「…Any ideas how to deal with it? If it absorbs mana, it should crack open just like a magic gem if it's too full, right?」
Straf asks Cycelia in a loud voice. The werewolf lowers its clawed hands to the ground, digging its fingers into the earth and coiling up like a spring.
「No Straf! That's not how it works at all! I don't have the time to explain, but their fur traps mana! That's why it's glowing now!-」
She explains, pointing at the glowing werewolf.
「Ahhh! If it's glowing like that, it's really bad!…」
Cycelia squats down, cringing while clutching onto her chestnut head.
「…Straf! Sunlight will wash away the mana it absorbs! That's the only thing I can think of right now! Be careful!」
Glancing at Myria, Cycelia shoots back up to her feet, and nudges her into taking cover behind one of the buildings with her while shouting towards Straf.
「Sunlight?!… I don't have the fucking time to wait for the sun! It just got dark!-」
BOOM!
Straf grumbles with his arms spread, but his grumbling is cut short by a sound of an explosion. He feels [Contextual Time Perception] activate, and sees the werewolf's blue glow right beside him.
CRACK-BOOM!
He sidesteps just barely in time to avoid the werewolf's paw. As it moves through the air beside him, the paw causes a supersonic crack. Time returns to normal again.
The werewolf winds up for another vicious slash, but Straf leaps away into the open field before it can sweep its claws at him.
Tfwap!…
「Son of a bitch! You weren't moving this fast just a moment ago!… Lia, do they become faster too!?」
Straf lands on his feet, sliding backwards a few paces. He sees Myria's and Cycelia's faces sticking out from beyond one of the buildings, watching them both.
「Yes! All of the mana that werewolves absorb makes them stronger and faster! It makes them tougher, too!…」
「Tsk…」
Cycelia replies, nodding her head from beyond her cover. Straf clicks his tongue in frustration, and the werewolf prepares to lunge at him again.
BOOM! Crack-crack-crack!… Boom!
「…Ahhhh… This is really bad…」
She lets out a troubled sigh while Straf and the beast dart around the field just outside the village. Lowering her head, she notices Myria staring at her with a worried face.
「…Ah! Don't worry! Straf is really strong! He'll be fine!」
Gripping onto Myria's shoulders, she reassures her with a smile, and nervous emerald eyes.
BOOM!…
Straf once again leaps away from a vicious swipe coming from both sides. He lands on his feet after backflipping through the air, and notices Myria is there too.
「Oh, so it's not the kid!? I thought that was the plot twist!…」
BOOM!…
He tilts his head, then the very next second is forced to dodge out of the charging werewolf's way when it comes into the girls' view as a blur.
「Huh!? What are you talking about!?」
BOOM!…
Cycelia asks, and the werewolf causes another sonic boom.
「…You know, the cute village girl is actually the werewolf cliche! I was kind of holding back a little with that in mind!」
Straf replies as he sidesteps again, though instead of jumping away, he trips the speeding beast. It tumbles forward, spinning through the air like windmill blades.
Boom!…
It crashes into the hill, kicking up dirt and dust everywhere. A faint blue glow shines through the cloud of debris. Straf dusts his perfectly clean hands off.
「…That ought to at least give him a pause.」
He smirks, and turns his gaze to the girls hiding behind the building.
「C- Cute village girl?…」
Myria places her hands on her blushing cheeks and turns her eyes away from Straf.
「…Straf, I still don't understand! What are you talking about!?」
Cycelia furrows her brows, and with worried eyes, watches the debris hanging in the air slowly clear.
「Well, I mean… If I kill the werewolf, it's just going to turn back into the guy's real form, right? And then someone's going to yell「You murderer!」and so on.」
Straf tries to clarify, but Cycelia's confusion only grows.
「Straf, what are you-?」
Though shaking her head in confusion, her her brows suddenly rise in realization.
「…Straf, no! It's a werewolf, not a lycanthrope!」
Cycelia replies, explaining. The werewolf digs itself out of the crater it made on impact, and glares at Straf.
「…What's the fucking difference!?」
With an incredulous expression on his face, Straf points his hand at the werewolf across the field.
「A werewolf isn't someone sick! It is its real form! You're thinking of a lycanthrope!-」
Boom!…
Before Cycelia can properly finish her sentence, the werewolf causes another sonic boom.
