Chapter 55

“Run!” Leon aimed the command at both Trouble and Red, but neither moved. He opened up his inventory as the beast shook its head, as if waking up. Its height reached over the treetops and the yellow-white fangs glinted in the sunlight as it sniffed the air. “Trouble, jump inside!”

The rabbit continued to stare up at the beast, her ears pointed straight back. The low, somewhat familiar growl rumbled in her chest.

Leon ripped his backpack off his shoulders, pushed open the flap and ran toward her, flinging it down. Her ears met the opening, but she didn’t shrink into it. The bag slid off her ears. Leon tried again as the beast in front of them howled toward the sky, and Trouble launched at it. She bit into its leg and grabbed the gray fur, then tugged.

The monster stopped the howl short and shook its leg, but kept standing. A hand-like paw swooped down, and Leon pulled at the nape of Trouble’s neck. A claw flew by an inch from her head, cutting off three of her whiskers, and the arm continued upward. Trouble let out a shrill shriek and stumbled onto her back, into Leon, her eyes wide. She clawed into Leon’s chest, and got to her feet and darted away, through the bushes and trees.

“Trouble!” Leon shouted, holding the ripped shirt. “Come back here! That’s the wrong way!”

Red grabbed his shoulder. “We need to go!”

Leon looked into the woods, and threw himself flat on the ground as the paw came swinging again. It hit a yellow-crowned tree and ripped it up by the roots. The beast growled and shook it loose. It landed a few feet away, spraying up dust from the dirt road.

“Trouble!” Leon called again as he scrambled up on his feet.

Red pulled on his arm. “Let’s go! We can look for her later!”

Leon glanced into the woods. The black rabbit had disappeared. Where had she gone? What if…

A fast movement from above and he threw himself to the side, landing by a rock. Leon pushed his hands on the ground and got up.

Red had put away the lute and stared wide-eyed at the beast towering before them. “There’s… there’s no way we can take it down, right?”

“I don’t think so,” Leon said. “Not with my high fatigue.”

“Thought so.” She pulled on his arm. “Let’s go!”

A gigantic arm swung over their heads, and they sprinted toward the way they’d come, with Red taking the lead.

“Troub—”

Red smacked an elbow into his chest, cutting off the sentence. “I’m sorry, but she’s gone, okay? Don’t make sounds unless you have to. We’ll search for her later.”

Leon bit his cheek as a shadow loomed over them. At the last second, he ducked for the incoming claws. Red followed suit. If they could find a dungeon, like they had with the beast before, they could take it down bit by bit.

A tree flew over their heads and landed a few feet away.

“Keep moving,” Red said, getting up again.

Leon jumped over the branches on the ground and pushed through the bushes ahead as the monster roared again. He glanced over his shoulder.

Trouble. They couldn’t just leave her behind. Why didn’t she want to enter the backpack? Why couldn’t he force her to? Maybe, if they entered Pura, the monster would dissolve and they could shout for her again. It was their only chance. If he’d only thought things through, he should have seen this coming. How had he been so stupid?

The ground shook as the beast ran toward them, and leaves fell from the branches. With just a few strides, the beast caught up with them, bent its legs, and swooped an arm toward Leon’s back.

”Jump aside!” he shouted as he did the same. He landed in a round bush, and a claw scraped at the metal shielding his leg. It slid off, and Red jumped forward. The paw hit a big, green-leafed tree, which snapped in half. It flew a short distance and pinned Red’s leg.

She gasped, and Leon ran toward her and tugged at the branch. It didn’t budge. The beast’s eyes sat trained on them, dark brown irises coming closer by the second. The wolf opened its jaw wide, displaying a ruby red inside framed by the yellow cracked fangs. Leon drew out his sword and held it with two hands as the head closed in. He pushed himself forward and jumped toward the teeth, throwing the blade in a downward motion as the jaw begun snapping closed. The sword bit into the tongue and pierced the lower jaw.

The beast flung its head back with a sudden yelp, and Leon lost the grip around the hilt. He landed on the mossy ground beside the tree, huffing. The wolf shook its head back and forth, clawing at the metal in its mouth. Leon crawled around to stand on his knees and hit the tree as hard as he could.

“Ow!” Red gasped. “Lift—”

Leon punched the stem again. “Trust me. Hold on tight.”

Red glanced from her leg to the monster above. “I don’t… Watch out!”

Leon punched down again and looked up. His sword darted hilt first toward them, and he kicked off from the ground and into the bush as the beast growled and lowered its head again. Leon threw himself toward the sword as it clattered to the ground. He pressed himself up on his feet and held it at the ready.

