Crane Reveals His True Form
However, Elsid was not caught in the explosion. "Huff, huff. Are you alright, Elsid?" Just as the blast was about to engulf him, Bernard had rushed in, shoving Elsid aside and taking the full force of the explosion himself.
"Bernard!" Elsid cried out in shock. Moments later, as the dust from the blast settled...
"Don't worry. I activated Tugap in time, so I'm fine. Though it still hurts quite a bit..."
Before them stood Bernard, his body wreathed in a blue aura. He wasn't unscathed—dirt clung to him and light abrasions marked his skin—but he was alive.
"Seeing this, it seems our insistence on non-lethal methods wasn't entirely in vain," Bernard said, dispelling the aura and releasing his Tugap.
"Tch... So I didn't kill him after all," Crane muttered with clear disappointment.
"That's right. Thanks to your pointless mercy, that corpse bomb was the last one. But even useless resources can be put to countless uses depending on how you apply them." Crane's lips curled into a wide, unsettling grin.
Crane whispered the words under his breath.
In that instant—
"Kwaaaah!"
"Kwaaa!"
"Kwaaa!"
The fallen bandits began to rise one by one, howling like beasts. A diamond-shaped red mark glowed on each of their foreheads. Despite the broken bones that should have left them immobilized, they moved as if nothing had happened. They picked up swords and axes scattered across the ground.
"What did you do?" Elsid demanded.
"Nothing much. I simply granted Berserker to those bearing my mark—removing their sense of pain and fear."
Crane answered almost kindly. Berserker... Elsid looked into the bandits' eyes. Just as Crane had said, their gazes had turned feral, the same madness he had seen in the chimeras. They stood with broken bones dragging behind them, seemingly oblivious to the agony.
The situation had taken a dire turn.
"And I've decided it's time I enjoy myself properly as well."
But it wasn't only the situation that changed. Crane tossed aside his black robe and removed the crystal orb embedded in his staff, gripping it in his other hand.
Crane shattered the crystal orb and shouted the incantation.
Crack!
In that moment, his frail body swelled. Gray fur sprouted across his entire form as he transformed.
"Grrrr..."
Soon, the creature before them could no longer be called human. His hands elongated and hardened into silver claws, while vicious fangs gleamed with lethal promise. A beastly growl rumbled from his throat. His appearance was identical to the rare and elusive monster known as the Werewolf.
Crane murmured the words, condensing a dark aura around his claws to forge a deadly weapon.
"Now then, pray you aren't torn apart by these madmen. I want to savor chewing you up with my own teeth."
Crane snapped his fingers.
"Kwaaaaaah!!"
The pain-forgotten, frenzied bandits charged toward them. Seeing this, Elsid and Bernard gripped their swords tighter. If they failed to stop these creatures here, the people waiting behind the iron bars would face an unknown fate—slaughter, or something far worse. They could not allow that to happen.
The two men steeled their resolve and charged the maddened bandits almost simultaneously.
Thud.
"Will this work?" Elsid slammed his shoulder into the lead bandit's joint, aiming to dislocate it.
"Kwaaa!"
As expected, the Berserker-afflicted bandit ignored the dislocated shoulder and howled, swinging his remaining arm to attack.
Damn it!
These bandits were still alive. Therefore, he could not cut them down. Beyond the ethical issue, his body itself rejected the act. Even if he somehow managed to kill them, it would only provide Crane with more corpses for his bombs. There was only one solution—reach Crane beyond these Berserker zombies and defeat him alone.
"Kwaaa!"
Yet contrary to his thoughts, the situation grew increasingly unfavorable. Dodging and blocking attacks from dozens of tireless opponents drained his stamina rapidly. Just as he thought even facing one was becoming too much—
He sensed intense killing intent from behind his neck. Instinctively, he tilted his head aside.
Bang!
Whoosh!
The next moment, a gunshot rang out, followed by the sound of something slicing through the air. One of the bandits in front of him collapsed to the ground. It wasn't Elsid's or Bernard's attack—something else had struck the bandit from the front.
That wasn't a normal attack...
Moreover, the fallen bandit had lost the red mark on his forehead and lay unconscious.
"What? Was there another one?" Crane, who had been watching with leisure, shouted in confusion.
"Who knows...?" Elsid replied with a meaningful smile, then swung his wooden sword at the bandit ahead.
Once again, killing intent surged from behind—
Whoosh!
Bang!
Something flew past with lethal force, striking another bandit. Every bandit hit by the unseen attack lost their red mark and collapsed unconscious.
Though he couldn't fully grasp what was happening, one thing was certain—the tide had turned in their favor.
Bang!
Whoosh!
One curious detail stood out. Whenever Bernard struck down a Berserker bandit with his sword, two or three more targeting his back would simultaneously fall. The timing was so precise it felt almost unfair—yet the mysterious attacks seemed to provide Bernard with perfect support.
With the unknown ally's help, the bandits gradually fell. Elsid and Bernard finally reached Crane, now transformed into a werewolf.
"Hmph. No matter how you use them, the worthless remain worthless," Crane said, contradicting his earlier words.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Thanks to them, I get to chew you apart with these teeth."
"How about cleaning those stinking fangs first?"
"You insolent—!"
Provoked, Crane swung his dark-aura-coated claws at Elsid.
Boom!
"Don't focus only on one side. Pay attention to this side as well."
Bernard stepped in to block the strike. The dark aura seemed effective only against living beings—the sword held firm without corroding. Seizing the opening, Elsid pressed the attack.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
He had long since drawn his arming sword from its sheath at his waist, dual-wielding with the wooden sword. Trusting Bernard to cover his defense, Elsid focused solely on his strikes. Werewolves were renowned for their regenerative abilities. But from his experience in Nao, Elsid knew that overwhelming the regeneration with sheer impact was the key.
He hammered Crane relentlessly with both blades.
"Graaah! You brat!"
Crane lashed out with his dark claws. Normally, Elsid would have trusted Bernard's defense, but—
"I'll leave the last blow to you."
"Gladly!"
This time was different. Elsid crossed his swords to block Crane's claws—
Bernard unleashed his aura technique, delivering a devastating slash to Crane's neck.
Slash!
"Kuh! Krrk!"
Crane's eyes widened in disbelief as his neck was cleanly severed from his body. Yet even decapitated, the werewolf's regeneration allowed him to speak.
"So... this is how it ends..."
Crane laughed rather than despair.
"But I hold no regrets. As His servant, I have taken countless lives during my time alive..."
Before Elsid could question him, Crane continued with evident joy.
"On the day the great One descends, I shall be chosen to stand by His side."
With those final words, Crane's severed head and body crumbled into black ash and vanished. Perhaps it was the price of transforming from human into monster. The werewolf Crane met an absurdly hollow end, leaving not even a corpse behind.