Larm Forest, Wolf King's Cave
"B-Boss… where are you going?"
A wolf asked Shiroi as she took big heavy steps towards the portal in the center of the cave.
"What sort of question is that? The leader summons me. I must heed to her call."
The black wolf looked at his sister from the corner of his eye. Before, those two were giants amongst the other wolves, but now, he couldn't even compare to her in terms of size. It was a surprising development he hadn't expected.
"If there wasn't a portal, were you going to run all the way to the city?"
"If it was necessary, I would have. And I am certain that if it is me, as I am now, it wouldn't take even half a day to do so. However…"
"Where does that lead to?"
"Wherever the leader is at the moment."
"Si-"
She glared at her younger brother, her violet eyes faintly glowing.
"Enough questions. I'm leaving."
The wolf jumped through the portal and it closed up behind her. The black wolf sat up and looked at the spot where his sister once laid.
'Maybe I'll try the dungeons too.'
***
"I thought I killed that thing. Ah well, that doesn't matter now since it's actually doing my job for me."
A voice came from behind. Sitting on of the seats with his legs crossed and on my seat was a tall man in a black coat. A black mask covered his face almost entirely like the one I wore which made me realise he must have had some sort of connection to the kidnappers.. In a swift movement, his face was merely inches away from mine.
'I'm guessing you are the famous Grimm Black I have heard so much about. You are as impressive as they say you are.'
'Oh? You also possess [Telepathy]? This will be a fun little conversation then, little one. Did you come here on "her" orders?'
He asked me. I looked to my side and noticed that the couple was paralysed with fear. They genuinely didn't know what action to take so they just sat still.
'Don't bother about those two. They aren't even human. Simple automatons. Now, back to my question. Did "she" send you?'
<<Notice: External threat noticed! Magic Ice Needles have been detected attempting to penetrate your defenses>>
At this point 15 ice needles were trying to pierce my body. This idiot was trying to do something to me as we spoke, but unfortunately for him, nothing could happen to my body without me knowing since I had the unique skill [God's Voice].
<<Notice: Measures against the attack are being taken!>>
[Due to the unique skill [Evolver] you have acquired the skill [Magical Attack Resistance]]
'I don't know who "she" is.'
'Don't lie to me. Your friend over there already told me all ab-'
Before he could continue that, there was a white mist that punched him off of me and onto the auditorium floor. I noticed a violet light in the mist.
'Shiroi?'
I got off the chair and walked to the edge, only to find the biggest wolf I had seen till date towering over Grimm. She had silvery white fur with her ear tips, tail tip and paws all coloured red. There was a weird green design drawn over her back that showed something like two wolves running, but in almost artistic yet archaic manner.
It would seem that she didn't hear me since she didn't respond to me.
Either way, this was the end of this bullish play.
I spread out my wings and let my aura flare as a simple display of power, then I flew right through the roof.
_________________________________________
Kawaii/ Maude's internal conversation
When Kawaii had consumed the human that is known as Maude or Ellie McAllister or Clyde McAllister, the soul was supposed to have also been consumed, turned into nothing more than food for the slime. However, she wasn't dealing with a normal soul but rather, with a [Heroic Soul]. The soul had refused to die off and was still in the consciousness of the slime, which brings us to this moment.
"Hey slime. Let me out."
'Hmm? But didn't you agree to let me have your body?'
"What I meant by let me out was that let me take control over you for a while. At least until I've had my words with the Boss."
'Why would I do that?'
"You've explored my memories, experienced my trauma. You've seen my very being. You should know that I won't try anything funny now. I am already dead, anyway."
;… You're lucky that I know you aren't lying. Ok, until you have your words with your father, you can have control.'
"Thank you."
***
Maude's eyes slowly opened and she looked around her. She was on the staircase that lead to the cellars. She flexed her fingers and arms and was surprised by how fluid and bouncy her body was.
'I'm back? So it wasn't some weird dream… in that case I don't have time to waste.'
Quickly, she ran to the bottom cellar, where they were keeping the very important slaves. A floor beneath the place where the regular slaves were being tortured. There were only five slaves down there. At least, there were supposed to be. Maude noticed the fact that two of them had disappeared. Normally this would scare her, but she wasn't even living anymore, so to hell with fear. She moved past the ones she didn't care about and ended up in the one at the far back. Chained up to the wall, was her target. The dark haired dhampyr, known as Ulva.
