With its unstained black fur, the king watched lazily at the pair, not caring that it had sent the rest of the pack to its death. Not a shred of remorse to be had, even though it was an animal itself.
It seemed like the king was unconcerned about the life-and-death of its former pack mates like they were disposable and there to do its bidding.
This behavior reinforced Percy's theory that the king was more like a human rather than an animal, and that they were trapped in the body of one.
The king showed no signs of moving and simply waited.
Its jaw opened wide to yawn, showing off its collection of serrated teeth.
Percy readied himself to strike it down when Eviane shot him a look. Percy looked extremely reluctant causing her to climb down from her tree and strongly punching him in the side.
Even though it didn't hurt him, Eviane still earned herself a glare from the male. If he didn't get the memo yet, now he did.
Its ruby red eyes flashed a hint of amusement as it laid down on the grass outside the swamp.
It would be really easy for him to end this quickly, but Percy didn't understand why Eviane was stopping him. A moment before, Eviane was in the zone, shooting arrow after arrow without a single break.
She didn't even look when he gave her a thumbs up, thanking her for the help.
You would think just by the way she was acting that there was a vendetta between her and the hellhounds.
Earlier, Percy mentioned to her that the king behaved similar to how a human king would, but she didn't seem to think much about it.
Percy assumed that she knew this world a hell lot more than he did, so he didn't question it. However, it still does not explain why she is stopping him.
To consider the pack eliminated, the head of the pack had to go, otherwise his logic said that it would just go take control of another pack.
"Eviane, is there a reason why you want to keep it alive?"
Her focus was entirely on the king, examining it in a crouching position. The king didn't seem to mind as it casually stared right back at her without a care in the world.
No response.
He called out her name again, but this time he also poked her shoulder.
Eviane swatted his hand away in annoyance. "Shush. Doesn't it look too calm?"
Percy held the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, it indeed looks too calm."
"Yeeeahh... It does. Doesn't it." The huntress tapped her lip. "You know. Usually, the alpha would attack alongside the pack in a show of dominance but to also "preserve" the pack because it is the strongest one of the group. But, this one seems a little different."
It was obvious where she was going with this, painfully so. Even the dog looked like it knew where she was going with it. They both down at the ground as if it was a mutual agreement between the two to let her continue talking. Both waiting for her to finish.
"It seems a little arrogant as it should be. Most alphas do share that characteristic. But this arrogance is like person arrogant rather than animal arrogant. You know what I mean?"
Considering that he already mentioned this to her once before, it surprised him that she was only figuring this out now. Ckearky, Eviane didn't pay attention to what he said before. But, Percy felt no need to bring this up.
"Yes. I do know what you mean."
"So, what do you want to do with it?"
Three floating dots hovered above his head. ". . ."
"Eliminate."
"Why?"
"Mistress ordered it."
"If Mistress told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?"
"If she told me herself."
Eviane went silent. "Do you really want to kill it?"
"Mistress's orders."
"It doesn't look like it wants to hurt us."
"I'm sure it doesn't."
"Why don't you want to kill it?"
"It could be a person transformed into a monster."
As if on cue, the black dog's eyes began shining as soon as she said that. Other than that, there were no other physical reactions as if it was beneath it to react.
"See! See! It's totally a person!"
It arrogantly looked away with its nose in the air.
Percy could read what the dog was thinking as if it was written down in front of him with the haughty look in its eyes and the smirk on its face. It was definitely praising itself for being so smart. Eviane missed it because she was ecstatic with her congesture being right.
"Alright. Do you want to show it to Mistress?"
"Uh." Eviane tapped her lip. "Wouldn't she just kill it on sight?"
"Probably."
"Well, we have to save it somehow!"
"Does it even need saving? It looks as fine as is."
His words caused it to snort.
"He didn't like that very much," Eviane said.
"Well. There's always the first option," Percy said, reaching for his sword.
"Wait! Wait! Why do you want to kill it so much?"
Percy stared at her like they haven't already been over this topic.
"Ah. Right. I guess we have no choice do we?"
The dog sat up for the first time and scrutinized its new enemies.
The man's sword was drawn in a millisecond, catching it off guard as he instantly closed the gap. For the first time in its life, it felt threatened. Quickly conjuring fire in its mouth, it breathed in the man's direction as they met face to face.
The fireball exploded right in front of it, but it made no effort to dodge.
Fire had no effect on it.
There was no doubt in its mind that the man was dead. He was too close to dodge.
Serves him right for underestimating himself.
It snorted again and turned to look at the girl.
She stood in place, watching. It seemed like a trap to bait it into attacking. It wasn't dumb enough to fall for such a cheap trick, decisively choosing to ignore her.
It knew that she was an archer, and no archer was dumb enough to stand there defenseless. There was no doubt that she had a trick up her sleeve.
If she wasn't going to move then it wasn't going to either.
As the remnants of fire died down, the fur on its body tingled at its neck area. It snapped its head ninety degrees to dodge then it jumped away to create distance.
The man stood were it was previously standing, completely unharmed.
That was impossible. There was no way he could've dodged, but its eyes couldn't deceive it. The man seemed perfectly fine.
A warm liquid trickled down its fur. Its fur was stained for the first time in a very long while. It had forgotten the last time it bled.
His figure flickered, then its vision distorted like TV static.