Alaric’s blade flashed through the mudhounds like a fiery herald of death. It dug into the weak spots of the wolfish fiends as though it was drawn to them, fashioned for the sole purpose of severing heads and limbs at the right joints.
Once the boy’s blade was in contact with a weak spot, the fur sizzled from the heat of the flames residing in the blade and before the mudhound knew what was happening, it slipped right through the body like a knife through butter.
Distancing themselves from him was not an option either. Alaric’s wide-range slashes singed the fur of the mudhounds and sent them reeling with panic as they tried to shake the tenacious flames off their backs. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as easy to do as it should have been. Alaric’s flames were not as flimsy as naturally occurring flames. They stuck and burnt as though fuelled by something more than just air.
Blade and flames aside, Alaric continued to get deadlier. When he attacked a mudhound, he slipped right past it like the slithering snake he imitated when performing the Dance of the Serpent.
His blade hissed as it cut through the hounds’ limbs and continued to do this long after the battle had begun.
Similarly, Scarlett was making quick work of the wolfish fiends on her end, downing them with very quick efficient movements. It was almost enchanting to watch how fast she stabbed the hounds in front of her before moving to the others.
Unlike Alaric though, she seemed more adept in the art of killing things. She knew exactly what blood vessels to cut to instantly end the lives of the mudhounds she attacked.
On more than one occasion, Alaric came across a wolf that had a clean cut at the side of its neck where blood had spilt out, painting the ground crimson and creating a puddle in which the owner lay.
Their numbers dwindled and the battle turned drastically in the humans’ favour.
It wasn’t long before a loud growl filled the air and the remaining wolves ran back into the den with their tails tucked between their legs, weaving past a giant figure that was emerging from the den.
“You claimed the humans were going to kill us when you also came to kill, Lia***” the creature’s voice got caught in its mouth, making Alaric’s lips curl into a smile.
“You will lose your voice speaking lies in the Old Tongue,” Alaric smirked.
The Mudhound Alpha roared out in rage, “I’m going to tear you limb from limb and remind you of your weakness. You will beg for mercy and I’ll give you the cruelest of deaths… Painful. Slow. Venge…ful!”
The ground trembled and shuddered as the immense power of the Alpha Mudhound shook the forest. The vines in the ground thickened at Alaric’s command, fighting against the creature’s mystical powers.
Alaric leapt back to give the beast some space. He was a bit puzzled by this creature’s rage. He’d already tried to call Alaric a liar, which is what he assumed the creature was saying when the Old Tongue held back its voice, yet it continued to attack.
‘You’d think he’d get some sense knowing I wasn’t trying to deceive him.’
Cracks ran through the ground as the aether in the air ran wild. Alaric had to hold back his laughter though. The alpha was just standing there growling. He wasn’t attacking… and for a good reason to. His powers weren’t working, so it was only natural that he would be reluctant to attack.
“What kind of magic is this?” the giant wolf rumbled in the Old Tongue.
Alaric narrowed his eyes at the beast, not sure how to attack a creature of this size. He had already assumed its hide was a lot tougher than that of its underlings and the power contained in its rippling muscles was probably enough to break a log in half with just one swipe.
“Scarlett, we should finish him off before it’s too late,” Alaric spoke.
“What? You scared of the Big Bad Wolf,” Scarlett swooned.
Alaric didn’t get the time to respond to this as the shaking of the ground grew more intense. The cracks grew wider and the Mudhound alpha looked far more agitated than before. Its eyes flashed a brilliant blue and the stubs of aether crystals on its forehead glowed fiercely.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The creature stabbed the ground with its paw and pulled up an entanglement of vines. A low growl escaped it, “So this is what you did.”
“Was that your doing, Alistair?” Scarlett asked suddenly, her voice filled with more curiosity.
Alaric wanted to answer but he also realised he didn’t have much time. The ground was trembling and while Scarlett couldn’t see, Alaric had…
Below the ground, the earth moved like a great mouth, chewing on his vines and shredding them. It wouldn’t be long before the Mudhounds regained control of their element.
Alaric darted forward, appearing before the great beast in the flash of a second. Large blue eyes loomed above him, spreading fear through his body.
‘I’ve been in fights before… Why is this different?’ Alaric pondered for a split second before jumping out of the way of the wolf’s paw. Was it perhaps because this creature could talk that he didn’t want to fight him? Or was his just too big that he made Alaric feel fear?
