Beast Slayer Online: Initialization
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 98: Wolves and Rabbits
The shattered door hung crooked in the frame, its wooden fibers ripped into ragged strands.
Two warhammers had done the work.
The splinters had not even finished falling when two bolts shot through the dust cloud.
The instant the door burst apart, Lannor’s fingers had already twisted reflexively into a Sign.
Crack.
Golden fragments of Quen exploded outward together with the bolts.
In that tiny window, he had already pulled Arya Stark behind him.
More than a dozen men flooded into the cramped room like dirty water through a breached dam.
Ten of them carried loaded crossbows, strings taut, bolts aimed straight at Lannor beside the table.
“Easy now, easy now! Don’t move those fingers. Twitch once and we fill you full of holes.”
The voice sounded almost playful.
Then Ubank stepped into the room.
The squat, broad-shouldered man’s Cossack-style topknot gleamed with grease, swaying against the side of his face as he walked.
“Freya herself must be watching over me! Found you quicker than I ever hoped.” He grinned. “Though we haven’t properly introduced ourselves yet. Got a name?”
“Lannor.” Surrounded by crossbows, the witcher slowly spread his hands to show he was not moving. Beneath the hood, his cat eyes tilted toward Ubank. “Lannor of Cintra. And while we’re at it, if kindly Freya truly watches over you, then I suppose even maggots receive divine blessings.”
Freya, the goddess worshipped across the Skellige Isles, held doctrines so similar to Melitele that many scholars believed the two deities had once been one and the same before faith split along different shores.
“Oh-ho, sharp tongue!” Ubank laughed. “Wasn’t expecting that. I figured you were one of those grim bastards who draw a sword, say nothing, and keep chopping until nobody’s left standing.”
Because the knot in his chest finally seemed close to disappearing, Ubank dragged over a chair and sat at the table across from Lannor, smiling as though the two were sharing drinks instead of preparing murder.
“This is our first proper meeting ... funny thing, really. One successful ambush and a swordmaster who kills men like slaughterhouse chickens suddenly stands still and obedient.”
The men he brought with him chuckled along.
Earlier, when Ubank described this opponent, they had tensed for a real fight.
But once they crashed into the room according to plan, it seemed no different from cornering any other prey.
The men holding crossbows wore relaxed expressions. The others already carried the impatient irritation of laborers nearing the end of a shift.
They stared at Lannor with ugly amusement.
Wolves circling a trapped animal.
Casual. Cruel. Certain.
Lannor merely shrugged.
“That’s combat. Sometimes even a loose stone can get a novice killed by a master.”
His composure made several of them bark out laughter.
“Hah! Hear that? That’s how a ‘swordmaster’ talks. Real different breed.”
Their mockery carried the ease of men who believed themselves untouchable.
The situation looked obvious enough. A tiny room packed with armed men, ten loaded crossbows leveled from only a few paces away.
Heavy armor? Did he wear any on his face?
Swordsmanship? In this crush, could he even raise an arm?
Witcher? What ordinary witcher could overpower more than a dozen men at once?
They were wolves.
He was just a rabbit too small to fill their teeth.
Lannor smiled faintly.
“I heard the Trade Quarter hasn’t seen violent crime in years. Yet here you are, armored and armed, smashing into inn rooms.” His gaze swept across them lazily. “Someone important must be standing behind you.”
The whole group burst into laughter again.
“What slander, Mutant?” one of them sneered. “We’re honest citizens. We just couldn’t stand seeing our glorious city polluted by a mutant, so we came to teach you a lesson. What ‘important people’?”
Lannor shook his head.
“Honest citizens wandering the streets at night dressed for war, and the city watch sees nothing? And how exactly did you find me?”
More laughter.
None of them seemed interested in stealth or urgency. Which meant they were not remotely afraid of the authorities hearing about this later.
“Lannor, Lannor...” Ubank slapped his thigh with mock sympathy. “Finding you wasn’t easy. You’re cautious, I’ll give you that. But it doesn’t matter. We didn’t just search for you. We checked every stranger who entered the city hiding their identity these last three days.”
He spread his hands pleasantly.
“Your caution wasn’t the problem. The problem is that we have more people than you can imagine.”
“And another thing, don’t bother trying to pry information from these lads. They’re employees from a local security company. I hired them tonight.”
He nodded toward the armed men behind him.
“They know somebody powerful stands above their company, sure. But they don’t know who. All they know is a note was delivered, money was offered, and now they follow orders.”
“And don’t waste time investigating the company either. The real owner sits hidden behind layers of ownership like a spider in the middle of a web. You’ll never even know whose throat to hate. Only people like us, the ones doing dirty work, ever leave faces behind.”
“So,” Lannor said quietly, “the security of Vizima’s most important district can simply be stepped on whenever convenient.”
“Careful now.” Ubank’s grin widened. “Words like that are dangerous.”
“We’re merely passionate citizens who broke the law in a moment of anger. Naturally, we’ll be punished afterward.”
He counted calmly on thick fingers.
“We smashed the door and entered your room. Legally speaking, since you paid for it, this room is your private residence. So that’s unlawful entry. Three lashes, a fine, one month in jail.”
“Then we take you and the little girl behind you away. But no one will ever see us do it.”
“The innkeeper will testify that when we left, both of you were still inside. Your disappearance has nothing to do with us.”
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