“Hah… hah!”
Hati’s panting was heavy in the rainy night as she sprinted at top speed. Her shoes slammed into puddles, splashing mud everywhere. She carried a sister teammate on her shoulder.
“Captain! Let me down! I’m going to kill them!!” the sister shrieked, pounding Hati’s back in a frenzy.
Hati didn’t respond, nor did she stop. She didn’t put her teammate down until they reached a wide clearing in the woods and she could no longer sense the scent of the Blood Clan behind them.
The sister slumped onto the ground, her eyes bloodshot. She gritted her teeth and prepared to charge back, but Hati suddenly grabbed her by the collar.
“Miya, calm down.”
“No! Those damned Blood Clan! I’ll make them pay for this in blood!”
“I told you to calm down!!”
Hati roared, her voice punctuated by a boom of thunder that exploded across the sky.
Sister Miya froze. Tears burst from her eyes, mixing with the falling rain.
Hati shouted, “Have you not been with our Demon Hunter squad long enough? Have you not seen enough teammates sacrifice themselves for this?”
“But Corra and Xiaolu… they both died to save me. I… waaaaah!!”
Miya wailed, her cries blending with the patter of the rain.
Hati’s wolf ears drooped. Her face was stained with blood and filth, and her arms and legs were covered in gashes from sharp weapons.
Miya wept, clutching her cross tightly as she lowered her head. The rain soaked her habit, and her shoulders shook from grief, the cold, or perhaps both.
Hati patted her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Miya.”
“No, I was no help,” she managed to squeeze out, shaking her head.
Lightning flashed, its pale light making her face look even more ghostly.
Hati sighed.
In their latest confrontation with the Blood Clan, they had failed.
Their plan to arrest the Blood Clan had originally been going smoothly. The team had divided the labor, and after tracking the enemy’s scent, they had taken the initiative to launch a concentrated attack on the leading Blood Clan member.
However, they hadn’t expected the enemy to be so prepared. The purple-haired Blood Clan had even brought reinforcements.
Out of nowhere, two Puppets had appeared. They were agile, lacked any presence, and moved with terrifying speed. Their combat style was almost like an elegant ballet, every movement accompanied by the horrifying flash of a blade.
Working in tandem with the Blood Clan’s assault, the Puppets had instantly killed two members of their team.
Enduring the pain of losing her teammates, Hati had rescued the surviving Miya, broken through the encirclement, and fled toward the distant woods.
The purple-haired Blood Clan member had been relentless, vowing to kill them. Hati had used every ounce of her strength to deliver a heavy blow at the last moment, finally managing to shake her off.
Thinking back on it, Hati clenched her fists.
‘What on earth were those monsters? Why did those Puppets have their own thoughts?’
The rain grew heavier, falling like a deluge as thunder rumbled continuously through the dark night.
“Find a place to treat our wounds,” Hati said, pulling Miya up. “We shouldn’t stay here. I’m afraid the Blood Clan might not be far away yet.”
“Okay.”
The two found a pile of boulders outside the forest. They set up a small concealment barrier and a simple camp.
Hati shook her head vigorously, shaking the rainwater from her short hair.
Miya sighed deeply, sitting on the ground with her knees hugged to her chest.
“Don’t be so dejected. I’m sad too.” Hati handed over a biscuit. “But being sad won’t fill your stomach.”
“No, I can’t eat.” Miya turned away. “I’m not like you. I don’t have such a thick skin.”
Hati took a bite of the compressed biscuit. “Fine. More for me.”
After a long silence, Miya spoke. “Hati, what do we do now?”
Hati swallowed the crumbs. “What else can we do? The mission isn’t finished, so we have to keep going.”
“We’ll follow the original plan and find the Blood Clan’s lair. Logically, the key should be at her house.”
Hati couldn’t help but remember the Human she had seen in the Capital’s plaza that day.
‘…That Human should be there too.’
‘I have to rescue her as well. The Demonic Race is no place for her,’ Hati thought.
“Why are you still worried about that Human?” Miya grumbled. “She’s following the Demonic Race. She can’t be a good person.”
“How can you say that? Isn’t the Holy Church supposed to save the lost sheep?” Hati countered. “However, if there are still Puppets in the Blood Clan’s lair, the situation won’t be optimistic.”
Predicting the flow of the situation, Hati clasped her hands behind her head and fell back, lying on the ground. She stared at the black sky through the transparent barrier.
They had to change their strategy. There were only two of them left; they couldn’t just rush in anymore.
“Huh?” A speck of white light entered Hati’s vision.
The white dot wobbled through the rainy night sky, flying in their direction.
“It’s a dove from the Holy Church. The Holy Maiden has sent a message!” Hati sat up abruptly, her ears twitching.
She stepped out of the barrier and reached out, letting the dove land on her arm. The dove instantly transformed into a slip of paper. Hati quickly unfolded it to see a few sentences and a simple map.
“What does it say?” Miya leaned in.
As Hati read the contents of the note, the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward. “Great. The Holy Maiden has the exact location of the key.”
“Let’s go, let’s go. We need to head out immediately!”
“What?! Right now?” Miya was startled.
Hati began packing her gear. “What’s wrong? Do you still need to rest?”
“Aren’t you afraid of running into the Blood Clan’s team if we go out now?”
“This is exactly when we should go out!” Hati said. “I wounded that Blood Clan member heavily. We need to move before they can recover.”
—
The heavy rain continued to fall. The grass that had just witnessed a fierce battle was dyed red, washed by the rain into several crimson puddles.
“Family Head! Family Head!!”
Several Drago warriors shouted anxiously. One female warrior held the unconscious Sefina, her face pale with tension.
Eve pushed her wheelchair, hurrying toward the center of the area. To avoid a direct confrontation and focus on controlling the Puppets, Eve had been hiding in a concealed spot at the rear of the battlefield.
She had seen that Sefina was being too impulsive, hell-bent on killing that wolf-girl. Before Eve could stop her, the wolf-girl had severely wounded Sefina.
The Puppets followed close behind, sheathing their blood-stained blades. After the battle, their movements had become slightly sluggish.
“What should we do? The Family Head was wounded by that wolf-girl.”
“Move aside.” Eve’s wheelchair skirted around several Drago warriors to reach the front.
She had the Aella Puppet pick Sefina up and place her on her lap. Sefina had lost consciousness, her upper body slumped limply.
Eve reached up to support the back of Sefina’s neck. The wound torn open by the wolf’s claws was right there, and the large amount of gushing blood instantly stained Eve’s hands. The blood was washed away by the rain, flowing through Sefina’s loose purple hair.
Eve took several deep breaths to calm herself down.
“The wound isn’t healing on its own. What do we do?” a warrior asked urgently.
“Get… potion. Healing,” Eve commanded.
“I’ll go get it!” The female warrior turned and sprinted toward the carriage.
“Sefina…” Eve called out softly. “Please… hold on.”
Raindrops fell on Sefina’s face. She didn’t respond. Her red eyes had lost their light, and her pupils were gradually dilating…