"Hey you. Get up."
She grabbed the girl by the arm.
"Ah, let me… go!"
Ulva begun to struggle against Maude's grip and the ogre princess suddenly reacted.
"Hey! I thought you said nothing would happen to her!"
The ogress complained.
"Looks like the plan's changed, princess. I'll be needing this one up in the room today."
"W-What? But she's just a child!"
"Shut up!"
"Tch, if you don't leave her, I will kill you."
Her voice sounded serious, but it lacked the necessary amount of killing intent to scare anyone. At least that was what Maude thought.
'Hehe… you're a pure one acting tough. Don't let yourself get corrupted easily.'
"Go ahead and try with those collars on your neck you stupid beast."
The ogre could only curse at her powerlessness.
"Leave… me… alone!"
The little dhampyr then bit her arm. Ulva's fangs sunk deep into them and it caused Maude to grit her teeth in pain. She flung the girl back at the wall with a scowl.
"Stop being stupid right now. All of this will end quickly if you just let me do it quickly."
She picked up Ulva and flung her over her shoulders, then glared at the ogress.
"You too. Get up. We don't have all day."
"Tch…"
The ogress reluctantly stood up and followed after the woman, even though Ulva struggled against her back.
"Sigh… the things I do for revenge."
_______________________________________
"Wow you're huge."
Grimm said exasperatedly with his arms raised in front of him, trying to signal his surrender.
"And you are tiny. Like a twig I can snap."
His opponent was a giant wolf, the likes of which he had never seen. This thing was abnormal and the weird mist that kept escaping its body. The room was slowly being filled with this tangible mist.
"Yea… can we not go for the snapping me in half thing? Not a fan."
The white wolf let out a large bark that sent the vampire slamming into the wall of the building.
"W-woah… can we not do that again?"
He complained as he got out of the wall.
"We can if you give up and let me kill you."
The wolf pounced on him, but he jumped out of the area in time, drawing his blade and slicing a clean arc through the wolf's leg. However this simply passed through the wolf as if its body were not real.
Refusing to give a second to confusion, Grimm created a barrier of ice to separate himself from the wolf and give himself enough time to think up a solution. He hadn't brought any especially useful items for such a battle today. Only vampire slaying tools. He would have loved to switch to fighting Yokino a second time. Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of choosing his fights.
His mind scrolled through his options immediately and he realized that he had actually made a very dangerous mistake.
'That kid said she didn't know who I was talking about. Even if she was lying, I would have noticed, but she wasn't. But then that Arachne didn't lie to me either. Wait… could she possibly know something the little one doesn't? But I was certain the little one was her boss. In that case a possible double agent? Can't I use this to my advantage then?'
This took 0.01 seconds for him to process. His skill [Fast Thought Process] had never let him down and it wouldn't now. He had already thought up a plan and a backup plan as well as a backup for his backup. He landed on the ground and raised both hands again.
"Ah! I'm not your enemy you damned wolf!"
Shiroi shattered the ice barrier with relative ease and landed on the ground. Not making a single movement after that.
"Whoo. Finally, I got you to calm down. Listen to me. I'm not really someone who likes to fight, but you see I'm actually trying to help your boss."
"My boss? What do you want to do with her?"
Shiroi was actually starting to get agitated again.
"You see… I set up this entire auction to kidnap her."
"You did what!?"
The white wolf let her aura flare, breaking apart the pillars of the building. She activated her [King's Aura] and [Wolf King's Howl]. Her body slowly glowed with a red aura as she snarled. Her violet eyes pierced into the vampire's soul and he couldn't do anything.
Everything told him to run. He knew he had to run. What the hell was a Hellhound doing here? A variant at that. Such a dangerous beast was being controlled by a little girl. His limbs just gave up and he fell on his knees. The large paws were coming for him and he couldn't do anything. He just closed his eyes and embraced his fate.
'Kill a king? Yea, right. As if I could ever.'
***
Yokino was in a foul mood. Not only was she betrayed by Grimm, but she also almost died due to his foolish attempts at killing her. She swore that if she saw him again, there would be hell to pay.
