The Red-fang Slaughter Wolf, based on the informative texts that Craig had read, was a hybrid wolf that had undergone an evolution process and gained control over some mysterious power, that gave it advanced strength, speed and some minor magical prowess. The four red fangs at the upper and lower corners of its jaw was capable of draining one's magical energy and life energy.
In other words, it could be said to have the bite of death. Who would want such a love bite?
The most threatening thing about the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf was that whenever it got Injured, it would lose its rationality and go on a rampage of slaughter, until it was killed or otherwise incapacitated.
"I've never seen a wolf like this before." Maeli said as she raised her two daggers. Both of her hands instinctively trembled slightly. Maybe it was due to the wolf's gaze that had shifted onto her or her innate perceptive instinct of danger as an elf. Whatever the case was, she felt a deep sense of danger from the wolf and couldn't help but back away slowly.
"Stop moving." Craig said through his teeth, trying not to speak too loudly.
"Grrr." As Craig spoke, the wolf's growl grew even more aggressive as it shifted its gaze back and forth between Maeli and himself. It was contemplating who would be its first target. It began slowly walking in circles around them, looking for an opening to attack. It's deep green eyes shone brightly even under the light from the campfire.
Craig and Maeli was on high alert, with all their senses on overdrive. Maeli was reacting that way purely on instinct and due to Craig's warning. Craig however, had encountered a Red-fang Slaughter Wolf before. In fact, this was his third encounter with one. He would never forget his first two encounters till the day he died. They were truly... gruesome experiences.
"Why do I keep running into these things whenever I have companions?" He asked himself mentally, his expression turning to one of complex emotion. A surge of gruesome memories of people being slaughtered flashed through his mind but he quickly shook them off. "I wonder how strong this one is." He thought whilst studying the body of the wolf and comparing it to the ones from his memories. "It's a bit bigger than the other two and this strange feeling I'm getting from it is new as well." After concluding his analysis he began to mentally speculate a strategy of attack and defence at the same time.
This wasn't Craig's first battle with a wild animal after all. Over the years he had gone on countless hunting expeditions and faced quite a lot of dangerous beasts. The only problem was that the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf was one of the top fiercest he'd ever faced off against. It had left a deep impression on him.
"Why couldn't it have been a bear instead?" He complained to himself.
Whoosh!
The wolf suddenly pounced toward Maeli without warning. From its observation, it deduced that Craig was a more experienced opponent even if he was a human, so it decided that Maeli was the weaker target and would get rid of her first. That, and her magical energy was appetising.
Clang! Clang!
Maeli's left handed dagger collided with the wolf's sharp fangs as its wide open jaw tried to target her head. The dagger in her right hand was stabbed into its right front leg however the left leg clawed at her abdomen.
Whoosh!
In the nick of the moment Craig dived onto Maeli, grabbing her and saving her from the incoming scratch that would surely badly injure her. The two of them collapsed onto the ground with Craig on top of her, it was quite an awkward position which caused Maeli to be slightly embarrassed.
Everything had happened so fast it was unbelievable. In the blink of an eye, Maeli was attacked and Craig had saved her from a fatal wound.
Craig and Maeli quickly sprang up to their feet and locked sights onto the wolf. At the moment, it was glaring at the wound on its leg in anger and slowly, the fur on it's body stood up like a hedgehog. It's eyes went from green to red and the four fangs in its mouth extended a little, making it look like a sabretooth tiger instead of a wolf. It's body also expanded slightly due to an increase in muscle mass.
"This is gonna be a problem!" Craig said in a foreboding, helpless tone. Then he looked at Maeli and yelled. "Run!" Following that command, he dashed off into the forest and Maeli dashed after him.
"Use your Luminescence!" Craig shouted as they ran through the dark forest.
"I was just about to!" Maeli replied, then a ball of light floated up into the air and illuminated a circumference of about ten meters. Then she formed another orb of light and cast it ahead of them in order to gauge the upcoming surroundings. If not, they'd have a more difficult time making accurate deductions.
Thadump! Thadump! Thadump!
The loud galloping footsteps of the Red-fang wolf could be heard closing in from behind. As Maeli was the one behind, she couldn't help but feel a shiver run up her spine. The sounds grew closer and closer until it was right behind her. "Perception." She called out mentally when the footsteps were too close for comfort.
Dewwww!
For a short moment of about one and half seconds, time seemed to slow down and she could perceive her surroundings within her mind in a thermal manner. It was like mentally viewing the world in infrared but instead everything was blue and slightly transparent. She could sense the wavelengths of sounds and pinpoint the locations of living things in her surroundings. Within that short timeframe she dashed to the right and used a tree behind her for cover.
Smash!
The Red-fang Slaughter Wolf who had prepared to dive onto Maeli's back and rip her head off ended up ripping the tree in half with its powerful jaw and came to temporary Halt.
