Chương 271: Chapter 522: How about a little 'Ka-Ching' to start out the relationship?

"Goddamfethingovergrownmuppetfurball! That hurts!!" With one arm in the Snarfang's mouth and treated like a chew toy, Dora could only curse and stab it with her long knife. An avid believer in making every shot count, she put the knife's foot-long blade into the monster's ear and began rooting around and twisting the blade. The Snarlfang went crazy, throwing her back and forth, which hurt them both.

"Keep at him, Dora. You're doing a great job." With Dora keeping the big puppy busy, she might have enough time to set up her big spell. Ria, Ana, and Rosa were keeping the rest of the pack at bay. She deployed her astrobot to find the exact positions of the stars overhead and began the three-second chant for a Star Lance. The spell was pretty crappy, but if she had exact knowledge of which constellations were ascendant on any day and time, the damage would balloon quickly and could be modded to an AOE strike.

She was surprised that the Reaper was rising to ascendancy and eclipsing Canus. When had that happened? She adjusted the spell to use Death Mana as she finished the chant. The Sun grew dim, and a ray of darkness came from overhead, targeting the wolves. All of the normal wolves died instantly, the fur and flesh decaying. The big one was hurt, but not dead yet. It threw Dora one way and spat out her arm on the ground, not liking the taste.

It was having trouble keeping its balance, the deep wound through the punctured eardrum and into its brain causing havoc. The girls surged forward like piranha on a pig, attacking from all sides. Even Dora managed a blow, picking up her arm and hitting the Snarlfang in the snout. With a flaming spear in its guts, bleeding in the brain, and a dozen arrows in its chest, it finally fell over. Rosa took no chances and slashed its throat.

"Holy shit!"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on?"

"All I know is whoever said 'let's walk and learn the area' was a dipshit."

"That was you, Ria."

"I know. And my comment stands. You shouldn't have listened to me." Dora handed her arm to Darlene.

"Fix it, please. Came off again." Darlene sighed and lined up the metal arm with her shoulder socket and slammed it in, then poured all of her remaining mana into a Repair Gizmo spell.

"I still say accepting a mechanical arm from that wandering priest of Hephaestus was a shitty quest reward." Dora tested out the repaired arm and gave Darlene a thumbs-up.

"Not when I've got a personal mechanic to fix me up. I'd be dead right now if that had been a normal arm, and so would the rest of you."

"Oh, we can still make that happen!" From all around them, wolves came from the trees, ringing the small clearing where they had fought. Some were just skeletons, others bloody zombies recently raised. The alpha was much larger, pure black, and made from mist. It had red glowing eyes and eight-inch vampiric fangs.

"Shit, form a circle, back to back."

"Like that would help you much, but I do thank you for taking the time to listen to my offer. I'm Chartok, by the way. You can refer to me as The Old Wolf or T he Terror of Hollywood. I've got an offer for you: A painful death as we turn you into an afternoon snack, or a Quest that I think you'll like. Of course, it means working for me, a greater evil, to achieve a greater good. I hope you aren't like that pesky paladin group I killed earlier, with all those silly convictions."

The female mercenaries stared at the wolf. Some giggled. Darlene yelled back, "We're mercs. If you're paying good, we'll get to work."

"Oh, delightful to hear. We're not really hungry after those Paladins, anyway." Chartok, the Old Wolf, also known as The Terror of the Hollywood, has magnanimously offered you a quest: Kill Wolves and Keep Killing Them!" -Slay 20 of the invading winter wolves or worgs and gain double experience points and 1 Enhancement Point each. -Slay a Snarlfang to earn double experience points and 3 Enhancement Points each. -Earn special abilities for slaying 100 wolves and 10 Snarlfangs!

All bodies must have four usable limbs, half their teeth, and not have been killed with Holy Fire. This Quest is both Repeatable and Retroactive through the last ten minutes.

"It's a bit light on gold, but considering the circumstances, you have yourself a deal."

"Oh, I'm so thrilled to have you on board. How about a little'Ka-Ching' to start out the relationship? The paladins won't need this. Grab the loot and shoo, I expect much slaughter out of you." A chest appeared, with three Enchanted Holy Swords, two magical sets of Holy Chainmail of Agni, with protection vs Cold and Darkness, and an Ax of Wolf-Slaying. There were also six bloody pouches with loose change and three healing potions.

"You heard the boss, Grab and Go." They were gone in thirty seconds, not questioning the situation that gave them extra experience and 4 Enhancement points each. The loot was passed out based on who could use it the best, with gold compensating the others.

"That was weird as shit, you all know that?"

"Well, Marcy said this place was full of hidden quests. I guess we just found one, and with all the howling I'm hearing, there's plenty of wolf killing to do." Darcy was staring at her Astrobot. The Reaper was now in control of Cannus, but several wildcards were forming that she couldn't figure out the nature of yet. But whatever was happening, her spells were going to hit a lot harder and faster.

