----------------------------------------
Edited By: Tyhuko, 1jayds
----------------------------------------
Author’s Note:
Hey everyone, this is the second chapter this week. A lot of real life shit has been happening to me for quite some time now, so that why there was only 1 chapter per week for the past 2 week, sorry.
Thank you everyone who voted for me on Top Web Fiction, all your support means a lot to me and makes me want to write more. If you haven’t voted for me yet, I would appreciate if you would take a minute of your time just to vote for my story. You can click this -> VOTE! or you can always click the link on the sidebar. I hope you enjoy the chapter.
----------------------------------------
True Identity
Chapter 20 – [Call Of The Wild]
Iris’s POV:
Absolute Authority is the world I currently live in. A world where I can finally control my own destiny. A place I hold sacred because it’s my chance to live a new, different life.
…
I originally started playing AA with the mindset of going solo. Going on adventures, and conquering the world on your own seemed pretty interesting to me. But my outlook was changed when I met Axle.
I can honestly say, that I’m not quick to trust others, after all I basically have no friends in the real world. But Axle left a big impression on me, helping a stranger who was being chased, inviting me to a party with seemingly no ulterior motives, and most importantly not asking about what I am like in the real world. That’s a true philanthropist. I don’t want others to know about my personal life.
All these factors, led me to believe that Axle is a trustworthy person. He might not be that good at the game, mostly because he needs to practice dual-wielding more, but nevertheless, I think I can start trusting him… at least until he proves me otherwise.
“ARGHH!” – Axle
I suddenly heard a scream coming from Axle, scream that broke my daze of the beautiful sight of Edilath.
Looking to my left, I saw Axle being pushed off the edge of the cliff by Amos. I immediately checked the party status that was located in the top left of my vision. Axle’s health was continuously dwindling from the fall. He might die soon. Just to make sure, I ran towards the edge where Axle was pushed off in order to confirm his situation. Unfortunately, Amos utilized his high movement speed to get in my way.
It seems Amos knew that separating me from Axle, would give him the upper hand. Hit and run tactics and now this, wolves are surely devious creatures. As a Boss, Amos might be stronger than me, but I’m not going down without a fight.
I held my 2 swords in my hands prepared for Amos’s rapidly fast attacks.
*GROWL!*
Amos came charging at me, his sharp teeth bare and ready to bite my head off.
|Miss|
[20]
As Amos quickly shortened our distance, I barrel rolled to the right, dodging his savage attack aimed straight at my head. While rolling to the right, I swept my sword across the ground, striking Amos’s paws. I didn’t deal much damage but it was better than nothing.
I noticed, as the fight continued, that the thin layer of snow on the mountain’s peak made the ground wet and slippery, making the ability to slow down or changing directions a very difficult task. As a wolf, Amos was very fast, but his high movement speed could be a disadvantage in itself… at least in this environment. Slow and steady wins the race.
|Miss|
[40] [The enemy is stunned for 3 seconds]
Amos, again not learning his lesson, charged at me with all his might. Using the same tactic as before, I dove to my right, dodging the Boss’s attack and then used [Decisive Blow] on the alpha wolf’s side. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I immediately stabbed Amos in the neck, dealing a critical strike!
[60!]
I considered attacking Amos again but decided against it. Stun effect was about to wear off. I quickly created some distance, preparing for the next attack. This tactic shows great promise but the drawback was that it used a lot of stamina. Fortunately my stamina is significantly higher than others’, due to my strenuous training during the beginning stages of AA. If Axle was using this tactic, I don’t know if he could last.
Tyhuko: Poor Axle, bed affairs will be hard on him…
Once more, I readied my weapons as Amos charged at me full speed. You would think that he would learn from his mistakes by now. When Amos was about 5 meters away, I dove to my right, trying to dodge his attack same as usual. Suddenly the Boss leaped up in the air changing his focus to the direction where I was diving.
Correctly assuming that I couldn’t dodge it, I hurriedly put my two swords in cross formation in order to block the oncoming attack.
|15| [Block]
Amos’s claws clashed against my swords, I had successfully blocked the lethal attack. However, the impact between his claws and my swords was so monstrous, that I was lifted off my feet and blown back into the air.
