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Chapter 5

While dreaming, Ifrit saw the vision of a woman figure standing in a distance where the lights only reflected her as a shadow. The hellhound walked through the white landscape, trying to reach her. Closer and closer he went, and when he went closer, it was Lilac in her human form, closing some parts that was deemed too vulgar for the hellhound to see.

With silence, both started to kiss passionately, embracing both naked bodies and touching everything. The hellhound felt the smooth furless human body of the female werewolf. He stared at the Lycan's blue eyes, and kissed again, not even care if the landscape slowly burned to reveal a blazing hellish fire beneath. Ifrit and Lilac kept kissing as volcanic ash came by them and smothered them into dust.

With that last vision, Ifrit woke up panting. He was still alive.

"(A dream?)" he said to himself. "(Why is that? What happened to Lilac?)"

Suddenly the tarp in front of him opened and Azgal peeked into the tent. He kept staring at Ifrit for a while until Ifrit said, "What?"

"Breakfast is ready, Ifrit," said Azgal, but he noticed Ifrit's shocked expression and said, "Are you fine?"

"Just a nightmare, that's all."

Azgal seemed to left it immediately, and Ifrit went out from his tent out to the open field where they set their tents. It wasn't a very permanent tent, not yet, but still enough than sleeping in the open in a place where there would be a high rate of rain.

The black hellhound saw Miza and Anenka prepared a nice-looking toast for the four of them, where they ate slowly. Azgal made a pause after his first bite, commenting on how toasts tasted, which prompted Anenka to say "That's how it tastes like. A simple pan-grilled toast."

As Ifrit drank his hot chocolate, he tried to remember the assignment that Karkos gave them just two days ago. After telling the hellhound a story about Azgal's incident. Karkos somehow acted calmer after we went out from his condo (that's what they said about his house), and in a usual cold manner, he gave them another assignment that he said could "encompass the whole continent". In the letter he gave them was a list of famous bounty hunters, criminals, and vigilantes with their names unknown. They discussed the name list and decided to start in Dusdolf, since it's closer and the rumor of a vigilante there with the same alter ego: the 'black dog'.

When we packed our camp, Anenka said, "(I heard about this 'Black Dog' vigilante. He operated around the dead of the night in many towns in Dusdolf, taking down many criminals that was otherwise couldn't be touched, yet he refused the bounty and never seen out of the night. He never kills his targets, though)."

"(A masked vigilante?)" asked Ifrit to him.

"(No, of course not! He had a dark fur under the dark night, hence his name. I wasn't sure if he's a Lycan or a hellhound, but I pick the hellhound option.)"

They loaded their tents to a carriage pulled by a horse. As they started the road down the snowy road (with Azgal started to shiver because of his human body), Anenka again talked about their first assignment.

"(From what I heard in the previous town, the place we're going has a problem with feuding families over the past two years. I could be hard for us to find a decent place to live as somehow they are hiring freelancers to fight the Black Dog)."

"Let me guess, Anenka. They are crime families?" asked Azgal while shivering under the coat.

"Maybe...but I may not be so sure if I were you."

"Based on Sheldon's memories, Dusdolf crime families started emerging during the era when they prohibit the use of liquor as a beverage, outlawing everything about it. It also happened five years ago in Tragoria where Sheldon currently lived, but only in Dusdolf that they smuggle the liquors. It became a great underground business, which still happened until now with the price of normal weapons and how they are illegal in Dusdolf."

"I'd say it's an irony...Dusdolf has many big gun manufacturers that help the region's economy since 12 years ago."

Travelling along the snowy road wasn't as harsh as travelling from Tragoria to Adaline 5 years ago when Ifrit was still in group with Lilac and Albreich...and it was the time when they first met Eshdar. Now that he was dead, and one of his generals now became his companion, Ifrit couldn't have feel anything other than guilt for what he had done to him.

