Demon Wolf

I hope Wolf doesn’t mind I shared his contact with the enemy. Jakob bit his lip, still unsure whether he had made the right decision. If things go according to plan, they will commit suicide by attacking him. Even if a sect gathers all its members from a fifty kilometer radius to attack him, they can’t have over three hundred people, and Wolf could have handled such a rabble even during the exam, let alone after private tutoring sessions with the Earth Pavilion’s fiercest elder.

Still feeling guilty, the youth hid in a thick Millennial Kapok’s crown and settled into a meditative position.

For me, the greatest opportunity in Corpsewood is the rich World Energy.

While Jakob misguidedly believed advancing his realm equaled combat strength, Marie received the unfavorable news.

“Sneaky little whore!” she smashed her desk, snapping it with her clenched fist.

“Senior Apprentice Sister Grundhoffer, calm down. It’s not all bad news,” Tina hurried to add. “We have Wolf Hillman’s jade ID.”

Tina left those words hanging in the air. She did not need to elaborate, as Marie’s face shifted from rage to joy. We lack the hostage, but we never needed him in the first place. Even if we had one, there was no guarantee that pretty boy would come save him, but this way we have his contact information.

Aloud, she issued new orders. “Disseminate his jade ID. I want everyone to have it, and at least one person in every group should keep an eye on a jade with his name.”

Is that shrimp worth finding? He has no callingjade for us to track, and all he needs to do is dig a hole under some bush and nobody will find him until Corpsewood closes…

Marie considered several things before shelving the matter of Jakob Silentear. She never wondered why the boy had not removed all contacts from the callingjade he used as bait.

***

Pockets of resistance against the three sects’ prosecution began forming. However, Earth Pavilion and Quickdraw Gate had suffered devastating losses during the first four days in Corpsewood. The lack of coordination, combined with the distrust of callingjades, meant people only met by accident, stumbling into each other. However, once they met, they formed ever-growing groups, which never separated as the paranoid disciples prepared for war.

Unlike those terrified souls, Wolf continued his journey towards the Brilliant Gate’s assembly. He jogged forward with confidence, the only manling who dared do so in the secluded world’s lethal environment.

He remained oblivious of the pit Jakob had dug for him. Even if he had learned of it, he might have commended Jakob’s craftiness. Instead, unknowing as he was, he focused on the path ahead.

I know this world is big and there aren’t all that many people in it, especially after I know over a hundred of them died around me, but isn’t it too empty?

Wolf had three peaceful encounters in which he startled herds of jungle deer, and did not keep track of the forest birds he sent fluttering in his wake. However, those minor disturbances had caught no one’s eye even after six hours of running.

With his vigilance fully dulled, Wolf trotted out of a thorn bush, coming face to face with a three-meter-tall moss-colored giant. The herbivore had thick bristles, branching elk-like antlers, and a long trunk with which it peeled leaves off a branch.

It was about to place its haul into its wide-open maw, when Wolf disturbed its meal. The Wooly Thornhorn retreated a startled step, dropping its morsel. It took a moment to process Wolf’s appearance, the aura of Qi he radiated, and the fact that the intruder was not a predator.

After confirming it could overpower the offender, the Thornhorn trumpeted in rage. However, the intruder remained motionless, challenging its dominance. So, the beast charged. It coated its trunk in Qi, swinging it like a mace, aiming to crush Wolf’s head and torso.

Wolf noted the faint reddish hue with which the proboscis glowed, revealing the monster had entered the late stages of the Blood Saturating realm in which Qi took the color of blood.

Its Qi purity should be somewhere between the sixth and seventh stage of Blood Saturating. In the dilated flow of time, Wolf had the luxury to analyze his opponent, confirm its species, and give a broad evaluation of its power.

He summoned Eviltongue, and, mimicking the Wooly Thornhorn, he coated it in yellowish Qi. Wolf swept the blade, hacking at his enemy. Yellow and red collided, and the yellow screen shattered like glass, exploding into motes of light.

The red aura lessened by mere ten percent, overwhelming Wolf’s in both purity and quantity. However, that slight crack created a weakness in the screen’s structure. The wavy blade struck the sheet, shattering it, before biting into the green-furred trunk.

