Frozen Heat - Dark Room

I solemnly stood there, my back cornered against the wall while 15 Werewolf scouts slowly encircled me. Even through all the rising mist and darkness, I could clearly make out the apparent bloodlust held deep within their beady, pale eyes.

I gulped audibly, breaking the ensuing silence. As if in response, the prowling pack growled with ferocity, bits and  drops of saliva spreading everywhere in the process.

In all sense of the term, I was utterly screwed.

My mind was already racing, the gears in my head turning intensely as I desperately tried thinking of a way out of this messy situation.

“Tch...” I reflexively spat out while sighing.

In the end, I wasn’t such a capable person, and my cornered, half razzled mind jumbled up my steadily decelerating train of thought.

I couldn’t think of a plan to overturn this situation.

Not like it mattered either way though, since the wolves had already jumped into action.

Three wolves, completely different from the ones I had exchanged brief blows with, rushed at me with practiced unison.

Their teeth fully bared to reveal a set of blood stained canines as they sprinted my direction.

At this point, faced with such a situation, well thought out, cleverly contrived master plans were pointless. Rather, what I needed to do was take action. I needed to start moving, and my own body knew that better than anyone else.

As they drew nearer, I didn’t let myself stay idle. I also motioned into my own counteroffensive.

Instead of meeting them head on, I took a tentative step forward, before I completely 180’d and started a desperate run backwards, my full intent focused on the wall now in front of me.

One, two, on my third step forward, my foot planted itself firmly on the wall’s flat surface. Not letting my generated momentum diminish, I planted another step on the wall.

With a total of three steps, I ran along the wall, moving sideways to my left before I leapt up, and jumped boldly on top of one of the rushing wolves. As I drew nearer, the wolf’s eyes widened in surprise, while an audible, “yip” escaped its snarling jaws.

My body rocketed forward, and with one well aimed strike, I jabbed Efhermet firmly into the beast’s left flank while I landed on top of the Wolf’s back. This time around, I didn’t bother activating [Dissect] since more than anything, my current situation would be greatly dependent on how long my stamina can last.

After all, it wouldn’t be good to run out of steam halfway through battle.

Despite the fact that the thrust had merely been a regular attack, the thrust itself did considerable damage. Maybe it was due to my inflated stats, or maybe its was due to the 15% reduction that the wolves suffered, but no matter, the subsequent Scout’s hp dropped by approximately 20% with that single jab.

With no time to rest, I yanked the blade out with a well timed grunt as I planned to continue my onslaught.

Meanwhile, my brief strike, which lasted no more than 2 seconds, had already drawn the attention of the wolf’s fellow attackers - the other two wolves who had shaken off their initial stupor from my surprise rush had already decided to come at me once more.  They now poised themselves and sprinted forward, within them contained renewed vigor. On top of that, another 4 scouts decided to join in, as they too rushed desperately at the me who still clung onto the injured wolf’s back.

Ignoring the bared fangs, I once again attacked the injured wolf. With a single slash, I cut of one of its pointed ears. Considering the fact that such a body part was rather flimsy, [Dissect]’s bonus effects wasn’t required to sever the important protrusion from the head.

Continuing onwards, I encircled my free arm around the wolf’s neck to get better traction as my blade once again moved and flew over its head. The dagger sliced through air, fur, and flesh as I successfully cut off the other ear, which prompted a series of deranged cries.

Satisfied, a small smile floated to my face, before it quickly dissapeared. From the corner of my eyes, through the dimly lit room, I could somewhat see that the remaining wolves were already in close proximity.

[Damn it… I’ve got to somehow do something….]

With a grunt, I reached over with both of my hands, and fully wrapped my body around the earless wolf’s back.

As the others drew nearer, I forcibly twisted the full weight of my body to the left. My generated momentum transfered over to the wolf, as it followed my trajectory, and spun sideways.  It was sort of like how a crocodile drowned its prey using its patented “death roll”, except in my case, I was the crocodile, and the wolf was my prey.

