H15 Quest of the Monstrous Wolf

Book Cover

**Quest of the Monstrous Wolf**, the 15th book of The Golden Age of Adventures series, was published in July 2017. It is the English language edition of the original Chinese comic, **改造人芬里尔**, which was published in December 2016.

## Synopsis

AIMING FOR THE TOP! MYSTERIES OF A MEDIEVAL LAB!

When evidence suggests a link between the vessel worms and medieval alchemy, Alex, Lulu and Ming Kong travel to London to investigate. Meanwhile, No. 2 adventurer "Howling Heart" was found to be missing from his prison cell. What dangers await Alex and his comrades?

## Cast

* Alex
* Lulu
* Ming Kong
* Azure Princess - Marie Wright
* Fenrir

## Plot

***Spoiler warning!** Plot and/or ending details follow.*

### Chapter 1: A Search for Clues

Marie goes to find Alex after seeing the picture of him kissing Lulu taken by Ling.

A month earlier, Tang informs the vessel worms are linked to horse manure, a product of alchemy. The lab owner is not known, only that he left China and possibly headed to Europe, where alchemy was more advanced. Alex is interested in it, so Tang gives him the documents.

Now, Alex, Lulu and Ming Kong have found a box in England with a symbol that matches one of the pictures in the documents. Inside it are twelve metal rods. The instruction says: "Form 6 squares with the 12 metal rods and place them inside the box; the way to my family will then appear." Alex and Ming Kong form a cube, and place it in the box. An opening has a map and a cup-shaped symbol. Somewhere else, they find a component in a rock with the symbol. They find the others in a coffin, in a fountain and underwater.

In London, Alex puts the components into Big Ben's clock. It had an address and a key. The address No. 18. The team only find a wall between No. 17 and 19. Alex finds a secret keyhole. They enter once the key unlocks it. The staircase leads them to a lab. Ming Kong opens a box, and golems fall out of it.

### Chapter 2: Golems

There is a peculiar machine with instructions in Old French: "The magnet can create energy, but must not come into contact with air. Cut the rope holding the magnet without opening the glass." Alex tells Lulu to open the window and Ming Kong to stand under the sunlight. He reflects the light reflecting off Ming Kong's bald head with his magnifying glass to burn the rope. After the magnet falls into a hole, the machine produces electric currents. Someone on the rooftop can feel it. Some of the golems are brought to life, and they start walking outside.

Marie, Rita and Rica crash through the ceiling from the Odette. Marie fights Alex for kissing Lulu. Lulu hides in a barrel. Ming Kong tries to calm her down, but Alex being pushed back causes him to activate the machine again. Marie, Alex and Ming Kong are caught in the electric currents. Marie wakes up and realises her soul is in a golem.

### Chapter 3: Enter Fenrir

Alex and Ming Kong's souls are in golems too. Rita finds inscription on a circular component, which was on top of the machine. Marie reads it: "Soul Transfer Machine 005. Still in experimental stage; It can only transfer souls into golems. Estimated success rate is 60%." Now that Marie's a golem, Lulu can be free from the barrel, but she is stuck. She turns into a cat, and the lid locks her. Rica carries the barrel and Marie. They go outside to search the golems while Marie, Ming Kong and Alex's bodies are kept in the Odette.

They catch up to the golems through a crowd. A man shows distrust towards them, since they are adventurers. They ignore him, but Alex shows guilt. The golems lead to an ancient castle. They enter holes, turning the lights on. The library door creaks while it is opened. Inside is a man who Marie recognises as her teacher, and she has been catching up to his rank. Alex puts the pieces together: Marie is No. 4, Hank is No. 3 and Akhator was No. 1, so the man is the No. 2 adventurer "Howling Heart" Fenrir.

Marie asks Fenrir if he's here by chance or because of the "family". Fenrir heard about the vessel worms from Smith. He thought the "family" is behind it. This was reason one for joining the investigation. Reason two is Lulu.

### Chapter 4: The House of Dark Blood

Fenrir explains the origins of the "family".

Centuries ago, there was a man who travelled extensively: Shaban. He learned blacksmithing, medicine, horticulture and other skills during his travels. He fell into a river while collecting herbs in China. A man saved him from drowning and brought him to his home to treat him. The man, Lar, had two servants which astonished Shaban: an automaton and a four-limbed bird. Lar was like Shaban, a traveller in search of knowledge.

While recovering, Shaban saw Lar injecting a mouse, turning it into rabbit. He also saw him use a gun-looking device to extract a wolf's soul from its body. Shaban hoped to learn all of Lar's secrets, but one day, he awoke to see Lar and all his belonging gone. He found the mouse-turned-rabbit's fur and a casing used in the soul-extracting gun. Fifty years later, he succeeded in creating a weird creature: a chicken with a snake for a tail.

Before he died, he passed his reaserch to his two sons. They felt studying their father's works alone would be time consuming, so they sought help from the outside. An alchemist agreed to help after seeing the chicken-lizard. Five years later, they created a lion with a goat head and a snake for a tail. As generations passed, the number of practitioners increased, as well as the size and strength of their beasts and automatons. The House of Dark Blood spread throughout the world.

