Capítulo 55: The hunter becomes the hunted
Gaude looked up Irma. He had already confirmed that the bloodline potions were safe to consume for certain individuals, and she would most likely be included among them as the most skilled werewolf – further experimentation and mindscape invasion had revealed that each time a beast bloodline potion was taken, in addition to physical changes an astral form of that beast would form within a person's mindscape. Those astral beasts were extremely territorial, not willing to share the mindscape with each other.
When the beasts were around equal in their abilities, such as Re'em and Unicorn due to the latter's restorative abilities, they would fight until one of them died, but the other would become greatly weakened. Gaude suspected that some sort of mental or other energy was used up by the astral beasts and that was the cause for the host getting weakened in the process.
However, things were different when an apex predator, such as a Dragon was present – they would devour the new beast, assimilating the beast's strength into their own, only making the host stronger. Since Irma had informed Gaude quite a while ago that she could become a Werewolf in her mindscape much earlier than she could in reality, he figured she'd be just fine with a few light snacks getting sent her way.
As Irma had already mastered the Skinwalker process, Gaude decided to go with ten drops for Irma.
"Just drink this first. Don't forget to enter your mindscape, I doubt your wolf can take on a grown unicorn on her own.", Gaude told her. He handed Irma the Unicorn potion first, hoping that having the Unicorn bloodline would mitigate any kind of issues that could arise during the process.
As Irma took the potion, she closed her eyes and her facial features seemed to become finer and her brunette hair became silvery-white. If Gaude was to be honest, she had become a few degrees more beautiful, now having an ethereal feel to her. He felt like he shouldn't send her to a battlefield anymore, to not risk her face getting marred by scars.
"How's your wolf?", Gaude asked when Irma finally opened her eyes again. A silver glow flashed from them for an instant, then disappeared just as quickly.
"Still hungry.", Irma replied.
"Perfect, then we can get to the main course. The bloodline of the strongest Re'em in the zoo."
Gaude handed Irma another potion. She took it and suddenly, her body started bulking up, going from an ethereal beauty to that of a female bodybuilder in an instant. Irma was still in her mindscape, however, most likely battling the Re'em with her werewolf.
Irma's body was slowly drenched in sweat, her breathing becoming heavier. It was only half an hour later that she opened her eyes.
"How the hell can a bull take so much damage?", she asked, still panting.
"Umm, Irma, I suggest you don't pass any mirrors for the time being.", Gaude said.
It only took one glance from her to see what Gaude was referring to.
A demonic voice suddenly sounded way too close for Gaude to feel safe: "Little brother, what have you done to me?"
Gaude felt that if he wasn't able to come up with something good, his path to global world dominance would be cut off then and there. He said in a voice filled with every bit of confidence he managed to scavenge from his failing mind: "I can fix it. Just give me some time. I know of a special trait that allows one to change the shape of their body."
What Gaude was more curious about was why the bulkiness hadn't gone to the Werewolf body. Was there a limit to how much muscle the Werewolf body could take? According to Gaude's memories, Irma's Werewolf hadn't been proportionately as bulky as her current body was.
"Umm, shift into your Werewolf form for a bit.", Gaude suggested.
Irma did just that, and it became apparent that the Werewolf, while it had gained some more muscle, was still on the lean side, as if any more muscle would hinder her flexibility and mobility in that form. Her tail had become fuller and her fur seemed longer and shinier, with specks of silver even in the black areas, making her fur look like the night sky.
"Yeah, let's just look at the bright side, you'll be able to intimidate anyone in both of your forms now.", Gaude said in an attempt to appease Irma. He was actually most terrified about the tug of war that seemed to have become a repeating theme a night after each full moon. With Irma's undoubtedly increased strength, he might really get crushed now!
As Irma shifted from Werewolf back to human, her eyes glowed silver while her hair took on a golden hue. Slowly, the muscles seemed to melt until she was left with a perfectly toned body that looked soft when relaxed and rock-solid when she put tension into her muscles.
