I jumped between the silver wolf and the black ones. The 5 wolves stopped with ears perked up towards me.
[Are you sure you want to try this?]
[That’s not how it works]
“A floating sword? Where did it come from?”
“Is like the Grand Spirit Priest said! Some of the human weapons and armors gained life!”
“But… Is it defending her? A sword, of all things… Maybe Ella wants to tell us something!”
They did not answer. Instead they were talking between themselves.
[They cannot hear you. You don’t have a mouth or vocal cords to speak]
“Hey! That sword doesn’t look like one that Ella would use! This one looks dull and ugly!”
They couldn't hear me answering the insults. Was I really getting discriminated against because of my appearance?! How outrageous!
[Ether from a soul, powerful as hers, most likely has an imprint of her mind and personality, which might have reached these wolves in some way, especially if they evolved with hers]
Didn’t Ella say that she was hearing voices?
“Why are you helping me?” the silver wolf got closer, “this is my fight! If you interfere, I will… ow!”
She tripped. There was blood on her right paw.
One of the black wolves moved forward.
“Heh, the little mutt is not long from this world anyway. If she continues to live, she will be trouble for our clan! Move, sword, or you will be sent back into the Ether with her!”
I prepared for battle, placing my body into a defensive position. One of them, the bigger one, prepared to jump.
It blinked! With its maw it grabbed the hilt of my sword, swung its whole body and threw me into the bushes!
That beast was fast! I got up and returned to combat. Two ice spikes flew towards me. I dodged the first, but the second hit me in the blade!
The force pushed back into the bushes. I got a glimpse of the wolf that casted a spell on me .
Hell, they were faster and stronger than the rest of the monsters I had found so far. None gave me a practical challenge, but these ones had hit me a couple of times before I could answer.
“Stay away! This is a concern of our clan with this wolf! You will be killed if you continue!”
The one that yelled was the first one to push me, and the biggest one.
[HP: 14/19]
I had to think… I still had time to escape. The silver wolf looked at me get thrown and then growled back at her pursuers.
[Running increases chances of escape. Beasts and monsters that mutated in a positive way from Ether are stronger and more dangerous]
Yeah, I could tell. I was down by 5 HP in one attack.
My skill kit was not big, but I had a few utilities. And my inventory only had metals and plants I found around.
While I was coming up with a plan of attack, the silver wolf took advantage of their distraction and lunged at her pursuers, aiming at the spellcaster, but got intercepted by the big one.
He bit her on the side of her body, and she winced in pain.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I took advantage and rushed to cut him. The mage tried to hit me again, and the other two came to attack me.
I dodged by one hair all attacks, thankful my profile was too low, so I moved out of the way.
Then one of them healed the wolf I hurt with a magic spell, they both shone bright green and the cut I inflicted healed!
One of the attack wolves grabbed me by the handle, and began to thrash me around.
The scream came out as a high pitch that made every wolf, even the silver one, wince in pain and lower themselves. The one holding me threw me.
I took air, not wanting to be hit again, and began to shoot fireballs to the healer, who was just recovering from the screech. I burned his fur when each ball hit and he fell unconscious.
“Ah! Our healer!” the spellcaster yelled.
It shot more ice shards at me and I failed to dodge a couple, getting me injured and under 5 HP! I did not feel pain, but my whole being knew I was close to danger.
I fell, and saw how the biggest wolf, who I assumed was a tank/DPS, grabbed the silver wolf and threw her close to me. She was too injured, and bleeding.
As they approached to finish the job, I healed with the metals in my inventory. I spammed the use command on some minerals and attacked when the tank was close.
“The sword is still not down!”
They had no healer anymore, and I spent the last two weeks dragon hoarding every metallic object I found! I began to swing wildly to force them back, away from the silver wolf, which worked and made them take distance.
The mage managed to hit me a couple of times, but I healed fast. I was going through the mineral metals fast, though, as what the System considered a unit barely healed 1 or 2 HP, but I had a good amount.
“Is not going down! It's just a dull weapon!” One yelled.
