Mazrag watched as the Werean he had intended to lead into an ambush were taken down, one by one, by the handsome devil he spotted from his hiding place. The vicious mockery that the ‘human’ showed the obviously weaker Werean was enough to nearly make him laugh, but the knowledge that he could very well be next in the sights of the ‘human’ was enough to keep him quiet and in camouflage. He did have to wonder, however, if the Great Liberator had planned for this to happen, because as far as Mazrag could remember, the ambush was not supposed to be just one terribly powerful human, but instead nearly fifty powerful Beastmen warriors.

As the ‘human’ toyed with the Werean like they were children fighting a god, Mazrag thought back to how this had all started.

…

Called before Dur’kor Wildheart himself, the Great Liberator and Chosen of the Beast Gods, Mazrag had thought he was to be executed for some act or another, of which he had no idea which taboo he might have performed. Instead, he was given a task that a great many others had turned down due to the risks involved. The lot of those who refused were cowards who feared making a full commitment to the cause, even when news of the Ruler of the Beast Gods deciding to manifest on the physical plane and lend aid to said cause had reached nearly everyone’s ears.

They were too fearful and scared that they might be captured by the villainous Werean and therefore chose to be safe and secure for the time being until the Werean decided to invade the forest and claim it for themselves. They were content to wait until they had no further places to run or fight and thus be ruined by their procrastination and apathy, a mindset that Mazrag certainly did not possess. In fact, such apathy and defeatism had angered him so much that, on several occasions, he had fought honor duels with those who tried to sway his mind, only for his opposition to fail at beating him. He knew there was a chance at victory, the Beastmen needed only to seize it.

So, when he was tasked with raising hell in the bordering Werean villages, all to bait the enemy into pursuing him into a carefully-prepared trap, Mazrag had jumped at the opportunity. He had done more than what was required of him, using his knowledge of the terrain to ambush and slaughter well over one hundred Werean who had gotten too deep into the Karnarous Forest or who had strayed too far from their village. The previous three weeks had allowed him to effectively rampage to his heart’s content, and using his uniquely Beastman form he had managed to jump over palisades and set fire to granaries, barns, fields and even a good number of houses before the ‘hunters’ arrived.

After they had shown up, he began to follow his orders again, leading the pursuing slave-catchers on a wild chase through the forest, through pitfalls, spikes and even stolen bear traps and more, slowly whittling down the number of those after his tail. They never managed to get close enough to tag him, but he also made sure that they never got far enough away from him to lose his scent. It was a twisted game of cat and mouse, that was soon about to end.

He was now in the final stretch, his muscles were beginning to scream at him to take a break, but he knew full well that while some Werean had been left behind to die, others were still on his tail and had chugged stamina potions to help them keep the chase going. He was just about to power through the last ten or so kilometers before he sensed the powerful presence that seemed to instantly manifest before him, just a few hundred meters ahead of his position. He could tell that the presence was that of something so powerful that if it wanted to it could destroy everything he cared about, so even though the hunters were nipping at his heels he made the tactical and strategic choice to abandon his orders and hide himself.

He put every last bit of power he could muster into this attempt at concealment, but the entity ahead appeared to know exactly where he was. It demanded that he reveal himself and began counting down, claiming that if it reached ‘zero’ it would annihilate everything around itself. Now filled with primal terror, Mazrag did the only thing he could think to do in his situation; he played the part of the terrified prey animal and was stock still, hoping desperately that his hiding spot was good enough and that the being ahead of him was merely bluffing.

The Werean, who were unable to track him any longer, instead decided to provoke the ire of the alpha predator that Mazrag had hid himself from. They did the most foolish and idiotic thing you could do when facing something so much stronger than oneself; they attacked it while mocking it incessantly. As the Werean gloated and praised themselves, it was painfully obvious to Mazrag that things were about to go sideways because while the Werean hunters could not read the room, Mazrag certainly could. He could feel the anger rising in the masked figure and when the being finally had endured enough, he watched in horror as the enchanted and weighted net that had captured so many of his kind was ripped to bits with what seemed to be minimal effort or force.

It was then that the entity began to return the mockery hefted upon itself several times over, all while its absurdly attractive face caused the Werean to void their stomachs and nearly pass out due to how Gods-darned good looking he was. Mazrag could not believe that there was a human so absurdly handsome in the whole of the world and nearly passed out due to the blindingly brilliant good looks of the being that was currently toying with the Werean. He had no idea who or what the being he beheld was, but it certainly could not be human.

It was then that it hit him; he was gazing at Vaile, the Ruler of the Beast Gods himself, who had descended from the great beyond to aid the kin of his followers in their time of need! Instantly, the fear he had experienced up till this point fell away and in its place was reverence and devotion. Mazrag emerged from his hiding spot and rushed towards the now-crippled Werean. With a few quick blows, he knocked each one out cold before kneeling to his liege.

His kind had been promised that they would have His aid once He was done with Red Mountain, and now here He was. It was time for the tribes to take back what had been stolen from them, and they would be led by Mighty Vaile.