Lazar was startled, his heart skipped a beat and he suddenly spun around to face the direction from which the voice he and Amandla had heard was coming.
CRAC!
That crackle was a characteristic sound that the paving stone of a sidewalk could do when it was shattered into pieces by a pressure it couldn't take. In this precise case this incredible pressure was that of the jump of the person who had just spoken, an Alpha.
A slender figure entered Lazar's field of vision and left it immediately, that Alpha's jump was so powerful that Lazar couldn't clearly distinguish him.
Lazar raised his head so as not to take his eyes off that figure for too long and he saw who he was dealing with when the power of the Alpha's leap faded, during the instant before his fall when he found himself static in the air.
This stranger was surprisingly a completely naked man. Surprising not because he was naked, Lazar was used to it now with all the nudists around. It was surprising because in human form the Ganipotes and Garaches were supposed to be as weak as a human.
'This Alpha had just gone over two floors in one jump which means this weakness is concerning only Omegas and Betas, damn it...'
CRIIIIIIIIII!
The Alpha had fallen from a high height so when he landed on the roof the metallic sheet under his feet crumpled and made a strident noise hurting everyone's hearing.
He was barely thirty feet from Lazar now, which allowed the later to get a more detailed description of him. This Alpha's human form was that of a handsome middle-aged man with messy dark hair, he was athletic and looked less filthy than the other Ganipotes Lazar had met.
Amandla didn't stay back, she moved next to Lazar and they both faced him who was looking at them like a child who had just found the toys he coveted, "Basically I thought I was coming to the aid of the 'Pack slaughterer' only, but it looks like today is my lucky day and yours, I got there on time to help you."
'Is he thinking we are retards?' Feign innocence with such timing, it was really taking Lazar for a fool and hearing that he had been given a stupid nickname accentuated even more his frown.
"I don't advise you to try to make yourself pass for our savior and deny that all this shit isn't your work." Amandla said referring to the corpses piled on the roof, like Lazar she found it hard to believe that this guy had the nerves to say something like that while his presence was the first she had noticed among their pursuers.
"It's not that bad that I came across people who aren't naive." The Alpha's smile widened becoming even more creepy, like if the toys in front of him had just gained more value at his eyes.
Lazar was going to say something but Amandla didn't gave him the chance. This Alpha might be a monster but subconsciously he reminded her of the man she had a deep hatred for. She couldn't help but want to wipe that smile off his face herself, "My dear Lazar, could you tell that mongrel to come to the point, if I hear another nonsense I'm afraid I will not be able to stop myself from unhooking his crotch from the rest of his body with an arrow."
The Alpha's blue eyes turned bloody red for a short while, besides insulting him, this woman didn't even bother to speak to him directly, "I don't really appreciate the way you are talking to me, watch your mouth bitch." He had an excessive pride and the will to never let his honor be stepped on like each of the other Alphas.
"What a scoundrel! At least I made the effort to have a sustained language." Amandla further provoked the Alpha by acting like a primary school teacher scolding her student for his bad behavior. This had the effect of angering not only the Alpha whose eye color had permanently turned bright red but also Lazar.
'What the hell is she doing! How does she want him to answer our questions if he transform!?' Lazar was playing the role of a mere spectator in all of this, whatever he might say now, it wouldn't help. Only Amandla could calm things down with the Alpha and she seemed unwilling to do so.
Her calm expression was fake, a decoy to reassure Lazar that she was still knowing what she was doing so that he would let her continue to speak but he was smart enough to tell the difference between a mockery guided by a goal and a mockery guided by hatred, 'From the start the fight was the only possible outcome, we can't let someone who has seen our faces and our abilities live in the ranks of our enemies, but I wanted to ask him two or three questions before that.'
"Sons of bitches! I've changed my mind, you will serve me better dead!" Cried the Alpha with drool on his lips and a bestial voice. Obviously his patience had run out. His muscles and veins began to swell, his teeth protruded and sharpened, and a night-black fur grew over his body.
Lazar resumed his fighting stance only to be stopped by Amandla's elbow, "No way I'll let you fight him alone, you're screwing up everything Amandla." She didn't care what he said even though she knew it was partly true, she was determined to defeat the Alpha on her own. Two new arrows materialized to replace the ones she had already fired, and the golden aura around each of her arrows increased in intensity.
"OWOOOOOOOOO!" Hearing the Alpha's howl so close was far more impressive, Lazar was starting to wonder if Amandla and himself would even be enough to take care of the him while her was staying unmoved.
The transformation of the Alpha wasn't yet complete and he was already 8 feet tall with a much imposant musculature than a beta, 'I can't let her face this alone.' Lazar thought.
Amandla whispered to him, "His howl have gathered all those who have withdrawn, forty presences will arrive in approximatively ten seconds in the alley on the left of this building to come to this roof. It's up to you to make our job easier by stopping them."
"This will only be useful if you are strong enough to hold him back." Answered Lazar.
"I can hold him back and even more." The aura around Amandla's arrows intensified again and the gold particles around them fixed on them which made them look more powerful.
Lazar wasn't an expert but seeing this he captured the very essence of Amandla's energy, both pure and murderous. He was going to trust her on this one, "I'm counting on you!" From what Amandla had told him he had only approximatively 6 seconds left before the arrival of the group she had sensed, so he started running towards the ledge on the left of the roof to throw himself down the street.
