Chapter 176: Chapter 176

KAIST:

It was a call to help Count Abell. Wolves from the White Fang Pack immediately tore their shirts and started transforming into their wolf form.

“Prince Kaist, do you mean to say Tristan and Samalah… I mean Dahlia are in danger,” Thesla hurriedly asked.

I nodded. “Yes. We will be going now. Get the women, children, elderly, and the sick inside the town hall. Bar the doors, and don’t let anyone inside the village. I will return here for the lady when everything is over,” I told the villagers.

There was a murmur around the villagers.

“Prince Kaist, I couldn’t speak for everyone, but I will come with you. Dahlia has become a friend and a family to Efiro and I. I don’t want to just sit and do nothing when I know she’s in danger!”

“Very well.” I turned to the crowd. “Everyone who wishes to join us may come. As for the rest of you, please secure the village. May the Moon Goddess’ blessings be upon you!”

“And you too, our prince,” I heard several people speak.

After that speech, I wasted no time and transformed into my wolf, joining Duke Hurst’s side.

I heard several gasps as they saw Ignis and the shining oval spirit stone in our head. Duke Hurst did not say anything though. It didn’t even look like he was surprised at all with this revelation.

We ran into the forest, following the path that our new alpha, Tristan Abell, had taken to reach Laudicia.

“How long,” I called over to Duke Hurst as we ran deeper into the forest. “How long had you known that I was who I was?”

“Since the very beginning, your majesty,” he growled.

“Then you two were conniving with Jeteris and King Maurus on this?”

“I apologize… Please don’t hesitate to call the late king your father though… You’d discover that he is still very much the man that gave you life once you hear the whole truth.”

“Oh yeah?… Well, if we live long enough, promise me you’d tell me your version of the truth,” I asked the duke.

“As you wish,” he grunted.

I knew that the wolves around me had heard my words. They would be able to figure out I was a Shadow Rune wolf if they pieced together all the obvious clues.

We were being taken by Tristan’s call into a rather unknown path. The original road we know that will take us to Laudicia would have taken us a day at most. This one must be a secret passageway and could be the very reason why he and Dahlia had already arrived at Laudicia.

The road we travelled on seemed odd. There had been dead bodies and charred remains along the way. Was this really the kind of road they had taken? If so, how did they escape all of these traps and assassins? Was Tristan Abell really that strong?...

Tristan Abell - my supposed brother… We still need to have a long talk after this ordeal is over.

Therefore, to get to that point, we must finish this attack as quickly and cleanly as we could.

We just turned a sharp corner when we finally reached a dead end. There was nothing there save a big rock that towered over us.

Suddenly, vampires began to sprout like mushrooms from all directions.

I snapped my snout at the closest one who attempted to chop my head off with a silver axe. Vampires weren’t accustomed to using weapons except when they are battling werewolves like us. I wished I had stolen a holy relic myself so I could do more damage to these foes!

“Get over the boulder,” I instructed the pack. I don’t know how Tristan and Dahlia made the ferocious climb up, but there was no other way. Surely that was how they got to Laudicia, right?

“No, Prince Kaist! Let them go inside the rock,” Duke Hurst roared in between killing vampires left and right.

“Go inside the rock?” I looked before us and there was just a single piece of solid rock in our path. “How are we supposed to do that?”

“You have to activate the magic,” he spat as he buried his paw in an upcoming Blasted One.

Magic? “H-How,” I said as I swerved from an attack on my left, sending my opponent to another vampire that was trying to attack me from behind.

“Just think of getting to Laudicia. Think. hard.” Duke Hurst emphasized his words with a firm hit on the heads of two Blasted Ones.

The way he spoke, it was as if sending people inside a magical boulder was as easy as breathing!

I tried to listen to what Duke Hurst said though. He must have been here before, judging from how sure his words were about the rock.

‘Just think hard, right,’ I asked Cruz and Ignis tentatively inside our minds.

‘Sh*t, just do it,’ Ignis said impatiently as he trampled on vampire after vampire with our physical body.

‘You can do it, Kaist! Being a Shadow Rune wolf is our birthright,’ Cruz seconded as he lent part of his powers to me and Ignis.

Just then, light started to emanate from the big boulder before us.

“How do I know if it’s working,” I shouted over Duke Hurst.

“You don’t, sire. Not until you try it!”

And how the hell do I try it?!

Duke Hurst thwacked three more Blasted Ones in the head before he answered me back with an outrageous idea.

“Hurl me at it,” he growled.

I looked back at Duke Hurst with nothing but a shocked face that I almost got ensnared in a vampire’s fang.

“Hurl me at the very center of the rock. If I disappear, it means I got successfully at the other side, and it worked!”

“And what if it doesn’t,” I shouted over my shoulders in exasperation as we put our backs together to face the surrounding enemies.

“Then, you’d see my head open up like a crushed watermelon,” Duke Hurst said in a matter-of-factly tone.

I felt aghast. How can Duke Hurst, who almost became my father-in-law, joke about something like this?

“Hurry, Prince Kaist! Give me a boost!”

“Wait! Wha -”

I didn’t need to give him a jumpstart as he requested. As soon as he finished his words, he used my back as a spring and jumped on his own towards the boulders.

I felt initially shocked at Duke Hurst’s actions, but the wolves inside me understood. Ignis and Cruz immediately concentrated their powers into the giant boulder.

Suddenly, the glowing of the rock had stopped, and I watched with suspended horror as Duke Hurst in his wolf form collided towards it.