As they reached the indicated town, violent scenery greeted them from the gate when they saw impaled heads decorating the gate, welcoming them. Inside, the place seemed pretty dilapidated and abandoned, save for some beggars on the road begging for money, some Lycans staring at them with a clear intent of harm, and some men, somehow burglars, took a table out from a home without anyone to apprehend them. Yes, there's one law enforcer, but money talked better than justice.

"(Seems like we're going into a lion's den)," whispered Anenka to Ifrit. "(It's not safe leaving our belongings alone. Someone must guard it)."

"If you need a guard, I am happy to at least be important as a companion."

This statement coming out from a wrath demon's mouth seemed unlikely, which caused them to stare at him, but since he was serious about it, they relented.

"(Okay, now that we're here, I guess we have to start hearing rumors in this town. Best look where?)"

"(I guess we can start from the tavern?)" said Ifrit suggesting it to Anenka's questions. "(Al always did that whenever we reached a small unknown town. We need information and somehow a good place to start is where they drink beers and stuffs)."

"(Well, if you say so...)"

It didn't take a long time for them to find the only tavern in the town. Unlike most places he went, Ifrit somehow never recalled the place for being too crowded in the time of the day. It was somehow overcrowded when a Lycan fell from the second floor through a window in front of them, grunting with the pain. Making a sigh, the hellhound just continued on with his companions, completely ignoring the Lycan.

The place was both rowdy and violent as a bar fight broke, leaving many of the patrons injured. They tried to pass through the violence to the bar when the barkeeper himself shot a gun to the air and shouted something in a foreign Dusdolf language and the others, whether they became upset on the gunshot, either grunted or snarled at the barkeeper as they walk outside. Ifrit could hear that they continue it outside.

"You three seems reasonable enough to drink in the middle of the day," said the human barkeeper with the similarly thick accent as with the other Dusdolf citizens. Anenka asked for some food given to them. The human then walked to behind him and pulled a clearly frightened human from under the counter, who quickly cowered into the kitchen.

"You should've stayed away from this town during this time of the year. The families are hiring and it makes things worse."

"Hiring mercenaries?"

"The Black Dog is getting wilder each day. Every night he disrupts many illegal operations done by the families, causing them to lose many money. Giving the bounty on his head proved useless as no bounty hunter is on par with his skills. See those heads out there? Those are the ones who failed."

"Based on rumor, he never kills anyone."

"Yes. They are consequences of disgracing the families. They hired mercenaries now and made a truce until this problem ends. Humans and Lycans all around this part of the region and beyond are flocking in, if that's what the English said to be, and made just what happened before. For the past 2 days he managed to apprehend some and discouraging some, but I guess he won't stay like that forever."

Ifrit heard it and said, "He's going to die, right?"

"A drunk man told me about how a dangerous mercenary group called the 'Red Star' arrived in town and could put an end to the vigilante. They are assassins."

"Damn...is he really that notorious?"

"More like famous to me."

"When you say Black Dog...is he a werewolf?" asked Ifrit.

"Some claimed to take a glimpse and he quickly saw his canine features, but he's still shrouded by the night. His face was clearly a wolf, but he wears a weird cape."

"A weird cape, huh?"

They talked to the barkeeper for a moment before leaving him with three silver and 2 bronze coins as a tip. As they went out, the ruckus had finished and the place returned to the calm menacing atmosphere like before.

"(Well this guy certainly live up to the heroic persona of a caped warrior. Only knights do that, so he might once be a Templar)."

"(Templars don't fight stealthily)," said Anenka commenting Miza. "(One thing for sure, the Black Dog must survive first and we must try to convince him to go with us)."

"(So, grab him and get the fuck out of this town? Is that your plan, Anenka?)"

"(Only if Azgal can secure the wagon and the horses)."

But then, as they feared, Azgal really guarded the wagon, but left his attackers in pieces around the wagons. He casually smoked a cigarette and upon seeing them, he tried to smile, which made him even looked more like a sociopath.

