Chapter 43: Haughty

Chapter 43: Haughty

Shining brightly on the moonlit canyons, was an orb that seemed to be made from light itself. Whereas the moon glowed gently and lovingly, the radiant spherical object flared in destructive intensity, like it wanted to drown the world in its oppressive light. Zan revealed the orb when he let go of his terribly powerful grasp on it, his huge gray hand acting as the seal towards its great power and light.

The wolves shuddered at the power of the thing, most of them having no idea what the object in the demon's hand was. The ones who could think critically had their minds racing with negative thoughts. Was he going to smash that thing on top of their heads? Was that object going to suck the life out of them? Or worse…was it going to absorb their souls?

The two-legged demon moved towards the three-eyed wolf and the army of beasts flinched back. Zan's will was still empowering his body and his aura, causing the pack to make way for the King who had descended upon them.

Though, a few suicidal and absolutely loyal wolves stepped out to meet him. While they were steeped in nervous trepidation and in complete and utter terror, still they forced themselves to block him. One particularly less intelligent but very devoted wolf, gave his life to hinder Zan. Blood pumped through his nervous heart and he pounced on the demon, his sharp canine teeth scraping on hard gray flesh.

Moved by the devotion and bravery of this one wolf, one by one they jumped on Zan and sunk their teeth on to him. Except their teeth didn't sink into his flesh. Instead their fangs felt like they were biting at stone.

The demon felt the beasts' teeth tickle him and he grinned maliciously, walking towards their leader all the same. A swarm of teeth attached themselves to every part of his body yet he walked closer and closer. Despite the hundreds of pounds of force pushing and pulling on his body, he walked normally as if it meant nothing to him. By the time he was close enough to touch her dying body, only the human parts of his body could be seen, the rest were a mishmash of fur and teeth. Obviously Zan did not let them bite the normal parts of his body.

The youth held out his arm and the dying wolf could only stare in confusion. In the next moment, the demon jumped on top of the beast and…he placed the radiant orb in the empty space that used to be its heart.

Red auric flames burst out of Zan's head once again and he forcefully shoved his will into the three-eyed wolf. The dying wolf was too exhausted, so of course he could not summon his own willpower and could only comply. The demon took control of the wolf's dying body, her muscles and even the fading energy coursing through her pathways. And in the next moment…Zan commanded her to absorb the power of the orb.

A wave of violent and tyrannical energy exploded out from the demon and on his gray flesh, eyes of different sizes formed and opened their frenzied sight towards the wolves. Together with Zan's skillful energy manipulation and the forceful plundering of his eldritch flesh, the remaining energy of the orb flowed towards her body.

New muscles and tendons quickly formed and attached themselves to the orb while the hole in the wolf's chest quickly started to close. Slowly, Zan took his arm out of the wolf's insides and watched as the hole completely healed.

The three-eyed wolf closed her eyes and focused on absorbing the power of the orb. Zan did not know it, but the new "technique" he used, guaranteed that no power would be wasted during the energy absorption. That amount of energy was so strong that it was more than enough to completely heal the wolf, but that wasn't all. Currently the three-eyed wolf…was even preparing to undergo an evolution.

The pack wolves saw their dying leader coming back to life and slowly, they released their jaws from Zan's arms and legs. Soft pitter-patter sounds rang out and the youth looked down to see a little white wolf running towards him. It used its supernatural strength and directly jumped on to Zan's shoulder, proceeding to…lick his face. The tiny tongue and white furs on the puppy tickled him while the youth simply stood in place and received it.

Now that he looked at the tiny thing it was pretty cute. Wait. Is that…?

On the puppy's forehead, there was a red mark— like a tattoo, in the shape of a vertical eye.

Suddenly, a voice came out from the darkness.

"Pfft. How touching."

"You're really wasting a core on a mutant beast?"

Behind the youth, a group of individuals approached. The group consisted of three men and two women. Though, it was more accurate to call them boys and girls, for they were all around Zan's age. They wore expensive silk and outlandish clothes, obviously not from the surrounding area, not even from the same kingdom.

"What bloodline are you from?"

"Can't you tell that he's a lowly base human?

"We're almost there to the slave city, why are we stopping?"

"A core. You saw it. Even if it is weak."

"They say where we're going it's a core at the level of prime."

"I don't care, a core is a core. I'll rip it out of that dog's insides if I have to."

The group of individuals discussed among each other, totally ignoring the youth and the army of wolves. Zan had long known the group was approaching him but…he simply did not care. He did not place them in his eyes.