The wolf’s mouth came toward him, and Leon watched the jaw open wide again and bent his knees to jump.

“Side!” Red shouted.

Leon turned his head, and a paw slammed into his side. His body lifted off the ground and his shoulder slammed into a tree. He fell onto the path, and still gasping at the pain, he threw himself flat as the paw came swinging again. The claws swooshed by over his head. It hit the tree and took it into the air, spraying dirt over him and Red. Leon massaged his shoulder. No broken bones.

The creature howled in frustration and slammed the claws and tree into the ground. Leon rushed toward Red and punched the tree. Then again. Red bit into her lip while tears started flowing down her cheeks.

“Just a bit more,” Leon said, huffing. Not good, his fatigue was running too high. He punched the tree again.

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“It’s loose,” Red said, her voice shivering.

Leon peered over his shoulder, just as the tree fell onto the ground with a thud. The beast grabbed it in its jaws and flung it into the air. Leon turned to Red and punched the tree three more times. Finally, it splintered into pixels.

Red massaged her leg, which looked a bit too crooked.

“Can you heal yourself while you’re on my back?” Leon asked.

“We can’t!” Red pointed behind him.

The beast snapped the tree in half and howled. Without thinking, Leon bent down, scooped Red up in his arms, and ran.

She cried out but silenced it by biting into her arm.

Leon panted as he jogged forward on the path. As long as they could keep out of sight, the wolf king would have a harder time tracking them down. At least, that was what he hoped. They seemed to pass the green shrubbery and trees in slow motion. He hated to do this to her, to leave her broken leg dangling from his arm, but it was better than being killed while they had a slight chance of fleeing.

The roar died out behind them, and thuds sounded through the area. Of course, the scent.

“Stay still, and don’t say a word,” Leon said, deviating from the road and further into the woods. Quick, he had to be quick. He glanced around and found what he’d been looking for. He rushed to a group of bushes, shouldered himself to the center, bent down, and let Red go.

“Quiet,” Leon whispered, then he ran. He peeked at his stats on his way back to the path. That last hit had taken more than a third of his health, and if he got hit two more times, it would all be over.

He looked to his right, where the monster would emerge in just a few seconds. What now? His mind roiled. He had gotten Red to temporary safety, and he needed to make sure he was the target. Then what? Make his way out, leaving both Red and Trouble in there to fend for themselves? No. He couldn’t allow that to happen. If he could get to dungeon keeper Prelock, the man could take out the wolf king with a single blast, but would he stop after that? What if he went after… no use in thinking it. It was on the other side of the forest.

Leon stumbled onto the path as the monster came up the small climb and saw him. It immediately went for him, and though it moved quickly, it seemed to only walk on two legs. That wouldn’t give them much of an advantage, but maybe it was enough. Since the creature seemed to favor walking on two legs instead of four, it also gave him an opportunity to potentially make it lose its balance. It was the best shot he had.

“Come on, then!” Leon shouted. Then he set off along the path. How would he make the giant stumble? Leon thanked his training as he powered on, but he almost felt the beast breathe down his neck already. Something… something…

Leon cast his head to the side, looking for options. But the ground was mostly flat, and there were only trees, bushes, and smaller rocks. An idea popped into his mind. It wasn’t like he’d planned a few seconds ago, but maybe it would do, for now at least. He ran to his left, away from Red, but closer to the city walls. The thudding paws came closer by the second.

Leon jumped over stones, through bushes, and watched the trees grow closer around him. The steps behind him slowed, and he heard the wolf’s heavy breath grow less loud. Branches cracked at the beast powered on, but as Leon had hoped, it seemed to have a tougher time with navigating the terrain than a smaller sized body had. His suspicions got as good as confirmed when the monster roared and the sound of a tree fell crashing into the ground. A few seconds later, another loud snap sounded through the woods, and it ended with a pitiful and loud whine.

Leon stopped and listened for more sounds. He heard some huffing and snaps, but none of them seemed to come closer to his location. Equally cautious and curious, Leon ventured back the same way he’d come from. As the softer cracks and panting grew louder, he slowed his steps, and stayed hidden behind anything he could.

When he finally reached the beast, he found it on the ground. He almost laughed, but held it in. Getting overconfident wasn’t a good thing when something so dangerous was entrapped. No one knew what could happen.

The beast laid belly down on a rock between two tree stumps, both paws caught in two larger, green leafed trees, pinning his front legs, or arms, around his back. Each thrashing only made the stumps wiggle against the ground, without doing much to free the arms. The whining, pitiful face changed into showing the huge, yellowed fangs. Its brown eyes darted to the tree where Leon stood hidden, and the nostrils flared at Leon’s scent.

