Chapter 5: Encounter (II)

"It will be alright."*

Horus assured using the wolf language as years of his experience started rushing off in adrenaline. There are foul-smelling leaves on his hands and sharp stones on the floor that he had already prepared before sneaking around them.

'I don't have access to any disinfectant, so I hope this would suffice for now.'

One of the reasons why Clay, who isn't fond of novels or reading overall, read the 'To Kill a God' almost finishing it is because of the book's premature yet rich medical viewpoint. The author went into greater detail about herbs, early medical procedures, and medical philosophy than any other fictional book.

Effelia, the main character in the second novel of the book, is a herbalist. At some point in the story, she happened to have an awakening that enabled her to surpass her limits. She will meet Basil and Axel around two years from now and will soon become one of the most successful figures in the medical field of this world.

The name of the venom used in crossbow bolts as a paralyzing agent was called Aphirix. It's a venom extracted from a green-horned dragonfly's blood. Soon, Effelia will discover an antidote for Aphirix.

The novel doesn't describe it as a lethal venom but potent enough to make a human incapacitated for almost a week. Typically, prolonged respiratory paralysis that leads to asphyxia is the most common cause of death.

'He is breathing okay despite being paralyzed.'

He started putting his hand on Basil's chest, by the heart, then by his neck to check his pulse.

'Heart rate is okay, it was quite rapid, but maybe it was that way since he is a wolf.'

He then moved his focus on the bolt impaled on his arm.

'The bolt was impaled about 3-inch deep. I also suppose he will feel less pain because of the paralysis.'

"It might be painful. Please bear with it for now."*

He started tearing the leaves he had gathered in advance, ripping them with both hands. He then squeezed it tightly, making the green drops of fluid from the leaves fall on the bruise where the bolt impaled his skin. The liquid started to make a sizzling noise as it hit Basil's skin.

'Woah. Is this normal? I am not doing something wrong, am I?'

He was amazed by how the fluid evaporated, causing small steam as it hit his skin.

The stinky leaves he had prepared in advance are from a plant called Peranin, a deep-green ivy known for its foul, pungent smell when crushed. It's a common herb in the temperate forests of this world with anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.

At present, Peranin is only considered a weed. Effelia, the second main character, is the one who discovered its benefits during the upcoming war between Golia and Kruma after observing goblins using it to treat their injuries.

But he felt some pressure since this wolf is one of the main characters, but a sudden thought came to his head.

'How did he survive in the original storyline? Who saved him?'

He knew there should be someone who had helped Basil. When you have a paralyzed patient, they need a lot of maintenance to ensure they are holding up okay.

'You need to check their breathing every interval, feed them liquid foods like soup if they are at risk of choking, and help them excrete or defecate if they can't do it themselves.'

With sweat running on his temples, he lined his left hand's fingers around the skin where the bolt's base impaled. His other hand held the shaft of the bolt. Gently, his hand pulled the bolt off his arm.

Basil groaned in pain, biting his lower lip as it bled. He turned his eyes to the young man who was helping him. That young man, Horus, had a weary yet relieved expression while looking at him.

'Good thing the bleeding had stopped. The Peranin had worked, expectedly.'

"It's okay now."*

Following the novel, Basil's clan got eliminated in the Glimp Forest. He, the sole survivor of that dreadful incident, trained himself hard night and day until he met Axel and Effelia in the southern parts of the forest. However, due to the tragic, horrendous loss of his clan and family, his personality turned twisted.

At this time, however, Horus knows that some of the elders are maybe still fighting somewhere, and the wolf cubs are still alive under the hands of the hunters.

At that moment, Greze started walking towards the laying wolf on the ground, holding sacks with wolf cubs inside them. He flung them gently towards Horus, almost making a loud thud as they hit the dirt.

"B-bastard! There are children in there!"

"Ouchie!"*

A voice coming from a child in one of the sacks uttered. Horus pulled the drawstrings of the sacks, opening them as the children half the size of him wearing shabby clothes appeared. They are wearing clothes made of hides of an animal, perhaps their prey.

