“Don’t play dumb!” shouted Boot.
“We know what you did!” shouted Shaker.
“You caused several disasters so you could blame us and then gain the support of the local people. All so that you could kill us and throw us out of the town we built!” said Ivana.
The gathering crowd continued to chatter and point as they looked at Akira and the other werewolves around him with even more hatred.
“It’s because of you my father died!” shouted a young teen from the gathered crowd.
“My mother!” “..son!” “… entire family!” “… our crops were all lost!” Several people were shouting out angrily.
“We have nothing to do with whatever you are claiming we did. We just arrived in the area and had to clear up many disasters around this area to reach this town,” said Akira.
“Quit lying! We know it was you causing problems! Otherwise, why would you come here seeking a fight? Everyone knows that Kodria’s duke hates Demigods!” shouted Ben.
Akira held in his growing frustration and said, “Near the beginning of the warm months a group of demigods repeatedly attacked our new settlement and killed nearly a hundred Kodria warriors and workers. So when I heard a demigod town was set up nearby, of course for Kodria’s safety, we had to come and see what was going on!”
“So what? What does that have to do with us?” asked Dover.
“Several of those I fought against are standing right behind you! I recognize the others that were not part of the attack as those that have fought me and Kodria’s warriors in the wilderness trying to kill us. You are the most suspicious people here, not Kodria who has supported the area and sheltered everyone that needed it during the Molten Onyx Plague!” said Akira pointing directly at several of the guilty demigods.
“It’s a dishonor to meet you again, my rival in the fight for true love,” said the knight Roli Rover giving a shallow bow to Akira.
Both Ben and Dover sent glares at him causing him to stand straight and stay quiet not saying anything else.
Fluffball could sense the hostile sentiments in the air, he silently grew to his full size. His gleaming ice armor glittered in the sun.
“Roar!” said Fluffball. He let out a few growls directed at the demigods he recognized.
The crowd of refugees were now pointing at Fluffball some interest in his wondrous transformation but the majority were quivering at the fierce growls coming from him.
Akira placed his hand on Fluffball’s head to calm him down.
“Your lies will not fool us! You claim we have fought before, but I have never in my entire life met you once! You are trying to spin tales to justify your attacks on us!” shouted Ben who stood firm and was not fazed by Fluffball’s growling… even though a new puddle had appeared beneath his feet.
Several angry murmurs started to boil up from the crowd. These murmurs became angry shouts that rang out from the gathered crowd.
“Leave us alone!” “Get lost!” “We don’t want anything to do with you!”
Akira still stunned at what had happened, led everyone away from the town after seeing that there was nothing that they could do to change the minds of the people right now.
When they returned to their previous observation spot they were silent for some time.
“What just happened!?” asked an infuriated Zundar.
White steam was escaping from his nostrils every time he took a deep breath and exhaled to try and calm his boiling anger.
“I’m not entirely sure but it seems the demigods are trying to play some dirty game and are trying to stop the locals from supporting us,” said Klyn as he held his chin in a thinking pose.
“I don’t care what they have planned. I’m not going to play their games with them. This is too dangerous of a situation for Kodria and the rest of the demon races to allow such a cancerous guild to take root so close to us,” said Akira after calming down and thinking over the situation.
“So what do we do now?” asked Klyn.
“For now, we should clear out the rest of the monsters in the area. We can also check for any traps that may have been set up by the demigods while we wait for the rest of the soldiers from Kodria to arrive. Only then can we take care of the demigods, no matter what the locals think of them.”
“Yap!” said an energetic Fluffball, ready for a fight.
For the rest of the day, Akira led the warriors around killing all the troublesome monsters that they had missed on their trip to the town.
While killing the monsters they made sure to thoroughly scout the local area and checked for any dastardly traps or contraptions that may have been set up by the demigods.
The only thing that they had found during the half day of fighting came as the sun was setting, there were dozens of metal and wooden cages hidden in holes, bushes, and behind tall trees.
Akira squatted down next to one of the cages and looked inside. Several of these cages still had several small angry monsters chattering inside. While many of the other cages had been gnawed or shattered with the previous occupants escaping into the wilderness.
“So… now we know where all the odd monsters came from,” said Klyn as he walked up to Akira.
“The owners of these cages are probably the demigods… they are the cause of all the recent disasters,” said Akira as he scanned the rest of the cages.
“What should we do with them? Take them back to the town as proof?” asked Zundar scratching his head near his horns.
Akira shook his head, “No. The demigods would just turn it back around and say it is proof we sabotaged the nomadic villages.”
“It would be our word against theirs and the locals have already had their eyes and minds clouded by the demigods…” said Klyn.
Akira suddenly rolled to the side while grabbing Klyn and dragging him down with him to roll into a few thick prickly bushes.
A second later, a hail of a dozen or so glowing green energy arrows pierced the ground and cages all around the spot Akira and Klyn had been standing.
“Enemy attack!” growled Akira as he shot back up onto his feet and began transforming.
A black mist covered his body as he shot out from the bush. His transformation was finished as he landed on the ground and activated the [Advanced Quadrupedal Running] Skill.
He nimbly jumped to the right, dodging the second volley of green energy arrows that disappeared as soon as they slammed into the ground.
Fluffball and Zundar without hesitation charge forward to join Akira.
