An Entire Week Later…
"Take it down, Antares!" Lycaon shouted.
Appearing above a goat-like beast, Sebastian thrusted his lance into the beast's mouth. Along the hilt of the lance, two circles appeared red until one of them turned green. Soon, a large grin appeared on his face as he activated the enchantment on the lance.
A glowing spiral appeared on the lance and soon a loud sonic pulse pinged inside of the beast, and immediately blood started to seep out of its mouth, ears, and eyes. The other circle turned green and Sebastian's grin began to enlarged.
As the beast's body tipped over, Sebastian kicked off the ground with his lance, still inside the beast, and waited until he positioned above the beast. The once green circle disappeared and a strong pain entered the beast's mind as the lance increased in weight.
Rip!
Its jaw ripped open as the lance went further down the beast's mouth. Lycaon watched the scene unfold and couldn't help but feel sorry for the beast. Its resilience to physical attacks was a pain for them and one of its weaknesses was its mouth.
RIP!
Soon, a loud ripping noise could be heard as his lance's tip continued on piercing through the beast's throat until it was ripped in half. It was a brutal way to go but it was the only way to kill it.
"Who was the builder of your weapons?" Lycaon asked.
"Just some dwarves." Sebastian replied, cleaning the blood off his lance.
They then both stared southeast and already knew what the large presence was. Ever since they left the orc dungeon, they had always been on the move. Sebastian told them they had to get strong if they wanted to face the army of ants as he guarantied them that they weren't strong enough. Though he did admit that some of them could go toe-to-toe with one of the few strongest ones.
"I know you can sense better than me so did they increase their army size?" Lycaon asked.
Sebastian then sat in a lotus position and began to expand his energy wide and far. Soon, he started his count and noticed the army was twice its normal size. He also noticed a few ants were closer to them than the main attacking force.
"The main attacking force has doubled and a few ants are nearby to our groups. Wait, Sophie's group is gonna need our assistance! There's two ants approaching their location quickly and they aren't weak either." Sebastian responded.
"Where?"
"North from here."
Both of them then pushed off the ground and the faster one was unsurprisingly Sebastian. Lycaon did try to catch up by flash-stepping but after a few attempts, he felt his energy become lower and his body become sluggish.
'Just how fast is he? He did say he was working on his physical ranking.' Lycaon thought, noting Sebastian's speed.
A few minutes passed and they arrived at Sophie's group. Once they arrived, they saw that one of them was injured but not too bad.
"I will take on the strongest. You take that one" Sebastian declared.
"You!" The strongest ant said, pointing at Sebastian. "You killed Brother Neo!"
The ant sprouted wings and lunged forward. Sebastian reacted by pulling out a sword and used the defensive enchantment. The ant's attack had struck the blade and a hundred small cuts appeared on the ant's endoskeleton.
A pair of daggers then appeared in his hands and venom started to secrete from the left dagger. The left dagger's enchantment was a venom with a weakening effect and a special effect that paired with his right dagger.
"You b*tch!" The ant lunged forward again, blinded by his rage.
Sebastian, in response, leaned backwards and narrowly dodged the ant's attack and dragged his left dagger along the ant's endoskeleton.
"Stop moving!" The ant shouted.
Dodging, Sebastian was utilizing his left dagger to its full potential. Unlike any of his other weapons, his dual blades were unique compared to his other ones.
'I thought this ant was strong? Or did I really get that strong and fast from eating those orcs?' Sebastian questioned.
"Watch out!" Lycaon shouted.
Bang!
Since he was so focused on the ant in front of him and distracted by his thoughts, he didn't have tome to react as he received a punch from his side. The other ant made its move and transformed its hands into claws before lunging forward and plunging its claws into Sebastian's abdomen.
"Blurgh!" He coughed up a mouthful of blood.
A grin then appeared on his face as his plan finally came to a perfect close. Quickly swinging his right dagger, the ant covered in green liquid exploded into a bits while the other ant's arm was blown off.
Bang!
'What happened?' Lycaon questioned.
"You f*cker!" Sebastian shouted in anger.
Before the remaining ant could react, a spear pierced through its chest and pierced it heart in the process, to ensure its death, Sebastian pulled the spear out and thrusted it into the ant's head before tearing it off.
"Damn ants!"
He then turned around to see two of them unconscious while the rest were barely standing. He was impressed to say the least. Sophie was slightly cut and bruised here and there but she still managed to go toe-to-toe with one of the ants.
"Did you notice too?" Lycaon asked.
"That both of them exhibited the features of other beasts in this dimension? Then yes." Sebastian replied.
"We must get stronger quickly or we need to face them now. Everyone's getting tired of having to be on the move and our weapons are slowly deteriorating." Lycaon explained. "I only sensed your rank back at the orc dungeon and you were Peak E-Rank, right?"
"Unfortunately, that was only a boost of strength, but right now I'm Mid E-Rank."
"I saw your strength and power so can't you deal with most of them while we deal with the weaklings?"
"That's the problem. You think too highly of me. Amongst their ranks are a few D-Ranks and we just figured out they are Chimera Ants. Even if I were to go all out, I would only be able to deal with two or three D-Ranks before falling." Sebastian tried to reason.
"Still, we can have our strongest deal with one D-Rank ant while I try to deal with another. I'm sure you know my magic since you worked for a crime syndicate."
"There's a Peak D-Rank among them! Even if I reach Pinnacle E-Rank, I can't just rank up. My body will have to wait at least a year before it's able to contain the power of becoming a D-Rank."
