While the wolf was concentrating on Cecilia, and Yuri, Alnea was not standing still either. The recoil from the force of blasting all his Aspects into the wolf was greater than he had expected. Though it had allowed him to dodge all of the wind blades, it had also forced him back further than he had intended, while disrupting his balance at the same time, delaying his subsequent attacks. But after he had regained his balance, and reformed the whirlwinds around his limbs, he went charging in at the wolf once again.
Coincidentally, it just so happened that the wall of fog descended at the very instant, absorbing all of the wind blades, forcing the wolf’s attention away form him. And Alnea was not about to let such a perfect chance get away from him. So, he shifted to the stance of the ‘Star Piercing Style’, the only Martial Styles focussing solely on speed, and lethality.
Yet, no matter how distracted the wolf was, it was still an intermediate phase Oren Beast, one that had been through hundreds, if not thousands of life and death battles. A strike that could threaten its life, or even injure it, could not escape its perception, and intuition. Sensing an attack coming straight for its rear end, the wolf did not even turn back. It just lifted its back paws, and sent a flurry of wind blades directed at him once again.
Cursing the wolf for its wasteful utilisation of Oren, Alnea blasted the whirlwind on his right leg, and used the force generated from it to jump sideways, dodging the blades just in time. That was another trick of the ‘Twin Whirlwind Style’, and one of the reasons why it was graded as an Intermediate Grade Martial Style. It was an extravagant trick, that wasted too much Spirit Power for just a simple dodge, but it was a handy trick that could prove useful in some circumstances.
Recondensing the Whirlwind around his right leg, Alnea shifted the position of his sword, just as the wolf turned around to face him. Even though they had surrounded it, and had even wounded it, the wolf still thought that it could win against them. That was the most important thing to do when fighting against Oren Beasts with suicidal Innate Abilities, giving them hope of their victory.
Fortunately for Alnea, he did not have to make too much effort in making that part look believable. It was the truth, after all. With both him, and Cecilia, who were actively fighting the wolf, being just Initial Stage False Wanderers, the wolf truly did have a fighting chance against them. Rather, with how carefree, and generous it was being with its Oren, it probably had a greater chance of winning against them than what they had of winning against it.
But that was only if they counted their raw power, and abilities. Only Oren Beasts measured their powers in such barbaric ways. For Wanderers, it was not just the powers they could use, but also how they used those powers that mattered the most. So, when the wolf came charging straight at him, hiding behind a flurry of wind blades, Alnea did not get flustered.
Instead, he reached towards his dagger, the Golden Yearning, the one he had dropped while dodging the wind blades just a while ago, and directed it to fly straight towards the wolf, forcing it to withdraw once again. At the same time, he shifted his sword to slash at the incoming wind blades with the ‘Raging Waves of the West’. Of course, just that was not enough to drown out all the wind blades. And so, along with the waves, he also blasted the whirlwinds around his hands, using their winds disperse the wind blades.
Another waste of his Spirit Power. In just a few short moments since the beginning of the fight, he had already used up more than fifty units of Spirit Power. But it could not be helped. Though his robe would have been enough to defend against the blades, he wished to rely on his own power to defeat the wolf. His dagger, of course, was included within his powers. As were its Glyph Arrays.
In total, Golden Yearning, the dagger that his master had given him on his birthday, had about ninety eight Glyph Arrays. Of them, there were sixteen False Ranked Glyph Arrays. But in essence, there were only four Glyph Arrays, with a version for each of the four Stages of the False Rank. And of those four Glyph Arrays, two were just the upgraded versions of the two Seed Ranked Glyph Arrays, while another one acted as a store house of Oren.
That still one more Glyph Array of the False Rank. However, the amount of Oren it consumed was so huge, that he refrained from using it normal circumstances. What he was facing at the moment though, was anything but natural. Facing an enemy several times stronger than himself, how could he think about conserving his strength? And it was not as if he had to condense Oren for the dagger. The Oren he had stored in its reserves were enough.
So, the moment that he blasted the whirlwinds around his hands, dispersing most of the wind blades aiming for him, Alnea also activated the fourth Glyph Arrays on his dagger. Consequently, before the wolf could take even a single step in its retreat, the golden threads on the white blade of his dagger lit up in a brilliant golden light. Not as bright as the light of his Aspects, but much sharper, and focussed, targeting only the wolf.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
And the wolf, in turn, instinctively sensed that something was wrong. Being blinded by the golden light was not a problem. It relied more on the winds to sense its enemies anyways. But other than blinding it, the light also seemed to be seeping into its body. And as it did so, for some reason, the wolf felt its movements slowing down. As if… as if it was being pressed to the ground… No, not pressed… The ground itself was calling to its body…
A strange premonition began to engulf the wolf. As a descendant of the Hurricane Wolf, and as a Wind Wolf, it knew how important speed was to its survival. Its entire fighting style was dependent on fast it moved. Yet, with the golden light seeping into its body, everything seemed to change.