Based on their looks and short physique, they are probably the wolf cubs who were still unable to transform.

'No wonder they sacked them instead of tying them in rope as in the novel.'

"Where are the hunters?"

Horus asked Greze, looking at the wolf children slowly coming out of the sacks.

"They peed their pants as I made them run. I also threatened them to shut their trap, or I'll butcher them."

Greze inserted his katana back into his scabbard as he talked. He had an indifferent expression with a slight smirk on half his lips.

"Brother!"*

One of the cubs quickly ran towards the trembling wolf beside Horus. Basil's still bloodshot eyes looked at them as he spoke. Horus unconsciously turned toward them.

'Ah. Wolves call and treat their fellow young wolves as brothers or sisters. They will only stop doing it when they reach adulthood.'

"Where are the o-others?"*

The three other children started to come out of the sack and shouted to respond. They were barely opening their eyes as they were crying.

"Sob. T-they took Wimo, Gisha, and Bael!"*

"Ota is with them. Sob. But he was i-injured! H-he is bleeding!"*

"D-damn, I need to move."*

Basil, who listened attentively to the crying children, uttered. He attempted to raise his body, but he was trembling so much. Horus helped him to lean on the tree behind him.

"Don't push yourself. I have someone that will get your siblings safely."*

Horus started ripping off the sleeve of his clothes with a sharp stone he had lately. Showing his thin, slim arms, he connected the cloth with a knot, bit it as he pulled to tighten the knot, then started strapping it around Basil's arm.

'Ha..., bandaging and speaking their language. Is this brat really the young master that I know?'

Greze, on the other hand, sighed as he pondered, observing them with curiosity as he stood. He had no idea what they were talking about but remained still to keep them on guard.

At that moment, Greze quickly turned his sight to his west, holding the handle grip of his katana in his scabbard. Two figures are running towards them. One of the two had a greatsword, and the other had an ax resting on his shoulder.

"Looks like everyone is here."

Horus remarked, glancing at the figures around him. Axel, who had an odd expression as he got close, focused on Greze. The two swordsmen set eyes at each other threateningly.

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'Aura. I could feel it.'

The tall, fairly burly young man with brown hair and green eyes, wearing shabby mercenary clothes, could still sense the faint traces of a powerful, superior aura. His instinct tells him that the masked man in his middle thirties, Greze, was its owner.

He halted when he got close to them and shifted his gaze to Horus sitting comfortably on a flattened shrub. His stare has a hint of distinct aversion, disdain in his eyes.

"I don't need this. The Vitality Essense. Where is it?"

Axel, who started to talk, tossed a pouch toward Horus. It was the pouch he had handed to Vincent full of gold coins. It landed on the dirt with a metallic thud as some coins started rolling on the ground.

'Ho...'

Sighing quietly, Horus began to stand and gather the fallen coins on the ground with his bare hand.

'Throwing my precious money... Does this bastard know how many warm meals he could buy with this amount?'

Everybody, including the Basil and the wolf children, was startled as they observed him almost crawling on the dirt with his shabby, now sleeveless clothes, collecting the gold coins.

"Y-young master..."

Greze, who had an odd, pitying expression, started to help him pick the coins.

"A-ahem."

Axel coughed awkwardly. He felt guilty about what he had just done as the wolf kids started looking at him with scorn on their miniature faces. Horus, who held the now full pouch with care, began to talk.

"I can't tell you anything straight out of thin air without gaining anything yet."

Clay knew Axel had suffered in the academy because of Horus' terrible acts, but that doesn't count as an excuse to make Horus tell him a cheat item that easily.

Revealing the Vitality Essence this early in the story would help the development of Axel and his aura tremendously. Horus is aware that it might complicate matters later, or worse, change the flow of this world. However, he is willing to take a risk. He wanted to save at least the wolf children that Basil cherished.

'The author made Basil's character development most brutally. It made me frightened and angry just by thinking about it.'

