Chapter 105 - Mercenaries
"Owooooh!
" The Alpha screamed with a hoarse voice.
The little life force that it had was glowing with a golden-green light and was starting to stitch the massive gap in his neck closed.
"You sure are persistent...
" Grabbing the wolf's fur, Danzel jumped at the lying down Alpha´s chest.
"Let´s see how long you can last...
" Being at the lying Alpha´s chest, Danzel pushed Veren directly into the giant wolf's chest.
"Owoogh!
" A deafening scream came out of Alpha´s mouth.
He suddenly felt this whole body getting weak and his vision getting more blurred by the second.
Every movement it made bough enormous pain while every breath was all the more difficult to come out.
The world around him turned darker while the ground seemed to slowly turn into a pitch-black liquid that was slowly dragging him down.
The Alpha didn´t know what was happening and felt confused.
But one thing it knew.
That he had to kill that dark beast no matter the cost.
All of his three eyes were bloodshot and staring at the dark beast pushing a cold object into his chest.
"G-Growl!
" Using all this strength, it raised one of his leg´s slowly towards the dark beast.
Though all the pain that came from that slow movement alone, it still was determined to kill him.
As long as his scythe-like claws pierced the dark beast nothing else mattered!
But before the claws managed to reach him, the blade in his chest was pushed even deeper.
"Die
"
Following these words, a crimson glow escape through the Alphas chest
"O-Owooh...
"
The claw that were been above Danzel fell directly upon him with no strength behind them.
The burning light that was in Alpha´s eyes has been completely faded away together with all of his strength.
You received 18 000 XP
"Finally...
" Glancing at the notification he finally felt relieved.
He has been chasing that giant wolf for a whole hour until he managed to catch up to it. Which that alone suprised him.
Not only did that wolf take every remaining spear that I had, but it also had the Curse of Exhaustion upon him while running away from me.
And at the very end of the chase, he still had some life force to heal himself.
Though he didn´t know much of how much 300 stamina points were or how long the skill Tireless lasted, he had to give it to that wolf for his perseverance.
Sadly for the wolf, his opponent was one of the true tireless undead.
Once the curse was placed in that worked similar to a tracker with the fact that both of them had around the same speed.
Unless something unexpected happend his death was sealed.
With his target finally meeting his death, the talent Sin of Wrath was shortly de-activated and the oozing bloodlust that was coming from his body was slowly dissipating.
"This one gave the best reward till yet...
" Danzel mumbled to himself as he stared at the XP notification.
But as he stared in towards the floating window he saw a group with weapons and staff´s looking at with caution.
"...
"
"...
"
The group of people and Danzel stared at each other silently.
"Who are you guys?
" Danzel spoke up in confusion.
`We are supposed to ask that...
" Every one of the mercenary groups thought simultaneously.
While they were peacefully going escorting the carriages as the mission from the association demanded, a four-meter-tall hound came jumping to them, closely followed by a dark knight emitting such a killing intent that made many gulps their saliva back.
Under such circumstances weren´t they suppose to ask who you were?
Walking through the mercenaries, was someone wearing blue robes and holding a staff in his hand.
"I am Serran! And we are a mercenaries going through a mission from the association. Who might you be, sir knight?
" Serran said with a friendly tone as if he was asking what the name was of vegetable.
`He must be a magic caster...´ Danzel made a mental note before answering.
"What a coincidence, I also happend to be a mercenary.
" Shaking the claws from his body off, he pointed with the bloody blade towards the now dead Alpha.
"You can call me Danzel, as you guys can see I've been going after this guy for quite a while.
"
Following where the blade was pointing at, they saw the giant wolf's head and shuddered.
`How can one person kill such a thing!?´
Most of them had the strength of a lower to middle 2nd-tier which was already quite powerful and somewhat respectable in the eyes of the normal people.
But when they saw that huge hound lying dead to the ground, they knew that not even with ten lives could they stand a chance against that monster.
And the dark knight in front of them said that he done what they couldn´t.
Which made them grip their weapons even harder.
But those who also noticed the golden eye in that hound's body, dreaded by the idea of dark knight deciding to fight.
