The moment that he jumped off the branch, Keith felt as if his life flashed before his eyes. Although in his subconscious he knew it was a mistake, he closed his eyes as he swung to the tree in front of him due to fear. It wasn’t until he was half-way through his swing that he opened his eyes.
He swung his weapon haphazardly, and actually managed to hit one of the Sand Wolves. With the portion of his weapon affixed with the claws, he caused a large wound by ripping into the shoulder of the beast. It was pure luck.
Reaching the next tree, Keith grabbed onto a branch. Planting his feet firmly onto the tree trunk, it looked as if he defied gravity by standing sideways at a ninety-degree angle. Observing the general situation before him, the Sand Wolves were in chaos and constantly trying to jump and nip at him.
Having survived one full swing and even injuring a Sand Wolf, a small spark of confidence began to ignite within Keith. His body no longer shook. Although he felt fear, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. He could do this. He didn’t need to kill anything; he only needed to scare off the Sand Wolves.
Letting go of the tree branch, Keith used his body weight as momentum to swing back to the tree his vine harness was connected to. However this time, he managed to keep his eyes open. Due to his speed the world seemed blurry, however this time, aiming for the brownish-golden color he saw as he swung by, Keith lashed out with the spear tip this time instead of using the claws.
Returning to his tree branch, Keith’s confidence began to grow as he observed his handiwork. This time, it wasn’t just luck as he managed to target another Sand Wolf. No longer did they jump and aggressively attack him. Even if they were stupid compared to humans their primal instincts were still intact. They backed off, making a tight formation below him.
‘I can really do this. Even if I must resort to killing, I can do this.’
Keith continued to jump down from his perch. He stabbed and slashed. Although he would sometimes miss, his confidence and accuracy began to grow. In a short time, the Sand Wolves didn’t have a single pack member uninjured. Some of them were injured far heavier than others. One was even missing an eye.
Surprisingly after he had caused such a wound by his own hand, Keith didn’t feel sick to his stomach. Although the smell of blood, sweat, and earth was horrid he didn’t puke. Neither did he puke at the sight of such grievous wounds. If there was one thing that he had gained from being a Courier, it was an iron stomach. He reckoned his stomach was as sturdy as any Hunters.
With another jump, Keith dived towards the Sand Wolves, as he passed; he stabbed the Sand Wolf he’d blinded in one eye. Using its newly acquired blind spot, he stabbed behind its left shoulder, piercing between the ribs into the heart. It immediately dropped to the ground.
The moment the Sand Wolf died, Keith felt his body become abnormal, and he could have sworn he heard something in his head. But he didn’t have enough time to think upon it. As he grabbed the branch to support himself, what he feared could happen was precisely what occurred.
Snap!
With a loud cracking and tearing sound, not only did his vine harness tear, the branch he was holding also snapped. He’d forgotten one important thing. The vines were subject to friction. Grinding against the tree’s bark, they tore and became weaker from repeated friction, they began to fray and tear. Finally, they couldn’t bear Keith’s weight anymore.
Without anything supporting his weight, Keith fell. He didn’t even have time to scream before he landed on the ground. Although he was momentarily shocked and stunned, he stood up. His weapon had broken in half.
Grabbing the half of the weapon that had claws in his right hand, Keith brandished his dagger in this left hand. Even though he fell, the Sand Wolves didn’t capitalize on the opportunity to attack him. He had injured them all to the point that their eyes instinctively followed his right hand with the claws.
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The Sand Wolves spread out in a half circle and slowly approached Keith. Their eyes remained on his right hand. They were wary of the weapon that had caused them all to suffer such losses. However, it wasn’t in their nature to retreat, hence they remained in the area even before Keith fell.
The confidence he built up had nearly been instantly shattered. With every step the Sand Wolves took towards him. He retreated one step until finally he couldn’t retreat any further. He had a tree to his back. Fear welled up within.
Perhaps it was the fear, or something else. But Keith did something completely unexpected. He turned towards the tree behind him and slammed his forehead into it. The pain was excruciating. Although he made sure to hit the tree only hard enough so that he didn’t pass out, it still hurt.
Keith looked at the Sand Wolves before him. Blood streamed down the middle of his face, dripping from his nose onto his cloak and hands. The Sand Wolves were shocked and couldn’t understand the situation.
Did their prey just voluntarily injure itself? What was going on?
Keith, however, had no thoughts. His mind was blank. In that moment of overwhelming fear, he hit his head in order to calm himself. Using pain as a tool, he forced his body to focus on it instead of fear. His head hurt too much to think.
Now, he gazed at his opponents before him apathetically. He didn’t feel any emotions or even fear. He felt empty, he had no thoughts. Lifting his hands robotically, Keith once again brandished his weapons. However this time he wasn’t shaking. Slowly he took one step after another, and advanced towards the Sand Wolves.
Each step was heavy and full of vigor. Keith’s gaze was cold and empty, as if he viewed his life and the lives of others as meaningless. With one final heavy step, with all of his weight he propelled himself forward recklessly diving into the Sand Wolves.
The Sand Wolves didn’t know how to react at first. They only followed their instincts. They weren’t used to prey acting so erratically. They only hunted things of weaker than themselves. Yet at this moment, the prey before them seemed to emit an aura that suppressed them.
They were stunned for a moment. Their instincts were useless in this situation. Something clearly weaker than them which had been injured took the initiative to attack their entire pack. It was utterly confounding.
The first one to snap out of its shock was the Alpha. When it dove forwards to meet Keith in combat, the others followed suit. A battle without strategy, skill, or technique ensued. It was an utterly primal battle. It wasn’t of man fighting beast, it was instead beast fighting beast.
For every wound he took, Keith grew more ferocious until he didn’t even care about his body. He was already wounded before he came to this oasis. Those old wounds hadn’t even had a chance to begin healing before he encountered this situation.
Keith swung the claws, and stabbed with the dagger. His cloak and tank top were torn to shreds. New injuries riddled his body. He howled and roared like a beast. Fatigue piled up, but he ignored it… no he was oblivious to his heavy breathing and the sensation of his body feeling as if it was on fire but as heavy as lead.
He was like a berserker, with no thought in his mind. Just like a beast, he fought on using his primal human instincts. The instinct for self-preservation and survival overwrote all feelings of fear that should have been apparent in his body. Keith was devoid of thought, and emotion. He swung his weapons over and over and over… until finally…. He killed one, and then another.
There was originally ten Sand Wolves. Although quite small, their large numbers were how they took down their prey. One was killed by Keith when he stabbed it behind its left shoulder, penetrating its heart. This time, with two hits of his claws and stabbing with his dagger, he managed to kill two more. There were only seven left.
With the state he was in, Keith was essentially unconscious. However, if he had his wits about him, he would have noticed that the short burst of energy he gained after killing the Sand Wolves was extremely abnormal. He would have also noticed a mechanical sound ringing in his ears twice.
Fighting onwards, Keith began to slaughter with his newfound burst of strength. Another Sand Wolves throat was slashed, leaving six left, then he swung with his claws until the branch snapped once again, causing the claws to scatter on the ground. Keith grabbed a rock the size of his fist and dove forwards beginning to bludgeon another Sand Wolf until it was like minced meat. Then there were five. Keith’s body miraculously gained another small burst of energy.
His wounds were grievous. None of them were mortal wounds. He normally wouldn’t die from them as they were all shallow wounds. However, they had piled up all over his body, at this rate…. He was going to bleed to death. Yet Keith kept fighting without even a passing thought that he might die here on this night. The only light was the moons lunar light showering down upon him.