"Chug those potions, and let's find packs we can take out, one by one. If we get too many, we fight to the finish and maximize gains." The winter wolves, unaware they were being hunted, continued their howling, making finding new targets easy. Behind them, in the clearing, Chartok was pleased with his haul. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Two dozen usable wolf carcasses and this delightful body? Yes, Please. Happy to accept. I've been wanting an upgrade forever." His current body became a formless shadow that flowed over the dead Snarlfang. Black, shadowy fur sprouted, and dead sinews reknit. As his spirit completed the takeover, his eyes began to glow. An upgrade he was very fond of. He threw back his head and howled, the sound going louder and louder.

Across the Hollywood, people hurried indoors, put animals in the barns, and shuttered their windows. The Old Wolf was prowling tonight, and no one was safe. As the winter horde came upon the scattered farms, they were frustrated by a lack of easy victims, and many died from crossbow bolts from farmers defending their homesteads. Sedgewick, Rowan Keep, and the Hamlets were preparing for the wolfpacks. Two Couriers from House Franklin had brought the warning along with a herd of seventeen pregnant mares.

Suzette came running to greet them, knowing they'd never move the mares that fast unless something was chasing them.

"What's coming for us?" Neither Courier knew who the half-fae woman was, but they could guess. One tipped his hat.

"The best we can tell, Mayor, is several thousand hungry wolves, including some big, nasty ones. They're homing in on this village because of the smell. They're starving and eating each other, and we could smell the roasting meat all the way to Hurlsford. Might be what saves that town. We need a secure place for these ladies, and then we need to go do what we can to lead those things astray and buy time." Suzette was glad that she had come back to Sedgewick following the battle down south.

This wasn't a good time to have the Baron away.

"I need someone to ride for Gadobhra to fetch the Baron and his people."

"Taken care of, Ma'am. Harmony went to warn Rowan Keep and was going to teleport directly to Gadobhra to talk to the Baron." Suzette hoped like hell that a certain Uncle of Ben's wasn't sitting in a lounge chair launching rockets or something else when she got there.

"Good, then we're covered there. We'll keep the mares in town until Ben and Rolly get here. There are some very secure places with good grass where we can hide them and keep them safe. You can do the most good by riding to the Hamlets and getting everyone inside the thorn hedge and into their houses. I'll see to the defenses here. We can take a lot of people, so don't worry about sending them our way." Preparations made long ago were now the key to the town's survival.

If they had to stay in the town for days on end, they had plenty of food, water, and underground places to put people. But there was more she could do. Running to the top of her tavern gave her a good view of the town. The low walls around the town would stop normal wolves, but she'd seen the monsters that came with the armies of winter. They could leap high and climb like cats. She'd been hoarding her Town Building Points, preferring to do what they could by hand and save for an emergency.

This was an emergency, and the time to use them. As the Fairy Lights all over town began to glow and spread their light, the town walls began to grow taller. Within five minutes, they were thirty feet tall with overhanging crenellations, making it nearly impossible for normal-sized wolves to climb. She'd prepared another line of defense as well, spending a month planting cuttings of the Silverthorne vines in planters every five feet around the outside of the walls.

Poisonous thorn bushes weren't normally a fun thing to have near a town, so she hadn't encouraged their growth. That changed now as she concentrated her thoughts on the gateway to her realm and called for power. The gate above the small stream opened, and the mana of her blighted Fae Realm poured down the stream. A moat appeared around the town, a few feet from the walls, and the stream emptied into it, bringing sustenance for the Silverthorn bushes.

Under her guidance and with help from hastily cast spells, each plant began to grow, covering the walls with bright silvery thorns that resembled small daggers tipped in black. She'd have a lot of pruning to do when this was done. All of her mana poured into the work of protecting the town, and every town building point was spent. Ben found her there a few minutes later as he and Mudhead landed on the rooftop.

"I like what you've done with the place." She wished she were as happy about things.

"I just wrapped this town in deadly thorns. I'm hoping I don't kill someone on our side." Ben understood, but he'd already been high enough to see what was coming.

"Warn people. Better yet, get them inside. We've got a hell of a lot of trouble coming. Big packs are spreading out through the woods and heading for Sedgewick, the Keep, and the Hamlets. I'm mostly worried about the Hamlets. They have the least in the way of defenses. And those damned Snarlfangs are big enough to break through houses and gates and leap over your walls." Suzette stood up and called on her Realm again, shifting into her Fae Armor and the guise of the Silver Sorceress.

Ben let out a low whistle, "I love how that form-fitting armor just crawls all over you and hugs the curves. Any chance I can get a set for Harmony?"

"Only if you want a half-elf girlfriend. It requires the elven or fae Heritage."

"She'd never go with that. Why downgrade from Franklin? I'll go shopping at the next Fae Market and see what I can find. In the meantime, I need to find a place for a herd of mares pregnant with legendary foals. Mudhead here is a little worried." Suzette pointed to where Ozzy was just running into the town, Rolly, Cham, and John right behind him.

"How about the Ironwoods? Rolly can open a corridor in the trees, and there's plenty of grass and water there, and the protection of the treants."

"That will work."

"I'll handle it, you get in the air and give us a good scouting report." He saluted, and Mudhead launched off the roof and into the sky. The Bell Tower of the Bank began to ring continuously, sounding an alarm. As if in answer, fire shot from Ozzy's smokehouse a hundred feet in the air.