Mash wanted to bring the bigger wolves into the fight but didn’t have any idea about what to do to provoke them. As soon as he saw any of them, they left his line of sight. Their reactions made him feel like they might have a skill related to it. Now that he was thinking about it, even the smaller wolves were good at attacking from his blind spots. Or at least his blind spots if he didn’t have his domain. That gave him an advantage, and it was one he took full advantage of.
His hand snapped back, and he caught another wolf that was aiming for his neck. It was the third one so far that had attempted the same attack. That made the attack far too predictable. Even without Jill’s foresight, he knew where the wolves were going to attack. He got the wolf in his hand; he was physically holding the creature's mouth shut. It tried to scramble away by kicking off him, but he didn’t let it get away. Wood grew from his hand, a sharp spear that pierced the wolf as he was holding it. He let it go until he felt the creature die.
Two more wolves ran toward him, and Mash could see another set of four trailing them. It seemed like the monsters were changing their tactics. He didn’t think it would matter. These smaller wolves simply didn’t have the power to seriously harm him. A dozen wolves would need to bite him at the same time for them to do any lasting damage. Coming at him in these small groups wouldn’t even be a challenge anymore. That was doubly true as the wolf in his hand was consumed by a wooden maw. He had killed enough wolves to get a pretty sizable increase, and these wouldn’t even be able to scratch him if he took the effort to dodge.
He wanted something more powerful or bigger. He would settle for bigger. Sending a quick message to the others he leaped at the largest wolf he could see. He only caught a small glimpse of one but jumped with all of his strength toward it. The snow was kicked upward. It improved the wolves’ camouflage, but he wasn’t worried about the others. These monsters weren’t very strong, and he had yet to gain any levels. He was beginning to think that the smaller wolves were their children or something.
He broke through a gap in the trees a few branches being scattered as he struck a densely furred body. The fur was grey and prickly. It scraped against his scales and actually managed to scratch them. The creature's fur even made small holes in his clothes. That was surprising and worrying. If they could do that to him, then he doubted that normal people could even touch these creatures. In fact, most armor would be completely worthless if the wolves’ fur could pierce it. The only blessing was that the fur wasn’t all that long. Even if it managed to pierce his body it wouldn’t go that deep. It would hurt though.
The wolf had been in the middle of a jump itself, though it was moving to the right. It was obviously trying to get out of his vision, but it was too slow for that. His crash with the wolf was more like a tackle, and he pushed off the ground with one foot to turn and send it flying. These were probably the wolves his brother was talking about. It was easily as big as a horse, and it crashed through a tree from the force of the tackle. The tree fell on top of the wolf, obscuring it slightly. Mash didn’t get to follow up on his tackle as he received one in return. Another of the large wolves jumped at him from the side.
It crashed into his chest and head, and he was sent crashing to the ground. He turned sharply from the impact, his right-side crashing into the snow. It was like he had been spun. It used the force to cling to him and pushed him further into the snow. The monster was faster than the smaller variants, and its full-speed tackle was not avoidable. At least not without his hunt skill buffs. Pain shot through Mash’s left eye as some of the wolf's fur dug into it. His scales managed to stop him from getting more injuries, but his eyes didn’t boast the same defense. The vision in that eye immediately went black, but he fought despite the pain.
The pain could only be described as annoying. It strangely didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Instead, it was a constant irritation, one that made him want to rub at the eye immediately. But first, he needed to get the damn wolf off him. It kept pushing him further into the ground. However, Mash realized the others weren’t nearby. He could use his lightning again. To his own surprise, he growled like the wolves were doing. It wasn’t something he thought he would ever do but just found himself imitating the gesture.
Then in one sudden motion, he pushed against the ground while releasing the lighting. He didn’t need to care about accuracy and aimed it at everything he could see within his domain. Once the wolf had knocked him over, more had dared to step into his domain. That would be their mistake, and lightning lanced out from him like he was some kind of porcupine. The whole world around him flashed white, and the wolf that was on him was sent into the air. The force of his shove added to the burst of the lightning.
