Chapter 57: Blur
Tyler’s gaze darted between the advancing wolves. *Shit, shit, shit,* he thought, a violent tremor racking his limbs. Every beast prowling in their path radiated an aura above D-rank. Yet his vision remained locked onto the massive Alpha lingering in the back. The enormous creature sat on its haunches, its piercing gaze tracking their every twitch. Dragging his eyes away, Tyler glanced at James. His breath hitched. James held his sword drawn tight against his side, his muscles coiled to unleash his slash skill.
James’s features were set like stone, his posture entirely rigid. *Is he really going to use his skill?* Tyler thought, cold sweat beading on his forehead. *If he activates it, his stamina will drain entirely.* Tyler forced his attention back to the encroaching pack. *One strike won't take them all down. If he can't outrun the rest of them, he'll die.*
The Alpha rose to its feet. Tyler’s pulse hammered against his ribs. A sharp, commanding bark erupted from the massive beast's jaws, sending the entire pack sprinting forward.
In Tyler’s grip, his silver spear vanished, replaced instantly by the taut draw of a string and the cold shaft of a silver arrow. He pulled the tension back to his cheek.
"James, shut your eyes!" he screamed.
Tyler activated his skill and released the arrow. In the exact same heartbeat, James unleashed his attack. A ten-meter curved wave of compressed air ripped from his sword, carving a path straight toward the charging pack.
The silver arrow struck the dirt, detonating into a blinding explosion of white light. Tyler and James clamped their eyelids shut. The charging wolves tore at the earth, their claws shredding the soil as they frantically skidded to a halt, releasing high-pitched wails of agony as the harsh brilliance seared their vision.
Crimson light filtered through Tyler’s closed eyelids. The intense pressure and stinging heat faded instantly. *My skill doesn't affect me,* he thought, relaxing his clenched jaw.
He peeled his eyes open. To his absolute shock, his vision pierced straight through the blazing white glow, leaving the battlefield in perfect clarity.
James’s slash attack met the blinded pack. The compressed air sheared through four writhing wolves, separating flesh and bone in a violent spray of crimson. At the back of the formation, the Alpha dropped low to the earth, the rushing wind of the strike grazing its fur as the air blade cleaved through the thick trunks of the trees behind it.
The severed trees behind the beast groaned under their own weight before plummeting to the forest floor. Massive trunks slammed into the dirt, shattering thick branches into jagged splinters upon impact.
Tyler’s eyes stretched wide, a cold sweat breaking across his skin at the sheer velocity and destructive power of the attack. *He used his ultimate,* he thought.
He dragged his gaze over to James. The swordsman’s chest heaved with violent gasps, his shoulders sagging under the sudden, brutal drain of his stamina. James kept his eyes squeezed shut. In front of Tyler, the blinded wolves cowered, releasing high-pitched, whimpering howls through bared, clenched teeth.
Tyler’s muscles locked. His mind raced, caught in a fraction of a second of agonizing hesitation. Grab James and run, or press the attack while the pack was blind?
His jaw set. The bow vanished into his inventory, replaced instantly by the cold weight of the silver spear.
*We can't outrun them,* he thought, his grip tightening on the weapon. *James used his skill and it took a lot of stamina. This is my chance to kill the boss monster.*
A translucent system panel flashed across his vision.[USER HAS ACTIVATED SKILL: SEVEN STRIKES]
The muscles in Tyler’s arm bulged, thick veins straining against his skin as he hurled the spear with every ounce of his strength. The raw kinetic force of the throw whipped his hair across his forehead. The silver weapon pierced the air, tearing past the whimpering pack and sailing straight toward the Alpha's skull.
Tyler’s breath hitched as the lethal tip closed the final inches.[CRIMSON ALPHA HAS ACTIVATED SKILL: BLUR]
The beast’s red eyes snapped open. In a fraction of a heartbeat, the colossal monster vanished, distorting into nothingness like a heat mirage.
A sharp hiss of air escaped Tyler's teeth. Operating purely on survival instinct, he activated his own skill: Rush.
A faint blue luminescence flooded his vision. His heart hammered a frantic rhythm against his ribs. The world snapped into hyper-focus, revealing the Crimson Alpha already upon him. The mountain of coiled muscle and coarse red fur loomed mere inches away. Its jaws stretched impossibly wide, exposing a cavernous maw easily large enough to swallow his head whole.
Instantly, Tyler's’s shield materialized in his grasp. The beast’s jaws clamped shut over the metal. Colossal canines brutally crushed the thick spikes lining the shield’s front. The devastating kinetic force of the bite transferred straight through Tyler's arms, violently launching him off his feet.
