Chapter 582
Making his way through the forest Ajax happened upon the dead body of a large stag. It was the first such body he had encountered and the clear bit marks showed that whatever it was that had been eating it wasn’t finished with it but had in fact been interrupted and intended to return.
More troubling however were the tracks Ajax could clearly see heading in multiple directions from the body. Whatever it was that had done this was clearly not alone and it put Ajax on edge. Not wanting to provoke an attack Ajax reigned in his Aura as much as he could but pushed his Perception Skills as far as he could hoping to figure out if he would be attacked.
A rustle of leaves was the only clue he got but it was loud enough to mark the start of the confrontation. Ajax was forced to admit that he was very impressed with their [Stealth] Skills as not only had they gotten much closer than he would have liked he also noticed that none of them used Mana at all. It didn’t take long for his retreat to be cut off as the predators started circling him.
The wolf pack was at least a dozen strong and all of them were level one hundred and twenty with the alpha being close to one hundred and thirty. Before they could all start their coordinated attack that would slowly look to bring him down slowly much in the same way they did the stag Ajax threw himself on the offensive.
The first realization he made was that he was on a timer. None of the wolves seemed to use much Mana and the Mana they did use was purely internal boosting so [Mana Syphon] could barely get a grip on it. More than that all of their muscles flexed with power under their fur.
The first thing Ajax did was take control of the earth under all their feet and flood it not only with his Mana but also with Water Mana to make as much mud as he could. His decision immediately paid off as the wolves clearly had trouble with the mud.
Unlike his previous fights where he used such tactics it wasn’t the slippery and sticky attributes of the mud that hampered the wolves, they were all clearly experienced in dealing with something like this, it was the soft fluid that hindered them. The wolves could push themselves to the peak of their physical abilities simply because that much power would cause the mud to simply detach and be tossed aside, even ice would make for a better environment as their claws would be enough to give them a stable base.
Using Earth Mana to make footholds for himself Ajax took advantage of the surprise change in environment to land a solid blow straight to the rib cage of one of the wolves. He had been aiming for the head but while the mud stopped it from moving out of the way it had still managed to get its head clear and tank the blow with its chest.
The mud had clearly taken the wolves by surprise but they quickly adapted and made use of the study trees surrounding them, using their trunks and roots as footholds as they launched themselves at Ajax.
Even with [Mana Syphon] pushed to the most his body could safely handle Ajax was still slower than the wolves, in the first few seconds of the fight he had already been bitten three times and scratched once. He was very thankful for his sturdy armor and it stopped the teeth and claws from penetrating but one of his legs was left exposed. The armor had already been damaged by HelSotHein when it bit his leg so the wolves were able to find an opening there.
Not liking the position he was in, Ajax switched up his fighting style to a more magically focused one launching a short burst of Magma towards the wolves. The molten rock was clearly effective as the smell of burnt fur quickly filled the air and whines of pain filled the air but the wolves pushed through it and moved on the offensive.
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While Ajax was confident in beating any one of them individually without too many issues and not worried about being able to run away from two or three of them he had known he was doomed when the pack attacked him all at once.
Despite knowing he was outmatched Ajax was determined to take down as many of the wolves as he could, refusing to give up. The realization that he couldn’t win made Ajax more aggressive, leaving an opening where the wolves bit down on his exposed extremities but in exchange Ajax got his own opening as his axe and hammer had made solid contact with the wolves.
Ajax was draining his Mana and Stamina at an absurd rate and after two minutes he was already down to a quarter of his Mana and half his Stamina. The only reason so much of his Stamina remained was thanks to [Berseker] refilling some of it with every bite and swipe the wolves landed.
Ajax could feel that he was going to run out of steam soon but there was nothing he could do, it took everything he had to keep up with the wolves but with every moment that passed the outcome became more and more clear. He would lose, the question now was how many of the pack he would take with him, as little as five or as many as eight.
Following a large discharge of Lightning Mana Ajax tried for the only way out he saw for this. He went straight for the alpha, taking advantage of the slip caused by the involuntary muscle twitch and the muddy ground Ajax felt his Magma infused axe pulse with power as he landed a clean hit down the left side of the alpha’s face.
The axe had been a gift from House Silvertongue and Ajax could fully appreciate the increase in power that came from the Magma gem built into the weapon through which he channeled [Mana Augmentation].
Sadly the wound was too shallow to kill the beast as Ajax had hoped, the eye was done for and the nasty burning cut the axe left in its wake was sure to leave a scar but it wasn’t what Ajax was going for, he had hoped that by killing the alpha he could scare the rest of the pack away.
“RAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!” A roar of anger and frustration ripped itself free from his throat, he even pushed Vibration Mana into it hoping it might give him a moment before the attacks resumed.
Ajax was then shocked to see the wolves actually keeping their distance. It wasn’t just a moment to get their bearings like they had done when he summoned the mud but rather they seemed to be evaluating something. The decision they came to in the end left Ajax speechless.
“Huh… Huh…” Ajax took some heavy breaths as the pack of wolves backed away. The fight had been one that had pushed him in a way he hadn’t been pushed since he left Gryndor and the closest comparison he had to it was the three assassins who ambushed him inside his duchy.
Much like the fight with the assassins Ajax knew that this wasn’t a fight he could win as he was now, instead of trying to run and draw things out however Ajax pushed to do as much damage to the pack as possible before they ended him.
“They’re not monsters… and they aren’t humanoids…” Ajax took greedy lungfuls of air as he fought to get his breathing under control, as he finally started to push some Light and Life Mana through his body in hopes of stopping the rivers of blood that were flowing from the many bite marks.
Ajax was pleasantly surprised to see that unlike the monsters of the dungeon or humanoids with an axe to grind such high level animals weren’t so willing to fight to the death. Despite his last ditch effort to kill the alpha failing he had clearly done enough damage to intimidate the pack. He had marked himself as not worth the price of killing.
As soon as he was sure the wolves weren’t coming back Ajax pulled out a flask and emptied the potion down his throat. He couldn’t stop the shiver that worked its way through his body at the taste but after a moment he could already feel the warm feeling working its way through his body as his healing sped up.
This was already his third significant fight this week. While he had killed the large owl and sent the running for its life previously the fights were getting more frequent. It was clear that he had left the influence of HelSotHein’s territory completely since his Ascended Aura wasn’t enough to discourage the fights entirely.
As much as he wanted to complain about the consistent encounters Ajax couldn’t help but grin as he was the Experience he gained and the progress his Skills had made. It had been a slow start right after he left Gryndor but it was all picking up now in a real way, this increased leveling speed was another of the main reasons he chose to come to the Wild Lands now and he was glad to see it finally working so well with his Experience boost from his Achievement.