Wolf’s arm screamed in pain at the recoil, but he clenched his teeth and tightened his muscles, severing the steely flesh.

Blood splattered, and the Thornhorn reared, roaring in pain. It flailed its hoofed feet, bringing them down on Wolf.

Still gritting his teeth, Wolf dodged the thrashing limbs and stabbed Eviltongue into the beast’s massive neck. With a jerk, he severed the creature’s spine and sent a surge of Qi into his legs.

Sprayed with blood, he jumped, fleeing the falling carcass.

That was needlessly dangerous, but it was best to end the battle quickly, before it called for help. Wooly Thornhorns are herd animals, and I have no idea whether this was a lone bull or an adventurous stray.

Unwilling to take the chance, Wolf opened the Monster Beast’s forehead and pried out the nub, then severed its trunk, hind legs and in several rough slashes grabbed as much marbled loins as he could.

From start to finish, the disturbance lasted less than two minutes, and before any other Monster Beast arrived, Wolf rushed away.

I need to find someplace peaceful to bleed and bone this meat. That Honeyeater’s lair was an excellent base, too bad it’s not portable.

How much would a Portable Mansion cost around here? Back home, I never needed one, and they were ridiculously overpriced…

Wolf shook the pain from his hand as he ran. These kinds of rebounds will keep causing problems until I reach the fifth stage of Star Body and reinforce my muscles with the strength of the earth. Maybe I’m doing this the wrong way? Instead of coating my skin with Qi for protection, I could coat my muscles? That would certainly ease a portion of the stress.

Wolf kept advancing towards his goal, and when he had reached the halfway point, he ran into a group of seven Myriad Flowers’ Spring’s disciples.

“What luck,” the frontmost exclaimed as Wolf recognized their insignia.

He scanned their faces and bodies, classifying them in a split second. Two are around Jakob’s age, four somewhat older and the last one is slightly younger than me. All of them have the eyes of murderers, but they lack the baleful aura. They started killing only recently.

He could imagine the youngest ones hurling after their first kills, similar to Anna and Barbara who retched when they first witnessed him cremate bandits. However, based on those cold eyes, even those girls had grown numb to killing.

“Cripple him, but leave him alive,” the leader ordered, and charged. Unlike some overconfident attackers, she had the presence of mind to summon her sword and coat it in Qi.

Textbook movement and an honest attack without feints. She’s someone used to sparring. Probably overwhelms her opponents with power, since she’s refraining from trickery. Maybe she finds it beneath her?

Wolf did not think himself above feints. Even against subpar foes, reinforcing healthy habits was never wasted effort. He summoned Eviltongue and Book, wielding the latter in his off-hand. Tracking his opponent’s incoming backup, he moved to parry with Book. Then, at the last possible moment, he stored the sword into his holdingring.

The unfamiliar move stunned the Myriad Flowers’ Spring’s senior disciple. Wolf ducked under her slash while her brain caught up with reality, and her body lurched out of balance as the purchase it expected and counted on disappeared.

Using the opening, Wolf smashed his palm into her chest. A loud crack echoed as ribs snapped, stabbing themselves into her lungs and heart. The woman’s eyes grew glassy and she flew back, confusing her apprentice sisters.

The closest girl stored her weapon and moved to catch her senior, disregarding the enemy. The lack of battle experience singled her out as the next target. Just as the still warm body landed into her embrace, Eviltongue cleaved her skull, sending the top flying into the bushes. 

The Myriad Flowers’ Spring’s disciples paled in the face of Wolf’s terrifying brutality. By the time they realized they should flee, there were only two survivors.

One screamed, taking the last moment of her life to reveal Wolf’s location before her head soared off her body, her face frozen in the silent scream of horror.

The sole survivor sent waves of Qi into her legs and sprinted the hells away, but before she took the twentieth step, Eviltongue reaped her life.

 

sleepydad88

Random Roll -

Spoiler

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I originally intended for Marie’s flunkeys to capture Jakob, but the boy ended up too capable. Doesn’t change the story that much, Wolf lacks the convenient “captured princess” to save, but he will walk into the “trap” either way.

The number and types of Wolf’s hostile encounters. He had a ten percent chance per hour on account of recklessly advancing. Otherwise, I would’ve given him two percent, like Jakob, who met deer.

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