AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!
The beast was lamenting about our interruption. It clearly didn't like that we were preventing it from eating the killer of his entire family.
I couldn't are less.
Its pack was the reason Crow was in that state, if he hadn't already done a splendid job by himself, I'd gladly take his place in slaughtering every single dog.
"Your pack of monsters dared lay finger on him."
The others stopped their attacks and assumed the standard formation we had all known from our families' training.
"You are lucky he was gracious enough to grant a fast death to your kin. But even your luck run out."
Yom raised his rapier and released a silent spell.
Ever since Crow had told us how important it was to silent cast and showed us his way of doing it, everyone was training relentlessly. Nobody reached his level, but we sure weren't dolls playing.
[ectasy] - Yom
[haste] - me
[blood drinker] - Rovan
[shared location] - Niven
All our spells were activating in quick succession, sure it wasn't the level of effectiveness it would achieve with a chant, but nobody wanted to disrespect Crow's effort. Not after seeing all the bodies around us.
Aurelia was reading the mana in the room, trying to figure out some details regarding this type of monster and while we were ready to jump in action, Juste's voice came with an angry shout.
"I DECLARE YOU GUILTY!"
All at once, the mana surrounding the Alpha Wolf got dimmer and dimmer, responding to Juste's declaration and Aurelia finally said something.
"It's overwhelmed by Crow's magic, but his pack was a pack of bloodmancers wolves."
That was all we needed to know and prepare.
All at once we jumped on the beast, it was time to extract vengeance.
___________________
"This is absurd… are we even capable of holding a candle to them?" -Selan
"It's useless to compare us Selan, you're going to be a magician and I will mostly handle the support role." -Auriel
"Still… forget Caelum, he was always the strongest. But that twerp that is Yom is putting in so much effort he's almost unrecognisable."
Auriel was thoughtful for a moment. Even witnessing the atrocities his friends were committing didn't make a dent in his focus and effort to heal Crow.
Selan too was doing everything in her power to slow down the mana from rushing into Crow and damaging his channels, but her effort was futile, the ambient mana was chasing after his body like a maiden in love and seeing how there were no negative reactions she decided it was best to facilitate the process.
She cut her palm and dropped her blood directly in Crow's mouth.
"[obstacle erasure]."
She even chanted to make her spell as precise as possible, she was smoothing the paths of his mana circuits that were clearly overused, but instead of finding damages she only found small knots of mana that freed themselves as her spell passed by.
However, his circuits…
"Auriel, switch to mana vision and tell me I'm not allucinating."
"I've known for a long time now. His circuits have developed into his entire body and they are way stronger and denser than ours. He probably has 3 times the mana I have, maybe more."
While Auriel and Selan were discussing Crow's mana capacity, Eira was focusing on trying to keep him covered with medical plants, to both help the healing process and avoid getting killed by Caelum for watching Crow naked.
"What is their relationship anyway? I can understand Yom's rage, he's his brother… but Caelum, it doesn't make sense." -Eira
They all shared that thought.
The Caelum they knew was a focused man. He didn't dwell, nor share emotions with anyone. He only trained and focused exclusively on being the strongest among them all.
But from the moment he met Crow, something started to change within him and nowadays it was clearer then ever.
He slept in Crow's room and bed because he didn't like the silence of estate Morvane? As if that was possible for someone born and raised in nobility.
He demanded for Crow to call him Cael? Cool, if it wasn't that when they tried to call him the same way he almost electrocuted them.
"Let's also avoid telling him that you made Crow drink you blood Selan… I don't even want to think about what would happen." -Eira
They all nodded and waited for the fighters to finish their job and Crow to get back on his feet.
The wait was terrifying. The whimpers of the beast being mauled and yet deprived of a clean death was an ever lasting companion.
Those heirs… they were on a mission.
That mission? Forever imprint their ruthlessness on the ancestors of the entire wolves race.
When Crow stirred from his sleep, he opened his eyes lazily, noticed a weird but pleasant notification from his system and stretched his back like a cat after a satisfying nap.
______________________
When I opened my eyes after what I thought would have been the last fight of my life, I noticed a beautiful message waiting for me.
[DNA of the path of Moon stored. Please improve your bloodline purity to absorb the primordial rune.]
It came as a pleasant surprise, but it still irked me a little.
Did she kiss me while I was sleeping? Isn't that assault?
I decided to let it go since I was the one that benefited from that the most, but I still kept the fact in my mind. Selan was clearly a sex offender and I needed to never be alone with her.
I looked around myself and finally took notice of what was happening.
The alpha Wolf that previously scared me shitless, was deprived of all his limbs that were carefully cauterised to avoid blood loss.
His fangs, ears, tail? Removed from the equation.
He was whimpering like an abused puppy, pleading for a death that couldn't come faster.
When my eyes locked with his, he stopped breathing for a second, a reaction that confused everyone that was guarding it, everyone but a certain bundle of silver hair that found himself in my arms in record time.
He was shaking, visibly tormented and I felt my heart ache.
"I… I'm sorry I made you all worry, and thanks… for saving me."
Nobody answered me, clearly my words were unexpected, I wasn't exactly the type to show weakness or vulnerability for once, but when needed I too knew how to act.
"I'll become stronger. So strong you'll never need to worry about me and of course all debts are immediately cancelled."
"What are you even talking about? Do you realise you killed more than one hundred wolves alone?" -Cael
"Yet, I made you worry. I don't like it."
He pushed himself closer, if it was even possible and I started caressing his head. At that moment my brother decided it was time to push himself on me.
"Caelum! That's enough. He's my brother, It's already bothersome that I allow you to sleep in his room."
I laughed a little and my giggle was a relief medicine for everyone in the room. I too felt better after witnessing this stupid exchange. But the wolf was still alive and it was starting to give me the creeps.
"Either way. Why is that bastard dog still alive?"
That effectively got everyone on alert.
"Do you like it? It's a gift for you, it seemed the most logical thing for you to eradicate the entire race off this floor."
Well, who was I to refuse such a bountiful gift?
Was it fair? Hell no.
But even dropping me in the midst of a nest of monsters wasn't fair.
I took out my jian and handed it directly to a doppelgänger, I was thinking of something else that needed my direct attention.
"Guys, do you know anything about these inscriptions?"
At my call, everyone turned away from the now decapitated wolf boss and my doppelgänger carrying his head to my position.
Cael and Yom, that didn't really stay away from me, were already looking at where I was pointing, but they both had confused looks in their faces.
"Crow, there's nothing written there."
I turned around fast enough to scare them. Were they kidding me or they simply couldn't see them?
Then I thought for a second how I knew this writing even if I didn't know the meanings and how that strange priest disappeared out of the blue.
"Maybe…"
It was possible that only someone who knew the language could see them, or that they were protected by some kind of illusion.
There was also the possibility that only my bloodline was able to see the Laithath writings.
"Crow? Is something wrong?"
I shook my head.
"It's probably just fatigue, let's rest a little more before going on."
They nodded at once, we all needed to replenish our mana either way.
"Oh right! Crow you should check if you have a bonded artefact, that was the last monster of the floor!" -Yom