"Hey, base."

"Are you going to scoop it out for me or will I have to?"

"Always picking on base humans aren't you Conrad?"

"Gayle will get mad at you."

"Why isn't she here with us?"

"She's back at the convoy. Besides, she's slower than us."

"Base."

"Do I have to tell you twice to get my things?"

The youth named Conrad stepped towards Zan. An air of power and supremacy burst out of him and his eyes changed from brown to glowing orange. The circular pupils of his eyes transformed into vertical slits.

'Those eyes…'

"Never seen eyes like these have you?"

In response, Zan's single red eye started to glow as he grinned in excitement…and in bloodlust.

"Leave." Zan said as he grabbed the puppy on his shoulders and gently put him down.

"Look at this guy! Who do you think you are, base?"

The army of wolves flinched yet the three-eyed wolf did not seem to hear him. No…she was already in a transformative coma from the sheer amount of power within her.

"I said, leave."

"Now!"

The army of wolves scrambled to get up and run. The more gigantic wolves pooled their efforts to drag their leader away from the scene.

"Hah, they're running away."

"You tell us to leave and then you run?"

"The core is inside that wolf you know. We should be going after it."

"Let them run," said Conrad.

"You, base. I said, who do you think you fucking are!?"

Zan walked towards the youth named Conrad, each step on the canyon ground thudding at the sheer weight of his legs. Black blood and his black heart pumped strongly through Zan's veins. He did not manually activate his eldritch organs, no— he was simply excited at the prospect of putting some faces in the dirt. Wasn't it fun to beat these kinds of individuals up?

Before Zan could enjoy himself however, a black haired girl with large, glowing yellow eyes ran behind the group and stopped them.

"Conrad!"

"Gayle, look what I found."

"I heard it all the way from the convoy! Stop what you're doing you goddamn idiot!!!"

Zan stared at the woman who had interrupted his imminent bloodbath. He looked into her eyes as he did with the brash youth in front of him and he could tell instantly that they were different. The pupils of her eyes were not vertical slits, but they were much, much larger than normal, her irises and sclera were also, completely yellow. The black haired girl's eyes reminded him of an owl. Unlike a tyrannical dragon's eyes, the eyes of an owl hid wisdom, perceptiveness and insight. Strangely enough, in that short moment, Zan could feel that her eyes were the same.

"Are you trying to stop me from letting these base humans know where they are on the food chain?"

"Well, it's not only for that reason. There's a core on that wolf over there."

"I don't care about the core!"

"You don't care about it?"

"Do you idiots not see the scars on Eok from the battle that just took place here!?"

"Who do you think was responsible for it all!?"

The immature youths were too preoccupied on the core, and on following Conrad that they did not take the time to look around. The scars from the battle with the metal beast, and its goddamn corpse was still right there in front of them for all to see. Just from how the group of youths conducted themselves, their arrogance, carelessness and self entitlement— it was all enough for Zan to know that these people weren't shit.

"This base couldn't have done it all by himself though, right?"

"Are you idiots really willing to risk your lives to test that!?"

Gayle grabbed Conrad and pushed him behind her. From what Zan could observe the group seemed to have a deep respect for the owl eyed woman.

"We're really, really sorry. We will leave soon."

The black haired girl immediately grabbed the brash youth's wrist and furiously pulled him away.

"Gayle! At least let me try him!"

At that moment, Gayle turned around and gave a resounding slap across his cheek. Conrad and the group of individuals were outright stunned.

She then whispered as loud as she could at her companions.

"Do you know how serious this is, you fools!? Do you think I'd be stopping your stupid antics if it wasn't grave? What do you think my eyes and ears told me about this situation!? We have to leave, immediately! Right fucking now!"

The black haired girl turned around once more at Zan, and apologized to him.

"I'm sorry. We'll make sure this never happens again. As a token of our gratitude you can have this medallion, it will grant you a lot of boons east of here."

A bronze medallion was gently passed towards Zan, and as he received it, he noticed that it looked alot like the medallion that Balon used to challenge him. Except of course, this one was basically scrap compared to the royal golden medallion he had earlier received. The images on the bronze medallion were noticeably less epic, and of course, the pictures were not moving. Much unlike the golden medallion, where an animated divine dragon was basically breathing fire down upon a thousand races.

"We will be leaving now, thank you for your patience with us."

Gayle gave her group a furious look, and the group of individuals lowered their heads to follow her back.

"...Hey."

Zan's voice rang out and Gayle's worst fears came true.

"Did I say you could leave?"