Chapter 218: Werefangs

Far from West Town Saints Academy, another group of students was already fighting for their survival.

The Saintfall Expanse was enormous.

Unlike the controlled environments used in some of New Liberty’s other cities, Saintfall was an ancient wilderness that stretched for hundreds of kilometers. Jagged mountains divided its regions, enormous forests covered the valleys, and countless monsters inhabited its depths.

The City AF Qualifiers had turned the entire Expanse into a battlefield, and somewhere deep within its eastern sector...

BOOOOOOM!

A massive claw slammed into the ground, and a young woman barely avoided it. She rolled across the dirt before immediately rising.

"Again!"

A monstrous howl answered her as something emerged from the trees. It stood on two legs, nearly three meters tall.

Its body was covered in thick gray-black fur, while its arms were unnaturally long. Its hands ended in enormous claws, and its wolf-like head revealed rows of sharp teeth. A pair of yellow eyes glowed through the darkness.

Then another emerged. And another. Then five more. It was a pack. The students surrounding them immediately became tense.

"How many?!"

"Eight!"

"Nine!"

"There’s more behind them!"

A boy wearing silver-and-green combat armor raised his sword.

"Formation!"

The students moved instantly.

They belonged to Sun’s Peak Academy, one of City AF’s strongest academies.

Their uniforms were predominantly silver, with deep green markings running across the shoulders and chest. The crest of a rising sun surrounded by a mountain peak was displayed prominently over their hearts.

At the center stood their captain, Graham McGregor, an eighteen-year-old with short black hair and sharp gray eyes. He held a massive greatsword in both hands.

His expression remained calm despite the monsters surrounding them.

"Don’t panic."

One of his teammates swallowed.

"Those things are Werewolves."

Graham glanced toward the nearest creature.

"No." His eyes narrowed. "They’re not."

The monster suddenly crouched.

BOOM!

It launched itself forward, but Graham raised his sword to intercept its attack.

CLANG!

The claws collided with his blade, and the force pushed him backward several meters, his boots carving two trenches into the soil.

Graham gritted his teeth.

"Whatever they are..." He pushed back. "...they’re strong."

A girl behind him raised both hands.

"Then let’s test them!"

A massive golden magic circle appeared beneath her feet.

"Solar Lance!"

FWOOSH!

A spear of concentrated light shot forward and pierced one of the creatures through the shoulder. The monster howled and stumbled backward, but another immediately leaped over it.

"Incoming!"

A student stepped forward, and his body suddenly transformed. Stone covered his arms and torso as he punched the creature in the chest.

BOOOOOOM!

The werewolf-like monster flew backward.

"Got one!"

"Don’t celebrate yet!"

Another monster came from the side, slashing ferociously at him. Its claws tore through the student’s stone armor, throwing him across the ground.

"Marcus!"

The girl with the magic circle turned.

"He’s hurt!"

Graham’s eyes sharpened.

"Keep fighting!"

He suddenly disappeared. Graham crossed the distance in an instant and swung his greatsword upward.

The monster’s entire body was lifted from the ground. It flew several meters before crashing through a tree, but Graham didn’t stop.

He pursued.

The monster recovered quickly, and its wounds were already beginning to close. Graham’s expression changed.

"Regeneration..."

The creature roared. Then its body suddenly became larger. Its muscles expanded, while its claws lengthened. The students stared.

"Did it just evolve?"

Graham tightened his grip.

"Everyone..."

The remaining creatures began doing the same. Their bones cracked, their spines shifted, and their bodies grew. The entire forest filled with the sounds of transforming monsters.

Graham slowly raised his sword.

"These... these aren’t ordinary monsters."

The creatures lowered themselves, nine pairs of golden eyes staring at Sun’s Peak.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

The entire pack charged.

"FIGHT!"

The students surged forward. Fire collided with claws, lightning illuminated the trees, earth erupted from the ground, and steel tore through fur.

The battlefield became chaos.

One student was grabbed and thrown into a tree. Another ducked beneath a claw before driving a spear into a monster’s abdomen.

The golden-haired girl, by name Amira, fired another Solar Lance. Graham fought at the center, his greatsword cutting through everything that came within reach.

But there was something strange about the monsters.

They weren’t fighting randomly. They were coordinating. One attacked from the front, another circled around, and a third waited until someone was distracted before striking.

Graham blocked a claw, the force of the attack pushing him a few meters back. His eyes glowed with a deep silver light, causing the surrounding space to twist, only for him to halt in his tracks. His eyes widened.

"They’re hunting us."

The monster grinned, and it was not like an animal, but like a human. Graham’s expression became grim.

"Everyone..." He slowly raised his sword, space twisting around it, giving it a silvery-milky glow. "These things are intelligent."

From somewhere deeper inside the Saintfall Expanse came another howl, causing the monsters to stop. Every single one looked toward the same direction.

Graham’s pupils contracted.

"What..."

The pack suddenly abandoned the students. They turned toward the forest and ran. The Sun’s Peak students stood there, confused.

One lowered her weapon. "Are they retreating?"

Graham didn’t answer. He was staring into the darkness. Something had called them, something stronger, and judging from the way the monsters had immediately obeyed...

It wasn’t a monster calling them. It was their leader.

***

Far away, beyond the eastern mountains, another howl echoed across the Saintfall Expanse.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

Every observation drone in the vicinity briefly lost its signal. Then the screens came back online. But by then, the pack had disappeared.

Graham slowly lowered his sword.

"Everyone..." The students looked toward him. "Don’t chase them."

"Why?"

He stared into the forest.

"Because whatever they’re running toward..." He tightened his grip. "...is probably something we don’t want to meet yet."

***

Far from the battle between the academy students, deep within the Saintfall Expanse, the forest grew unnaturally quiet.

A massive howl echoed through the trees.

AOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Werefangs immediately stopped moving. Every member of the pack lowered its head. Something was approaching.

The ground trembled beneath heavy footsteps. Then, between the trees, a massive figure emerged.

It stood nearly four meters tall, its body covered in dark-gray fur, with enormous claws extending from its hands. Unlike the other Werefangs, its eyes burned with a deep crimson glow, and several old scars crossed its chest.

A jagged black horn protruded from the center of its forehead.

The other Werefangs immediately knelt. The creature looked toward the distant sounds of battle. Its nostrils flared.

It could smell humans, dozens of them. The creature slowly grinned, revealing rows of enormous fangs.

"Humans..."

Its voice was deep enough to shake the surrounding branches. Then it raised its head.

"Kill."

The Werefangs roared.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

And the entire pack surged toward the academy’s position.