect this and only said what any normal person would in this type of situation.
"You, you can talk?"
The Alpha grew angered and with an imposing voice, it roared out.
"OF COURSE I CAN TALK, NO MORE GAMES! WHO ARE YOU? THIS ISN"T YOUR AFFAIR, SO WHY DO YOU INTERFERE ?"
Lowen was completely confused but more than anything, this Alpha"s words were not right. Interfere with his affairs, this whole situation involved anyone who lived near the forest and someone needed to answer for this. Although Lowen stood more than 10 feet away from this huge wolf, he could feel its hot breath on his skin and could smell the stench of blood coming off of him. This Alpha exuded power and when it came to size, this Alpha completely dwarfed Lowen. Lowen had to crane his neck to match his gaze with this wolf, with a calm voice he answered back.
"Who I am doesn"t matter, and this is my affair...."
Lowen was going to continue but the Alpha angrily interrupted him.
"NO, you neither wear their symbol nor do you fight like them, no I remember you. You were that boy who was attacked a few seasons ago by those bandits and they killed those who you traveled with."
Lowen"s mind flashed back to the first day he entered this world. Bandits had killed his mother and father of this world and killed the boy who Lowen took over. Afterward, wolves showed up and killed the bandits, that"s when Lowen had spotted a large silver wolf out in the distance, this wolf and that one are one and the same albeit after the Alpha consumed a human he more than doubled in size.
The Alpha could tell that Lowen recalled those past events and continued.
"It was my kin that killed those who attacked you and yours, because of that, you survived that day, so you could say you owe your life to me."
Lowen didn"t even flinch hearing about his parent"s death, because of course, they weren"t his real parents. He did however become annoyed about this Alphas claim that he owed him his life, Lowen tone became harsh and he asked.
"Is this why you stopped the fight, to recall fond memories... if so.."
Lowen pointed his blade at the Alpha.
"Stop wasting time so I can kill you already."
The Alpha couldn"t believe what he just heard, this tiny human had actually dared to threaten him. Staring at Lowen in bewilderment the Alpha howled with laughter.
*AWOOOOL HAHAHA AWOOOOL*
"Memories what memories, I simply stated the facts. Ok boy, you really want to know why I stopped."
The Alpha looked at Lowen and than he looked over towards Clovis, showing his fangs, the Alpha smiled viciously before looking back at Lowen.
"Because of him."
Noone of the soldiers could hear but they were sure something crazy was going on. They all followed the Alphas gaze and stared at Clovis in confusion, Clovis himself was left baffled by the Alphas words. Still trying to catch his breath, in a wheezy voice, Clovis yelled out.
"Wh...What the h.e.l.l do you want from me?"
But to this question the Alpha completely ignored him, instead, he once more spoke to Lowen.
"You boy, I"ll admit that your strength and speed surpa.s.ses everyone here besides my own that is. With you running around, you could easily continue to kill my kin and if I step in to stop you, then you could most likely flee from here and escape me but the others, all of these other humans, none of them would be able to escape alive. If we continue like this then the result is obvious, I would lose nearly all of my pack and all the humans would die, except you of course. So let"s do this, you back off and my pack won"t kill any more humans, what do you say?"
Lowen looked at the soldiers but they could only guess at what was being said, still right now their morale was at rock bottom. In the beginning, they were at a complete advantage but after the Alpha and his evolved Magic Beast appeared, the entire situation had flipped. Now, after only around 10 minutes of battle, there were 85 people alive and many of that number were injured. The wolves, on the other hand, were still going strong. There were still 35 regular wolves, as well as 2 Magic Beast, one of which was the Alpha who was in a category all on his own.
Lowen saw the hope, desperation, as well as the fear in the soldier"s eyes. Turning away, he then looked over toward Clovis. The two made eye contact and Lowen could see a hopefulness as well as a determination. For a second Lowen wondered what to do, were he to help Clovis, it was true, most of if not all of the people here would die, worst of all, Clovis may end up dead anyway. Lowen and Clovis weren"t close, h.e.l.l, they weren"t even friends, why should Lowen fight for him, for money, was that worth the many soldier"s lives.
Lowen thought for a moment before he asked.
"If I agree, you won"t let Clovis go and if I don"t agree, of course, you still won"t let Clovis go.
"Right, he stays no matter what you decide, so you"re better off just leaving. At least in that way, some of you will survive."
The men continued to look at Lowen and the Alpha in confusion and some even hoped from the bottom of their hearts that whatever was being said between the two would resolve this matter but in the end, it wasn"t meant to be. Lowen stared at the Alpha and coldly said.
"I"ll have to refuse than."
The Alpha stared at Lowen as though he were a fool and roared.
