As the last of the sunlight was disappearing Akira and the rest of the cavalry arrived at the nomadic town and asked around about guest lodging.
“Is that the building they were talking about?” asked Akira, who was looking at a well-worn building that looked like it had been dismantled and rebuilt at least several dozen times if not a hundred.
“The sign on the building is the same as the name they gave us…” said Klyn.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he looked at the sign with a scrunched face.
“That building is not going to hold everyone inside even if every room was free,” said Friige.
*Cough*, “Excuse me,” said a man in a rough voice from behind Akira.
Everyone turned around to see a middle-aged man in a long and thick blue fur coat with an equally thick blue scarf covering his neck.
“Oh, sorry for blocking the front door,” said Akira as he stepped aside, allowing the man to walk up to the door.
“I guess we could check and see if there are enough rooms here to just cram everyone in like sardines,” said Akira.
“It’s worth a try,” said Klyn, as they also walked towards the Inn’s main door that was now being pushed open by the middle-aged man.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as his hackles were raised and fully alert! But the warning was too late.
Bam! SWOOSH! Swish! Splat!
As soon as the door was pushed all the way open several colorful lights from skills slammed into the man’s stomach knocking him onto his back in the snow.
Sticky red blood was now leaking out and staining his tattered blue coat as he lay still on the cold ground that was slowly turning red.
Akira and the others with him immediately took defensive stances. Both Akira and Fluffball did not hesitate in transforming ready to go all out.
As the black mist covering Akira’s body disappeared a dark heavy aura shot out from his body along with a fierce killing intent.
Although those nearby had experienced his transformations before, with his new armor boosting his fierceness combined with his recent surge in power there was no comparison from the past experiences. The tail armor that had been retracted was not extended and covered his upper tail allowing for more protection as well as creating an extra melee weapon for him to use.
“Awooooo!” Akira let out a howl to call all the werewolves to him so they could charge into the building and take care of the problem inside.
“Awo!” Awoo!” A wave of howls came from the edges of the village acknowledging his call.
Akira listened intently to the movement inside the inn to try and get an estimate of how many attackers were inside.
“You hit the wrong target!”
“How was I supposed to know he would enter before the target!”
The people inside the inn continued to argue about what to do next, giving Akira and the others time to prepare.
As the werewolves rushed down the short streets of the nomadic village, the village chief, also hearing the chilling howling, hastily threw on a coat and joined the passing werewolves.
“Hey what is going on!?” shouted the village chief as he flailed his arms in the air trying to get their attention.
“Wait! Please don’t destroy the Inn!” shouted the village chief as he rushed towards the gathering group.
Akira had his helmet closed causing him to look like a fierce demon wolf. When he turned his attention to the village chief, the village chief became a wooden pole as his legs stopped and began to shiver uncontrollably.
“Please don’t break it! It’s one of our sources of income during the winter months allowing merchants and other travelers to stay the night.”
Akira took out a handful of gold coins from his bag and tossed them to the trembling village chief.
“You have a demigod vermin problem. I will help you exterminate it. That should be more than enough to cover the cost of repairs or for you to be able to buy material for a new inn.”
The village chief’s mouth kept opening and closing as he tried to say something but failed to as he looked at the gold in his and back at the terrifying Akira in his sharp nightmare armor that had a black mist hovering around his body.
“Whose the dead guy?” asked Tanner as he joined the others outside the Inn.
Everyone looked at the middle-aged man who received the full brunt of the enemy’s attacks to his chest. There was no sign of breathing nor had he shown any movement since the attack. The ground was now dyed a deep red from all the blood that had spilled.
“Call some of your villagers to take him away and give him a proper burial,” said Akira.
“Yes… yes of course!” said the village chief.
“Don’t go killing me off when I’m not dead!” shouted the middle-aged man as he opened his eyes and stood back up.
With movements that were almost too quick for Akira to see, the tattered blue coat was replaced with a new one.
“… as for my name, I really don’t have one but my rival best friend calls me Balue.”
Balue had a sad expression on his face as he pulled out a tattered water skin that had red sticky liquid still dripping from it.
Akira tried to scan him for information but was only able to see that his name was indeed Balue.
“My wine is all gone now…” said Balue as he looked up at Akira.
Now that the Balue was staring right at him, Akira had a clear look at him. His face looked rather young but Akira could see faint wrinkles here and there. The only other thing that stood out was his deep blue eyes that felt like they could stare holes into you.
“Ah… so you’re a hermit,” said Akira.
Balue ignored Akira’s words and turned around before saying, “You say you want to kill these people called Demigods? Allow me to help!”
Before Akira and the others could react, Balue rushed forward and charged into the building, his arms held out in front of him as a shield.
As soon as he stepped through the door another wave of attacks washed over him but he pressed forward not using any armor or weapons.
“We have to help save that fool before he gets himself killed!” shouted Klyn in shock.
Akira, Fluffball, and the rest of the werewolves that were already transformed rushed forward to take care of the demigods.
It was dark inside the inn as no fire or lamp was lit. For some reason, It felt even colder than the outside temperature.
Despite what they had all thought, Balue had not been cut to pieces and was fine.
Akira saw several skills repeatedly hammering into Balue who seemed to not notice them as he rushed forward and began wailing on the attacking demigods with his gloved fists.
Bam! A demigod’s head disappeared into bloody light fragments after a few hits.
Akira was greatly impressed by his body’s durability. If he tried this, he would definitely get many cuts and wounds.
Akira joined the fight taking on the Demigods that were trying to hide in a side room and snipe them.
With the Werewolves, Fluffball, and Balue crushing the attackers it did not take long before only a few demigods remained.
The walls and doors of the first floor and its rooms were all torn apart and in shambles. There were large holes in the wooden floor.
“Wait, don’t kill the last two!” growled Akira.
“Why?” asked Balue.
“We need to interrogate them, to see who they are. I do not recognize them from any guilds that usually cause trouble around here.”
“You’re in luck. I specialize in interrogation!” said Balue as he quickly switched out of the tattered blue coat and into another similar one as the first two.
Akira was not sure how many of these coats he had or where he was hiding them since he was not carrying a bag.
“Oh? Then I hope you can offer your help. But these demigods are not easy to crack,” said Akira. He had grown to respect Balue as a comrade after fighting side by side with him.
The feeling seemed to be mutual as Balue nodded his head toward Akira in agreement.
Akira and Balue walked into the last room that was still somewhat intact and dragged the last surviving demigods inside for questioning.
After some time the two exited the room without the demigods.
“You’re quite skilled with interrogation tricks. Even the demigods who do not fear death were no match for you. I did not know bodies could bend like that,” said Akira in praise.
“It’s nothing, I’ve had several years to practice It when I was bored,” said Balue rubbing his head in embarrassment at being praised.
“Still… I have a bad feeling about the new information.”
Ding!
-
+1 to Akira’s bad gut feeling!
“I don’t think we can stay here any minute longer!” said Akira.
“You two freaks of nature may be able to keep going, but the rest of us need to sleep! We have been going non-stop trying to reach Iskald, but now that the situation there has been resolved we are ready to fall asleep as soon as we lay down and close our eyes,” said Klyn. He was looking a bit haggard now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off.
“If it’s okay with you, I would love to join you in your journey north,” said Balue.
“I have no problem with that as long as you do not have any ulterior motives,” said Akira as he looked at Balue with a questioning expression.
“I have no ill will towards you. I just want to see the new dukedoms of the north and see what goodies I can gather for my collection.”
