Hatred simred within the Alpha King as his wolf snarled furiously inside him. "No one hurts my pup! No one! I’ll tear them to pieces!" the wolf growled in his mind, its fur bristling, fangs bared, ready to leap and destroy. The Alpha King was on the verge of losing control, struggling to keep his wolf at bay.
Though his rage mirrored the beast within, he couldn’t afford to unleash it—his wolf had lost all reason and would rip through anything in its path. But the effort to restrain it was taking its toll. He felt utterly drained, his strength slipping away as the battle raged within.
It felt as though he had just uncovered a secret that had been buried for years—a long-standing conspiracy orchestrated by the Vampires to bring down their kind. They might not be simply retreating after the war; they might be playing the long ga.
Perhaps their sudden withdrawal wasn’t a sign of the werewolves’ victory, but a calculated move. They were waiting. Waiting for the werewolves to weaken from within, to slowly crumble under hidden pressure. And when their strength was nearly gone, the Vampires would return to finish what they started.
It was only a theory—speculation born from piecing together fragnted clues—but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He had no solid proof yet, but given everything that had happened, the likelihood of it being true grew stronger by the day.
Why else would the Vampires go to such lengths to kidnap his daughter from the Royal Grounds, the very heart of the werewolf territory—the most heavily guarded place in their entire domain? If this wasn’t the reason... then none of it made sense.
The Alpha King clenched his fists and slamd them into the wall beside him, the impact sending dust into the air and leaving a deep, jagged crack in the marbled wall. Elric, along with the royal doctor and healer, felt their hearts leap to their throats at the display of raw power.
If that punch had been aid at any of them, it wouldn’t have just left a bruise—it would’ve torn through flesh and bone. Silently, they stood still as statues, not daring to make a sound.
Elric, who had also heard about the curse from Maxwell, found his thoughts aligning with those of the Alpha King.
He, too, believed that the vampires had kidnapped the princess three years ago during her coming-of-age, not just to harm her, but to destroy her. When they failed to kill her outright, they must have resorted to using a dark witch’s curse, one that targeted her wolf.
It likely wasn’t ant to kill instantly, but rather to slowly erode her spirit from within. Since they couldn’t bring her back to their domain, the vampires continued the war as a distraction, biding their ti.
Once the princess’s wolf was close to death, they finally retreated. Now, all they had to do was sit back and watch as the werewolf race weakened from within—ready to strike again when the ti was right, to finish the job.
After all, while the Alphas from the various territories were strong enough to fight vampires, none of them were powerful enough to beco the Alpha King—the one who could lead and unify the entire race.
Even the Alpha King’s own brother couldn’t take on the mantle; he lacked the strength and presence required to command the loyalty of all werewolves. And though they still had the Alpha King now, the pressing question was: how much longer could he hold his position without an heir?
The thought alone made Elric uneasy. He had pledged his loyalty to the Alpha King, and if the royal bloodline fell, he too would be dood. The vampires wouldn’t spare him—they might even turn him and his disciples into little more than living blood banks.
The sheer weight of the possibility made Elric’s head spin. He felt dizzy, on the verge of passing out.
"Check... Check her once more. I want my daughter to be alright. Please..." The Alpha King gripped the royal healer’s shoulder tightly—so tightly that the healer winced from the pressure.
But seeing the Alpha King on the verge of breaking, choking back sobs he couldn’t fully hide, the healer bit his lip and nodded silently. He turned back to Addison and began a more thorough examination of her condition.
When the Alpha King saw the royal healer and doctor move back to Addison’s side, he turned to the royal mage with heavy eyes. "Elric," he said, voice hoarse, "go to the Sacred Lands and request the Saintess’s aid. ntion the Dark Witch’s curse... and take the royal dagger we seized from the vampires. Present it as a gift—an offering of our sincerity."
He barely finished the command before stumbling out of the dical ward, too grief-stricken to remain.
He couldn’t bring himself to look at Addison—not like this. Not when he didn’t know how to face his pup in her broken state.
No one knew when Addison would wake from her coma. All they knew was that her body had been so severely damaged that it could only keep functioning with the constant aid of the royal healer’s healing power.
That alone posed a grave problem. The mont the healer stopped, Addison’s bodily functions would begin to shut down. His powers had beco the lifeline—her body’s fuel—and without them, she wouldn’t survive.
But this situation couldn’t last forever. The healer, too, had limits. He couldn’t sustain the healing indefinitely without risking exhaustion or collapse. And once that happened... they would lose her.
Knowing the gravity of the situation, neither Elric nor the dical staff had the luxury of rest. Upon receiving the Alpha King’s orders, Elric imdiately began preparing the teleportation portal. There was no ti to waste.
His destination—the Sacred Lands—was heavily protected by magic wards and strict regulations regarding outsiders. This ant he had to arrange a formal convoy to escort him once he reached the border. But that was only part of the challenge.
The Sacred Lands were located far beyond their continent, across vast seas. A physical journey by land or airship would take anywhere from six months to a year, longer if they encountered monsters in the wild. That wasn’t an option, though.
Although the vast ocean lay beyond the Sacred Lands, it was still governed by the inter-racial treaty, aning Elric couldn’t simply bypass it at will. The official border recognized by the treaty was the port, and that’s where Elric and his convoy would arrive via teleportation.
From there, they would need to board a ship and cross the sea to reach the Sacred Lands, located on an entirely separate continent. That entire continent belonged to the Sacred Lands—a place where humans resided under divine protection—which made access exceptionally difficult.
Even once at sea, Elric and his party would have to face countless obstacles, including the dangers of the open ocean and the trials imposed by the sea deity guarding the Sacred Lands.
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