The five elite Beastman hunters were supposed to be the ultimate trap. They were supposed to slaughter the four starving humans in the dark and leave their bodies to rot under the swinging corpses. Instead, they were completely wiped out in less than three minutes. The muddy grove was dead silent, save for the heavy sound of breathing. The bodies of the five hunters lay scattered across the wet dirt, torn apart by a terrifying combination of blunt force trauma and razor-sharp blood spikes. Ivan sat heavily on the chest of a dead Beastman, wiping a mixture of freezing rain and sweat from his pale face. He leaned on his wooden crutch, staring at the sheer carnage around them. "Well," Ivan panted, a dark, cynical smile creeping across his lips. "That was a highly educational three minutes. Note to self, do not try to ambush the guy with the demon arm, and definitely do not jump the guy who sweats literal magic knives."Henry st

Faried sat perfectly still high in the branches of the towering dead oak tree. The freezing fog clung to his soaked clothes, but his breathing was incredibly slow and controlled. He looked down through the gray mist. He saw Kraal sprinting blindly through the woods, only to be completely blocked by Roy. Faried knew he did not need to worry about the terrified lieutenant. Roy was the apex predator now. Roy would butcher Kraal.Faried shifted his sharp, calculating gaze away from the woods and looked straight back at the muddy main road. Commander Boros was still standing behind the massive wall of spiked black iron shields. The giant Beastman was listening to the absolute silence of the forest. Boros was a veteran. He knew what silence meant in a combat zone. It meant his men were dead."Kraal is not coming back," Boros growled, his deep voice carrying clearly through the damp air. The giant Commander raised his massive spiked war hammer, pointing it direct

The heavy iron war hammer slipped from the Beastman Commander's hands. It hit the freezing mud with a dull, heavy thud, missing Henry's broken ribs by a single inch. Boros stood completely paralyzed in the dense fog. He looked down slowly. The thick, perfectly solid spike of pitch-black blood was protruding directly from the center of his massive chest. The dark spike was connected to a long, glowing crimson tether that stretched all the way back into the gray mist, anchoring firmly into Roy's left hand. The elite Beastman guards standing near the slaver wagons completely froze. Their yellow eyes widened in pure, unadulterated horror. They had just watched their invincible Commander, the apex predator of the northern sector, get skewered like a piece of cheap meat. "Get away from him," Roy Jecoriah whispered. His voice was not loud, but the chilling, hollow echo sliced through the damp forest air with terrifying clarity. For a few seconds, the only sound in the muddy clearing was

Faried left Roy standing in the freezing rain. The rational youth grabbed the back of Ivan's dirty tunic, physically dragging the crippled boy away from the pleading voices of the chained slaves. "Keep your eyes forward, Ivan," Faried ordered sharply, pulling him toward the massive, iron-reinforced supply wagon parked at the very front of the convoy. "Do not look at them. Do not listen to them. We have a dying giant bleeding out in the mud, and he is our only priority right now."Ivan limped heavily on his wooden crutch, but he could not stop looking over his shoulder. The hundreds of human prisoners locked inside the rolling iron cages were a horrific sight. They were completely stripped of their dignity, their bodies covered in dark purple bruises and deep, infected whip marks. They were packed together so tightly that the sick and the dying simply laid on top of one another. The stench of human waste and rotting flesh coming from the cages was almost worse than the dead mutant de

The pristine white crystal cracked violently in Roy Jecoriah's pale hand. The elegant, arrogant Elven voice on the other end barely had time to register the absolute threat before Roy completely crushed the magical artifact. The blinding holy light died instantly in the damp air, leaving only a handful of useless white dust slipping through Roy's cold fingers. "Drive," Roy commanded, his glowing crimson eyes locking onto Faried. Faried did not need to be told twice. The rational youth snapped the thick leather reins aggressively. The giant, mutated rhino-bear beast snorted loudly, leaning its massive weight forward. The heavy wooden wheels of the supply wagon groaned against the mud, and the iron carriage slowly rolled forward, plunging deep into the dark, freezing fog of the southern route. Inside the dry, enclosed cabin of the wagon, the atmosphere was incredibly heavy. A single green magical lantern swayed from the wooden ceiling, casting long, eerie shadows across the stacked