Matching his steps with the beats of his heart, and the rhythm of his breath, Alnea rushed towards the Wind Wolf, just as Cecilia rushed towards it. This time though, they were careful enough to not rush together. The moment they rushed out, they fanned out a little, forming an inverted arrowhead formation, with Yuri at back acting as the tip of the arrowhead. Still, even in their formation, they made sure to not spread apart too much, keeping the distance short enough that they would be able to guard against the wolf rushing towards Yuri.
Even though Yuri had the ability to handle the Wind Wolf on her own, at the moment, she was acting as the Scholar of the team. And as the Warriors of the team, it was their duty to keep their enemies away from her. Besides, the further they were from each other, the more time they would take to support each other. And in fighting enemies stronger than themselves, delay of even a fraction of a moment could be the difference between the line of life, and death.
While Alnea, and Cecilia were fanning out in their formation, the wolf was not just standing still either. Dark Wind Wolves, in particular, were known for being very aggressive in nature, taking initiative in all their fights. They were loner Oren Beasts, that always strived to kill their enemies as soon as they could. Preferably with just their first strike. And that too, in an ambush.
Unfortunately for the wolf, having encountered the Wind Wolves a few times, Alnea knew their patterns quite well. He even had an Aspect, which though not directly related to darkness, was quite sensitive to it. Thus, when he sensed an unusual accumulation of darkness in the area around the boulders in the distance, he had asked the girls to slow down, while he himself had stretched out the senses of his Spirit to the extreme to be able to barely observe the boulders.
And as he had expected, hiding in the shadows of the boulders, almost invisible to naked eyes, was a Dark Wind Wolf, waiting for its unsuspecting prey to come near it, before tearing into it, satisfying its lust to kill. Fortunately, Alnea had been able to sense the Wolf in time. Otherwise, if the intermediate phase Dark Wind Wolf would have caught them unprepared, then things would have become a little troublesome.
Not that the things were fine as they were. The unique positioning of the wolf mean that it was almost impossible for them to ambush it. They could have tried using Yuri’s Glyphs to immobilise it first, but the wolf had already caught sight of them, and had locked onto them. Any attacks that they would have launched on it would have been in vain.
They could have also tried turning around, and leaving its territory, but that might have resulted in the wolf chasing after them, attacking them from behind their backs. And though Yuri could have held off the wolf, buying enough time for him, and Cecilia to escape, Alnea was not very fond of leaving Yuri to face all the dangers on her own.
And so, after confirming the presence of the wolf, he had been hesitating, wondering what to do, when the wolf sensed that they were not moving towards it anymore. Maybe it was afraid that they would run away. Or maybe it was just too impatient to wait for them. In any case, while Alnea was still hesitating with his choice, the wolf jumped out from the shadows, and began making its way towards them with a growl, as if trying to scare them into immobilisation. Just like how the first Wind Wolf he had met had immobilised him.
That was the final straw for Alnea. As Cecilia had said, it was time that they stopped running. They were Wanderers. People who dared to Wander the Origin Sea to glean its Mysteries, and tame its Aspects. Could there be anything more dangerous than Wandering the Origin Sea? If they dared to face even the Origin Sea, then why would they be afraid of a mere wolf? A mere intermediate phase Oren Beast… It was not enough to make them run. Not anymore.
At least not run away from it. They still ran towards it though, just as the wolf ran towards them. For Dark Wind Wolves, if there was no opportunity for them to attack, they would just have to make one. After all, they had both the speed, and the strength for it. They might not be as fast, or agile as the Green Wind Wolves, but they were still faster than most of the Oren Beasts. Especially the wolf in front of them.
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As an Oren Beasts that was originally comparable to Intermediate Stage False Wanderers, the Dark Wind Wolf was quite a bit faster than them. In the time that they had barely taken four or five steps, the wolf had covered most of the distance between them. And before he knew, the beast was already upon them.
Thankfully, Alnea knew that the wolf would much faster than him. Competing with it in speed would be meaningless. And so, the moment he had begun rushing towards the beast, he had also gathered some Oren around his arms, and legs, forcing them to circulate in the pattern of a whirlwind.
