The Divine Wolf... or?

When night fell, they all slept soundly. With one of them sitting on watch at all times, just in case something bad would happen, they couldn't celebrate too early, it would only bring disaster. Since Arduin was too exhausted to even force his eyelids open, he was exempt from sitting on watch, it would only exhaust him even more than he already was, which was very bad for his health.

On Ark's watch, a weird feeling of unease couldn't help but root itself in the pit of his stomach. The feeling was fairly negligible at first, but as time passed, the feeling only grew. The howling of the wind in the dark and otherwise silent night was something which he should've been used to already, but for some reason, anxiety gripped his mind when he heard it.

As time passed, his anxiety and unease kept growing, and Ark started to notice that something was definitely off. Even though he was a little suspicious at first, he knew that the emotions he was feeling right now were fake, they weren't his own.

It was at that moment, a mysterious fog started enveloping their position. Ark's eyes narrowed, it seemed like this was going to be a little harder than he anticipated! With a loud howl, Ark tried his hardest to instantly wake everyone up. To Ark's surprise, no one seemed to wake up even though his howl would almost shatter a normal person's eardrums if he was close enough.

Since that was the case, Ark didn't doubt that it all stemmed from this weird fog. Since he didn't know what to do otherwise, Ark used mana this time when he howled, and to his delightment, it worked instantly.

Obvious expressions of distress and confusion covered their faces as they all jumped to their feet upon hearing the howl, even Arduin responded fairly quickly. Even though he was still tired and hurt, he knew that something bad was probably going to happen, and he didn't want to drag his saviours down in a critical moment.

Even though they were a little disoriented at first, they could pretty easily connect the dots as they saw this peculiar fog close in on their surroundings. Ark couldn't talk, and so they couldn't really ask him what was actually happening.

Before they could really think too much about anything, a peal of eerie laughter echoed throughout the fog, sending chills down everyones' spines. Compared to the other three, Arduin's complexion was the palest, he seemed to know something that the others didn't.

"RUN!"

When he realised what was going on, Arduin screamed at the top of his lungs, and his legs started shaking incessantly. The rest were taken aback by his scream, but seeing the state he was in, they knew that the night had only just begun. The young man looked completely traumatised, which he absolutely was.

As the eerie laughter came to a sudden halt, Arduin's knees buckled completely, and he fell on his behind, still shaking like there was no tomorrow.

As they were scared by Arduin's behaviour, they tried to move, but to their astonishment, as well as despair, the fog seemed to be completely impenetrable, not moving an inch no matter what they tried to do. Ark's expression was grim, but since he was in his wolf form, he just looked like a ferocious wolf, a scary one at that.

The fog suddenly parted a little in the middle, revealing a rather short silhouette. The silhouette moved forward fairly slowly, but when he revealed himself completely, everyone present almost felt like puking. A very short old man that seemed to be at least in his sixties revealed himself. What was disgusting was his appearance.

One half of his face looked rather normal, albeit pretty ugly, but the other half of his face was completely disfigured, and it almost looked like it had started rotting. Not only was the man's appearance disgusting, but the foul stench he brought with him was also nearly dangerous on its own.

This ghastly old man was a shocking sight, to say the least, but when they spotted a handsome young man walking behind him, he only looked even more disgusting. The stark contrast between the handsome young prince and the disgusting old man was pretty disturbing, to say the least, but the most disturbing part was the fact that it was the prince who was laughing.

The slightly eerie and scary laughter didn't fit in with his persona at all otherwise, and everyone except for Arduin was pretty surprised.

"Please, I'll do anything, just don't take me back to that place, I'd much rather die!"

Arduin realised that there was nothing he could do, and he just fell down on his knees, sobbing. What he had experienced because of these two was something which he would never want to think about again. Getting executed sounded pretty decent in comparison. Ark was a little disturbed at first, but since he could feel the man's strength, he knew that this would be their end if they didn't do anything.

Ark cast a sideways glance at Alenia and Thufrat. Their fear and unease were evident for all to see and Ark couldn't help but want to sigh. This wasn't what he expected when he accepted this mission, but it was too late to regret it now, there was nothing he could really do about it anyway. Ark pondered for just a couple of seconds before he was overwhelmed with determination.

Was this the time to just sit back and ponder? No! What if they sent more people? Ark needed to act fast.

He turned around slightly and stared Thufrat in the eyes. Seeing the determination deep within his eyes, Thufrat didn't really know what to expect, a slight unease filled his body though. After staring for a second or so, Ark looked at Arduin and motioned to Thufrat with his head. Thufrat was a little confused at first before reality dawned on him.

"You don't want us to run away, do you? Please tell me that isn't the case!" Thufrat was anxious.

Ark only nodded slightly, a little happy that Thufrat understood him so easily. Seeing him nod, Thufrat's expression darkened, but before he could say anything more, he noticed Ark's fierce gaze. Feeling Alenia squeeze his arm gently, Thufrat was conflicted. He knew that what Ark was doing was probably their best shot at getting away, but he didn't want to leave his friend behind just like that.

They had been through a lot together, through thick and thin, if something went wrong, he would blame himself for the rest of his life.

Even though it felt like an eternity to him, it only took half a second for Thufrat to make his decision, he just hoped that Ark would be able to run away. After getting Arduin to sit on his back, the old man and the prince were already very close to them, a bit too close even, as the old man's stench was nauseating.

As Ark saw Thufrat make his decision, Ark felt a little empty, yet happy at the same time. If Thufrat refused to leave with Arduin and Alenia, Ark would have to focus on protecting them as well, which would probably just make things harder at the end of the day, even if they had some fighting capacity.

When the young prince was just about to open his mouth to say some condescending words, Ark activated his [Envoy Of Holiness] skill. Shining with a blinding bright light, and radiating light mana, Ark's mana emissions alone managed to purify the eerie fog, leaving the rest with a perfect opportunity to escape.

The old man and the prince were both taken aback at first before they both started to move. Ark wouldn't let them do that though.

"AWOOOOOOOOOOO!"

That night, a wolf's howl shook the entire forest.