As the two men continued their frustrated banter, a pair of eyes in the dimness watched them closely, ready to strike again.
"We're close to the door now, stay alert," Garrick encouraged Elyon.
"Right, we'll be safe soon."
Backing each other, they shuffled towards the door. As they were mere steps away—
The dire wolf's roar sent a chill down their spines.
"Crash, bang, bang," the sound of collapsing shelves echoed through the warehouse.
"Get out!" Garrick shoved Elyon to the side, and a cascade of fallen shelves and their contents nearly buried him.
"Mr. Garrick, are you alright? I'll get you out," Elyon called out.
"I'm not dead yet. Be wary of the wolf," came Garrick's feeble voice from beneath the debris.
With a heavy thud, the wolf landed squarely in front of Elyon, who hurriedly aimed his gun.
The wolf's roar was a tidal wave of sound crashing down on Elyon.
Fear gripped him, urging him to run, assuring him he could escape. His legs turned weak, and his gun hand trembled.
But just as Elyon turned to flee, the icy sensation of the pendant that the strange man had given him on the train spread through his shirt to his chest, like a bucket of ice water thrown over someone on the brink of heatstroke. It injected a sedative into his chaotic brain.
As Elyon wrestled back control of his consciousness, the dire wolf didn't halt its charge. It leaped, paws outstretched toward Elyon. The impact of the beast's speed and mass sent Elyon crashing to the ground, his gun flying from his hand. A sharp pain in his ribs suggested a few might be broken.
The wolf didn't pause its attack, its massive jaws aiming for Elyon's throat. With all his might, Elyon pushed the wolf's head to the side with both hands. The wolf's claws gouged a few wounds across his chest. Whether from exhaustion of attacking multiple targets or the recent gunshot wound, the wolf didn't manage to inflict a fatal blow, but the constant scratching and flow of blood meant that Elyon losing consciousness from blood loss was a matter of time.
With death looming, memories of his life on Earth began to flash through Elyon's mind: the carefree days playing in the fields as a child, his first day of school, his first crush, his first date. Then came the transition to Taige, the job search, and the life-threatening cases. These past experiences appeared like a series of black-and-white photographs in Elyon's mind, rapidly scrolling by.
Are you really going to die on this planet? Haven't found your way home yet? Don't you want to return to Earth to continue watching anime and playing games? No, of course not. I don't want to waste my limited life here. Elyon screamed internally.
It was as if a colorful seed exploded in Elyon's mind. His slowing heartbeat and fading consciousness sharpened again. He felt as if he had been injected with adrenaline, filled with inexhaustible strength. Curling his right leg, he kicked forcefully at the dire wolf mauling him. The wolf, taken aback by the sudden surge of power from the man it had expected to surrender, was sent flying against the wall and collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Fighting through the pain, Elyon stood up and began searching for his gun amidst the scattered grains. The silver barrel of the gun glinted in the sunlight pouring through the warehouse door, guiding its owner to its position.
Inspecting his still intact hand, Elyon retrieved the gun from the heap. Four bullets remained – he had to end this fight quickly with what he had left.
An instinct told him to dodge left, and he followed it without hesitation. He rolled to the side just as the wolf pounced to where he'd been moments before. The wolf's claws tore through Elyon's shirt, leaving a gaping tear.
Elyon tumbled to the ground but kept a tight grip on his revolver. It was time to end this. He aimed at the approaching dire wolf, preparing to fire off four shots to end its life.
"Damn it, why won't it fire?" Elyon pressed the hammer, but it wouldn't budge – likely damaged in the fall.
The wolf, having missed its target, turned and with primal ferocity, prepared to finish off the man inside the warehouse.
Am I really going to die here? Think, find a way out! Elyon's inner voice screamed for a solution. It brought back memories of hunting at home. He drew a deep breath, focusing all his energy on the moment. Elyon felt a warm current flow through his body to his eyes, which turned a pure shade of blue. His pupils became pinpoints, surrounded by rings of rainbow light, with the outermost layer speckled with tiny, star-like points circling the innermost light.
The world seemed to freeze at that moment. Everything faded to monochrome, like a worn pair of jeans – the yellow of the corn, the tawny of the wolf's fur, even the red of the iron door lost their vibrancy, and the world appeared as if in a black-and-white photograph. Only the triangular area between the wolf's nose and eyes emitted a golden glow.
All this happened in an instant. The wolf, reoriented, lunged at Elyon with all its might. There was no time to dodge. Instinctively, Elyon thrust out his left arm, and the wolf's jaws clamped down, its massive canines piercing the flesh and bones of his forearm. Excruciating pain shot through his nervous system to his brain.
The wolf's teeth were now stuck in Elyon's arm, furiously shaking its head in an attempt to tear the limb off.
Without time to think, Elyon's right hand acted on its own. He slammed the butt of his revolver down onto the wolf's nose, tearing through the fur and drawing blood.
Feeling as weary as if he'd been up all night, Elyon blinked, his strength no longer focused in his eyes. The world returned to color, his pupils to white and black, the golden runes disappeared.
The wolf, as if struck by a sudden stroke, slowly stopped thrashing. Its paws and tail twitched sporadically, then stilled, and its eyes slowly closed.
As the life force drained from the wolf, its fur retracted into its body, and its elongated jaws and massive canine teeth shrank to human size. After about thirty seconds, the dire beast had transformed into the corpse of a slightly taller middle-aged man. Elyon painfully withdrew his arm, sensing a fracture. His left hand felt unresponsive, dangling uselessly from his side. He slumped to the ground, completely drained of energy and consciousness.