My Werewolf System

Chapter 1583: New Kind of Monster

The world used to have a name for people like him: The Dark Guild Leader.

Now? Now, Marcus was just another ghost drifting through the shadows, a former titan of a world that no longer existed. The Dark Guild, once a sprawling network of influence and power, had been annihilated. All of it. And him? He was just trying to reach a speck on the map, a town called Slough.

He’d only survived thanks to a chance encounter. One of the founders of NIRV, the group that wasn’t exactly his friend, had somehow found him, patched him up, and hidden him from the things with red eyes that were hunting him down like a feral beast.

Before letting him walk free, the founder had given him two crucial things.

The first was a piece of advice that was now his lifeline: always stay in public places. The constant, crushing tide of a crowd would mask his scent, making it nearly impossible for the red-eyed pursuers to track him. He was a phantom swimming in a sea of human noise.

The second was a silent, mind-boggling gift: he had healed Marcus’s brutal wounds and re-energized him. Marcus didn’t know how, and honestly, he didn’t know why they had shown him such kindness. But he didn’t have the luxury of questioning it. With nowhere else to go and the ground crumbling beneath his feet, he had no choice but to accept the handout.

He was wearing clothes he’d lifted from a small, forgotten shop, his movements a blur only possible through his mastery of Qi. He was fast. Dangerously fast. Right now, he was taking a breather, tucked away in the anonymity of a crowded coffee shop. A few days ago, he’d used his speed and Qi to pilfer a wallet from a couple of low-level thugs trying to mug some poor soul. It was his only source of cash, his lifeline for the time being.

While he sipped his cheap coffee and pretended to be a normal citizen, Marcus kept a constant, high-alert vigil. He funneled a tiny thread of Qi into his ears, enhancing his hearing beyond human capability. He was fishing for news, any scrap of information that told him if the red-eyed hunters were still on his trail. He couldn’t imagine them giving up. They were too relentless for that.

I managed to get to the next town over, but it’s still an hour’s drive to get to Slough, Marcus thought, his gaze sweeping over the indifferent faces around him. I could use what little money I have left for public transport. A train? Would that be safer than a car? A taxi or something?

He checked the wad of stolen cash in his inner jacket pocket. I don’t have much money left. I’ll definitely need more.

The whole situation was insane. Not only had the Dark Guild and all its bases been wiped out, but its entire financial network had been dismantled. Every single bank account, every burner credit card, they were all frozen. The scariest part was that even the private, underhanded accounts he’d set up with banks, the ones that asked zero questions about the origin of the money, had been shut down.

That just shows the crazy, overwhelming influence they have on the world, Marcus fumed inwardly. Or maybe they have some kind of power to impersonate me and freeze everything... Either way, it’s messed up. People used to think the Kings had the biggest influence in the world, but that was a lie. Everything we had was fake.

Listening in the café and out on the streets, Marcus had pieced together the latest global disaster: Lupus and his group had been utterly defeated.

A cold shard of guilt pricked at him. Part of him felt it was his fault for not being there to back up Lupus, but then a wave of self-preservation washed it away. Originally, he’d been glad to avoid that final, desperate fight. He had been playing the long game, positioning himself favorably with both sides, just in case one beat the other.

It’s no wonder Rickle told me to go to Slough, he realized, downing the last dregs of his coffee. The taste was bitter, but the clarity was sharper. I guess they’ve grown into the only force capable of defeating them. They might be the last place left that can actually protect me.

He stood up, melting back into the flow of pedestrian traffic. He hadn’t worked out the details of his arrival. What would he tell them? Would they even take him in? Or would they just become another enemy he had to watch out for?

Regardless, he needed cash. As he walked through the increasingly dark and neglected areas of the town’s edge, he knew trouble was his best source of income.

Then, a sound cut through the urban decay: a loud, raw scream.

“Well, there’s my cue,” Marcus muttered, a cynical smile tugging at his lips. “And I’ll just take some payment for saving the said person.”

He sprinted down an alleyway, his Qi-enhanced body a blur. He pinpointed the direction of the scream, moving with ruthless efficiency. He wasn’t afraid of running into a random Altered. He was strong enough to deal with that level of threat. The only thing that truly terrified him was an encounter with one of those red-eyed beings.

Eventually, he started to slow down. The screams had become muffled, then disappeared altogether. Instead, a chilling sound took their place: the wet, sickening noise of grinding.

Marcus was now extremely worried. Ahead of him, he could see a silhouette. Its shoulders were moving up and down, rhythmic and deliberate, and its head was jerking.

“Hey... what is going on here?” Marcus called out, his voice a low, hard demand.

The figure stopped. Marcus squinted, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. He could see fur covering its hands. Slowly, deliberately, the creature turned its head. A long, snout-like face and a row of terrifyingly sharp teeth came into view.

What Marcus was staring at looked like a Werewolf, but it was unlike any he had ever encountered before. This thing looked less like a beast and more like a twisted nightmare, as if it had clawed its way out of the very pits of hell.

****

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