God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'Hunter?'

The wolf nodded. Cain was a bit suspicious, but all his apprehension melted away rather quickly a few seconds later.

"The people with their eyes on us are moving!" Jenny said, her voice a little bit disturbed.

"How fast?" Cain asked.

"Faster than normal humans, that's for sure. Are you sure they are the ones we are looking for?"

Cain nodded.

Sure enough, just a few seconds later, Cain, Jenny, Susan, and Evangeline found themselves surrounded by over fifty 'men' wielding all sorts of weapons. These weapons ranged from crude-looking magic guns to bows to spears and even swords and daggers.

'How the hell did they get their hands on guns?!'

What all these men had in common, was the fact that they were no longer men. More accurately, they were no longer human. Rather, they were all beastkin, sporting all sorts of physical bestial characteristics, such as bushy tails, furry ears, scaly skin, long canines, serpentine eyes, and sharp claws. There was even one guy with strange, beady, insectoid eyes!

They were all also very tall. Taller than anyone in Cain's group, just like Hunter...

Cain knew for a fact this would be the case. According to what he had learned, all the men in the central region had been abducted by a creature called Angel. However, that didn't mean they were human when they were kidnapped.

The women in the central region were also like this. Their leaders had these features less pronounced, but Cain had seen that the women that had been left behind on the central island were all beastkin as well. It was only normal to conclude that the men would be the same.

However, most of the women, if not all of them on the central island had been bewitched by Angel. Although the leaders could still act as normal, the regular aether-mutated beastkin were under a daze, incapable of functioning properly. Cain had a feeling it would remain like that until he found and dealt with the abominable creature.

A deep voice pulled him out of his reverie...

"All you stinky bitches, Drop your weapons. Now!" One of the larger beastkin men yelled at the top of his lungs, his eyes red with anger.

The brows of all the girls in Cain's group furrowed as they immediately drew their weapons and pointed them at the group of men.

Cain frowned, 'Hunter! Control these men!'

There was silence across the mental link established between Cain and the white wolf before Hunter's heavy voice came across.

'I'm afraid I can't do that.'

Cain's expression darkened severely. Seeing that there was a misconception, Hunter clarified,

'I will if I could. However, these men are not going to listen.'

Cain's eyes narrowed dangerously, 'Then you won't mind if we put them down first before asking questions, right?'

Cain could sense Hunter's panic through the mental link. However, the moody teenager kept his voice as lackluster as ever,

'That... wouldn't be a good idea.'

Csin snorted mentally, 'Well we aren't going to hold back just because they were once human. Although I can't move right now, these girls can take all your men out in a minute, give or take a few seconds.'

Hunter's voice sounded like he was battling with the worst case of frustration ever. With a sigh, he explained the reason for the hostile attitude of the men,

'These men were just betrayed by all the women they trusted and were supposed to be working together with. That isn't something that can be overcome easily.'

Cain frowned. Although he had an idea of what happened, he was still looking for the details,

'Explain...'

With a sigh, Hunter continued, 'What happened to them was quite similar to the... unfortunate events I faced. One night, they were suddenly bound and shackled by all the women left in the central region. Then, they were told by that girl with the swords that they were to be sacrificed to a deity called the Blood Dragon. At first, they yelled and protested in anger, but they were beaten up.

Then, that terrible demon came for them. Apparently, they had no idea who or what he was at the time.'

'Eventually, they were drafted into the god-forsaken place.'

Cain fell silent, trying to digest what he had heard. Although Hubter wasn't the best storyteller, he still managed to get the major points across. Coming to his own conclusion, Cain asked another question,

'How did you all survive?'

Cain heard Hunter chuckle bitterly,

'Survive? We haven't survived.'

Then with a voice heavily laden with guilt, Hunter spoke,

'We aren't out of the woods yet. We are on the run...'

A look of realization dawned on Cain's face as he finally asked the right question,

'What happened to that Angel guy? Did you guys kill him?'

