The Divine Wolf... or?

Although Ark was ready to fight with his life on the line, the shadows didn't seem too bothered by the fact. Their indifference to his bloodlust and killing intent was pretty demoralising. Although Ark was feeling a little hopeless, he would never let it be known to his enemies.

His mind was rapidly trying to figure out the best way to get them out of this situation, but he really couldn't seem to figure anything out.

He felt like they were just here after him, but he couldn't be entirely sure, and even if they were just after him, nothing guaranteed that they would leave Ephine and the rest alone. From the time they showed up until now, they had never really paid attention to anyone other than Ark, but after the first attack, they hadn't done anything else except for just eerily standing there.

Since they weren't immediately attacking him, Ark decided to try and communicate with who he presumed to be their leader.

"What do you want from us?"

The message was sent with the help of telepathy to the shadow who stood half a step in front of the rest.

"Kukukuku, what do we want, you say?"

"There are many things we want in this world."

"But for now."

"We want you!"

To Ark's astonishment, it wasn't the shadow in front that answered him. Instead, the answer came from 4 different shadows, who replied one after the other. Considering how fast they replied even though he wasn't even talking to them, he wondered whether their minds were linked together or something because normally no one should be able to hear his telepathy except for the recipient.

The recipient could naturally send the message along if they also had the telepathy skill, but that wouldn't explain how fast they formulated an answer. Ark was fairly confident that he was right, but he wasn't really sure how he was supposed to resolve this situation. Since they only came here for him, he could probably force them to let the others go, but that would mean he sacrificed himself.

He still had no idea what these people wanted from him, and who knows what kind of messed up fate he would have if he went with them.

On the other hand, Ark wasn't sure if he had much of a choice right now, since he probably couldn't fight them either way. Wouldn't it be better to at least make sure that the others get out safe? Maybe they could find a way to help him? Ark knew that it was a pretty slim chance, but he felt like he needed something to believe in right now.

"I can go with you, but on one condition"

He sent out another message via telepathy, and the shadows answered in the same manner as before.

"One condition?"

"What makes you think you can argue with us about conditions?"

To the shadows' surprise, Ark started smirking.

"Naturally using my own life!"

The leader of the shadows could feel the mana in Ark's body going completely berserk, and he immediately understood what Ark was trying to say.

"State your condition."

All of a sudden, a rather commanding voice penetrated the darkness, making everyone's ears ring. Ark knew that this was probably the leader talking for once and his heart started beating even faster.

"All you have to do is let everyone else go, and I'll go with you."

There was no way the others would agree with Ark's choice if he told them, so he just waited with telling them for a bit. He naturally had to let them go before he was taken away, but he didn't want them to interfere right now. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, in fact, it was the complete opposite. It was because he trusted them that he knew that they would never let him sacrifice himself.

Ark didn't really see it as a sacrifice, they were here for him after all, but he knew that they would try to do something if he told them.

"We have no interest in your friends, if you can just come with us quietly, sparing them is no issue."

As the others heard this, they naturally reacted. When the leader had told them to state a condition earlier, they had assumed that Ark was talking with him, but they now knew exactly what Ark was trying to do. Before they could do anything rash, Ark started to speak with them using telepathy.

"I know that you guys don't like this, neither do I, but please don't do anything rash, let me explain myself first."

"I don't think there's any way to justify this, but I'll listen to what you have to say."

Thufrat was the first and only one to answer, Ephine just gazed into Ark's eyes, her worry evident. Atar was feeling uneasy, he wasn't completely sure what was going on, but he had a feeling that it wasn't something he'd like. Ark felt even more guilty seeing everyone's reactions, but he had already hardened his resolve.

"It's not like I want to do this, but I'm sure you guys know we don't stand a chance against them. I'll leave it to you guys to rescue me, so don't be too sad okay?"

"I'm sure we could find a way to beat them together! There's no need for you to just decide we can't win on your own!"

Thufrat was pissed, he had finally found his own little family, like hell he could just agree with Ark getting taken by some random assassins.

"If you're so sure you could find a way, then just find a way to find me! I know that this is a difficult situation, but it's not like I find any of this easy, just please, don't make things worse than they are, we still have a chance!"

The few seconds of silence after Ark's outburst were painful, it was a hard situation, and no one knew what they should do to resolve the situation. Ephine's gaze grew heavier by the seconds, tears were starting to form in the corner of her eyes. She had never felt like this for anyone before, but she couldn't find the words to say. In the end, she just started silently crying.

Ark wanted to comfort her, but he knew that nothing he said right now would be of any real help to her.

Atar saw that his mother was crying, and he started to sniffle by himself too. He didn't even know why he was crying, but his mother was crying, so he did too. After Ark had given them names, their bonds to each other had gotten increasingly close, and seeing his own mother cry, Atar just followed.

"Just know that I can feel whether you guys decide to hurt them or not, and if you do, I'll blow myself up, I'll make sure to drag as many of you with me as I can!"

Ark didn't bother with only letting one of them know through telepathy like before, he made sure that everyone could hear him this time.

Seeing his crazed expression, the leader of the shadows almost found it a little funny.

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