Chapter 14: Breaking Out

Intense pain surged through Kleine’s face, hands, and body, eliciting a horrific scream from him. Stumbling backward, he frantically tore off his flaming clothes in an attempt to put out the fire. But the flames seemed to adhere to him, only extinguishing when a layer of his skin blistered, burst open, and started to bleed.

For the mastiff soldiers covered in thick fur, the situation was even graver. Oil from the shattered jugs splashed onto them and caught fire instantly. Their bodies quickly turned into flaming torches, and rolling around on the ground did nothing to extinguish the blaze.

More fireballs launched from the direction of the warehouse, targeting the clustered soldiers. The green recruits, recently conscripted by Kleine and with minimal training, scattered in terror. Some even abandoned their weapons, fleeing recklessly.

“Follow me, charge!” Nina shouted without hesitation.

She couldn’t afford to miss such a golden opportunity.

With a swift flash of her sword, a junior officer, who was still unaware of what was unfolding and had hastily come from the rear door with reinforcements, was cleaved in two. His soldiers gasped in horror and raised their crossbows in a hasty attempt to shoot the silver-haired swordswoman. But once she closed the distance, they had lost their window of opportunity. Nina’s colossal sword swung heavily through the crowd, sending flesh and blood flying, and completely shattering the recruits’ will to fight.

Overwhelmed by despair and rage, Kleine let out a ferocious roar. His hands were scorched and bloody. In his current condition, he stood no chance against the Moon Maiden.

“Block them!” he bellowed, even as he retreated swiftly into the cover of darkness.

Wolfmen zealously pursued the fleeing soldiers. This scenario of being outnumbered yet chasing down a regular army was unprecedented for them.

“Don’t get caught up in the fight! Keep advancing!” Nina commanded loudly.

Rem City was home to nearly a thousand soldiers. Had it not been for the chaos sown by massive fires, or for the accidental killing of Commander Vals, the highest-ranking officer of the defense forces, their chances of victory would have been nil. Even assembling a single well-coordinated squad, or rallying just ten battle-hardened war wolves, would have been enough to thwart them.

“Move, now!” Nina bellowed to her subordinates.

Reluctantly, the wolfmen broke off their pursuit. They picked up their injured comrades and dashed toward the city walls, hot on Nina’s heels.

Wu Qingsong found it difficult to keep up with their pace in the dark, treacherous terrain and lagged behind. Ling, weakened from years of malnutrition, fared even worse. Noticing their predicament, Nina swiftly sheathed her greatsword on her back. With one in each hand, she hoisted them up and raced forward, quickly catching up with the rest of the group.

As they advanced, a small unit of the city’s guards confronted them head-on. Normally, they’d either have to barrel through regardless of the cost or disperse and flee. But they still had a few Molotov cocktails left. Without hesitation, the wolfmen lit them and hurled them at the guards, setting shields, armor, and fur aflame, scattering their formation into instant disarray.

“Fireball spell!” a shocked guard screamed. “They have a mage!”

Seizing the chance, a wolfman brandished his axe and charged, breaking their lines. Nina flung Wu Qingsong to another wolfman and followed suit, brandishing her sword and further dividing the guards’ ranks.

“Hold on tight,” Nina instructed, placing Ling securely on her back. 

With both hands gripping her sword, she unleashed a whirlwind of slashes and cleaves through the crowd, each stroke as relentless as the rotation of a wheel. In just the blink of an eye, her ferocious assault carved a path for the wolfmen, who followed suit, piercing cleanly through the city’s defense force.

“Captain?” asked a soldier, fortunate to still be alive. “Should we chase them?”

“Are you insane? They have a mage!”

Wu Qingsong felt as if he were on a relentless roller coaster, subjected to ceaseless peaks and valleys, abrupt halts, and sudden accelerations. The turbulence was so intense that it made breathing nearly impossible, let alone seeing what was happening around him. All he could vaguely hear were the horrified gasps and the metallic clash of swords cutting through the air. And then, as if riding a wave of sudden weightlessness followed by yet another jarring stop, the world around him plunged into an unsettling silence and enveloping darkness.