Lycaon was starting to become desperate with his requests. He wanted to kill the ants and just be able to rest but the person he thought was the strongest would be helpless against multiple D-Ranks.
"There is one way to increase our power in the short amount of time we have left and that's to have each one of you evolve." Sebastian said.
The moment Lycaon heard this, he was stunned. Evolving was a natural process for a werewolf but it was slow unless one were to be exposed to harsh conditions to trigger the evolution.
"Are you crazy?! You want them to fight against strong beasts?" Lycaon questioned, bewildered by Sebastian's suggestion.
"Woah! I didn't say anything about fighting beasts. I was gonna suggest that they fight against me." Sebastian revealed. "While they fight against me, I can give them some tips and teach them some hand-to-hand combat." Sebastian finally revealed his intention.
Lycaon decided to weigh the pros and cons of Sebastian's suggestion. There weren't many cons compared to the pros but he still remained suspicious of him. He didn't know but he knew this person in front of him was hiding his auras from them.
"Let me be the first to evolve. It'll be weird if the leader of the group has to wait until the end to evolve." Lycaon said.
The moment he finished his sentence, Sebastian appeared in front of him without warning and kicked him in the chest.
Bang!
"Ack!"
Sebastian then appeared in front of him again and threw a quick jab for his chin. In response, Lycaon reacted and narrowly dodged the attack before trying to throw an attack of his own.
A grin appeared on Sebastian's face as he slightly pulled his longsword out of its sheath. At impact, Lycaon felt his fist hit a metal object before he felt a hundred cuts around his body.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three swift yet powerful jabs had struck Lycaon and each were targeting specific areas of his body. The liver, the solar plexus, and his abdomen received heavy blows.
"W-Wait! I don't think this will wor-"
Bang!
Another jab landed on his nose and broke it, and soon a powerful hook hit his chin and dislocated his jaw.
"Fight back! Fight back!" Sebastian shouted.
Bang!
The final hit was the last straw for him as he saw his knee get kicked inward.
"That's enou-"
Before he could finish his sentence, an overwhelming pain overcame his nerves throughout his body. It felt like his body was on fire as a searing pain was spreading around his body.
While he was on the ground, he let out a bloodcurdling scream. Immediately, tried to silent him but soon felt the presence of multiple incoming beasts.
Roar!
Soon nearby beasts started to become active as if they could sense Lycaon was going through an evolution. Multiple beasts appeared and contrary to what Sebastian thought, they all bowed in respect for Lycaon.
"What's going on?" Sebastian questioned. "Is it because he's royalty?"
Still, he decided to be on guard in case something bad were to still happen. Evolving was something Sebastian didn't know much about. He did evolve from a normal werewolf to a primordial werewolf but there wasn't much special about besides gaining the skill primordial hunger but that was it.
He skipped the main branch of evolution for werewolves and took the special route. An evolution that was stronger than all the evolutions in the main branch yet still can't defy the world's limiter.
Since he was distracted by the duty to guard Lycaon, he didn't notice Lycaon was beginning his transformation into a werewolf. After a few minutes had passed, he was fully transformed as he lunged toward Sebastian.
Slash!
"W-what?" Sebastian said, confused.
Five claws pierced through Sebastian's abdomen and the next moment, a jaw had bitten down on his right arm.
"Get the hell off of me!"
Bang!
He punched the werewolf in the head and it stood there as if it didn't even hurt it. By becoming a werewolf, a person's rank jumps by half a rank and ignores the world's limiter since the power is temporary.
Lycaon was a beginner E-rank but now in his werewolf form he was Mid E-Rank. Although one transforms, it doesn't mean there aren't any limitations. One limitation of becoming a werewolf is the inability to use mana. The second limitation is time duration.
Even if one were to become a werewolf, there is a time limit. Some people can keep their transformation up to thirty minutes while others can barely keep it up for five minutes. Now, they could keep it up but they would give into the bloodlust of becoming a werewolf and no one wants that to happen.
Another limitation is to transform on command. Many people can transform on command but some can't. This is because it stems from the fear of becoming an uncontrollable monster. The stronger one is, the harder it will be to control the bloodlust.
"Goddamn it!"
Sebastian's body began to bulge as he started his transformation. After a few seconds, he transformed and quickly lunged forward.
They then interlocked hands as Lycaon tried to overpower Sebastian. Since this was his first time seeing someone evolve, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know if he needed to feed it or wait for time to pass.
Their noises from their combat didn't go unnoticed by their friends as they came rushing toward them and saw two werewolves engage in combat.
Bang!
Lycaon had received another punch but this time it pushed it back and even made him disoriented. Upon seeing this, Sebastian ran forward and tackled him to the ground.
He then held him in a chokehold but that's when the unexpected happened. A random beast came forward and stood a few inches apart from Sebastian and Lycaon before killing itself.
'What the hell?' Sebastian thought, confused.
Letting go of Lycaon, he lunged forward toward the dead beast and began to feast on its corpse. A few seconds later Lycaon's transformation was going away as he started to become smaller.
"About damn time! This bastard could have at least told me he needed to be fed" Sebastian complained.
"What did you do to him?!" Kai shouted at Sebastian with anger.
Before Sebastian could respond, Lycaon stood up and his presence changed. Sebastian may not have known much about evolving but he did know the evolutions in general.
"A Vanguard Werewolf…" Sebastian sounded impressed.
"Relax, I was just evolving." Lycaon said as he stood up, slightly wobbling.