The death of the humongous lizard wolf seemed to be the breaking point for the rest of the lizard wolves. Their ferocity seemed to disappear almost immediately. Their eyes turned fearful as they gazed at Henry. The bck and rger variant might not be an actual Alpha, but it did seem to py a pivotal role amongst the breed. Seeing the death of their pseudo-leader, fear once again overcame them and overshadowed their desperation.

  “Oh? Now you all finally realised the threat that I can be, huh?” Henry scoffed.

  Still, the lizard wolves did not scatter. Fear gripped their bodies and hearts, but they did not run. They were conflicted. Even if they ran, they had nowhere to go. They were trapped, sandwiched between two hard pces.

  Henry could sense their conflict. He almost felt sympathy for them… almost, but he didn’t. They would not feel sympathy for him if he were in their shoes. There was no time to be soft, especially to a bunch of ferocious and carnivorous beasts. Besides, they had harmed his woman and that absolutely could not be forgiven. Armed with his newfound skill of controlling the intensity of his abilities, Henry unleashed his Firebreath upon the lizard wolves that were surrounding Ani.

  The fmes rushed towards the beasts like a swarm of snakes. The fmes chose their targets carefully. The fmes struck only the lizard wolves, leaving Ani rgely unharmed, but the heat from the fmes was still affecting her. Thankfully, she was still the bride of the st dragon, giving her an innate resistance towards heat and fire, although not immunity. She would still be greatly hurt if she were struck directly by Henry’s fmes.

  Henry darted through the bze, kicking away all the lizard wolves in his way that were filing around in agony. Their suffering didn’t st long. The fmes burned fast and fiercely. Arriving by her side, Henry gently scooped Ani into his arms. “Are you alright?”

  Ani smiled wryly. “No, I am all left now,” she jest. Her right arm was still attached, but only barely. It was missing more than half of its flesh, and it was dangling by her shoulder. She couldn’t even feel her arm anymore.

  Henry chuckled wryly in response. “Not for long. You’ll get your arm back. But first, I have to seal your wounds. It will—”

  “—hurt like a bitch. Yes, I know.”

  “Oh, my. Language.”

  “I learned from the best.” She unfastened her belt and brought it to her mouth, which she bit down on. She gave a nod after having the belt firmly pced between her teeth.

  With fmes readied in one hand, he clutched firmly on Ani’s broken arm with the other. “One, two—” Without a three, he tore her arm right off.

  Ani screamed out in agony. Her body shuddered heavily as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her teeth pressed and sank into the leather.

  Henry let not a single second go to waste. He immediately cauterised the wound shut with his fmes.

  The searing heat drew out another cry from Ani. She grabbed onto Henry’s arm and gripped it tightly as the pain burned her nerves. With her strength, she would have torn right into the flesh of any person’s arm. However, this was Henry. She left only a faint mark on his arm despite using all of her strength.

  After the wound was sealed, Henry gently id Ani down on the ground and rose to his feet. The fight was not over. The lizard wolves were still lingering around. They hadn’t stopped attacking Chloe and the two, but they had been only watching Henry warily. Even with his back seemingly turned to them, none of the lizard wolves lunged at him.

  “You should have attacked me then,” Henry muttered. “Do you think I will be merciful?”

  The lizard wolves growled and slowly stepped away from Henry.

  “It’s too te to run now. You hurt my woman. Now, I’ll kill you, every st one of you here.”

  The fear amongst the lizard wolves spread to the ones at Chloe’s side. They froze in pce and cocked their heads back.

  Henry spared no more words. He lunged at the lizard wolves and began raining death upon them. A single swing of his cws tore apart half a dozen lizard wolves. With a whip of his tail, rows of lizard wolves snapped out their skeletal frames. Some tried to attack, but they met a swift end at the mercy of Henry’s fmes.

  Seeing their brethren getting sughtered, the lizard wolves surrounding Chloe all ceased this window to run for their lives. They were not ones to easily abandon their own kind, but preservation of their kind above all else. If all of them perished right here and then, it would be the end of their kind.

  Chloe was not standing idly by while the lizard wolves ran. Having lost most of her squadmates to these monsters, she was not about to just let them leave when their backs were all turned and presented to her. She chased after them. However, the lizard wolves were not so gracious as to let their retreat be impeded. Some stayed behind to stall their pursuers, especially the bck Lizard Wolves, the Alphas.

  “Oh, fuck!” Chloe uttered as an Alpha dropped right into her path. She barely dodged its cws that nearly took her head. She retaliated with a thrust of her bde arm. The Alpha tried parrying her bde, but it could not withstand the toughness of her armour bde. Her bde plunged through the Alpha’s paw and straight into its throat.

  “Behind you!” Barry shouted.

  Chloe retracted her bde arm and crouched down. Something snapped shut above her. It was another Alpha, which tried to take a bite at her. She rose with a ssh that sliced the Alpha in half.

  Seeing her swift lethality, the other remaining Alphas hesitated to approach her.

