Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (11 page)

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Sitting beside Gandiva, Sierra watched the stretch of trees before them. They continued on the covered route and avoid detection from traveling through the plains. In exchange, they were moving at a much slower pace.
Only the rescued children were in Lioumereans' carriages. Due to the Gobble Goblins high numbers, they were forced to travel on foot. Fortunately, their kind was more than suitable enough to endure such a long and arduous march.
They encountered monsters such as stone deers and once met a family of hell boars once. But the monster that plagued them the most in these forests were the epicyon, a one and a half meter long wild dog. They moved slower than the aardwolves, but they made up for it in brute strength. These wild dogs would form groups of three and knock down medium-sized trees by simply pouncing on them.
Whenever such monsters appeared, the Gobble Goblins displayed their nimbleness as they quickly huddled within near the Lioumereans carriage. They patiently waited for the Werewolves and Tikbalangs to finish off the monsters before continuing to move forward.
They traveled for the rest of the day without much incident. It was getting dark and Sierra decided that it was time for them to break camp. At the rate they were going, they still had four days left before they could reach Verbrannt.
As Sierra was about to give the order to make camp, she felt multiple cold eyes staring at her back. She turned around, but could sense nothing with her Animal Instinct.
Abruptly, she heard werewolves howling.
AWWWOOO AWWWW AWWWW AWWWWOOOOOO
It wouldn't have bothered her normally, but Sierra gave her werewolves strict orders not to make a sound. As her eyes searched from beyond the trees, she saw them. Werewolves that didn't belong to her pack surrounded them.
Instantly, the Gobble Goblins ran next to Sierra and the Lioumereans' carriage. The elderly goblin who could speak Lacerta ran next to Sierra and asked. "You can fight them off, right?" he asked, shaking with fear.
Sierra didn't answer and only kept her eyes on the enemies encircling them.
As the enemy werewolves moved in closer, her werewolf pack slowly backed away towards her and made their circular formation smaller and smaller.
Two black werebears appeared in front of them and stepped in front of the werewolves. Sierra then observed some movement from their rear and glanced towards them. Two more brown werebears appeared in the back of their formation.
Aside from the four werebears, Sierra estimated the enemy werewolves to number almost four hundred. Almost twice the maximum limit she set for their current battle strength.
Given the dire situation, Sierra tapped the elderly goblin and said. "I'm sorry to do this, but I need you to fight with us."
Still trembling, the elderly goblin shook his head strongly. "No! There's no way we'll fight. You can't make us," he replied with finality.
As Sierra was about to argue the obvious, she heard the black werebears' loud voice.
"Red Scamp, we've come to take back what you've stolen!" said the male black werebear in a grim voice.
Sierra surmised that he was talking about her, considering she was the only thing red in the forest.
"Walk away, and your lives will be spared," replied Sierra in a calm but loud voice. "Threaten us one more time, and I swear to hunt all of you down!" she bluffed boldly.
"Bold words for someone about to die," snapped a female voice. It came from the brown werebear behind Sierra.
"No, we shouldn't kill her," added the male brown werebear. "We need her alive, and don't kill any of the goblins or the children as well!"
Sierra didn't understand what the werebears were saying, but one thing was clear to her, she needed to think of something fast if she wants to survive.
She caught Adder glance at her. His eyes darted to the right side, an area without the werebears. She nodded, as she understood that he wanted to clear a path to the side and escape into the plains right next to the forest.
Even though Bilis and Tulin were still recovering, their top speed is still beyond a Werewolf's. Adder's plan assured the safety of the children, but it would mean risking the lives of all the Vigilantez in the group.
While Sierra was still contemplating on following Adder's suggestion, the enemy werewolves were steadily drawing in closer to them.
"Phen, Rear!" Sierra called out her trusted werewolves and pointed them to Adder. The black and gray werewolves bowed in acknowledgement of her orders.
She then spoke with the elderly goblin. "We will need to make a run for it. Be sure to keep up."
The elderly goblin nodded in response and began spreading the word to his kin.
As their space was rapidly decreasing, Sierra gave Adder the go ahead and watched him and his team make a dauntless charge towards the side. Werewolves and Tikbalangs alike charged after Adder and protected them from their flanks.
"Gandiva, Laernea, follow Adder's lead," ordered Sierra softly so that only the Lioumerean Pathfinders could hear.
At once, their stag moose steamed after Adder. The children held on tightly as the carriage greatly wobbled through the forest.
As they were escaping, Sierra noticed that the goblins were running towards the opposite direction. She jumped off Gandiva's carriage and grabbed the elderly goblin with her claws before he could run away from her.
"What are you doing?" she asked angrily.
"Let me go! These monsters are after you. It's best we survive on our own," he said hurriedly and bit her hand, forcing her to release him.
Sierra watched the goblins flee to the left side of the forest.
She then noticed that both brown werebears and their werewolves ran after the Gobble Goblins to capture them. Sierra shook her head and barreled back to Gandiva's carriage. The goblins may have deserted her, but at least they split the enemies in half.
While she stormed towards the carriage, dozens of enemy werewolves broke through the Vigilantez defensive line and targeted the children.
For the moment, Sierra forgot not to harm the enemy werewolves and clawed right through them. She quickly knocked them back to the sides. Regardless if they could be potential allies, they still posed a clear and present danger to the children.
Unexpectedly, she reached Gandiva’s carriage sooner than she estimated. She hurriedly climbed it and checked on the children. looked in front and found that Adder's advance was blocked by two black werebears.
Laernea and Gandiva stopped their carriages right next to each other. The two Pathfinders stood up and fired their poison arrows at all enemy werewolves. They changed focus to the front as soon as Sierra arrived and left the back of the carriages for her to defend.
