"What?" Wilder froze, unable to understand why Midgard, who was usually so mild, had suddenly said something like that.
"I said you're useless trash." Midgard's gaze turned sharp in an instant.
A thick pale-purple vine, glittering like crystal, shot out and wrapped tightly around Wilder. The savage vine overturned the table in the room, lashing about like a raging python.
Wilder's face changed dramatically. Before he could even react, the vine had already pinned him fast, leaving him unable to move.
But he had no intention of giving up. The moment he came back to his senses, his eyes filled with blood vessels, and black hair as sharp as needles began growing wildly.
Wilder's limbs and torso swelled along with it. Powerful muscles tore apart his fine formal clothes, and the crystal-like vine trembled slightly as that immense force forced it apart.
With a long wolf howl, Wilder transformed into a ferocious werewolf, his scarlet eyes full of cunning and cruelty.
He ripped apart the vine with his claws and sprang free of his restraints.
"Midgard!"
He roared and lunged as if charging at Midgard, his claws flashing with cold light, seemingly ready to tear her to pieces.
The other werewolves reacted at once. Amid the sound of fabric ripping, Marcus, Chercy, and Brady had already fully transformed and thrown themselves in front of Midgard.
But Wilder's target had never been Midgard at all. He spun and rushed straight for the window.
He was trying to escape.
Wilder knew that even if he could transform at will, he still was not a match for Midgard, who had suppressed the werewolf group through sheer force.
He was not good at fighting. Compared with combat, he preferred using money to corrupt other werewolves and make them serve him. That was what he had been doing all along.
Now more than seventy percent of the werewolf wizards' liquid funds were in his hands. In theory, he already had the qualifications to take control of them.
That was why he had used this meeting as a test, to probe Midgard's bottom line.
What he had not expected was that Midgard would be this violent, refusing to play by the usual rules. It had only been a bit of testing, yet she had already lost patience and attacked him directly.
"But it doesn't matter. As long as I get out, I can order the other werewolf wizards around. Once they gang up on Midgard, let's see what she does then."
Wilder sneered to himself.
He smashed through the window. The tough fur of his werewolf form kept the shattered glass from harming him in the slightest.
He hit the ground, rolled once, then eagerly threw back his head to let out a long howl and summon his trusted followers.
"Awoo... aw?"
The howl was cut off abruptly.
The wall behind him exploded with a crash, and a mass of vines burst through it, wrapping around Wilder as he tilted his head back. More vines forced their way into his mouth and plugged his throat.
The same move again.
Wilder bit through the vine in his mouth and slashed at the others with his claws, intending to use the same method to break free. But then pale-purple, crystal-like flowers suddenly blossomed from the vines wrapped around him.
The flowers opened, revealing stamens inside that crackled with countless tiny arcs of electricity.
Boom!
With a deafening blast, the flowers shattered, and bolts of lightning shot out, striking Wilder as he tried to tear through the vines.
Even with the physique of his transformed werewolf body, after taking several bolts in a row, Wilder began convulsing all over and went weak. The fur on his body blackened and charred at a visible speed.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Wilder let out a shrill scream, his eyes bulging so wide that the corners split, blood dripping down like tears of blood.
The horrifying sight left the others, already in werewolf form, completely stunned. They looked at Midgard, who was still calmly seated where she had been all along. She had remained in human form the entire time, yet the power she had displayed far exceeded anything they could understand.
What kind of power was this?
Marcus, the only one who knew a little of the truth, stayed silent. He had never seen Leonard's enhanced plants with his own eyes, but he understood that any power Midgard displayed that went beyond common sense most likely came from that boy.
He seemed born to create miracles.
The lightning faded.
Wilder, now half-cooked and thoroughly knocked unconscious, was flung to the ground by the vines like a discarded rag.
Then the vines slowly withdrew and coiled back around Midgard's arm before gradually disappearing from sight.
"Lock him up and interrogate him properly," Midgard said as she rose to her feet. "I'd like to see exactly what has made him so arrogant."
This was the first time Midgard had ever met someone so utterly lacking in self-awareness.
"Yes!"
Chercy, who was in charge of settlement security, answered immediately. She picked up Wilder's scorched body and left.
Wilder would become the second person in the werewolf settlement to be subjected to severe torture.
The first had been Damocles. That potions master, once highly respected among the werewolf wizards, had already met a far from peaceful end.
Wilder would be next.
"Marcus."
After dealing with Wilder, Midgard turned to Marcus.
Marcus instinctively straightened up and looked at Midgard, waiting for her orders.
"Go take over the shops. Also find out whether Wilder has been doing anything lately, or who he has been in contact with. And arrest all of his trusted followers for me."
"Mmph!" Marcus answered indistinctly, then turned and hurried off.
"Brady."
Midgard looked at Brady again. He was scratching his head blankly.
"Have there been any wolf cubs at the estate who've performed well recently?"
"Of course, Leader. The wolf cubs have all been doing very well," Brady said quickly. "Quite a few of them like studying and have already mastered a lot of herb cultivation techniques."
"Pick a few with major contributions and quick minds, and bring them back." Midgard's eyes were sharp. "As for the missing labor, have Wilder's trusted followers fill in."
"Ah..." Brady froze for a moment when he heard Midgard's arrangement.
From the sound of it, was she planning to turn the estate into a place for labor reform?
"Is there a problem?" Midgard looked at Brady calmly. There was no threat in her expression, but Brady's heart still jumped.
"No... no, Leader. That wouldn't be fair to some of the wolf cubs." Brady gritted his teeth and said, "Some of them genuinely like planting. It wouldn't be right to treat that as a punishment."
Midgard gave Brady a long look, one that made his legs tremble and go weak.
But rather than being displeased by his objection, Midgard nodded.
"That was my oversight. Fine then, go arrange a separate place specifically for punishing the unruly ones. As for what they'll do there... you handle it."
"Yes!"
Brady, who had just been promoted from head of agriculture to part-time warden, scratched his head, feeling that his workload had somehow gotten even heavier.