“Master, something is approaching. Grrrrrr…” Aspen got into a defensive position, lowering her body, growling, and showing her teeth.
Then, I saw it.
|What the hell is that?!|
What came behind the fleeing wolf was a beast like no other I had seen so far in the caverns. Bright hard scales, rows of teeth that could cut steel, big heavy legs that moved its massive frame. It was some form of grotesque lizard. On the joints of its legs and along his column were several spikes that seemed to be made of bone. Very sharp and pointy bones.
“What is it… huh? I know that smell…” Aspen sniffed the air, “it's coming from the North Cn! I…”
An unknown creature that seemed to be too big. If we were going to engage we had to be careful. This was going to be the first time I fought alongside Aspen, so I had to be careful of…
Aspen darted out, running way faster than I ever could imagine she could run. Before I could even process, she already ran halfway towards the beast.
I chased after her, but no matter how much I tried to keep pace, she was way faster than I was. I was not slow to move while levitating, but she was a freaking bullet in comparison.
Yeah, she was not listening to me.
The bck wolf tripped on a branch from a pnt and fell forward, making a full circle before hitting the ground.
The beast opened its giant mouth to catch the smaller wolf and eat it.
Aspen jumped at its eyes to viciously scratch and bite at it. She did not penetrate through the tough scales, and the creature closed its eyes at the right moment.
The monster shoved her to the side, hitting a rock. She could get up quickly, but she still compined in pain.
“Gggrrrr… you bastard!” She cussed at the lizard.
I told her to wait for me! I was still trying to reach, flying as fast as I could!
The other wolf was still scared and was trying to drag himself back from the beast. He was not going to help.
Two spikes shot from the back of the beast and flew towards Aspen.
I used fireballs! I was not reaching in time, and they hit clean on the spikes, breaking them into million pieces before they hit Aspen.
I yelled when I arrived.
“That wolf would be dead if I did!”
The spikes the lizard shot regrew with a quick snap!
“They are dangerous! Run with the dark wolf! I will distract it and then escape!”
“ROOOOOAAAAAAARR”
It screamed loud enough it made the air shake, spitting saliva.
I moved forward and tried to slice it, but my bde bounced on impact. The scales were too hard and impossible to break through.
“Hey! I told you to run! We cannot kill these things!”
[Analysing possible weak points without detailed information… please hold on]
Was the System really going to make me wait?!
The creature swung its whole body and almost hit me with the spikes on its tail. I tried to hit him again, and the scales protected it once more.
I activated [Iron Defense], just in case any of its attacks hit me. It was slow, so I could follow him, but it seemed that any hit could be lethal if I allowed it.
“Come here, you scaly bastard!”
Aspen joined me, trying to attack him in order to add distractions for him while I tried to see how to penetrate its natural armor.
The other wolf found a hiding spot not that far away, and he seemed to have a clear view of what we were doing.
Even with [Poison form] I was not able to hit him, and [Fireball] only exploded before it seemed to do any substantial damage. It only flinched when one of the balls of fire hit it.
It hit Aspen with one of his legs! She managed to resist it too, but still seems to have been more injured than before.
“Dammit! I said run!” I yelled.
“You idiot! I am the one that is meant to risk her life for you! Ah! Watch out!”
I got distracted and the beast managed to hit me with its whole body, throwing itself at me and throwing me against a tree.
[HP: 07/22]
I was right… that was too much damage.
“H-hey! You bastard, look at me!”
Aspen ran towards the beast and grabbed on it’s leg. Her cws and teeth were not hard enough to penetrate through them, and all it did was to annoy it. It moved its attention towards me to her.
I healed myself with what I had left over from metal minerals, leaving me with the bronze dagger which I was going to use when I had more need to.
It was about to jump.
Her ears perked, but the beast jumped around two meters into the air, and rolled to fall on top of her.
<[Fireball]!>
I shot it directly at its eye, and it lost bance mid air, failing to roll on top of Aspen, who jumped out before hitting the ground.
“Ugh… that was… close!”
It fell on its side, revealing its abdomen, all that was under its body. The scales were less prominent and seemed less.. hard.
