Syl

Chapter 21: Blade Wolf

Between the two-legs to the west, the boar king to the south, and the short-green two-legs to the east, territory in the forest had always been a struggle for survival. He had always been smaller than his fellow wolves but far faster, which allowed him to escape with his life and slowly strengthen. He battled the swine to the south and defended the previous alpha from the short-green two-legs - he could feel his might growing with each foe slain.

But his true power was revealed when the previous alpha was attacked by a two-leg using fire. The alpha was brutally burned and lost his battle, while the pack was trapped in a vortex of fire, unable to assist. He snuck up on the cocky two-leg wielding the power of fire, who was blind in his arrogance, and struck a fatal blow to his neck, the death of this two-leg caused his power to burst, and he was reborn.

The old alpha sadly could not be saved, so it was his duty to lead the pack and become the new alpha. They spent many seasons recovering, fighting their foes, and replenishing the pack with his mates. Recently, one of his scouts reported that there were fewer of the boar king minions roaming the southern forest. Another scout mentioned that the two-legs and short-green two-legs were waging war. He knew it was finally time to get vengeance and rule the forest.

Conquering the boar king's territory was proving very simple, with their numbers shockingly dwindling, and the boar king was nowhere to be seen - had he abandoned his territory? What a fool! They spread out and claimed this section of the forest, feasting on the boar king's brides and children as well as the numerous deer and rabbits that this lush section provided.

But that was when trouble had arrived; some of his pack had mysteriously vanished without a trace. More scouts were dispatched to find the perpetrator or at least locate the bodies, but there was nothing - not even a scent! During scouting, they found a large amount of water that would sustain them for generations and act as a suitable ambush point for prey - this forest was truly blessed.

But the disappearances kept happening, and anyone sent to the water never returned. Sending two of his best trackers, he hoped to get to the bottom of this, but they also failed to return. Outraged, his firstborn sons volunteered to ambush whatever foe was causing this.

However, he was worried this foe might be too powerful for his firstborn sons; despite their growths, they had not reached the rebirth like himself. He waited with the rest of the pack's fighters and gave his wisest son strict orders to howl when they engaged the creature and again when they had achieved victory. If the wait between signals was too long, he would rush in to assist, even though it would damage their honor.

His son's magnificent howl filled him with pride, and he waited with bated breath for the victory, but it never came. He rushed to the water with the rest of the pack, but when they arrived, there was no sign of any of his sons and only a singular blue blob of tremendous size.

He announced his presence with a mighty howl and approached with his pack - the creature stood its ground and didn't flee. Perhaps this water was its domain, and it would stand its ground to defend it. Despite being foes, he liked this reasoning as it was better than the pig king, who fled like a coward.

One of the younger warriors was too quick to temper and rushed at the blue creature with a thirst for vengeance. He didn't stop the youngster as he currently failed to see how this unassuming creature could have killed his sons, and this could provide valuable battle knowledge - he could always rush in to save the child.

The creature made no movements until the young warrior was already leaping at it, and then abruptly, it revealed its hostility as three limbs burst from its rounded form and grabbed the warrior. Before he could even react, the young warrior's life was snuffed out. He couldn't understand how this creature hid its weapons, but then the horror started as he watched the body disappear before his very eyes. This creature was the one who had killed his scouts, his trackers, and his firstborn sons.

He howled his challenge to the creature directly, ordering the pack to stand down as they could not assist against this mighty foe, and he didn't want to lose more of his family. Once again, the creature didn't react and was willing to stand its ground and defend its territory.

The creature then started crafting the weapons of the two-legs out of its own flesh as if mocking him and then waited. He took his stance and barked for the battle to begin.

This foe was very strange; despite holding the weapons of the two-legs, it was inexperienced in wielding them, and his mighty tail could easily counter the weapons. When he cut into the blue flesh of the creature, it fell apart and crashed to the floor like water - it seemed he would need to cut apart this foe until it stained the ground blue.

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The creature, seemingly frustrated at how he effortlessly destroyed its weapon, began throwing things at him, but he was far too fast to be hit. He noticed that the things thrown at him were the numerous tusks of the boar king's minions and the teeth of his pack. Was this creature the reason for the boar king's forces being so weakened? Did this creature kill the boar king? It would explain why the king had vanished, just like his pack.

