To be entirely truthful, back when Griswold had first been requested to come and deal with the wolf problem in the area surrounding Hage, he had believed to have fixed the issue. Twice. The first time, he had injured a bunch of wolves and made sure they would flee back into the forest, making it clear that this area was not something they could claim as their own. And for quite some time, this actually seemed to have worked out for everyone, though this type of peace was clearly not meant to last. Shortly after the magic knight exams had come to an end, end Griswold had managed to make his way into the squad of his choice, it seemed that the town of Hage was once again in need of aid. And once again, the aid they needed came in the form of needing help dealing with a bunch of angry wolves.

Supposedly howling all night long, being much more aggressive than they had been during their past encroachment and seeming to be driven by something more than just instinct this time, Griswold had decided to head out again. This time, he was not going to go along with the man that had accompanied him last time, the strange guy he believed was called Kreig or something along those lines. Due to the way in which he spoke, he was rather hard to understand at times, though he had done a fair job at doing as Griswold had requested. Killing the wargs in a manner that would have caused them as little pain as possible, the two of them took care of the issue in a single afternoon. But now that things had come to the point they were at, the recently appointed black bull could not risk going easy on the animals again out of a love for nature as a whole.

The reasons for that were relatively simple. All of the things he had tried up until this point had turned out to be a massive failure as the same wolves he kept scaring off eventually returned with a vengeance, more wargs had seemingly left the deep wood and made their way into the forsaken realm, and a child had gone missing. Had the latter not been the case, Griswold might have even kept on trying to save the wolves by simply hurting them and chasing them back into their woodland territories. But now that something was turning the animals into a much more feral state and made them much more prone to attack, the chances of a child dying was not something Griswold could factor into the category of “acceptable risks”. And so, as he set out into the region, he did not stop by Hage first to ask for questions or directions.

He had been here three times already to deal with the same kind of problem, and as it were, there was nothing the locals could tell him that he did not already know, that he did not already read in the mission briefing he had quickly scanned his way through. Wondering whether or not Kreig had received the same notice, what with him having been the senior knight who had been in charge of the mission the last time around, back when Griswold was still considered a junior knight, he did not have the luxury of checking in with his squad. That, and he felt like after all the things had happened, after all of his trials and tribulations that shaped him along the way, he was now a good deal stronger than Kreig was at the time of their meeting. That said, it made him wonder as to exactly how powerful the lightning mage had become since that point in time, which was something he wished to check up on at a later date.

Right now, he had a wolf problem that needed to be taken care of. Hoping that he might make it in time to find the child and save him or her from becoming food for the feral canines, he had a name to live up to. Dubbed the Solarian Wolf by the locals, it had become a title that many had come to know him by, even if they had never seen his face before. A face was not something people needed after all, all they needed was for a name to act as a symbol for the poor and the downtrodden to feel like there was someone out there who was looking out for their wellbeing. And if there was someone out there who was specifically looking after these people, it was Griswold. As such, letting this kid die was simply not something he could let happen, not if he was to bear the mantle that had been bestowed upon him by others with some modicum of pride.

Wandering near the woods where the child had supposedly disappeared, he kept his senses sharp, hoping to pick up on any cries of help, rustling of leaves in the underbrush or trees, the distant howling of wolves or the snapping of branches. Any of these things could be an indication as to the whereabout of the child, or a wolf trying to sneak up on him. Believing the latter to be unlikely, what with wolves coordinating with one another through means of howling while hunting in packs, Griswold refused there was some solitary hunter out there that was going to overtake him from behind. While he ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, he called out to the child from time to time, hoping he would be heard and might receive a call back. Not having anything to fear from the local wildlife such as the wolves, them coming after him would only make things easier.

After all, if the child were still alive, the wolves focusing on Griswold rather than on it would provide at least some level of safety until he could find the kid and bring it home to its parents. And just as surely as a bear would shit in the woods, so did his calls eventually get the attention of the local wolves, as a howl could be heard from the distance. Luckily for him, the deep woods were still a good ways away, and these forests on the side of the forsaken region had seen plenty of trees being felled by loggers. Creating small clearings and thinning out the otherwise thick tree-line, it allowed him to see about ten to twenty meters ahead of him before the trees and shrubbery blocked his vision. Not stopping even once, he eventually saw the first of the wolves approaching him, instantly noticing that something about them had changed. Their eyes had turned a bright red as blood dripped from their mouths.

Not having the faintest clue as to what might have happened to them, the blood made him fear the worst for the child. Reaching for his large black blade, he brought it down upon the first wolf, slicing its skull and neck in two halves and instantly killing the beast, causing the others to pause in their tracks. As they merely watched him, they did not seem to actually move an inch, which was very much unlike any wolf he had ever seen before. Remaining almost stationary as Griswold pulled his sword out of the dead canine, he readied himself for another attack. Waiting for one of the wolves to make a move, it bothered him when none of them did, standing still like a bunch of golems waiting for a command from their summoner. After a while, Griswold realized what the wolves were waiting for, as several of their larger and faster warg cousins arrived at the scene. Accompanied by a strange, low howl from up ahead, all of the wolves and wargs shot into a frenzy.