The monster started thrashing around with more vigor, and though the trees creaked and cracked, they didn’t give way. Leon side-stepped as the beast roared, and hurried toward the path again. It had gone much quicker to delay the monster than he thought. He sneaked past it, but it spotted him anyway and thrashed out once more. The trees creaked again and started moving a bit.

Leon hurried his steps and got out of its sight, heading toward the south, where he’d left Red under the bushes. Now, they had some room to move, but he wasn’t sure how much. He wouldn’t bet on the monster just laying there for some passersby to slay it, and he didn’t think it would give up on them without some extra effort.

Leon’s heart thundered in his chest as he made his way forward, constantly glancing back, expecting the creature to finally come loose. He stumbled onto the road, and almost immediately, Red came out on it as well. And not alone. Trouble was at her heels.

“Trouble!” Leon shouted, sitting down on his knees. The rabbit tumbled into him, and forced him onto his back. She pressed her cheek against his chest, then sat back up, looking from him to Red.

“Where’s the wolf king?” she asked, looking into the woods behind Leon. Branches snapped behind him.

“Trapped for now.” Leon rose. “Where did you find her?”

“She found me, just as I had healed up. She was still shaking.”

Leon bent forward and cupped Trouble’s cheeks. “You scared the life out of me! You need to listen when you’re told it isn’t safe!”

Trouble looked to the side.

“I mean it,” Leon said, shaking her cheeks. “At least you don’t seem to be injured. Now, get into the backpack. I’m sure you’re tired.” Leon opened his inventory, and although she seemed to not want to listen to his worries and reprimands, she jumped in immediately.

“What do you mean when you say it’s trapped?” Red asked. She bounced a little on her feet. The healing seemed to have gone well.

“Its claws got stuck, and it’s pinned down.” Leon nodded toward the entrance. “Let’s go, in case it comes loose.”

Red nodded, but didn’t move. “If it’s pinned down... why don’t we take it out?”

Leon frowned. “My fatigue is really high, and I think that if we rile it up more, it will tear down the trees and come after us again. Believe me, I thought about it, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk if we aren’t sure we can take it down quickly.”

Red sighed. “I guess you’re right. Such a pity about the experience and gold, though.”

“Yeah,” Leon said, well aware of the bait. “But as we are right now, I think it would be wiser to take the chance and get the hell out of dodge.”

Something bigger snapped in the forest, and that seemed to be the end of Red’s argument. They jogged toward the end of the forest.

They could see the road ahead of them when the sound of tree breaking reached them.

“I’m guessing time’s up,” Leon said, glancing back.

A few seconds later, thuds hit the solid dirt and came closer to them, but not quite as rapidly as it had before. They reached the road as the wolf king bounded past a few bushes. It still came straight at them. Leon thought of what Finn had said about barriers around the cities, but since Finn was Finn, who knew what to trust?

“Keep going,” Leon said, constantly looking over his shoulder. In a few steps, they would be inside the city again. Out of harm’s way, certainly.

The beast leaped diagonally toward the road. In a blue flash with no sound, it was gone.

Leon stopped in his tracks. “Did you see that?”

Red nodded and leaned on her legs to catch her breath. “I’d heard rumors, but I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Same,” Leon said. “Where did it go? Did it die?”

Red swallowed and breathed a few times more before she answered. She glanced at where the wolf had disappeared. “I don’t know. I’m glad there actually was a barrier there.” She squinted. “I see a pile of loot. Do you?”

“Yes!” Leon stepped into the woods again and reached down to inspect the pile. It was smaller than he thought it should be. He picked it all up with a frown. “It’s not much, though. Just some coins and some fangs. A slimy eye, too.”

Red picked up her loot, too. Then she tilted her head. “Before the king formed, we took some down. Maybe the king just reset, so we got the loot from the ones we slew?”

Leon nodded. “I guess that’s possible. I wonder if it’s going to come here again, or if the tracking reset as well?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m glad we came out alive,” Red said, staring into the forest. “Sorry that I kinda pushed for us to get killed back there, just after you’d found a way for us to escape.”

“Don’t worry, I get it,” Leon said. He rolled his shoulders. He could really do with a wipe down and some sleep. “Wanna go back to the inn?”

Red glanced upward. “We can’t. We’ve only been away for about an hour.”

“So, what do you want to do?”

Red shrugged. “Maybe sit down somewhere with a mug of rootberry tea or something. That will help us feel better, I promise.”

“Where can we find that?”

“Come, I’ll show you.”