I crashed onto my back about 6 meter away from my original position, luckily the soft snow prevented me from taking damage. Amos’s attacks would do some serious damage if they hit you directly. Thankfully, they weren’t impossible to block as long as your saw them coming.
With Amos running to my new location, taking advantage of my unfavorable position, I tried to get back up on my feet, but my reaction was too slow. With his claws radiating a reddish glow, Amos activated [Sharpened Claws].
Oh crap.
Axle’s POV:
When I finally reached the top of the mountain, what I saw was exactly what I feared. Iris was on the ground defending herself, while Amos was readying his attack [Sharpened Claws].
Oh shit!
…
I needed to think of something quickly. If [Sharpened Claws] hit Iris directly then she would most likely end up dead. Time seemed to slow down for me, as I futilely tried to think of a solution. I froze when I came up with nothing. In desperation, I threw my moonlight axe at the Boss hoping it would reach in time despite the agonizing pain in my right shoulder.
[40]
“ROAR!”
Amos howled in pain as the axe struck his left side and [Sharpened Claws] was interrupted. Can this be considered repayment for all the medical supplies I’ve been using?
I’ve actually thought about throwing my axe as an attack before, but I could never figure out how I would get it back during a fight easily, so I never used it until now.
In the confusion, Iris got to her feet and retreated back to a safer location. Amos turned to glare in my direction, I feared that he would come charging at me and push me off the peak again. So I immediately started to move away from edge towards Iris.
I’ve been gone for at least 5 minutes, how the hell did Iris survive against the Boss all by herself? But then again, she was also probably wondering how I survived the fall. When I finally reached Iris, we looked at each other and we both looked happy to see one another… alive.
Looking at Amos, I was disappointed to see my axe was still stuck in his side, leaving me with only a sword in my left hand. This is why I don’t do axe throwing…. It’s going to be hard, but I have to get that axe back as soon as possible.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
I looked towards Iris, to ask her about how we could get my axe back, but seeing her face, I discovered she already completely understood what I was about to say. I returned my attention to the alpha wolf once again.
Amos had lost 160 health points in total and now had 840 health left. I inflicted 40 of that damage which means that by herself, Iris had dealt 120 damage! She’s definitely not ranked 10th in Edilath for nothing.
*GROWL!*
The alpha wolf was now infuriated, he stared at us with vicious contempt. I could almost feel that something even worse was about to happen.
“AWOOO!”
Amos’s howl echoed through the night, sending chills up my spine. I could actually feel my legs tremble from fear. Suddenly, 3 wolves came out of the darkness, appearing behind the Boss. Is this the skill called [Call Of The Wild]?
The angry howl called 3 wolves to the Boss’s aid. Amos was the alpha wolf of the pack, so they came to his bidding. This Boss is so overpowered, these other wolves might not be as difficult to kill, but they still made the battle significantly harder.
Analyzing the situation, I quickly came up with a plan.
“Let’s split up, focus on the weaker wolves first, then attack Amos together.”
Iris nodded.
I sprinted to the right, while Iris sprinted to the left. Splitting up might be what Amos exactly wanted, but we had no other choice, splitting up would definitely be safer. Two of the summoned wolves chased after Iris while Amos and the other one chased after me.
It will be hard for me to fight with only one sword, especially since I kept it in my left hand. I could put the sword in my right hand for now but I plan to get that axe back no matter what. I thought about trying to outrun the wolves, but in the back of my mind, I knew that I couldn’t. I stopped in my tracks trying not to slip and turned to face my enemies.
“AHHHH!”
I let out a battle cry, taunting the beasts to come at me. The wolves responded to my battle cry as expected, charging at me with no intention of letting me live. Amos’s speed was much greater than the underlings, so we would encounter each other first. As the Boss approached me, I skillfully maneuvered around him towards his left side, dodging his attack. Then I pulled out my axe from his side. Am I good or what!
Spinning around, I used [Skull Splitter] on the head of his wolf underling.