'Kill him? Haha! The only reason we are still alive is because he isn't done with us.' Hunter said with a bitter laugh.

Cain took this moment to look around and observe all the beast men. When he scrutinized them, he found out that every one of them, without exception, was wounded to some degree.

Some were missing limbs, some had lost one or two eyes. Some only had a few cuts and scratches. They were also dressed in rags. Some wore leather armor and chainmail, but the majority of them were dressed in dirty, torn clothing.

Cain could only imagine what they had done through...

Just as Ignis was about to take a step forward and bury all the beast men with fiery lava, Cain interceded,

"Let's stop this now."

Although Cain was lying on the stretcher like an invalid, his voice reverberated through the mountain, making it clear for all to hear. At the same time, all the beastmen fell silent.

"Ignis, relax..." Cain said in a deep voice.

"But..."

"Step down. Do not aggravate them anymore."

Although she wanted to say more, she kept silent. However, judging by the expression on her face, she was just one push away from tearing someone's head off.

Taking in a huge breath, Cain tried to sit up. He had rested for a while, and {Draconic Transfiguration} lived up to its name. Although it was hard, he could finally sit up.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot." Cain began...

However, he was cut off by one of the larger beastmen who stepped forward and glared down at him,

"Hunter had informed us of who you are. We will welcome you any time, but not these women. You are free to follow us, but we will not accommodate them." He said.

Cain smiled, "As you can see, I require their assistance to move around. Furthermore, if you'd give us a chance to explain, we can assure you that we can clear your doubts."

One of the other beaten snorted, "And how will you be able to do that?! These women are no good backstabbers!"

Cain felt a headache coming up...

Suddenly, a voice seeped into the minds of everyone present,

"I'll vouch for them."

The huge beastman resembling a bipedal wolf gritted his large fangs,

"Hunter, we respect you a lot. However, what makes you so sure they won't try anything funny? According to you, the only person you really trust is Cain. That means you aren't sure of these... women."

Hunter sighed, then spoke to Cain,

'See? Although I want to help, they are just too hard-headed. They respect me, but not enough to put their lives and freedom in danger again."

Cain frowned as he began thinking of a solution. His eyes twinkled as the spark of an idea appeared in his head,

'Where are you right now, Hunter?'

There was a brief pause from the other end of the mental link before Hunter answered,

'I'm behind that tall pile of rocks. The rest of us are back here as well. These guys over here are the ones that are still in fighting condition.'

Cain thought he could hear something ominous behind Hunter's words,

'You...'

A sigh entered into his ears, causing him to abandon all hesitation.

"If you can allow us to win your trust, then I can assure you that all your wounded will be treated."

Then, he turned to Susan, a pleading look on his face. Susan gave him an annoyed look before signing and rolling her eyes.

All the beastmen had looks of shock on their faces. A man with two small horns growing out from his temples, who was missing an entire arm couldn't help but stagger forward, his eyes filled with pain and hope,

"C-can you really fix my arm?!"

Another one whose left eye was bandaged stepped forward and exclaimed,

"Me too!"

"I lost my leg as well!"

"Please help us!"

Before the possibility of getting their mutilated or missing body parts back, these men abandoned their previous hostility and looked at the group of women with burning gazes.

The larger, wolf-like beastman had a skeptic look on his face,

"You have a healer?"

Susan had an uncomfortable look on her face as she spoke,

"Treating the injured will not be a hassle. However, restoring limbs is another ballgame entirely."

Just as the hope in the eyes of the men was about to die off, she reignited it,

"However, it isn't impossible."

Cain shot her a grateful glance. From what he could tell, while it wasn't impossible, it would still be extremely difficult. But these men didn't need to know that.

Although he still didn't seem convinced, the hairy wolfman finally relented,

"Alright. They can come along as well."

Cain nodded, then signaled to the girls. Although they would be able to take all these men on with little to no difficulty, that wasn't their intention. What they had come here to do, was rescue them...