Darryl didn't know where the rest of the party was, he just focused on equipping his shield before the Woolf would slash through him next. The Woolf instead turned to Raphael, eyes widening when it saw Darryl literally appeared before it but already committed to their next act.
“TALK LATER, KILL THAT THING!” Elise shouted.
Jean's blood and guts splattered all over him, and Darryl quickly wiped his eyes clean on his shoulder. The Bouncer jumped back and the massive talons raked over his battleaxe leaving gashes but not completely carving the thing in pieces.
There was a loud flash, and the Woolf staggered as Mr. Geruet's spell hit it in the back. It snarled and turned around as Raphael began to simmer with a red glow. Thomas buffed his strength, and the red glow turning orange suggested that he stacked the yellow constitution buff on top of it. A bolt clipped the Woolf in the shoulder and it glared at Ben. Then it opted to ignore the kid and turned to the French caster again.
The blue field that blocked Darryl from escaping his first encounter with the Krutnik appeared in front of the Woolf as it pounced Mr. Geruet. It stretched around the Borough Boss like wrapping foil, slowing it down at the expense of the field's health bar rapidly plummeting. It gave before the Woolf lost its full momentum. It was still slowed down though, and Mr. Geruet got out of dodge before the claws could reach him.
Elise appeared behind the Woolf and batted away on its lower back, Raphael appearing a moment later to hack away at its calf. Darryl quickly ran to them. The Woolf continued to charge at Mr. Geruet, but he already managed to make a retreat. The Big Bad Woolf instead pivoted with its claws outstretched and the two brawlers had to hit the floor to dodge its claws.
It raised its claws high to bring down on a prone Elise, and brought them down so fast that the nails left after-images. Fortunately Darryl didn't have to predict their movements, he just had to shield her.
He slid on sheer momentum and the smooth slipperiness of his sandals for the last bit, taking a knee and holding his shield up above. Darryl stopped moving and saw his Stalwart Protector skill kick in not a millisecond before the claws hit his shield, echoing through it and reducing his health by a good ten percent while his left arm got a 'bone fracture' status that decreased his shielding skill by 2 along with a decrease of strength and dexterity when using that arm.
The Woolf shrieked as it received the 10% recoil of its own attack without a shield to take the brunt of it. Two of its talons clipped off and it stepped back nursing its fingers.
Darryl got up and Elise scrambled away. Raphael had quicker wits to roll away from the Woolf before, but now found himself a second behind to get on his feet. Meanwhile the Woolf had lost less than a fifth of its health from the first volley and their risky charge, including the damage that the French dealt before they showed up.
A second bolt struck the Woolf in the left arm this time, and promptly exploded. The Woolf grunted and without thinking dashed in Ben's general direction.
Darryl tried to throw himself in front of its feet to trip it up, but he was instead kicked along without slowing the Woolf down much. His health took a small dip as he rolled after the Woolf, focusing on his static minimap instead of the spinning world to keep track of the fight to see that Ben quickly retreated.
Magic missiles hit the Woolf in the back as Darryl stopped rolling, and Raphael flew over him using his belt's special string smash attack. Instead of turning around or clawing at the string, the Woolf dodged to the side and took the bouncer's powerful axe strike to the left shoulder instead of the spine. It still shrieked in pain as its health dropped a good chunk.
The Woolf looked furious and stressed out as it turned around at the prone warrior. As awesome as the attack was, after it was dealt Raphael had fallen two and a half metres. That, combined with him bouncing off the Woolf's back and hanging on to the axe that was partly stuck in the wound, resulted in him not falling on his feet and instead awkwardly trying to catch his fall with his right leg only to slip and topple over.
Darryl couldn't help it, for a moment he envisioned the mocking laughter from the Maestro's audience at the awkward display following Raphael's most powerful attack. An attack that hadn't even dealt more than 5% of the Woolf's health.
The next moment he reached Raphael and raised his shield. The Woolf was about to strike down, but broke off its attack and instead tried to kick Darryl away. It grunted when the damage was reflected back to its knee, but it hadn’t kicked hard and ignored the pain. Instead it used Darryl’s brief stagger to make a swipe for Raphael.
Raphael held his axe out and struck as best he could, the blade finding its way between the large fingers and carving into flesh using the Woolf's own momentum. The Woolf shrieked but its strike proved Raphael's superior many times over as the force pushed the axe back violently. His health immediately shot to half when the double-bladed axe carved into his collarbone and chin.