Annoyed, Straf glances at it. Though time is only flowing at a fraction of its normal speed, the charging beast is like an oncoming car, and its shaggy fur swept back from the pressure of the air it's carving through. A vapor cone follows it right at its hips, obscuring its bushy tail. Straf's mouth slants.
《You can absorb mana, but let's see if you can absorb rocks from space, you rabid mutt.》
The moment Straf decides to cast aetherstone and permits the spell to drain mana, he gains a supernatural awareness of celestial objects outside of the planet's atmosphere. Ranging from small derelict pebbles caused by random and unnoticed collisions, to kingdom-ending boulders aimlessly floating about, he almost subconsciously decides to pick one from the lower end of the range to avoid causing immense overpressure.
When he's decided, a momentary rip in space opens right in front of Straf, and the very next instant, the exact stone he picked shoots out. Wrapped in a shroud of plasma, it shatters just after flying a few paces towards the werewolf, turning into high-velocity plasma itself. The remaining debris continues onward, almost making it to the beast before it can even take another step in its wild charge.
BOOOOOMMMMMMM!…
「Agh!」「Gah!」
Myria and Cycelia cover their ears. A purple light briefly shines upon the field. Buildings rumble, and nearby windows shatter.
The werewolf is propelled backwards, its hind legs till the earth as it resists the immense force imparted upon it. Its fur flashes brighter in brief pulses before the beast grinds to a halt back at the hill. A few people run out of their homes to check what happened. They look around with panicked eyes, and see the tree-sized beast across the field just outside the village.
「What is that!?」「Monster! There's a monster! Get the kids away!」「Everyone get weapons!」
While a panic breaks out in the village, Cycelia opens her eyes back up. There is once again considerable distance between Straf and the werewolf, but it glows even brighter now.
「…Straf! That being said, don't let it bite you!」
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Cycelia shouts, almost inaudible over the panicked peasants' screaming.
「I wasn't planning to!… If it bites me I'll start growing fur out my ears, yeah!?…」
Straf smirks at Cycelia, unfazed by the werewolf slowly making its way back towards him. It walks on its hind legs, glaring at him, fingers splayed and ready to rip something fleshy apart.
「…So not only can I not just laser you to death, I can't even hit you with a space rock. You really are just straight-up magic immune, huh?…」
Turning his eyes to the werewolf, with his hands in his pockets Straf walks aside. The two glare at each other, both frustrated by their preferred methods not working out.
「…Man, magic immune shit ought to be my top peeve. Now I have a feeling that I can't even carve you up with a swo…」
Frustrated, Straf rubs the back of his neck, scrunching his mouth to the side. He lets out a sigh, and then his voice trails off.
「…Huh?」
He stumbles a step. He looks at the ground behind him with furrowed brows, and finds no apparent cause for it. The werewolf abruptly stops and stares.
「…Straf? Are you okay!?」
Cycelia's head perks up when she sees Straf briefly lose his balance. The beast watches him with a piercing gaze, not losing sight of him for a split second.
「Yeah… I just…」
He nods back, but remains confused. With no apparent cause on the ground, he lifts his leg a little and swings it back and forth to test its movements.
《…Weird. Why the fuck do I feel so heavy-?》
Straf looks at his hands, then catches a glimpse of his health, mana, and stamina bars.
[|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||] [||--------------------] [||||||||----------------]
「Huh!? What the fuck!?」
His head perks up, and he realizes that there is a new icon in the corner of his vision, showing a new status effect as well.
[Minor mana exhaustion]
[Stacks: 8] [Status effect]
Target has depleted all mana, and is experiencing minor mana exhaustion. Each stack decreases mana, stamina, and health regeneration.
Mana regeneration penalty: 5% per stack. Stamina regeneration penalty: 8% per stack. Health regeneration penalty: 2.5% per stack.
Stacks are gained by further depleting all mana and stamina, and lost by sleeping and resting while well-fed.
Will progress into severe mana exhaustion upon reaching 10 stacks.
「Straf, are you really okay!?」
Cycelia asks again as Straf stares at something with his jaw dropped. His face gains a sour grimace, and he straightens out.
「Tsk… Yeah, I am!… But I got myself into an awkward situation!…」
He windmills his arms, feeling for his body's new perceived weight and its sluggishness.
《Man… What a pain in the ass. No wonder that asshole started dying the moment he cast it. If I wasn't at full mana all the time, it'd probably start killing me too…》
Straf notices the way the werewolf is staring at him. Its face appears almost to be grinning.
