A beat of silence passed.
No one moved.
The runt chuffed lightly, a sound that might've been cute- if it didn't come from a creature that could dwarf a Siberian tiger.
Then, against all logic and common sense, the man who seemed to be their leader screamed
"For Ishtar!"
Caelun didn't need to know the language to understand what that was. A war cry. A very stupid one. The horror on the other party members' faces confirmed as much. His own amusement bloomed into a silent, almost delighted grin. How charming, this fool had just doomed them all.
But then-
Something moved.
Faster than Caelun expected. Faster than anything he'd seen in this world.
He could've reacted.
Should've.
But his guard had been lowered- not out of carelessness, but arrogance. He hadn't dodged once since arriving here. Not because he couldn't- but because some part of him thought it was beneath him.
A lesson to rectify that stupidity, now, was coming fast.
The lance struck.
Lightning-quick. Brutally precise.
Straight toward his heart.
It pierced his flesh- deep.
Two inches. Then two and a half.
And then… it stopped.
The entire battlefield froze.
The party stood in stunned disbelief. Their strongest warrior hadn't even been able to fully pierce the monster's chest. Not with a full charge. Not even close.
Daz looked confused more than afraid, perhaps too dim to grasp the full horror of the situation hed put himself in.
The runt hound whined, shocked. That was the deepest wound it had ever seen its master take.
Caelun?
Caelun was wide-eyed in his own way.
Two inches.
They could hurt me.
Not kill. Not defeat. But pierce. Break skin. Draw a gout of blood, and shortly after healing steam from flesh.
It was the first time he'd bled here, and not just a drop but TRULY bled. The first time anyone had earned it.
And it thrilled him.
Rage surged- burning, pride-driven- and beneath it, something else.
Excitement.
This world had fangs after all.
Before anyone could react, Caelun's massive hand clamped down around the shaft of the lance. The thick wood and fine metal splintered and crumples like twigs and tin foil in his grip. He threw the broken tip from his wound with a twitch, steaming blood hissing as it began to close.
Then, with effortless force, he yanked the weapon- and the man still gripping it- forward.
Daz flew into arm's reach.
The other hand snapped out and caught his throat.
"Hah… haha… now that wasn't very nice."
Caelun's voice was low and almost cheerful- like a teacher scolding a toddler who broke something valuable.
"In the spirit of fostering goodwill with your teammates, I won't kill you. Yet."
He leaned closer, eyes gleaming like molten gold behind scorched skin.
"But I can't let that blatant disrespect slide. You attacked me without a word, like I'm some mindless beast. Tch."
He paused, then grinned, voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur.
"Still… I'm merciful. You can keep your lance, seems like it's your livelihood."
He tensed his grip, shifting from around his neck to his torso clad in leather armor.
"But that stunt you pulled?"
"It's going to cost you an arm."
And with a wet, sickening wrench, Caelun ripped the man's shield-bearing arm clean from the socket.
Daz's scream turned to a gargled wail as Caelun dropped him, his body hitting the stone with a wet, twitching thud. The severed arm followed an instant later, flopping like butchered meat.
The runt hound growled low beside its master, flame leaking from its nostrils in anticipation.
Caelun stared down at the writhing man, his smile vanishing into a cold, hard line.
Then he turned his gaze to the rest of the party.
Those still standing.
Five stunned adventurers- three of them women, wide-eyed and frozen, too shocked to speak.
He could feel it- none of them had agreed to that charge.
No steeled resolve. No bloodlust. Just confusion, horror… and a flicker of regret.
He stepped forward once. Just once. The floor groaned under his weight.
"You didn't scream with him," Caelun said, voice smooth but edged like a drawn blade. "Didn't even move."
The crimson-streaked hand he'd used to rip the man's arm off gestured vaguely toward the bleeding fool.
The woman closest to him, tall, bronze-skinned, red-haired, tensed, but didn't raise her weapon.
He looked at her the longest.
Strong. Built like a wall.'Hot.' He thought, but not just her looks there was fire in her heart, it seemed. But she hadn't charged either.
"I'm not here to butcher people for their captain's idiocy," Caelun said, turning his head enough to scan them all.
"So I'll assume he acted alone. You should heal him though," Caelun said simply, voice like thunder muffled through velvet. "He's bleeding out, fast, and I didn't go through the trouble of not ripping his head off just to watch him die choking on his own spit."
He took another slow step toward the group. Then another.
The runt hellhound followed suit, like a shadow of flame and sinew, ears perked and hackles raised.
"I've been merciful," Caelun continued. "I could have erased him. Could erase all of you."
His words weren't threats, they were facts. Cold. Heavy. Unemotional.
"But I won't. Because I want something."
A long pause.
"Information."
His eyes locked with hers- the tall, Amazonian one with the crimson hair and hardened body. The kind of woman built for war, not display. She'd stayed calm. She'd shown restraint. She had power- not just strength, but weight. She hadn't broken ranks. Hadn't screamed.
"You didn't follow his lead," Caelun said to her, voice dropping into something quieter, but still immense. "You have judgment."
He jabbed a thumb toward the whimpering Daz without even looking. "He doesn't lead anymore."
A moment passed, before he added with a tone both mocking and serious:
"Congratulations. You're in charge now."
He paused again.
"Speak."
Another beat.
"If you value his life, start by healing him. But know this- I'm done waiting. If I don't get answers… I'll take them."
Author's note: yoyo, just a friendly reminder from someone who was a fellow reader till like 3 days ago, please drop a review if it isn't too much trouble, let me know what you think either there on in the concept chapter (tavern chapter) I'm a very new author and I have no idea what i am doing right or wrong and always looking for ideas from the people who enjoy enough to read the story, thanks in advance!