Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Once the prey is wounded and bleeding, victory is only a matter of time for the wolf or werewolf.

But who did Angrita learn her martial arts from? Bella and Vondar certainly deserve some credit, but the lion's share belongs to Reslaufer! That Doppler's fighting style wouldn't allow for this!

Losing money and getting hurt? Under a frontal attack? Absolutely not! In the eyes of mercenaries, there are only small profits, profits, big profits, and bloody profits!

Angelita didn't even think about it. She subconsciously offered her relatively solid defensive part to the opponent's teeth. The owlbear in her hand roared in the wind and chiseled at the exposed back of the werewolf!

A warhammer doesn't have the wide attack range of a two-handed sword, so it's almost impossible to guarantee a complete counterattack. Therefore, when faced with an unavoidable attack, Angelita's solution is to proactively attack with a non-vulnerable part!

Few can resist a guaranteed blow, but Angelita needs to take advantage of the weakness she created in her opponent and strike hard! She might be injured, but only this time!

Of course, if this werewolf used a spear, that would be fine; the length of the weapon was a difficult problem to solve. However, Angelita suspected this was why Reslaufer had excluded that group of werewolves. Using a hammer against claws, at least she wouldn't be at a disadvantage.

In a flash, Fate pounced and bit Angelita's arm firmly, which she had raised in advance. But before he could swing his claws, the owl bear's sharp metal beak had already torn a piece of flesh from his naked back after a heavy hammering!

"You're just a human being!" Looking at the wolf head that was ferocious due to severe pain and loosened her arm due to the pain, Angrita knocked Fate's mouthpiece crooked with a punch and swung the hammer again. However, the unexpected injury also aroused the unprecedented ferocity of the young werewolf. After rolling on the ground with his fist to avoid the hammer, he launched a dangerous attack on Angrita from the ground like a real wild wolf!

The sounds of disgust that had just been aroused by the werewolves stopped abruptly as if their throats were strangled. For the first time, they discovered that this member of the tribe whom they had always despised was actually no weaker than any of them when he got angry!

Chapter 105 Second Stage

White marks were left on Angrita's studded leather armor. This leather armor, adjusted by the dwarf craftsmen, stubbornly blocked the most fatal blow for its owner. However, Angrita was young after all and had not undergone years of training. The werewolf's strength would eventually be transmitted to her body, and the impact and pain would have a significant impact on her.

But Reslaufer still had no intention of taking action, because he was pleased to see that the girl was relying on her own willpower to fight against all these, and her goal was not just this, but to defeat or even kill her opponent in this duel!

That was enough. The mercenary nodded secretly. His years of experience had taught him that there was a gap between goals and actions, and that it was not determined by individual will. When one wanted to kill a target, all one could do was not lose the upper hand.

But those whose goal is to not lose out may not even be able to maintain this. A certain kind of unavoidable inertia will exist and disrupt even in life-or-death situations.

Since Angarita wasn't dominated by this risk, victory was the only thing waiting for her—what difference could there be between a human and a wolf? Fate had already been seriously injured in the first round, and his injuries would only get worse.

The situation on the field proved Leslaufer's judgment. Within two or three minutes after the initial strong counterattack, the battle seemed to be coming to an end. After Angarita once again beautifully avoided Fate's grappling and reopened his initial wound, the werewolf slumped in the dust, knelt with his head down, and looked like he had fainted.

However, despite the situation being so clear, no one from the werewolf side stood up to ridicule or scold Fate. They could definitely do better than him when they appeared, but of the two young werewolves chosen by the other side, the other one would definitely not be able to reach his level.

The werewolf who had just asked himself to go on the field had already consciously shrank into the crowd: If he really went on, where would he fall?

First round?

"You did very well." Angelita adjusted her breathing and tried to recover her strength as quickly as possible. She didn't have many obvious wounds on her body, but her physical strength was almost exhausted. Fortunately, she won, defeating a werewolf of almost equal strength with her own strength.

She walked over and swung her warhammer at the back of the kneeling werewolf's head. She had to put an end to this fight.

