Chapter 17 Underground Part 3

“It can use magic?! Seriously!”

In seconds, its already big body swelled and grew even bigger, the wounds I inflicted closing in the process.

It entered a berserker-like state, its eyes glowing red with bloodlust, on its claws, fire appeared.

With its claws, the wolf slashed into my direction. Fire in the shape of five half-moons and as sharp as a sword, cut the building I was standing on into pieces…

“Isn’t that a bit overkill…?” I thought as I evaded its attack and landed on the street before it, I lunged at it, letting the wolf no time to react while making myself bigger.

I bit into its neck with all my might. The werewolf tried immediately to slash my body with its burning claws, but I blocked it with my ice, freezing and locking its paws in place. My ice started to cover the ground, making its way up the wolf’s body.

It snarled at me in rage, trying to free itself, but I let my ice grew continuously and dug my teeth further into its neck. The taste of blood filled my mouth. “I have to end it quickly; who knows what other tricks it has up its sleeve…”

Determined, I let my ice spread from my mouth into its wound, right into the wolf’s blood system. “I won’t show you any mercy, you big pet dog!”

The ice quickly spread through its body to the wolf’s heart; it noticed my plan, and fire welled up from within the wolf as it tried to melt the ice. “Struggle all you want, but I won’t lose a fight of endurance!”

The heat grew, but so did my ice; it had already frozen its legs solid. So, I did the only reasonable thing: I put all my weight against its upper body, still my teeth buried in the wolf’s flesh. He howled in pain as its frozen legs began to creak, and within its desperation of approaching death, managed to free one of its arms. A blaze of fire emerged from its half-frozen claws and aimed at my back.

I quickly created a thick shield of ice to weaken its attack, which slashed through it, hitting my back. A sharp pain permeated my body, but my bite didn’t loosen. Instead, with a powerful push of my hind legs, leaned on it even more and, at the same time, grew even bigger.

*Creak*

The werewolf cried out in a deafening pitch and sank its claws in my back; its fire already consumed by my ice. With my teeth still in its neck, I towered over it as it lay on the ground, its frozen lags still standing upright where I first froze them.

In its eyes still burned a flame of rage and the will to life. “It’s still holding on; impressive.”

“But this is the end.” With all my might, I ripped out half of its neck, blood gushing out of it and the wolf in pain grasping for air, coughed up nothing but blood…

But that soon froze shut, and the flame that fought throughout its body slowly died out, my ice taking over and freezing its heart. The creature looked at me, its eyes filled with fear as it drew its last breaths…

“You fought well; it’s been ages since someone managed to injure me.” I said to it before its eyes lost their light and grew dull.

The wolf’s entire body froze over as I sighed in relief…

“I played tough in front of it, but that could have gone really bad if I had let the fight drag out… Well, it’s not that I would have lost even if that happened anyway…”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I looked at it deep in thought. “That’s my first time seeing a werewolf in this world, let alone such a powerful one…”

“…” My back stung in pain as the wound slowly closed.

I decided to put its corpse into my storage to take it above ground and show it to the guild master… “I hope it’s not a relative of hers…” I tilted my head thoughtfully, “Do Beastman and Werewolf’s share a common ancestor or are they completely unrelated to each other…? I never heard or read anything about werewolf’s existing in this world…”

I tilted my head to the other side, “Did it get Isekaid or something…”

“Is it an ancient race…, or is it the ancestor of Beastman…”

“So many questions, but no answers…”

I stood up and walked in the direction of the cathedral and looked at the destruction caused by our fight. Countless buildings turned into ruins. And amidst the silence, now the sound of stones hitting the ground rang through the city.

After a few minutes of walking, I reached my destination. As I wandered into the cathedral, still lying before the now half destroyed alter, the red glowing crystal…

“What a weird thing; I noticed before, but it just doesn’t seem to fit in here…” As I walked closer to it, the white flame appeared before me again…

I could vaguely feel what it wanted to say: “Thanks, huh…”

“I didn’t realize at first because of your weakened state, but you are a spirit, right?”

The flame hovered in affirmation, too weak to speak…

“What happened to you, and why did you led me here?” I asked curiously.

The flame flew to the crystal, circling around it, “Dangerous…?”

“Well, that much seems obvious…” I replied to it.

“What was the deal with the werewolf? Why was it sealed here?” I sat down, observing the flame.

“To protect…?” I tilted my head at its reply.

“The crystal?” I continued to ask, but the flame flickered in objection…

“So, you want to say, it protected the city from intruders?” The flame danced happily as I understood what it wanted to say.

“Hmm…,” I continued listening to it, trying to understand what it wanted to convey,

“Crystal…placed…taking… advantage…” The flame lively hovered around, doing its best to explain.

“… hold up, do I understand this right? Someone placed this crystal here, taking advantage of the wolf to protect it?” As I finished, the flame praisingly flew around me. I looked at it unimpressed, “You are pretty lively for someone in your state.”

“Sigh, why are you even here? If I were you, I would have looked for a fire to regenerate.” I asked tired from the conversation.

“Waited…?” The white flame burned proudly.

“Ah, whatever I’m tired from all this. So, let’s smash that damned crystal and be done with it.” I said impatiently.

As I stood up, readying my paw to crush it, the flame flew into my face, “Wait, what is it now!?”

“I don’t know the full story yet? Am I not interested in learning more about why you are in such a state?” I repeated what the eager flame tried to say.

“I don’t care.” I said tiredly.

“!” The flame froze in shock.

“You can regenerate and tell the guild master all about it; she can deal with all this.” I said indifferently.

The flame started to franticly hover around, “The crystal attracts monsters? I thought so…, but tell this not me but the wolf women.”

*Crack*

Fed up with talking I smashed the crystal with my front paw, its blood red light fading, reducing it to dull red shards.

The flame bounced in satisfaction upon seeing the destroyed crystal that I put in my storage.

“Come on, let’s go.” I said unmotivated, thinking about all the stairs I had to climb back up…

The odd flame followed me invigorated, brimming with motivation.

***

“Finally!” I screamed in relief as I tiredly trudged through the town, back in my cat form.

“It took hours to explain everything to the guild master and her assistant… They caused such a ruckus as I told them about the crystal and the underground city… and don’t get me started about when I pulled the werewolf corpse out…” I walked along the street that led to one of the town entrances.

“Good thing they happily agreed on taking care of that flame spirit…”

“Sigh, I want to sleep. Maybe I will rest near the entrance for a while before I leave…”

Unmotivated and with sluggish movement, I looked for a potential sleeping place.

“!”

“A box!” My heavy tail started to move slightly in excitement.

“What is a perfectly sized box doing here?” I looked curiously at the small box lying in a corner next to a closed shop.

I got closer to it and looked inside, “Empty…”

An urge to get in it overcame me, and without a second thought, hopped in it. I rolled myself into a ball and closed my eyes…

***

My ears twitched as I felt the box I was in move. The top of it was covered, and some rays of light came in through the wood slits…

“Are they still asleep?” a familiar vice asked impatiently.

“You asked me that 18 times already…”

“Ah,” I thought tiredly, “seems like I got catnapped…”

My eyes closed, and my mind fell into a deep slumber once again.