As this was happening, Ark was currently in a struggle. He didn't know if he should run for his life or try to find help for Thufrat. Even though running away was the sound decision, Ark wasn't sure if it was correct, at least not in his book. He didn't want to try and heal his friend himself, not because of laziness, but out of fear of hurting, maybe even destroying the only friend he has.
Ark didn't get a lot of time to think through his decisions as sounds of marching was rapidly approaching. Ark couldn't be sure that this was for him, but he didn't want to stick around to find out. He decided that he would just have to gamble it and try and heal Thufrat himself. The poor guy could not hold out for much longer, and he was slowly losing himself in the world of his mind. Even though Ark constantly sent in Mana to protect his friend from the endless flames, the heat still got to him. And after a while, he had started to lose control of his consciousness.
As Ark noticed the changes in his friend, he was pissed off, he would kill that lich when he was strong enough to do so! Since staying around probably wouldn't yield any results, Ark just decided to try and save his friend himself and decided to get the hell out of here. If he stayed around for much longer, he would probably end up in a lot of trouble. In normal cases, he wouldn't care, but his friend's life was at stake, and he wasn't about to risk it because of something stupid. The world works in mysterious ways, and just as Ark turned around to face the forest, he heard a shout from behind him.
"Stop right there!"
The marching sound stopped abruptly behind him, and Ark was in a bit of a pinch. He didn't dare delay though, and he turned around as quickly as he heard what was said. Behind him was a squadron of about one hundred elite soldiers. If Ark didn't know any better, he would assume that they were all knights. But knights were actually very noble existences in this world, only truly powerful people could become knights, these were just some elite guards from a backwater city.
Just this fact broadened Ark's view of this world a little bit. He had already assumed himself to be quite strong, but in reality, he was only strong in a backwater place like this. Take that lich as an example, it was a miracle that Ark even managed to escape, not mentioning trying to defeat the thing. And still, there were a lot more powerful existences than a lich in this world.
All of these elite guards wore iron plate-armor, and they were armed with either short-spears or short-swords and shields. At the helm of these guards stood a lone guard. This guard was clad in a darker metallic armor, namely dark-steel. This armor was miles above the others, and so was the wearer's strength. This was the city-guards leader, Stanley. Ark was on guard as soon as he saw these guards since their levels ranged from 35 to 45, which was pretty high. Stanley's level was a whopping 57, even higher than the werewolf he had fought earlier.
If Ark didn't have Thufrat dying on his back, he could at the very least stand a chance at defending himself and running away, but right now, it wasn't looking too bright. Stanley gave Ark a long look before scanning the corpses of the old man and Lucius. After confirming what he had seen, Stanley was sure of the report that he had gotten, and its authenticity. He didn't know exactly who was in the wrong, but he knew one thing, this youth in front of him was alive, and the people from the holy church wasn't.
"Kid, I don't know your name, but you're under arrest for the murder of a disciple of the holy church, as well as a deacon of the holy church!"
"I suggest you don't make things harder for yourself, and just let us capture you without resistance! We'll know what happened for sure after a thorough investigation!" Even though he said that, not much concrete evidence was available, and they would probably just rely on witnesses to figure out the truth, even though that is pretty bad since the truth can be easily distorted that way. The problem was, they had to provide the holy church with a reasonable outcome. If this youth was let go, the city guards would be held responsible, and that wouldn't end well for any of them.
"Look, I never wanted any trouble ok? I don't have the time for this, my friend is dying"
"If you're gonna try and stop me, be ready to die!"
Ark didn't back down despite the opponents' strength and numbers, he really couldn't let them just arrest him right now. If that happened, Thufrat would be done for, without Ark's support, Thufrat would have already died multiple times. Stanley frowned as he heard this, he wasn't aware of the opponent's strength right now, but he knew the opponent was not to be taken lightly. He had killed a deacon of the holy church after all.
As Stanley was about to further converse with Ark, to try and convince him to surrender, he noticed five figures slowly approaching from the gate. In normal cases, he would have ignored it, but the ground trembled every time the leader of the five took a step, and they were headed in this direction. Stanley shot the five a look, and what he saw made his expression freeze. All of the people in the group wore a particular badge. A badge that only represented one thing, the rebels!
Stanley didn't know why these people would show themselves in broad daylight just like this, but as he cleared his mind and thought a little, he suddenly came to a realization. As he did, he shot Ark an incredulous look, before gulping down some saliva. If what he thought was correct, then this situation would probably take a turn for the worse, and turn into something which he couldn't control.
He didn't get the chance to think much more though as the small group of five soon passed the guards, arriving just 10 meters from Ark.
"Kid, you need help to get out of this situation right?" The woman with the fiery hair was the best at talking to people, and she decided to speak for their little group this time.
"What do you want?" Ark answered with a bit of trepidation, he had no idea who any of these people were.
"You!"
As Ark heard this, his expression darkened a little more, what the hell did these people want from him?
"Don't get me wrong, we only want to recruit you into our group" The fiery woman took note of Ark's expression and assumed he had misunderstood something.
Ark still wasn't sure what was going on, but the people in front of him didn't seem as suspicious anymore, at least they stated what they wanted. Now the question was, what kind of group was this, and why did they want to recruit him? Ark was about to ask, but he was interrupted in the middle of his sentence.
"What kind of-
"We'll have to save that for later, this isn't the right time."
"All you need to know is that we can save your friend, and get you out of this dilemma, all you have to do is follow us!"
Ark was still hesitant, but he knew one thing, this might be the only chance out of this situation! He desperately wanted to save Thufrat, as his chest almost physically ached just seeing him like this. And if he tried to get out of this by himself, it would probably just fail. That would be ok if it only affected him, but not if it affected his friend.
"What kind of follow?"
"As a brother-in-arms, not a follower of course!"
As Ark heard this, he was a bit relieved and he decided that he would try it out at least. His friend's life was at stake, and this wasn't the time to be slow in his decision making. He knew that problems would arise because he was a wolf, but he would solve things like that when they became actual problems, for now, he would focus on the present.