Erlo (4)

Since the bull refused to care about him, Azra could only force it to regret its choice. He was only a few steps away from the bull. Azra was so focused on reaching the dagger that he didn't notice the blurry shadow that darted out of the bushes behind Lo.

The blurry shadow leaped over Lo and landed on top of the bull. Its front claws tore into the skin on top of the bull's skull as it flipped around half a turn and used its momentum to drag its paws down the bull's neck and across its back.

The beast's claws left behind deep bloody gashes that sprouted blood.

The bull finally stopped chasing after Lo as it let out a bleating scream. However, the bull's pain didn't stop there. Azra didn't stop moving just because an unknown beast appeared and attacked the bull. It only motivated him further since he needed a new weapon with a new threat in the game.

Azra reached for the dagger and pulled it out with a spray of blood that showered Lo in red.

Though, compared to its shredded back, the pain in its neck was bearable, and the bull still focused on the beast turning its remaining flesh into rags.

Azra used the opportunity to drag Lo away from the fight and begin healing him.

Lo bit down on a twig as Azra snapped his arm straight while encasing it in golden light. Lo yelped when it happened, but he tried to distract himself by watching the two beasts in the small clearing in front of them.

He had been too panicked, and his brain had been too affected by the pain, so Lo hadn't noticed it at first, but the more he looked, the more he saw Erlo in the ferocious beast attacking the bull.

The misty, blue-grey color of its fur looked only a few shades darker than what Erlo had been when he left the village. And Erlo hadn't finished growing then, so it was reasonable if his fur had darkened a bit as he grew up.

The bull managed to throw the other beast off itself, and the beast crouched close to the ground while pressing its ears back and snarling, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth. It wasn't quite as cute as the time Erlo did the exact same thing when attacked by a falling leaf during fall. But Lo could swear he saw a shadow of Erlo as a puppy overlapped with the Spike-backed Hound in a stand-off with the bull.

Lo shed a small tear as he realized how much Erlo had grown up and suffered during the time they were apart. The small knobs running from his forehead to the end of his back had turned into complete spikes. It was the same with his elbows. The spurs had fully sprouted from Erlo's front legs.

Erlo's tail had also finished growing as it had completely turned into a sleek and efficient tool for killing. The tail was almost as long as Erlo himself, and he had complete control over it as it swayed behind him, the pointy tip directed at the bull at all times.

But the tear Lo shed was because of the scars on Erlo's body that were evidence of his struggles in the forest.

Maybe the raging pain had helped the bull clear its mind since it looked more panicked than enraged. However, it still decided to charge and attack Erlo.

Erlo deftly avoided the bull's attack by darting to the side. After the bull passed him, Erlo flashed out with jaws and snapped them shut around the bull's right hind leg. Erlo's jaws closed with a satisfying crunch as his teeth were sharp enough to ignore the faint muscle and directly target the bones.

After making one of the bull's leg's useless, Erlo backed away and circled the limping bull. Erlo getting the jump on the bull already decided the outcome of the fight, but the bull refused to give up.

The bull chased after Erlo futilely a few times until Erlo finally put it out of its misery by tearing its throat out.

Erlo gorged on the bull's flesh.

Azra had to hold back Lo until Erlo finished eating. When Erlo satisfied his hunger somewhat, he looked up, and Lo could barely contain his excitement when Erlo looked in their direction.

"Erlo…! Do you remember me? It's Lo, your buddy?"

Erlo looked at Lo for a few seconds, and after confirming neither Lo nor Azra was a threat, he continued eating.

Lo only paid attention to it first now that the bull was dead and the situation was calm, but Erlo was so skinny that his ribs almost looked like they would grow into spikes like the ones on his back or elbows.

Lo let Erlo eat without trying to call out to him again since it was obvious that Erlo would be starving.

While Lo watched Erlo eat, Azra was busy healing himself and Lo while at the same time analyzing the situation.

Erlo was obviously a lot more rational than the bull, but there still wasn't a guarantee that he would decide the bull wasn't enough and eat the two of them as well.

Azra hid the dagger in his robes. The dagger was a little bigger than the knife had been, so the dagger would poke his arm or robes if he didn't take care. He needed to keep it close but out of sight since it might aggravate Erlo.

But as he looked at the size of the bull and compared it to Erlo, he realized that Erlo probably wouldn't go after them. At least not until he was hungry again. But hopefully, he would have found something else to eat by then.

Though, based on how skinny Erlo was, Azra wouldn't pin his hopes on that.

Azra had seen Erlo's ferocity in combat directly, and if such a killing machine was going hungry, the situation in the forest was pretty desperate. Either there were very few beasts around, or all the beasts were stronger than Erlo. Both situations spelled trouble for Azra and the Village of Thorns.

Lack of food meant that the beasts would look for stuff to eat elsewhere. Such as a defenseless village. And it would be even worse if the only remaining beasts in the forest were stronger than Erlo since the village didn't have anyone capable of standing up against such a powerful beast. Everyone capable of fighting or with enough potential had been conscripted and brought to serve in the war.

Azra didn't know how strong the strongest person in the village was. But based on how bad his own village's situation had been, he suspected there weren't more than one or two medium level non-combatants. Maybe three since the Village of Thorns was bigger than his village, even if only slightly.

After Azra realized how grave the situation might be, he looked at Erlo. A plan to begin building his reputation began sprouting in Azra's mind. The first step of Azra's plan was to successfully bring Erlo into the fold and make him Lo's trusted childhood dog once again.

Since both Azra and Lo looked at Erlo, they both noticed he wasn't eating with as much fervor anymore. They could also see Erlo's stomach bulging from eating so much of the bull.

While the bull was scrawny compared to what it originally would have looked like due to the Rage Powder's effects, and there wasn't a lot of muscle, it still had a lot of internal organs for Erlo to devour.

Unfortunately, that was where most of the residual Rage Powder was. After Erlo ate most of the bull's innards, the ferocity in his eyes began growing again. He tore into the rest of the bull's body with renewed vigor.

Lo, who had been happy that Erlo was about to return to him, was shocked and turned to look at Azra with a pleading gaze.

Azra looked grimly at Erlo, who had just eaten enough residual Rage powder to keep a bull at least three times his size raging with madness. He felt Lo's eyes staring at him, but he didn't know what to do.

Azra also wanted to save Erlo, even if it wasn't because of the same pure motives as Lo, but he didn't know how.

However, he had to act quickly or forever regret his dawdling. Azra mustered his courage and crept closer to Erlo, munching at whatever flesh his mouth touched.

The one benefit of Erlo's wild behavior was that Azra had an easier time approaching Erlo.

Azra didn't want to get too close to Erlo, but he figured that he needed to be as close as possible for his magic to work. Especially when it was something he hadn't tried before.

Azra had realized one thing regarding his magic. It didn't make sense. When he healed someone, he healed them. He didn't use some kind of magic that sped up the body's natural recovery or anything like that. He just fixed them, as simple as that.

Divine power was, in a way, the power of miracles. And if Azra could use that power to heal someone, why wouldn't he be able to use it to get rid of some Rage Powder?

Azra reached out with a glowing hand when he was finally within a meter of Erlo.