Demon Wolf

Given this snake’s aberrant eyes and mouth, its asshole shoots javelins or spews fire or something. Wolf’s face twisted, fostering not a whit of humor.

Monster Beasts storming the Hare Tribe’s outpost were perfectly normal. Boars with saber-like tusks, brawny red-maned lions and lightning-quick panthers. But the serpent he observed in the dilated flow of time broke the established norm.

It rushed past him, reeking of moldy dust, while its maw stank of acidic rot. The serpent was thicker than he was tall, and it could swallow him in a gulp, yet it moved faster than most land-bound Monster Beasts he had seen.

Its jaw closed at a snail’s pace, and Wolf used that safe interval to scan its body for anatomical weaknesses. None. Its scales reveal no flaws. I see no scars or old injuries. Nothing I could exploit. This thing is a slithering fortress.

Wolf sent his senses dormant, normalizing his perception of time. The gaping mouth slammed shut, thundering like a crashing avalanche.

The steel-like scales creaked, and in an incredible display of agility, the horned anaconda turned its head to face Wolf; however, he was already running towards its tail.

Snakes can’t pivot that easily. I can try killing it the way I slew that Rockcrusher years ago. His mind raced as he leaped and landed on the harsh, scaly back.

Through his soles, Wolf sensed the metallic hardness of anaconda’s lamina. He did not get to consider the toughness of the monster’s armor before its scales erected. The palm-sized plates stood upright, lifting Wolf’s feet and throwing him off balance.

Rock groaned as Lindworm’s tough hide milled it. The braking serpent showered the desolate surroundings with pebbles and, in a span of ten meters, it stopped, boggling Wolf’s mind.

He toppled over, rough, triangular scales tearing his clothes; luckily, his skin enhanced by body refining was much tougher than animal leathers.

It can brake using its scales? He glanced around, expecting this maneuver had exposed weaknesses in its impregnable defense, but his pupils widened.

It has two layers of scales? No. I should assume it has more. This bloody thing is impervious. I can try Book. That ax didn’t explode, and Book is more durable than barbarian steel. If I reinforce it with Qi, it should slice through.

Wolf straightened himself, summoning his enchanted blade. He fed it a stream of Qi, and Book’s runes lit up. Wolf cleaved diagonally, using a quarter of his power to ensure Book suffered no damage.

The rusty-looking sword slashed greenish-dun scales, sheering them with ease. Then it struck the second layer with a dull clang.

Damn! Wolf’s wrist tinged as Book ricocheted off the fortified surface. Is that the glow of Qi?

He could not believe it. The blind snake circulated Qi to reinforce its carapace. The monster hissed and its body shuddered.

Wolf smirked, glad his conservative strike spared Book an ugly notch. His happiness lasted a moment. Then the Lindworm’s scales closed, clamping his feet.

Fucker. He burned Anima, slowing the world again. Don’t stint. You’re in danger.

Wolf once again saturated Book with Qi, lighting the runes he had personally inscribed years ago. He willed the heavy sword’s mass to move into the blade’s tip to add momentum, and slashed downwards. The second enchantment’s aura formed an immaterial halo of sharpness which made Book peerlessly keen.

An instant before striking, Wolf shifted the sword’s twenty kilos of weight into the point of contact. The blade cleaved the scales like butter, releasing Wolf’s left foot.

Beneath his feet, the hulking form’s millions of muscles continued contracting, and the serpent slowly raised its head. While its maw opened, Wolf slashed to release his other foot. Given the Lindworm’s pose, Wolf knew what was coming.

It’s reinforcing itself with Qi again? His heart quivered when he saw the scales holding his right foot glow. Can I sever them?

Book bit into the reinforced scale. It cleaved into it, but the cut was rougher. The scales clamping his left offered no resistance; it felt like slashing through water. Cutting these strengthened plates was like slashing through a man’s torso with a dull, low-quality blade.

Wolf tightened his relaxed tricep, adding extra force to the blow. Even though it arrived late, the boost allowed him to sever the scale and free his leg.

He bent his legs and jumped off as the wide-open cyclopean muzzle rushed towards his position. He landed on the rocky ground and sprinted towards the head, not because he had a plan, but because inertia forced him.

Behind him, the monstrous snake bit its own bulk with a boom. The head smashed into its massive body, shaking the ground.

Wolf heard bones creak, and his face twisted. Damn! It broke nothing. Snakes have flexible ribs. I’ll have to aim for the skull. But it can’t bite its head. Should I run down and see if it will use its tail for slams? That’s the only way I can set it up to kill itself.

