- - - - - - -
The chains snapped with a sound like thunder.
The aberrant werewolf lunged forward, the broken runes still crackling around its limbs like dying lightning. Its eyes were a sick, wrong shade of red, nothing natural, nothing sane. Skjor swore no other rogue werewolf they've dealt with had ever looked like that.
This thing… wasn't made.
It was... assembled.
Kael could smell it—vampire rot, witch's blood, and something else. Something feral and hateful, like a beast that wanted the world to burn just because it existed.
The monster roared, shaking the earth beneath Kael's paws.
Skjor snarled beside him, hackles raised."Kael! Vilkas! Farkas! WITH ME!"
The Companions spread out, forming a half circle around the aberrant wolf. Elara was behind them, staff raised, eyes wide with terror but refusing to run.
The aberrant wolf turned its head toward her.
Kael moved instantly.
He threw himself in front of her, claws digging trenches into the ground. A deep growl rolled through his widened maw.
The monster charged.
Kael slammed into it first.
It was like hitting a wall of iron wrapped in fur. The impact rattled his bones and knocked the breath from his lungs. The beast barely flinched its claws came down, carving a burning line across Kael's shoulder.
The pain turned his vision white for a second, then he roared back and slashed upward, claws raking across the beast's chest. Fur tore away in chunks. Its flesh opened and blood trickled down.
Surface wounds.
It wasn't enough. Not nearly.
Behind him, Farkas tackled the beast's leg, fangs sinking deep. Vilkas struck from the flank, ripping at its side. Skjor leaped high, landing on the monster's back, trying to snap its spine.
But the aberrant wolf twisted violently, hurling Skjor off like he weighed nothing. He hit a boulder so hard the stone cracked.
"Skjor!" Elara cried, trying to rush toward him but Kael shoved her aside the next second.
The aberrant wolf was upon him within the next second.
Kael barely dodged the first swipe. The second caught him across the ribs, sending him skidding across the dirt. Blood spattered from deep, burning wounds. His vision swam.
The monster didn't stop.
It lunged, jaws wide, teeth as long as daggers.
He rolled aside just in time. The beast's teeth tore into the earth where his head had been a second before. Kael spun and slashed upward again, carving across its muzzle.
The aberrant wolf snarled, enraged.
It grabbed Kael by the neck, crushing his throat slowly.
Kael's claws scraped uselessly against its arm.
He felt darkness creeping.
His legs kicked out, fighting for ground, for any stray air to wander into his throat
Then Farkas slammed into the beast's side, tearing out a chunk of flesh. Vilkas followed, biting deep into its shoulder. Blood sprayed across the snow in a thick, steaming arc.
Skjor limped back into the fight, half his face bruised, but his eyes burning with fury.
"Everyone—AT ITS HEAD!"
Kael's vision flashed red as he tore free from the beast's grip.
He hungrily gasped for air, choking on a mix of saliva and blood.
He lunged at its leg again, ripping tendons. The aberrant wolf stumbled, letting out a distorted howl that shook then entire pack.
Vilkas tried to pounce onto its back, but the beast just sharply reached behind it's back without looking and grabbed his by his muzzle, before slamming him into the ground with a force so hard that his body bounced right back up before slamming a kick into his ribs, sending him crashing into a tree in the distance.
The beast stood there and gave a powerful howl that shook the whole forest. Then suddenly it's fur started to shimmer a dark hue of purple and it's fangs grew slightly longer while wings sprouted out of its back. It's eyes changed color with one glowing a bright gold and the other, a bright red.
"What the f*ck even is this?" Skjor growled, the bruises on his face nowhere to be found.
"Stay together now! Do not fight alone, we don't know what monstrosity we're facing."
The next second the beast flapped its wings and dashed towards Vilkas who was still trying to crawl back up, faster than the eye could track. Claws spread out, it was ready to end his life once and for all.
[Feral Sprint]
Kael barreled into the beast, shoving it aside and causing its attack to go off trajectory just enough to keep Vilkas' head on his shoulder.