As our bodies turned horizontal with the floor, I immediately kicked out at the wolf squarely on its back.

The generated force, sent the scout slightly forward, while it propelled me to the floor. I cushioned my impact with a roll, as I moved away from the ensuing chaos.

My back was once again against the wall while I looked on at the scene I created. The wolves that had rushed at me couldn’t slow down their built up momentum; they crashed hard against the earless scout. The earlier deathroll I performed was meant to expose the earless wolf’s maximum body area, to better act as a pseudo shield against the rushing wolves. By the looks of the results, I’d say my plan worked quite well.

The deafening noise created by the impact of multiple bodies caused even I to jerk back in slight surprise.

Although such a course of actions held an even greater effect on the pack itself. The collision of bodies sent the once well organized group of canine monsters into disarray, as the other beasts scrambled to avoid the earless wolf.

With such chaos, a small, slight, ever so slight, miniscule gap was created amongst their formation. One which I took full advantage off.

This time I jumped up onto the tables propped up against the wall as I began to run on elevated ground. I sacrificed a few unfortunate PCs in my wake, stepping over keyboards and loose mice while I sprinted forwards.

I circled around the pack, confronting an idle wolf scout who, before now, had stood laxidly on the sidelines with what I can only presume as a severe lack of motivation.

I slashed out at this idle wolf with Efhermet.

My strike this time around wasn’t random, but delibrate. Carrying with it a tremendous amount of force and speed, my blade zoomed forward, directly towards the idle wolf’s face. I aimed for the top of its maw, were its most important organ sat; its snout.

I slashed horizontally at his nose. The momentum of my slice, not only completely shaved off the top half of its night black nose, but also spun me once over, giving me the opportunity to readjust myself in mid air, before I crouched down once more and leapt forward.

My blade once again slashed horizontally, this time, chipping away at the pointed ears framed on top of the wolf’s head.

I managed to fully sever one ear off, while grazing at a portion of its right ear lobe.

The two quick successive attacks landed ideally, causing the idle wolf to bleed from the newly wounded orifices.

Unfortunately it howled rather loudly in response, prompting the attention of the other beasts.

As if in retaliation to his troublesome roars, I didn’t let up my earlier combo as I slashed out twice more, both aimed at his exposed chest, before I kicked the wolf backwards. With keen eyes, I watched him stumble before the ensuing pack that was once again sprinting forward.

His flailing body blocked off most of the wolves’ rushing attack. Much like the other wolf I traded blows with, this earless-noseless wolf caused the others to circle around in an attempt to get to me.

Although, obviously, I didn’y just stand idle while I wasted such an opportunity. I followed the idle wolf’s flailing body closely. I ran up to him, this time, while brandishing two daggers; Efhermet and another one of my spare blades.

I planned and monopolized on the quick added agility effects of [Equip]’s bonus while I approached the Noseless wolf’s body.

I jumped up, lifting my legs off the ground by a full meter or so, as I stepped down on his shoulder. I used the howling creature much like a stepping stone, jumping once more and leaping  as high as possible; my eyes solely fixated on a single opening within the ventilation shafts.

The same one I had come down from.

My right hand quickly parted with the spare dagger as it reached out. I forcibly stretched myself as far as possible while my fingers remained outstretched, grasping at that one, seemingly endless hole in the wall.

[Almost, almost, so close…!]

Just as my hand almost clasped the opening, an impact that originated from my right suddenly hit me full force, and sent me sprawling back down into bitter reality.

My body torpedoed to the ground head first as I crash landed among a pile of badly broken computers and half chewed metal chairs.

Crash!

For a moment, I felt disconnected.

As if I was dead. No, rather, is this what being dead feels like? The impact was pretty strong after all….It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that that hit could have very much killed me.

I was then quickly reminded that I was very much alive, by the jolt of pain that rapidly spread throughout my system.

“Guuh….” I mumbled awkwardly, as I slowly regained some semblance of my scattered senses.