That was what triggered her rash decision to murder all those present in the room. She already had a strong dislike to humans due to previous incidents, but right now her mind was cloaked with blood lust. She just needed to feed and get herself happy. A simple blood bathe would take away all her problems.
So right now, she had killed two people. She could hear a voice in her head telling her something good.
[You have received 4000 experience points]
The system Hinotori gave her informed her of her rewards for killing two human beings. She would go on a rampage now. A simple lightning bolt here, a water spear there, an earth canon over there. Heads would fly all about and blood would simply drip to the floor.
This was supposed to make her happy right? So why wasn't she happy? At best, she felt empty. Like she had nothing. Was it because this was a loss she actually acknowledged? Yes. She had never ever truly lost, she believed. Not once since she reincarnated did she lose to anything this world threw at her. Yet, here she was, killing humans because of one near death instance.
To be honest, she did not value the lives of those from this world. She couldn't even think of them as proper people. This loss against Grimm was more important to her than a lot of things at the moment. She figured it out! She wouldn't feel satisfied until she had her revenge against Grimm.
That bastard, she would kill him. An insufferable traitor who easily switched sides. It reminded her of someone from her past life. Someone she hated from the very bottom of her heart. Someone she felt was a rejection of her very existence. Another reason she couldn't accept this loss.
It was settled. She would kill Grimm. She would make herself victorious and whole once again. All it took was one life to do so.
She saw Grimm fall to the ground and a large wolf followed after. She paid no mind to that and focused on Grimm Black.
"YOU!"
She hissed, but he was too busy to notice her. Yokino was willing to jump him, but an arrow stabbed one of her eyes before she could do so. The pain was negligible due to her focus, but she looked at the source. It was one of the mercenaries assigned to ensure the safety of this auction. He wielded a crossbow and was clothed in fine armor.
Being an unimportant being, Yokino wasted no more than a second to kill him with high projected blood needles to the heart. She turned back, but noticed Grimm was sent flying into a wall. She wanted to go after him, but someone slashed at her spider legs with his sword, effectively breaking its shaft. Yokino slammed him away, but another soldier stabbed her abdomen with a spear.
Although Yokino normally towered over most of them, she was forced to crumple to her knees after several assaults on her body. This was becoming really annoying. She wasn't certain this would work, but she had been practicing with it ever since she received it, so a little battle field data wouldn't hurt.
"[Advanced Illusion Magic: Spider's Crib]."
An Advanced level of illusion magic. Normally inconceivable if one only recently learned the form of magic. However, Yokino, was not normal. A wave of mist spread throughout the room and entered the minds of each and every single one in the room Yokino did not consider an ally or Grimm.
***
"What did you do to them?"
Shiroi asked, looking at all the shivering guards and servants.
"Hmhm… I just tested out my [Illusion Magic] on them. I didn't expect to get such a reaction."
"What kind of illusion did you show them?"
"Erh… I showed them the sight of my first few days being born. With all the spiders and stuff. They should be able to handle something like that without being broken for life."
"W-with your mother and siblings?"
"Especially with my mother and siblings. Anyway, why is that guy still alive?"
Yokino asked, pointing to the unconscious Grimm. Her obvious frustration at the sight of him got Shiroi curious.
"He said he was helping the leader, and since I couldn't confirm nor deny his claim, I just had to bring him in for questioning. If she says it's true, I would have not killed a comrade."
"And if she says it's false?"
"Then I guess he would have to die."
Grimm who was pretending to be unconscious almost gave himself away by shivering.
"He is lying. Let me kill him here and now."
Yokino said furiously, trying to stab him in the head, however mist escaped one of the tattoos on Shiroi's body and formed a sort of wolf figure in front of the man, blocking the attempt.
"Not until judgement has been received."
Shiroi commanded, however he usual authoritative presence had no effect against Yokino, who some could say had an authoritative presence of her own. Both kings stared each other down and released their auras.
"You want to fight me?!"
Yokino roared in anger, her back arching up and claws showing themselves.
"I will, if I must."
This was it. The fight between two major kings of Larm. A battle most had thought about, but never had the chance to see.. The Venerable Wolf King versus the Monstrous Spider King.
