"Kill them!"
"Wolf bastards!"
"Awooooo!"
"Growl! Growl!"
Starting with Grul's slaughter, a battle broke out between the Beast Faction and the wolves. The seasoned warriors formed groups of three or four, watching each other's backs, and the wolves frequently sustained injuries and retreated against attacks wreathed in Qi.
Having brought only the carefully selected elite, they wouldn't fall easily to the wolves. They bound the wolves' muzzles with dozens of layers of leather overlaid on their gauntlets, and shattered the wolves' skulls with sharp daggers or hammers.
While the Beast Faction's warriors drove back the wolves, Grul was committing a slaughter all by himself.
"Sal Baramah... Ugh!"
The two blades Grul swung tore through the priests' flesh. The Qi-wreathed blades cleaved flesh like tofu and sliced bone like cucumbers. While diagonally severing the ribs of one priest, Grul searched for his next victim, having already chosen his footing. His foot slid long across the ground.
Ground Selection.
His figure vanished in an instant. Simultaneously, a blade was thrust into the mouth of another priest who was crying out to his god. The cold dagger might not have been the god he was seeking, but it was enough to reap his life.
"I don't know what guts they had. Pathetic trifles..."
It took less than a minute to kill the high priest and his flock. As Grul shook off the blood, a voice reached his ears.
"...As expected of a Master. Powerful. To think a beastman could reach that realm..."
He clearly killed them all? Grul flinched and looked back. A few steps away, a severed priest's head was speaking, its mouth opening and closing.
"Puppet sorcery? The main body is somewhere else, and only the consciousness is connected. No wonder. Cowardly bastards like you wouldn't just appear in front of me as you are."
"Keuheuheu. It's not just that."
Grul quickly approached and stomped the head to burst, but the high priest's consciousness had already moved elsewhere. Grul looked around. It was because he felt an ominous aura from the priests he killed in an instant—the corpses that should have been dead long ago.
"Crazy bastard. Were all twenty of these your puppets from the very beginning?!"
"Puppets and sacrifices. They willingly offered their lives. To teach a beast like you its place."
The blood sticks unusually to his body. It feels as if bugs are crawling over him. Amidst the repulsive sensation tickling his fur, Grul urgently shouted to his subordinates.
"Everyone! Fall back! Don't step on the blood!"
"Blood for blood. Beast, know your place. ------."
A sound only beasts could hear. A scent only beasts could smell. Piercing through their unusually sharp senses, a curse planted long ago by Agartha ran rampant.
The Curse of Frenzy. A curse spread using twenty priests as sacrifices engulfed the Beast Faction.
Qi circulation is a technique that distinguishes the self from the world. If one achieves Heaven and Earth, one can sever the connection to external senses in advance, preventing them from reaching the mind; if one grasps the sense, one can even control the physical effects inflicted upon the body. If one reaches the realm of Truth, even the mind becomes clear.
Grul, who had reached the realm of Truth, only became slightly more sensitive. Actually, that wasn't even the effect of the curse, but because of the Beast Faction warriors afflicted by the curse.
But that was enough. Originally, the high priest had no intention of targeting someone who had reached the realm of Truth.
"Grrrr...!"
"Keuhak, kag! Eumeooooo!"
A foul smell seeping through the blood. Nervous noise stimulating their sensitive hearing. Sticky blood clinging and tickling their fur. Narrowing field of vision.
The sharp senses of a beast are also a curse. The Beast Faction warriors, already highly excited from the battle, panted heavily and suffered.
"You damn bastards. Stop with the physical training and practice more Qi circulation! If you'd only grasped the sense, you'd have been fine!"
"We're... fine, Chieftain! Still, thanks to the Qi circulation you taught us, we can still distinguish friend from foe!"
"That's exactly what's not fine! What's the point of just distinguishing friend from foe!"
True to his words, the Beast Faction warriors began to break formation. The frenzied warriors swung their swords wildly at the wolves in front of them.
Casualties kept mounting. Grul used Ground Selection to cover them, but the Beast Faction warriors who left the formation started taking damage from the wolves.
"Chieftain. Should we retreat?"
"Is that even a question! Worry about how to retreat first!"
