Turn back the time a little just before the monster tide had struck the city. Back at the Darkfang estate, the Nocturne Lions" First Fang squadron had all mobilized in order to capture the Empire"s target.Because of last night"s ma.s.sacre, Ankhs had begun rushing the squad to quickly produce results and bring Cecil back with them.
He wasn"t sure whether the ma.s.sacre might cause the boy to leave the borders with his party so he had the First Fangs hasten their mission.
It was their luck that today of all days, their target was finally alone. The party members that the boy was usually surrounded with had all gone their separate ways, especially that problematic foxkin girl who was stuck to him like glue almost every day.
The First Fang quickly made their move and surrounded the estate. They probed the compounds with their detection spells and quickly found the target resting inside of his room.
"Alpha...will we be using the same trap as yesterday?"
"Yes...we still have the incense after all."
"Alright..."
The members of the First Fang quickly began mobilizing. They sent some from their squadron who were disguised as citizens to go distract the estate"s gate guards.
The rest of them stealthily made their way into the compound and soon, they arrived at Cecil"s resting quarters.
They quickly released the knockout incense into the room. They were just about to back off and let the incense take effect, but a sudden change occurred inside of the room.
Their target had actually somehow awoken and was immediately able to detect their presence. The magi-tech tool that they were using to counteract and avoid their target"s detection ability was acting up and they all knew that they"ve been discovered.
"Delta, Beta, move in now! Secure the target! The target should still have been somewhat affected by the incense since it"s a fast acting regent!"
"Yes!"
"Moving in!"
They immediately broke into the room and found the boy waiting for them with his weapon in hand.
"Hah...I knew it...you guys were after me all along...Urk..."
"Hmph. This doesn"t change anything...the incense has already taken effect...so stop your pointless resistance and come with us quietly!"
"Heh...I ain"t going down without a fight!"
"Then so be it...Knock him out!"
Cecil"s a.s.saulters immediately took action. They dashed towards him with their weapons and sent combat skills and magic spells at him.
Cecil felt sluggish and couldn"t respond really well. He felt his mind turning hazy and the attacks immediately landed on his body just as he was thinking about dodging.
He was thrown back by the Pulse Imprint that the leading beastman sent at him and slammed into the wall. The following magic spell from the other beastman slammed into his abdomen and he felt the wind being knocked out of his body.
"GAHACK!"
"Heh...you wouldn"t need to go through so much pain if you only obediently followed us."
"Urk...hah, you call this pain? I"ve tasted worst..."
Cecil tried to rouse the mana inside his body, but for some reason it didn"t respond.
"d.a.m.n...what"s wrong with my body? I can"t—"
"You were thinking about what"s wrong with your body, right?
"!"
Seeing the surprise look on the boy"s face, the leading beastman scoffed and said derisively.
"Hah! The incense we drugged you with doesn"t only put you to sleep, but it also hinders your cognitive thinking and motor functions by plunging your mana flow into chaos. Even if you"re thinking about dodging, your body will be too late to respond..."
"d.a.m.n..."
Cecil blocked an attack and tried to retaliate, but just like the First Fang"s Leader said, his body couldn"t react properly to his thoughts. One of the beastmen slammed a fist into his face and kneed him in the gut.
"Urk..."
"Just because you"re strong...it doesn"t mean we don"t have the means to deal with you."
"Ack!"
Another spell landed on Cecil and he was once again embedded into the wall. The fighter beastman rushed up to him and poured a flurry of blows onto his defenseless body.
"..."
"What? Not struggling anymore?"
"..."
"Hmph. Take him away!"
Cecil"s mind was too hazy. He felt his hand loosen, but he immediately tried to grip onto his sword. If he lost his weapon, he"d be helpless.
"s.h.i.t...I thought I took all the necessary precautions...I"m still going to be taken away like this? Dammit...where are Lucia and the others? How come—"
"!"
"N-no way...they...couldn"t have..."
Cecil thought of the worst possibility. Just as he was about to muster up his strength a loud roar immediately filled his ears.
"GGGGRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"
******
Lucia and Velicia immediately exited from the Misty Gate and landed just outside of the estate"s entrance.
"Lucia, look... Silver"s fur is changing!"
From close up, Silver"s change was much more noticeable. When Lucia turned to look at her colossal friend, she immediately noticed the change in color.
Silver"s snow white fur had slowly turned into a dirty gray. She didn"t know the cause of this, but as the change slowly happened, Lucia and Velicia were able to sense the oppressive and ominous atmosphere exuding from Silver"s body.
They felt their mind"s being affected by something. Lucia didn"t know how, but she was able to understand Silver whenever he tried to converse with her through his monster language.
And right now, the roaring and howling that Silver was releasing wasn"t interpretable. It was just loud chaotic roars of anger and rage, rage that was being directed fully towards the black figures attacking him and Cecil.
"Let"s go Veli! We have to back Cecil and Silver up! I won"t let those people take Cecil away from me!"
"Y-yeah!"
The two quickly pa.s.sed through the gates to the estate and they were immediately met with the chaos inside of the compounds. The two girls immediately noticed the black clothed people the soldiers were all uniformly taking on.
Lucia wasn"t so surprised to see that those black figures were indeed beastmen. It was just like how Cecil had described in his dream. The person who had caught him was beastman and it made sense right now that the people who looked like they were only aiming to take him away were also beastmen.
"Lucius! Where"s Cel?!" Lucia immediately flickered towards the familiar figure of the fatty when she noticed him. Lucius was currently tossing alchemy potions and pills at the beastmen and detonating them using magic spells.
The alchemy potions and pills either exploded, ignited, or burst out smog of what seemed to be poisonous, paralyzing, or sleep-inducing fumes.
"Lucia? Veli! You both are here! Why?"
"When Silver transformed, we saw that he was being attack by some people, me and the girls quickly split into 2 teams. Us 2 came back to support you guys while Eli and the rest went to support to soldiers at the walls." Velicia reported.
Lucius nodded in understanding and pointed his finger at the black clothed beastmen currently a.s.saulting Silver.
"Those guys seem to be only after Cecil. They only sent attacks and a couple of people to obstruct us. They coordinate very well with one another and they"re individually powerful as well! Be careful later and make sure you don"t get caught up in a pincer!"
"Noted, I"ll head out now!" Lucia briskly replied. She disappeared in the next instant after being wrapped up in a purple aura.
Ainz quickly noticed Lucia had come to help. He activated Aura Manifestation and followed after the girl.
Lucius turned his eyes back to his fiancé and said, "Go after them, those two will need your help."
"Okay!"
"Just...be careful alright."
"Roger!"
Velicia activated her own aura and flickered away as well. She quickly caught up to Ainz and Lucia who were now engaging a couple of black clothed beastmen.
"TASTE MY FISTS!"
*****
Cecil was knocked out by the sudden roar from earlier. When he came too, he suddenly noticed that he was in a really high place.
"Agh...I still can"t...move well..."
Cecil struggled to lift his body up, but his arms and body felt like they were being weighed down by 2 ton weights. He also noticed that he was lying down on a comfortable rug of gray fur.
"Is this...Silv?"
When Silver noticed his master awakening again, he howled once more and sent more magic spells at the figures a.s.saulting him.
Cecil looked around and saw the beastmen that had attacked him earlier, but there were even more of them however. The Empire sure was desperate in trying to capture him.
"d.a.m.n...with my body in this condition...how can I help Silv?"
Cecil gnashed his teeth in frustration. If this had happened the night before, he would have no doubt awoken in an unfamiliar room and currently being interrogated and tortured.
"Dammit...move...MOVE!!!"
He tried to urge his body to move, but none of his arms, legs, or muscles budged an inch. It was frustrating to see these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds a.s.sault his partner. He grew more and more furious, but Cecil didn"t notice that the color of Silver"s flawless fur was slowly turning darker and darker.
"Dammit...just you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds wait...I"ll kill you...I"ll kill all of you!"