Arthur stands, face to face with a dozen dire wolves. Escape seemingly impossible as he is already surrounded by the prehistoric predators.
They slowly close in on him, growling violently as saliva drools from their mouths. He uses his third eye, checking on their individual levels and comparing them with his.
"They all seem to be level 3s," He comments, moving his eyes onto the biggest one in the pack. "That one much be the alpha, considering it's level 7. Do you think I can take them Rex?"
[It's possible, but you'd have to really put your mind to it. Relying on your senses is your best bet.]
"I need to focus," He mutters, slowly looking around as the others gradually reveal themselves. "The slightest misstep could mean the end of me."
His chest pounds rapidly, as his heart races in anticipation, not knowing when these wolves will strike. His muscles tense up and he starts breathing heavily.
[Control your breathing Arthur, they can tell you're scared.] Rex comments, trying to calm him down.
"That's easy for you to say," He replies, gripping his sword even more. "I don't even know when or where they'll attack from."
[Calm down and trust your instincts, they'll help you get out of this situation.]
"My instincts…," He says silently, taking a deep breath and slowly regaining control of his breathing. Finally calming down, he feels a strange sensation in his body, as if telling him to move.
One wolf lunges at him from behind, sticking out his claws and aiming for his back. He follows that sensation from earlier and swerves to the side narrowly escaping a fatal blow.
"Woah, what was that just now," He asks, his heart racing in excitement. "Do I have a spider sense or something?"
[Focus Arthur, it's coming back.]
It leaps at him again and he feels the same sensation from back then, dodging its attack yet again. Before it charges for the third time Arthur dashed at it, stabbing it straight through the skull, before speaking. "That's one down."
He pulls out his sword and the others draw back a bit, as if being cautious. Two more charge at him, but he easily dodges, decapitating the first and stabbing the other in the flank, spilling its guts all over the grassy terrain.
The battle continues as he kills them one by one. "There's just four left," He says, pulling out his sword from the one he just killed. "But it's bothering me that he still hasn't moved yet. Is he waiting for something?"
As if waiting for Arthur to say those words, it lunges at him, swinging its claws with full force but Arthur blocks it. "Shit, it's strong!" He thinks to himself as he's sent flying straight into a tree.
He falls to the ground, coughing up blood but It doesn't give him any time to recover before it charges straight at him again, closing the gap between them in a matter of seconds. Claws reach for Arthur's face as he tries to collect himself, barely managing to move aside seconds before impact.
Its attack knocks down the tree, as Arthur rolls over to pick up his sword. He regains his footing, barely able to stand as he's face to face with this menacing creature.
It walks towards him snarling, preparing for its next attack. He stands in place, bracing himself for what's coming as his mind races, filling up with thoughts of uncertainty. "It's too strong. Is this how it ends? Is this it?"
[It's not over yet Arthur, there's still a way.]
"A way?" He asks, finally starting to calm down. "What're you talking about?"
[Arcane impact.]
"But it's too weak against him. It won't leave a scratch even if I use 100%."
[Normally yes, but I'm going to release your aether output to the max, giving you an exponential boost for a few seconds. You only get one shot, so don't miss.]
Arthur lowers his sword as Rex releases his aether output, causing waves on the surface of the grass. He concentrates all the energy on his fist, waiting for the wolf to launch its attack.
He takes a deep breath, relying on his instincts to get the perfect timing. The wolf dashes forward, then leaps at him. He waits until the last moment, then hits at point blank range with a nasty uppercut, sending it crashing into the trees.
The others run, with their tails between their legs at the sight of this as Arthur falls to his knees. The surge of power finally wears off and his hands start trembling, followed by an excruciating pain enveloping his entire body.
His veins stung heavily, forcing him to fall further to the ground and curling up as his once blue lines turn a dark black. "Rex! What's…happening to me?" He yells, screaming even louder.
[This is the draw back from unleashing your power. Your aether channels are twisting on each other, you have to endure it.]
Due to the pain getting worse by the second, Arthur could no longer hear what Rex was saying. Tears run down his cheeks as he slowly passes out.
•••
"Ugh…My head hurts," Arthur says, slowly opening his eyes as the blinding sunlight piercing through the trees, shines directly onto his face. "Why's the sun still up? Was I not out for too long?"
[On a contrary, you've been out for almost a whole day now.]
"A whole day!" He yells, jolting from the ground and into a sitting position. "Ouch, my whole body still hurts. Mom must be worried sick right now."
He thinks about the state his mother would be in as he tries to get up, but he stumbles. He tries again and finally succeeds, then proceeds to walk toward the direction he came from.
Just as he passes by the corpses of the wolves, something glistens at the corner of his eye. He turns to see what it is, crouching to get a closer look.
"What is that?" He asks, picking it up to examine it. "I think it came from the wolf's guts."
[That's its 'Core'.]
"It's core?"
[Yes, the source of its power. All monsters have it.]
"I see, but why didn't I see it before, when I cut up those goblins?"
[Goblins are a special case, theirs is usually so small you'd miss it even if it were in the palm of your hand.]
He picks it up and tries to absorb it, but nothing happens. "Why can't I absorb it?" He asks, clenching it harder to see if it would work.
[That's another side effect of that power outburst. Your aether channels are all twisted and ruptured, meaning you can't absorb nor use aether in anyway until they're all back to normal, which will take a while.]
"So what do you suggest I do now? I can't just leave all these cores," He says, looking around at all the corpses.
[You can extract and keep them for later.] Rex suggests.
"Good idea," He comments, as he moves from one body to another, extracting and putting them in his pockets. "This is so tedious, and why do I feel like the grass grew taller?"
He finishes with the others and finally walks towards the alpha's body. "This seems to be the last one," He claims, slipping it into his pocket. "I better hurry back now."
[END]
To be continued…