A scraping sound entered Wolf’s ear as the hulking serpent unclamped its mouth, releasing its body.

A chill ran down Wolf’s spine. He sensed someone watching him. This feeling is disgusting. It doesn’t even have eyes, yet I can feel its stare.

Wolf glanced back. The eyeless head glared at him from seven meters up, then once more darted towards him.

Can a snake entangle itself? Probably. But it can probably unknot itself just as easily.

He hopped onto the monster’s back a moment before it smashed its open mouth into the rocks from which he had jumped. The heavy blow stunned the monster as its entire head sank into rock.

If I miss this chance, I might regret it later. Wolf bit his lip, filled with regret, but without hesitation.

A leaf-sized brown sheet appeared in his hand. He winced as he spent a surge of Anima and the talisman disintegrated into glowing specks.

The motes of light drifted together, forming a ghostly visage of Wolf’s former life. Lonely Eagle’s mirage looked at him with disdain as the heavy earthen radiance condensed on his illusory blade. The phantom slashed, executing Sunder the Mountains.

The entire show was beyond perception in the regular flow of time, but the dilation Wolf caused by burning Anima allowed him to see everything clearly. The brown crescent hacked towards the anaconda’s neck three meters below the base of its skull.

The reinforced scales crunched, then burst and scattered. Blood splashed, and the serpent thundered a growl into the earth as Lonely Eagle’s figure faded.

The illusion’s blow was terrifying. It shattered hundreds of scales; it mangled steel-like muscles, bursting them open and revealing bone. Even the vertebra had a deep gash. It missed a chunk, gaping exposed and covered in blood and gore. However, the Lindworm survived.

Fuck your contempt! He was so vain; he pre-programmed that snide look! Inside, Wolf shouted and cursed his former self, panicking because Lindworm endured that attack.

Before, he had believed Lonely Eagle infused some slight conscience into his talismans. The visages looked down on him before annihilating their lowly targets. Wolf knew he used them against inferior enemies and thought he had earned his past life’s scorn.

While Wolf bit his lip, the giant snake thrashed its tail and hissed. Its whole body shook and jerked in an effort to free its head. However, it failed to release its stuck skull from the crater. All its struggle achieved was a massive splatter of blood from the hideous wound and the tearing of already damaged muscles.

No. It’s near death. Wolf watched the serpent expertly mobilize Qi to clot its thigh-thick arteries and shore its failing flesh. The instinctive exquisiteness with which the Monster Beast clogged its wounds would have impressed Wolf, even enlightened him, had he enough time to observe the process.

However, his mind was elsewhere. There! I can kill it if I strike between vertebrae.

Wolf found the weakness he sought. In the mangled mess, he saw cable-thick clusters of nerves protected by the spine.

He inhaled and mobilized his Qi. Book’s blade shone earthen-brown as Wolf pounced into the snake’s gaping wound. He cleaved at the joint, avoiding the bones as he released an avalanche’s force onto the unprotected neurons.

Serpent’s thin coating of Qi shattered; its vertebrae parted, the clusters of orange and blue ropes snapped and the snake’s thrashing died down. The giant body twitched as expiring nerves clung to life, trying against all odds to extend their miserable existence.

The Qi Lindworm used to staunch its bleeding faltered, then winked out. Sprays of dark blood dowsed Wolf, who still stood inside his prey, gripping his sword. He yanked Book free with ease; without Qi reinforcing the bones and tissue, his enchanted weapon easily slashed the monster’s carcass.

I never could’ve killed it without the talisman. Wolf’s heart was heavy as he walked out of geysers of blood painting him dark-red. Back then, the artifact spirit claimed these scrolls can slay anyone weaker than Lonely Eagle. Does that mean this creature was stronger than Lonely Eagle? No way. Its Order can’t be higher than nineteen. To earn the title of a Lonely One, you need to be a twenty-seventh Order Swordsage.

Wolf circled the snake’s carcass, slashing the lifeless behemoth in dozens of places to bleed it properly. This was a mountain of the highest quality meat he had ever seen. It was the perfect meal for someone with hunger-pangs as terrifying as his.

More importantly, this was an alien life-form, something no Seeker Academy textbook described. After thinking for a moment and watching the copious rivers of blood flow out of the cadaver, Wolf decided he had enough time to dissect the corpse for the greater glory of mankind’s knowledge.