[Analysis complete! This creature seems to have lighter and more fragile scales under its body, allowing for better movement. It is also a part that requires less defense. It is possible to cut it with your current material. Aspen’s cws and teeth are not long enough to penetrate deep enough]
I was figuring that out!
It turned back up and roared once more.
“W-what?! We never…!”
Maybe the wolves never had enough time to figure it out themselves, and preferred to run before trying new tactics. It seemed to be a dangerous beast that could have killed us it we gave it the chance. Or maybe even the scales under it were thick enough to prevent the cws and teeth of the wolves from killing it.
I could heal myself, but I had no way to heal Aspen. If this continues, I might lose her.
“Hey! I am still here, you ugly monster!”
Aspen jumped on its back, and tried to bite on the back of its head. This clearly made it angry, and began to thrash around to force her to get down. Aspen was ughing, grabbing herself to it with her legs.
Then it happened.
It lifted its whole body to try the same attack, jumping high to turn and fall over Aspen, but this time she was prepared, and jumped out once it gained air and began to tilt.
And there I came in. I rushed, fast, and flew over it. Its back hit the cave’s floor with heavy weight, and I dropped myself over it.
My metallic body went through its neck. A gargled scream came out of the monster, who died thrashing from the blood loss. I pulled out, and observed how my biggest kill was slowly giving it’s st breath.
[You gained XP!]
[You gained 2 levels! 09/10!]
[Aspen gained 3 levels! 07/10]
[All your stats increased!]
Wow, big gains! That thing seemed to have been a big catch! And I was close to my level limit, wondering what would happen when I hit it.
When I saw her, she was on her four paws, looking at the beast, then me, eyes wide and mouth open. When I noticed the other wolf, its expression was the same.
“W-what happened?! do you seriously not know what you just did?!”
[Analysis complete.]
[Spiked Drakeling. Miniature type of Drake that are nowhere near as powerful as their bigger brethren, but still a threat for the unprepared fighter. Their scales are known to be one of the hardest materials to ever exist, and are hard to kill without exposing their weaker underside]
“T-those are the wrath of our existence! The one creature we always hide from! I told you to run because no matter what we did, we could not kill it! Even when we attacked it the same way you did…!”
“Yes! I was ready to die just so you and the wolf could escape! Ow!”
I hit her with the ft part of my bde.
“Because it was going to catch that other wolf! I had to also do something!”
I was in need to ask her about her customs, something I had forgotten until that point. Seemed there were several rules to her creed that I had no idea were important. But what I could tell is that she needed to help others and was meant to make sure I was the one to be safe no matter what because of our pact.
That was going to be a long talk.
“Well… he is a youngling, he is not expected to fight other than to make sure the cn continues”
Wait, a youngling? Well, he seemed smaller, he was probably on the side that was still learning to hunt and got caught up with that beast, but not like I could easily tell.
But it was far from what we expected.
“Y-you two… wait! I know you! You are that silver wolf from the cn of that wolf that calls himself King!”
The wolf approached us, still surprised, and now afraid that he recognized Aspen. He lowered his body, with ears perked back and his tail between his legs, clearly trying to not look threatening.
“Yeah… I am her… did you run into something dangerous, young one?”
“N-no! I ran from… Ah! The cn! P-please! You two, you killed this one! You can help us, I implore you two in the name of El!”
I let Aspen talk. I was about to answer but he would not listen to me.
“What happened?”
“T-the others… there are two more of these monsters in our cn nds, and they are killing my pack! Please, you can kill them, do it!”
“W-what?! They never attack in groups!”
“I know! We were attacked by three! I saw them go towards out burrows when this one saw me and I ran away.”
[Analysing… seems like a weird coincidence that the wolf spiritist directed you to this cn and this is happening when you arrive. Proceed with caution]
Yeah, too much coincidence.
“We are not part of their cn, and it could be dangerous, but I guess you are right.”
“Right!”
Aspen turned towards the vilge, and I immediately pced my bde in front of her to stop her.
“B-but we need to get there fast!”
Confused, Aspen opened her mouth, and I comfortably pced my handle between her teeth. She closed her maw by instinct, holding me tightly and securely.
“W-what are you…”
She growled, but began to run immediately.