At this point, with attackers coming from all directions, there was one sure-fire way of handling them all at once, though there was a catch to it. If he released his solar magic to just incinerate everything and everyone around him, he would end up dealing unspeakable amounts of damage to the forest and the other forms of wildlife that had done nothing to deserve such a fate. That, and there was the child that might still be alive somewhere. So if the kid were to be hiding nearby and was simply too afraid to call out for help, it too would be incinerated to ash in the wake of his attack, which just went to add further insult to the injury. So instead of that, he utilized a spell he had been working on for some time now, building up solar mana in his body and spreading it throughout his limbs. Pushing his speeds to the point where he was more than twice as fast as he originally was, he dashed off.

No longer needing to walk or run, he just flew through the air at breakneck speeds, slicing and dicing the wolves and wargs he passed as they barely realized what was going on before their heads went flying, they got bifurcated, bisected or simply all of the above. Turning into quite the blood bath, the amount of wolven and wargen bodies began stacking up rather quickly. Putting the last of the wolves down, Griswold could not help but feel somewhat sad and disheartened by all of it, especially as he had made at least three separate attempts at chasing the wolves away from this place. More than that, he had also been part of a separate undertaking that was supposed to take care of the warg problem, stopping them from coming out of the deep woods and making their way this close to the farmlands. But as he pondered what else he might have done, he noticed how the wolves’ eyes stopped glowing.

Wondering if maybe they were somehow being controlled by something, he yet again heard the low-pitched howl from up ahead. Likely not realizing that his pack had been slaughtered, Griswold did not waste a moment of his added speed and flight and instantly made his way towards it. Maneuvering through the forest as well as he could, his current lack of control over the spell meant that he hit a branch here and there from time to time, though whatever minor injuries he sustained nearly instantly closed up. For that was the other perk that came along with this spell, mana-based regeneration, meaning that for as long as he had mana to spend on it, he could keep healing himself as he continued fighting with all of his might. Flying onward, he accidentally noticed the child cling to a tree as it sat on a branch in a tall tree. Breaking in his tracks, he flew over momentarily to tell what seemed to be a boy to stay put for a little bit longer.

For as he was floating around, he heard the howl a third time, this time being so close that he could actually see what made the noise. Looking like a wolf and a man, Griswold began pondering some of the local folklore which he had been dismissing for a long time. Talk of werewolves had after all been no less outlandish than vampires or demons, yet both of those seemed to actually exist. Appearing to be the culprit behind it all, it made sense that such a man wolf would be able to call upon lesser wolves and lead them in a way. This meant that, regardless of what it was, it needed to be taken out of the equation once and for all, or none of this would ever end. Once it died, there was a chance the local wolf population would be able to fix itself, though only time would tell whether that was going to take place or not. All he could do was hope, and see to it that the first steps towards their return to glory were taken, which meant taking the head of the wolf man.

Trying to start up a conversation, or at least making an attempt at figuring out why it was doing all of this, all Griswold got in return was a maniacal roar as it came charging at him. Gripping his sword with both hands, he too dashed towards the werewolf, who could clearly not keep up with him as he just swiped his clawed hand towards where he had been a moment ago, leaving itself open to be attacked from just about every other angle. And so, the magic knight made every bit of use of the situation to cut the creature in half just below the chest, causing it to drop to the ground in two pieces. As it did, the two halves of the beast man made harrowing noises as bones cracked and flesh churned, turning the body back into that of your average human being. Being somewhat surprised at his ferocity, even reverting to human form, being cut in half and rapidly bleeding out did not keep this person from trying to lash out at Griswold.

Believing to be doing this person a service, he brought his sword down a second time, severing his head from his shoulders to truly stop him once and for all. With that, he hoped things would finally be able to be put to rest so the people from Hage would no longer be harassed by wolves. Leaving the body for what it was, carrion to be feasted on by the local wildlife, he returned to the perched kid with quite a lot of thoughts in his head. Putting his sword on his back and picking the young boy up from the branch, Griswold made sure to tell him that the scary wolves were gone, and that he was taking him home now. But as the two of them flew off, rapidly making their way from the forest towards the town of Hage, Griswold was bothered by how little answers he had received about this whole werewolf issue. Not being able to put a whole lot of it into his post-mission statements once he returned to HQ, it was then that the child spoke the only few words he would speak before going back to just being as quiet as a church mouse.

Claiming the wolfman was someone he knew from the village, and that he had been the one that told the boy to come in the first place, Griswold had his level of worries elevated. Stating that the man had told him to visit a cave that was close to where they had been, the boy had apparently seen a place marked by blood and heard horrifying sounds from within the cave, leading him to abort the plan and make a run for it before eventually climbing all the way to the top of a tree and remaining as quiet as humanly possible. Feeling like this child was going to have an aversion towards nature and forests for the rest of his life, there was one thing he was worried about much, much more right now. So as he dropped the boy off with his parents, he would make his way over to the blacks bulls headquarters for a debrief before he would come back to town. If there was really a werewolf living in Hage, there was a chance that there were more.

After all, wolves were not known to be solitary creatures…



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