Under the cover of darkness, Logan silently zipped through the forest.

His destination was none other than the fortress he had seen earlier. Prior to his departure, he had subtly analyzed the terrain and distinguished potential infiltration points.

He’d rather not admit it, but he understood that raiding the fortress would take herculean effort from him and his tribe.

After all, the defenses were no joke. Despite his strength, even he could die from the slightest mistake. Since using brute force wouldn’t work, it was time to use other methods.

Logan wasn’t all brawns. He also had a good head on his shoulders.

He knew when to fight and when to retreat.

His plan was simple. Infiltrate the fortress and try to use someone as hostage. Of course, he’d pick his target strategically.

’It must be him,’ Logan mused as he thought of Leone. ’If I capture some random bystander, they might just attack me without a care in the world.’

The Orc Champion moved across the forest as silently as possible.

Little did he know that countless eyes had already locked on to his location.

Blitz’s squirrel network was no joke. Ordinary squirrels had very poor eyesight at night, but not the squirrels of Grimjaw Forest.

They had volunteered to become experimental subjects of Leone’s Beast Synthesis.

Daedalus had made sure to warn Leone about the potential consequences.

This power allowed its user to play God. With it, one can merge creatures, resulting in either the creation of mutants or a new breed of monsters.

But even such results were easier said than done. After all, the result could only be a hit or a miss. If not handled properly, abominations might be created.

Some of these abominations were referred to as Chimeras.

Leone fully understood the risks, so he decided to first test Beast Synthesis on his Raptors.

But before he could try that, Blitz suddenly had an idea.

Just like how it became powerful after becoming Leone’s Vassal, it hoped that its brethren could also become stronger in other ways.

At first, the young man turned down the idea. However, Blitz told him that its subordinates truly wanted to grow stronger.

In the end, Leone finally relented, and a squirrel volunteered to become a test subject. Fortunately, one of Daedalus’ previous owners was a mad scientist who dabbled in Beast Synthesis.

The grimoire had records of what experiments were successful and what were not.

Fortunately, it had secured a good ingredient during their battle against the Black Wolf Tribe in the past.

Yes, it was none other than Arlo’s body.

The Werewolf was a prime ingredient, and Daedalus extracted its blood to be injected into one of the squirrels.

Since the werewolf’s blood was powerful, Leone insisted that only a single drop of its blood be used for Beast Synthesis.

And the result was successful.

It gave the squirrels the ability to transform into Weresquirrels!

A boon that the lowly squirrels received from their King, who gave them the power to become extraordinary!

It increased the stats of the squirrels by 50% and made them twice as large. Aside from that, they also gained night vision, as well as the passive skill, Pact Instinct.

————

Passive Skill: Pack Instinct

— Increases all stats by 1% for every allied Weresquirrel nearby

— Increases attack speed and reaction time while fighting alongside the pack

— Grants heightened coordination when attacking the same target

— Morale becomes harder to break when surrounded by fellow Weresquirrels

— Increases stealth and movement speed during nighttime operations with the pack

— Increases all stats by 20% when led by the Bolt Emperor, Blitz, in battle!

————

There was one more scary aspect to these Weresquirrels—they were recognized as citizens of Leone’s kingdom!

What did this mean?

This meant that every time Leone cleared a mission, leading to his people gaining a boost to their stats, the squirrels would get them as well!

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that once Blitz mobilized its squirrel army, they would be able to devastate enemies through sheer numbers!

*Squeak!*

Blitz narrowed its eyes after its subordinates passed the message that the Orc Champion had crossed over the river.

It hurried over to Leone’s side, waking him up from his slumber.

"It seems that our hunch is right, Daedalus," Leone said through telepathy.

"Then, shall we proceed with the plan?" Daedalus asked evilly.

"Of course," Leone replied. "Since Logan had come to us out of his own volition, we’d be impolite if we don’t greet our guest properly."

Leone then talked to his vassals through telepathy and told them that the Orc Champion was now making its way to the fortress.

They had already been briefed on what to do in this scenario, so everyone was ready.

Blitz even flew to the mountain peak, asking Astravor to ignore the Orc Champion because its Master had a plan.

The Gryphon agreed, but decided to remain vigilant just in case something unexpected happened.

Several minutes later, Logan peeked from behind a tree, eyeing the fortress in the distance.

Just like he had expected, there were people on night watch. There were even several torches lighting up the rampart.

There were also a few torches at the base of the mountain, making sure that if someone sneaked through the mountain path, they would be able to see them right away.

Logan sneered before moving toward the spot he saw earlier.

His plan was to climb the mountain from the side and cross over the wall without catching anyone’s attention.

With his physical prowess, he deemed that it wouldn’t be a problem even if he took this dangerous path to reach his goal.

Of course, he wasn’t aware that his presence had already been known to Leone and his vassals.

The squirrels were even betting with nuts and berries as currencies. They were betting on whether the Orc Champion would even get a chance to enter the fortress before Leone and his vassals put him in his place.

The Orc Champion had come to the fortress, thinking that he had the element of surprise on his side.

He couldn’t have expected that the one who was in for a surprise was none other than him.