PgueDaddy

  Orstelia stood over the mangled corpse of her first assaint. The other three slowly backed away in fear from the gore-slickened mia, who did nothing to hide her full majestic form. She snapped her blood-smeared face towards the three still standing, her eyes crazed with a manic fury. She let out a low hissing growl before leaping with enough force to break the stone floor. Her cwed hands were outstretched to grasp her prey and her fanged maw was open to bite her prey. All reason was gone and only primal fury reigned over her.

  ---Hours earlier---

  Orstelia was resting her head on the table. One could practically see the steam pouring out of her ears. She had spent the past hour just reading over and signing documents so she was mentally exhausted. She only had to sign things but felt it was a good idea to read them and she was now regretting it. There were so many words that she knew the meaning of but when they were arranged that way she couldn't understand any of it. She let out a groan of discomfort as she looked up from the table's woodwork. Orphidias was casually looking over anything that Orstelia had just signed. When she was satisfied she stamped it with a heavy metal and wood stamp that left the imprint of the Hunter's Guild's symbol, two strange-looking birds being pierced by swords and curling around a shield. Orstelia got up from her chair and began wandering around the office. Mainly to stretch her limbs but she also needed something to do while waiting for Orphidias to finish.

  Each of the bookshelves was overflowing with an uncountable amount of books. Most were old records but the rest were tomes of various things. History, magical theory, old and new bestiaries, combat manuals, medical books, alchemical tomes, and hidden behind everything was a small collection of books she didn't know the purpose of. It was as if they were hidden shamefully away from prying eyes. Curiosity took hold of her and she pried the closest tome out of its hiding spot and immediately put it back in embarrassment once she saw the title. She might not currently have a sex drive but a book entitled "The Demoness Knight Corrupts the Naive Princess Into Her Personal Cocksleeve" does wonders to stoke her imagination.

  Leaving the bookshelf with the secret stash of what she presumed was erotica behind her she wandered towards the terrarium on the opposite end of the room. It was full of pnts she recognized from the Everfall Forest, her old home. Inside the terrarium was a snake that she vaguely remembered seeing before when she was a snake. It was small for Tarrise, only about the length of her forearm, and was covered in scales that could copy the colors and textures of whatever it was on. This one wasn't so its bright white scales contrasted with its surroundings. It stared at Orstelia with its tiny head and beady bck eyes, its crimson tongue darting in and out as it did. Orstelia felt the urge to pet it, and she almost did until the sound of a moving chair brought her back to reality.

  Orphidias nguidly stretched as she stood, her arms and legs making popping noises as she did, which Orstelia found weird since the two limbs were metal and wood.

  "That should be the st of the paperwork. You must return tomorrow to receive your membership card and get assigned to a party. Oh, did you have any preference for your team members?" Orphidias asked as she was stretching her stiff body.

  "Preferably women. Men haven't exactly left a good impression on me yet."

  Orphidas chuckled as she moved towards the door to help show Orstelia to the main lobby. As they arrived in the main lobby and Orstelia went to leave Orphidias briefly stopped her.

  "Make sure to show up by the midday bell tomorrow. Bring any equipment you need but pack light. If you need anything you can visit the bcksmith across the lobby or the various equipment merchants near the bcksmith. Assuming you have money of course." and with the final remark Orphidias turned around and started walking towards her office.

  Orstelia felt like her equipment would be fine for now. Fulger just had to return with her weapons which probably wouldn't take long. "A walk around town it is," she said aloud to herself as she began to leave the Hunter's Guild.

  It was early afternoon and Orstelia was enjoying the warmth of the sun as she sat in the middle of a public flower garden. She had explored just about every main street from the guild to Fulger's house and was trying her best to memorize everything when she found this wonderful park. All the flowers were in full bloom, making the park a veritable kaleidoscope of colors that she had never seen before. It was quiet, unlike the hustle and bustle of the main streets. All Orstelia could hear was the gentle gurgling of the artificial brook and the ornate marble fountain in the center of the park. The perfect environment to test out the [Ouroboros Mana Circution Technique].

  She had no idea how to activate it. When she tried to like how she used [Great Gambit] all she felt was a slight tug on the back of her mind.

  'Perhaps I should try meditating. I have nothing to lose for trying.'

  She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths in and out, all the while focusing on that feeling in the back of her mind. She didn't know how long it had been but eventually, the subtle noises of the park disappeared and all that she felt was the subtle warmth of the sun. Soon she felt a subtle heat build up from within her and slowly start spreading outwards. As the heat spread further and further she began to feel a slight discomfort as it felt like her blood was fire. Full of energy but chaotic and wild. An energy that needed to be released. But as she was about to allow it to run rampant she felt a heavy blow to her head before darkness took her consciousness.