Darryl stood over the Frenchman the moment the claw retracted itself, guarding him from further attacks. The Woolf snarled angrily, and then howled in rage when another explosive bolt struck it from behind.
It turned around, only to change tactics and rush Elise instead of letting aggro guide it. Caught entirely off-guard, she jumped to the side and took a quick swipe of the claws to her Achilles heel. The wound immediately closed as she used her heal spell, but she still landed roughly eating dust.
Darryl quickly jumped to stand over her and the Woolf hissed angrily. It glared at him, the eagerness to strike down the persistent nuisance damn the recoil clear in its bloodshot eyes. Its lips parted to show yellowed but still razor-sharp fangs and its shivering hands clenched into fists.
But the Woolf’s intelligence won out in the end, and it dashed towards the two casters. Darryl cursed as he ran after it and got left in the dust with ease, Thomas already retreating to one side while Mr. Geruet went the other way.
A magic missile struck the Woolf’s snout, drawing its attention to Thomas. The next moment he took out a bag of meth and threw it over the Woolf’s shoulder to dissuade it from pursuing.
A clever plan, stopping the Woolf’s attack without needing Darryl and leaving it wide open to attacks once it crouched down to grab it.
A clever plan, if the Woolf wouldn’t ignore the little bag entirely.
“Oh shit!” Thomas shouted. He raised his staff and Darryl quickly covered his eyes when the Blinding Flash bloomed from the white crystal on top.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The Woolf didn’t react in time. Though it had seen the spell back when it first appeared and already raised its left arm to shield its eyes, it reacted too late and flinched when it felt a surge of pain from the two wounds that the limb had taken before.
Thomas dashed past the blinded boss as it snarled in a panicked rage, dodging its wild sweep. He quickly ran past Darryl, who stopped and slowly stepped back without taking his eyes off the Woolf. Elise’s footsteps told him she caught up a few seconds later, Raphael following suit.
“Damn it, I really thought that trick would’ve given us at least a few seconds.” Thomas said. “And Blinding Flash won’t work again, not on a creature clever enough to see it coming.”
The next moment the Woolf howled at the ceiling, its cry filled with desperate rage. It shivered involuntarily as it turned around, scratching its arm and having a pluck of its fur come off. Its bloodshot eyes glared at them, almost paralysing Darryl with the utter hatred that they radiated, but at the same time it looked so weak and frail-minded. Then the illusion broke as the Woolf moved.
It rushed them and slammed against Darryl’s shield, its claws reaching over and around it even as its health bar dropped. Elise struck at its claws but the claws struck back, the boss’s ferocious recklessness forcing her to retreat as every scratch took away more of her health than they were due. Darryl cast heal, seeing his entire mana pool of 3 points drain at once to raise his health near back to full and remove the bone fracture status.
The Woolf retreated as quickly as it attacked, swiping its hand at Darryl in an attempt to blind him with its freely flowing blood. He raised his shield to catch the splatter but it rushed straight past him all the same. Ironically, he could do nothing to stop it despite the failure, it was simply too fast and his best defence only worked when he stood still.
Elise quickly stood in front of Thomas so that the Woolf couldn’t repeat its previous strategy, but the Woolf dashed around their entire huddled group.
“Ben! Incoming!” Darryl shouted, realising that the Woolf could only have one target. Mr. Geruet was still behind them and rather far away, though already pacing back to them.
Ben: No worry, have plan! ;D
The Woolf contemptuously flicked the bolt away when it flew from the darkness and pressed on. Ben’s frame appeared , and the kid confidently held up a bucket of chicken nuggets.
The Woolf stopped.
Ben slowly moved the bucket to the left.
The Woolf’s head moved along, its eyes fixated on nothing else.
Ben slowly moved the bucket to the right.
The Woolf dashed forwards.
Ben startled and quickly threw the bucket away, the lid falling off and nuggets spilling onto the ground royally. The Woolf pounced, literally pounced, the bucket and began to ravenously eat it.
Ben was on it after a few moments, stabbing it with his Rendering Knife. The Woolf kicked but was dodged easily as it kept its attention fully on scarfing down the nuggets.