I got closer to one of the smaller wolves that accompanied the tank, and took much more precise swings at him. He dropped in two swings. Panic began to run through them, the tank jumped at me, but I dodged and hit him in the back of his head with the handle of my sword!
“K-kill that sword!” he ordered.
The second one fell as I took an opportunity attack when it tried to hit me after I avoided the tank. I hit him hard with the strong part of my fuller, sending him to sleep!
I dashed to the caster, who was slowly making me more annoyed each time he hit me with his spells, and did the same, hitting him on the side of his head.
Now only the tank was left.
“C-curse you, stupid sword! Where the hell did you come from?!”
He howled.
I thought he was calling allies, but got surrounded by a red mist that made a circle around his paws. His muscles increased in size, and he was overall bigger. He buffed himself with some skill.
Once again, he blinked, grabbing me before I could dodged and then slammed me hard against the floor.
A splinter escaped my blade, and a crack formed by the ridge on the weak part.
[HP: 04/19]
It almost defeated me in 1 hit! That buff was broken and too OP!
I quickly healed myself, and the crack healed.
“D-damn piece of scrap! How are you still standing?! I will break you with the next bite!”
He rushed towards me, and instead of letting him catch me again by surprise, I swung in the air, predicting where he was going to be!
We exchanged the attacks. I passed by my side, and we were left facing away from each other.
The weak part of my blade flew away from me, he took a whole piece of me in that attack.
[HP: 01/19]
But the wolf.
The wolf bled from his neck, squirting blood, and then fell, dead.
[You got a new title!: TPK!]
[You got a new title!: Boss Monster!]
[You got a new skill!: Bull Strength!]
[You gained a level! 07/10]
[Your stats increased!]
That one was not a Leader type?! I wanted a wolf Vessel!
I used the helmet I found the other day to completely heal myself.
“I told you to leave me… shit, you know what you just did?”
The silver wolf was conscious. When I approached, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, so maybe they didn’t cut that deep, but were still clearly injured.
I shook my sword one side to another, trying to say no. I was just being sincere. Then I aimed at her injury.
“I had worse, just a flesh wound.”
I tapped her on the head with the ridge of my sword, just so she stops acting all though and hard. If it wasn’t for me, she almost died.
“Gggrrrrrr… you are annoying… I guess I awe you big, though. I just wish you didn’t get in the way. Now I am not getting away from this… shit.”
The healer, who was just unconscious, moved. He tried to get up. My [Soul Sensed] caught him up.
“What the hell… happened? Where is every… ah!”
He noticed the state of his team, and seeing him conscious gave me an idea. I flew to him, instantly pushing him back just by hovering in front.
“W-what? What do you want?!”
I pointed at the grey wolf, exactly at her injury.
“You want me to… no! She is a traitor to the King! I cannot use the sacred powers given by the goddess on someone like her!”
The grey wolf growled at the word traitor.
In a single twist, I placed my blade against his neck. Some of his fur got cut.
“Ggggrrrrrr… you cannot threaten my life and expect me to… hey!”
I flew to the spellcaster, who was unconscious, floating on top of him, ready to drop myself at his neck.
“N-no! Okay! You got it! Promise you will let us go afterwards!”
I pointed to the grey wolf.
He really was not happy about it, but he summoned his healing prayers and healed the injuries on the gray wolf, who got up.
“There! Now let us go!”
“I think you are allowed to do so, isn’t he?”
I nodded by singing my sword in the air, up and down.
“Heh…” the caster laughed, “how does it feel to get so low, stupid mutt? Now you owe your life to this piece of scrap, you know what that means.”
The grey wolf ran towards the taunting healer, and pressed her teeth on his neck. He winced, and immediately dropped to the floor, ears back, scared.
“I will know how it feels. That sword just beat the tail of one of the best hunting parties of your stupid king. Now, don’t let me see you again or I will bite the flesh out of your sorry neck if you insult them again!”
The healer wolf did not answer anymore, instead, he winced in fear.
We got away from them, it was time to regroup and solve how to communicate with her. Better if we did it without a potential enemy close to us.