"So that's what perfection of form looks like.", Gaude commented. It wasn't to the taste he remembered having in his previous life, but currently, he couldn't help but appreciate it, like one would appreciate a piece of fine art.
Irma took a look at her body once again. "Looks like you're off the hook, for now.", she said. She definitely seemed extremely satisfied with her reinforced body.
Gaude had only one thought in his mind: Where the hell did all those muscles go? They definitely didn't go onto the Werewolf. Did she somehow compact them like the Dragon bloodline allows? Maybe it's one of those magicky things that allow a grown man to shrink down to the size of a literal beetle?
Gaude was sure of one thing: he had to find out what the hell was wrong with the law of conservation of matter in the Wizarding world.
Suddenly, one of his elves, Krognaq apparated in front of him. "Master, the ritual has been prepared. Would you like to go there now?"
Gaude absolutely wanted to grab a few upgrades of his own, but unfortunately, there was still the matter of the Mandrake leaf, and he wasn't sure how violent or peaceful this time would turn out to be. It was better not to send a month's suffering down the drain.
'Wait, it's been over a month already! Looks like I actually got used to the damn leaf and recast the charms on autopilot or something.'
Gaude already had most of the ingredients ready – he had built a special chamber to collect the dew, fulfilling both the condition of no sunlight and no human presence perfectly.
The chrysalis of a Death's-head Hawk Moth had been even easier to obtain – they were one of the species cultivated in his zoo, so naturally there were plenty available.
There was also his own hair that could be plucked anytime he needed it.
There was one final ingredient he needed, direct moonlight. Lucky for Gaude, he just so happened to be the owner of the most extensive untraceable Portkey collection in the world, meaning he could get to an area bathed in moonlight in just a few jumps at most – even if it was cloudy in one place, there was bound to be clear skies somewhere.
As such, Gaude took out a steel ball and whispered a pass phrase to it. In an instant, he was pulled through a vortex of a wormhole and spat out thousands of miles away from where he had just been, finding to his satisfaction that there was indeed a full moon in the clear sky.
"What the hell? Has it really been two months? Damn, I guess I've been so busy I didn't even have time to check the time. Ah, now I feel like a fool, I could've done the Animagus ritual a month earlier. Instead I just chanted that damn spell every sunrise and every sunset for two months. I definitely could've done without that extra month of Mandy looking at me like I was a weirdo."
In the end, however, Gaude dispelled both the charms on the Mandrake leaf and spat it into the crystal phial. He then pulled a strand of his hair out and carefully added it in. Next, he took a phial of the dew and measured a teaspoon of it, then poured it in with the rest. Gaude added the last ingredient, the moth chrysalis. He finally placed the phial with the half-done potion into his Mokeskin pouch, where it would absolutely not get disturbed, no matter what happened on the outside.
Gaude decided to keep the Animagus Potion for the last moment, to make damn sure he would pull the transformation off flawlessly, as picking one's animal form was something you could only do once in your life.
Finally, Gaude had gotten everything in order and was ready to hunt what he considered the most dangerous game yet – Greyback.
Sure, Vincent Sanguini had been a tough hunt, but he had been quite well informed about the number of troops in the castle and the strength and abilities of the vampires, including the head family. However, with Greyback, he only knew that he had been stealing children, turning them and raising them as part of his no doubt massive pack. Gaude suspected that Greyback had also been turning adults and forcing them to join his cause as well.
Gaude had also laid his eyes on Greyback once, but he wasn't sure about the strength hidden behind the man's massive muscles, especially if he could transform at will, just as his Werewolves could.
Even if Greyback's Werewolves couldn't transform at will, there was a full moon coming – Gaude wanted to fight them at their strongest in the first place, to establish absolute dominance over them.
Gaude had an elf take him to the training ground. He had managed to fight his way up to the sixth position in the overall rankings, meaning that there were four Werewolves and two Dragonites – the four and eight drop ones, the four drop Dragonite had made it to fifth position while the eight drop one had only been defeated by the unsurpassable wall, Irma.
