8 Bound Hound

Shock and horror, that's what the eight soldiers of the outpost felt upon witnessing a giant creature with rough black fur and blood-red eyes demolish the outpost's wall and tear their captain apart. The captain's lower half fell onto the floor, creating a pool of blood as the guts spilled out from it, while the upper half was being swallowed by the wolf-like creature.

An expression of sheer horror was plastered on the men's faces as they saw this giant creature eat their leader. One of the knights tried to act and took one step backward in a futile attempt to escape. However, as soon as he did so, the creature shifted his gaze towards the men, his red eyes glowing as he growled; his razor-sharp teeth that were painted in the captain's blood were visible as the wolf-like creature prepared to attack, an intestine dangling from between his fangs.

Wilford was in complete denial as he saw this terrifying entity, for he knew what it was, yet didn't believe that it was standing right in front of him. He turned around in a hurry before he dashed towards his tent, yelling out one sentence in the process.

"Hellhound!"

Upon hearing that one word, the creature leaped towards one of the knights with his jaw wide open, ready to devour him. In response, the knight tried to unsheathe his sword and fight against the creature, while his fellow comrades turned away in a panic and tried to escape.

The hellhound closed his jaw and tore through the knight with his unparalleled sharp fangs; inhumane shrieks of pain were the only thing the knight was able to do as the wolf creature ripped him in half.

Meanwhile, Wilford barged into his tent and towards Lucas, who was sleeping soundly until he was forcefully picked up by Wilford, who placed him on his shoulder, dashing out of the tent and towards the hitching posts that were stationed beside the gate.

"Sir, what is going on?! What are you doing?!" Lucas asked as a wave of panic and confusion flooded his mind.

The only reply the young boy received was a cry of pain that echoed behind him. He turned around, only to see the hellhound standing on top of the tent that he was inside of just a few seconds ago. The tent was tattered and painted in blood, human organs and body parts scattered around it.

What made Lucas shift his panic and confusion into fear and horror, was the knight that was trapped inside of the hellhound's mouth, the creature's fangs puncturing through the man's armor and body. The only thing the knight was able to do was stretch his arm towards Lucas in desperation before the hellhound shut his mouth tightly, decapitating the knight.

"Lucas, close your eyes and ears tightly, and don't open them unless I tell you to!" Wilford ordered as he dashed towards one of the horses in the hitching posts.

"Sir, what is going on?! Why are people dying?!" Lucas asked, fear hindering his regular speech.

"Just do what I said!"

In response, Lucas closed his eyes shut, and covered his ears. However, the screams he heard still echoed at a deafening volume inside of his mind.

As soon as Wilford reached the hitching post, he made his way towards one of the horses and placed Lucas on its saddle.

"Lucas, open your eyes!" Wilford shouted at the top of his lungs, causing Lucas to quickly open his eyes and uncover his ears, "Lucas, do you know how to ride a horse on your own?"

Before the young boy could respond, he was startled by another shriek of pain, causing him to subconsciously turn his head to try and find the source of the voice, only for Wilford to grab hold of his head and fixate it on him.

"Lucas, look at me! Do you know how to ride a horse on your own?" Wilford asked, even louder.

The young boy nodded his head.

"Good. I want you to ride this horse, and ride far away from here, and don't look back at all! Don't worry about me, or anyone else. Now, go!"

"But, sir—"

"I said GO!"

After Wilford shouted his final order, his hands were suddenly engulfed by a bright blue light. In a swift movement, Wilford quickly turned around, already prepared to counter the hellhound's attack, which he already detected by using his aura.

The hellhound leaped towards Wilford, his jaw open and ready to tear the young man apart. However, as soon as the hellhound's fangs made contact with Wilford's hands, a cloud of dust erupted from the ground and disrupted the view of the scene. Meanwhile, Lucas was riding his horse out of the outpost, and racing down the dirt road, his eyes fixated on the cloud of dust that was caused by the impact.