Elise reached the Woolf as it awkwardly hopped around the chicken spill to face Ben, and struck it in the face before it even knew she was there. Raphael started hacking into it not a moment later, and Darryl readied himself for when the Woolf would resume the fight.
For a few seconds, the previously tense boss battle turned into one-sided bullying as the crouching Woolf’s health bar relentlessly dropped under the barrage of attacks.
Then the Woolf picked up the bucket and jumped out of the group, leaving but a single stepped on nugget smeared over the floor as the others had been eaten. It held the bucket tucked under its left arm while it speared nuggets on the talons of its right claw like shish-kebabs, eating them as if its life depended on it.
It landed on its feet, its landing awkward to keep the nuggets in the bucket, and then it ran from the party. No honour, no shame. It just ran a few paces and turned around to glare at them as its mouth restlessly kept chomping on the chicken meat.
It didn’t seem to like the nuggets, in fact it seemed nauseous from ingesting so many so fast. Bits fell from its jaws with every gnashing chew and it cared not for the dropped bits that weren’t a whole nugget. The reason for its obsession was clear enough though, Ben had grasped it where Thomas hadn’t.
The Woolf didn't know it was addicted to meth, it only knew the high and the craving began after it ate the chicken nuggets.
“How long do you think we can keep it fooled?” Darryl asked as the group stopped chasing the Woolf. Running after it was a fool’s errand and would only wear them down, the Woolf would easily put more distance between them if they tried.
“Dunno. But we can always try sniping it from here. You should try throwing your spear at it, not like you need the shield at the moment.” Ben said, aiming his crossbow. The Woolf dodged to the side, the bolt disappearing into the darkness behind it.
Ben cursed disappointedly and disappeared into the shadows instead of sticking to the huddled together group of survivors. Darryl kept his shield up, if Ben missed then he certainly wasn’t going to hit. And the Woolf might return to the offensive at any moment, he’d get no moment to spare on equipping anything once that happened.
“How long has your torch spell been burning now?” Thomas asked.
“Less than fifteen minutes, it last an hour.” Mr. Geruet said.
“Good, no need to waste any mana or an able hand holding up a torch.” Thomas said. “Shall I try striking it with some magic missiles?”
“Heads up, it finished.” Elise said grimly.
The Woolf hadn’t broken eye contact with the group as it had been scarfing down the food, in fact it hadn’t even blinked its blood-shot stressed eyes once. But now it looked into the bucket and then held it upside down over its head as it studied the contents for anything it missed.
“NO! Where is it!? Where’s the special one!?” The Woolf howled, grunting in even more anger when Raphael threw a dart into its chest but ignoring the Frenchman to instead study the grease-stained carton bottom of the bucket. “I need it! I need it!!! You! Where! How! Give m-”
Suddenly it retched and threw up, half-digested nuggets and bits of Krutnik with carapace and all coming out in a morbid waterfall. The same moment that Ben’s crossbow struck it in the side a second wave followed, and as the flow stopped it spat into the puddle to clear its mouth.
“Not here. Not in here. Worthless food. Then wh-” The Woolf froze, sudden understanding spreading across its expression. “I see. Should’ve seen it before.”
Before anyone could react, it ran at them. Darryl raised his shield, but the Woolf jumped over the group with a might leap and landed on the other side, scrambling to keep moving and reaching its inhuman speed again in moments.
It skidded with its claws leaving scratch marks on the floor as it hastily stopped, and picked something up from the ground as it turned around.
The Woolf tore open the plastic bag and dropped the meth that Thomas threw before right into its mouth.
“I don’t think meth is an ingested substance.” Mr. Geruet said. “Doesn’t it require a spoon?”
“It got addicted eating it, so I guess the dungeon meth works differently?” Darryl said. “I hope not, though. Because we’ve been fighting this thing while it’s debuffed, if eating meth works, then…”
The Woolf straightened its back as its arms stopped shivering, and its eyes briefly shivered in pleasure before returning to the adventurers again with none of the stress and a lot more careful intelligence to them. For some reason even the bloodshot veins had disappeared immediately and its fangs no longer looked yellowish.
It smiled broadly, wiping the bile off its lips as its health bar suddenly got a bit longer, and then chuckled.
“Well, well, well, children. You sure made nana sad and anxious. Naughty, naughty.” The Woolf gravelled. “I think some old fashioned disciplining is in order. Nay, long overdue.”