Chapter 56: Sneak attack

Inside the unknown forest, the four shifters and the witch felt a bit tense as chilly wind swept over them. Sounds of crickets and branches creaking surrounded them, endlessly like an old moving rocking chair. The soil under their feet felt damp and moist as if it had just rained. The musky smell of dead leaves reached their sensitive noses, making them cringed.

Though, it would be impossible for the forest to be wet because the sun has been so hot and there wasn't any evidence or signs that it had been raining. And from what they had remembered, outside the forest where the mountains were located, there has been no signs of rainfall. And the forest wasn't as thick as the Kraken forest and they could still see sunlight seeping in through the branches and leaves. It made them curious yet suspicious as to how the ground was wet.

As they ventured into the forest, each step they took, they were being cautious. Even with Paccia looking over them, one should not be reckless. Especially since she herself had suspected that there was witchcraft being used here. Earlier before, she had casted a spell over their eyes, so that they would not go insane after she had suspected that there was a spell being casted once one enter the forest. It was the kind of spell that would make one go insane due to the images that they see in their minds.

It was slowly coming to late evening when they reached a certain area in the forest. Although they did not rest ever since entering the forest, they were still alert and being watchful.

The five of them continued to walk, following their senses. This time, Rollo was leading the way, followed by Yara, Dane, Paccia and Briven. From what they had remembered from the report that their Alpha had given them, one way to get to the hidden village was to just go straight to the north. Hence, they did not turn nor went east or west.

Just as Dane was about to take another step, he suddenly crouched forward and jumped to the side, still hunching. He then yelled at them to be careful.

[Warning! In this chapter, there will be gore, blood and death!]

Seeing the sudden movement from Dane and his yell, the three other shifters and Paccia also moved to the side. However, Rollo was a tad too late as an arrow nearly hit him, just grazing past his thigh, leaving a long wound.

Blood dripped from his wound as he winced at the pain. As he looked down at his thigh, his eyes widened in shock. His wound was not healing. And what surprised him was that his blood had turned metallic black. Just as he was about to touch it, Paccia shouted at him to not touch it.

She quickly ran to him and studied Rollo's wound with narrowed eyes. "That arrow seems to be drenched with wolfsbane liquid."

"Wolfsbane liquid?" Yara growled as he, Briven and Dane rushed over to protect Rollo and Paccia, their back on them.

Paccia nodded, her face solemn. "It's wolfsbane that has been crushed and liquefied and then used to soak the arrow," she explained as she quickly conjured up her spellbook, trying to find a spell that may help to remove the poison.

Just as she had finished talking, Dane yelled to get down. They immediately hunched lower and seconds later, a rain of arrows narrowly missed them by an inch.

"There!" Yara and Dane yelled in unison.

Both Yara and Dane moved at the same time; Yara to his left and Dane to his right, while Briven stayed behind to protect Paccia, who was trying to remove some residue left from the wolfsbane from Rollo.

The shifter, or rather the rogue that was hiding above in the midst of the trees nearly dropped his crossbow when he saw Dane jumping straight for him. Before he could escape, he felt his throat being clamped down, bringing the two shifters fell down the tree; Dane above him, pushing him down to the ground.

Before he stood up, he gave a sneer at the crossbow. What kind of werewolf would rely too much on a crossbow when one has the strength?

Noticing a bunch of arrows still attached to the crossbow, Dane grabbed two of the arrows and slammed them right in both of the rogue's eyes. He was careful not to touch the tip of the arrow since he knew that it was probably drenched with wolfsbane. Ignoring the screams from below him, Dane finished off the rogue by punching his fist down where the heart beats.

After literally crushing the heart of the rogue, he ignored his blood drenched paw and stood up. He then went to look for other rogues nearby.

Yara was fighting with two rogues at the same time when he felt something hot hit him from behind. Growling as it only irritated him, he turned around. His eyes narrowed when he noticed a human being standing not far from him, with a wicked smile on his face, holding a wooden stave.

'A warlock,' Reginald murmured inside Yara's mind as Yara just growled in agreement. It was rare to see a witch around here, much less a warlock. The last time he had seen a warlock was decades ago but he had never encountered them in a fight.

Yara then smiled in a way that sent shivers of fright down the warlock's back.

Thinking that he wanted the warlock alive so he could question him, he decided to finish the other two shifters first before going to the warlock.

However, it was easier said than done. The warlock seems to be hindering Yara's attack as he keeps blasting balls of fire at Yara. It only irritated him more. He likened the warlock to an annoying fly that kept buzzing around.

Frustrated and feeling pissed, Yara had enough. He quickly grabbed one of the rogue's hind legs and threw him at the warlock. Surprised by the sudden attack from the shifter, the warlock did not have any chance to retaliate or to avoid.

After being hit by the rogue, Yara grabbed the other rogue by the neck and squeezed, crushing off the windpipe.

Once dead, he whirled around and in a matter of seconds, he appeared in front of the warlock. Both warlock and rogue were still feeling winded when Yara suddenly stomped on one of the legs of the warlock, crushing it.

The sound of bones cracking can be heard.

Screaming in pain, the warlock tried to escape. His face was pale and cold sweat seemed to be dripping down his forehead non-stop. He regretted joining in this mission. His stave had fallen somewhere after he accidentally dropped it from being hit with the rogue.

Ignoring the crawling warlock, Yara turned his attention to the rogue. He clawed him from shoulder to flank, ripping skins and fur, leaving a bloody gash. He then grabbed the back of the rogue's head and slammed it to the ground, breaking the jaw and smashing the snout. Placing a foot against the back of the rogue, preventing it from getting up, Yara with his paws, grabbed the head and tore it off from the body. The rogue died, headless.

Once done, Yara turned back to the warlock who was still trying to crawl away. Grabbing him by the back collar of his robes, he dragged the frightened and screaming warlock to where Rollo, Briven and Paccia were waiting.

Beside Briven were a couple of other dead rogues who had been piled up on top of each other. It looked like they, too, had been ambushed by some rogues. But Briven did not look like he broke a sweat at all as he hunched near the corpses. Paccia, on the other hand, does have a sheen of sweat across her forehead, which indicated that she joined in the fight as well.

Throwing the warlock on the ground in front of them, Yara hunched near him, growling a warning should he try to escape.

Dane arrived moments later. He, too, hunched near the warlock, preventing him from escaping.

Rollo was no longer pale and the wolfsbane had already been removed from his wound. Luckily, it was just a graze so Paccia could remove it from its body. If it was inside its body, then there would be dire consequences. Though, this alone had already taken a lot from Rollo. Since he had just shifted a few weeks ago, Rollo was not used to the body yet and he could not heal as fast as he should be.

Briven hunched in front of the warlock and said in a raspy voice, "Now, tell us everything you know.