"Brother, did you go out hunting humans last night? I told you not to stir up trouble around here! The police have their eyes on you!"
The werewolf struggled to push open the door of the deserted house. Leaning against the right-hand wall of the stairs, he made his way up to the second floor. He flung open the bedroom door and roared at the burly man squatting on the floor with his back turned. The man was frantically grabbing stuff from a large basin in front of him and shoving it into his mouth.
"Sean! We're werewolves! What's the big deal about eating a few humans? Weren't we raised like this since we were kids! Those people... What happened to your leg?"
The man Sean, Burke's informant, called his elder brother was the so-called foreign monster. Originally, the two brothers lived apart and had their own identities in human society. The elder brother, Felik, was a construction worker, while the younger brother, Sean, was a forest ranger.
Who could've guessed that Felik would suddenly show up at Sean's place some time ago, saying he wanted to stay for a while?
Sean was overjoyed at first. After all, it was his long-lost brother. So he quickly fixed up the house next door for Felik.
But on the night Felik arrived, he came to Sean, eager to go out hunting together, claiming it was to celebrate their reunion. Naturally, Sean tried to stop him. He knew that if his elder brother attacked the people in Dulas Port, the police in the garrison would come after him first, and he'd be in deep trouble.
So he strongly dissuaded Felik, and Felik initially agreed. Sean thought the matter was settled, but Felik couldn't hold back the beast within and went out hunting anyway.
When Burke and Keloit showed up, Sean immediately thought of his elder brother. He was the only outsider who'd come to Dulas Port recently. If it were someone else, Sean might have betrayed them. There was no such thing as loyalty among creatures like them; backstabbing was the norm.
But now the target of those two from the garrison was his own brother. He couldn't betray his kin, no matter what. So Sean had to stage a ruse. He pretended to be in unbearable pain and told them the "truth," but the information he gave them in the end was false...
Let's get back to the point. When Felik learned that his younger brother had been beaten up by the garrison guys to protect him, he immediately vowed to take revenge. But just as he stood up, Sean pushed him back down.
Take revenge? Don't be ridiculous! What era do you think this is? That kind of approach is ancient history. Dark creatures aren't invincible!
The two brothers were just low-level dark creatures. The garrison was full of policemen and firearms. If they were surrounded, they'd be shot to pieces. Moreover, they were probably gathering their forces to siege the false location Sean had provided. Going there now would be like walking into a death trap!
"So what do we do now? Are we just going to let it go?"
Felik reached into the large basin beside him, grabbed a piece of intestine, took a bite, and glared angrily at his brother.
"What else can we do? Run! The police must be going to the false location I gave them first. As long as we seize this opportunity to flee Dulas Port, we'll be safe. By the time they figure it out, we'll be out of their jurisdiction. Look, I've got everything ready. All my savings from this period are here."
"We can't leave!"
"Okay, let's get out of here quickly... What did you say, big brother? Can't leave? Don't you know how dire the situation is?"
Sean had just taken a step forward when he froze. He turned his head and stared at his elder brother in disbelief. He couldn't understand why his brother was still reluctant to run at this critical moment.
"I didn't just come here to visit you. I joined an organization in Dulas City... The people in the organization asked me to gather information here so they could take over this place later. So I can't leave now. If I go back to Dulas City empty-handed... Anyway, I can't leave."
The panicked Sean didn't notice that his brother's expression was growing stranger. The speed at which Felik chewed the intestines was getting faster and faster. Beneath his lowered head, a dark red energy was steadily seeping into his eyes, and a madness was slowly taking hold.
"No! You have to leave. It doesn't matter if we don't go to Dulas City. There are ships leaving for other places from this port!"
"Don't worry about me! You go quickly... Get out of here!"
Felik's expression grew more and more ferocious. His left hand tightly gripped the edge of the iron basin, while his right hand kept stuffing the bloody intestines into his mouth.
"Brother, what's wrong with you? What are these strange things on you... Don't tell me you joined that organization? How could you be so stupid!"