The rest of the guards and soldiers followed and tried to keep up with them. As they ran they transformed, allowing their running speed to increase as they charged toward the area where the green arrows were flying out.
The demigod that had sent several volleys aimed at Akira, did not wait for Akira or the others to reach his hiding spot. Instead, he used a skill that covered his feet in a green wind to greatly boost his speed and bolted from the hiding spot running away from those chasing him.
Even with the skills speed buff, Akira and Fluffball were hot on the demigod’s tail and were gaining ground every minute that passed.
Swoosh! Boom! Crack!
Several different colorful skills exploded in front of Akira, causing him to jump to the side and retreat a few steps out of the range of the explosions.
Four demigods jumped out from hidden holes in the ground and charged at Akira and Fluffball. They did not care for their lives or the fact that they were severely outnumbered.
They were just here to stall for time!
The original ambusher continued running until he hopped onto the back of a waiting horse.
The speed buff skill was once again activated, this time on the horse the demigod was now riding.
The green wind no longer covered the demigods’ feet, instead, the horses’ four hooves were shimmering with the green wind. With a speed of at least 3x faster than its normal speed, the horse shot off, opening a large gap between Akira and the other pursuers.
Akira was unable to use any of his skills to stop the demigod from escaping as he was now out of his range and the remaining demigods were still rushing toward him.
He pounced forward slashing with his claws creating a large bloody gash in the armor of one of the closest demigods.
Using the man’s body, Akira launched himself toward another Demigod and bit them in the neck, tearing out a large chunk of flesh.
His tail slashed out behind him, tripping a third demigod that had raised their glowing red sword high above their head and was ready to slash down with full force.
As the demigod fell down the skill sliced through the air well off course and ended up slicing through his allies legs crippling him.
Akira let out a pained grunt as he received an attack from the last demigod that was still able to stand. Akira used his armor to blunt the attack.
Fluffball shot past him and tackled the demigod.
“Ahhhh…!”
The pained cries rang out as Fluffball and the others finished off the demigods, sending thousands of light fragments into the sky.
Oddly enough even with their pained cries they did not curse or swear at Akira in their final moments. They all had smiles as they silently laughed at Akira before disappearing.
Akira and the rest of the soldiers did not pause to catch their breath, they continued chasing after the escaping demigod who had launched the ambush. The direction they were running to was toward the new demigod town that was only a few hours walk away.
With the high speed of the chase, the time it took to arrive at the town was cut in half.
“Help! The Kodria dogs have gone mad!” shouted the demigod as soon as they neared the outskirts of the town’s territory.
“Help!” He kept shouting to get the attention of everyone as he rushed towards the town’s walls.
The remaining demigods that were in the town rushed out upon hearing the shouts. Once again the locals were roused from their projects and misery to see what was going on.
When the winded demigod and horse that was frothing at the mouth stopped in front of the gathered demigods Ben stepped forward.
“What is it? What has happened?” asked Ben with a straight face.
“Hurry and get ready for an attack! Those dogs from Kodria have gone mad and are coming to kill us all! They tried to kill me and my group while we were out hunting for food. I was the only one able to escape. But that’s not the worst of it! They even attacked locals that saw them commit this crime and killed them to try and silence them!” said the demigod sweating and panting heavily from repeatedly using his skills to stay ahead of the pursuers.
When Akira and the soldiers with him reached the town their growls and killing intent soared. They had heard the last few sentences out of the demigod’s mouth and were enraged even further.
“If we don’t kill them now they will keep harassing us and start killing you as well!” said the demigod as he looked to the gathering civilians that had all grabbed tools and crude weapons to protect themselves.
“ENOUGH OF YOU STUPID GAMES!” shouted Zundar full of rage. White steam was billowing out of his nostrils making his head slightly shrouded in mist with only his glaring eyes staring out at them.
“Roar!” said Fluffball, equally angry at the demigods.
The two sides faced off against each other staring daggers at one another.
Akira stepped forward. His body was tall, muscular, and majestic with a dark mist aura swirling around him. “Our grudge is not with all of you who are not demigods! Step aside and allow us to cleanse the land of the cancer standing next to you!”
A few of the civilians wanted to leave but hesitated for a moment when they saw the rest of the people standing next to them. They were unwavering in their conviction and only glared at Akira.
Several of the more daring civilians walked up to stand next to the demigods, joining them in a shabby battle formation.
“This is my last warning! I do not want to kill any of you as we have more in common than you have with the demigods! If you do not step aside the dukedom of Kodria will view you as enemies in league with these criminal demigods!”
This deceleration caused several gasps to be heard and many people shivered when Akira looked at them directly. Just from his gaze, their legs lost most of their strength, and a few of them fell to the ground.
The killing intent from both sides crashed against each other trying to overpower the other with just their fighting will. The oppressive pressure rose to such a height that several of the weaker-willed civilians fainted.
The black mist around Akira started to gather as he readied himself for an attack.
Fluffball and the rest of the warriors all tensed their muscles as they readied themselves for a quick charge toward the demigods to end the fight.
Akira did not want to involve the nomads and would do his best not to kill them.
When the killing intent from both sides rose to an almost unbearable point…
“What’s going on here?” asked a soft feminine voice that seemed to cut right through the fierce battle of wills.
Everyone from both sides of the conflict turned as one to see who had just spoken.
