Chapter 140: Against Someone
———Karra———
<2: 32 pm>
“...Do you always have that knife on you?” Qyunda called out, seeing me holding my fancy knife. Is she jealous since she doesn’t have a weapon on her or what?
“I just happen to have it on me since there are monsters here. Why didn’t you bring anything?” I asked her a question in return.
“Because I don’t have two swords on me normally? I don’t even really know what is allowed or not allowed on the trip.” She said before gritting her teeth in frustration. “Anywhere, when is this asshole going to actually arrive?”
“In less than a minute. Very strong. Hope you two can deal with it. Seni and I will act as support.” I could obviously try fighting alongside them as well, but my pace would be quite different and we don’t know anything about this new enemy running towards us. Seni will probably be mostly on healing duty while I dish out projectiles.
“If this guy doesn't try to sabotage me, I’m sure just the two of us will be plenty.” Qyunda replied confidently.
“You could also simply not say that. It sounds like you’re trying to jinx us.” Malk responded. “By the way, how in the world are we supposed to make a competition out of-
“Focus! It’s coming!” I shouted out as I could see the figure approaching us at high speed comparable to a sports car.
The figure stopped in its tracks in front of us. A giant bipedal wolf with dark fur with a hint of yellow, as well as a long tuft of dark blue hair on its head. Wearing clothes that look extremely damaged and seem to barely hold itself together on its massive body.
A feral look on this humanoid beast is definitely not of a sane human being, wielding that giant sword that looks more like a giant hunk of scrap metal. Dull and lacking in uniformity.
“A bunch of brats…” Oh? He can talk? With how feral he looks I thought he was a monster in humanoid shape. My bad.
Despite seemingly being a human, none of us really relaxed due to the appearance of this tall wolf man. I mean for him to run straight here and say those words? Doesn’t seem like he’s here for a nice chat.
He raised his sword silently.
*Swing* *Leap*
Yeesh, that was a fast attack! Good thing all four of us managed to jump out of the way of that giant sword before it could connect. If it wasn’t so telegraphed maybe one of us would’ve been caught by the attack.
“Alright guys, fist first, ask questions later!” Qyunda yelled out while the wolf man seemed bewildered that we dodged it. Did he think we were weak?
*Dash* *Block* *Swing* *Leap*
Qyunda jumped in, swinging her fist which was blocked by the giant sword, and had to jump back as he swung his sword in retaliation.
*Dash* *Kick* *Swing* *Leap*
Malk followed close behind and got a jump on him with a kick to the back while he was distracted by Qyunda. The wolf man tried to hit him back but he also retreated.
“Rahh!!!” The wolf man screamed out loudly and pressure emanated from his body which pushed the two of them away.
*Sizz* *Boom*
Before he could follow up with an attack, I shot an explosive fireball at him, causing him to stagger momentarily while the two regained their footing.
*Leap* *Kick* *Dash* *Strike*
The two took the opportunity and ran towards the wolf man with a kick to the wrist and an elbow to the face.
*Swing* *Spin* **Leap**
He barely flinched from the attacks and tried to counter by spinning around with that giant sword of his, but the two jumped out of the way in time. Doesn’t look like those two could do any real damage to this guy. Sure is a tough cookie.
*Crackle*
Malk began forming a ball of electricity between his hands, charging up a powerful spell that could potentially end the fight if it was fully charged and get a clean hit.
*Dash* *Grapple*
The wolf man silently ran towards him with the intent to stop him from doing so, but Qyunda jumped in the way and blocked his advance by putting herself between the two, grabbing onto the hunk of metal as if trying to take the weapon out of his hands.
*Lift* *Swing*
“Agh!” Unfortunately for Qyunda, he simply lifted up the sword with her still clinging onto it and gave it a good swing, causing her to be thrown off and roll on the ground unceremoniously.
*Swing* *Leap* *Kick*
He then tried to channel mana into his sword before swinging the blade down in Malk’s direction, but I jumped towards him and knocked the sword out of his hands by kicking the giant metal blade straight on its flat side.
“Now!” I yelled out at Malk while the wolf man looked surprised by my sudden intervention.
*Zap* *Blast*
Malk then releases the torrent of electricity right towards the wolf man, causing him to stagger as he tries to resist the massive wave of lightning magic.
*Dash*
“Home…” Qyunda then ran behind the wolf man with a giant bat made crudely out of earth magic. “Run!”
*Smash*
Swinging the bat with full force right towards his head, hitting it and causing the weapon to break into pieces from the impact.
“Argh!” The wolf man screamed out as the sudden force of impact on his head caused his concentration to break and now received the full might of Malk’s lightning attack.
“Haaa… Haaa…” That magical attack seemed to take a lot out of Malk. He looked very winded while Qyunda remained rather lively.
“Jeez. What was this guy’s problem anyway?” Qyunda said as she walked over to the bestial man now collapsed on the ground after the assault of magic is over. “Definetly wasn’t easy. If any of us had to do it alone he might be a pain in the as-
*Grab* *Crash*
“Qyunda!” Malk screamed out as the wolf jumped up and grabbed her by the face, before smashing her down against the hard ground.
*Throw* *Crash*
“Agh!” He tried to run over to her aid, but the wolf man simply threw Qyunda right at him, causing the two to collide and be sent flying together.
“Seni!” I said out loudly, and she nodded and ran over to them. Looks like I need to get my hands real dirty.
*Sizz*
I pulled out the flaming dagger. I need this in order to keep myself at an advantage. It helps amplify the firepower I innately have.
