"I should get something for her...I hope there will be some good fruit on the trees…" Azu mumbled to himself as he continued to pick the flowers he felt looked beautiful. He guessed that Eli might gift him something for his birthday like always and so wanted to give her something as well.
"No...if I waste any more time here, then I might get late to meet Eli. I wonder what she wants to say to me today," Azu continued to mumble with a happy smile as he decided to come out of the forest and walk towards the place Eli asked him to meet. He thought that he can give her something later.
"Oi, we found him. The halfling-dog who loves blood-suckers."
"Hmph, fucking traitor just like his banished father who lusted after that bloodsucking woman."
"Like father, like son. Licking the feet of bloodsuckers. How pathetic."
Azu suddenly heard loud grumbles of a few muscular, tall young men approaching him from the front and became anxious, wondering if they were here to cause trouble for him.
They looked a bit older than him, but the fact that made him nervous was that he recognized the three young men were from his father's werewolf tribe based on the tattoos on their arms.
'What are they doing here?' Azu inwardly thought in nervousness while trying not to look at them to avoid attracting their attention though he wondered if it was of any use.
"Why don't we teach him a lesson? Looks like he doesn't have his bloodsucking girlfriend around him."
One of them immediately whispered in a worried tone, "Hey, Larc, you still want to do this? His girlfriend is no joke. You know what happened to the ones she caught messing with her boyfriend."
"Hmph, that's because those idiots did it while that ice bitch was around. Look at him now. She is nowhere near, and trust me, we will finish this quickly before she even knows and also gain some merit in our clan for getting rid of someone who tarnished our sacred Nightfall bloodline. I already took some measures to make sure she doesn't come here. Don't you want to get promoted to a chief position? Besides, he dared to mess with our chief's only daughter. Hey, Taimur, grab his hands."
Azu couldn't help but be curious about what they were heatedly whispering to each other, but when he heard one of them named Larc telling the other to grab his hands, he panicked and tried to run with the flowers in his hand.
"Haha, this weakling thinks he can outrun us? Catch that bastard, Taimur!" Larc said with a scowl.
Azu used all the strength in his legs to get away as quickly as possible. But within just a few moments, a strong pair of hands grabbed him from behind and turned him around, only to get punched in the face as he fell down on the ground with a groan.
"Get up here!" But before Azu could recover from the blow, Taimur pulled him up and locked his arms behind his back as he made Azu face Larc and Liam.
Azu was profusely bleeding from his lips, but he ignored the pain as he looked at Larc and said, "P-Please don't do this...I didn't do anything wrong to you people."
"Aww...look at this innocent-looking dog. Hmph, who are you trying to fool with your words? You dared to mess with our princess, especially after we warned you not to go anywhere near her and sully her honor and reputation. You are not even worthy to lick her feet," Larc said as he unconsciously began to clench his fists, remembering certain moments where he saw Azu being close with the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes upon and longed for, by not only him but every single man in the tribe. However, nobody dared to be presumptuous because of her status.
But he still stood a chance since he was the son of one of the guardians of the tribe, and his status was no joke as well.
Azu had a bewildered expression hearing his accusations and said, "W-We are just friends! I...I haven't done anything to damage her reputation, nor would I ever want that. Besides, I never approached her on purpose..."
Larc's expression became even darker as he said, "You dare to say our princess approached you on her own because she is interested in you? You already have that bloodsucker, ice princess, but you are still not satisfied and want to two-time her?"
Liam also chimed in with a hostile gaze, "It seems like someone here is getting too ahead of themselves. To think that he has the balls to think of himself as a friend of our princess!"
"Two-time? W-What do you mean?" Azu couldn't understand what these men were exactly angry about other than the fact that he interacted with their princess though he never meant her any harm.
"Let's see if you will understand after we are done with a scrawny little weakling like you," Larc said with an evil smile as he punched Azu's stomach, making Azu's eyes become round as saucers, feeling all the wind in his stomach getting knocked out.
But the immense agonizing pain that followed and the inability to take another breath made Azu wheeze with a grimace as he didn't even have enough energy to cry in pain.
However, Larc didn't stop just because Azu was experiencing breathlessness. He continued to punch him like a punching bag, with Taimur holding him from behind as Azu already began to cough out blood though he still didn't let go of the flowers in his hand.
He could even hear the sound of his own ribs breaking like glass.
But the flowers began to dye red with his blood, and with just a few punches, Azu looked as if he was a dead man with bluish-red bruises all over his face and body.
Larc was, in fact holding back a lot since he knew if he increased the strength of his punches even by a little, he would instantly kill Azu, and he didn't want that. He wanted to torture him and make him feel regret for messing with the woman of his dreams.
Liam also occasionally joined in to batter Azu up, while Taimur also felt satisfied seeing Azu getting beaten up.
Viktor, who was silently watching this, was feeling rage seething through his nerves since he felt as if he was the one getting beaten up and wondered why this boy was not fighting back or why he was this weak.
He could feel the pain and helplessness Azu was feeling, making anger froth in his heart like a volcano. But he knew he could only watch and do nothing else.
Azu's entire body became lips, and his head was lowered in a languid manner as blood dripped down profusely from his mouth. Larc then looked at Taimur and nodded.
Taimur smiled as he slowly took out a dagger and merely scraped Azu's skin with it. He then threw him down like a dead weight since Azu was already semi-conscious.
"Ugh, he didn't even last a few punches," Liam said in a look of contempt.
Larc smirked, but then he saw the bloodied flowers still tightly clutched in Azu's hand and said, "Those flowers...were you planning to give it to our princess to woo her with your trickery? Look at him...he is still holding on to it as if it's his life. This is his plan...he wants to worm back into our tribe using our princess."
Azu was barely conscious enough to only hear some words here and there though he didn't have the luxury to say anything.
All he was thinking about was his family and Eli's face.
"I will make you let go of those flowers!" Larc said with gritted teeth as he stomped on Azu's hand.
*Crack!*
"Unng...." Azu could only feebly groan as his hand, which was tightly gripping the flowers, got crushed.
Larc got satisfied, seeing that he was able to get the flowers out of Azu's hand, and kicked his stomach as he said, "Why don't you call for your bloodsucking girlfriend? Where is she now? Hahaha…"
"Heh, he must have thought he could get by us by being under her protection. But look at him now. Without her, he is no different than a worm, haha," Liam said with an amused expression and continued, "How could someone supposedly having our bloodline be this weak? Or is his real father some human trash after his mother cheated on her husband? Hahahaha…."
Taimur kicked Azu's legs, "Hey, didn't you hear what my friends said? Why don't you call that icy bitch of yours?"
"N...No…." Azu feebly said as his vision continued to become blurry.
Larc scoffed and said, "Hey, what did this worm say—"
*Whoosh!*
But before he could complete his sentence, his expression suddenly froze as if he got petrified though his two friends were shocked to see a sharp icy spear protruding out of Larc's chest, especially where his heart was located as an icy layer continued to spread over his entire body till he turned into an ice statue before he could even let out a single word.
*Crack!*
Cracks suddenly appeared on the ice statue as it rapidly spread before exploding in every direction, making the two young men shield their faces with their arms.
"You...all...will...pay....." A frigid voice of a girl, filled with boundless resentment and hatred that sounded beautiful as an angel yet deadly enough to chill their souls, sounded behind the two shocked young men.