"You would dare refuse my kindness..."
The entire pack began to snarl and bark with their leader"s anger and the men who were filled with hope, seeing the wolves become aggressive, suddenly felt despair.
"Why? For what reason do you not yield? for that human over there, for some lofty ideal such as honor? Tell me, tell me why whatever it is your fighting for is more valuable than all of these men."
Lowen hearing this Alpha roar at him in anger simply shook his head. He didn"t have some amazing ideals or goals for refusing, instead, it came down to something quite simple to him. If Lowen didn"t fight, then all of the food would disappear within the forest. Lowen didn"t wish to see a sight from the past, where Nia and Ben were on the brink of starving. That"s why he choose to do it, it was for them. After spending more than 8 months with the two, they had become like true family to him or at least what he thought a family should be. Caring, loving, patient, supporting people that were always there. People that would never abandon you, people that would laugh with you and people that would cry with you. This was the first time Lowen had ever had such a thing and maybe some would call him weak for such notions but Lowen didn"t care, because in the end, he finally had a family.
Lowen raised his sword once more and calmly said.
"Are you still talking, come and fight me."
The Alpha saw this and came to a realization, he laughed out loud and said.
"Hahaha, I see I see, I get it now, there"s something wrong with your head. Fine if you truly wish to fight then I"ll be sure to make your death quick but before that."
The Alpha looked over the crowd of soldiers and with a bright white glow coming from his mouth, he spoke in a commanding tone.
"Listen up, this is your one and only chance. Drop your blades and turn around and leave. If you do, then I grant you safe pa.s.sage out of the forest. Stay and my kin will not hold back, you will all die."
The soldiers all looked around at each other in silence, even though their hearing was destroyed they still somehow heard this. Lowen noticed the glow from the wolfs mouth and felt some magical energy, looking back at the soldiers it was obvious the Alpha had somehow used Magic to communicate with them. Even in this situation, Lowen couldn"t help but feel amazed and curious, magic truly was a wondrous thing.
The soldiers, not knowing what to do, looked around at each other before glancing at their commander with guilt filled eyes.
The Alpha seeing the indecision once more used magic and roared at these weak humans.
"Make your decision and make it now"
Hearing this, it wasn"t long before the first person dropped their sword and ran away with swift feet. Seeing this person make it safely out of the battlefield and watching the wolves make no movement to stop him, others quickly followed suit. One by one a metallic clank rang out, as sword after sword hit the ground, the only remaining evidence that those people were there, was their blades and some footprints. In the end, only around 40 men remained, more than half chose to abandon their comrades. The Alpha leaned his head up high in the sky and laughed again before he gave a commanding howl.
"HAHAHA, the fools. AWWOOOOOOLLLL"
Suddenly screams could be heard coming from the forest. Looking over, Lowen could see the men who fled just seconds ago, were now dying left and right. After only a few minutes the screams completely stopped and 6 more wolves stepped out from the forest. 6 More Magic Beast to be exact.
The last of the men saw this and each one collapsed to the ground, hanging their head in defeat. Clovis didn"t know how to feel, these men had abandoned him and had just betrayed him but he didn"t know it himself whether or not he would have made the exact same choice given the situation. Hearing their dying screams left Clovis feeling bitter, Lowen on the other hand only felt anger.
"So you weren"t going to let them go either way."
The Alpha shook his head.
"Of course not, they"re my enemy."
"How did you have even more Magic Beast hiding? I thought you only ate the scouts."
The Alpha looked at Lowen with a ferocious grin.
"We"ve been attacking villagers for months, of course, we enjoyed a few meals here and there."
Lowen suddenly felt energy gathering in his surroundings, with a few steps back, he prepared to defend himself for whatever may come. The 6 Magical beasts stared at the collapsed soldiers in excitement. As they continually lapped up the blood around their mouths, their bloodl.u.s.t only grew. The Alpha glared confidently at Lowen and said.
"It doesn"t matter what your about to do, whether you use the magic you"ve just gathered or you flee, it doesn"t change the fates of anyone here boy, you lose."
(The magic I"ve gathered, what?)
"HAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHAHAHA, too much, you talk way too much you stupid dog."
Lowen, Clovis, and the wolves all stared in one direction hearing this uproarious laughter. Up high in a tree standing tall with glimmering emerald green eyes, Roland stood there with his cane pointed forward. Roland had finally recovered and had now gathered his magic. With a demonic glare that seemed as though it would burn the world in a blazing h.e.l.l, at the tip of his cane a powerful spell began to take shape. Roland looked the Alpha dead in the eye and roared out.
"4TH CIRCLE! RIPPLING INFERNO!"