by Shane Stern 23rd March 2019, 4:10 am
Shane squared off against the lead alpha of the pack, a male adult werewolf who stood two heads taller than him. It’s body was huge, almost as thickly built as a full-grown grizzly bear with two large muscular arms by the side. The alpha’s lips were pulled back, revealing long canines, gray with specks of red among it. No doubt those were blood. Shane and the alpha were circling each other, the alpha walking on its hind legs while its arms were wide open, prepared for a lunge or to defend. The other adult werewolf, slightly smaller in size but still standing taller than Shane was circling them in a larger ring.
It staying out of the battle was a sign of respect for the larger werewolf, only to jump in things take a turn for the worse. That actually helped Shane a great deal, having only to deal with one at a time. If the two of them attacked at the same time, the silver-haired mage wasn’t entirely sure if he would be able to survive the scuffle. While his eyes were on the larger werewolf before him, he was also watching the other one from the side of his eyes.
And as quick as lightning, the silver-haired mage acted. As natural as breathing, Shane wrapped his arms with a swirling current of wind and charged forward. His body was bent low as he dashed forward, the swirling wind around his arm suddenly moving all over in a chaotic fashion. The silver-haired mage entered within striking range of his spell and swung his outstretched arms across his chest, and then dashed pass the werewolf, stopping a few steps behind him before quickly turning around and preparing another spell.
The moment Shane had swung his arms earlier, the alpha werewolf had been caught in a sudden onslaught of slashes caused by the chaotic discharge of slicing wind blades. The werewolf had let out of yelp of surprise and pain, pink lines drawn across its body from the spell. And that was it. Shane’s eyes almost bulged out of its sockets when he saw the amount of damage that the werewolf had taken. The werewolf turned around with astounding speed, using the inertia of its spin to launch itself forward. Flames burst through every part of its body as it bounded forward, swiping forward with its large flaming claws at Shane.
Without wasting any time, Shane cast his protective spell, the same one he had used on Rinni earlier.
“Guardian Ward!” Shane growled in the nick of time, the first sphere to appear intercepting the werewolf’s swipe and pushing him off balance to one side. Shane took the opening as it presented itself, leaping up into the air with a flip and dropping back down with an axe kick, his feet covered in a sheath of wind to increase the blunt force of the simple kick. The moment his kick connected, crushing into the larger werewolf’s back, Shane was simultaneously snatched out of the air as well. He was thrown backwards into a large tree, slamming into it before sliding to the ground.
It had been the other adult werewolf. It had leaped at him the moment the larger one had fallen, slow enough for Shane to pull off the Mountain Breaker but fast enough to prevent Shane from following up with another attack. However, the attack had used up the second sphere from the Guardian Ward spell. The spell had activated autonomously, expanding itself into a thin shield of wind the moment the second werewolf had attacked with magic. Nature magic. Three tree branches had been extended from the surrounding trees, thick branches from old trees, and had been magically controlled to whip in Shane’s direction, crashing into the Guardian Ward’s wind shield and throwing Shane away.
“This just gets better,” Shane murmured beneath his breath. Shane took in a deep breath and calmed himself down as he looked at the larger werewolf, who was still lying on the ground. There was a large dent in its back, from the Mountain Breaker spell, and Shane was quite sure that the spell had carried out its namesake. The werewolf’s spine was completely broken where the silver-haired mage’s kick had landed. The younger adult werewolf was furious, eyes bloodshot as it approached the larger one. The larger one could only whimper and bark, unable to move any further.
Shane stood back up and was about to launch his attack on the second werewolf anew when a scream from the top of the rock formation. The silver-haired mage’s head instantly looked upwards, and with his enhanced sight, saw Rinni’s precarious predicament.
“Rinni!” Shane said with a gasp. Without hesitation, Shane immediately ran in the direction of the rock formation, the younger adult werewolf standing between him and his destination. With his red eye glowing in the dark forest, the figure of Shane rushing towards the werewolf was enough to unnerve the beast for a few seconds, as the mage kicked off the ground and vaulted at the werewolf, his right knee brought forward and poised for one of his favourite spells.
“Lotus Flight!” the silver-haired mage called out as he collided with the werewolf, his entire body cloaked in wind, adding more force to his flying knee strike than he could muster. Shane’s right knee pushed fiercely into the werewolf’s right chest, multiple cracking sounds audible only to the two of them amidst the cacophony of wolf howls and barks from the one-sided fight on the top of the rock formation.
The werewolf dropped to the ground from the blow, with Shane barely even breaking his stride, stepping on the werewolf with his right foot and climbing up the rock formation with abandon. With the assistance of a sudden burst of wind behind him, Shane shot up the rock formation, six spiralling arrows of wind curling around his left arm. The moment he cleared the edge of the cliff where Rinni was pinned down by the werewolf, Shane swung his left hand forward and released the six arrows point blank at the werewolf, six consecutive blasts of wind pummelling into the werewolf’s head, chest and shoulders and throwing it back a good twenty feet away.
“Rinni! Are you okay?!” Shane called out as he kneeled beside the girl, helping her up. Without waiting for a response, the silver-haired mage carried her up in his arms and brought her to rest by a large rock. He then took Breaker from behind him and placed it in her grip.
“Timber’s in trouble, so I need to get to him. You’ve seen me use Breaker. Just pour your magic into it and it will respond to your will,” Shane explained as he rushed off towards Timber. He passed by the werewolf that he had blasted away on the way towards Timber and without remorse, stamped his right foot down on the fallen werewolf’s head, crushing its skull with a dreadful crack before continuing on his way.
[1169 words]
[Total WC: 7687]