Chapter 58: Bash
Sweat traced a hot path down James’s cheek, gathering at his chin before dripping into the dirt. A strange, electric hum pulsed through his veins, awakening his mana pathways with a sharp, vibrant energy. The moment his calloused palm had wrapped around the katana’s hilt, a flood of instinctive memory had seared directly into his mind. His muscles coiled and adjusted automatically, his body grasping the exact mechanics of the passive skill.
A Level 49 Crimson Wolf launched itself at him, its claws extended. James pivoted, driving the katana through a swift, horizontal arc. The polished steel met the beast’s midsection and sheared clean through. Flesh, thick muscle, and spine parted with absolute zero resistance. The severed halves of the wolf crashed onto the forest floor in a violent spray of crimson.
The blade carried a perfect, feather-light balance, yet it vibrated with an unbreakable density. Its razor edge possessed a deadly, flawless geometry far surpassing any sword Hector had ever provided him.
A blur of red fur lunged from James's left blind spot. Before the beast could snap its jaws, a silver shaft pierced its eye socket with brutal kinetic force. The wolf crumpled instantly, its momentum carrying its body right to James’s boots. Without hesitation, James drove the katana straight down, piercing its skull and pinning the beast to the earth.
*That was close,* Tyler thought. Another silver arrow materialized between his fingers. He nocked the shaft, drawing the bowstring taut against his cheek. The rhythm of the battle snapped into focus. James held the vanguard, carving a bloody path through the advancing pack, while Tyler anchored the rear with heavy support.
Yet, a heavy knot of dread tightened in Tyler's stomach. He kept his peripheral vision locked on the Alpha.
*Why isn't it attacking?* he thought.
The massive Crimson Wolf paced slowly along the edge of the fray. Its massive paws pressed heavily into the soil, shifting its tremendous weight side to side. Its glowing red eyes remained fixated strictly on Tyler, radiating pure, suffocating malice mixed with a chilling, calculating caution.
"Ugh!" James screamed, his voice straining with sudden agony.
Heavy jaws had clamped brutally onto the back of James's heel, sharp teeth sinking deep through leather and into the flesh of his foot.
*Shit, I got distracted!* Tyler thought. Panic spiked in his chest. He abruptly released the bowstring.
At the exact same fraction of a second, James wrenched himself around, swinging the katana in a desperate, sweeping arc to clear the beast. The wolf released his foot and vaulted sideways, the steel blade slicing empty air a mere inch from its snout.
Tyler’s silver arrow streaked into the exact space the wolf had just occupied, colliding violently with the flat steel of the moving katana. The sheer kinetic shockwave of the impact vibrated violently up James's arms. His fingers went entirely numb. The forceful vibration violently wrenched the hilt from his hands, sending the shimmering sword spinning away into the dirt.
The wolf that had just attacked James, alongside another from the pack, recognized the sudden opening. They launched themselves forward, fangs bared. But before the falling katana could strike the dirt, its momentum violently reversed. The hilt snapped cleanly back into James's waiting palm. Without missing a beat, he pivoted, driving the blade through a brutal horizontal arc. The razor edge sheared through both of the wolves' throats in a single, fluid motion. Agonized wails tore from their severed windpipes as they crumpled, their heavy bodies hitting the forest floor.
Observing from the edge of the clearing, the Crimson Alpha released a deep, guttural rumble from its chest.
Tyler’s heart rammed violently against his ribs. Searing energy from his active skill coursed through his veins, making his skin feel too tight, demanding release.
*What am I doing?* he thought, his muscles trembling under the sheer pressure of the contained power. *I can't just keep supporting like this. I have so much energy and power running through me and I'm wasting my skill. I have to join him. I have to use it.*
Tyler let the tension in his arms slacken, slightly lowering the silver bow. The very instant the weapon dipped, the Crimson Alpha took a deliberate, heavy step forward.
Tyler’s eyes stretched wide. His breath snagged in his throat. He immediately yanked the bow up, ripping the string taut against his cheek.
The Alpha stopped its advance instantly, a low growl vibrating in its throat as it held its ground. Tyler’s chest heaved with rapid, dramatic gasps as he stared down the beast.
*It almost charged,* he thought, cold sweat beading at his temples. *Is my bow what's stopping it? Is it afraid of the arrows?*
He analyzed the sheer mass of the monster, taking in the impossibly thick ropes of muscle bundled beneath its dense crimson fur. A heavy certainty settled in his stomach: his standard arrows completely lacked the piercing force to penetrate that hide. Then, clarity struck him. The beast operated on strict caution. Tyler was a completely unpredictable variable. His very first attack had detonated into a blinding flash that had permanently crippled half the pack. The Alpha hesitated because it feared another unknown trap.
*Still, I have to do this quick,* Tyler thought, the burning heat in his blood reminding him of his ticking clock. *Otherwise, the skill's duration is going to run out. I'd just be wasting it.*
His hands became a blur. A silver arrow materialized between his fingers. He nocked, drew, and loosed the shaft. The string snapped forward, but before the first arrow even cleared the bow, another materialized in his grip. The blistering speed of his active skill took over completely.
