The Divine Wolf... or?

What he saw when he entered the stronghold wasn't beyond his expectations. Corpses littered the place, the blood of innocents was running like a river through the place, it was a very horrific sight to see. With a solemn expression, he passed by corpses of mothers, children, men and beasts. The "beasts" were the people of the holy church.

But from Ark's point of view, calling them beasts would actually only tarnish his own species. He was a beast after all.

After his recent sealing, Ark had reflected a little on his views. He had always been pondering if he was a human, but right now, he couldn't care less. What did it matter anyway? Would him being a human change anything? No. Ark was Ark, no matter if he was a "beast", a "monster", or a human.

At times, those words could even mean the same thing.

His fury had not calmed down yet, but he still walked at a leisurely pace through the stronghold. After arriving in the very middle of the stronghold, he found Thufrat, Alenia, Laurelia and Leo. They were currently surrounded by the few survivors of the massacre.

Even though they tried their best to calm everyone down, it wasn't working very well, these people had just experienced something horrible after all.

After assessing their wounds to the best of his abilities, he evaluated that his mana wouldn't be enough to heal them all. Since that was the case, Ark had a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Activating his [Envoy Of Holiness] skill, he started emitting a sacred light. What these people needed wasn't just healing, they needed someone to put their faith in, someone to rely on.

As he entered the scene, he radiated with blinding light. These rays of light landed on the wounded survivors, instantly revitalizing them with vigour. Seeing a young handsome man enveloped by sacred light, healing all of their wounds at a speed visible to the naked eye, almost all of the survivors present could feel a sense of relief.

Most broke down crying even more since the reality of the situation had settled in, and their bodies were healing, while their loved ones lay on the ground, gone forever. Even though being a survivor can be a blessing, it can be painful in its own right. Ark kept walking forward, emitting more and more light, until he stood in the midst of all the survivors.

He then discharged a large amount of mana, healing every single one of them fully.

His radiance dimmed, but his position in these peoples' hearts was rock solid now. Ark was no saint, yet seeing how he could heal people like this still brought him great joy. He had seen his fair deal of suffering, and it was never a pleasant sight.

Relieving people of pain, saving people in their time of need, even though it wasn't beneficial to him in any way, he would still do it if he had the chance to.

Some people feel like it's their responsibility to help, but Ark had never really felt like that, he helped if he wanted to, and if he didn't want to, then naturally he wouldn't, he didn't care about some imaginary responsibility to help those in need, he just did it anyway. Hearing the sobbing and thanks he received, Ark's mind eased up a little.

Laurelia had sent for help, and people would soon come and help these people in whatever way they could. Ark sat down and rested up against a wall, letting his imagination run wild. With no form of real entertainment that he enjoyed, Ark just came up with his own stories. With a wild imagination, he could derive a lot of fun from just sitting around and thinking to himself.

No one wanted to interrupt him, since he seemed to be at ease and relaxed, even Thufrat left him alone. Ark had gone through a lot recently, and Thufrat wanted him to take it easy if possible. After being through peril and then being sealed up and asleep for months, only for him to wake up to even more death and trouble, anyone in their right mind would be exhausted.

Ark wasn't as exhausted as people thought, even though it was a tough life, it was at the very least exciting. With his mana exhausted, both his mind and even his body was a little tired. Ark paid it no heed though, and just dove deep into his own imagination, and relaxed for once.

After more than an hour passed, the sound of footsteps could be heard, but Ark couldn't be bothered to open his eyes, he just kept sitting up against the wall by himself.

Everything proceeded smoothly, even though the people from Torment of the Fallen that arrived were disgusted by Ark just sitting around as he pleased, they didn't trouble him in any way. The survivors left with them willingly, they were all essentially a part of Torment of the Fallen after all. When everyone was gone, Laurelia summoned her dragon again, urging everyone to get on.

Thufrat didn't want to disturb Ark, but he couldn't just sit around here all day.

Ark had recovered some mana, and with his sharp perception, he stood up on his own before Thufrat could even approach him. He didn't need to look with his eyes to know what was going on, he was an Overlord Elemental Wolf, the surrounding mana told him plenty already. How could he not notice the change in mana after a genuine dragon was summoned?

The dragon might be young and of a weak breed, but it was still a dragon nonetheless.

After getting on top of the dragon, they departed for Frostfell again. This time, they didn't want to stir up any trouble, the crown prince seemed to be at the limit of his patience after all. Instead, they landed some ways away from Frostfell, and Ark turned into his wolf form.

For just walking and lazing around, this form was very comfortable, he didn't have enough time in his human form to just do what he wanted either way.

After entering the city, they headed to the greatest inn in the city. They all needed a good nights rest, and they all felt like they deserved a good place to rest. Laurelia was kind of loaded either way. And like this, the next day quickly approached...