Curses fell into decline due to the advancement of Qi circulation. The Beast Faction warriors, albeit with differences in their realms, were practicing Qi circulation. Not all of them were afflicted by the Curse of Frenzy, and they were still in positions to help each other.
'For now', that is. If a little more time passes and they scatter to the point where Ground Selection can't cover them, they will be hunted down one by one.
There is a solution. Strike the back of the frenzied warriors' heads to calm them down. But reducing their own fighting power while fighting the wolves was nothing more than playing into the opponent's intentions. A dilemma where neither option was viable.
It was then. A beastman army of at least a thousand came rushing toward Grul. Through the path Grul had carved out in advance, a force almost large enough to be called the main body advanced in a tightly knit formation.
They were of little help in a frontal fight, but right now, they were more welcome than anyone. Tools to bind the enemy, like snares or ropes, were effective against frenzied warriors.
Grul shouted in delight.
"Reinforcements?"
"N-no! We're fleeing too!"
"What? Fleeing?"
In war, there is a main force and a detachment. And usually, the detachment retreats to the main force; the opposite rarely happens.
No matter how strong Grul and his subordinates were, the absolute numbers and scale were different, so how could they be retreating here?
For it to be a joke, there were too many sheep and cow beastmen in charge of traps. At the sudden news of rout, Grul asked again.
"From who?"
"From the dog beastmen! The Baskerville family's!"
Grul blinked.
"Baskerville?"
***
The Empire's strongest guard dog family. The Baskerville family. They produced countless guard dogs from both the main house and the branch families, and the majority of them were sold off as bodyguards for the Empire's highest echelons. Learning etiquette and deportment from birth, and Qi circulation for hunting and escorting, they had always been popular since ancient times.
A hunting instinct and agility on a completely different level from ordinary dog beastmen. And their characteristic was a loyalty that spared no sacrifice of their own bodies for their master's sake. Dignified and imposing, always surveying their surroundings to protect their master, they were loyal hounds.
Such people were now slaughtering beastmen.
Sapien swung his spear shaft widely. Baskerville instantly twisted her body to deflect the point of impact, but Sapien was an Obelisk who had defended the city against such beastmen. He adjusted his grip on the spear and crushed Baskerville down with sheer force.
The main force is of no help. Against a master who has learned Qi circulation, traps or ropes are meaningless. Only the Obelisks can fight.
The opponent is also a Qi master, but at Sapien's level, it would work. Gaining a sliver of confidence, Sapien shouted.
"Obelisks! Maintain formation! The enemy is a beastman!"
The Obelisks holding out better than expected was likely because their past experiences were not in vain. Sapien assessed the battle situation and shouted.
"Fight back bravely! Do you intend to be defeated by beastmen twice!"
"Why. What's wrong with losing to me?"
Sapien flinched and turned around.
Thud, thud.
Two Obelisks following him scattered blood as they flew into the air. Beyond them, a Baskerville dressed in a black suit was extending a fist wearing a cestus. An Obelisk swiftly raised his shield to block the fist.
Boom! When the cestus-clad fist struck the shield, ripples surged across it. He clearly blocked it, but the Qi force penetrated deep, shaking the Obelisk's entire body.
Behind the Obelisk who fell bleeding from the mouth, an alluring woman flicked her pointed ears and smiled.
"Because we're dogs?"
Only then did Sapien realize. The Obelisks weren't blocking well. The Baskervilles, born as bodyguards for nobles, did not use weapons, so the armored Obelisks were simply falling a little slower.
"Why are the Baskervilles here...!"
"Aw. You recognize us. I guess we can't let you live."
Demonic Qi blazed in the Baskerville's eyes. Blue flames traced a trajectory and surged before Sapien's eyes. Sapien instinctively raised his spear shaft, gripping it with both hands. The endlessly slow spear shaft barely slipped into the trajectory of the meteor-like falling fist. Crash! A tremendous roar rang out, unbelievable that it was just a fist and iron colliding.
'It's not just speed...! Their Qi circulation is stronger than mine!'