In a daze, I attempted to quickly get up, ignoring the bitter pain that now pulsated at the back of my head. My groggy condition, impaired much of my vision, while a ringing noise seemingly vibrated through out my ears.

Feeling something a bit off with my nose, I sniffed at the air cautiously, before a wincing pain quickly prompted me to stop.

I’m not too sure, but I think my nose might be broken. That would explain the nosebleed at least.

In such a state, with my face aching and my body in twice as much pain, I barely acknowledged the fact that I had managed to lose a good 25% of my hp to that one impact alone.

I knelt down on one knee, as I strained to look out at the room. At first haze. Then blurry images, before my vision once again switched to haze.

The white mist which seemingly blended into the natural darkness.

I couldn’t really see anything.

I tried reaching out at my eyes, where I finally noticed my new injury. An increased amount of blood gushed out from an open wound above the right ridge of my eyebrow. The blood which mixed itself with my right eye impaired my already broken vision to an even greater extent.

At this point, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say I was now fighting blind. Well, at least that’s how it felt.

Nervous. Anxiety. A hint of fear as well. Those were the reckless concoction of emotions which I currently felt. In such utter darkness, save for the faint illuminating fire that I could barely make out through the door window which saw out into the inflamed hall, I was completely blind. Well, at least that’s how it felt.

My left arm shook, in part due to the earlier crash from earlier, and a bigger part due to the… anxiety. The anxiety of being in the dark. The anxiety of knowing that I wasn’t alone in the dark. The anxiety of fully comprehending that what was with me in the dark was currently trying to kill me.

And I had no semblance as to where the ones who wanted to kill me were in this unnavigable mist of darkness.

Of course, that all changed. A ferocious roar vibrated throughout the room, illuminating the area with sound.

My head, almost on reflex, instantly turned towards the noise.

I couldn’t really tell, but I had a gut feeling that what roared just now was the Alpha Wolf. I also had a deeper feeling that the one who had hit me earlier was the Alpha Wolf.

I breathed in, and breathed out, calming my rising breath.

First, I knew that the wolves were coming closer.

Despite everything, they had a tendency to slowly encircle their prey, much like actual wolves in the wild. Although they had numerous opportunities to land a counter aggressive against me, they had chosen not to. Instead they… planned… waited, like they were the predators hunting, and I was the prey.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

From a different perspective though, this was good opportunity for me. In my half blind, full battered state, I could take a brief, yet albeit greatly needed breather.

And most importantly, time to gather my thoughts.

The wolves could attack any moment now but they didn’t.

Like I said before, they were a hunting type of monster, one that liked to take precaution no matter the circumstance. That’s why they simply encircled.

Another thing too, while they did sometimes attack in groups, they never went all out with their full might. Now, a part of me thinks this is due to the fact that it would be a bit detrimental rather than helpful to attack all at the same time, what with all the conflicting bodies and all, but another part of me believes it was due in part to given orders from the Alpha.

Much like the Goblin Commander, the Alpha didn’t readily attack me on his own, only when I was making my escape. While it didn’t want to let me go, it had no enthusiasm to attack me full on either. This showed that the Alpha was the most cautious out of all the Werewolves.

Now, I had a theory to this.

The Alpha, and much like any other elite monster on par with the Goblin Commander, were especially careful due to the importance their roles played. Elite monsters, the “Guardian types,” most likely fully realized that without them, I mean - if they die, then the respawn point… no, the spawn portal, dies with them.

Somehow or another, their fates are intertwined, and for the good of the pack, the Alpha chose to play it safe.

The Elite monster was either planning on letting the rest of the wolves handle me, or at the very least, wait until I was severely weakened before it struck out to deal the finishing blow.

Really, it was a dirty tactic, but not one I would have been completely against, were it me be the one using it.

Through the darkness, I imagined the beast glaring at me.

Another solitary howl reverberated throughout the room, as if confirming my suspicion. This time around, instead of silence, what followed was the sound of pitter pattering paws.

Rather than standing here idly and waiting for the beasts to attack, I recklessly dove to the right.

