Undead Lord of Gluttonous Pride

Damien wrapped his fingers around the wooden rung of the ladder and placed his right foot upon the lower ones. After that, he then began to push himself up the ladder.

He looked up and saw the skeleton had already reached the top and onto the rooftop.

Damien then quickened his pace, not wanting to lose sight of it and get lost as he did with Horwah by accident.

After reaching the top, he saw that the archer had already hopped onto another rooftop. Its steps were both nimble and gentle. He couldn't even make out the sound of the wooden planks underneath it creaking.

He wanted to try it. He approached the edge of the rooftop he was on before gently hopping over to the next one.

CREAK...

He sighed in disappointment at its creaking and decided to try to develop his mastery of it. Damien then looked up into the sky. It was shrouded in a black fog.

It gave off quite a malevolent aura that would cause anyone near it to immediately flee, however...

'I like it...'

Damien didn't know why, but he felt oddly familiar with it, like he belonged to it, as if he were its kin.

But somewhere inside him, he felt repulsed by its very sight. The feeling inside him caused him to break out of his admiring behaviour towards it.

"GRRR...!"

The sounds of growling suddenly broke the calm silence in the air. He snapped his head towards the sound and found what seemed to be a canine growling at the archer.

The wolf stood on a separate rooftop, with others hopping over.

It then began its dash to the edge of its rooftop and leapt over towards theirs. Just as it was about to land, it was suddenly intercepted with an arrow to its neck.

The wolf fell and bashed its head against the wooden roof before dropping down to the alleyway between their roofs.

It landed with a wet thud; the blood from the puncture wounds pooled around his head and soaked into its fur.

Damien watched his happen and eyed the archer as it gripped its bow tightly, its bony fingers still hovering behind the bowstring.

The wolves behind it saw this, and a look of uncertainty appeared in their eyes before dashing it away. They all rushed towards them.

They numbered three to four.

The archer quickly nocked in another arrow before firing it, taking out another one. The wolf fell, but another replaced it before being taken out by the archer's sword.

The patting of the two remaining wolves against the roof resounded. The air around them felt tense. Damien subtly closed the gap between him and the archer.

He glanced back at it and couldn't tell what it was thinking or if it was capable of that.

All he knew was...

'I need this one alive...'

Damien then looked back and focused his attention on the wolf that was staring and gnashing its teeth at him. Its black fur rustled under the gentle breeze over the kingdom.

Its yellow eyes held slight hints of madness. Damien could even make something small inside it, moving around.

TAP TAP

Damien felt something nudge against his arm. He glanced back and noticed that the archer was handing over its sword to him.

It seems even it had recognised their current situation. Although these wolves were significantly less troublesome to deal with than the bird, that was it caught it off guard.

These wolves are capable of tearing them apart, with their strength being far above theirs. The weapons at their disposal are sharp fangs and claws.

Damien nodded at the skeleton before grabbing the hilt of the sword and pulling it out of its sheath. Its chipped edges reflected against the moonlight, giving it a mystical impression.

"GRRR...!" The wolf looked at Damien and growled before dashing towards him. He gripped the handle of the sword and raised it; he then watched it pounce towards him with its mouth wide open.

Before it could take a bite out of him and he could swing down, the skeleton next to him kicked it away, far from them, before spinning around and delivering a punch to its wolf—knocking it to the ground.

Damien saw his wolf fly back a bit, just about to the edge of the rooftop, before scrambling to its feet. He looked back at the archer with a perplexed look on his face before approaching his wolf.

It stared up at him and snarled, exposing its sharp teeth at him. Damien then raised his sword and swung down at him, a bit clumsily though.

BAM!

The wolf pounced at him and headbutted him in the chest plate. He fell back and landed on his rear. The wolf then pinned him on the ground and began to bite at his face.

Damien tried to push back the wolf as best he could until the sounds of footsteps appeared and approached them.

After that...

PSHT...!

The blood of the wolf splattered against his face and ran down it. Its dead eyes stared at him as a sharp object was pierced through its head.

It seemed to be some kind of arrow. The arrow was then pulled out, followed by the weight of the wolf tilting to the side.

Damien looked up and saw the familiar face of the skeleton with chainmail and his rusty metal gauntlet holding onto an arrow dripping in blood.

He quickly looked back to the other wolf and saw that it had become a pin cushion of arrows. Damien glanced back to the skeleton's quiver and noticed that no arrows seemed to be in it.

'Did it stab all of its arrows into that wolf...?'

Damien couldn't help but feel like he wasn't achieving very much. He had saved three times now, and all he had given back was nothing but incompetence in achieving a task simply laid out to him.

He sighed and thanked the skeleton, which just stared at him for a bit before walking over to the other wolf to pull out its arrows.

Damien stared into the sky and at the beautiful white-glowing moon that positioned itself at the peak in the pitch-black sky.

"I don't know why, but... I feel like I am disgusted with myself..."