Darkened Days Approach

With blood dripping from the blade of his dagger and a Razor Hound dead at his feet, Avic stood in defense of the merchant. Standing before them were a dozen hungry Razor Hounds, ready to make them into a quick meal.

They snarled aggressively, showcasing their mouths full of shark-like teeth. Pouncing at Avic like a springy kangaroo, one of the Razor Hounds widened its jaws, ready to remove a chunk of flesh from his arm.

Avic didn't have much time to think. He had only managed to kill the other Razor Hound so easily because he had caught it off guard. Dealing with them when they were aware of his presence was an entirely different story.

To make things worse, if he tried to dodge then the man behind him would surely become dog food. Having no more time to think, Avic swung the tip of his dagger toward the attacking Razor Hound. Its jaws widened, inching closer toward Avic's blade with each passing second.

With a painful yelp and the splattering droplets of blood, Custos shoved his sword through the Razor Hound's neck, slamming it to the ground with all his might.

"Custos! You stole my kill!"

"Not the time, Avic! If I hadn't jumped in just now, you would have been dead!"

"What are you talking about?! I was going to stab that thing in the throat, you idiot!"

"These things are called Razor Hounds! They're extremely smart. Just now, you might have thought it was going for your arm but it was going for your dagger. Those shark-like teeth can bite through even steel like butter, meaning it would have destroyed your blade! Once it got rid of your dagger, the rest of the pack would have attacked you like a swarm of killer wasps!"

Avic shuddered, "Well, shit... You saved my life!"

"D-do any of you have a plan..?" Trembled the merchant.

"Get back into your carriage and see if you can get your horses to start moving again!" Warned Custos.

Still frightened by a sense of death, the merchant quickly did as Custos instructed. This left Custos and Avic alone to fight the pack of hungry Razor Hounds.

With their heads lowered and their teeth bared, the Razor Hounds walked back and forth, observing Avic and Custos. This made Custos a little uneasy as it was difficult for him to tell what they were planning.

"Hey, where's Eliisabet?" Asked Avic.

"I told her to stay and protect the woman and the little girl in the carriage."

"Okay, that means it's up to us to kill these things!"

"We need to hurry and think of something. They're not attacking us now because they're trying to gauge our strength. Once they've determined that we're weaker than them, they're going to attack us at once and we won't be able to fend them off."

A droplet of sweat then fell from Avic's face as a grin crossed his lips.

"How can you be smiling at a time like this?"

"I'm smiling to try and ignore the fact that I just wet myself a little..."

"Okay- Wait, what?"

"Never mind that! You seem knowledgeable about these things. How do we beat them?"

"Well, Razor Hounds are known to be very loyal to their pack leader. If we can find and kill their alpha then they might just be thrown into disarray."

"Okay then. That leaves the question, as to how we find it?"

Custos then went silent for a short moment as he pondered. He could tell that the pack leader wasn't among them. That meant it had to be hiding somewhere, waiting for the chance to strike.

Just then, before Custos could finish thinking, two more Razor Hounds dived forward, baring their teeth. He immediately swung his sword around in response. This was when one of the Razor Hounds caught his blade in its mouth like a game of fetch. Custos hissed as he realized he had made a grave mistake.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the second Razor Hound attacked. However, Custos was far from done. Like that of a seasoned Sicarius, he twirled himself like a tornado, avoiding the second Razor Hound while simultaneously snatching Avic's dagger from his grasp. He then jammed the dagger into the top of the Razor Hound's skull before kicking the other one to the side.

"Custos, how the hell did you just do that?!"

"Avic, watch out! The alpha is beneath us using a Bloodline Art!!'

Looking down at his feet, Avic saw a large strange shadow with glowing red eyes glaring up at him. Immediately, both Avic and Custos did their best to dive out of the way as a massive 5m Razor Hound erupted like a volcano from beneath them. Unfortunately, the force of the emerging Razor Hound resulted in both of them losing their balance. This caused them to bounce painfully across the ground before rolling to a stop in a cloud of dust.

"Ugh..! What the hell is that affinity..?" Groaned Custos.

"...It's an Affinity Of Shadow."

"Shadow? How can you be so sure? That's a very rare affinity..!"

"We can discuss that later! This thing is much bigger than the others!"

Avic and Custos didn't even have time to exchange any more words. The pack of Razor Hounds immediately closed in on them as fast as they could.

"Bloodline Art: Ice Field!"

Slamming the palm of his hand on the ground, Avic used his Bloodline Art to summon a field of sharp spikes made of ice that shot up from the ground. A cold chill ran through the air and two more of the Razor Hounds yelped in pain as they were spiked from underneath. However, this was not even close enough to stop the alpha. The icy spikes broke into pieces like shards of soft glass as soon as they tried piercing its thick coat of black and red fur.

"You saved us there! But we need a plan!" Shouted Custos.

"Don't worry, I have one!"

"You do? What is it?!"

"Yes. We run! I'm not fighting that thing!! My Bloodline Art didn't even leave a scratch!"

"You can't be serious!!"

Avic and Custos wasted no time. They quickly picked up their weapons and ran as fast as they could. This was when the merchant stuck his head out from the carriage and called out to them.

"You two! Over here!! The horses are moving again!"

Before they knew it, the carriage began moving as the horses galloped as fast as they could from the approaching danger. Avic and Custos gritted their teeth and ran with everything they had. The alpha of the Razor Hounds was right on their tail, gaining with incredible speeds. The two then bent their knees and jumped toward the carriage.