"Good luck to you," said the quiet voice of the spirit.
These words served as a trigger, events began to spin with incredible force.
Jump to the right and Calder dodged the flying stone that the troll threw at him. An instant and the boy rushed with incredible speed towards the werewolf in an attempt to reach him and eliminate the main threat, but alas, he was a little late. At the last moment, the werewolf somehow jerked, his outline blurred, and he disappeared, so high was his speed in that brief moment.
"Rra-ah," the werewolf growled and struck Calder in the back with his clawed paw. The impact caused him to roll on the ground for several meters, but quickly rose to his feet. There was no wound, no matter how significant, on the back, only small scratches that disappeared with incredible speed.
"Not strong??? - Calder yelled in his mind, dodging the werewolf's blows that rained down from different sides as if from a cornucopia. Left, right, up, down - they were everywhere. - Damn the author for not clarifying this information. Yes, he's about half as strong as a troll."
Crouching, Calder kicked the werewolf in the stomach with his right foot. At the last moment, his foot turned into a sharp blade like a spear, causing even more damage.
Taking his leg out of the wound on his stomach, the guy quickly jumped back, thereby dodging another stone. The werewolf was bleeding profusely from the open wound, although with every second the wound became smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared.
Baring his teeth, the werewolf rushed after the boy.
"This won't work, we need to get rid of the smaller obstacle, and then deal with the werewolf himself," having decided this, Calder rushed towards the troll as fast as possible. Dust flew from under his feet.
"R-oa," with a warlike cry, the troll rushed towards Calder, not waiting for him on the spot.
Hit. The giant's fist and the man's fist met. Taking a half step back, Calder struck again in the direction of his opponent's hand. His arm in an instant lengthened, as if it had lost all its bones, and entwined itself around the troll's giant arm like a living snake or the vine of some plant. This snake moved further and further until it entwined his entire arm, and then the troll screamed like never before. His roar, filled with rage and pain, was accompanied by waving his arms in different directions. He tried to throw off the "vine" that was getting in his way.
A sharp whistle and Calder cut off the hand that was entwined with the giant with a blade. In a split second, the arm grew back. The rest of the hand remained on the troll. It began to grow into the troll's body, using the giant's prana as energy for growth. In an instant, spikes appeared along its entire length, piercing through it. Blood dripped from the tips of the thorns.
Tilt your head to the right - dodge the werewolf's claws. A sharp turn on the leg and a kick with the other leg towards the werewolf, alas, without result. The werewolf managed to jump away from the blade, which replaced the leg, thereby saving himself. Backward somersault - evading the opponent's next blow.
Without giving time to rest, Calder rushed after him, growing blades in different parts of his body: palms, elbows, knees, shoulder blades. Once at a distance of a couple of meters, he spun around like a wolf, trying to reach his opponent.
The werewolf's cry of pain was a response to his action; part of the blades hit him and got stuck in the wolf's body. The boy himself, straining, broke off all the blades that were stuck in the werewolf's body, thereby leaving them in the wound and aggravating them.
Having done this, the guy would have sighed calmly, but alas. At that moment, the hand of the troll that had been approaching him all this time flew into his unprotected side. In the heat of battle, Calder did not notice this and paid for his miscalculation. With the sound of breaking bones, he flew away in the opposite direction from the werewolf. The blow was so strong that he was sent five meters up and thirty meters into the distance.
The landing with the ground was not the most pleasant. Rolling head over heels on the ground, Calder tried to get up. The battle is not over, the enemies will not wait.
He managed to get up at the last moment; the werewolf's leg fell to the place where his head was located a second ago, missing it literally by a couple of moments.
"Quick, infection." - it happened in an instant.
Dodge, block. Crossing his arms in front of him and building up his shell, he took the blow upon himself. With a grinding sound and great effort, the armor held firm. A sharp hand grab and the werewolf's head flies to meet the boy's knee. At the very last moment, the werewolf managed to move his head to the side, avoiding death by sacrificing his left ear.
Pushing the wolf's carcass away from him, the guy rushed to the side, another stone flew into his place, preventing him from finishing the job.
Growling like a beast, Calder rushed towards the troll. Not reaching him about five meters, the boy shouted, while jumping into the air:
- Resonance! — responding to his cry, the part of the hand that was still tightly entwined with the troll's hand began to glow red. Every moment it glowed brighter, gaining strength, and then, reaching its climax, it exploded.
The explosion was so strong that it completely tore off the troll's hand and threw him to the ground, amidst his own roar of pain. The troll did not understand anything, his eyes became clouded, and his brain could not adequately perceive information. In place of the right hand is a bloody stump. Blood poured out of his mouth along with a scream.
