The human woman's breath came in ragged gasps, her fingers twitching as if readying a spell. But she was weak. The wound on her side bled freely, staining her once-pristine robes.
Leonhart took a step forward.
"Stay back!" she croaked, raising a trembling hand. A faint shimmer of mana flickered at her fingertips—unstable, flickering. She was trying to cast, but her strength was failing.
"She's terrified."
It wasn't just the wound. It was him.
To her, he was nothing but a monster. A creature to be purged.
Leonhart knew how humans saw monsters. He had been one of them once. A warrior, a butcher of anything inhuman. The irony wasn't lost on him.
But now, he wasn't human.
He was hungry, cunning, and practical. And she was an opportunity.
He glanced back at his goblin hunting party. They shifted restlessly, eying the mage like a fresh carcass.
"Kill her?" one of the hobgoblins grunted.
Leonhart didn't answer immediately. Instead, he crouched low, keeping his gaze locked with the woman's.
"Can you move?" he asked.
The mage blinked, confusion flashing across her face. A monster was… speaking to her?
Her hesitation told him what he needed to know.
She was weak. Vulnerable. Perfect.
Leonhart surged forward.
The mage yelped, trying to summon her magic, but she was too slow. His claws wrapped around her wrist, jerking her forward. She let out a choked gasp as he twisted her arm behind her back and slammed her into the ground.
A rush of power surged through him. He had bested a human mage—an opponent who, in his past life, he would have fought alongside.
"How pathetic. Just like that, you're mine."
The goblins cackled, surrounding them in excitement.
"Strong magic woman!" one of them barked. "We eat?"
Leonhart tightened his grip on her.
"No," he said, his voice sharp. "She's not food."
The goblins hesitated, confused murmurs rippling through them. In their eyes, humans were nothing but prey.
Leonhart, however, saw something different.
A tool. A resource.
A means to control mana.
He leaned in close, his breath hot against the mage's ear.
"You're coming with us," he said simply.
Her body trembled, but she bit her lip, refusing to cry out.
Good. Fear meant she was still thinking. Still useful.
Leonhart hauled her up, ignoring the way her legs nearly buckled beneath her.
The goblins whined, but he silenced them with a glare.
"Move. We return to the cave."
The hunting party obeyed.
Leonhart dragged the struggling mage with him, her pulse racing beneath his grasp.
She didn't know it yet, but her fate was sealed.
He would learn everything she knew.
And then, he would decide whether she was worth keeping alive.