Chapter 413 A Nightmare

Chapter 413 A Nightmare

In the forest, Raziel was preoccupied, his thoughts incessantly looping back to the awkward encounter with Matron Selene. He cringed inwardly with each replay, agonizing over whether he'd tarnished his image in her eyes.

What if she doesn't treat him the same anymore? He felt ashamed that he couldn't control his unruly thing better.

His mind was so absorbed with the details of what happened, he didn't notice the passage of time nor the distance he'd strayed from home.

As the sky began to darken, a sense of urgency snapped him back to reality. He glanced at the hefty bags of logs he'd gathered, realizing he'd spent far too long in the forest and collected more than what was required. With a sense of haste, he hoisted the bags and began his trek back.

However, as he neared his home, an ominous scent of blood tainted the air, making him wrinkle his nose.

The distant glow of flames and the sinister sound of growls and sneers filled his ears, sending a shiver down his spine. A dreadful premonition gripped him, urging him to rush towards his village.

But before he could step into the clearing, a soft hand clamped over his mouth, dragging him aside with a firm pull. Startled, he tried to struggle, but the grip was insistent, pulling him further into the shadows.

In the hushed secrecy of the forest, a gentle voice with a blend of urgency and sorrow whispered beside his ears, "Shh, don't panic. It's me. I have been searching for you."

Raziel, recognizing the voice, turned to face Matron Selene, his heart pounding with a mix of relief and dread.

Her expression, etched with grief and worry, made his blood run cold, "W-What's going on, Matron Selene? Why did you stop me from getting back?" he asked, his voice trembling with apprehension. novE/lb-1n

Selene's eyes flickered with hesitation, her lips pressed into a thin line.

She then grasped Raziel's wrist, leading him to a large tree. With a gesture, she directed his gaze towards the village, her face contorted in pain.

Peering cautiously, Raziel's breath hitched at the nightmarish sight. Towering werewolves with bloodied fur prowled his village, their dark yellow eyes glowing ominously. The ground was a macabre image of blood and burned bodies, painting a tale of unspeakable horror.

Each lifeless body strewn across the ground was a crushing blow to Raziel's soul, but none more so than the sight of an old figure.

The elder's familiar garb was unmistakable, even as his head was cruelly severed, nowhere in sight. A wave of nausea and grief washed over Raziel as he murmured, "Grandpa..."

His gaze frantically swept across the scene, littered with the corpses of his people and finally settled on his own home. The door was ajar, ominously silent. A surge of dread propelled him forward, but Selene's firm grip on his arm held him back. Panic surged through him as he thought of his mother, "Mother...I have to save her," he whispered frantically, his body tensing to dash toward the chaos.

"Raziel, wait! You can't just rush in there. It's too dangerous," Selene whispered urgently, her eyes mirroring the fear and despair that gripped his heart.

"But my mother... she's still in there. I have to do something!" Raziel protested, his voice strained with desperation while trying to suppress his own voice.

Torak's face darkened as he let out low, chilling growls, "Look at you...running your mouth. We will finish what the Frosthowl Clan couldn't and make you regret killing some of my men yesterday. That is the reason I personally came out here today...to relish the feeling of tearing you apart and let others know it was me who did it."

Selene's response was a cold, mocking smile as her fangs began to extend, "Not before I sever every vein in your body," she retorted, her eyes flashing with a deadly intent.

Torak growled loudly, "Tear her apart, men!" In an instant, the pack lunged towards her.

But Selene, with a dancer's grace and a warrior's agility, moved swiftly. Her fangs and nails extended into lethal weapons. With a rapid, precise slash, she cut through the neck of one werewolf, sending him tumbling to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Another one was about to pounce on her right after, but she managed to twist her hip in time and dealt a sharp kick to the werewolf's solar plexus.

"Haarghhh!" The werewolf's eyes bulged until they almost popped out of their sockets, and his back bent until his spine tore out of his back from the sheer impact of her feet.

Raziel's eyes lit up with hope and awe as he saw Matron Selene kill two of those powerful monsters with such graceful ease. He had never seen her in action like this and couldn't relate the person he was seeing with the gentle and kind matron he knew. But he was relieved to see she had such a frightening side to her.

"Yaargh, you dare kill more of my men!" Tarok leader, stepping forward with fury. He swung a massive fist, striking Selene hard in the stomach, who couldn't block in time as she was busy fending off the other werewolves who were trying to pounce on her. The force of the blow was immense, sending her hurtling backward to crash against a tree with a sickening thud.

Raziel's heart suddenly sank as he watched in abject horror, the werewolves descending upon Selene with a savagery that defied reason. However, despite the grievous injury she had sustained, she was still striving to rise, the blood streaming down her lips painting a gruesome picture.

His heart screamed to rush to her aid, but he then saw her looking in his direction and wistfully smiling with her eyes, reassuring him while pleading him to stay hidden.

He could only watch while his hands clenched so hard they became white.

But in a flash of brutality that Raziel could scarcely comprehend, one of the werewolves, with a viciousness that knew no bounds, clamped its jaws around her shoulder from behind.

With a sickening tear, her right arm was ripped from her body. Another one of them, equally merciless, plunged his claws deep into her stomach, wrenching her entrails out in a macabre display of gore. Without even sparing a single second, Tarok, embodying a cruelty beyond measure, clamped his massive jaws around her head, sinking his long, sharp teeth into her skull before tearing it away from her body with a grisly growl of contempt.

Selene's headless form, a grotesque monument to the savagery she had just endured, stood momentarily in an eerie image of death before collapsing lifelessly to the ground, her blood spewing forth from her severed neck in a horrific geyser.

The werewolves, their bloodlust temporarily sated, casually discussed disposing of her remains as if she were mere refuse.

Tarok sneered as he placed his feet on her corpse, "I hate those arrogant Frosthowl bastards, but I got to thank them for weakening her. Otherwise, I would have had to stress my muscles for no reason. Gather her limbs and body, and let's feed it to our pets back home. That's the least this bloodsucking bitch deserves," grumbled the leader in a tone that was as callous as it was cruel.

As the werewolves departed, hauling Selene's mutilated remains with them, Raziel remained hidden, paralyzed by a mix of grief, shock, and rage. His body trembled uncontrollably, blood seeping from his clenched teeth, the taste of iron mingling with his tears. The cruel and brutal sight he saw of Matron Selene getting torn apart in front of him shook his soul to the core and threatened to consume him whole.

His fingers dug into the earth, clawing at the ground as if trying to anchor himself in the face of this unbearable reality. He couldn't breathe, his vision was blurred, and his senses seemed to have frozen.

His entire body became petrified from the shock as he knelt there, his expression frozen, praying for all this to be a nightmare.

But the victorious howls of the departing werewolves told him otherwise.