Chapter 4: Moonlit Predators
The rain had stopped.
Dark clouds drifted across the night sky.
The city remained silent.
Too silent.
Fenrir Endarth stood in the middle of the ruined street.
Broken concrete surrounded him.
The remains of the Bloodfang Werewolf had already been devoured.
Yet the feeling of satisfaction didn't last long.
Because something was coming.
A lot of somethings.
[Hostile Entities Detected.]
[14 Targets.]
[Estimated Levels: 10-18.]
[Threat Assessment: High.]
Fenrir frowned.
Fourteen.
Just one Level 12 werewolf had nearly killed him.
Now there were fourteen.
"OBLIVION."
[Yes.]
"How strong am I compared to them?"
A brief pause followed.
[Host Victory Probability: 21.8%.]
"..."
That wasn't encouraging.
[Correction.]
[Host Victory Probability Rising.]
[Current Probability: 23.4%.]
Fenrir blinked.
"Why is it increasing?"
[Host Continues Adapting.]
The answer was absurd.
Yet somehow believable.
After all...
Nothing about tonight had been normal.
---
A howl echoed through the darkness.
Then another.
And another.
The sound spread across the city like a plague.
Fenrir immediately tensed.
His enhanced senses picked them up.
Moving rapidly.
Surrounding him.
Hunting him.
The hunters had become aware of their prey.
Or at least...
They believed he was prey.
Several shadows appeared atop nearby buildings.
Crimson eyes glowed within the darkness.
One.
Three.
Seven.
More continued appearing.
The atmosphere grew heavier.
Dangerous.
Predatory.
Then one of them stepped forward.
A massive werewolf.
Larger than the one Fenrir had killed.
Its fur was dark gray instead of black.
Scars covered its body.
One of its eyes was missing.
Yet its remaining eye radiated intelligence.
Unlike the frenzied beast from before...
This one was thinking.
[Bloodfang Werewolf Elite.]
[Level 18.]
[Threat Assessment: Very High.]
The werewolf sniffed the air.
Its gaze landed on the blood covering Fenrir's body.
Then it looked toward the spot where the corpse of the dead werewolf had vanished.
A low growl escaped its throat.
Rage.
Pure rage.
Fenrir understood immediately.
The dead werewolf belonged to their pack.
And now they wanted revenge.
Unfortunately for them...
Fenrir wasn't planning on dying tonight.
---
The Level 18 werewolf suddenly spoke.
A rough voice emerged from its monstrous jaws.
"You..."
Fenrir froze.
It could talk?
The monster's remaining eye narrowed.
"Impossible."
Its gaze swept over Fenrir's body.
The crimson aura.
The silver-black fur covering his arms.
The terrifying scent radiating from his blood.
The werewolf took an involuntary step backward.
Fear flashed across its face.
"You smell like..."
The creature stopped speaking.
As if it couldn't bring itself to finish the sentence.
Then something unexpected happened.
Every werewolf present lowered its head slightly.
Not out of submission.
Out of instinctive terror.
The bloodline of the Alpha Sovereigns was affecting them.
Even though Fenrir himself didn't understand it.
The Elite Werewolf noticed the reaction.
Its expression became ugly.
"Kill him."
The hesitation vanished.
The fear vanished.
Only hostility remained.
"Kill him before he grows."
---
The entire pack attacked simultaneously.
Fourteen werewolves exploded forward.
The ground shattered beneath their feet.
Windows burst apart.
Streetlights collapsed.
Fenrir's eyes widened.
Too many.
Too fast.
Too dangerous.
[Emergency Mission Generated.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
MISSION: Survive The Pack
Objective:
Eliminate all hostile entities.
Rewards:
Bloodline Evolution Progress.
Bonus Experience.
Unknown Reward.
Failure:
Death.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Of course failure is death."
Fenrir cursed.
Then he moved.
BOOM!
The first werewolf reached him.
Fenrir ducked beneath its claws.
His own claw slashed upward.
Blood erupted.
The werewolf's throat opened.
Its body collapsed.
[Level 11 Bloodfang Werewolf Eliminated.]
Another attacked.
Then another.
Then three more.
Fenrir was immediately overwhelmed.
Claws tore through the air.
Fangs snapped inches from his neck.
The battlefield became chaos.
Blood.
Steel.
Concrete.
Everything exploded around him.
Pain surged through his body as several attacks landed.
Deep wounds appeared across his back.
His shoulder was nearly dislocated.
His ribs cracked.
Yet something strange happened.
Instead of weakening...
Fenrir became more excited.
More focused.
More dangerous.
The Alpha Sovereign bloodline was responding to the battle.
Responding to the hunt.
Responding to the slaughter.
---
Far above Earth.
Within a silver palace floating among the stars.
The ancient goddess remained seated upon her throne.
Her name was Selene Astralys.
The Moon Goddess.
One of the oldest divine beings in existence.
At that moment...
Her beautiful face carried an expression of disbelief.
She watched Fenrir through a divine mirror.
Watched him fight.
Watched him bleed.
Watched him evolve.
Every second.
Every movement.
Every instinct.
Her heart grew colder.
Because she recognized the signs.
The ancient records.
The forbidden legends.
The nightmares hidden within divine history.
The Alpha Sovereigns.
The rulers of the God Devourers.
The monsters responsible for the greatest war creation had ever witnessed.
Selene slowly clenched her fist.
"No..."
"He cannot be allowed to mature."
Yet despite saying those words...
She couldn't move.
Not yet.
Because another feeling existed within her heart.
Curiosity.
An emotion she hadn't felt in thousands of years.
---
Back on Earth.
Fenrir punched a werewolf through a concrete wall.
Blood sprayed.
Bones shattered.
The creature died instantly.
[Level Increased.]
[Level Increased.]
Notifications appeared continuously.
The battlefield itself was becoming his training ground.
His hunting ground.
His evolution ground.
And every enemy he killed strengthened him.
The surviving werewolves finally realized the truth.
This wasn't a human.
This wasn't prey.
This wasn't even a monster.
It was something worse.
Something ancient.
Something that should never have existed.
The Elite Werewolf stared at Fenrir with growing horror.
Then it spoke a name buried by history.
A name its ancestors had feared.
"A Sovereign..."
The moment those words left its mouth...
The world seemed to become colder.
And deep within Fenrir's soul...
Something ancient smiled.
The hunt was no longer beginning.
The hunt had already started.
And tonight...
The predators would learn what it meant to face a true apex hunter.