The Twin Whirlwind Style, an Intermediate Grade Martial Style of the Auxiliary type, specialising in Speed, Agility, and Auxiliary effects, which was not only increased his own speed, and agility, but was also supposed to interfere with the perception of his enemies who relied too much on using the winds to perceive their targets. Like the Dark Wind Wolf.
In the perception of the wolf, one of its two preys suddenly turned into a slippery, snake like opponent, that just slithered out of its range, while the other prey turned into a gust of wind, making it hard for it to pinpoint its location. But it did not matter. As long as it knew the rough location of its enemies, it was enough to kill them. Thus, ignoring the snake for the moment, the wolf turned towards the wind, and pounced on it without any hesitation. It was a Wind Wolf, after all. Wind was its domain, its territory, and its blades.
Or so the wolf may have thought. Unfortunately for the wolf, Alnea was not just Wind. Gripping the hilt of his sword with all of his strength, he took a short breath—that was all that the time allowed himself to prepare— before unsheathing his sword, and swinging it in a perfect crescent arc. His moves were a little too early though. The hesitation within the wolf had caused it to delay a little, saving it from being sliced apart by his sword. Alnea had not expected that. For a Dark Wind Wolf to hesitate in its attacks...
Not only had he missed his attack, but he also had to deal with all the wind blades that the wolf had launched at him. Fortunately, he had been training his swords, and Martial Styles relentlessly, and knew how to handle the situation. So, as Alnea saw the blade of his sword missing the wolf, he did not panic. Instead, at the very last moment that his sword was about to pass under the wolf, he shifted from the ‘Crescent Slash’ to ‘Crying Wind’, concentrating all his Aspects at the tip of his sword, scratching through the underbelly of the wolf as it jumped at him.
It was not too big of a wound, and he had barely scratched wolf’s body, drawing just a few drops of blood from it, but that was enough. The moment that his sword touched the underbelly of the wolf, Alnea shifted his Aspects once again, changing from ‘Crying Wind’ to ‘Amarien’s Inferno’, blasting all of his Aspect directly at the wolf. Regrettably, he did not have any Aspects of the Fire element, and was not able to create a true inferno. All he could do was just push his Aspects at the wolf, using the recoil to dodge the wind blades, while forcing the wolf away from himself.
However, things were even more regrettable for the wolf. Not only had it missed a perfect chance of finishing its enemy, but it had also been pushed directly into the path of its other enemy, the one slithering like a snake. Snake. It had always hated snakes. Such slippery creatures, if it was not careful for even a moment, then they would end up slithering all over its body, biting at it from impossible angles. That was why it had kept the other enemy for the last.
The blast from the enemy he had just faced though, the one moving like a gust of confused wind, had forced it towards its other enemy. And so, it was left with no choice but to fight the snake head on. Twisting its body to turn around in mid air, the wolf headed straight for snake’s head, its biggest weakness. Or so it had thought. But the snake it was facing was different.
No, it was not a snake. Though it moved like a snake, it had its other legs to attack, and to defend. Most important of all, its legs were too agile, and flexible. The wolf had intended to dig its claws into its enemy, but the way that its enemy moved, deflecting all its attacks, the wolf failed to find any purchase. Rather, it was the wolf itself, which was getting hurt, as the claws of its enemy, sharper than even its own claws, kept digging through its fur.
Yet the wolf did not panic. It was not its first time fighting such tricky enemies. It had wished to not use its abilities until its preys had, but since things had reached the point they had, there was no point in holding back. Taking a step back, the wolf concentrated on its paws, and swung them at its enemies, sending a few waves of wind blades, expecting them to tear its prey into shreds.
However, the wolf was disappointed once again. Right as its wind blades were about to reach its enemy, a layer of grey fog descended, and blocked them. No, not blocked, but absorbed them. That was out of the wolf’s expectations. An ability that could absorb its wind blades… Was it from the third enemy in the distance? It would have to remain wary…