Chapter 5 - Encounter

Chapter 5: Chapter 5 - Encounter


The Core was different. The trees were wider, the paths narrower, the air thicker. Roots clawed through the soil, and the near-opaque canopy above only let the sunlight drip down in fractured shafts that were few and far between.


Even Gerard, who had marched like a mountain on legs, slowed his pace. Arthur’s bow was already in his hands, an arrow nocked loosely against the string, as his head swiveled constantly, searching. Freya did not speak, but her hands rested on the handles of her swords, ready to draw them at the slightest hint of danger.


I kept walking.


At first I thought it was just quiet. But the deeper we went, the more wrong it became. No bird calls. No rustling leaves. Just the crunch of boots on dirt and the faint clink of armor.


Freya muttered without looking back, "Stay sharp now."


Gerard grunted, shifting his axe from his shoulder into both hands. "It always feels like the whole damn forest’s watching."


Arthur didn’t reply, but his eyes narrowed, sharp as the arrowhead he held ready.


I studied their faces. Freya’s jaw set in concentration, Gerard’s grin gone at last, Arthur’s silence turned brittle. They knew something I didn’t. My body healed from wounds. But what did I know of surviving a place like this?


I scanned the trees again. Shapes and shadows layered together, branches bending at odd angles. My eyes wanted to find threats where there were none. My chest tightened. What were we looking for?


The answer came with a sound.


A low growl rolled through the air, deep enough that I felt it in my ribs. Not close, not far. Just there, to our front.


Gerard cursed. Arthur lifted his bow in a smooth motion. Freya’s sabers whispered free from their sheaths.


Then it stepped out from the underbrush.


A wolf, as tall as a man. Grey fur bristled like iron needles, and its eyes glowed yellow with undisguised hunger. When it opened its mouth, teeth gleamed jagged and wet. Each breath fogged the air as it moved forward with perfect silence.


My chest tightened further. Not like the three-eyed badgers. Not like any animal I had seen. This was something else entirely.


Freya had said the word first.


Beast.


Arthur was currently the closest to it. While he backed away to re-join the group slowly, he held up a hand, muttering a string of words under his breath that I couldn’t understand. And then, from his palm, came a soft, white glow.


Freya asked, "What are we looking at here?"


"Tremor-Class."


Gerard spat on the ground, his grip tightening around his great-axe. "This’ll be quick then."


The burly man exploded forwards, leaping over Arthur and Freya as he slammed straight into the wolf’s side with force enough to crack a boulder, but the beast only took a half-a-step back, barely fazed.


They are strong. Very strong.


By this point, Arthur had retreated to the back of the group and climbed up one of the trees. His arrows streaked through the air, whizzing over us and sinking into the beast’s flank. But it barely slowed. Gerard had switched positions from the beasts right to its left with speed I didn’t expect, and evidently, neither had the beast.


The man stomped into the ground, planting himself like a wall as he swung his massive axe straight into the wolf’s right shoulder, nearly severing the limb completely. But the force of this second attack was enough to shove it off balance, and that

was when Freya moved.


Faster than my eyes could register, she flew into the gaps in a flurry of metal, carving deep gashes of red across its grey fur. The group moved as though they had fought together for years. Arthur’s arrows forced the wolf to shift, driving it straight into the heavy arcs of Gerard’s axe, with Freya slipping into every opening and turning small wounds into great ones.


I should have stayed back. Watched. Learned.


But something inside me pushed forward. The wolf was bleeding. Hurting. And I—


I wanted to test it, and myself.


Before I knew it, my legs carried me forward. I rushed in between Gerard’s swing and Freya’s next strike, driving my body toward the wolf like I had done countless times before against walls, cars, concrete. A test like any other.


But the wolf’s paw moved far faster than my estimations. Claws raked across my chest, then slammed into me with force enough to shatter every bone in my torso. The world spun. I hit one tree, then another, then crashed through a third before stopping in the dirt.


I heard Arthur’s muffled voice somewhere above me in the trees, "What the fuck? Is he suicidal?"


I couldn’t breathe. My chest caved, my vision blurred.


[Your Chest has been sliced by a Lesser Gorge-wolf: x3]


[21 of 24 ribs have been broken by a Lesser Gorge-wolf]


[Your Lungs have collapsed]


[Your Heart has been impaled by your ribs.]


[18 of 26 vertebrae have been shattered by a tree. ]


...


Then my regeneration kicked in.


[Host’s [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly : x3]


[Host’s [Slash Resistance] has increased greatly : x3]


[Host’s [Pierce Resistance] has increased greatly]


[The Skill [Slash Resistance III] has been upgraded to [Slash Resistance IV] ]


Bones snapped back, ribs pulled together, skin knitting with unnatural speed. The pain flared bright, then dulled. Breath returned.


I coughed blood, rolled to my side, and --- laughed, unwittingly.


The forest went quiet.


The others had stopped, turning back to look at my mangled body lying at the end of a trail of destruction. Shock carved across their faces as they watched me regenerate. Gerard’s axe hung limp for a moment. Arthur’s eyes widened. Even Freya hesitated, blades slack at her sides as she studied me.


Then Gerard barked a laugh. "Hells, boy! You should have said you were a Gifted! And quite a powerful one!"


Arthur dropped down from the tree right next to me, his mouth a thin line, "Well that explains how you survived whatever happened in the cliffs without so much as a scratch."


But Freya had already refocused on the wolf that was quickly regaining its bearings.