Bang!
The leg-width tree fell over making a loud crashing noise.
The Red-fang Slaughter Wolf shook its head to shake off the impact of the crash and dashed forward again.
By this time Craig and Maeli had taken a considerable lead.
"How do we get rid of this thing!" Maeli yelled in desperation. That was such a close call a moment ago. If she hadn't used her perception skill she'd have been dead, a goner, off to the yellow springs.
What was even more bothersome was that her mana was being used up at an incredible pace. With the two daggers, and luminescence she was already using up her mana at a steady pace. Adding on the perception ability which used up a lot of mana to activate, she'd soon be in a very weakened state.
Mana was the foundation of magic, an invisible element which flowed through the air and was a natural part of nature. Many living things were capable of harnessing this energy and storing it within their bodies to perform spells and to increase their strength.
The elves had innate magical prowess that allowed them to easily harness mana and make use of it. It was also this way for several other races, such as the orcs and fairies.
There were also those who were unable to use mana naturally and had to acquire it, which was the case for many animals and certain races such as humans and dwarves. For whatever reason however, humans had been unable to tap into magic for a very long time.
When a person used up their mana, it would recover naturally over time, however this was a slow process which required rest. There were other ways to restore one's mana such as potions and absorption skills but these weren't very common.
In any case, if Maeli kept on using all these abilities continuously she'd soon run out of mana and loose her mobility as well. Once the body became used to mana being in the cells, it would bring about deep fatigue whenever it was drained. This would leave the user in a very weakened state.
"I'm not sure yet! I'm not familiar with this forest so I'm just running blindly! Well... we're actually heading towards where that first howl came from! Wolves are very personal about their territory! I hope this works!" Craig kept yelling in response as he ran as fast as he could.
As she caught up to his side Maeli asked. "You think a fight will take place between the two of them?" She had already understood Craig's intention. It was actually a decent idea to have, considering the situation. If the two wolves were to end up fighting each other, they could use the opportunity to escape.
"I don't know, it's highly likely they will be afraid of the Red-fang and might flee their own territory." Craig replied.
Thadump! Thadump! Thadump!
The galloping sounds grew louder and louder as the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf quickly closed the gap.
"It's useless, the thing is much faster than us, we can't outrun it." Maeli cried in a panicked voice as she cast glances backward every few seconds. "It's getting closer, we need to come up with a plan!"
Another dangerous effect low mana had on the user was decreasing their mental stability which would cause their emotions to run amok. Maeli was not a very fearful person, but the situation was putting a lot of pressure on her and adding on the constant use of mana, she was beginning to unravel.
"Calm down will you!" Craig shouted furiously." Even if he knew what was happening to her, her panicking still annoyed him a little. It wasn't like he was standing by idly doing nothing. "There's a clearing up ahead!" He said as he could see the treeline up ahead.
Awoooo!
It was then a furious howl echoed out ahead of them.
Awooo!
Awooo!
Awoo!
The first howl was followed by several other howls of lower intensity.
Craig and Maeli then found themselves running into a stone forest. Rocks of different shapes and sizes could be seen all around. The tallest one at the centre was over fifty feet tall and standing on top of its peak was the figure of a wolf. It was just as large as the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf.
As soon as Craig and Maeli rushed into the stone forest the Alpha wolf skipped down the stepped edges of the rock and landed on the ground ahead of them. Once it touched the ground the light from the orb clearly revealed its features.
It was indeed a Dual-stripped Wolf. The black and grey stripes on its body mingled together to form a unique pattern, vertical from head to tail. A black stripe ran from its nose to it's tail, placing both its eyes within white stripes.
Along with the Alpha, over two dozen other wolves were positioned randomly amongst the rocks glaring fiercely at Craig and Maeli.
Left with no other choice, the two of them had come to a halt when the alpha jumped down ahead of them. Fortunately, the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf had also stopped a few feet behind and was in a heated stare down with the Dual-stripped alpha.
Craig shifted his gaze back and forth between the two wolves, but when he looked at the Red-fang Slaughter Wolf he was immensely confused. "Why would it suddenly stop running and not attack? Shouldn't it be in a berserk state right now due to the injury to its leg? Could that Dual-stripped Wolf have intimidated it somehow?" He thought, then he looked at the Dual-stripped alpha with awe. "This one is different from ordinary Dual-stripped wolves. It's twice the size of the others and its colours are much sharper. Did it also undergo an evolution? No wonder these other wolves take orders from it." He was both shocked and amazed at the same time. Both wolf breeds had overturned the knowledge he had about them.
It was then the most shocking thing happened.
"You've gotten quite bold to enter my territory Rakan. Don't think just because these two are present I won't speak and pretend to be a wild animal. They're as good as dead anyway."
The Dual-stripped alpha had actually spoken!!!