Dusk, somewhere in the outskirts of Tivian.
On a quiet tree-lined path, a large black carriage raced at high speed. The coachman, dressed in the uniform of a Hunter, frantically whipped the two horses pulling the carriage, trying to make them go even faster. The coachman’s face was filled with terror.
At this moment, behind the speeding carriage, a large group of monsters was chasing at high speed. They were covered in black fur, with pointed ears, blood-red eyes, and fanged mouths. They ran on all fours, resembling black-furred apes but with more grotesque faces. These were Beastkin, victims of the Werewolf Beyonder’s powers.
With howls, seven or eight black Beastkin were rapidly closing in on the carriage. Their speed was astonishing, and they were about to catch up. In a panic, the coachman shouted into the carriage, and two more Hunters in black uniforms emerged from the front of the carriage. They pulled out firearms and stone knives, attacking the pursuing Beastkin.
Gunfire erupted, and wind blades sliced through the air. Under the Hunters’ counterattack, bullets and wind blades shot toward the Beastkin. The Beastkin hit by the attacks screamed, blood splattering as they fell to the ground. However, after rolling a few times, they struggled to their feet and continued chasing the carriage, ignoring their injuries.
Although the Hunters’ attacks couldn’t kill these resilient Beastkin, they still managed to slow them down. The Hunters continued to pour firepower behind them, trying to keep the Beastkin at bay.
But then, from the woods beside the path, a beastly roar erupted. Trees were torn apart as a massive black shadow burst out of the forest, leaping over the carriage. Before the two Hunters on the carriage could react, their bodies were drenched in blood. One was cut in half at the waist, while the other had his head torn off, which fell back into the carriage.
The shadow then landed on the ground, revealing its form. It was a six- to seven-meter-tall, muscular, black-furred werewolf with a long snout and sharp fangs. Its eyes locked onto the still-speeding carriage in the distance. With another leap, it lunged at the carriage, this time swinging its massive claws to tear apart the coachman and the two horses. The horses’ sides were ripped open, and they collapsed with mournful cries. The iron carriage, now without its pull, overturned and slid to the side of the road.
Inside the carriage, Vania screamed as she was thrown to the ground, along with Davic, who had been sitting with her. They felt the carriage slide for a long time before finally coming to a stop. As soon as it stopped, Vania struggled to her feet, coughing.
"Cough... cough... Miss Dorothy, what’s happening outside?""The werewolf has made his move. The Hunters outside are all dead, and the horses are gone... There’s no way to escape now."
Dorothy, controlling Davic, slowly stood up and responded. Hearing this, Vania’s face turned pale with panic.
"Then... what should we do? At this point, should I try to escape?"
Vania said frantically. She had experience fighting White Ash-rank enemies before, so she thought that if she gave it her all, she might have a chance. However, Dorothy immediately rejected her suggestion.
"No! With his speed, you can’t escape! This situation is very different. You can’t fight them!"
Through Davic’s mouth, Dorothy spoke to Vania. The last time Vania fought a vampire, she had the advantage of preparation and surprise, and Dorothy was by her side to assist.
But this time, the advantage was on the enemy’s side. Not only was there the werewolf himself, but also a group of Beastkin under his control. There was no way Vania could face them head-on. It would be suicide!
Facing the critical situation, Dorothy, sitting in her own carriage far away, furrowed her brow and concentrated intensely, trying to come up with a plan. In just a moment, she had an idea.
Once she had a plan, Dorothy immediately put it into action. She controlled Davic to tear open his shirt with his handcuffed hands and rip off the bandages wrapped around his body. Then, he grabbed a sharp piece of debris from the ground and slashed his already unhealed wound, causing blood to gush out.
"Alright... Now, my wound, Davic Jones’s, has worsened due to the crash. Hurry up and treat me!"
Through Davic’s mouth, Dorothy spoke to Vania. Vania was momentarily stunned but quickly realized what was happening. She stepped forward, knelt down, and began treating Davic’s wound.
Meanwhile, outside the carriage, the werewolf, after flipping the carriage and sending it sliding away, walked slowly toward it. The Beastkin behind him quickly followed.