Though they grew in skill, Lar's secrets still eluded them. The castle Alex and the others are in is one of Iron Heart's labs. Marie assumes it is part of the "family", since disagreements are common in big families. Fenrir continues.

There was a rift in the House of Dark Blood some 400 years ago. One side, Iron Heart, was against human experimentation. The other side, the Blood Clan, supported it. They wanted to surpass Lar's prowess and create more sophisticated beings. So, a war broke out. Iron Heart won, and the Blood Clan went into hiding. In hiding, they experimented on unsuspecting victims and on themselves.

Seventy years ago in a French village, a young man went to collect wood. He found and studied a metal ball lying on the ground. The ball produced sleeping gas. The man awoke to see cloaked men. He fainted when his neck was injected. He was found three days later by two villagers. He spoke of the cloaked men, but they laugh it off as a dream. While he was drawing water from the well, he saw the full moon. He then turned into a monstrous wolf and ravaged the village, even his family was not spared.

Fenrir knew this was the cloaked men's doing, so he made a vow to find the Blood Clan. In order to find a cure and bring an end to them and their monsters, he will stop them at all costs.

### Chapter 5: Run!

Marie won't let Fenrir lay a hand on Lulu. Fenrir was put in his cell a few years ago because he was unstable, so he wants Lulu to live with him until a cure is found. Alex won't allow it, since what Fenrir said sounds like a prison sentence. Fenrir unleashes his claws. A speaking machine pops out of the ground because it detected a Blood Clan experiment. All items around the castle engage, and Fenrir slashes them. Alex and the others escape. Rita is captured by the automaton hidden as a floor. Fenrir frees her, and the speaking devices releases gas.

Two days ago in the Tomb of Pyramids, Robert, Yujiro and Aligon put the Tomb Guardians in a capsule to cure them on the surface. Smith made a call to Robert. He said Fenrir has left his cell four days ago to meet Akhator's defeaters. Sending men to protect them was unneeded. The next full moon was two weeks a way. But the gas, rage gas, makes Fenrir transform...

### Chapter 6: Lulu Vs No. 2

...into his monstrous wolf form. He destroys the floor automaton by his roar, which also destroys one side of the castle. Alex sees another Soul Transfer Machine. Fenrir sniffs Rita and Rica escaping. Lulu transforms into her adult form. Fenrir throws her to a mountain, then pushes her through it. Alex tells Marie he has found a way to stop Fenrir.

### Chapter 7: Trust!

Alex tells Marie to not worry about Lulu, she has been through challenges with him. Marie wonders if Alex sees a side of Lulu she hasn't.

This Soul Transfer Machine has a different puzzle. It has four big buttons showing 2, 4, 16, 256. There are smaller circles arranged in a circle bearing numbers 1 to 9. Each number multiplied by itself is the next number, so 256 x 256 = 65536. The machine activates after its puzzle is solved. The walls open for humanoid golems to attack them. Marie orders Rita to find Lulu and lure Fenrir.

Lulu jumps into a river, so Fenrir can't find her. The water washed the blood and smell off Lulu. Rita sees her and tells her of the plan. Lulu holds her and dashes towards the castle, but Fenrir punches the two there.

### Chapter 8: Comrades

Fenrir holds Rita, while Rica shoots him. Lulu throws a rock into his eye. She lures him to the Soul Transfer Machine and golems go after Fenrir. Alex and Ming Kong activate the machine, transferring Fenrir, Lulu and Alex's soul into the humanoid golems. Ming Kong is only left with the head.

Fenrir's wish is for Lulu to not go through what he went through: waking up with the fear that you might have killed. Alex tells him he chose to go solo adventuring, but he later understood that an individual has limited strength. With the help of comrades, any danger can be overcome. He and Lulu will help him find a cure. Fenrir is not surprised a person like this could beat Akhator. Robert has arrived, demanding an explanation of the destruction.

One hour later, tests are being done on Fenrir's wolf body. Now that he knows what happened, he chastises Fenrir for acting on his own, and Marie didn't follow his warning to not fight with other adventurers.

In the submarine in the Atlantic Ocean, Dr. Ming manages to transform a human into an animal. He declares himself the first of his family to uncover Lar's secret. Lulu's curse and Lar are somehow connected. Ming still remembers an agreement he made with a Nazi colonel: create an army of monsters and ressurrect the Holy Leader. With Iron Heart and the Blood Clan's knowledge, he can do it.

## X-Venture Continuity

### In the Series

* One of the two villagers who found Fenrir was his brother.
* Ming being a member of the House of Dark Blood, specifically the Blood Clan, has been hinted in H7 Domain of the Sacred Dragon. He stated he is a cryptozoologist, a person who studies mythical beasts and the like. The Blood Clan wanted to make sophisticated beings and conducted experiments on themselves. Ming now desires to be more sophisticated by drinking mythical blood. His actions were insidious like the Blood Clan.
* About Lar's secret and Lulu's curse somehow being connected: In H33 Encounter in the North, Tempesta explained some scholars wanted some Shambhala portals open. Lar was one of them. And in H37 Messenger of the Cat Goddess, Alex theorised Bastet, who cursed Lulu, originates from another world.