“You… All of you are pissing me off.” The wolf man muttered as I stood in front of him and guarding the other three.
“How about you leave nicely then?” I asked sarcastically. “What could you even come here for?”
“If I see it, then I will make it mine. That ship, that knife, and your life. I’ll take it.” He said with gritted teeth, looking more animalistic than ever.
“Hmph. Got anything beside the edge, buddy?” I asked, mocking that edgelord attitude of his.
“Die!” He screamed out as he lunged at me.
*Evade* *Swing* *Evade* *Swing*
The two of us start to get into the rhythm. Rather frustratingly, despite his size he is quite agile. So even though I can dodge his attack, he can also dodge mine. I need some trickery to get ahead.
*Shine* *Kick* *Slash*
I held out my left hand and blasted his face with a blinding flash of light which I followed up with a kick to the stomach and a searing slash to the wrist. Now for the follow-!
*Swing* *Block*
A barrier!? He set that up way too quickly!
*Swing* *Leap*
He tried to counter with a swing of his giant clawed hand, but I jumped out of the way easily enough.
*Dash* *Strike* *Crash*
“Ack!” Before I could land back down and touch the ground, he ran at me with his whole body and launched me right into the hull of the ship, hitting it and causing me to feel a lot of pain in the back. Damn, even just one hit from this guy hurts a lot. He’s way stronger than I thought.
*Dash* *Crackle* *Zap*
“Urgh!” Before he could close the distance between us and go in for the kill, I cast a quick lightning spell that shocked him and caused him to reel in pain for a moment. Like I’m gonna let you get close to me that easily…
*Dash* *Sizz*
““[Firewall]!”” Before he could run at me again, a large wall of flames completely surrounded him. I turned to look at the source of the chant, and saw that Qyunda and Malk are back up.
*Shine*
“Phew…” Seni ran towards me to start healing me with this brief moment of levity.
““[Explode]!”” The duo yelled out as the torrent of flames closed in.
*BOOM*
It exploded with its prisoner still held inside, causing a massive shockwave that caused a large smoke cloud.
“Definitely didn’t plan on doing something like that, but…” Qyunda was about to say something quippy, but quickly shut her mouth as she realized that the enemy still held strong. Not only can we still sense his energy, but as the smoke cloud clears, he is still standing. Some parts of his body are definitely damaged, but as a whole we can’t count him out just yet.
“All of you will die! Now!” He screamed out while letting out a huge wave of pressure, looking at us with wrathful eyes.
*Leap* *Shine*
He jumped back for what seemed almost like half a mile. He opened his mouth and started forming energy in front of it. Like with Malk earlier, he is gathering a large amount of raw energy for a massive attack, but for him to jump back so far, it must mean…
Shit! The ship is right behind us, we can’t let an attack like that even get close! We need to form a barrier right now!
“You two got any mana left!?” I asked as I put the knife away and held my hands in front of me, forming a barrier large enough to cover the ship and everything else behind us.
“I’m spent. Sorry…” Malk said before collapsing. Qyunda meanwhile simply gave me an unconfident look.
“I’ll help!” Seni said before standing besides me while pouring out her own mana to reinforce the shield.
*BLAST* *Block*
“Ugh!” The massive beam of energy finally released and came in contact with the massive spectral shield. Damn, I can barely hold my ground trying to keep this thing from flooding through!
Keep it together… Someone like me shouldn’t falter! Like hell I’m letting some random guy just kill me out of nowhere!
*Crack*
Need to put more mana into it, the shield almost cracked and shattered!
*Crack*
“Agh! Seni! Keep it together!” I shouted out as it felt like the strongest torrent of power had just hit the shield. We need to concentrate and make sure it doesn’t break!
…!
It’s… over… right? The blast of magical energy is finally… over…
*Thud* *Shatter*
Unfortunately. The barrier quickly shattered and yet the man remained standing. Seni doesn’t look like she could even stand anymore. Only Qyunda and I can stay standing, and the former is really pushing it with very little mana remaining.
I have less than half in my tank. I couldn’t go for many more spells at this point.
*Leap* *Swing* *Evade*
He jumped towards us and swung his fist at me, to which I jumped away and let it hit the hard ground. This guy seems to have even more energy left than I am. Ain’t that just fantastic…
Maybe if I get in a cheeky sneak attack, but that’s only if I managed to hit any vital area.
Can I really do that? Would I regret it badly la-
*SLASH* *Splat*
“Whoops. My hand slipped.” Before I could contemplate any further, or before this giant wolf man could perform another attack, suddenly he was split in half horizontally.
His expression contorted. Horror filled his eyes as consciousness began to leave him. The woman with a bloodied hand who doesn’t even bother to look at him in his final moment.
“I’d say the performance wasn’t half-bad. Unfortunately, none of you really try going for a killing blow, otherwise you’d probably end it much sooner.” Rico criticized us with a flat expression. “Anyway. It was good enough for softies like you lot. I mean you could at least hit him in the back or throat. Might’ve been paralyzed for life, but not dead.”
I didn’t even notice her presence before the wolf man was already in two pieces on the ground. It was swift and deadly, like a flash of light.
“Alright you four, go rest up for a bit, I’ll continue to keep watch, so don’t worry about a giant insect snatching you away.” She said before dragging the corpse away as if nothing is wrong.
…I don’t think we even get a lick of context of everything that just happened in the last five minutes, give or take.
Alright then. I guess we’ll rest up inside the ship for a while. There’s still over an hour before we have to go back. I’m sure we can catch up to the others later.