[Inspect]
Name: Werepire (incomplete)
Lv: 20
Skills: Blood orb, Vampiric drain.
Status: Light injury, stunned, bloodrot, ???
Seeing that the beast was stunned by Kael's unexpected move, the rest of the pack moved with unspoken coordination, attacking at once.
Vilkas immediately leapt up and sank his teeth into the beast's neck. Farkas tore into its abdomen, pulling thick strips of flesh away with every swipe of his claw. Skjor charged in a blur, smashing his entire weight into the monster's side, forcing the beast to fall to its knees.
But it did not fall. It refused to fall. The beast snapped and thrashed violently, sending blood flying in all directions.
Kael circled out from its side and leaped onto its front, burying his fangs into its shoulders. His jaws clamped onto its throat. He tasted iron. Rot. Magic. All mixed together.
Then the beast's eyes shone brightly. Its muscles bulged.
The runic brands across its body pulsed. It let out a deafening roar and forced itself upright, lifting all four Companions with it like they were children.
Kael felt his claws tearing through its hide as it rose. He felt something crunch under his feet as the beast twisted and flung Farkas into a tree. Vilkas was slammed into the ground yet again with a force strong enough to carve a crater. Kael lost his grip and hit the dirt before being kicked aside.
[Health -62]
[Rib fracture sustained]
Now, remind me while these messages feel oddly familiar
The world spun.
His ribs screamed, his ribs burned and the world was slowly dimming.
Then he saw it out of the corner of his eyes.
The beast was charging toward Elara.
She couldn't outrun it. She couldn't block it. She couldn't even scream fast enough.
Kael moved before his brain even told him to.
Using two quick successive bursts of his skill, he barely got there in time, just enough to swipe his claw at the incoming claw attack that would've sweeped Elara's head clean off its hinges.
His measly rushed attempt at a parry was greeted with a completely dislocated shoulder dangling beside in.
However, in the next second, a golden glow covered his whole body and warmth spread through his bloodstream accompanied by a sensation akin to dipping in a warm spring.
Within the next second, his dislocated arm along with over half of his previous injuries had recovered.
He glanced backwards and nodded before disappearing in a blur of speed.
Dark blood sprayed over the ground in the next second as one of the beast's eye flew out of its head.
The beast screamed—a horrifying, guttural cry that shook the trees.
Vilkas and Farkas recovered and jumped back in. Skjor roared and tackled the monster's midsection.
Elara raised her staff, chanting through terrified breaths.
"Kael—MOVE!"
He leaped aside as quickly as he could—
A massive bolt of lightning slammed into the aberrant wolf's face.
The monster recoiled, stunned, sparks dancing across its fur.
Endangered, it quickly flapped its wings and took off to the sky.
"NOW!" Skjor roared.
Aela who had been away from the whole fight suddenly leaped up from a shrub by the side. Her half-werewolf, half-human form silhouette was extremely breathtaking against the sun. Her arrow was nocked against her bow, at max draw.
As she let go of the arrow, it whistled through the air, flying at breakneck speed.
It happened too suddenly for the beast to even try to react. The timing was perfect, right after it was stunned.
The arrow dug right through the middle of its skull, leaving a clean hole the size of a twig.
Its body trembled in the air before it fell hard, shaking the earth.
The forest went silent for a second. So silent if a drop of water trickled down a leaf, it would echo be heard by the deaf.
Elara slowly approached, staring at the beast's corpse with shaking hands.
"What… what was that thing?" she whispered.
None of them answered.
Because nobody knew.
Only Kael had some sort of an inkling.
[Aberrant Werewolf defeated]
[XP gained: 540]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[New Skill Points awarded: 3]
[Class Advancement Unlocked]
But the last message…The last message chilled him to the bone.
[Bloodline Reaction Detected]
[…Something watches you.]
Kael's fur stood on end.
'Well... I'd be damned...'