Chapter 98 Raid Of Hellhound Village (Part 1)
With Liam's intel, identifying and assessing the dangerousness of their targets became much easier. The Hellhound Pack's lair had three types of inhabitants.
The first was the Werewolves. Thirteen of them had been turned by Liam, including Kellam and Marvin, and could be considered their temporary allies. Eleven others were Liam's family or close friends who were indirectly part of his pack. They were also to be spared.
In addition to these allied Werewolves, there were also 40 Werewolf warriors charged with protecting the envoy and a dozen traitors. They would be their greatest threat. As for the village itself, Liam had long since made sure to weed out or oust rival lycans who flouted his authority.
The second category of inhabitants were the Beastmen, humans with physical traits of various canine species. These ranged from the floppy ears of an English cocker spaniel to the bushy tail of a Tibetan mastiff.
The envoy was currently a Chihuahua Beastman, hence his inferiority complex. As the saying goes, it was often those who barked the loudest who bit the least. But this emissary was one who bit. Because he had the equivalent of 20 Werevolves acting as Rottweiler hounds to protect him and the support of the Onyxcrest Pride.
The Beastmen were the most numerous and their physical abilities differed little from those of humans. A Mastiff Beastman would certainly be built bigger and stronger than the average human, but not in a superhuman way. The Hellhound Pack lair had just over 100 of them and a small half respected Liam's authority while the other half would do anything to survive and primarily protected their interests.
The third category were the actual lycans. They looked like transformed Werewolves, but unlike Werewolves this was their default appearance. They were essentially low-level Wolf or Dog Daemons unable to take human form.
Finally the last category were the common domesticated canine species. Communicating with these animals was a basic power of any lycan and there were even some Rank1 and 2 Demonic Wolves among them.
The Hellhound Pack's domesticated canine creatures posed no danger to them because their animal instincts made them automatically loyal to the one they considered their Alpha. As long as Liam held that position in their hearts, they would have nothing to fear from these beasts.
It was a different matter with the pets and watchdogs belonging to the envoy's guards or the inhabitants themselves. Killing a few innocent animals was inevitable so as not to alert their enemies too soon. Fortunately, his Heart-Puncturing Spell worked wonders on them.
In terms of danger, only the Werewolves and Daemons were an unpredictable variable for Ikaris and his group. If they had to engage as planned without Liam's help, they would have relied heavily on the formidable strength of their Tartarus Enforcer to steamroll over all their enemies.
But with Liam's pointers, their special operation went much more smoothly.
Swooo!
Ikaris dashed on tiptoes to an unsuspecting guard and abruptly choked him from behind, clamping down on his mouth to prevent him from screaming. At the same time, he cast his Heart-Puncturing Spell and dragged him into a dark corner.
When his heart ruptured, the overwhelming pain jolted the enemy awake and his biceps bulged furiously, tripling in size to shake him off, but the teenager held on tight and unleashed two more Heart-Puncturings. The man's resistance faltered, then stopped thrashing around a few seconds later and his muscles relaxed in a silent rattle of agony.
As he released his stranglehold on his victim's throat, a slightly surprised expression crossed Ikaris' face.
'Liam didn't lie. When Werewolves are in their human form they are not much stronger than normal humans.'
The other game-changing advantage was that the Werewolves' innate Magic Defense weakened drastically when they were in human form. And the further away the lunar cycle was from full moon, the more pronounced it was.
At this point, the envoy's guards didn't think for a second that anyone would be reckless enough to attack them, and most of them were standing guard in their human form with little to no care. Only six of them were in their lycanthrope form.
Swiish!
A blurred figure flashed before his eyes and as he turned his head he saw Malia twist the neck of another guard. Liam reappeared in front of the couple moments later and nodded.
"My pack knows about the plan." He calmly reported. "When chaos breaks out, they will pretend to obey orders but use the opportunity to mutiny. They wear a red scarf on their right arm. Don't mistake them for the enemy."