From on top of Gandiva's carriage she observed Adder take on the male black werebear by himself. Despite being smaller, Adder clearly overpowered the black werebear with his BlitzSturm and Condortlian Shield.
Sierra wanted to run to the front and help him, but she couldn't leave the children unprotected. "Adder, watch out!" she cried out from afar as she saw the female werebear launch a back attack at her friend.
Fortunately, Phen and Rear arrived in time and blocked the female werebear's back attack. Due to Sierra watching Adder's battle closely, she failed to notice that one of the children had been taken by a brown werewolf.
"Sierra, help!" cried out Vrai. The pantheress leapt from the carriage onto the back of the werewolf. She choked it with her arms as she desperately cling on to the beast. Her desperate attack made the werewolf momentarily stopped on its tracks.
Sierra immediately scampered after them, but not before Ardu arrived and struggled with the werewolf to release the little girl in its claws.
The girl scurried back towards the carriages and climbed back safely.
With the girl released, the werewolf had more mobility. It grabbed Vrai by its claws and freed itself from her.
The pantheress was forcibly thrown off, but Ardu caught her safely before hitting the hard forest ground. The enraged werewolf forgot its orders not to harm the children. It was about to attack them when a red werebear stepped in front of them and blocked its claws with her arms.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked while blocking the continuous onslaught of claws. Ideally, she would have liked to convert this werewolf, but considering its alphas were still alive she couldn't. She hardened her resolve and withstood the werewolf's attacks, as long as she could confirm that the two of them were safe.
With each attack of the werewolf, Sierra's blood splattered everywhere. Vrai and Ardu who stood behind her were covered in it.
"Oh, no. Did you get clawed?" asked a concern Sierra as she saw them covered with blood.
"No, we're fine. This is your blood..." Vrai stopped talking as the two of them unexpectedly fell to the ground. Both of them instantly started convulsing.
Sierra didn't understand what was happening. She used Double Slash on the werewolf and knocked the beast away from them.
"Vrai, Ardu, what's happening?" she asked worriedly.
The two Lioumereans' bodies and limbs twisted and contorted into painful positions. Sierra had to turn away from them as she noticed six more werewolves heading towards them.
"Laernea, Gandiva, we've got incoming!" she shouted to the two Pathfinders and asked for their help.
"Sorry, but we've got our hands full at the moment as well," replied Laernea as she fired her arrows at four werewolves heading towards them from the front. Due to their injured stag moose, the Pathfinders' attack power was almost halved.
Sierra glanced towards the front of the carriage and understood what Laernea meant. 
'Six werewolves against one werebear. I still got the upper hand,' she thought and psyched herself up.
ROOAAAAAARRR
ROOOOOOAARRR
Suddenly, two distinct roars came from behind Sierra. She turned around and almost fell down as she saw a black werebear and a brown werebear.
'How did they sneak up on me?' she wondered to herself and instinctively curled up into a defensive stance.
She knew she had to push them away from the carriage where the children were kept. Yet, she also had to face six more werewolves about to pounce on her.
Shaking her head out of frustration, she was about to lunge an attack on the two werebears when they rushed past her and each took on two enemy werewolves.
Sierra was completely astonished at what was happening, but she didn't have the time to question it. She focused on the two remaining werewolves and grabbed each one of them by the neck and slammed them hard to the ground.
After she killed the two werewolves, she looked at the brown and black werebear in front of her and stared at their names and life bars; Vrai (394,250/400,000 HP) and Ardu (389,000/400,000 HP).
"Sierra, what happened?" asked a confused Vrai, looking at her cursed black werebear form.
"I don't know, but we'll figure this out," she answered sympathetically. She then heard Ardu's voice.
"Are you alright?" Ardu asked Vrai and placed his brown werebear claws on her shoulders. Vrai strongly shook her head in response.
"Vrai, Ardu, I know you're confused right now, but this isn't the time for that. Right now, it's time to survive." stated Sierra and helped them back into the carriages.
Instantly, the children backed away when they saw the two werebears that wasn't Sierra, but she quickly explained that the two of them were Ardu and Vrai.
The newly transformed werebears expected the children to be afraid of them. Yet, in spite of their cursed forms, the children rushed towards them and hugged them dearly.
Then, Laernea turned around and faced them. "Alright, time to go. Hold on..." she paused and looked at three werebears behind them. "Sierra? Those two are allies, right?"
"Yeah." replied Sierra flatly. "Well, let's go you two." she said and pointed forward.
It was all thanks to the efforts of Adder, Phen and Rear. They were not able to kill the two black werebears, but they did manage to critically wound them and drive them off.
Due to this, Sierra and the rest of the Vigilantez were able to escape out of the forest and sprinted across the plains.
She watched the enemy werewolves flee with their alphas. She smiled and let out a deep sigh of relief, but then her eyes went to Ardu and Vrai. Instantly, her smile faded and her eyes moistened with tears. She hoped Smoke would arrive in time to evacuate those three villages. No one else should fall to Horrabelle's curse.
 

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Smoke squinted his eyes as the wind speed was extremely strong when gliding at his top speed. He glanced over his shoulders at Igniz and Ledur and scowled as the two of them seem to be unaffected.
Smoke had a wide view of the landscape below him. He could clearly see the mountains, valleys, forests and plains of Wysteria. As they were still far from their destination, he ordered his group to descend and take a quick break. They needed to satisfy their primal need and fill up their satiety bars.
They landed safely on the outskirt of a forest patch. Ledur expertly created a table, chairs and a fire pit with his Earth Manipulation. Igniz then lit up the fire pit. They got a campfire up and running in no time at all.  
While Smoke was cooking a grilled veal, his Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up the creatures from inside the trees. This was not new to him as his ability's range had greatly increased, but the notification window that came afterward was.