Soon, the werewolf reached the overturned carriage. Under his command, the Beastkin surrounded the carriage. Among the Beastkin, a few normal-looking human men stepped forward. Some of them were shedding their black fur, apparently reverting from their Beastman forms. These were the Werewolf’s normal Beyonder subordinates.
With so many Beastkin and Beyonders, plus the werewolf himself, there was no way Vania could fight them.
One of the men, wearing a hat and a striped shirt, with a sharp face, glanced at the carriage and said, "A black dog transport carriage with two horses and three black dog escorts... This must be it! Mr. Smith, according to the intel, the target is inside this carriage! But be careful, there’s also a Black Earth-rank Healing Prayer Priest inside."
The sharp-faced man pointed at the carriage. Hearing this, the werewolf took two large strides forward, thrust his claws through the thin iron wall of the carriage, and tore off a large section, revealing the scene inside.
After tearing open the carriage, the werewolf saw what he was looking for. Inside, Davic lay weakly, his shirt torn open, a horrifying wound on his body bleeding profusely. Beside him, a white-robed, bespectacled nun from the Radiance Church was placing her hands on the wound, emitting an orange-yellow glow as she healed Davic. When she saw the torn-open wall and the ferocious werewolf, she screamed in terror.
The werewolf coldly stared at the nun inside the carriage, raising his claw to kill her. But then, the weak Davic spoke up.
"Wait... wait... she can’t die..."
Hearing Davic’s voice, the werewolf paused and looked at the severely injured Davic, then asked.
"Davic, how did you get so badly hurt?"
"Cough... yes... Mr. Smith, those black dogs were brutal... I have many severe wounds that haven’t fully healed... just now... cough cough..."
Davic’s words were interrupted by violent coughing. At this point, Vania, having calmed down, spoke up.
"Mr. Werewolf, Davic’s wounds were already severe. The crash caused them to reopen and worsen. Please let me treat him, or it could be very dangerous."
Vania spoke to the werewolf with a pleading tone. The werewolf frowned and questioned her.
"You, a nun, didn’t run when you saw this? Instead, you stayed to heal a prisoner?"
The werewolf growled menacingly at Vania, who trembled in fear but managed to reply calmly.
"I... I follow the teachings of the Holy Mother. I treat all lives with equal kindness and always seek to forgive. Davic was in danger and close to death in front of me. I couldn’t just leave him. Besides, my mission this time was to ensure Davic’s safety..."
Vania spoke with a devout tone. The werewolf was momentarily stunned, then sneered.
"The teachings of the Holy Mother, huh? So you risked your life to save someone who might kill you?"
"Of course. If I hadn’t helped, someone would have died for no reason..."
Still trembling slightly, Vania placed a hand on her chest and spoke with a pious tone. The werewolf chuckled coldly, then said with interest.
"Hah... There are still such devout followers of the Holy Mother in this world. Interesting..."
As the werewolf muttered to himself, Davic cried out in pain again.
"Ahh... it hurts... it hurts so much..."
"Please endure it, Mr. Davic. I’ll keep treating you."
With that, Vania continued to place her hands on Davic’s wound, emitting an orange-yellow glow. As the light enveloped his wound, Davic’s expression eased slightly. He turned to the werewolf and spoke weakly.
"Mr. Smith... my condition is critical. Without treatment, I might not last long. So, let’s spare the nun for now. Besides... she might be useful to us..."
"Useful? How?"
"Cough... that’s a long story. We’re short on time. I’ll explain in detail once we’re somewhere safe."
Davic spoke with difficulty. The werewolf hesitated for a moment, then made a decision.
"We’ll treat you once we’re somewhere safe. The black dogs could show up at any moment. We can’t stay here."
The werewolf then turned his attention to Davic’s handcuffs and ordered his subordinates.
"Use the Illuminating Beacon to check them. If there are no traces, take them both!"