I didn’t know what good such actions would have done but in any case, my body moved automatically.

Still lost in the dark, I could hear angry howls from where I just ran from.

Despite the gaining pack, In my own wake, I held back a yelp of pain, as I bumped into a nearby wall, toppling some of the computers in front of me, which I hadn’t noticed until now.

Relying on my previous knowledge of the room, I ran towards the back, aiming for where the heavy set curtain was supposed to be. The first thing I needed to fix was the light. In such a dark situation, I was the one with the severe disadvantage.

Or rather, my natural instincts yearned for light. Rather than thinking of advantage or disadvantage, I was merely driven by the human fear of the dark.

Moving recklessly through the room, I dashed forward, one hand constantly brushing at the wall, while my other hand, the one which held Efhermet, flailed frantically, hoping to hit any creature that came close.

As I ran, my vision also grew darker. I’m not too sure, but something has been wrong with my eyes since a while back. It wasn’t just the blood seeping down from below my eyebrow, but something much more….well, something much worse.

In either case, I could probably get it fixed by Cielle later, well that is, if I somehow managed to make it out alive.

With my wonky vision, I continued to run forward until I eventually stopped, and turned around. For one, with such terrible eyesight, I doubt added light would help, rather it might make the situation worse. Wasn’t it that with eye related injuries, sudden brightness is detrimental?

It might have been a mistake in the first place to move in this direction, and my indecisive personality prompted my change in decision.

Anyways, I turned around and sprinted full force.

The me who relied so recklessly on my dexterity was now gone, rather, in such a situation where my vision has been effectively “robbed”, the dexterity stat seemed all but pointless.

Right now, I was being reckless once again.

I pulled out a second dagger, as I held that, as well as Efhermet, outsteched, in front of me.

I knew that there was a werewolf following close behind due to the quiet, almost soft noises its feet made whenever it ran. My guess was only confirmed by the slick sound of my blades piercing meat in the darkness.

From the height and resistance, I guessed it was a Werewolf scouts chest or something.

It let out a howl of both pain and sound as I continued running forward, driving the weapon deeper and deeper into its chest cavity.

At this point, my vision was completely black by now, and all I could do was rely on the rest of my other senses.

Not letting this one get away, I determined myself to acquire my first Werewolf scout kill of the day, as I quickly moved my left hand and grasped out at its shoulder.

I ignored the oncoming wolves that I knew were inevitable as I placed my full focus on my current opponent.

I yanked out Efhermet, as I raised my right leg upwards. Using the still inlodged blade on its chest, I propped up my right foot on top of it, as I used its hilt as a make shift spring board.

With one decisive jump upwards, I rose above the current Scout, while I twisted my body and used the right hand which still held on firmly to the beast’s shoulder to maneuver myself to face the opposite direction.

Once my upward momentum rapidly began to diminish, I forcefully landed ontop of the beast’s back. My right hand once again groped at the monster’s fur in an effort to gain some sort of traction, as my armed left hand, began its assault.

At first, I furiously thrusted the bladed weapon deep into its throat. I aimed specifically for where I presumed its carotid artery was. The dagger rapidly sunk deep into its neck, prompting the wolf to let loose a sever howl of pain.

ding!

A confirmation sound blared through my ears, but unlike usual, where a blue panel appeared, a rather mechanical voice whispered softly into my ear instead.

“[Critical Hit.]”

Although this sort of unexpected occurrence did surprise me, I didn’t have any leisure to worry about it.I knew full well that the Wolves were practically on top of me, in fact, I could hear the fervent yapping, as the slowly began to encircle me.

Doing my best to ignore them, I steeled myself once more, as I stabbed back down on the beast. Then another, another, another, and even more, another.

I repeatedly stabbed back and forth, until a steaming hot sensation sprayed my face and chest.

[Blood…]

I inwardly thought out as I gritted my teeth, and stabbed back down.

The wolf in response howled in pain. Its cries prompted an unexpected attack from one of its fellow teammates.