Of course the Alpha wasn't going to let Lazar do what he wants, those idiots had let him transform without doing anything, if they missed the time he was the most vulnerable it was their problem, he wasn't going to let one of his precious toys escape, 'These worms will have to pay for their disrespect and ignorance!'
He rushed towards Lazar like a raging bull to give him a taste of his claws before the latter could leave the roof. He didn't even seem to mind walking through the puddles of blood left by his comrades, was he even trying to avoid them? The mentality of the Alphas regarding their attachment to their pack was very different from others.
He was even ignoring Amandla as he didn't take seriously the possibility that her arrows could pierce his thick skin. Big mistake on his part. One of the weaknesses of the species of Ganipotes and Garaches which counterbalanced their exceptional physical and sensorial abilities for their rank is that whether it's Alphas, Betas or Omegas energy isn't a power that they can use or feel.
In short, unlike someone with an energy statistic good enough to imagine the power of Amandla's energy arrows as Lazar, this Alpha could only rely on what he was seeing with his eyes to determine if an energy attack was dangerous and on that one, he really messed up his assessment.
Lazar had managed to jump off the roof so he took one last look at what was going on on it before losing sight of it, 'It's not dismemberment like with the two Garaches earlier, but it's a good start.' He could leave peacefully after seeing that Amandla had interposed herself between him and the Alpha and that she had already riddled him with two arrows in the stomach.
After this touch of sweetness, some pain. Falling from two floors even with a body like his fucking hurt, nothing broken, hopefully… But if his legs were in jelly they would be just as effective as they are now because he was on his knees and couldn't get up.
On top of that, Amandla had been very precise in her prediction, footsteps sounds caught his attention and he saw a bundle of Ganipotes and Garaches all arriving at the same time when he turned his head. Counting on his agility was impossible to get the upper hand on them so he was going to have to do as usual to deal with them.
The group was still at an acceptable distance, about 100 feet away, he had to think quickly. He looked at the width of the street, 'A rather narrow residential street with a one-way road and two sidewalks on either side, not bad.' Then he took the time to check on something else as the group rushed straight at him and was now barely 70 feet from him, his status window.
'I can still do 8.' 8... The number of Energy Slash that his remaining energy points could allowed him to make, it only remained to determine with what timing he was going to make them, to kill everyone.
'Come on, move your ass!' To stand up Lazar had to move his legs with his arms and even standing the numbness of them prevented him from having good stability. It made him wonder if it wouldn't have been better for him to stay on his knees.
The grunts of the Betas and Omegas in front of him sounded like sneers so the answer might be 'yes'.
Lazar hit both of his legs with his scabbard so that the pain will wake them up, it quickly calmed his numbness and made him regain his balance, '60 feet.'
Then, he dropped his scabbard to the ground and grabbed the handle of his blade with both hands for a better precision, '40 feet.'
When the group was 35 feet away from Lazar, the characteristic blue aura of his technique formed on his blade. Thinking it was a bad sign some Omegas and Betas in first line were smart enough to try to get out of the way, but again, it was a bit too late for that, "Energy Slash!"
Everyone in the middle of their group's compact block were killed instantly.
❗ [You have eliminated an omega Ganipote (E ★★☆☆☆)] ❗
❗ [75 experience points obtained] ❗
❗ [You have eliminated a beta Garache (E ★★★☆☆)] ❗
❗ [150 experience points obtained] ❗
...
Splattered with the blood of those who stood next to them a second ago, some of the pack couldn't help but stop, paralyzed with fear or grief, while the remaining two-thirds continued to rush at Lazar.
"Energy Slash." With this attack it was now the left wing of the group that had just been massacred.
❗ [You have eliminated an omega Garache (E ★★☆☆☆)] ❗
❗ [75 experience points obtained] ❗
❗ [You have eliminated a omega Ganipote (E ★★☆☆☆)] ❗
❗ [75 experience points obtained] ❗
...
Of the 40, there were only 8 left from the right wing and instead of staying away of each other so as not to be easy targets they remained agglutinating to each other as if they all wanted to die at the same time, 'Only 3 of the 8 were needed.'
Since a Beta Ganipote who was the closest of the group to Lazar was only 5 feet away of him, he attempted something desperate by trying to dive on him to deflect his attack.
A little taken aback, Lazar gathered all the strength he had left in his legs to make a jump back admittedly shabby but useful enough to left the Beta in front of him in the dust, "Energy Slash!"
❗ [You have eliminated a beta Ganipote (E ★★★☆☆)] ❗
❗ [150 experience points obtained] ❗
❗ [Your level has increased, level 9➞10] ❗
'What the fuck is that ?!'
The world as Lazar saw it lost all of its color, making him think that he was watching a black and white movie with a 8K definition. The second thing that struck him was the slowness, his mind was sharp but his body and everything around was moving in a way barely noticeable to the naked eye. The Beta in front of him hadn't even been completely cut out by his Slash energy.
Lazar wasn't left in the incomprehension for very long, his eyes rolled back and his consciousness left his body.
When he woke up, he was greeted by the same headache and the same place filled with darkness of 3 nights ago in Charlotte.
'So that's what you look like...' In front of him the darkness faded to gradually give way to a totally white throne with someone sitting on it a bible in hand.