As a result of using the skills [God's Touch] and [Devil's Touch] without proper mana control, Mich's 500 mana drained away in an instant and he quickly fell unconscious, as much as a pebble could, and the rainbow glow that was shining, dimmed down as well, only leaving a slight resplendent hue.
Now, as Mich was asleep being carried in the mouth of a giant magic wolf, said Wolf was walking towards it's packs' mountain cave in order to lick its wounds and plan its attack on the group of Metal Lynx nearby. It had killed the two scouting Lynx that had tracked it down but there were 4 more who killed its kin, and it doesn't know if it can pull off an attack of the same power as before. So, the still wounded, but not bleeding, Ember Wolf silently crept through the jungle on its was back to its home, avoiding any other magical beasts and trying to leave as little tracks as possible.
'Must get back before nightfall, too many strong beasts around then' it thought, quickening its pace a bit.
— — —
With the sky beginning to darken, the wolf and stone finally made it back to the wolf's home after a short journey. The cave, located
at the top of a mountain with a shattered mountaintop near a village, seemed to have been cut out of the mountain with countless claw marks, except now, there were multiple giant boulders, far too big and heavy for the wolf to move, blocking the entrance.
'Damn' the wolf grumbled. First it's pack gets ambushed on a hunt, and now it's ancestral home is taken away. 'If I ever find who did this, I'll make sure I'm the last thing they see!' The wolf inwardly growled, unbeknownst to the fact it was carrying the very pebble responsible, but it couldn't know that.
And so, the wolf tired of stressful day full of bloodshed, lay down near the entrance to its home, surrounded by flora and fauna, to take a rest. It knew it might have to search for a new home at night so it wanted to regain any lost stamina and let its wounds heal a bit before setting off. Nighttime in the desert was dangerous, more so than daytime and especially in an oasis, so the wolf didn't sleep heavily, just enough to still have its instincts aware of the surroundings.
— — —
At this same time, a hunting party, consisting of Dwarfs and golems of various types, was ascending the same mountain, looking to investigate what happened to its top.
"I'm telling you Vigrun, it was some great magical beast, it must've been, nothing else could've caused that much damage to the mountain" a voice said, coming from near a Sand type Golem.
"Don't. Believe. It. One. Bit. Who. Told. You. That?" Replied the Sand Golem, Vigrun, each word sounding like sandpaper and coming out as fast as a boulder can run. The golem looked like, well, like it was made of pure sand in the shape a large man, with pits in the sand where the eyes should be and the sand of the outside of his body shifting around like blood in veins, never having a solid shape.
"Webber did," said a voice coming from a shadow nearby, sounding eager, "he said that the force needed to that much damage had to of been some reckless magical beast, either that or one of the heroes causing trouble again, I swear, they never seem to do any good, just more problems-"
The voice sounded like it would keep taking forever, until Vigrun cut them off.
"Probably. Hero. Even. Magical. Beasts. Respect. Mountain...Still, Can't. Trust. Everything. Webber. Says. Damn. Daemon. Always. Gossips."
"HAHAha, don't let Webber hear you say that or he'll increase his prices again, last time that happened some of us in the village had to borrow money for magic crystals.", chuckled a stout man, a Dwarf, nearby before wincing at the memory, he was one of the unlucky few who had to borrow money. "But I agree, knowing those 'heroes' they probably did it thinking they'd find treasure again, I swear, happens one time and now all of them want to try their luck on our mountains."
"Haha, yes Morden I think you might be right, but I'm certain I can win Webber over with my winning personality and charm, maybe get him to lower those prices while I'm at it" said the voice in the shadow, grinning even though no one could see it.
"Billy. Don't. Even. Try. It." Grumbled Vigrun, body swirling as if in displeasure.
"Haha" was all the response he got.
With the conclusion of the three's conversation silence plagued the hunting party. Made up of Dwarfs and Golems, 10 residents of the nearby village went up to investigate what happened to the mountain this afternoon. Even though they didn't expect much, they still felt obligated to check on the mountain that's overlooked their village for generations, they were still vigilant during the trek to the top, it got dangerous at night and no one wanted to be ambushed by a Black Tiger. Not the most powerful, but by far the most ferocious and violent, making it a magical beast no one wanted to cross.
The hunting party neared the top of the mountain in almost complete and utter silence, barring a few brach snaps and ragged breaths.
— — —
The wolf's ears twitched slightly, it could hear something but wasn't sure. It opened its eyes onto the darkness of the forest around it and stared at the edges of the clearing with red eyes.
Nothing.
It couldn't 'see' anything but it's instincts told it something was there and they've never told a lie yet. The wolf stood up quietly, being careful not to alert whatever was out there, and tried focusing again on each little sound emerging from the dark forest.
*snip* *snap*
*crick* *crack*
*huuuuuuuuugh*
Something was out there and the wolf wasn't going to take any chances!
The wolf stood stock still for a moment before bolting off to a side of the clearing like an arrow let loose.
As soon as the wolf moved so did what was hiding. Out from the darkness of the forest came an assortment of people. Almost completely surrounding the wolf and preparing themselves for it's attack. The hunting party had arrived!
The wolf, contrary to the expectations of the group, turned tail and ran instead to the gap in the encirclement, causing the group to pause for a split second before one Dwarf shouted "It must be wounded!"
This set the other members to jump into action, casting their own spells and skills, a cornered wolf may be more fierce but it can't keep fighting forever.
"[Shadow Bind]!" called Billy from the shadows.
Following his skill, the shadows that made up Billy's body thrashed out and jumped to the wolf's shadow, making it's own shadow rise from the ground and latch onto it like strips of living darkness. The wolf growled and snarled, starting to gather some of its own mana to fight.
"""[Flash]!"""
Several people called out, making floating white lights appear around the wolf, exploding in a harmless but extremely bright light, blinding the wolf for a while. It whimpered, losing focus of its mana, dissipating what it was gathering.
"Quick! Before it recovers, chain it and knock it unconscious!" Ordered Morden, reaching behind his waist and pulling out some chains, he'd made some with his magic before they surrounded the wolf. Several others did the same, before moving towards the still-bound wolf, still growling furiously, and securing it's muzzle, legs and body with iron chains.
As the last chain was put on, Billy's spell wore off and the wolf tried to thrash at the Dwarfs and Golems closest. Earning itself a [Wipe out] spell in-turn, shocking its body with small, grey lightning that caused the wolf's hair to stand on end and for it to collapse, ceasing movement.
The hunting party gave cheers, only small ones though as they didn't want to attract any curious magical beasts.
"Okay guys, lets get this dog back to the village, we didn't find what broke the mountain but this should earn us a few silvers from Webber. Cyrin and Birsch, would you do the honours?" Morden said before Turing towards two Golems in the back.
Cyrin and Birsch were two identical looking golems who were both 6'5", looking to be made of dirt, branches, rocks and roots, with a large piece of wood making up the majority of their torso.
"Okay Boss!" the two golems whispered, not loud but with the force of nature, and walked towards the unconscious wolf and picking it up.
"Okay then, let's go" said Morden before starting the walk back to the village through the desert oasis, on high alert in case of any surprises.