"Azgal, what the fuck are you doing?!" exclaimed Ifrit. "You can't just mutilate bandits like that! Now what are we supposed to do?!"

"Relax, kid. This is like another day for us," said the same barkeeper that was following them. "Your friend there does what's necessary to defend your precious belongings, even if he needs to be a little...uhmm, extreme. Anyway, glasses, you left your letter."

Anenka saw it and quickly snatched it, but the damage was done. The barkeeper said, "I saw the lists, Lycans. Those are notorious criminals, bounty hunters, vigilantes, and other famous persons you can think of. Good hunting."

As the barkeeper left, they waited for him to leave before saying "(I guess we have to stick with the plan. We'll wait until they start their ambush on the Black Dog)."

They waited until the evening when a man, clearly a mercenary, approached them. They had started to defend when he said, "I recommend a shelter, wolves. Your wagon won't stay intact when we fight, including you four."

"Don't worry, we love the full moon. Might as well defend ourselves if everything goes awry," said Anenka. It was full moon that night.

"Suit yourself. I don't want to know if you're bloody scared."

As he left, the barkeeper came to them again and said, "It's full moon tonight, right? Shame that this fight happened during this beautiful night."

"Yes...I wish we can finish our business here and move on."

As the full moon started to show itself from the cloud, the barkeeper then said, "Do what you must to take him away from this town, young wolves. I'll guard this transport."

As he said that, he started to make a painful expression before collapsing and slowly changed into a werewolf, anatomy by anatomy. They waited for him to fully transform and howled at the moon, before Miza said, "You know, changing like that in front of us...is goddamn nasty."

"I know," said the barkeeper. "But the curse is inevitable. Now go, young wolves."

The four of them nodded and started running to where they heard the fighting. As they reached there, they saw that they were cornering the vigilante in a warehouse, where they started to burn it down. The Black Dog threw something out and shoot it with such great accuracy that it threw fragments all around, injuring the mercenaries. So far, he could hold on to himself, but they quickly saw that they were planning an ambush, and they were wearing red star emblems.

"(Okay, we'll flank'em and take Black Dog out from there)."

"(How? Those are fucking elites, Miza)!"

"They are elites, but they can taste my wrath," said Azgal smiling menacingly, as he quickly ran to them and produced a sword out from nothing out from his hand. He made a quick slash that decapitate two of the Red Stars, but the rest managed to storm in after forcing Azgal to move out of the way while yelling "This is our part!"

His friends followed him, more surprised on how he produced the sword from nothing than how Azgal was thrown. The demon-possessed human scratched his head and said, "Damn, that's not what I had in mind."

"At least you can tell us about how you produce that sword," said Ifrit.

"Sword? Oh, you mean the devil blade? I'll tell you everything after we take Black Dog away from this place."

They burst into the warehouse and found out the Black Dog, the vigilante, was holed up inside a room, trapped from both behind and front. Since this was the backdoor and no one would suspect anything from the back, Azgal readied his devil blade again while Ifrit found a metal pole beside him, as they ran up to kill the mercenaries. Azgal managed to make a clean kill of three of them while Ifrit knocked two down the stairs with the same rod. Both Anenka and Miza tried to hold the other mercenaries that had started to pour through, yet they forgot how Red Star was a group of assassins, and both Ifrit and Azgal were quickly overwhelmed when some had took notice on their potential danger.

"You never should've tried to take the reward from us," said a human Red Star mercenary with a mocking tone. "We're the one who will take back the failure. Black Dog, you said? More like dead dog!"

"You can talk cocky like that because he never kills you!" said Ifrit while trying to break free from the other laughing Red Star. The man then spat and said, "We never underestimate the Black Dog, but he's only a minor. We're the true professionals. He was once our brother-in-arms, and he violates the rules by running away."

"So this is a goddamn debt collecting, huh? Too bad, Red Star, but he's with us!"

"You talk, but you don't see what situation you're in, striped wolf. But, I'll ease your way to..."