However, just as she was about to drop the hammer, Daisy's voice, along with the sound of the piano, rushed into her eardrums: "Buddy, retreat quickly, retreat to Lao Lei!"

what?

Stunned, Angelita instinctively glanced at Fate, who should have been unable to fight back. This glance played into the werewolf's hands. With a series of cracking sounds, Fate's head instantly spun a full 180 degrees, his eerie eyes, only the whites remaining, fixed intently on the girl. As if tethered by some invisible thread, the hammer, which was meant to strike his skull, slid downward, striking Fate's shoulder.

As tough as rubber, yet rougher and thicker than rubber.

It was strange. Angelita didn't remember ever feeling this way when she dropped the hammer before, but now—

Her thoughts suddenly became confused, and at this moment, the werewolf with its head turned upside down suddenly stood up and bit her fragile neck fiercely!

"clang!"

The sound of metal clashing resounded throughout the venue, and the mottled light and shadow dazzled many people's eyes. Leslaufer appeared beside Angelita at some point, and the steel sword in his hand pierced between the werewolf and the girl's neck, breaking off one of Fate's canine teeth.

"You're breaking the rules!" The werewolf, still with his eyes white and his mouth full of blood, screamed and tried to attack the mercenary. However, the mercenary knocked the suddenly strange werewolf over with just one punch.

"I make the rules, idiot. This is called 'the survival of the fittest.'"

The werewolves were stunned by the sudden change and didn't react until this moment. But when they howled and wanted to rush forward to grab the people, Leslaufer and his two-handed giant sword killed their thoughts: "If you want to die, move forward!"

"Although you will all die one day, we still need to distinguish who comes first." The mercenary plunged the tip of his sword into the ground, drawing a line. "Those who cross it will have priority."

"Stop! Stop!" Qierkan hurriedly squeezed through the other tribesmen and got out. "Let's talk it over. Return the child to us first!"

"What's wrong with him?" Leslaufer pushed Angarita to Bella and the others, and picked up the unconscious werewolf Fate. "You eliminated our wizard, but you hid a spellcaster? Well done, Chief Zirkan!"

The old werewolf was about to cry out of grievance: "It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding! How many of us beastmen are there spellcasters? How could we possibly bet on this? This is absolutely a huge misunderstanding! I never knew Fate had such a talent - did any of you know?"

The wolves, fearing they would become the center of attention, shook their heads in denial. "Look, this guy hid it so well that even we were kept in the dark!"

Daisy had been right... His inexplicable irritation nearly made Leslough subconsciously increase the force of his hands and strangle the young werewolf to death—he had nearly ruined his reward! And this girl!

"No... please, sir! Spare his life!" Unexpectedly, Zirkan was frightened by Reslaufer's little move and knelt down in panic. "We don't want your people or your food anymore. Give Fate back to us. He's our only hope!"

"You only have a few words to explain this," Reslaufer replied coldly. "How many words depends on your attitude."

"Everything I said is 200 percent true! I swear on the name of Darragher, the werewolf god!"

Rathlough ignored this; he would have to be mad to believe such an oath—he was not a werewolf.

"This child is a shaman, or as you humans would say, a wizard," Zirkan quickly added, "What happened just now wasn't real magic, but the favor of Darragher."

"And it's because of the great Daraguer that we've fallen from being hunters to having to rob passersby for a living. We accidentally angered the god, causing the entire tribe to suffer divine punishment and never again be able to catch prey. I originally thought this was an unsolvable end, but he, Fate, is just like his name, he is our savior! As a shaman, he must be able to communicate with the god Daraguer, and only then can we be saved!"

"Please, sir, please let him go. If we can regain the protection of the gods, you will be our eternal benefactor!"

Chapter 106: Darragher's Gift

Zirkan's attitude, which was initially rude but then respectful, seemed sincere, but Reslaufer was more concerned with the reactions of the other werewolves: confusion, resentment, and even threats when they looked at them. These reactions could better confirm how much truth and falsehood were in their leader's words.