A fellow scout ran up and clawed at my back. I winced through the pain, as I imagined the blood oozing out from my new wound

“Damn, stupid mutt….”

I cursed to myself while I jabbed Efhermet deep into the quickly dying wolf’s back.

I imagined that the one who had previously scratched my back had run away, as I heard the hurried footsteps of something rather large backing away.

A little bit of childish anger and irritation welled up within me, while I inwardly chided the wolf for its hit and run tactic.

Keeping Efhermet in lodged into the wolf’s back, I groped around for another dagger with my left hand.

After firmly grasping the blade (my second to last spare dagger), I threw it out into the darkness. Of course, I was, for the better sense of the word, “blinded”, but nevertheless, I threw the blade in the general direction of where I imagined the beast had fled, going by the receding sounds its paws had made.

After I confirmed my hit had landed with an pained yelp of surprise, I resumed my feverent attacks at the beast whose back I currently clung to.

Maybe it was the fact that I was currently in such close proximity to one of their comrades, but other than the previous wolf, no other scout attempted to retaliate. Maybe they feared injuring their fellow comrade… it made sense in a way, considering wolves are mostly creatures with strong familial bonds or comraderie. In either case, it worked to my advantage.

Ignoring thier hesitation, I grabbed Efhermet’s hilt once more, as I jabbed it back down, this time, I repositioned my blow. Instead of the side of its throat, like I primarily aimed for, this time around, I striked out at the back of its neck, close to where its spinal column connected and a place where a major artery laid.

Just as expected, another wave of fresh heated liquid splashed over me.

I smiled viciously, one in a mix of satisfaction and accomplishment, as I stabbed back down.

I primarily aimed for the blood spray, mostly as a desperate, last ditch effort to grasp out for any sort of advantage in such an unfavorable situation.

I’m not too sure how effective the outcome might be, but if I’m lucky, the fresh, odor filled blood might somewhat disguise my own stench.

I mean, after all, these Werewolves were monsters which relied on their sense of smell and sense of hearing, and I could at least make an effort to hide one of these senses.

The blood continued to gush out haphazardly as I also continued to repeatedly work away at his neck muscles. The subsequent howlings of pain lost most of their vigor by this point, as I began to imagine the wolf dying with every stab I performed.

Eventually, it collapsed on the floor with a sickening thud, but not before voicing out a final yip of frustration and pain.

“.....*sigh*”

The room once again filled with silence, well, save for my over excited gasps of adrenaline and breathlessness.

My skin tingled, as I felt the sensation of the Wolf’s now lifeless corpse that I still laid on top of.

Its weird, even though its dead, its fur is still as soft as when it was alive. Wasn’t this weird?

After all, it was dead. Shouldn’t something change. I’m pretty sure something needed to change.

“Odd…. everything’s odd…”

In the darkness, I muttered to myself. My voice reverberating maybe a bit too loudly.

I imagined the 14 or so remaining wolves encircling me, drawn ever closer to the words. In the darkness around, I couldn’t tell what they were planning, nor where exactly they were moving from. Only black. Black, black, black, black, black, black, black, black, black, black…

A pitch black that seemed to engulf my fragile, miniscule frame.

This was a terribly bad situation indeed.

Not only was I currently blind, but I was also surrounded.

In any normal condition, there would have been no way I could possible escape, let alone come out alive. Not to mention, on top of my stacked high disadvantages, breathing was getting progressively getting more and more difficult. Of course, I had no one to blame for this problem but myself, considering the choked up air was probably due to the numerous pieces of dry ice that littered the floor and covered the room in CO2.

Out of breath, outnumbered, and blind…Really, what exactly should I do now… in such an especially shitty situation… wasn’t I effectively screwed?

Well, all the bad things aside, I need to look on the bright side.

I successfully killed a Werewolf scout. And if were thinking positively here, that just meant I needed 14 more to go before I faced of against the final boss.

Really, maybe I was being overly pessimistic about everything.

Surely, things can’t be all that bad.

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