  ***

  Orstelia groaned as she awoke. Her eyes saw only darkness before they began to slowly adjust to it. The familiar feeling of metal shackles around her wrists immediately clued her into the fact that she wasn't here as an esteemed guest. She instinctively tasted the air with her forked tongue. The myriad scents and tastes were almost overwhelming. She tasted moldy stone, sweat, blood, and fear the strongest. This wasn't a good pce. Her eyes confirmed what she thought when they finished adjusting, a damp stone cell with a door of metal bars. As she was lost in thoughts of how to break out the clinking of moving chains in her cell brought her back to reality.

  She wasn't alone in the cell. Chained to the rightmost wall of the rectangur room was something she was not expecting. A nude muscur wolfkin girl with silvery blue hair was chewing on her chain with incredible gusto. The thing that she was not expecting was her specific hair color as when a wolfkin has that specific hair it means that they are a 'War Wolf', a descendent of one of the four Fenrir's, specifically the 'Wolf of Winter, Frenzigoth'. The teeth with a metallic sheen were also a decent giveaway as only those with the blood of mythical beasts in their veins manifested them in humanoid species.

  "Hey winter wolf, how strong are those chains?"

  The winter wolf stopped and looked at Orstelia with perplexity before responding.

  "Well, they're made of Mirage Steel so they are only as strong as they need to be to hold their captor when they are closed around them."

  "So if I got stronger right now, I could break them?"

  The winter wolf's ears and tail joined her face in the confused expression she was making.

  "Theoretically yeah you should be able to. But you would have to know a body-strengthening technique guarded closely by the bigger martial arts sects due to their heavy distrust of outsiders. Or overload your body with mana. Or..."

  Orstelia just started to ignore her at that point. She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and repeated the process she had done earlier. The feeling of heat building up from within came faster this time, almost like it was bouncing around in anticipation.

  Each breath she took made the heat grow further and further until it felt like a raging inferno inside her. Then the heat suddenly disappeared and all she felt was a calm like a pcid ke. But something stirred under that ke, and it was coming to the surface fast.

  Orstelia pulled against her chains and with a newfound strength ripped the chains apart. She grabbed one of the metal manacles around her wrist and it crumpled like wet paper underneath her touch. Her cellmate just looked on in awe as she tore through her restraints with ease and then tore apart the cell door leaving her all alone again. But she could've sworn that her ex-cellmates eyes looked as if they were apathetic to everything around her. Much different than the concern they showed before.

  Orstelia felt as if she was in a haze. She could recognize that she had escaped her cell but she seemed as if she was acting almost unconsciously throughout the dim stone halls. Then pain erupted from her shoulder. Her vision cleared enough that she could make out the shape of an arrow piercing through her shoulder. She could hear shouting behind her. Her vision slowly turned red as she lost consciousness.

  *****

  A feminine figure slowly grumbled awake from a bed that could only be called rickety. She slowly massaged her shoulder where an old scar of a sword wound could easily be seen. She hated that she was assigned to this post. The accommodations left anyone with any sense of comfort wanting but she especially found them cking. She once was of a great noble house that had unwillingly taken the fall for the crown prince's crime. Now she found herself in a secret tunnel system connecting to Goldtusk's sewers trafficking sves while being undercover for her organization. She hated it here and would gdly jump at any chance to leave. As she was getting dressed a series of three short knocks echoed in her room. She quickly composed herself before announcing with authority "Enter!"

  A tall, pale, and gaunt-looking elf with bck hair and white eyes entered, his face looking towards the ground in reverence. "I come bearing ill news mistress. A quartet of guards reported that they saw a product escape their enclosure and that they would pursue and recapture it. It has been a quarter-hour since then and we have heard no response. Would you like us to send a rger force to see if anything is amiss?"

  She just mentally sighed at the sheer incompetency of these fools. How hard was it to catch one person that they had captured before?

  "Do it, but if you do not have them captured in an hour then I will personally pluck off your head like a grape." The elf just lowered their head further in response and left, closing the old wooden door behind them.

  She leaned back in the sole chair in the room and audibly sighed. She had just woken up and was already tired of this day. She finished dressing before covering her face with a metal mask fashioned in the shape of a snake and a dark green full-bodied cloak with snakeskin patterns. She felt at ease with her cult's garb once again draped over her. These cretins were not allowed to look upon her blessed form. Grabbing her snake-adorned spear she left to oversee the incompetence at hand. Her instincts were telling her that she must witness this event personally.

  She approached the stairs that led down to the prison cells and saw a sight she didn't expect. Gathered around the stairs was everyone not deployed to the second force of capture. All were clinging to their weapons while screams of pain echoed up the pitch-bck stairs, all the torchlight extinguished by someone or something. Suddenly the severed head of the pale elf was thrown up the stairs and hit one of the other svers on the chest.

  While everyone else panicked she could feel a presence in the dark. Something that her instincts were telling her she should bow down to and give her all to. She clenched her spear to calm her nerves. "What manner of monster have we brought to our home," she muttered to herself quietly.