Suspended in the air, Tyler locked eyes with James, whose face contorted into a mask of pure shock.
Tyler crashed heavily onto the forest floor, tumbling violently through the dirt. His shield exploded into dozens of useless, jagged fragments around his arms.
Nearby, James stumbled backward, frantically blinking away the lingering starbursts from the flash. He had barely tracked the exchange.
*It's so fast,* James thought, digging his boots heavily into the soil to arrest his momentum.
He stared up at the towering monster. The Crimson Alpha slowly turned its massive head, locking its burning, murderous gaze directly onto him.
A ragged groan tore from Tyler's throat as he fought the screaming pain in his battered limbs, immediately forcing himself back to his feet.
*Oh no, James,* Tyler thought. James's chest heaved with violent gasps. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead, and his features contorted with stark terror as he stared up at the towering monster. The beast curled its black lips back, exposing rows of jagged teeth coated in thick, viscous saliva. Tyler willed his silver spear to return to his grip, but the agonizing distance severed his connection. He could not summon the weapon.
The Alpha lunged. Its massive, muscular neck snapped forward, driving its gaping maw straight for James’s shoulder. Strings of saliva whipped through the air. James jerked his silver sword up, but his exhausted muscles moved too sluggishly. Suddenly, two bronze daggers struck the side of the beast’s thick neck. The bronze shattered into dull fragments against the dense crimson fur, but the blunt, sudden impact shifted the creature's trajectory. The monster’s heavy head jerked sideways. Its enormous jaws clamped down violently on the steel of James’s raised sword instead of flesh. The immense, crushing pressure instantly obliterated the blade into a shower of jagged silver splinters.
James abandoned the ruined hilt, scrambling backward over the roots and dirt until he reached Tyler's side. The monster shook its massive head side to side, violently spitting out chunks of ruined metal. It hacked, its massive chest contracting as it coughed up the sharp steel shrapnel lodged deep in its throat. Its pure red eyes locked back onto them.
"It's too strong!" James yelled, his voice ragged and breathless.
"Here," Tyler said.
A katana materialized into his grip. Dappled sunlight filtered through the dense canopy of the ferret forest, catching the polished steel and casting a harsh shimmer across the blade. Tyler shoved the hilt into James's hands.
James wrapped his fingers around the grip, but instead of falling into a defensive stance, he froze. He lowered his head, his eyes widening as he stared intently at the gleaming steel resting in his palms. His breath hitched, his grip tightening around the hilt as his shoulders stiffened.
*A skill?* James thought.
A deafening, guttural bark from the Crimson Alpha ripped through the air, vibrating in Tyler's chest and instantly shattering the moment. Driven by the command, the rest of the Crimson Wolves launched themselves forward, their claws tearing the earth. Several of the beasts kept their eyelids tightly shut, permanently blinded by the previous flash, yet they sprinted forward recklessly.
James’s arm muscles coiled tight. Tyler’s jaw clamped shut. He dismissed his inventory, and the bashing hammer materialized in his hands. The thick, long wooden shaft pressed solid and rough against his gloved palms. As his Rush skill pulsed through his veins, the massive iron hammerhead felt completely weightless. Raw, burning heat flooded his chest. His heart pounded a frantic, incalculable rhythm against his ribs. Searing energy built within his muscles with every passing second, and a faint blue luminescence bled into his vision from his own eyes.
The world around Tyler shifted. The charging wolves moved at a sluggish pace, their muscular legs churning slowly through the dirt. Yet, amidst the slowed chaos, the Crimson Alpha's deep red eyes remained hyper-focused on him. Tyler recognized the terrifying reality of the beast's movements. It possessed a speed entirely separate from the pack. But it held its ground. It used its pack like disposable minions, orchestrating their charge to probe their defenses.
Without warning, James sprinted directly toward the charging pack.
"Use it! Use your bow!" James screamed over his shoulder.
Tyler’s hammer vanished, instantly replaced by the familiar tension of the silver bow and the smooth shaft of a nocked arrow.
Just as James closed the distance with the front line of wolves, he planted his boots into the dirt and hurled the katana vertically with both hands. The spinning blade sliced the air, sailing a mere inch past the snout of a level 52 Crimson Wolf.
*Is he throwing his weapon?* Tyler thought, his brow furrowing in confusion.
James kept his arm extended straight forward. Mid-air, the katana abruptly arrested its forward momentum. It reversed direction, spinning horizontally like a buzzsaw as it ripped backward. The shimmering steel sheared clean through the level 52 wolf’s hind leg, severing thick muscle and bone in a spray of crimson, before snapping perfectly back into James’s waiting palm.
Tyler’s eyebrows shot upward. *He can use this skill?* he thought.