"No wonder you were chasing that cockatrice," Daisy seemed to have believed it and said suddenly, "So that wasn't an excuse, it's just that you really couldn't catch it..."

"The curse of the gods leaves no loopholes," the old werewolf lamented, "even a creature like the cockatrice cannot become our prey."

"Since we suffered divine punishment, we haven't been able to catch any prey. Besides carrion, we can only survive on fruit, even grass roots and tree bark. Sigh. We originally thought we could get some food from people like you, but now it seems that this is all part of Darragher's plan."

"Don't think your God is too omniscient and omnipotent, old man," Vondar snorted. "I can't win, I just can't win. There's no need to make so many excuses."

These words excited the werewolves so much that many of the young and strong ones were about to fight the dwarves, but they were stopped by their tribesmen. From this point of view, perhaps Fate's status among the werewolves has indeed improved a lot after showing his special power.

"I don't trust you," Leslaufer relaxed his grip slightly, but even if Fate woke up at this time, he still couldn't break free. "Back off, retreat 500 meters, and I will let this guy go."

"We don't trust you either," Qirkan rejected the plan outright. "What should we do if you kill him? That would be the same as killing all of us! These aren't all my people. There are still many old, weak, and sick people in the nest—"

"You don't care about that when you're hunting," interrupted Rathlough. "There's no use pretending to be pitiful. Let's do this: this fellow can go back with you to sort it out, but we'll go too and watch."

"If you make any unusual moves, I will immediately break his neck."

Zilkan clearly didn't like the idea: "Next you will be torn to pieces too."

"After all of you, including the old, weak, and sick, are dead."

Verbal threats only appear real when backed up by actions, and when both sides can confirm that the other side's threats may become real, temporary reconciliation will emerge with this "frankness".

"Where am I?"

As the emerald green magical light dissipated from the druid's hand, the werewolf Fate, whose injuries were temporarily stabilized, slowly opened his eyes, his deep blue eyeballs rolling around, trying to figure out his current situation.

His throat was so dry, as if it were clamped in an iron clamp, which had never happened before when he used those abilities himself - a new side effect?

"You're in my grasp, boy." The voice of the mercenary, whose physique was not much inferior to the werewolf, came from the side. Fate suddenly felt his throat tighten a few more times - that was not a side effect! He was really being strangled!

What had happened? Did he kill that girl, and that's why they fell out? Fate's mind raced with various thoughts. He figured that after he'd revealed his shamanic talents, the Chilkan leader and the others would have fought tooth and nail to get him back. But now—they'd lost?

How can this be?

Fate was unwilling to believe this result, but his current situation did not allow him to be optimistic, until he saw the embarrassed Qirkan and other tribesmen opposite him.

"I'm sorry, kid," the old werewolf naturally noticed Fate's astonishment, "but for the sake of the tribe, we must make a compromise..."

After waking up, Fate finally knew the whole story and realized that his counterattack did not cause irreversible consequences. It was a bit bad, but still a good thing. The only drawback was that he was now a hostage, not just a life-saving straw for the tribe.

"Don't worry, Grandpa Zirkan, I won't make things difficult for you," Fate sighed. "Sir, please relax a little too. I don't want to be hostile to you. If there's a solution, that would be great."

"As you said, Grandpa Qirkan, I do have some shamanic powers. This happened before our tribe suffered divine punishment. I went to hunt a giant badger but was nearly killed. You should all remember this incident."

Many of the werewolves nodded in agreement - the joke was spread for several weeks before it came to an end. The giant badger's main food was honey, fruit and insects. The werewolves who were almost killed by that thing were really worth laughing at, so no one cared to ask how Fate escaped from the claws of an angry giant badger.

"Your skin." Angelita suddenly spoke. She remembered the touch just now. It was definitely not the normal skin and flesh structure of a werewolf.

Fate nodded, and his figure quickly transformed into a fully human form. Without the werewolf hair covering it, his rough, scaly skin was quite conspicuous. "It suddenly appeared and helped me block the giant badger's fatal claw, but the impact still made me almost faint. But when my eyes rolled back, another power took over my body, allowing me to see... the countless silk threads around the beast, and I could easily move them, making them..."

