The werewolf reached near the flame torch while positing himself for both attack and defense in case the enemy dares to strike him first.
It was the scream of the prince which carried his attention towards this direction in the first place, though he wasn't able to hear the screams of the fight from before... Normally the patrollers' inside the Fortress are just too lazy to patrol frequently, and he was also sitting lazily on the floor until the sound of a little scream reached his ears. Well, he was not quite sure about the situation and who made this sound when there's no one in that direction besides the medical staff...!
This entire place is actually meant for a secret hideout and for that reason this place is buried underground. In case the enemy attacks the Fortress, the werewolves can hide inside the structure below it... This place is right below the wall of the fortress. Even its walls and ceilings are made soundproof by coating the byproduct of a special magical Tool called 'Void-water'. The material itself is very hard to make and requires a huge amount of energy and raw materials. However, the huge amount of energy required is wasted by the release of the byproduct instead, the byproduct which is coated in these walls and ceilings is called 'Shallow-water', cause it's way ineffective than the original magic product or can be said a Magic-Tool.
// Further features and use of Void-water will be explained later. //
Thus, any frequency of sound barely reaches the ears of a werewolf after twenty meters even inside the Corridor. As the walls are curve and any sound will eventually hit the surface of the wall, but it can't bounce through it and will be absorbed by the wall... The reason why the wolf-guard was not able to hear the sound of his own comrades' scream when the prince was fighting them. But in this case, the prince was only fifteen meters away from him and the low frequency is not a major problem for a werewolf to find the source of the sound.
He only came here leisurely to check on the medical staff, but after smelling the scent of a human in the air, he quickly lifted his laziness and took out his 'Crossbow dart' from his back and tightly fastened it in his left hand... The Dart weapon is actually very flexible to use and can be attached to the users' hands or can be used freely accordingly.
"Grr~ Come out, I know you are there..." He called out to the human, he can't see him in the dark but he is sure someone is there.
But, no one appeared...! He was not sure why he can't see the intruder with his keen eyes but he has sensed his presence in the air. He assumed that the intruder has some camouflaging suit and the wall is itself very helpful for it, so he intentionally tried to lure out the intruder by calling out his name, as a hint to the Intruder that he has been found out and there is no use in hiding in the dark.
But, after seeing no one is coming out, he began to doubt his insights and started to think why is he not getting attacked by the human intruder instead? He can't see the intruder, neither can hear his heartbeats. why is no one coming out? It's a perfect chance for the intruder to strike him down with surprise... and his plans to work!
Actually, he has a second plan. That is, the moment the enemy comes for his neck, which is the fastest way to kill anyone, it will revile the position of the enemy and he will shoot the 'Dart-bursts' attack. This attack is a tactic that bursts out several Darts in a particular direction, leaving only a few darts behind. The pros of this attack are that it will ensure the hit rate by a hundred and sixty percent as it is very hard to deflect several darts, and even with the shield magic, it is guaranteed that at least three to four darts will pierce through it. But the cons are that only one dart will remain in that round after the attack and if the enemy somehow protected himself with all of it, the shooter will be in a huge danger instead.
But, as of the expectations, no one came out and even the scent was gone. As a result, he began to think about whether he is mistaken and dreaming of it. As the chances of an intruder coming here are practically very low and there is literally nothing in this place besides a way up, but it is in the opposite direction where the intruder came from...! Why would someone let him freely come here? Those guards on the surface are not some lossy wolves that can be fooled so easily... As he re-think about it, he began to carefully look at the surroundings and checked once again. He couldn't spot anyone and the smell was no more there, thus he thought it was a mistake and turned back.
"wagh~ dhump..."
Midway, a huge air pressure smacked him in the chest, and in the next moment, he was sent flying five meters away. He had already let his guard down due to his confusion and was unequipping his Dart weapon while turning back. The Prince who was patiently waiting for the chance struck him without a slight delay, as the werewolf was already facing him by the time he was turning halfway.
"cough~" He began to cough heavily, as the sudden hit was pretty strong. But, he didn't get injured very much as expected by the prince. Seeing that his strike had very little effect on this wolf compared to those wolves he beat earlier without much effort, the prince struck the wolf guard again with his magic. But, this time he used it to distract the wolf's attention... When the werewolf is still not fully able to gauge the situation and will try to defend himself from another blow and in that opportunity he will steal the Dart weapon from him, which is not in the hand of the wolf guard as the previous blow had him lose control of it.
As expected, the Wolf got distracted and the prince quickly took the weapon from the ground just beside the werewolf. This weapon was his major concern from the start, and that's why he was not foolishly facing the werewolf patroller head-on.
"Grr~ You!" The wolf quickly backed his feet realizing the presence of someone near and tried to take out his weapon. But, after sensing the empty back he looked towards the enemy and wondered how did he lose his grasp on his weapon. He was more gaped while looking at the human who is not even an adult managed to strike him and even disarm him in an instant, though it was by surprise. But even so, this human is quite peculiar and quite strong despite his size.
"You mean this weapon? I find it dangerous, let me check this on you~"
The prince used the weapon almost instantly, as the more time he gives the enemy to recover, the more dangerous it will be. The 'Crossbow-dart' is quite familiar to a normal Crossbow that the prince had used before in his training, so it was not difficult for him to operate a smaller but slightly different version.
"No..."
The werewolf tried to dodge it but couldn't within a short distance and a dart hit him on the leg.
"Now, tell me the exit?" seeing the dart paralyzing the werewolf's leg in an instant, the prince asked him a question. The werewolf fainted within five seconds before the prince could get any answer...
"What? Did he just black-out like that?" *Confused*
"Darn! *frustrated* could have just answered me before passing out." The prince made a strongly disappointed remark, as the enemy was definitely very strong but couldn't last three seconds after getting hit by the dart.
After confirming that the werewolf has really passed out and is not just acting to fool him, he walked away with the 'Crossbow dart' and with a regret...! Regret was due to the wasted effort and mana, he was planning on not to use his mana but he had to use it anyway due to the circumstances. On top of that, he still doesn't know the exit as the enemy fainted without giving him any answer.
As for the plan to conceal him from the enemy!
It was simple and was not even reliable, but it somehow worked. He stayed as firmly as possible and used his magic to stop the flow of smell coming out from his body, at the same time he stopped the sound of his heartbeat from reaching the ears of the wolf. For this, he made a slight vacuum in the air around him, the air vacuum wasn't so strong as he doesn't have the power to waste and it requires a substantial amount of mana that his body can't store.
Anyway, it worked! Although it was just not due to his magic, the sound can also travel through solid floors. The prince is not aware that the wall he was clinging to, saved his life by absorbing his sound. One hit and he is down... He actually never thought of distracting the enemy with Flame of the torch, it was pure luck that his one action to conceal himself worked to distract the enemy. The prince is still not so good at using multiple magic tactics at once, the creation of vacuum was not so smooth and due to it the flame flickered, and also the rest of his smell flew away from the direction of the werewolf patrol guard.
The prince didn't attack from behind because the werewolf guard was alert and he has no weapon to strike him down, also attacking the chest is a tactic he was taught before to use in precisely this type of situation where no vitals of the opponent is visible.
He increased his pace this time and ran forward without any thoughts, now he is in possession of a weapon similar to the enemies and unlike the previous time, he can deal with them without wasting his energy...