[60] [The enemy is stunned for 4 seconds]
From there, I continued stabbing and cleaving the wolf down in its stunned state until it died. Compared to Amos, these wolf underlings are fairly easy to take care of now. [Call Of The Wild] shouldn’t be big problem as long as I could kill the underlings quickly.
Turning to look at Iris, I saw that she had already killed the two monsters attacking her. She was now running towards my position in order to help me. Even in the midst of all this fighting, I was still analyzing the situation in order to figure out how could we possibly defeat the alpha wolf. If we stuck together, Amos would be able to focus on both of us at once…. Suddenly inspiration hit me when I thought about how the wolves used their superior numbers to fight and utilizing their hit and run tactics. Let’s use the same tactic they’ve been using on us.
The pack of wolves would always spread themselves out, making it difficult to focus on all of them at once. They always tried to be on the offensive rather on the defensive. When one attacked, all of them followed. They also retreated quickly, making sure that they didn’t take any unnecessary risks. I started to relay my thoughts to Iris who was now standing next to me.
“Let’s spread out, it’ll be hard for the Boss to focus on both of us at once. I will initiate the attack, follow my lead. If you see me going in for the attack or moving away to retreat do the same. We need to start attacking first, staying on the defensive will get us killed.”
I looked towards Iris who had a confused look on her face but after, a couple of seconds, she nodded telling me that she understood what I had just said. Right now we have the advantage in numbers, but if the Boss used [Call Of The Wild] then he would regain it. We needed to do as much damage as possible before that happened.
Seeing his pack killed before him, Amos, snarling madly, came charging at us with great speed, while Iris and I stood our ground.
“Now!”
Just when Amos was about 8 meters away, Iris and I split up running in different directions. I ran towards the right, while Iris ran towards the left. Looking at Amos, I could see that the Boss was having a hard time adjusting to the situation by himself.
“Attack!”
I charged forward with axe and sword in hand. I couldn’t see Iris anymore, as she was blocked out of my vision by the Boss, but I could only hope that she had heard my voice and followed my orders.
Moving within 5 meters of the wolf, I was ready to attack. It looked like Amos chose to focus on me for now, instead of Iris, because he opened his mouth preparing to take a big chunk out of my head.
|Miss|
[50!]
Just as Amos’s jaws were about to bite me, I ducked under and stabbed him in the neck with my sword. At the same time I heard slashing coming from the other side of the Boss with red numbers flashing out with each strike.
[36]
[23]
[30]
Yes, our plan is working!
Tyhuko: You’re a wizard Axle!
Not willing to take any more risks, I immediately ran out from under the alpha wolf to a safer location. Looking back, I saw that Iris had also done the same.
I might have only been able to land one attack, but since Amos was focusing only on me at the time, Iris in return was able to land three attacks. This tactic is very useful, we were able to do 139 damage without receiving a scratch. Let’s just hope this keeps up. Wolves are certainly the masters of this technique, you would think they would know how to counter their own technique, but it doesn’t seem so.
The Boss’s fur was once a glorious silver coat, but now it was stained red. Blood was dripping from its wounds, painting the pure white snow with a dark red hue. I could sense the scorn in the Amos’s red eyes, as he became even more enraged. I almost felt bad for it, but there’s no turning back now, we have to kill it.
“AWOOOOOOOOO!”
Once again, Amos used [Call Of The Wild], but this time the howl sounded more desperate than before. In response, 5 wolves came out of the darkness in order to aid their leader.
I wasn’t all that concerned about the extra wolves, until I saw how they split up, I started to panic. Amos had sent the 5 wolves to attack Iris, while he dealt with me, this completely countered our strategy. This way Amos would be able to focus just on me, with no interruptions.
Wolves are indeed intelligent creatures….
…
----------------------------------------
Author’s Note:
Thanks for reading the chapter. I would greatly appreciate it if you visited my blog. I post 1 whole chapters earlier than when I post them on royalroad. So if you want the chapters faster follow my blog!https://trueidentitynovel.wordpress.com
Make sure your vote for me on Top Web Fiction, I would greatly appreciate it! VOTE NOW!
Please comment if you liked the chapter and tell me what I can improve on. This will help me a lot, thanks. Make sure you follow me if you like my work!