"What are your orders, clan head?"
The clan head of the Mud Marauding Tribe kept silent.
The past 3 hours were the most tragic in the history of this marauding tribe. Not only did they lose their lair, they already lost more than half of their members in just the span of these 3 hours.
And all these were because they took a mission from a notorious assassin.
At this moment, the clan head of this marauding tribe regretted his decision. He was initially tempted by the huge amount of money that was offered, now he was tied into a quagmire that he could not get himself from.
After the losses that his tribe already suffered, the clan head felt tempted to just ditch the mission but the mere thought of the assassin caused him to shudder.
"We cannot defy the will of the Scorpion after accepting it".
"Let us find and kill the boy".
"Perhaps, if we hand his head over, we'll be rewarded handsomely".
"We will follow your decision, clan head". All the remaining members of the Mud Marauding Tribe who survived the onslaught voiced their support.
The clan head nodded. "Sniffer, lead the way".
"Yes, clan head".
…
"Ugh!!!" Rex suppressed a growl as he grabbed his head.
"Rex, are you alright?" Turan asked.
For the past hour, Rex had been anything but normal and it made Turan raise his vigilance as he now shielded the commissioner's daughter behind him.
His hand grabbed his sword tighter as he was ready to react to any change.
It took a few seconds, but Rex finally replied. "I'm fine".
Turan did not refute that but the reply made him raise his vigilance all the more. He was never a friend of Rex, but after the graduation tournament, he tried to get close to him in the army and already more or less understood him.
At this moment, Turan was 98% positive that something was wrong with Rex.
After 3 hours of rampage by the Swamp Spiders, they finally seemed to reduce their intensity a bit but they never truly retreated.
The loud hissing of the beta Swamp Spider could still be heard occasionally, and the Swamp Spiders still roamed aimlessly around the swamp.
Despite their roaming though, their decreased intensity of savagery and attacks let Rex and Turan take a much-needed breather.
Due to the roaming Swamp Spiders, they could not escape the swamp yet so they rather climbed one of the huge trees in the swamp to seek refuge.
For the past 1 hour, they've been on this tree as the frightened commissioner's daughter, Anna fell asleep. Only Turan and Rex were awake and their reasons for being awake were different.
Turan could not sleep since he wanted to keep watch for the night, while Rex could not sleep because he was hungry for blood.
Rex's abnormal state gave Turan more of a reason to stay awake.
Turan stared at Rex. At this moment, Rex was huddled up in a corner of the space inside the tree where they hid.
His body shook constantly like someone who just caught a cold, and his forehead was filled with sweat, he probably had a running temperature.
Turan's first intuition was that Rex caught a cold but the occasional growling from him like he was suppressing something was what spooked him.
"Rex, are you really ok? You look sick".
"I'm fine!" Rex snarled which made Turan instinctively back off.
Rex's snarl briefly echoed through the veil of the night as Turan backed off while remaining alert. By now, he was 100% sure already that something was wrong, he contemplated taking Anna and going on the run.
In his moment of contemplation was when an attack came.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
3 solidified mud spears were thrown inside the hole in the tree as Turan instinctively jumped to block Anna with his body.
He activated his Triple Kill Sword's defensive mystic effect which blocked 2 of the spears that went directly at him, the last went straight towards Rex.
"The marauders!"
Turan growled as he carried Anna before shifting to a more secure corner of the hole inside the tree but he paused after getting no response.
With a back filled with cold sweat, Turan turned to face Rex only to see a spectacle that left him spooked. Rex could not defend himself on time, the mud spear pierced straight through his chest as blood poured like a fountain.
This was not what spooked him though, Rex was not gasping for breath or dying as he expected, he was rather morphing into a monster!
Rex's breath turned ragged and rough like a beast as his eyes glowed red all of a sudden while his fingers and legs grew sharp nails.
This was not the only change this time, Rex growled as his bones made crackling sounds while his body squirmed. His physique seemed to be changing as he grew taller while a pair of bat wings jutted out of his back the next moment.
"Ugh!!!" Rex growled louder as this transformation started.
Turan could already feel his heart in his throat as he witnessed all of this. The next moment, he decided that he already saw enough as he made for the opening that led into the hole but Rex's transformation was already complete.
Whoosh!
Rex moved before Turan could even blink as his right hand pinned him firmly to the walls of the tree hole. Turan could not resist as this half-bat monster turned his neck before digging its long fangs into his exposed neck.
"Ugh!" Turan growled in pain and pleasure as his blood was sucked.
At this moment, Rex already lost his sanity once again.
While all these happened inside the hole, Anna was still fast asleep while the marauders were already rapidly climbing the tree to finish their unfinished job.
Turan's body soon started turning white and shriveled as all blood was being drained out of his body. All sensations of pleasure soon left and were replaced only by pure pain as Turan groaned in deep pain.
He struggled but the half-bat was far stronger than him.
Left with no choice, Turan could only beg. "Rex, please stop".
This was the magical word, the next moment, Rex's brain seemed to have short-circuited as all his actions froze while his eyes closed.
"Please stop…" "Please stop…"
The word kept on reverberating in Rex's head as his eyes opened the next moment, they were still red but they were no longer glowing. "Turan?"
"Rex, please stop".
On hearing this voice, Rex melted, he released Turan immediately as he grabbed his head. This was when he noticed his current state, in his moment of madness, he activated his morphing ability and was already a half-bat.
Rex never intended to bite Turan and now he felt extremely guilty as he looked down at the weak soldier, this was when he heard it.
At this moment, Rex's sensibilities were at an all-time high, both his sight, his hearing, and literally everything related to his 5 senses was amplified.
Creak!
Once Rex heard it, he looked down.
As Rex looked, his heightened sense ability kicked in. His red eyes penetrated the blockade of the tree as he instantly saw all 33 marauders, 6 who were currently climbing the tree and the others who surrounded the tree on the ground.
Rex revealed his fangs instantly and growled.
"Marauders!"
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com