Chereads / The Tale of the Night Stalker / Chapter 34 - Chapter Thirty Four: The Trap (3)

Chapter 34 - Chapter Thirty Four: The Trap (3)

Elaine gasped as she threw up a magic barrier, her heart freezing as multiple spines slammed into it, sinking farther in it than she liked. The werewolf roared as an arrow hit it, sinking into its shoulder and adding itself to the others, and the werewolf turned to Midnight, charging as she backed up and knocked another arrow. Just as he was about to reach her, Drake came charging towards the werewolf, slamming into his side and knocking him through the air. Every enemy that she had seen Drake land a direct hit on died quickly, but this beast simply hit the ground and rolled back to his feet, growling as his yellow eyes looked at each of them, like a predator eyeing its prey.

The fight had been going on for a while now, and they were all battered and tired. Jerry had gotten the worst of it, his brother seeming to bare a grudge against him, and he had multiple slashes wounds and spines sticking out of him, lying on the ground and appearing unconscious. Drake and Noelle were also pretty bad; Noelle had gotten slashed across her shoulder and chest, the wounds bleeding as her right breast was visible, a large gash in it as well. Drake had gotten most of his wounds protecting Noelle, and was only alive because of how tough his body was. His wounds covering him in blood, the vampire panting as he grabbed a spine in his thigh and tearing it out, growling in pain and glaring at the werewolf with anger in his eyes.

Midnight had been lucky, getting her arrows in when the beast was distracted with someone else, and she only had a gash across her hip, narrowly avoiding having her body cut in half. Elaine had no gashes or spines, but her left arm would not move, the werewolf catching her by surprise with his speed and shoulder tackling her, Elaine barely able to make a barrier in time, otherwise she would be dead.

The werewolf had gotten it as good as he had given it, his left arm twisted at a unnatural angle, multiple arrows sticking out of him with stab wounds in his chest from Noelle and his tail having been erased by Elaine. She learned quickly that the werewolf was durable and resistant to magic, making it hard to kill him.

The werewolf turned to her, picking his target and roaring, the sound so loud that it made her head vibrate as the beast charged at her, the ground shaking from his size and weight. She concentrated, willing her magic to form, and shot a large beam of mana at the beast. As before, it lifted its arms to block the magic, the spines protruding from its forearms seeming to deflect the spell and protect him, any spines that were knocked off growing back quickly.

Her spell only slowed him down, the werewolf still barreling down at her as she prepared another spell, when a spear flew so fast she could barely see it, the weapon hitting the werewolf in the leg and causing it to cry out in pain as it fell to the ground and skidded, slowly making its way back to its feet. Drake roared again, charging with Noelle and grabbing the beast, Noelle grabbing her spear and attempting to pull it out.

Elaine felt hope, seeing that Drake had finally gotten his hands on the beast, but her hopes were dashed when the Werewolf sprang to life, catching them off guard as it bit down on Drake's shoulder. The vampire cried out as the werewolf lifted him up, swinging its head and slamming Drake into Noelle, the dark elf flying and hitting the ground, growing still. Drake roared, punching the werewolf in the head, a loud cracking sound filling the air as his skull cracked. It was still not enough, and the werewolf beat Drake against the ground a few times, Elaine covering her mouth in horror as Drake's head bounced off the ground, before he tossed the vampire. This was also planned, as Drake was thrown at Midnight, hitting her and knocking both of them to the ground, Drake passing out and Midnight unable to escape out from under the large vampire.

She felt fear grip her heart as the werewolf slowly turned towards her, his left eye crushed from Drake's fist but his right eye staring at her with murder as he slowly approached her. She forced herself to remain calm, focusing and casting a spell on the ground, hoping to get around his spines and attack him from underneath.

She thought she had him, but the werewolf noticed and leapt to the side just as her spell activated, filling the air with mana but missing the beast. He then charged at her, Elaine throwing up a barrier just for the werewolf to slam into it, breaking it and knocking her back with the force of the blow. She hit the ground, her head slamming down and nearly blacking out as pain exploded behind her eyes. She forced herself up on her elbows, watching the werewolf reach her and raise its good arm to finish her, unable to think of a spell that would kill him.

Just as the werewolf was going to attack, Elaine unable to look away as she saw her death approaching, there was a gust of wind, Jack appearing as a blur as he slammed his sword into the werewolf, the blade hitting its large throat and sinking all the way through it, bursting out the other side with a splash of blood. The werewolf froze, its remaining eye unable to see Jack since he was on the left side, and Jack roared, grabbing the estoc with both hands and tearing it out of the beast's throat, ripping its flesh and leaving a large gaping wound as more blood than she had ever seen sprayed into the sky.

The beast, unable to make a sound, simply fell to its knees, turning and taking one last swing at Jack while it still could. Jack simply stepped back, so fast that he appeared to teleport, and the werewolf fell to the ground, gurgling for a few seconds before he finally grew still, finally dying.

She panted, her heart beating so fast she feared it might break out of her chest, as Jack fell to one knee, panting just as hard as she was. She could see that he had a large slash in his face, and he was holding his arm like it pained him to move it, blood dripping out of his armor and hitting the ground to add to the rest. He turned his head to her, looking tired as he spoke.

"Are you...alright?"

She nodded, quickly healing her arm so that she could get around to healing the others, relief washing over her that the beast was dead. She went about, healing most of Drake's wounds as well as Midnight's. Noelle shook her head, saying she wanted the scar to show that she helped kill the beast, and while Jack let her heal his shoulder, he surprised her when he refused to let her heal his face, only saying that he would keep it so he wouldn't forget.

They all stood there, slowly regaining their breath as Noelle placed her right hand on Drake's chest, smirking up at him.

"I admit it, I would have died without you here today, vampire. You didn't hesitate to throw yourself in front of me, and for that I-"

She didn't get to finish, as suddenly an arrow hit her arm. The instant it did, the arrow increased its force and velocity, knocking her off her feet as the ability destroyed her arm, blood flying as what was left of her severed arm spun up in the air.