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Nearly all of the wolves around him got struck but a few at the edges of his domain actually managed to jump behind trees. There was no way they were faster than lightning, which meant that they must have predicted his skill somehow. Magic detection? His brother hadn’t mentioned anything like that, but he expected a monster at this level would need some way to respond to magic. The question was how it worked. He wanted to know to modify his own transformations later. Though he would hopefully learn about it when trying out the wolf-form. The monster probably wouldn’t give him any affinities, but now he was looking for more than just skills. He could essentially adopt anything the monster could do and mix it with another. The biggest strength of his class was its ability to compensate for its own weaknesses.
The wolf that was on top of him had been dazed by the sudden explosion of lightning. Those outsides of the range were still blinded by the overwhelming light. It was loud too and would probably draw the attention of more than just the wolves. This place probably didn’t get lightning very often. If there were other adventurers around, he would’ve alerted them of his presence. Well, that wasn’t really an issue here. One of the advantages of being in a high-level area is that they would be unlikely to find any adventurers or people there in general.
There was no hesitation in his movements now, and he tried to take a bite out of the larger wolf. His right hand was still a wooden maw, and he attempted to tear off a chunk of the wolf. The wooden teeth managed to bite into the wolf’s flesh, but it got stuck against its muscle. The wolf’s muscle was dense, it was like biting through some stone. Though Mash did manage to stain some of its fur and the surrounding snow in red. Its blood leaked from where the wooden teeth had pierced its skin. Mash didn’t let go of the wolf as it attempted to jump away. Although he couldn’t actually stop it from jumping, he just clung to it like a tick. With his wood holding him in place, he used his real hand to tear off a smaller chunk of the monster. The claws from his dragon form had a much easier time of tearing through the wolf's muscles. After getting his chunk of flesh he let go of the monster and rolled away before another could bite him. He had tracked another of the wolves leaping at him, and just barely dodged it with the roll. It crashed into the already injured one covering both with its blood.
Mash could only imagine how much it would hurt. The injured wolf would have its wound pierced by the other wolf’s fur. The hurt wolf let out a pained scream. It didn’t have the power or intimidation of a howl and felt more like a shriek. Mash looked at the piece of meat in his hand. It was partly covered in fur and was dyed red by blood. It would be hard for him to eat it with a wooden limb, but he should be able to manage it with his actual teeth. He didn’t like the taste of raw meat, but he shoved the whole piece in his mouth.
It made his cheeks puff out comically, and blood leaked from the corners of his mouth as he chewed. The fur cut his tongue and the inner part of his cheek, and he really only tasted blood. The meat itself was completely drowned out by the large amounts of blood he needed to bite through. Mash was a little afraid to swallow it. The fur would probably cut up his throat. He trusted that his skill would protect him though and swallowed as best as he could. It hurt more than he thought it would, but he managed to get it down. The stat gain was a lot more impressive now than with the smaller wolves. Blood leaked from his lips, and his teeth were coated in red blood. Despite the pain, he still smiled. These wolves were more along the lines of what he was hoping for.
The two wolves that had crashed into one another had shaken off their stupor and were circling him slowly. More wolves were joining them now too. Both the large and small variants. It seemed like they were changing their tactics again. It was more akin to what he expected from the animals. They were planning on overwhelming him, but he wouldn’t let that happen. He decided it was time to get more creative with his transformations too.
Even just partially using the treant-form would improve his wood affinity. Wood wasn’t as useful here, but he could still make some distractions with them. He wanted power more than the speed at the moment. The wolfs were fast, faster than he could keep up with but that would change.
[Use the wolf-form.]
Priscilla had a good idea. He hadn’t thought about using an unknown form but realized that was stupid. He would gain a lot of speed by using it. If he mixed it with his dragon and treant form, he would be extremely durable too. It did look strange though. The color of his body had changed, and his scales had taken a bark-like texture. His hair had been replaced by grey hairs, and patches of it stuck out from between some scales. He truly looked like some kind of elaborate experiment. A creation rather than a creature. Although, he felt strong. He didn’t know exactly how much the form improved his abilities, but his legs had thickened significantly. The muscles in his thighs had ballooned. He flexed a little and bent slightly his thighs seemed to grow bigger with the motion. He prepared to jump at the circling wolves. The injured one would be slower than the rest, and this would be a good way to test his power.