It seems that this is also the reason why Angelita's hammer missed the target just now.

"Can you do it again?" Angelita was not satisfied with this explanation. "I think this might not be the only reason. Can you use it on me again? Don't worry, I won't aim it at you this time. After all, you can't die now."

"I'm so sorry, I... I can't do it." Facing the surprised crowd, Fate lowered her head in shame. "Although I can now control the use of this ability, I don't know why it doesn't work every time."

"I've tried it before, and I can only use this power from the god Daraguer once on the same person, almost before the next sunrise and sunset. If I try to use it a second time, not only will I not be able to turn those eyes back, but I'll also pass out."

"So that's why you fainted during our last fight?" Another werewolf, who had been considered a backup by Reslaufer, suddenly interjected. "Then it seems the gods aren't very kind to you! In just a few moments, you had to use this power on me twice?"

Chapter 107 Ancestral Altar

At that time, Fate did not know about such restrictions, so all he received was a new round of ridicule and contempt. So in this battle with Angelita, he saved it until the end, and it finally worked wonders.

It’s a pity that Doppler on the side would not give him the opportunity to create victory results and easily subdued him.

But following the werewolf's questioning, other werewolves also began to discuss: this power does seem a bit weird at first glance, but once it is exposed, it is actually not particularly strong, and is not even as strong as the rough skin that looks like scales but is not scales - can a shaman with only this level of blessing really help them win back the favor of the god Darragher?

"Quiet, quiet, this isn't his problem." The bard, uncharacteristically deep in thought, finally stood up and silenced the werewolves' clamor with her distinctive voice. "Have you ever considered this? Why is it that the Empire has eight gods worshipped by the royal family alone, and a vast number of other gods are also recognized as legitimate gods, including non-human races like Corellon? Why is it that your Darragher is never allowed to sit at the table?"

"Need I say that?" a werewolf said indignantly, "They regard us as evil demons! Even our gods are excluded!"

"Hmm, I'm not sure the Lord of the Nine Hells would think so," Daisy spread her hands. "Besides, doesn't the Matt family also have Angora among the eight gods they worship? While their priests won't speak ill of their gods, their statue doesn't look like a kind person."

"Their gods are somewhat weak—of course, this isn't something we mortals can judge," Bella blurted out. Realizing her slip of the tongue, she quickly tried to justify herself, "but that's pretty much what I meant."

God is God after all. If He wants to, He can certainly give more, but if it is not intentional, this level of power is acceptable.

"But no matter what, at least you can communicate with the god Darragher and at least hear the decree he sends down, right?" Zirkan didn't care how powerful Fate was. If he couldn't complete the atonement before the divine punishment was irreversible, everything would be meaningless.

"Occasionally, I can hear something," Fate nodded slowly. "Please let me go to the ancestral altar. I think I can hear it more clearly there."

The so-called Ancestral Altar was actually a ruin in the wilderness not too far away. It was said that before the Matt family established a new dynasty in the empire, there had been a settlement of werewolves and other beastmen here—perhaps even more—who built walls and houses of stone and wood and thrived there.

But the Matt family didn't like this. They believed the Empire should belong to the Imperials, not even to barbarians, let alone non-human races. Therefore, they spent a lot of time and manpower to drive away most of the beastmen, leaving only these werewolves alive. They lost their habitat and lived a life of eating raw meat and drinking blood, just like wild beasts.

Angelita had no complaints about this kind of story. Far from being a taboo in the royal family, it was a glorious ancestral legend. In fact, it was true from any perspective - humans, whose strengths were not as outstanding as those of other intelligent races, had established a great empire with humans at its core, spanning the center of the world. This was indeed a great achievement, and no human should feel ashamed of it.

After all, even the dwarves and elves of earlier history never thought so, let alone those ancient creatures that even fed on other intelligent races.

"This is it, we're here."