This last remark was mostly reserved for Ezrog.
The ogre being incapable of the slightest subtlety, the boy had predicted that any kill caused by the giant would spill a lot of blood. Since lycans have a sensitive sense of smell, he would be spotted immediately. That was why the initial infiltration had not been entrusted to him.
In that case, rather than deny him the thrill of a fight, Ikaris ordered him to create a diversion now that Liam had warned his pack members. On the surface, the Hellhound Pack would think Ezrog was trying to free the prisoners when he just wanted to fight to his heart's content.
'Good luck...' The youth chuckled inwardly as he watched Ezrog stride excitedly toward his grave.
The Oni's brainpower was small, so Ikaris had simply commanded him to kill the guards, then free the prisoners. The only restriction he had was to spare the elderly Werewolf continuously dozing in front of the cages.
He was Liam's grandfather, and unfortunately he was almost senile. Time ticked by and their sneak-in and elimination of the guards went off without a hitch. Liam walked openly to distract their enemies while Ikaris and Malia took them out.
For the time being, they had not yet needed to mobilize the Tartarus Enforcer who was sensibly waiting inside the shack where Kellam and Marvin were supposed to be imprisoned. The hapless chap who stepped inside would be in for a good surprise.
With Liam as a diversion pretending to patrol around his village, Ikaris and Malia quickly eliminated all the targets he pointed out to them.
They were surprised of how ruthless he was. Most of their victims were born Beastmen, having grown up and lived in this lair all their lives.
Nonetheless, they also understood his reasons. A traitor was a traitor and from the moment Liam made his decision he knew he could not go back. When the Alpha put on a wavering expression, Ikaris and Malia would simply strangle their targets until they passed out. The Hellhound Pack leader gave them several grateful nods for this.
Soon, all the enemies on the outskirts of the village were cleared out and they finally began to advance toward the heart of the village. The lair was not very big, and the members loyal to Liam made up a quarter of the remaining inhabitants.
Yet, when they finally reached the center of the village, Ikaris couldn't help but curse internally,
'Fuck, why are all these lycans clumped together like this?'
Indeed, the only decent building serving as a residence for the envoy and his bodyguards was heavily protected. According to Liam, there were usually no more than six guards, but apparently the emissary must have smelled something.
Unless... he knew that what he was about to do might put him in danger! The Alpha Werewolf's face scrunched up in black lines as he mulled over the possibility. He attempted to mentally contact his daughters, but his heart sank when he received no response.
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Seeing the fear spreading across Liam's face, Ikaris and Malia realized that their Splinter Cell-like special operation had come to an end.
"COME ON OUT AND FIGHT, YOU WIMPS!"
At the same time, Ezrog's defiant roar reverberated from wherever the prisoners were, and Ikaris' eyes lit up. The brawling ogre had solved their predicament in the blink of an eye.
The warriors loyal to Liam rushed to the cages with gusto and a portion of the traitors and guards of the envoy followed subconsciously, lured away from the one they were supposed to protect with their lives unknowingly.
The square in the center of the village instantly emptied, leaving only about twenty fully alert Werewolves and a handful of Beastmen and Daemons.
Seeing the scars and bulging muscles of these warriors, Ikaris figured they were the close guard of the envoy from Onyxcrest Pride. The six massive Werewolves already transformed were elite warriors with at least the magical power of a Body Novice Sorcerer.
With anger and dread contorting Liam's face more and more, the teenager decisively abandoned his original strategy. He whistled loudly and soon the earth began to shake to the beat of his Tartarus Enforcer's steps.
The eyes of the enemy lycans suddenly popped out of their sockets as they caught sight of the black-armored giant rampaging through their camp like a rhinoceros, smashing everything in its path.
"W-what the hell is this?!" A Beastman shrieked in terror before being cleaved in half by the monster's cleaver.
Blood spurted out in all directions, splattering the floor, the walls and the nearby lycans, leaving them transfixed with fear.