The movements chained together so rapidly that four arrows ripped through the air in a tight, deadly swarm. The silver shafts struck the blinded wolves with brutal kinetic force. Flesh tore and bone cracked as the arrows buried themselves deep into four separate targets, a level 42, a level 44, a level 51, and a level 40, dropping them all simultaneously.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
A faint, ethereal green luminescence washed over Tyler’s skin. The burning lactic acid and agonizing tension knotting his muscles evaporated instantly, replaced by a sudden, rushing torrent of raw power. His mana pool flooded back to its absolute limits. Every fiber of his being felt denser and faster as a surge of unseen energy pushed all of his physical stats upward by ten points.
*I leveled up,* he thought.
But the rush of newfound strength brought zero relief. His eyes locked onto James. The pack had shifted its assault, focusing entirely on the swordsman and forcing him into a desperate, retreating dance. James’s evasive movements grew dangerously sluggish. His chest heaved with ragged, heavy gasps, his posture sagging with every dodge. The severe stamina drain from his wind-slash skill was finally crushing him.
The Alpha recognized the weakness immediately. A translucent system panel flashed in Tyler’s vision.
[CRIMSON ALPHA ACTIVATED SKILL: BLUR]
Tyler gritted his teeth, his jaw locking tight as he instantly materialized his silver bow. His hands became a blur. He drew and loosed, drew and loosed, sending a rapid barrage of silver arrows streaking toward the colossal beast.
But the Alpha erupted forward.
The monstrous creature launched itself with such devastating kinetic force that its massive paws gouged a deep trench through the soil. It bypassed the distance entirely, materializing directly in front of James in a fraction of a second. Tyler’s arrows struck the beast’s broad chest and thick skull, but the wooden shafts snapped into useless splinters instantly against the dense crimson fur.
James’s exhausted reflexes betrayed him. He lifted his blade, struggling to bring the steel up to defend himself.
The wolf was infinitely faster. Its cavernous jaws snapped shut over James’s shoulder. Enormous, razor-sharp canines pierced clean through clothing and flesh, sinking deep into the back of his shoulder and the front of his chest. The sickening, resonant crack of shattering bone echoed across the clearing as the immense jaw pressure completely collapsed James’s collarbone.
An agonizing, blood-curdling scream ripped from James's throat.
Tyler’s built-up energy violently detonated. He exploded forward, his legs driving into the earth with terrifying new speed. The silver bow vanished into his inventory, erupting into a shimmering blue light. Tyler rammed straight through the dissipating light, his sheer momentum violently scattering the floating particles into the wind.
"James!" he screamed, his voice tearing at his vocal cords.
Several wolves surged forward to intercept his path. Tyler dismissed his empty inventory, and the heavy bashing hammer materialized perfectly into his sprinting grip. To his hyper-focused vision, the charging wolves moved at an agonizingly slow crawl. His heart hammered a frantic, deafening rhythm against his ribs. The horrifying image of James caught in the beast's jaws burned into his mind.
Without breaking his furious stride, Tyler twisted his torso and swung the massive hammerhead to his left. The heavy metal collided with the first wolf’s skull. The sheer, overwhelming momentum of Tyler’s enhanced speed transferred directly into the strike, completely pulverizing the entire upper half of the beast’s body in a violent eruption of blood and shattered bone.
Tyler never slowed down. His eyes stretched wide, his teeth locked together so hard his jaw ached. His legs pumped like pistons, his boots barely grazing the dirt as he blew past a second wolf before the creature could even pivot.
Spotting Tyler’s blazing approach, the Alpha violently whipped its massive head to the side. The brutal motion ripped James from its jaws, tossing his battered body heavily through the air.
Tyler’s stomach plummeted. His eyes locked onto a jagged chunk of human flesh still caught between the monster's bloody teeth.
The Alpha immediately pivoted, accelerating straight toward Tyler to attack.
Tyler dug his boots fiercely into the dirt, bringing his absolute forward momentum to a sudden, violent halt. Using the intense kinetic energy of the abrupt stop, he spun his entire body into a tight pivot and activated his Bash skill.
A faint blue luminescence flooded his vision.
The heavy hammerhead tore through the air, the violent friction producing a harsh, metallic shriek as the Bash skill amplified the swing. The Crimson Alpha stretched its jaws impossibly wide, aiming to crush Tyler in a single bite.
Tyler’s massive hammerhead slammed directly into the side of the Alpha’s open jaw with every ounce of his raw, newly-leveled strength.
The catastrophic collision of the beast's forward momentum and Tyler's devastating swing instantly obliterated the solid hammerhead into a cloud of metallic shrapnel. A concussive shockwave exploded from the epicenter. The blast tore away the top layer of soil, expanding outward with enough pressurized force to violently hurl the surrounding wolves through the air. They released terrified, high-pitched whimpers as the kinetic wave tossed them aside.
The sheer force sent the colossal Crimson Wolf hurtling backward.
Tyler was launched in the exact opposite direction. The violently displaced air slammed into his skin like a wall of solid metal. He rocketed backward through the forest, his body thrashing like a ragdoll. He slammed brutally against a thick tree trunk, instantly shattering the solid wood into flying splinters. Concussive agony radiated through his chest, making him feel as though his internal organs were rupturing. He tumbled violently across the forest floor until the side of his head slammed against another tree trunk with a heavy, deafening crack.
A thick cloud of dust choked the air, billowing outward from a deep, jagged crater newly carved into the center of the clearing. Absolute stillness fell over the forest, broken only by the lingering, thunderous echo of the explosion ringing in Tyler’s ears.