Gaude looked at the three hundred and fifty knights and fifty-three Werewolves training, he used a voice amplifying charm and spoke: "Everyone, gather up. There is a man who fancies himself a revolutionary, with ideas of creating his own nation. To do that, he's been kidnapping children and turning them into Werewolves against their will. He might be strong and his pack might be large, but today, you will all get a chance to show your worth, to prove that quality wins over numbers! Today, we will go to war!"
At the end of Gaude's speech, the Werewolves transformed spontaneously and howled, the knights roared. They had been feeling stifled ever since the previous battle had ended, they had gotten a taste of the adrenaline on a battlefield and they wanted more.
Just in time, Laly apparated next to Gaude. With a bow, she spoke: "Master, the exploration team has pinpointed a large gathering of suspected Werewolves."
"Good. Any sightings of Greyback?"
"No, Master. Greyback was not seen among them."
"He must be around there somewhere. We won't move until he's been confirmed."
Suddenly, Lardy apparated next to Gaude. "Master, Werewolf Fenrir Greyback has been sighted in an encampment we discovered earlier."
Gaude felt as if nothing could go wrong, everything was just going so smoothly.
"All of you, run one final check of your gear and consumables. We'll move out in five."
Exactly five minutes later, the elves apparated Gaude and the troops to a forest. Each and every one of them was under stealth, only able to see the rest thanks to the Goggles.
In the clearing, around sixty people were going about their business. Some of them were sitting and others laying down on the ground, seemingly napping. There were tents around the perimeter and a huge kettle set up, apparently some kind of food was being made.
'What the hell?', Gaude thought. 'Aren't there supposed to be way more of them?'
Gaude finally spotted a man that looked like he could be Greyback. It was a man that looked like one of his Werewolves in a partially transformed state. That man's teeth were pointy and instead of fingernails, he seemed to have claws. His bare torso was hairier than a human's had any right to be. He had long, unkempt hair and multiple scars across his face.
The man seemed to be discussing something with a small group.
Since Greyback had made things so easy for him, Gaude decided to just use their numerical advantage and completely overwhelm the enemy.
They rushed into the clearing, still invisible. At first, everything went as planned, they got close to the target and almost captured him, but suddenly, the entire magical part of his troops felt stifled. Gaude managed to get a glimpse into the half-Werewolf's mind and discovered that it wasn't Greyback, but a woman Polyjuiced into Greyback.
Gaude smelled ozone in the air. He cast the strongest shielding charm he could and shouted with voice amplification: "Plan B! It's a trap! Incapacitate all hostiles!"
As soon as he had said that, explosions rang out with dirt being thrown into air, they had become the targets of a full-fledged bombardment.
His troops lost their invisibility after the other, revealing their still shining armor and weapons already drawn. The Werewolves brandished their claws, covered with runic markings – Snape had modified the blood ink to be much more stable, capable of withstanding about as much punishment as a layer of epoxy paint protected by an Unbreaking charm.
"Squads! The enemy is in the woods, move fast, keep an unpredictable trajectory and take them out!", Gaude shouted at the top of his lungs. His sword was already drawn, and he was executing the people in the clearing. He sure as hell wasn't going to leave the enemy alive in the area where they might have to make a stand.
Once they had made their way back into the woods, the Werewolf and four knight squads noticed a mixed group of people – some were wearing muggle clothing, some were wearing robes and some had only rags on them. Those wearing robes had their wands out, and judging by the wand movements and chants, were casting rather vicious spells.
Gaude's men moved forward, using their armguards or weapons to block or deflect the spells, quickly advancing on the enemy and knocking them out if not outright killing them, depending on the mood of the person, as even after being blocked, some of the spells still managed to hurt quite a bit.
Soon, a problem occurred to Gaude's troops. It turned out that there more of the enemy forces than there were their own. A lot more. For every enemy they punched out, three more showed up. The squads begun retreating back to the clearing.
"Boss, there's too many of them! We can't take them all down fast enough!"
"Alright, go for plan C."
"There's only fifteen minutes until moonrise, we won't make it."