Sensing something was off with his elder brother, Sean was about to step forward to check when he saw Felik's clothes on his back start to bulge and tear. Spikes protruded from his back skin, and his figure transformed into a beast.
This scene made Sean recall a conversation during a gathering some time ago. Someone had mentioned an organization in Dulas City. They lured outsiders to join with generous offers. Most of the orcs who joined ended up showing signs of intermittent madness and were extremely blood-thirsty...
"Felik! What are you doing!"
Feeling his brother's sudden, menacing look, Sean immediately transformed into his beast form. Soon his figure swelled to twice its size, becoming a nearly two-meter-tall werewolf. At this time, Felik also completed his transformation, but his appearance was very different from Sean's.
Not only was he a bit bigger than Sean, but a large number of sharp spikes had grown on his arms and back. At the same time, his fur became extremely thick, and his whole body exuded a terrifying and wild aura.
The mindless Felik charged towards Sean. Without hesitation, his two claws lashed out at Sean's head. At this moment, Sean wasn't thinking about counter-attacking. He knew he couldn't defeat his elder brother in this state. So while dodging the attack, he kept backing towards the second-floor window behind him, hoping to jump out and escape.
But just as his right hand grabbed the window frame and he was about to turn and jump, a black spike suddenly pierced through his left shoulder. Then, several sharp pains shot through his chest. Looking down, he saw that several black spikes had embedded themselves in his chest. Looking up, he saw Felik's right arm still in a swinging position.
His neck was seized by a wolf's claw. The despair he'd felt when grabbed by that human before resurfaced. All Sean could do was pound on his elder brother's right arm with both his arms, but this time the claw on his neck didn't let go. His consciousness faded, and his vision went black...
After strangling his brother, the madness in Felik's eyes subsided a bit. Looking at the brother who'd died in his hands, he let out a long, mournful howl to the sky. After tossing down the body, he leaped out of the house and sprinted in the direction Keloit and Burke had gone!
On the other hand, after returning to the garrison, Burke began to rally his subordinates. According to the information Sean had given him, the culprit of this case should be a butcher in a slaughterhouse in Dulas Port. So after briefing his subordinates on the general situation of the culprit, a group of them set off again, heading straight for the target location.
Kelot noticed that the weapons the policemen were carrying on this mission had changed. They'd chosen double-barreled shotguns, which had a slower rate of fire but were much more powerful than ordinary pistols. For cold weapons, they'd taken out another batch of silver-looking weapons from the garrison's warehouse.
After asking a colleague, he roughly understood the reason. Monsters generally had strong defensive capabilities. Ordinary pistol bullets couldn't do enough damage to them in their beast form unless they hit a vital part. So to increase the success rate of taking them down, they'd specially customized these high-powered, large-caliber double-barreled shotguns to ensure each shot would be effective.
As for those silver-white long swords, they were actually ordinary long swords wrapped in a layer of silver. According to past experience, most dark creatures were afraid of silverware. Although the garrison didn't have enough funds to buy pure silver weapons, they could afford these silver-plated ones.
Of course, they'd only ordered a small batch. After all, the garrison wasn't very large, and ordering too many wouldn't be useful. These silver-plated weapons were usually stored in a special warehouse, and the keys were in the hands of several sergeants. This was to prevent some greedy people from stealing one or two. Silver-plating still cost a fortune.
Kelot didn't intend to play a major role in this mission. There were ten people in the operation. In his opinion, it was more than enough to catch a dark creature. There was no need for him to show off. Besides, what he'd done for Burke that morning was enough to secure his position in Burke's good books. There was no need to be a show - off in everything.
For Kelot, it was better to conserve his energy. This capture operation wouldn't affect his current plan. Moreover, even if he went all out and caught the dark creature, he wouldn't gain any benefits.
He was already an elite police officer. Although he really wanted to be promoted to sergeant, he'd only been in the garrison for a few days and already had the position of an elite police officer. As long as the superintendent of the garrison wasn't crazy, he wouldn't do something that would cause an uproar.
When it came to promotions, although ability was important, seniority also mattered. They couldn't just make whoever was good at fighting a sergeant.