Chapter 41 [Bonus ] 41 Elma [2]

The world was cold; there was little to eat each day. But Grandma was always there to make her feel better.

Elma's small body stood against the strange men with weapons looking for her grandmother. The moment she mentioned she wasn't home, everything changed.

"Hehe, this little girl looks cute; since that old bitch owes us money, why not take this girl and raise her as our little toy? In the future, she will be a fine bitch." The male with a strange face, elongated and looking like a dog.

"Are you stupid? That woman would destroy our entire clan..."

"What, the old woman?"

"No..."

"Shush! Why give information away to this fucking kid?" A tall male scolded them; his body was large and filled with muscles and a silver head of hair that looked more like a fur mane as it wrapped around his neck.

Elma's small body, wrapped in poor cloth and without weapons, stepped back.

Her grandmother told her never to trust outsiders; they were all trying to take everything from them, no matter how gentle or kind they seemed.

'These guys are bad guys.' Her young mind asserted.

But what could she do? She couldn't help but think about her grandmother. Where did she go? What happened to her? Was she in trouble? Did she leave her because she was too weak?

Tears fell down Elma's cheeks, "G...Grandma..."

A heavy palm grabbed her shoulder, "Stop crying, brat!" He yelled at her.

His eyes narrowed on her teary ones, "That old lady has done nothing but brings problems to my life. Now I can get rid of her by taking you; this is perfect."

"You don't understand! My grandma didn't do anything wrong! She was only trying to protect me!"

"Oh, so you want to protect your grandma now?" He asked mockingly.

"Y...Yes!" Elma responded.

"Then tell me where she is. If you don't, then I will cut you up bit by bit until you die."

Even though she was brought up to be distrustful, a child will sometimes forget things in a moment of duress, Elma wanted her grandmother to be alright, and these big males were scary for her as a young girl.

"I...I don't know where she is!" Elma answered honestly.

He gripped her shoulder again and walked towards the forest, "Now come on, follow me."

Elma resisted, "No! Let me go!" She struggled against him, but his grip was too strong.

"Shut up!" He threw her into the ground, knocking the air out of her lungs. "If you resist, I will break your bones!"

He kicked her in the stomach. Elma's tiny body flew to the side, crashing against a tree trunk, and she cried out as her body became limp and unresponsive.

'I can't breathe...'

A large boot went into her stomach. The kick made her want to throw up everything in her stomach. Her bones felt like they were all breaking at once.

"Where is the old woman!?" Once again, the leader shouted, but Elma couldn't respond; her head hurt, chest ached...

Elma was gasping for air as she was being kicked repeatedly by the large male.

She knew she would die soon; her grandma said that if a situation like this came up, she should go to a place called the 'Lionel Tower'. The men never liked that name, and in response, they called it 'The Mountain' instead.

'That place?' She wanted to go there. But they were too far from it.

'Grandma... Grandma.... save me... it hurts... it hurts...!'

Elma wanted to cry, but she knew her grandmother was stronger than all these men. She wasn't helpless. She didn't need to cry or be weak. She was going to be strong.

Strong like her grandmother.

With that thought in her head, her head finally stopped hurting, and the pain became numb. She managed to get on her feet, and her body was fighting back.

A fist collided with her cheek.

Her vision blurred, and her body was pushed back.

But inside her, there was a strange feeling; the pain was sucked away by the white ball in her stomach.

It had small black stripes and looked cute; Elma tried to stagger away before the man who mentioned making her his toy suddenly appeared at her side, his hand slapping her face, cupping her cheek and launching her against another tree.

She wanted to help her grandmother, but she couldn't even stand.

"Grandma, I'm sorry..."

"You are in no position to be apologising, little girl!" The dog-faced man approached her and started to raise his foot...

He paused.

The eyes that stared at him from the little girl scared him; they glowed with an emerald tint, and slowly, the flesh of Elma began to form a black-and-white striped pattern, identical to the little ball.

Elma's change was so sudden, like thunder striking in the middle of a desert.

Her fingers elongated with sharp claws, as did her body; now looking like a woman in her 20s, she lunged forward with sharp fangs and grabbed the male by the throat.

"I can't hear your screams anymore, asshole! I will break you if you don't leave me and my grandma alone!" She raised her leg and, using her weight, slammed him against a tree, cracking his neck.

The dog-faced male choked as he looked at her with disbelief, "W...What are you!?"

The one with long silver hair and a mane stood back and watched everything, "You can change into that form?"

Unlike the two other males, this man knew that figure and the meaning of what it represented. Now he realised why the grandmother said not to go after the girl...

He tried to turn to flee, only for the bloody, dismembered corpse of the dog-faced man to fly through the sky and land in his path with a disgusting squelch.

"GAAH!"

Elma dashed towards him, her eyes glowing with bloodlust, and her mouth opened as she attacked.

Her jaws crushed his shoulder, and she started to twist and pull at the flesh tearing his flesh off and sending his body flying like a rag doll until he collided with a tree, where he left a dent.

"Ironic... Ugh...!" He coughed, feeling a strange sensation in his abdomen, a slimy warm feeling oozing down his thigh.

"S...shit.." A sharp branch penetrated his lower body, the blood oozing down his furry leg, and he could not focus.

He was forced to watch as the men he had spent years training and teaching to become his brothers and part of his pack were slaughtered by the little girl who transformed into a huge tiger...

He passed out due to the blood loss.

The final male that watched everything growled and spat on the ground, "You... You!"

The large male stumbled as he picked up his weapon. His eyes lost their will to fight.

'How could this be happening? She was a fucking child! How could this happen?'

"We were told you were weak! There were so many of us! We could have taken you if you weren't... this..." He clenched his teeth, "But we wasted so much time searching for you..."

Elma looked at him; her eyes were full of killing intent. She had gone into that form only once when hunting a boar and had been stabbed by the boar's tusk.

She blacked out after that waking up with blood and guts covering her body and her mouth tasting like iron, with a nasty aftertaste.

And now, with the men dead, her eyes regained that glow. She raised her fist, "Why did you try to take me!? Why!?" She screamed in her tiny voice, "Just let me be with my grandma!"

The last male trembled, "I...I didn't know... I was only following orders...!" He threw his weapon to the side and raised his hands in the air, "I surrender! I surrender!"

The little girl approached him. She knew how to be merciful, "Grandma told me there were people like you. I should forgive you because you are not like them."

But... As the little girl began to revert to her normal form.

Bang!

A loud sound filled the area, echoing through the snowy mountains and forest.

The gunshot came from the east as a beautiful woman who looked not a day over 35 stood in a fur coat with many military emblems and medals.

Behind her was a complete unit of smart females wearing the same black coat.

No one made a sound or cringed at the dead male, instead watching forward with stern and focused eyes.

"Grandma!" Elma yelled, rushing to the woman leading the group, who quickly put down the gun and looked at the countless corpses of the wolf tribe.

Her face was solemn, but the eyes watching Elma showed affection and pride.

"My little girl, how would you like to become Grandma's special little kitten?"