"How about plan D?"
"There's more males than females, and none of the men on our side swing that way, sir!"
"Goddamnit, it seemed like a good idea when I came up with it."
"Sir, you were trying enchanted weed while you came up with it."
"Point taken. Alright, new orders. Suspend attempts to recover the maximum amount of subjects for indoctrination. Go for plan E!"
Soon, the command started spreading across the battlefield, starting from the Dragonite that Gaude had been talking to.
"Exterminate!"
"Exterminate!"
"Exterminate!"
As soon as the command reached them, each of the Werewolves let out a low growl, letting their wild side out to play.
This time, there was no more knocking out enemies, now it was a full-on massacre. Swords cut off heads and bisected bodies. Warhammers crushed skulls just as easily as they mangled arms, legs and ribcages.
There were battleaxe wielding knights and a few Werewolves, the latter's weapon three times larger. They were twirling their battleaxes as if it was a wooden pole, each move adding to the carnage. The people hit by their vicious attacks didn't even have a chance to scream before their lives were already snuffed out.
Still, everything wasn't as easy as that. Every now and then, the fighters on Gaude's side would encounter a wizarding enemy and their weapons would collide with a shield. Sometimes, the weapon would win and the enemy would be wounded, and after being startled by the pain, quickly killed. Sometimes, the shield would win and as the knight or Werewolf was preparing for another strike, the enemy would cast a vicious curse, breaking through the armor's protection and inflicting severe wounds before the rest of the squad got there to assist.
Still, spells continued to rain down on Gaude's fighters, and in the chaos, they failed to keep track of everyone aiming a wand at them and every now and then, one of them would be hit in an exposed area. There was only so much the protective enchantments could do without any metal. Bruises became lacerations, causing the knights to be covered in their own and their enemy's blood. Werewolves managed somehow, unless an above average caster attacked, their skin was just that much sturdier.
Still raring to go, their rushed forward, in search of the next enemy to kill – they already knew, each enemy they took down would be ten points, with Greyback himself being worth a thousand. The adrenaline in their blood was at an all-time high and so was the amount of stimulant potions. Each of Gaude's troops felt as if their heart would explode if they stopped moving for a single moment.
Screams of pain and agony echoed across the battlefield, yet the stream of enemies seemed endless, even as the sun started setting. Ever so slowly, the stimulants in the systems of the Werewolves and knights started burning out, and a tiredness started creeping in its place, causing some of them to make a miscalculation or a mistake, costing them another injury.
Irma was moving like a whirlwind, silvery hair with golden streaks flying in the wind, each of her hand moving past the enemies gracefully as if she was dancing and caressing them, leaving their bodies maimed or bisected, the enchantments on her claws Gaude's most time-consuming masterpiece, extending the cutting edge ten inches from the tip of her claws.
For a while, it seemed like Gaude's forces were regaining their momentum. Then they started getting pushed back with a barrage of spells. This continued back and forth until the moon rose. It turned out to be a blood moon, one most suitable for the occasion. Soon, howls could be heard from the surrounding forest.
At first, there were only a few howls, but more and more joined in, tens, hundreds. Within a minute, it was clear that they were surrounded by at least a thousand hostiles.
Gaude used a voice amplifying charm and yelled out: "Everyone, plan F. We're getting the hell out of here."
In less than a minute, all of his Werewolves, now fully transformed, had gathered in the center of the clearing.
Gaude attempted to summon his elves, at first wordlessly, then verbally. None of it worked. The elves failed to appear. He sent a Legilimency probe down the connection to his elves and found that the connection was blocked. He tried to brute-force through the blockade but even that failed.
He took a look at his troops. Their armors were in various stages of pulling themselves back together, but what really worried him was the condition of the flesh underneath – many of them had deep wounds, some even getting a bit pale from the blood loss.
"What's the status of the troops?", Gaude asked Ferguson, one of the lieutenants.
"Sir, it's not too good. I don't think we can take on all of them. Our men and women are getting tired and they've taken a few heavy injuries already."
Status de energia semanal
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