Chapter 208: The Howling Impulse

The group was ignorant of the Pack’s Extremities and Impulses since they were yet to show any of them. However, they were about to learn about those abilities firsthand...

The wolves did not merely congregate, they began to arrange themselves.

At first, their movements appeared chaotic. One wolf would shift several steps to the left, another would retreat, while two more moved toward the center before separating again.

To an untrained eye, their movements looked almost random but Regaleon continued watching, trying to decipher what they were up to.

And after several moments, the ambiguity began to disappear as the pack began forming a formation...

As usual, the Alpha remained at the rear.

Its imposing build granted it a commanding prominence that made it visible even through the sea of fur separating it from the group. It stood taller than the others, its broad shoulders rising above the surrounding wolves while its crimson eyes calmly surveyed the movements of its pack.

It watched, waited and observed every wolf until they had finally fallen into position. Only then did its gaze shift forward, it’s crimson eyes locking with Regaleon’s serious golden ones.

For a brief moment, neither moved and even the forest seemed to become unnaturally still. Sparks seem to fly between their gazes as it became heated.

Then the Alpha raised its head toward the scarlet heavens. It’s jaws parted and...

"AWOO!!!"

A thunderous howl erupted from its throat...

The sound was deep, resonant, and strangely authoritative, rolling through the forest with enough force to make the surrounding trees tremble.

It was not the savage cry of a beast in pain; instead, it sounded like a command.

The moment the wolves heard their Alpha’s call, they moved as though they had received some form of unambiguous guidance.

Their crimson eyes flared the more, their muscles coiled beneath their thick fur and their bodies lowered.

At first, the group assumed the wolves were preparing to pounce because every creature crouched low, its claws digging into the soil as it adopted the unmistakable posture of a hunting predator preparing to launch itself at its prey.

But then, something unexpected happened. Every wolf simultaneously raised its head toward the fiery wall; their jaws opened and they inhaled...

The sight alone was unnerving.

A dozen pairs of crimson eyes glowed through the darkness while rows of savage fangs became visible behind their parted muzzles. Yet the situation demanded vigilance, not fear.

Then the group noticed something else. The fur around the wolves’ necks began to glow.

A faint crimson radiance seeped through the dense strands, gradually intensifying until the creatures’ throats and upper chests were illuminated from within and puffed up.

Regaleon’s eyes narrowed because he recognized that phenomenon. He had seen it before during the time that feline Anima wanted to activate one of it’s defensive Impulse.

"Guys! Be ready!" His voice immediately cut through the tension. "They are about to activate an Impulse!"

His warning reverberated through the formation. And without hesitation, the group tightened their defensive stance and braced themselves for impact.

The next instant, a shockwave of sound erupted from the pack...

"AWOOOOOOOO!!!"

The wolves howled; not individually but together...

The resulting sound was monstrous.

Unlike the sharp cry of their Alpha, which had seemed more like a commanding summons, the collective howl carried something fundamentally different... Power.

The forest itself seemed to react to the overwhelming pressure produced by the Pack’s collective howl.

Trees swayed violently, their trunks groaning as though caught within an invisible tempest.

Leaves were ripped from their branches and hurled through the air in chaotic spirals while loose twigs, dust, and fragments of bark were swept across the clearing.

The ground itself seemed to tremble beneath the invisible force, as though a high magnitude earthquake was trying to tear through it...

It was almost as though the wolves had summoned a storm made entirely of wind and sound. And perhaps that had been their intention all along.

This is because the instant the howl erupted, the invisible shockwave collided with the fiery wall surrounding the group...

The result was immediate. The flames bent backward causing Vaelorin’s eyes to widened in shock.

As a Rank One Etheryean, the flames he produced were vastly more sustainable than they had been when he was merely an Awakener.

His Essence Rune had undergone a qualitative transformation after his breakthrough, allowing him to channel and maintain far greater quantities of Fiery Aether.

If he managed his reserves properly, he could potentially keep his flames burning for an extended period after a single activation of his Essence Rune.

