The Spark Wolves growled as they circled the trio. Small bolts of electricity started coming out of the fur of one of the wolves.
It pounced at Justin like lightning, literally. Its whole body turned into a streak of lightning.
But before it could sink its teeth into Justin, the wolf's vision was filled with a red armored fist.
His fist came in contact with its face, shattered its snout and skull, and sent the wolf crashing against a tree where it slid off and lay motionless on the ground. Its snout looking like a deflated balloon.
"Hey hey, guys. Don't be so hasty. Let the three of us prepare.", Justin said and looked at the wolves as he flexed his fingers.
{Beast Code: Lycan Claws}
His fingers became bluish with razor-sharp claws. The gauntlets help Justin to control the magia flow and increase his attacks. He jumped forward, grabbed a wolf by its snout, and slammed it to the ground so hard that it cracked.
The rest of the pack snapped out of their confusion and howled as they attacked. Two came for Arthur.
He exhaled, "Night style third form: horizontal wave", he slashed at the legs of the wolves, slicing them clean off. He turned around and decapitated them with a single slash.
The ones who wield weapons in this world have their own styles and forms and can name them after themselves, their families, or their weapons.
Being an 'incompetent', Arthur honed his sword skills and created the Night style which he named after his family.
Even though the coats of Spark wolves are extremely tough and a normal sword will be deflected away or shatter, Arthur channeled magia in his sword and made the blade really sharp and strong. This enabled him to penetrate the thick coats.
He turned around and found another wolf rushing towards him in lightning form. He raised his sword but before the wolf could come any closer, it got entangled in long, thick vines.
{Plant Code: strangling vines}, Stella's magia orb is glowing green, and green magia particles are floating around her. She flicked her hand up and the vines threw the Spark wolf up in the air.
"Arthur, now!", she yelled.
Arthur jumped on the thick vines and launched himself at the sky towards the airborne wolf. He slashed upward and cut it in half.
The two halves of the wolf fell on another one on the ground, knocking it out. He landed and was about to thank Stella when he spotted a Spark wolf jump from behind her.
He wouldn't be able to reach her in time. He yelled, "Behind you!", and threw his sword at the wolf.
The sword impaled it in the eye and it fell back with a cry. Stella, her hair whipping, turned around and clenched her fist, {Plant Code: Thorny Embrace}.
Long and thick vines erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the wolf. The wolf growled and thrashed in its bindings. Suddenly long spikes shot out of the vines and with a welp it died.
Stella retrieved the sword from the wolf and tossed it to Arthur. He looked at the dead wolf among the thorns, "That has to be the deadliest hug ever.", he remarked.
"Want one?", Stella asked with a smile. "No thank you.", Arthur shuddered. That girl is scary. Better not annoy her in the future unless he wants a painful hug.
He looked over and saw Justin running around, slashing and pummeling the wolves. One leaped behind him, and he dodged and grabbed the wolf.
He then introduced the wolf to his knee. It wasn't a pretty meeting. Sometimes his cousin can be barbaric.
They have brought down almost twenty wolves. It was a massacre. 'These wolves aren't putting up much of a fight. If these guys were this weak then why attack us in the first place?', he thought when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He whipped around and scanned the surrounding area. There! Among the trees, his keen eyes spotted five Spark wolves streaming their magia into a huge ball of lightning.
"Oh shit. That's an electro ball.", Arthur said as the wolves launched their attack.
"Incoming!", Arthur yelled as the electro ball vaporized tree trunks and came towards them. Getting hit by that won't be pretty and they'll not be able to evade on time.
Just as the electro ball struck them, the ground around Arthur rose and encased him in a shell of earth. There was a thunderous boom and the whole forest shook. After that, there was total silence.
The earthen dome around Arthur crumbled and he stood up to see the entire place burned and sparking. He saw two similar earth shells crumbling revealing Justin and Stella. A bigger shell crumbled revealing the carriage. George had his magia orb out.
{Earth Code: Dome of protection}
"Are you okay young masters?", he asked. "Nice save George!", Justin said as he brushed some loose soil off his shirt. "Honestly, we would have been knocked out by that attack."
"I can't keep up with you young ones and your fancy attacks. But I can support you.", George clenched his hand, {Earth Code: Stone Fist}, a giant fist made of rock erupted from the ground where the five wolves were and squashed them.
"That is some nasty jam", Arthur noted.
It was over in a few minutes. The remaining Spark wolves fled into the forest. Arthur sat down on the ground. George passed him some water, "Thanks George.", he said as he drank.
Justin sat next to him, "That's a nice blade.", he said looking at Arthur's sword. "My brother got it for me.", Arthur replied.
Arthur's brother, Allistair is the vice-captain of the 24th squad and always travels across Arken. On Arthur's eighteenth birthday, he gifted the purple-tinged sword to Arthur.
"Allistair said the sword is called Ghost. Probably because of how silent and swift it is when I use it. He said it can channel magia really well and can even channel an attribute in it. So if I had the fire attribute, I'll have a sweet flame sword."
"Unfortunately, I don't have an attribute.", Arthur sighed.
"Anyway. Who got the most wolves?", Justin asked to make Arthur snap out of his gloominess, "You got 12, I got 4, Arthur got 3 and Mr. George got 5.", Stella replied immediately.
"Looks like somebody is walking home.", Justin grinned. Arthur sighed, "Fine. I'll walk.", he got up. "Young master. Will you be alright?", George asked in a worried tone.
"Of course George. This guy is going to become a Cardinal Knight. He can handle walking on his own two legs.", Justin said cheerfully.
"One day I will end you.", Arthur muttered as he sheathed Ghost when suddenly a blood-chilling howl shook the forest.
Justin sprang up, "It's the Alpha.", he looked around. "We should escape young masters.", George said urgently. "It'll outrun us. We wouldn't make it.", Arthur said as he drew out his sword. "We will have to fight it."
They could hear the woods crashing around them. The howls were getting louder and closer. The ground is shaking as trees fell. They got ready to intercept the beast.
Suddenly the crashing stopped and it became really quiet. The only sounds were of their breathing. They stood back to back, scanning the forest, expecting an attack from any direction.
Suddenly Stella yelled, "Above us!', they all looked up and saw a giant form silhouetted against the sun.
It was the Alpha wolf. And it's headed straight for them with bared fangs and a murderous look.