Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Nightmare dashed forward, paws barely touching the blackened ground while the two soldiers and the panther ahead remained rooted in place by the crushing pressure of the direwolf's aura.

His eyes moved to the Rogue named Selena, then returned to the three foes.

I can't take them out quickly enough to guarantee her safety, Nightmare thought.

If Colossus had been in the direwolf's place, the scorpion would have drawn their attention with his taunt. Seth would have also found a way to take care of them and protect her.

Aether churned violently within Nightmare's Well.

Why can those two always achieve things I can't?

Seth and Colossus constantly seemed to grow faster than him, propelled by some overwhelming intensity he still failed to understand. They were both irrationally emotional and sentimental. This woman and the other Kastal soldiers weren't even part of their pack, yet the two of them would throw themselves into danger to protect others without a hint of hesitation.

As Nightmare crossed the distance, his gaze landed on Selena again.

She stumbled backward across the ash-covered ground, desperately trying to create distance while the soldiers fought against the fear pinning their bodies in place.

And suddenly, something shifted inside Nightmare. He felt it.

A sharp, instinctive urge to protect her.

But why?

Yes, she had saved him during the first battle of the war. She had also praised him afterward with genuine admiration. Was that truly enough for him to care whether she lived or died?

Whatever the reason, the thought of her dying bothered him. Perhaps their pack was larger than he had originally believed.

And it is my responsibility to protect its members.

Nightmare forced aether to carve new, jagged grooves into his very being with a single goal in mind: kill all three enemies in a single strike.

Yet doing that alone was impossible. So he refused to be alone.

Aether slid violently through his flesh, driven by that desperate need to become more. Pain followed in its wake and seared across his body as he bared his fangs to the wind.

If he wanted to stand side-by-side with monsters like Seth and Colossus, then he had to shatter his own limits.

Just as the two men and the panther finally broke free from the immobilizing terror, Nightmare's body rippled like a reflection in a disturbed pond of black water.

Then the shadows at his feet split apart.

Aether erupted in a silent wave of darkness, and two perfect copies of the direwolf formed at his sides, emerging from the gloom itself. Nightmare seized control of the constructs with his mind, and all three of them pounced.

Seth lunged, Dusk Scythes humming as the blades carved through the injured imperial Rogue in front of him. He looked off in the distance, and his eyes widened as he witnessed Nightmare and two identical copies pouncing on the two soldiers and the panther.

What the hell? Seth thought.

He ducked beneath the wild slash of the Warrior in front of him, countering with a quick strike that bit into the man's thigh before following through with a shoulder cut. Even as Seth fought the remaining two soldiers, his attention flickered back to the direwolf.

Through Link, he could distinguish the original from the duplicates, but to the naked eye all three direwolf were practically identical. While the true Nightmare tore through the throat of one soldier, the copies also held their ground. They seemed to lack the original's raw attack power and the ability to cast complex spells, yet they still served as both distractions and lethal weapons.

Selena didn't hesitate and lunged toward the Nightfall Panther to bury both daggers deep into the beast's spine. The creature let out a pained snarl and twisted violently—just as one of Nightmare's copies crashed into it from the side, jaws closing around its throat to finish the kill.

The second duplicate wasn't as fortunate. The imperial soldier in front of it managed to drive his blade through its chest, and the construct dissolved into drifting wisps of shadow.

Yet the loss didn't slow Nightmare. He and the remaining copy converged alongside Selena and tore down the last enemy in seconds.

Seth snapped his focus back to the two imperial soldiers before him before dismantling them in a flurry of violet-black slashes. Selena rushed over to him, followed closely by Nightmare as his remaining duplicate dissolved.

Seth headed their way while casting Intermediate Identify on the direwolf.