"Priest, when will the transformation be complete?" Said a black cloaked man to one of the black robed men.
"It will be finished when it is finished. It is not easy to corrupt an ogre; their honor helps to protect their hearts." Responded the robed man called priest.
"Hurry it up. I have a bad feeling about this swamp." The black cloaked man said.
As he walked off the other priests turned to their leader and sneered.
"How can we work with such a coward? When we first arrived, he insisted on constantly moving and now that we have stopped for the ritual, he complains about a mere feeling? Ridiculous."
Frowning, the leader of the priests scolded them, "Do not look down on him for being cautious. If any temple found out about this, we would be hunted no matter where we went in this world. We must finish our work before that happens."
Grumbling that even their leader was a coward they turned back to their work dragging another person forward to be sacrificed.
Sighing, the lead priest wondered how he had gotten stuck guiding these arrogant fools around when he could do so much more converting commoners instead. Only to have his head snap up as a howl echoed through the camp.
Hooowwl!
"Wolves! We're under attack by wolves! Aagh!" Screamed one of the black cloaked men just before a wolf's jaws snapped closed around his throat.
Freydis cursed under her breath as she failed to stop Chronos from leading the attack.
As they had run through the swamps the werewolves that had followed Chronos had transformed into their full wolf form and it didn't look like they were going to change back now.
"What do they look like?" Yelled one of the men as he threw aside his cloak.
As more of them threw away their cloaks Freydis realized that they were knights in full armor, a wolf's teeth and claws would struggle to pierce that armor without enhancement. And right now, none of the wolves following Chronos had enough sense about them to use enhancements.
"Gray wolves with red markings! They are much larger than normal wolves, sir!" Another knight yelled as he deflected a set of claws.
She couldn't wait any longer! Leaping forward Freydis landed in the middle of three knights and swung her sword in a circle cutting all of them in two.
"You fool! They're Beklaedning werewolves! Release the devil beasts and prepare for intense combat. We're retreating!" Yelled the lead knight.
Several priests ran towards the cages and used enchanted knives to cut the locks off, releasing the misshapen beasts to kill the wolves. The devil beasts roared as they charged at the wolves, intent on destroying the creatures that had disturbed their feast.
The lead priest made his way to the lead knight from the altar and asked, "Do we have any chance of escape?"
"Yes, but we must go now! Abandon anybody that can't keep up."
"Right."
They determinedly tried to escape only to realize that several werewolves had moved to surround them while they were distracted by the wolves.
"Cut our way through them!" Yelled the lead knight.
In the camp the other wolves had seen how Chronos covered his claws and teeth in [Sever] allowing him to cut through their armor and shields with ease. Following their bloodline, they started using [Sever] as well, rapidly cutting down the knights and priests that had fallen behind.
They were only slowed down when the devil beasts intercepted them.
The miasma that the devil beasts used to cover their bodies managed to counter [Sever] to some extent but slowing them down was the best that they could do.
The wolves were currently fighting on pure instinct and hadn't thought to protect themselves, so the veteran fangs moved forward to assist them and protected several wolves from being seriously injured or killed.
"Cut me down! Let me help you!" Roared the ogre when Chronos jumped at a priest in front of him.
In a moment of clarity Chronos clawed the chains binding him to the stake ripping them off then turned to launch himself across the battlefield far faster than should have been possible, leaving an afterimage in his place.
Ripping the throat out of another priest Chronos saw the individual with the strongest stench trying to escape the encirclement. Rushing forward he was just about to tear his head off when a sword swatted him aside, he growled as the lead knight saved the stinky one from him.
"Should we fight?" Asked the lead priest.
"No, that wolf's fur is acting like armor. My sword won't deal enough damage before the others reach us." Said the lead knight.
Turning both of them ran into the forest while two more knights stepped in front of Chronos.
Distracted Chronos engaged the two knights while the stinky one escaped.
Freydis cut through a devil beast as she rushed to keep up with Chronos, swearing as she saw him finish the two knights and prepare to do that weird rapid leap that kept propelling him across the battlefield.
Grabbing his tail just before he leapt into the forest she pinned him to the ground.
"Stop running all over the place! You'll get yourself killed." Looking around she saw several devil beasts charging at them. "Stay right next to me. These beasts are stronger than they look."
Releasing him she pointed her sword at the nearest beast waiting for it to enter her range. Just as it entered her range, she used a thrusting technique to close the distance and remove its legs. Running past it she attacked another beast while she heard crunching from behind her as Chronos bit through the devil beast's neck.
Good, at least he was staying near her now.
As the day wore on, they slew all of the devil beasts, knights, and priests that had stayed behind. Looking around Freydis saw that the wolves were finally calming down and regaining their senses, then she saw Chronos sniffing the ground near the edge of the forest.
Walking up to him she whispered, "We'll get them next time. For now, come back to the camp and calm down."
Chronos growled in frustration as he made his way to the altar in the center of the camp. The lead priest had taken the idol with him when he ran leaving nothing but blood and bones behind.
Striking the altar, he tore it down releasing a bout of miasma that had been gathering inside of it.
They watched for a few moments as the miasma started dispersing before suddenly being attacked by spirits made of energy from the water and trees. That was an interesting sight but most of them could only see blue and green colors flitting about launching attacks at the black mist until it disappeared.
With their senses fully returned the wolves turned back into their werewolf forms.
"Can someone tell me what happened to all of you?" Freydis asked.
"Well, when we heard the howl, our blood started burning but then..."
"We forgot what happened and just enjoyed running until um...I don't remember."
"I smelled something foul and it really pissed me off. It felt like I hated it to my core, but I don't know why."
After hearing from the other werewolves, she mostly understood what had happened, but Chronos hadn't answered her yet.
"Chronos what do you think?" She asked.
"Um, I think I partially awakened their bloodlines or perhaps they were ready and I just gave them the final push. I'm certain that I saw some of them using bloodline abilities while fighting, either way I can tell that their bloodlines have been partially awakened. Oh, also I have the [Alpha Wolf] title now, I'm still looking at its effects. By the way, how long were we out of it?"
"Most of the day. We ran all the way to the northeastern part of the swamps inside of that weird howling bubble you created with the others."
"I'm not sure where that came from, but I hope I can use it again." Chronos smiled at the thought.
Looking around he saw that the pack members were opening cages and letting people out, Sten gathered them together to treat injuries and malnutrition. Their captors had only fed them enough to keep them alive until they could be sacrificed.
The ogre was standing nearby leaning on a large axe he had picked up from one of the knights, from its size it probably belonged to him originally but had been taken by the knights after his capture. It looked like he was struggling to stay upright.
Seeing as he had still been able to fight even after the black robed priests tried to corrupt him, Chronos thought he might know more about what was going on here than the others.
Moving over to him Chronos sat down next to him, "You should sit down, you must be exhausted after all of that torture."