  “Oh? Now you’re cowering? Too te for that.” Chloe strode towards the remaining Alphas. Sge brandished her bde arms and charged at the cowering Alphas. However, before she could fully close the gap between her and them, something appeared and stole her prey.

  It had dropped down from above, the darkness of the ceiling. It dropped right between Chloe and the lizard wolves. It bore a humanoid appearance, but only barely. It was a creature that once had a humanoid frame, but it was gradually losing its shape and distinction. Not to mention, it was wearing the face of Chloe’s squadmate.

  Chloe wouldn’t have hesitated, but the sight of her dead squadmate’s face froze her movement with guilt and terror.

  The predator of the lizard wolves, a faceless monster that wore the face of its victim, twirled with its elongated arm extended, slicing the four Alphas in half. Tendrils with maws shot out from its torso. They tched onto the sliced carcasses of the Alphas and pulled them into the body of the faceless monster.

  “What the fuck!?” Chloe uttered in dreadful shock.

  The faceless monster proceeded to absorb the carcasses. In an instant, it began to undergo a transformation. It lost its humanoid frame and morphed into one that resembled a quadrupedal beast. The human face it wore melted off, and the head of a lizard wolf took its pce, though it was not a whole head. It had no fur. Its snout was short, and its eyes were bnk and dark. However, its fangs were sharper and longer.

  Chloe eventually snapped out of her daze when the faceless monster turned to with an eerie shrill, as if its bones were old and rusty.

  The faceless monster shot towards her like a projectile unched from a sling.

  Chloe dove out of the way. Had she been a second te, she would have been struck.

  The faceless monster did not crash and tumble. It came to a perfect halt even when it missed its mark. It was quick to compose itself.

  “This is bad…” Chloe muttered. Her enemy was not only fast, but its movements were also erratic. A terrible combination of talents to have for an enemy.

  The faceless monster stared curiously at Chloe, but it lost interest in the next moment. It turned around and moved its bnk yet inquisitive gaze to the two men. The monster hissed at them.

  “What in the name of the loving fuck is this monster!?” Alex screamed and stumbled.

  Barry was too terrified to scream. He froze in pce and stared at the faceless monster with his eyes wide. In his occupation, he had faced a variety of monsters, but never had he seen such a terrifying abomination that assimited its victim’s appearance.

  Seeing its prey frozen in fear, the faceless monster let out an eerie ughter. It brandishes its deformed cws and strode towards the two.

  “Damn it!” Chloe realised she, too, had been paralysed by fear before she knew it. She shook herself out of her terror and charged at the faceless monster.

  Suddenly, the faceless monster turned around in a fsh, swinging its unusual-looking tail that looked like a stretched out canine tail.

  Chloe was fast, but not faster than the faceless monster’s attack. She felt the weight and force slightly above her waist. It was heavy. If she hadn’t had her armour on, she would have snapped in half and shattered every bone in her body. She went tumbling and sprawling, but she found her bearings and flipped to her feet. She cursed herself inwardly for falling for such a simple ruse. It had been obvious, but she had a momentary pse in judgment. The faceless monster was walking towards the two instead of simply lunging at them. She should have known. She panicked when she broke out of her fear and saw the monster walking towards the two. She just jumped into the rescue without any second thoughts.

  “Chloe!! Help!!” Alex screamed at the top of his lungs. The faceless monster was upon him.

  “Shit!” Chloe darted towards the faceless monster, but she knew she wouldn’t be fast enough to save them.

  “Get down.”

  The voice and words resonated deeply with her. Without arguing or hesitating, Chloe threw herself to the ground as a bolt of fmes flew over her.

  The faceless monster, perhaps sensing the approaching heat, stopped and gnced behind. Its bck eyes widened when it saw the firebolt heading towards it. The faceless monster had no time to dodge, but it still tried. The firebolt struck the lower half of its body as it hopped to the ceiling. It shrieked loudly in a grating manner. It lost half the lower half of its body.

  Henry clicked his tongue. In order not to harm the two men in front of the faceless monster, he had shot a firebolt that was only a quarter of its usual strength. The faceless monster would have most likely died or at least been greatly hurt if the firebolt was at its full strength, but the two would also be harmed, and Henry doubted the two would survive the bst.

  The faceless monster snarled at Henry and hurriedly crawled away on the ceiling.

  “You’re not going anywhere.”

  The faceless monster didn’t crawl far before it was pulled down from the ceiling by an unseen force. It smashed into the ground with great force, shattering its limbs in the process. Despite being trapped by an unseen force and having lost all of its limbs and half of its body, it was still struggling to escape.

  “You are one ugly motherfucker,” Henry mused as he peered at the monster’s appearance before incinerating it into ashes with his fmes.

  The faceless monster shrieked in utter agony as the fmes consumed it. Though its cries did not st long, it was unnerving to be heard even for a short period.

  Henry shivered as he looked at the remains of the faceless monster.

  “A-are you alright?” asked Ani. “You look… terrible.”

  “I’m fine,” he answered, panting slightly. “It’s just quite exhausting to focus on controlling the strength and intensity of my abilities. But I’ll be fine. Come on. Let us move before more of them show up.”