No… none of these reasons made sense. Back in the Five Hills, before he’d even known of the option of talking to animals, he’d tried communicating with a Crystal Bear and that had worked… surprisingly. Still, at that time, he would have fought the Crystal Bear should it have chosen to attack him.
His sword flashed, leaving a sizzling nick in the mudhound’s paw as he dodged the devastating attack. It was a pitiful cut. One that couldn’t accomplish anything. He swung his sword and sent waves of flames at the creature.
For once, however, Alaric’s flames sizzled out like they were nothing. There were barely any signs that he’d battered the creature. At this rate, the beast was going to overwhelm him. Was he really going to be murdered by an angry Mudhound? That felt too anti-climactic for the boy who skipped the Glass Temper Rank.
[ What are you fighting for? ] Alia’s voice echoed in his mind.
[ I’m… an adventurer. This is part of the job. ] Alaric responded timidly. Alaric knew well enough that this was a strong enough reason. He hadn’t followed Scarlett to this den of death just to have his butt handed to him by a Mudhound. Now though, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to kill this creature.
[ Is this wolf stronger than Darth? ] Alia asked.
[ No… Darth was much stronger. But with Darth, I was using Thomper’s abilities. I can’t afford to rely on Thomper’s power now. ]
What was he saying? Avoid relying on Thomper’s abilities in the face of death. Was he really still this confident of his victory?
[ So if you can beat this wolf here and now, without Old Thomper’s power, what will that mean for you? ] Alia asked him once again.
Alaric’s eyes sparkled. He could see what his guardian was trying to do. His fear, his uncertainty, his lack of courage… All of it was interlinked.
Alaric didn’t know why he was fighting and for that reason, he didn’t have the resolve to fight anything remotely powerful. However, when Alia pulled this to a different perspective, he started to realise many problems with his way of thinking.
If he didn’t have a reason to be fighting, then he needed to come up with one. Negotiations had fallen through so it wasn’t right to act like there was still some chance to change this outcome when the price was his life.
It was either kill or be killed now.
[ I’m fighting to get stronger. I want to make sure that I don’t need to rely on Thomper’s abilities to get me out of trouble all the time. ]
Alia’s voice didn’t come again and neither did it have to. In the next moment, Alaric was behind the wolf, his sword travelling in a slanting arc across the joint in its hind leg.
A deep cut appeared on the beast’s leg, ‘Not deep enough.’
The wolf turned with a growl, but Alaric wasn’t there anymore. His body was sailing high above the beast as he angled himself for a powerful aerial slash.
Aether poured into the sword and it glowed a bright orange before he unleashed the most powerful fire slice yet…
BOOM The ground shook as the flames exploded.
The mudhound roared with rage before the ground erupted like an exploding river. Instinctively, Alaric wanted to summon vines from the ground and limit this creature’s control on the ground.
Its back was burning with the flames of his previous strike. Now that Alaric’s mind had regained a state of calm, more options opened up to him, causing him to sigh…
The change in his demeanour, even as pillars of flowing mud came shooting for him, was palpable. The Alpha of the Mudhounds noticed it.
And now, the beast was getting more desperate. The more he witnessed that look of calm on Alaric’s face, the more he feared the possibility of his imminent death.
Alaric’s next words came in the Old Tongue, laced with just the right tinge of disappointment to make the Alpha Mudhound’s heart sink, “Is there a reason you think I cannot use Earth Magic?”
‘I invoke the Name of the Constellation of Earth, Tecton. Nourisher of life,’ Alaric’s mind boomed in the Old Tongue. The aether in his body reacted, waiting for his command. His imagination gave the aether in his free palm more purpose before a wave of magic shot from it and towards the Mudhound and his rising pillars of mud.
All at once, the pillars of mud went still as though frozen in ice. Not a single speck of dust moved under Alaric’s titanic control. All of this had happened within the time it took Alaric to reach the peak of his jump, high above the canopies.
“Imp*******” Alaric guessed the wolf had just tried to say ‘Impossible,’ “What kind of human are you?”
Before Alaric could answer, a girl darted right past the Mudhound, stabbing all its vital organs in mere seconds.
As Alaric landed on the ground, so did the wolf.
It was dead.