The golden eye hound was a famous B-rank mission from the association that received the name of hidden A-rank.
The sole reason it was named as such was because the target was a Alpha hound which could mind-controlling the other smaller hounds.
With their ability to turn invisible and their numbers, it was already difficult enough.
But even if they were to face against the horde of smaller hounds the Alpha that had a rare regeneration ability was like the final nail in the coffin.
Even if they were lucky enough to deal with all those things and deal some amount of damage to the Alpha. The Alpha would always escape like the coward it was.
Since the reward was placed upon the Alpha´s head himself, all the effort the mercenaries would have gone into killing the hounds would in the end be wasted if the money prize itself runs away.
`That guy should be a high-end 2nd-tier´ Serran thought as he frown slightly.
The bloodlust he felt before already creeped the ** out of him.
`And considering that we are already behind schedule, if we fight him now we might get late to our destination and even have some casualties...´
Just as Serran was thinking of what to do,he was disturbed by a loud voice beside him.
"To be able to take down such a beast! You sure are amazing brother!
" A bulgy man with a scar on his face said, wearing some leather armor that barely contained his muscles and a spear in his hand.
Looking at the man with a scar on his face, Danzel nodded slowly.
"You got some good eyes, scarface. Chasing that guy was truly annoying.
" Danzel wasn´t sure why, but looking at that magic caster and the scarface brought a similar feeling to when he looked at Gerak.
Everyone else that he looked at bough forth a feeling of disgust and hate, looking at that duo brought forth just the feeling of dislike.
Having lived among humans for months, he was already capable of keeping the bloodlust to be released.
But his tone talking to them would always be cold filled with a hint annoyance.
`Are those guys not human? They sure do like it though...´ Danzel though.
"Scarface you say...
" Hannes scratched the backside of his neck, feeling slightly awkward being called so by a stranger.
"Hannes, let me better do the talk...
" Serran said as he walked in front of Hannes.
"So sir...Danzel was it? Since you are a mercenary as well, why don´t we both go to the association to receive our rewards?
" Serran said with a serious voice.
"Hmm, association? What are you talking about?
" Danzel said as he was gathering the runed spear tips in the Alpha´s body.
Hearing that many question marks appeared in Serrans mind.
`Did he lie him being a mercenary? We are pretty far from Bernes for him to be a solo adventure...´
"Sir Danzel...my I know the reason why you killed that Alpha hound?
"
Finishing gathering the spear tips, he turned around and looked at the magic caster in deep thoughts.
`I can´t really say that I have done it for the XP and because it pissed me off, can I...?´ After pondering what to say to the caster, he just shrugged at him.
"Well, after I left the capital of Bernes I met that big guy together with his pack. Since they already messed with me I just decided to finish what I started, I guess?
"
Many of the mercenaries gulped instinctively.
`Does that mean by messing with you we will end up like that hound?´
Serran in turned was quite speechless of that dark knight seemingly killing a B-rank target without care.
"So, what will you do now If I may ask?
"
"...
" Staring at the magic caster, Danzel put his hand in his chest from the neck opening before bringing out the map that Gerak gave him from the storage ring.
"I was planning to go in a city called Nercana, near the ends of the Arcana kingdom bordes by following this road...
" Danzel said slowly.
`The same place where we go...´ Serran cursed internally.
But as he was about to negotiate to go different paths with that dark knight, he was cut short.
"Oh! That´s the same place where we are traveling! Since we go at the same place, why don´t you come with us? Traveling together would make those beast-infested woods a lot safer for both parties!
" Hannes said followed by his own laugh.
"Hannes...
" Serran mumbled as he cursed at his friend´s brain.
`That damn idiot! Who would want to travel with a stranger who killed a 4 meter tall Alpha hound!?´
Though he was cursing internally, Serran on the outside had a smile.
"Sir Danzel, if my friend here bothered you-
"
"Sure, let´s go together...
" Danzel said with a cold tone.
Upon hearing that, Serran completely froze and doubted what he just heard.
Danzel in turn looked at the big map in his hand.
`Having a guide wouldn´t be bad....´ He thought awkwardly.