As the dust cloud began to fade from view, Lucas's eyes fell upon the sight of Wilford grabbing hold of the monster's teeth, holding him in place. Both sides were struggling to overwhelm the other by their sheer brute force, but none was successful in doing so due to their strength being on par with each other.

As he was struggling to maintain his grip on the beast, Wilford was startled upon seeing a fireball forming in the back of the latter's throat as his body began to heat up, and parts of his fur lit up in flames.

Before the monster could deliver his attack, he was impeded by an arrow that punctured through his right eye, causing blood to pour through it as the hellhound loudly growled in pain. The beast's focus was disrupted by the pain he felt, which stopped his fireball attack and made him drop his guard, giving Wilford an advantageous opening.

Wilford took the opportunity to use all of his strength on the beast. His veins slightly bulged as a loud grunt erupted from him before he vertically lifted the hellhound, and slammed him onto the ground with all his might, creating a small crater in the ground that caused another dust cloud to emerge and rock fragments to scatter everywhere.

The beast laid unconscious before Wilford, who was catching his breath from taking the monster head-on. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice called out to Wilford, making the young man shift his gaze towards the voice.

"Lord Wilford, are you alright?" The guard knight asked Wilford in concern.

"Yes, just a little tired. You're a pretty good archer, thank you for helping me." Wilford replied.

"Is the beast dead, my lord?" The archer asked.

"Most likely. I doubt his body is powerful enough to withstand that impact," Wilford said as he glared at the hellhound before he shifted his gaze at the demolished outpost, "But, that doesn't mean anything now. Not only was this a massacre...but the royal convoy has been obliterated as well…"

"My lord, is this a summoned creature?"

"Yes, it's a hellhound, a monster that can only be summoned by the most elite of warlocks. And I have a feeling that he isn't far away from here...filthy bastard! Archer, gather your comrades and run to safety! I'll handle this alone." Wilford ordered the knight.

"Sir, we are knights. We can't leave you here alone!"

"You have no obligations to save me, I'm no longer royalty."

"Sir, this warlock is a criminal. It's my, our duty to capture him."

"Listen here, sir knight. You're a talented archer, and you're a brave man, but you're not strong enough to take on a warlock. And, with all due respects, one hellhound was enough to tear your captain in pieces and devour three more knights; a warlock would kill you all in a whim. Do you want to be a heroic knight? Then save yourself and your comrades, and report this to the capital. Now, go!"

The archer knight gazed at Wilford, slightly frowning upon hearing the latter's statement. Nonetheless, he clenched his fists and gave a simple nod before he rushed to aid his fellow knights.

After the knight did so, Wilford fixated his gaze on the dead beast before taking a deep breath. A wave of blue energy emerged from the young man's hands, slowly taking the shape of a certain object until he finally shaped it into a transparent bow made out of blue energy. Wilford then held the bow with a tight grip and took a deep breath after he closed his eyes.

"Warlock! Show yourself!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, anger heavily influencing his voice.

As he readied his bow to shoot the warlock whenever he may appear, Wilford's focus was disrupted by the quarrel between the archer knight and one of his fellow comrades.

The archer was desperately trying to drag his fellow knight, who was covered in blood, away from the dead body of the captain. Unfortunately, the archer wasn't strong enough to stop the animalistic behavior of the other knight, who was desperately making his way towards his captain, tears racing down his cheeks.

"Stefan, snap out of it! Captain Eugen is dead, the life of our remaining comrades takes priority!" The archer said.

"Get away from me, Sven! I won't let the captain have such a disgraceful death! Just, let me pick his body up!" Stefan replied.

"I can't carry three men on my own, Stefan. I need your help, or the rest of us will die!"

"What is going on?!" Wilford inquired in a frustrated voice.

"My lord, I can't pick up my comrades on my own."

"What do you mean pick up? I told you to save yourselves, and leave the dead!"

"I know, my lord. But, the other three knights are still too young and have been traumatized by what happened. They are unable to think rationally or move at this point." Sven replied as he pointed at the three knights sitting in the corner of the outpost, eyes wide as they hugged their knees.