Sapien, pushed back about three meters, steadied his trembling arms. The reason he managed to react at all was thanks to his experience fighting a strong one who had reached the realm of Truth not long ago. Superimposing Grul's figure onto his opponent, Sapien was horrified.
'On Grul's level? Then... could it be they've reached the realm of Truth?'
"I didn't plan on letting you live anyway. Woof."
A sleek figure visible beneath the snugly fitting suit. Neatly trimmed hair. Pointed ears standing above it and an invisible tail. An upright posture even in the midst of a fight.
Above all, eyes that looked like burning blue flames. A Baskerville. Sapien spoke without even a moment to indulge in sentiments.
"Whose orders?! Did the Empire's nobles command the attack?!"
"Master? Woof. If we had one, we wouldn't be doing something like this."
Even amidst this, the female Baskerville exuding a dangerous aura made a tragic expression and fiddled with her cestus.
"Woof. Will you be my master?"
"Don't make me laugh! After killing so many Obelisks!"
"If you don't want to, it can't be helped. Okay. I'll serve our king as usual. But..."
The Baskerville tilted her head and asked.
"Where is the king of the traitor dogs?"
"You...!"
"Answer."
Feeling a sinister premonition run down his spine, Sapien broadly swept his spear shaft and laid his body low. He blocked one, dodged another, and deflected a third. But the Baskerville, who had penetrated even deeper, planted her hands on the ground and struck his abdomen with her foot, causing Sapien's body to be uprooted and sent tumbling far away.
The Baskerville was faster than he could get up. Her shoe crushed Sapien's neck. The Baskerville leaned down with him pinned beneath her foot.
"If you don't answer, I'll go ask the next person."
"Grrrk...!"
"Ah. Did I step too hard?"
Grab. Sapien seized the Baskerville's ankle with both hands. A desperate motion, as if trying to tear it off. The Baskerville bared her teeth and smiled.
"...I like that you don't give up. But it's too pathetic."
But Sapien wasn't resisting. In his eyes, lying on the ground, he saw it.
A single figure dropping from the air.
It was an approach that swallowed even sound, but perhaps she felt it with a beastman's instinct. The Baskerville's fur stood on end all at once. When she snapped her head around, what met her eyes was the figure of Shei, grasping the distorted space.
"Heavenly Sword Qi! Thunderbird!"
Lightning flashed. Kicking off the clouds he created in midair and descending, Shei looked like a personified lightning bolt. Scattering even the power of lightning he obtained from Claudia, Shei broadly swung the lightning.
Blanca tried to jump, but right below, Sapien was tightly gripping her ankle. There wasn't enough time to shake him off, as he was firmly anchored to the ground with Earth Qi.
However, she had loyal comrades.
"Blanca!"
"It's dangerous!"
The duty of a guard dog is to escort. Even if it means protecting a member of the same family, they will throw their bodies on the line. Two Baskervilles, sensing the attack with their beastman instincts, threw themselves into the attack's trajectory instead of protecting themselves.
And Shei's attack covered all three of them. Thunder crashed, fur scorched, and blood blazed. The blade tempered by lightning pierced even their defensive Qi and reaped two lives.
"Blanca Baskerville. You've shown yourself this time!"
The one whose life was saved thanks to the sacrifice of those two faced the intruder without even having time to feel grief. A boy who seemed to know her for some reason was displaying hostility.
"...You. You're strong."
The price of carelessness was the death of her kin. Blanca calmed her mind and touched her cestus. Expressing her anger only through her eyes, Blanca brought up the words she always said to humans.
"Will you be my master?"
Even at the unexpected proposal, Shei neither panicked nor got angry. For Shei, who had traveled back in time, that question wasn't the first. Shei scoffed and replied.
"I'll be your master, so why don't you bite your tongue and kill yourself?"
"...So in the end, you wish for us to disappear as well."
"In the end? I wish you'd disappear as soon as possible."
"Woof. It can't be helped. Then we..."
Blanca Baskerville tightly gripped the wrist of her cestus. And the transformation began.
Claws extended, piercing through the cestus. Thicker and sharper than her fingers, they looked more like claws than fingernails. Having drawn out a beast's blades, Blanca rumbled, billowing a bluish aura.
"There is no choice but to become a wolf."