The fight continued, but he felt under very little threat, even when a few fangs struck him, as they only gave some scratches. But the blue flesh of the creature wasn't running out and seemed to regrow from nowhere. He activated his [Hunters Eyes], and it marked the red orb floating in the blue flesh.

He prepared his ultimate strike, which could cut foes beyond his reach that he had honed to perfection. He used [Wind Step] first to build up speed and then again to appear right before the creature. He was spinning rapidly to build up momentum while he focused hard on his tail that shone with its majestic power that came with his rebirth, and then, at the highest point of his rotation, he swung his tail, and the skill [Sever Strike] activated.

It ripped through the blue creature and struck the red orb; it cracked but still held form, and he used another [Wind Step] to reach safe ground. It looked like the creature was heavily wounded, and if he could land another [Sever Strike], he would win. He just needed to be careful, as using too many [Wind Steps] would cause him to collapse with exhaustion or be unable to activate another [Sever Strike].

But the creature's behavior was odd, not like any wounded foe he had faced before, and was growing in size!? Blue flesh was erupting from the creature and swelling it to a massive size, towering over him. Giant limbs burst out from the creature and were swinging wildly for him. He cut into one but misjudged the thicker size, not putting enough effort into the cut, which only went halfway through.

The half-cut limb snapped back together with a sickening sound and then started shooting at him. At first, he was more focused on dodging the other limbs, so he ignored most of the shots, but then he felt his fur burning and noticed the creature was shooting its flesh at him!

Putting his focus on dodging the onslaught was rough, with three tentacles trying to grab him and projectiles trying to burn into his fur. With his attention on dodging, he noticed far too late that his feet were having a light tingling-burning sensation and that almost the entire ground was shaded blue.

The creature had been spreading a thin layer of its' blue flesh over the ground. Fear bubbled up inside with the thought of disappearing like the young warrior in this burning blue flesh, but the effect was so mild that he barely felt it - maybe it was too thin to melt him? Regardless, he needed to kill this creature quickly.

He cut into another large tendril that tried to grab him, this time with more effort to slice through, and it fell to the ground. He avoided another and was about to cleave through it but suddenly had to use [Wind Step] as an emergency dodge, as a tentacle had tried to attack him from behind!

Where had it come from? He slashed another tentacle that approached his new position and backed up, and then he saw what had happened - the tentacle he had just cut through had fallen, but when it touched the blue-stained ground, it rapidly revived on the spot. The creature had spread itself out to recollect its fallen flesh.

The battle continued; he had lost count of how many times he had sliced through a tentacle, only for it to come back from the dead when it touched the ground. But the towering form of the creature had started to shrink; was he finally wearing it down? Then his [Hunters Eyes] spotted a tiny red orb rocketing through the surface slime. He remembered the red orb being far larger - had it shrunk to heal the crack?

He chased after it, wondering if it had given up, and then he spotted his five remaining warriors snarling at the blue ground. Fear struck as he howled a warning to them, and then his back felt immense pain as a blue projectile had struck him and burnt into his back. The red orb had reached the pack, and suddenly, blue slime burst from nowhere, utterly surrounding the tiny ball of death.

One of the braver warriors confronted it to allow the others to escape - a brave sacrifice. But the creature had abandoned its previous honor of only striking those who attacked it, with four limbs bursting out to grab and kill the retreating wolves. Both the warrior and he howled in rage, the warrior foolishly jumping at the slime, and simultaneously, he performed [Wind Step] into [Sever Strike]. His bladed tail struck true, and the orb shattered.

The warrior was unfortunately already dead, its head missing where it had sunk into the creature. Unimaginable fatigue assailed his body, and guilt plagued his mind, but the deed was done. They would recover like they had previously; his mates were still alive, he was the alpha, it was his duty.

Abruptly, his back legs were struck from behind, and horrific burning filled his mind. He howled in pain and confusion. The creature's corpse, which had been slowly losing shape, suddenly had new life and took solid form, producing four limbs that immediately tried to grab him. He tried to dodge even with his back legs in abhorrent pain, dodging the first successfully when the three others collided with him.

He was swallowed into a world of nothing but blue and burning.

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