Wilford stared at the group of traumatized young men and took a deep breath before he made his way towards Stefan. He tapped the knight's shoulder, gaining his attention before he spoke to him.

"Stefan, is it? Why aren't you helping your comrade?" Wilford asked, as calmly as possible.

"I can't, I won't leave captain like this! He deserves a proper burial, not this disgraceful death!"

Upon hearing the latter's reply, Wilford vigorously picked up the knight and forced him on his feet, glaring at him in the process.

"Your captain died heroically on duty, and you better not doubt that one bit! If you want to make his soul rest in peace, then do what he would have done, and help Sven and your other comrades to get to safety. Get moving, and save the lives of these innocent men like the knight you are!" Wilford shouted, pointing at the group of traumatized men behind him.

After he finished his speech, Wilford was startled by an explosion that erupted from behind him. As he tried to turn around to see what happened, the young man spotted with the corner of his eyes a burning, severed human arm clad in armor that flew by him at an absurd speed. He then realized that it was a bit too late to save the lives of those three young men.

"Nooo!" Sven screamed in despair upon witnessing the horrible death of his comrades.

Wilford realized the situation and quickly tried to let go of Stefan and ready his bow for fighting. However, before he could do so, the young man was shocked to see the presumed dead hellhound right in front of him.

The hellhound leaped towards Stefan and opened his jaw wide, ready to devour another knight. Knowing that he wasn't fast enough to push Stefan out of harm's way, Wilford made his bow disappear and channeled his aura into his other arm, shaping it as well.

As soon as the hellhound tried to close his jaw, blood splattered everywhere as a transparent blue sword punctured through the creature's upper jaw, making him whimper in pain. Meanwhile, a loud groan of pain erupted from Wilford as the creature's fangs riddled the shoulder and arm he was holding Stefan with, using his left leg to forcefully keep the creature's mouth open.

"Stefan, can you get out of there? I can't lift this monster's jaw anymore, so you have to help me out a little!" Wilford spoke in grunts, panting in the process.

Suddenly, the hellhound started charging a fireball at the back of his throat, just like he did before. Wilford was shocked upon seeing such a sight. In response, he used his arm that held his aura sword, and stabbed through the creature's eye once again, hoping that he would disrupt his concentration as Sven did before.

However, the hellhound only released a loud growl in response, his fireball still charging.

"Please, save me! I don't want to die! Please!" Stefan screamed in despair as he stretched his arm out of the beast's jaw and towards Wilford, tears racing down his cheeks.

"Stefan, get out of there now—"

Before Wilford could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the hellhound who fired his attack, causing a fiery explosion that instantly vaporized Stefan's body, and obliterated the monster, causing his head to explode and erupt into flames as brain matter scattered everywhere.

Meanwhile, Wilford was launched a few meters back by the explosion. His left leg was utterly decimated, and so were both of his arms. Burn marks were spread across his body while his hands were completely charred.

"Wilford!" Sven yelled as he dashed towards Wilford, worry plaguing his mind.

Sven then started checking on the latter's pulse, seeing if he was alive. After making sure that he was still breathing, Sven dropped his bow and tried to pick Wilford up and flee this massacre.

"Wilford, please hang on. Try and bear with this pain until we get to safety, then I can treat your wou—"

Before Sven could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a dagger blade that stabbed him in the back and punctured through his stomach. The archer knight let out a groan of pain before he spat blood, and dropped to the ground next to Wilford.

"Wow, that was one hell of a fiasco. That means the rumors are true after all, you're actually the weakest Paragon." A voice uttered, accompanied by slow clapping.

Suddenly, Wilford's blurry vision began to gradually clear up as a dark figure stood tall in front of him. The only thing he spotted with his current state was the black coat that the figure wore, with the addition of a holstered grimoire on his waist.

"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hulda, the warlock you're looking for. My apologies for not showing up earlier, I had to take care of a little something." He said in a friendly voice as a malicious grin formed on his face.