Therefore, any of his conjured flames were supposed to be powerful, durable, and difficult to extinguish. If anything, even without him acting upon them, his flames could potentially burn for long periods of time without burning out and that is the reason he hadn’t bothered reinforcing the wall after conjuring it.

Yet under the influence of the wolves’ howl, those supposedly enduring flames began to flicker like pathetic candles beneath the breath of an invisible giant.

The fiery wall twisted, shrank... Then surged backward again. It was almost as though an enormous invisible hand was pressing against the flames and steadily strangling the life out of them.

Vaelorin’s expression changed and he immediately understood the severity of the situation.

The fire was not merely being blown away; instead, the sound itself was generating a force capable of disrupting the structure of the flames.

The wolves were weaponizing the air and they were doing it collectively.

Upon realizing that the flames—the only thing currently standing between them and the pack—were being extinguished, Vaelorin did not need to be told twice.

He raised his Staff. Fiery Aether surged through his body and poured into the Essence Rune...

With a roar, he unleashed another torrent of flames toward the advancing shockwave...

The fire surged outward... And for a moment, Vaelorin succeeded.

The flames rose higher, burning with renewed intensity as they pushed back against the invisible pressure.

The fiery barrier stabilized, allowing the group to breath slightly easier. But the Alpha noticed it too.

Its crimson eyes narrowed, then...

"GRR!!!"

A low growl escaped its throat.

The moment the other wolves heard it, they doubled their efforts instantly.

Their throats glowed brighter, their chest tensed and the volume of their collective howl increased.

"AWOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The shockwave intensified...

Vaelorin’s expression became strained as the flames that had moments earlier been standing firm began to bend once more.

The pressure increased... And then something unexpected happened; the stronger howl produced a compounding effect.

The wolves’ voices were not merely adding together, they were reinforcing one another.

Each howl amplified the force produced by the others, creating a feedback loop in which the pressure continued to intensify the longer they maintained it.

Vaelorin gritted his teeth. "Dammit!"

He poured even more Fiery Aether into his Staff. The flames surged but it was no longer enough.

His forehead began to bead with sweat, his arms trembled beneath the strain and despite his efforts, the fire continued to shrink.

Vaelorin now possessed a vast reserve of energy within him as a Flesh Artificer but no matter how much Aether he fed into it, the collective force of the wolves kept overwhelming his efforts.

Then... Suddenly, the flames vanished. With a violent rush, the fiery barrier was extinguished.

For a fraction of a second, silence returned... Until the full force of the howl crashed into the group.

"Brace!" Regaleon’s command came instantly.

The shockwave slammed into them with a tremendous force. It struck their bodies like an invisible battering ram, ripping through their formation and dismantling their defensive cohesion.

Vaelorin staggered backward, Caelestra nearly lost her footing, Kaeloris was forced to plant his feet harder against the ground and Valmyr’s Great Shield was driven backward several inches as he absorbed the brunt of the impact.

Veyrath had to hide behind Valmyr to be able to avoid the force of the shockwave. Even Aureleah’s body was pushed back despite her attempt to lower her center of gravity.

The force wasn’t the only thing they had to worry about because the sound was also deafening, making their ears ring.

Their clothes whipped violently around their bodies while their hair was thrown backward by the gale.

For a moment, it felt as though the entire clearing had been swallowed by a hurricane.

Had they still been ordinary humans, there was no doubt that the full force of that shockwave would have been enough to lift several of them from the ground and send them tumbling helplessly through the clearing.

But they were no longer ordinary humans. Their bodies had been reforged and their physical endurance had been elevated to an entirely different level.

As a matter of fact, they were Etheryeans now and yet... Even with their newfound strength, withstanding the force head-on demanded a substantial expenditure of physical power.

That fact alone was enough to reveal the sheer magnitude of the wolves’ Impulse.

The flames had been extinguished, their formation had been disrupted and the defensive advantage they had so carefully established had been stripped away in a matter of seconds.

Regaleon steadied himself, his golden eyes remaining fixed on the wolves through the storm of dust and leaves.

For the first time since the battle had begun, his expression became noticeably heavier.

The Pack had finally revealed one of their hidden abilities and it was far more dangerous than he had anticipated...