---- We''re under attack from the rear, damn it! To arms, defend your positions!" The cries of the first responders set the rest of the soldiers into action.


    The lieutenant turned toward the surrounding forest, where a group of warriors charged forward like enraged savages, shooting precise arrows and wielding deadly weapons.


    Leading them was a massive ck-haired man, roaring with his sword raised high.


    He watched as the de came down, severing the first soldiers head before the poor fool even had a chance to react.


    It was the Duke of Everharthe would recognize him anywhere.


    His bravery and ferocity in battle weren''t just rumors.


    "Defend the camp! We outnumber them! Dont let them inti" Bwah! A spray of blood burst from his lips.


    His trembling fingers loosened, and he dropped the torch, which instantly ignited the fuel and the dry branches stacked nearby.


    The soldier with delusions of grandeur looked down, seeing a wed hand protruding from his chest.


    Everyone had been so focused on fighting the new threat that they forgot a crucial detailyou never turn your back on a cornered beast.


    ahbh!" His agonized scream was lost in the surrounding chaos, in the smoke rising from the mes fed by the elerant.


    ---- He turned, eyes wide with panic, the light fading from them.


    He wanted to speak, but only blood gushed from his mouth.


    It was suffocating himhis throat clogged, his chest hollow.


    That same deadly hand grabbed him by the neck, pulling him close to the savage face of a massive, naked man.


    "Remember this day as the one where you almost caught a werewolf, you idiot." Aldo leaned in, his voice a guttural whisper against the mans pain-distorted features.


    Without wasting another second, he flung him like a ragdoll into the growing mes.


    "Let''s go, Tomas! Quickly, run to the forest, now!" They took advantage of the skirmish, the chaos, sprinting toward the shelter of the trees.


    Through the smoke, the screams, the crimson-stained earth, Elliots eyes locked onto the naked men fleeing toward the woods.


    Aldo met his gaze for a brief second across the distance.


    No words were needed.


    They had to hide from Elliots men too.


    No one could suspect they had been cornering supernatural beings And for that reasonnone of Duke Thesios soldiers could be left alive.


    "ughter them all!" Elliot roared, kicking away a soldier who was about to strike one of his warriors.


    ---- He lunged, sword raised high, bringing it down on the mans body sprawled on the ground, his face sttered with bloodpromises of death glinting in his icy blue eyes.


    Inless than fifteen minutes, they had wiped out every man stationed there.


    Trapped between the ice wall and the forest, almost none escaped...


    except for one.


    ad Nicis ran, leaping over tall grass and roots, weaving between trees, ncing back frantically.


    His eyes were wide, fear gripping his soul, his clothes still stained with the blood of his fallenrades.


    He had survived only by ying dead.


    A wound in his side burned like hell, but it didnt stop him from fleeing.


    Freedom was close, adrenaline surging through his veins.


    No one had seen him.


    No one.


    He had to warn General ArthurDuke Elliot was in thesends.


    They were in danger.


    Just one more step, just one...


    CRACK!