For some reason, its body failed to listen its commands. No matter how it struggled, it just could not move its body as it wished. And when it did move, moving even a single step felt as if it was moving with ten preys on its back. In the end, it could do nothing, but watch in rage, as the thing which had released the light, and seemed to be something like a flying tooth, buried itself into its side.
The attack was not beyond what the wolf could bear. It had borne wounds much worse than what the flying tooth had opened, and as long as it had enough time, it could even get used to the increased pressure on its body. But being wounded by such weak enemies… preys… was beyond what it could have ever imagined. Growing in madness, it shifted its body, and—
Right when the wolf was about to move, the tooth that had just dug into tis body released a hot, and squirmy sensation, and within moments, that squirmy sensation had spread all over its body, sapping it of all its strength. It was only through the power of its sheer will, and ferocity, that the beast stayed upright, glaring at its enemy with hate.
It could feel that as it resisted against the squiggly sensation from the tooth, it was slowly regaining its strength. Even its body was able to slowly resist against the pressure pulling to the ground. The problem though, was that its recovery was too slow. After all, it was not fighting just one enemy, but three. Even as it was slowly recovering, one of its other two enemies, the snake like enemy, which had hidden behind the wall of fog to save itself from its wind blades, had long left safety of the wall, and was almost upon it, with its claws shining in a green light. Was that its ability?
At that moment, the wolf knew that if it did not do anything soon, it would be able to live for long. But it was finding it hard to even move. So, what could it do? Since that was the case, there was no need to think about anything else. Releasing a long cry of desperation, determination, and vengeance, the wolf began gathering all the darkness—
Cecilia reached the wolf’s side just as it howled, trying to release its Dark Winds. But it was already too late for it. Forming her hands into the shape of a serpent’s fangs, she bit into the wolf’s throat, and its heart, ending its life before it could gather much darkness. As for the darkness that it did gather, it was not enough to form the Dark Winds, and soon dissipated back into the surroundings. Some of the darkness did get stuck to Cecilia’s hand for a few moments, especially the one that had pierced the wolf’s heart, but her Aspects were enough to ward it off.
“That was fun,” Cecilia said with a laugh, as she pulled her hands out of the wolf’s body, not caring about the blood splashing onto her robe. “We should have done it long ago.”
“If we would have done it earlier, then one, or even all of us might have ended up losing our limbs,” Yuri said, shaking her head, as she walked towards them. “It is only because of the progress that we have made recently, both as individuals, and as a team, that we were able to succeed.”
“Why are including yourself in the list?” Alnea said, sheathing his sword, before walking up to the wolf to retrieve his dagger. “You have been fighting intermediate phase Oren Beasts even before we formed a team. If anyone would have lost their limbs, it would have been just the two of us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Cecilia said with a snort, while wiping her hands on the wolf’s fur. “An intermediate phase Oren Beast is no match for me.”
“That’s why you required Yuri’s help to ward off its wind blades?”
“I could have dealt with it myself,” Cecilia grumbled. “Those blades would have never made it past the defences of my Martial Styles.”
“Right,” Alnea said with a chuckle, before turning towards Yuri, who was examining the wolf’s body. “I used up quite a bit of my Spirit Power in that fight. Should we return?”
“Already? But we have just started exploring!”
“Cecilia…”
“I know, I know, I was just saying… Stop staring at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“…Fine, let’s just go back. Happy?”
“Very happy,” Alnea said, laughing at Cecilia’s pout, before turning back to Yuri. “Let’s go back. Although we did not explore much today, we got a valuable experience. I am sure that we will do even better next time.”
It was not a boast, but a statement that came from his confidence. And he had expected Yuri to agree with him. He knew that Cecilia did. But contrary to his expectations, Yuri was not even paying attention to him. Instead, all of her attention was fixed on the body of the wolf. And as time passed, both Alnea, and Cecilia notice the abnormality. Observing the wolf in silence, with a frown on her face…
“I am afraid we cannot leave yet,” Yuri finally said after a while, shaking her head with a sigh, before turning towards him, and Cecilia, looking at them with a solemn face. “We may have stumbled upon a Fortune Spring.”