When the leading wolf pack stopped, the werewolves and Reslaufer also arrived at the area where only some building fragments that were only knee-high were left. It looked like a small town in the past, but now there were no stone buildings. Scattered huts sat casually on the ruins. White smoke was faintly wafting out of a few wooden tents, but unfortunately there was no smell of meat in it.

When they saw Zirkan and the other hunters coming back, especially when they saw several strangers following them, many beastmen cast eager glances in their direction.

But unfortunately, at least today, their meal will not be sumptuous.

But the old werewolf didn't look depressed at all. Quite the contrary, he leaped onto a broken wall and waved his arms to signal to the tribesmen around him, "We have not been abandoned by the god Darragher, my fellow tribesmen! Witness! A shaman has appeared in our tribe again! Fate, the son of destiny, will bring us the god's new will, and we will wash away our sins!"

"Fate?" "Why is it him?"

Fate, the werewolf, was quite famous within his tribe, but most of the werewolves used him as a negative example. The topic of conversation was something like, "If you don't do this or that, you'll end up like Fate." Now, suddenly, the respected, fierce, and cunning leader, Zirkan, announced that he was a shaman, causing quite a stir among the werewolves.

"Quiet, everyone, be quiet!" Zirkan silenced them all. "This isn't just my opinion. It's what all the hunters saw with their own eyes, including a group of travelers. They were the ones who experienced Fate's awakening firsthand. They're important witnesses!"

Of course, Zirkan couldn't tell the truth like Fate had, having gained shamanic power long before the entire tribe was punished. What Fate would think of him was a minor issue, but what would he, the tribe leader, be considered? Fate's mother...

Zirkan dismissed those dire possibilities and summoned his people to a special ceremony to honor the great Darragher. The new shaman, Fite, was seated in the center, and the tribe's limited remaining meat, whether rotten or not, was piled upon it. As witnesses, Reslaufer and his companions were allowed to sit near the inner circle.

"It's like a thousand flies are flying around me," Vondar sighed. The rotting meat attracted a large number of insects, which made those who were close to it very uncomfortable. "What's worse is that I doubt this is an exaggeration."

"Shh, don't talk, the ceremony is about to begin."

Angrita and Daisy stopped the dwarf's complaints at the same time. Angrita had never seen a sacrificial ceremony of beastmen, so she was very excited when she encountered this rare opportunity. Daisy, on the other hand, had never even seen a ceremony for a righteous god, and at most had only participated in a church service in Xinmu City - and that was because in order to preach, they gave eggs and alcoholic beverages to passers-by who did not believe in their gods.

At this moment, seeing that the werewolf whose back wound had not yet healed was surrounded by his tribe for the first time in his life, and was about to start the sacrifice at a loss, how could they miss this opportunity to open their eyes?

Chapter 108 Isabara

Unlike the systematic churches of the Empire, as a bloodthirsty god, there are no specific rules for the worship of Darragher. In addition, Fate himself is a beginner and has never received any relevant teachings before, so the ceremony was held very arbitrarily.

But this has no necessary connection with success or failure. When the werewolf used a stone knife to cut a new wound on his arm and sprinkled the blood on the rotten meat used as sacrifice, a cloud of black smoke with blood streaks burst out without warning, wrapping up the young werewolf directly, leaving no trace of the beginning or the end.

"Oh my god!" Daisy, who was observing closely, was shocked. Compared to Angarita, who had also never seen such a ceremony, the bard's reaction was even more intense. "You're going to eat it right away?"

"Fate is now God's messenger. He will return safely and bring us the method to wash away our sins." The muscles and tendons in Qierkan's eye sockets twitched involuntarily, and he responded reluctantly, "As long as we don't do anything that disobeys God in this situation, then... nothing will happen?"

"Is this what your previous shaman did?"

"...No," Zirkan became confused after hearing Daisy's question. "He didn't do anything. He just performed the ceremony like this, but when the smoke cleared, the original shaman died there, bleeding from all seven orifices. His blood contaminated the sacrifice, and the punishment of the gods followed."

"That's really strange," Bella whispered. "Even the Dark Gods usually don't punish their followers so arbitrarily. Moreover, why would they starve you to death?"