(Regaleon's POV)

"Atlantian scum!" A voice came out from the largest one at front. It had a black majestic fur. "And I thought they have gotten extinct. Who would have thought a handful of them will come in our territory."

All of us were frozen stiff hearing tangible words coming out from the wolf.

"Y-Your majesty. T-The wolf… it just talked." Alex said with bewilderment.

"After everything I have witnessed these past few days, I do not know why I am still surprised with this." I said while unsheathing my sword from its scarab. "Sirens, dragons, and now this… talking wolves."

"Who are you calling talking wolves, Atlantian scum?!" A gray wolf snarled ferociously at us. "We are proud lycans. Never associate us with animals."

"Lycans?" I said out loud. 'That name sounds familiar.' I thought.

"Hush your mouth Grey." The black majestic one which is the biggest of them snarled at the gray one. It whimpered down after hearing the black lycan's words. "You, the one with black hair. Are you the leader of these Atlantian humans?"

"Yes, I am." I replied without letting my guard down. I can feel the intense pressure coming from the black one.

If these were normal wolves, then the black one who is the biggest must be their leader, the Alpha. All the others are rallying behind him and listens to his words. With him in the lead of the pack of these big creatures, I believe he calls the shots.

"I do not wish to engage in battle with you, or any humans for that matter. And I specifically do not like Atlantians." The black one said. "We are living here in peace, away from human eyes. I suggest you leave our territory peacefully. We will turn a blind eye that your group invaded our territory."

At least they are not entirely hostile, but we cannot just leave this place without finding the key fragment.

"I appreciate your gesture, but if you can at least give us some time to find something we need, then we will gladly get out of your territory." I replied as courteously as possible.

I would like to get past this problem without any violence as much as possible. My men has been injured by them immensely, and engaging them in combat will only add to more casualties that I do not want to have.

"You are clearly mistaken of you think I am asking for a favor, Atlantian." The black one started to snarl, his fur started to stand on his back. "I am not asking you, I am telling you to leave!"

When the black one started to snarl, all the others behind him followed. Me and my men were one hundred percent on guard, our swords all ready to defend in case an attack comes.

"I do not wish to fight also. But we are here to search for something that is very important." I said with my own voice that was filled with authority. "We will not leave until we get the thing we are here for."

I stood my ground with my men on my flanks. I was ready to engaged in battle if that is what is needed to get the key fragment that is hidden here.

"Then I think this talk is over." The black one said. "Get ready to be slaughtered here! AWOOO!!!"

The black ones howl pierced the night, he dashed towards us. The other lycans followed their alpha without any word, they were all racing towards us baring their teeth and fangs.

"All of you, get ready!" I told my men with a loud cry.

These enemies are not the one we normally fight, and so we need to be more vigilant and careful or else we can lose our lives. This situation is similar to the fight with the sirens, fighting something we do not know of.

'Wait, like the sirens.' I thought. 'Come to think of it the name 'lycans', I think I have read it in one of the ancient books. It looks like they are one of those ancient monsters the Almighty One fought in ancient times.'

Thinking about this, it answers the question why they loath Atlantians. It is because the human race that the Ancient One gifted magic powers. They were the humans that defeated the ancient monsters that roamed this continent in ancient times.

The lycans were just a few feet before us. Just in time of their leap towards us, I conjured a fire wall that burned the ones that took the first attack. The lycans that were burned whimpered before us in pain, their cries were heard.

"Atlantian scum!" The gray one snarled at us from behind the fire wall.

I see the lycans retreat a few feet from my fire wall, looking at us with angry eyes. The black one was the one to leap first.

"Brace yourselves!" I told my men. They were ready for the lycan's next attack.

The black lycan was able to leap above my fire wall and the others followed en route. Before the other lycans could also cross the fire wall, I made it more higher and more aggressive that before. Many of the other lycans that came after was burned with my fire wall. They all dropped and whimpered in pain with the sudden attack.

"How dare you?!" The gray lycan leaped in front of me, baring his claws and fangs ready for the kill. But a pillar of rock shot up from the ground hitting the gray wolf straight in his gut.

"Ahhh." The gray lycan groaned in pain. "F*ck!"

I looked beside me and saw that Alex was the one to conjure the rock pillar.

"Thanks Alex." I appreciated his help.

"You are welcome your majesty." Alex replied. "It is my job to see that you are safe." I nodded with his words.

'It is also my job to make sure that my men will make it out alive from here.' I thought to myself.

I see my men holding their own against these big and ferocious lycans. They can only have a fighting chance because they are Atlantians with magic abilities. If this were ordinary humans, they have no fighting chance against this big beasts.

Like the other ancient monsters written in the ancient books, there is only little known from lycans. But the notable thing I remember is that they move like a pack of wolves. With knowing who their alpha leader is, if I was able to defeat their leader, then maybe I can stop any more violence.

'Maybe like the sirens, we can come to an understanding.' I thought. 'But, that is if I force them to listen first.'

"Fire armor!" I put my fire armor on, ready to find the alpha leader, the black lycan.

Two lycans were coming right for me. I was ready for their attack.

*ROAR*

They leaped at the same time. I swing my sword and slashed one, while the other one I burned with my flames.

I jumped out of their way, leaving them to lay down the ground injured. I quickly ran, searching for the black lycan. One after another, the lesser lycans come at me, and one by one they fall to the ground injured with my attacks.

After some time had passed, I found the black lycan at last. He was engaging battle with three of my men. My men were having a hard time containing the enormous beast, even with using their magic abilities. They were being thrown with the beast's strong paws, some of them also have teeth marks.

"Alpha!"I called out.

The black lycan stopped after hearing me call. It looked at my direction in an instant.

"I am sure you do not want any of your bretheren to be injured any further than this. I as well do not want my men to get injured." I pointed my sword towards the black lycan alpha leader. "Let us finish this between us, leader against leader. I challenge you!" I said with upmost seriousness.

edited by: nalyn