After experiencing the brutal death of his entire clan and race, he became twisted. Before he met Axel and Effelia, he was named 'Red Demon Wolf,' who roamed the Grim Forest and mercilessly killed the people who went there. People, no, every living being, resented and treated him as a ruthless monster.

Many hunters would try to hunt him for his fur. However, no one had successfully able to do it. They got killed brutally by him in the Glimp Forest.

Even after a long adventure with the other main characters, his twisted disposition in life never changed. Every night, he suffered nightmares of his past. When he sees blood, he turns into a wild, uncontrollable monster that acts on instinct without a sense of who was his ally or not.

During the war, in the third volume, Basil witnessed wolf furs of his race embedded in the armor worn by the Kruman knights. That time, he had lost control and mercilessly ravaged those knights open. Axel and Effelia tried to restrain him, but it was futile. He had lost himself. It was the peak of Basil's urge to take revenge for his family and clan and the point that he lost his sanity and died after fighting alone until death.

Even though Basil is a half-beast, he is still a human in Clay's eyes. As someone who had suffered the same, Clay could not let a young child suffer what he had experienced.

'Revenge. It's an empty life.'

Horus shifted his gaze away from the red wolf and assured himself that he would not let Basil lose his sanity this time. He turned to Axel, who was not looking at him but was listening attentively.

"Listen. I'll tell you where or how you would get your Vitality Essense after you help us, provided you will listen to whatever I tell you to do for now."

Axel, who had a sweat running on his temple, slowly shook his head while listening with a grim expression and eyes closed.

"Greze."

"Yes, young master."

Horus closed his eyes while thinking of a safe and cautious plan to save the abducted wolf children from the hunters without getting him or the others hurt. He is also thinking of checking on the wolf den in the north now that he has people with him. Though, he was only worried about himself, Basil, and the wolf children with him.

'I don't think Greze or Axel would get even a tiny bruise while fighting the hunters.'

"There's a wolf den in the north, about a hundred-eighty yak from here."

Yaks is a measurement of length in this world that Clay had learned while reading the books Gwen fetched for him. It's about the same distance as a yard.

Basil, the red wolf on his human form, twitched as he stared at Horus speaking. Perhaps he was shocked that a human, who is not even a hunter, knew the location of their hut. Clay knew that in the novel, Basil hid the fact that he could understand the Kruman language.

"At that den, elder wolves are fighting the hunters while these wolf children are running to escape. Greze, you head there and aid them."

Greze, who has dumbfounded listening, started to nod without looking at him.

'Ordering me around like the usual now, huh?'

He thought while taking a peek at Axel stood frozen, leaning on a tree.

"There is a hunting camp to the south. Since they are only protecting the wolf cubs they have abducted, I suppose their numbers are lower than the assailants in the den."

He pointed his index finger towards Axel, then gently moved it towards Vincent, hiding behind a tree where the red wolf was leaning.

"You and I will head there. Vincent will stay here with the Basil and the wolf kids."

"With me? With that..., dagger?"

Axel pointed to the dagger on Horus' side that Vincent had given him lately. Horus, who almost sighed, quickly responded.

"I'm not going to fight. You fight. I'll use this for my self-defense."

He thought Horus Durkton enjoyed fighting to the point that he often challenged him in a duel and got beaten every time in front of everyone. Every time Horus loses, he will do something behind against Axel to relieve his crumbled dignity.

'What's wrong with him? Did he change? Did the realization finally sink in that he would never defeat me? Or he finally got tired of tormenting me since I don't oppose him back?'

Unaware of Axel's loud thoughts, Horus approached Vincent and handed him the pouch full of gold coins.

"Stay here. Get away here if you think it's dangerous. Use this if you think you guys might need it. It's all yours."

Vincent gulped as he nodded vigorously.

'What Axel did just do or say to him to make him act like this?'

Without pondering it further, he started strolling south, towards the direction of the hunters' camp where the rest of the wolf children were being held captive.

"Follow this direction. Then let's hide somewhere nearby the camp."

Horus knew Axel was fast enough to get there in a minute, so he started moving without much thought.

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