Suddenly the man's head was pierced by none other than a sniper bullet, which spewed blood all over Ifrit. Taking the chance of surprise, Ifrit pushed the dead man away and took a broken splinter to stab a man beside him through his mouth and kicked the other one away while Azgal stabbed him from behind. The remaining Red Star, around six of them, turned to the door, where it was opened.

"He never loses his skills, huh? Only one Lycan who can shoot with such precise accuracy in this distance..."

Ifrit coughed from the fire around him, and could see the figure coming out from the door. But, unlike his imagination, he wasn't even black as everyone said, but he had a dark brown fur.

When his whole body was visible, a familiar figure was seen by the whole group, making Ifrit gasped and Anenka lost his words.

"Vantwork?" said Anenka in a surprise as another man was killed by his sniper rifle. When he heard it, he was also surprised and said, "Kolvics?"

"(What the hell are you doing here? You became a pacifist vigilante?!)"

"(I'm the one asking the question here! Are you trying to take the bounty on my fucking head?!)"

"(Whoa, don't get the wrong idea! I'm trying to save you)."

"(Saving me? With Ifrit?! Are you out of your mind? He's just the last thing we need for my goddamn 'rescue'! I'm a hellhound in a burning building! You think fire scares me?)"

"(Okay, stop it, you two!)" said Ifrit pushing both of them away. "(I don't want to be another burden with this group and you know that, Rhynsa! Right now we need to get out of this god-forsaken town and then we can talk properly)."

Both Rhynsa and Anenka stared at each other for a while, before making a sigh with Rhynsa saying, "(Are you still called Cold Rock these days?)"

"(I outlived that title long before you know it)," said Anenka readying his claws. "(Right now is not the time to bet, isn't it?)"

"(We'll talk after we survive this)." He then walked past Ifrit and said, "(You've changed, kid. What's wrong?)"

That was the last thing Rhynsa said to him before running down from the stair into the open, where he produced a bomb from under his coat and threw it to some mercenaries. Upon impact, it made a flash that temporarily blinded the mercenary, enabling them to hit some of the mercenaries to clear a path for their companions. Miza and Ifrit knew this was the only way they could run unharmed, and thus without stopping, they ran faster than before, occasionally shooting anyone that was trying to hit them.

Right at that time they saw the werewolf waiting for them signaled them to run faster, which was achieved by Rhynsa running faster than them. Azgal was getting left off because of his human muscles, but despite of that, any mercenaries trying to take him were getting their hands off literally by the demon's devil blade.

They jumped on and they made a turn to see the attackers and helped Azgal, but Rhynsa suddenly felt a pain as a sniper bullet pierced through his shoulder and wing. He quickly roared in pain as the wagon moved.

"(Shit! He's bleeding hard!)"

"(Kid, don't waste your breath on this one. If you don't know anything medical I suggest you back off...)"

Rhynsa quickly coughed blood, and from Ifrit's scent, he became horrified.

"(That bullet was laced with poison)," said Ifrit. "(We need to find a cure before he dies...)"

"(Don't panic, kid. I'm a half-fuzandre, remember? I can take normal surface poisons...except if it's designed to kill a human in under 5 minutes. Those Red Star bastards...)"

"(You're still a half and half)."

"(Yeah...fuck...)"

"Can I help?" said Azgal turning his head to them when the commotion from the town went out. "The list mentioned a name Sheldon's mind told me. It's the nickname that's stuck. Doctor Strange."

"Doctor Strange? Wait, but he's a magician, right? As if...the hero?"

"I never heard anyone with that nickname except a doctor with miraculous hands to cure people. Where do you suggest he's a magician, Ifrit?"

"I just knew. I mean, somebody, uh...goddamn it, not again."

Azgal sighed and turn to the road. "I can get you to where he is last known. He's still in Dusdolf and we'll take a detour through the mountains. Let's just wish the angel of death hasn't tried to pry on his life yet."