Chapter 112: Snow Wolf Pack strikes.

Tessi tied her hair into a bun. "Okay, bad news," she squeaked, her voice cracking as she twisted her hands to create a surge of crashing energy. "The good news is we found the pack or it found us. The bad news is... I think we’re the buffet."

Gilby frowned at her. "Are you in the habit of sharing obvious facts?"

She huffed, pulling two short swords from the straps on her back. "If bullets won’t work, I suggest we try blades refined with black energy stones. They can cut through anything."

Gilby moved in a circle, cracking his knuckles. "I am pretty sure that black iron, as it is called is reserved for the use of Soul maidens. We low-borns don’t sniff such weapons."

"Easy peasy," Zyra answered, drawing her special knife from her thigh sheath. In her own opinion, it was better than black iron weapons. "System increase by speed and strength by 20%."

[Yes host]

Zyra’s vision blurred for a split second as the speed-boosting ability kicked in, flooding her veins with pure adrenaline. The world around her slowed to a crawl. A snow wolf lunged at her, teeth bared, claws out.

To anyone else, the beast was a blur of white fur and teeth. To Zyra, enhanced by her speed, it looked like it was moving through thick syrup. She dodged to the left, leaving a faint afterimage in the frosty air. As the wolf soared past, she sliced upward, her knife biting deep into its underbelly. She zipped around to its flank, slashing three more times before the beast even hit the ground.

It crashed into a porcelain-white bush, whining as its life ebbed away.

"One down."

"Gilby watch your back!" Hunter roared as he twisted off the head of another wolf. He made it look so easy, as if he was twisting the cap off a bottle. Beside him, Tyrant’s wing sliced another wolf with a terrifying roar.

Another wolf tossed a shard crystal like dagger towards Hunter, but the Tyrant’s iron wings neatly intercepted, the shard pierced a third wolf in the leg. It wailed pitifully, just before Hunter twisted its neck.

"Zyra, stay behind me! Tessi, support!" Hunter shouted.

"I’m trying!" Tessi wailed, dodging a wolf that was aggressively dodging her strikes as if it could predict where she would strike next.

Wind howled, and a blizzard seemed to be on the rise somewhere. "I am good, we need to hurry." Zyra shouted back.

Tessi and her twin echo leopards bounded to her side. Together, the twin leopards let out a synchronized, high-frequency roar. The invisible acoustic blast slammed into an icicle-shooting wolf, instantly shattering the ice shards on its spine into dust and paralyzing its nervous system.

Tessi didn’t waste the opening. Stomping her foot, she channeled her soul energy into the frozen earth. A shockwave of translucent blue energy erupted from her, blasting the paralyzed wolf backward. It slammed into a white sugar cane stalk, its spine breaking instantly. "Six down."

Meanwhile, a seventh wolf saw an opening and lunged directly at Tessi’s blind spot from a high ledge.

"Not today, fleabag!" Gilby yelled. From his beast pocket, his phantom Fox leaped out, instantly splitting into five identical copies that scrambled across the snow. The confused wolf hesitated, snapping wildly at the air as the illusions danced around its face.

BANG!

Gilby’s rifle barked, and a bullet punched straight through the distracted wolf’s eye. It dropped instantly. "See? Who needs big muscles when you have a good eye and a clever fox?"

From the canopy above, Spice coiled tightly around a white branch. Sensing another threat closing in on the group, the snake unhinged its jaws and sprayed a thick, sizzling cloud of toxic poison directly into the face of a stalking wolf. The vapor instantly blinded the beast leaving it shrieking and incapacitated on the ground. Zyra darted forward like a flash of lightning, cleanly driving her knife through its throat.

But the forest wasn’t done with them. The dense canopy parted, and two big beasts stepped out.

"Oh give us a break! Gilby shouted.

They were nearly twice the size of the others, their fur tipped with cream streaks, and the ice shards on their backs looked like serrated broadswords.

"Alphas," Hunter spat, his jaw tightening. "Two of them."

One of the alphas let out a howl that blew the snow off the ground, creating a blinding whiteout. In the chaos, the second alpha bypassed Hunter entirely, its green eyes locked onto Zyra.

"Zyra! Look out!" Gilby screamed.

Zyra lunged backward, her knife pushing her muscles to the absolute limit, but the alpha was incredibly fast. Its big paw swiped downward. The claws missed her chest, but the sheer wind pressure and a stray ice shard caught her shoulder, ripping her fur and sending her flying into a tree. She hit the back of her head on what felt like a concrete block. Blood sputtered from her mouth.

"Ah!" she gasped, the breath knocked out of her as she slumped to the ground, her vision blurring.

Hunter was still fighting with two wolves his attention now divided because Zyra was in danger.

The alpha bounded toward her, jaws wide, ready to crush her skull.

"Get away from the Divine Maiden!" Gilby yelled. Abandoning all tactical sense, he threw his rifle aside, drew a short hunting knife, and threw his body directly between Zyra and the descending beast.

The alpha’s jaws clamped down hard on Gilby’s left shoulder. He screamed in agony, the sound echoing horribly through the forest.

"Gilby!!" Tessi shrieked, tears instantly welling in her eyes.

Despite the blinding pain, Gilby grinned, blood leaking from his mouth. "Hey... ugly... look at me..." He jammed his small knife directly into the wolf’s nose. The alpha roared in frustration, releasing Gilby and tossing him aside like a rag doll. Gilby hit the snow, clutching his mangled, bleeding shoulder, groaning in deep pain.

The beast turned back to finish Zyra, but it had run out of time. The entire pack had just committed the ultimate sin, they had hurt one of Hunter’s people...especially Zyra.

Hunter let out a thunderous cry, he appeared above the alpha like an angry god of war, his eyes glowing with bluish fury. Beside him, Tyrant roared in perfect synchronization, its iron wings creating a whirlwind of razor-sharp wind.

"You dare touch my wife?!" Hunter bellowed.

He descended, planting both knees directly into the alpha’s back, shattering the beast’s crystalline shards into dozens of pieces. Before the alpha could even howl, Hunter reached down, grabbed its throat, and with a brutal, twisting heave, ripped the beast’s head completely off its shoulders.