「…Magic is pretty dangerous, huh!? What's your opinion on that take, fuzzball?」
He nonchalantly smirks at the werewolf, but it lowers its form and digs its hands into the dirt for another charge, indeed baring its teeth like a grin.
「…Do I take that as I agree?」
Straf raises his brow.
BOOM!
The beast rips out chunks of dirt and grass while dashing on all fours. A vapor cone trails behind it again. [Contextual Time Perception] activates again as it spreads its furry arms out.
《That's a little fuckin' fast!-》
Straf jumps out of the way of the pincering claws, rolling over his shoulder just beneath them.
Fwap.
「…Eh?」
Before he can hop back up to his feet, he feels immense pressure and a forceful tug on his leg, just above his ankle. The werewolf has its hand wrapped around it all the way to his knee.
《Uh oh-》
Before he can even finish his thought, the hulking werewolf whips him over his shoulder, then flings him towards the village.
「Straf!-」
Cycelia cries out with her eyes wide open.
CRACK!… THUD! THUD!… Thud!
With a supersonic crack of its arm, the werewolf sends Straf flying. He smashes into the building Myria and Cycelia are hiding behind and pierces through its wooden structure like it's paper. He crashes into the next one, blowing out the chunks of smashed furniture. Significantly slowed by the two previous impacts, he crashes into the ground, bounces off, then smashes into another building's wall, finally stopping after shattering it inward. A singular bloody cough escapes him. It splatters on his coat, then slides right off.
Like furnace bellows, the werewolf sucks a huge amount of air in, and throws its head back.
Hwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!…
It howls, but rather than a wolf howl, it sounds like ominous and low-pitched bagpipes. Cycelia pulls Myria behind the collapsing remnant of the building.
SMASH!
It jumps directly into the ruins, clawing at the walls, making no effort to circumvent them. Cycelia covers Myria's mouth before she can let out a whimper at the sight of its slavering mouth and sharp teeth while it towers over them, and the buildings. It doesn't seem to notice them, as it throws the shattered chunks of the wall behind itself in a leap forward towards the next ruins.
Smash!… Smash!…
Cycelia pulls her hand away.
「I know you're scared, but be quiet.」
Cycelia says into Myria's ear in a hushed tone when the werewolf disappears into the village.
「I- Is he okay? That man… He's dead isn't he?-」
Myria points in Straf's general direction while looking at Cycelia with huge eyes.
「He wouldn't die from something like this. Come, we need to go somewhere safer.」
She grabs her hand and after peeking beyond the other ruin's corner, pulls her along with herself.
Meanwhile, in the village, Straf is slowly picking himself up after the impact.
「Nnnnnrrggghh… How about I do that to you, and you see if you like it?…」
Straf asks, smirking with a pained wince on his face. The werewolf lets out a low, droning growl at him.
「…What, disappointed that smashing me into a wall didn't kill me? It never works if the guy flies right through, stupid.」
Briefly windmilling his shoulders, Straf raises his fists into a boxing stance. The werewolf climbs out of the ruins and heads towards him in a rapid, hunch-backed step.
「Come get some. I'll make a cool cape out of you, prick.」
Straf taunts the werewolf, gesturing him to come closer with his fingers. It briefly stops in its tracks, only to dig its claws into the dirt and rush towards him.
[Contextual Time Perception] activates. Instead of dodging, Straf decides to fight him head-on. He moves his elbow in the way of the werewolf's forearm, all while throwing a hook.
Fwap-TWHACK!
The beast's head recoil off to the side when Straf's fist smashes into its jaw. Straf is sent stumbling in the opposite direction by the force of the blocked blow.
「Ngh!… How do you like that!?-」
Grinning smugly, before Straf can finish his sentence, the werewolf is already leaping back at him. Specifically, it's trying to catch his legs.
THWACK!
「No you fucking don't!」
Again instead of dodging, Straf sends a kick straight up into its jaw. The werewolf's head is forced upward and it takes a few unbalanced steps back, but appears otherwise unharmed.
「Tsk… Man! Be thankful there's more interesting shit starting on W in Lily's bestiary! I'd have come for your furry ass otherwise!」
Straf shouts at the werewolf as it's rubbing its sore jaw, glaring at him, growling. Cycelia is peeking out from one of the building's corners, waiting for a chance to run through…