“We’ve made it out!”

He was gently placed on the ground. The wolfmen turned their gaze back towards the wooden walls of Rem City, eyes riveted on the flickering flames that cast a red hue over half the sky. A tumult of emotions roiled within them.

One wolfman, unable to restrain his excitement, unleashed a skyward howl, which was promptly silenced by Nina’s intervention.

“Keep moving,” Nina instructed.

They trudged through the inky blackness for roughly half an hour, finally meeting their intended contacts and horses.

“Do you know how to ride?” Nina asked Wu Qingsong.

Receiving a negative reply, she let out a soft sigh. She had one of the wolfmen carry Wu Qingsong while she took Ling, and they resumed their headlong getaway into the darkness.

Although the journey remained jolting and uneven, it was far more bearable than before. As dawn began to hint at the horizon, they finally slackened their pace and eventually came to a full stop.

It was only then that Wu Qingsong noticed the wolfman at the rear of their formation occasionally sprinkling some sort of powder behind them. Likely a countermeasure to thwart trackers. The spot they had chosen to stop was neither a village nor a town, but a rudimentary log cabin.

“This is one of our temporary camps,” Nina informed them. “We’re not far from Karagados, you can await further news here.”

“Thank you,” Wu Qingsong expressed his gratitude, still feeling physically uncomfortable from head to toe.

“There’s no need for thanks. Without you, at least half of my man would have been left behind,” Nina shook her head dismissively. “Rest assured, we’ll find that catgirl named Liuli.”

Apart from Wu Qingsong and Ling, all other injured wolfmen were left behind at the temporary camp, under the care of an elderly beastman. Wu Qingsong was taken aback by the rudimentary nature of the beastman’s medical care, which showed a complete disregard for sterilization and disinfection. 

Unable to hold his tongue, Wu Qingsong offered several suggestions to improve their medical procedures. Before he knew it, he found himself unwittingly taking on the role of a battlefield medic.

“Your methods are way better than Uncle Bernar’s!” exclaimed a talkative wolfman, grimacing as he spoke. “How do you know so much? Where did you learn all this?”

“Alexis!” The elderly beastman shot a stern glare at the young wolfman before continuing to sterilize the bandages and instruments in boiling water, following Wu Qingsong’s guidance.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” the younger wolfman relented, shaking his head. “Everyone has their secrets.”

Wu Qingsong could only respond with a resigned smile. While he didn’t want to deceive these wolfmen, his backstory was something he couldn’t divulge. What struck him as remarkable was that what he considered to be commonplace was, in this world, seen as groundbreaking. 

While undergoing treatment, the injured couldn’t stop discussing the Molotov cocktails Wu Qingsong had taught them to make and use. According to them, such weapons would significantly boost the fighting capability of their rebel forces. No longer would they fear the highly organized formations of the regular army. Some even started to boast that they could single-handedly take down a whole squad of enemy troops in the future.

Wu Qingsong shook his head in amusement. It seemed that every world, race, and place had its own set of boastful individuals.

Wu Qingsong was keen to glean more information about this world from the wolfmen. However, the badgerman called Bernar kept a wary eye on him, discouraging him from asking too much.

After waiting at their location for two days, hoofbeats resonated from a distance as dusk fell on the second day. All the wolfmen who remained on watch swiftly armed themselves. However, their tension eased when a prolonged wolf howl soon drifted in from afar.

“It’s Nina and the others!” Alexis put down his ax, exclaiming joyfully.

The crowd stepped out of the wooden cabin in anticipation. The moment Nina lifted her cloak, Wu Qingsong spotted a petite figure dressed in a maid’s outfit rise to her feet on horseback.

“Liuli!” he cried out, ecstatic.

In return, a small, warm, and furry body leaped toward him directly from the horse, startling the animal into rearing back.

“Meow-meow-meow-meow~” she wept, her cries filled with a sorrow that reminded him of an abandoned kitten that had finally found its way back home.