Following the werewolf’s orders, the men stepped forward. One of them pulled out an Illuminating Beacon from his bag, lit it, and shone it on Vania and Davic. At this moment, Dorothy suppressed her control over Davic, making him close his eyes and collapse, to avoid the mystical effects of the marionette control being detected. To others, it looked like Davic had closed his eyes due to the lamp’s light.
The werewolf’s subordinates used the Illuminating Beacon to check Vania and Davic for mystical effects. Since Dorothy had anticipated the use of the beacon before going to the Serenity Bureau, she had Vania leave her holy scripture at the hospital. Vania, carrying no mystical items and not under marionette control, passed the test easily. However, when the lamp shone on Davic, it unexpectedly detected a mystical effect.
The Illuminating Beacon in the werewolf’s subordinate’s hand emitted an alarm. Seeing this, Vania’s heart skipped a beat, thinking Dorothy might not have stopped controlling Davic. But then she noticed that the beacon indicated a golden-yellow spiritual color—the color of Lantern spirituality. This meant that Davic was under some Lantern-related mystical effect, which was clearly not Dorothy’s marionette control.
Vania was puzzled, but the werewolf, Smith, quickly identified the source of the effect: the handcuffs on Davic’s wrists.
"Take off those handcuffs."
Smith ordered. One of his subordinates took out a key found on the Hunters’ bodies and unlocked Davic’s handcuffs, handing them to Smith. Smith examined the handcuffs for a moment, then snorted.
"Hmph... a tracker. Those black dogs love using these to make sure prisoners don’t escape."
With that, Smith crushed the handcuffs in his hand and threw them aside. Once the handcuffs were removed, the Illuminating Beacon stopped alarming.
Clearly, these handcuffs were specially made by the Serenity Bureau, embedded with a Tracking Sigil to track escaped prisoners.
After dealing with the tracking effect, Smith turned to Vania. After staring at her for a moment, he says.
"Your piety has saved your life for now, nun. But if you want to keep living, behave yourself.”
"Take both of them! Let’s move!"
After confirming that neither Vania nor Davic had any mystical traces, Smith gave the order. Two Beastkin stepped forward. In the chaos, Vania was hoisted onto one Beastman’s shoulder, while Davic was carried by another.
“Is this Miss Dorothy’s plan? The immediate danger is gone, but following these guys... won’t it be even more dangerous later?”
Vania thought anxiously as she was carried away. The werewolf, Smith, took the lead, running on all fours into the woods. His subordinates and the Beastkin quickly followed. The group of beasts disappeared into the forest.
After the beasts left, the scene was left in a state of carnage. On the tree-lined path at dusk lay the overturned carriage and several bloody, gruesome corpses. The perpetrators of this massacre were long gone.
Not long after the beasts disappeared, an eagle’s cry echoed from the sky. A large-winged eagle descended and landed on the overturned carriage.
The black-feathered eagle looked around, then focused on the twisted handcuffs nearby. It raised its claw and began scratching words into the carriage. Soon, a crooked Pritt word appeared.
"Tracker.”
Then, the eagle grabbed the twisted handcuffs with its talons and flew into the sky, heading in the direction the beasts had gone.
After the eagle disappeared, time passed. The sun on the horizon gradually set, dusk faded, and night fell. Silence enveloped the scene of the massacre for an unknown period before being broken again.
From the distant sky, the sound of rushing wind approached. A black figure flew rapidly toward the scene and landed. It was Edmond, dressed in a trench coat.
Looking around at the carnage, Edmond’s face darkened. His fists clenched, his teeth gritted, and silent rage burned within him. Finally, he spat out a single sentence through clenched teeth.
"Damn those beasts..."
After Davic failed to return, the hospital sent a telegram to the Serenity Bureau Headquarters. Upon receiving the telegram, Edmond immediately realized something had gone wrong with the returning team. He flew along the return route to search, but it was already too late.
Looking at the gruesome scene and the missing prisoner, Edmond’s fists clenched tightly. Unable to contain his anger, he punched the overturned carriage, creating a loud bang.
At that moment, Edmond noticed the crooked word scratched into the wooden structure of the carriage. His rage subsided, replaced by seriousness.