At the same time, while jumping, Calder began to transform. His legs began to lengthen and become thinner and thinner until they became two giant blades. The steely sheen of these blades was beautiful in its lethality. The glare played its dance on the edge of the blade.
His landing was exactly in the center of the troll's chest. The blade of the right leg penetrated halfway into the flesh, piercing the heart and lung.
Blood poured out. Its splashes sprinkled the entire area nearby, hitting both the boy and the blade. Scarlet became everything, and everything became scarlet. Thick streams of blood flowed down, painting the space in its color.
A swing of the second leg and the troll's head flies off his shoulders, thereby ending his suffering. But the battle didn't stop there.
Fleeting concentration and the blades became legs again. The coder sharply pushed away from the troll's chest, letting the crazed werewolf pass underneath him. A wave of his hand follows him and the whip, which a moment ago was a hand, entwines the werewolf's neck. But sharp blades glittered along its entire length.
A sharp jerk in an attempt to rip his head off his shoulders did not bring results. At the last moment, the werewolf tears the whip on himself with his claws, however, crippling himself. Blood poured from the torn throat.
Landing on the ground, Calder jumped back, putting distance between himself and the werewolf. Both he and his enemy need a short period of respite.
There was silence. They stood opposite each other. The werewolf looked unimportant - without an ear, blood gushing from his throat. Several blades protruding from different parts of the body. The once gray fur turned bloody scarlet, soaked in its own blood. The right paw was twisted at a strange angle - the consequences of one of the previous collisions.
The boys looked the same as at the beginning of the battle, and you can't say that in this battle he lost at least his arm, and at most he could have died. His eyes looked confidently at his opponent, but he couldn't hide his fatigue. The shroud of mana disappeared. The body had shrunk in size, a pale face and broken capillaries in the eyes were the only things that indicated his general condition.
The rush to meet each other happened synchronously. Here they were standing still, but now they were rushing to meet. At the last moment, the werewolf jumped sharply - reducing the already small distance, but Calder was not at a loss. Opening his arms, he hugged the werewolf tightly. Threads of muscles burst out from his entire body, entwining the wolf - shackling his legs, arms, and also his mouth. Of course, the werewolf resisted. He tore the fibers, gnawed at the shoulder and neck of the enemy, but all he could achieve was to run his teeth into the shell that Calder had managed to grow.
Having securely shackled the wolf, Calder uttered only one phrase:
"Resonance," a tired voice broke the imaginary silence. That was the end.
All the blades that still remained in the werewolf's body, as well as all the flesh that he had swallowed, detonated. The explosion shook the room, raising a cloud of dust.
For several moments the cloud hung in one place, until the spell that had worked so far dispelled the cloud.
There was no werewolf. Only Calder stood still, slightly unsteady, but he still stood. His tired eyes glittered and looked at only one point, where the spirit of the room was watching him.
"Please accept my congratulations, young metamorph," said the elder. His appearance was not something special, he simply appeared on the spot. - You managed to pass the test. Now you can proudly bear the title of apprentice of the third star at the school of metamorphism," he finished with a barely noticeable smile.
- Third? — the boy asked, in a barely audible voice. "Wasn't this a test for the second?"
"No," he helped slightly with his head. — At the beginning, this was planned—a gradual increase in the level of difficulty, but you are a special case.
- And what's special about me?
"Your refined control," the spirit answered simply. "You didn't even notice the influence of the room on you, although you should have."
"But this does not give me the right to take the test for the next rank." I'm right? - Calder asked slightly puzzled.
"That's right," the old man nodded. "It doesn't, but," he emphasized with intonation. "I can give you this right." As the spirit of this room, I have powers. One of them is scheduling the exam I want. Of course," he interrupted Kol with a wave of his hand, who was trying to ask a question. - Not to the detriment of the subject. I can't kill you. The maximum is to deplete. This is the program.
He fell silent, and Calder was silent. There were a lot of thoughts floating around in his head. For what? Why? What's next? Third star?
— What should have been the initial exam? — he still asked one of the questions.
"A battle with a troll," answered the old man. — On the third star there was a battle with a werewolf, but since you jumped over the rank, you had to fight them at once. Of course, this does not mean that it is as strong as the fourth star, no. Your powers are equal to a standard three-star. For him, the battle with the werewolf is just a warm-up. As for you with the troll. So this is not a reason to be arrogant.
Nodding at this, Calder fell silent. He didn't ask any more questions, and since there was time, he could put himself in order. A moment of concentration and the body returns to its standard form. He swayed a little from fatigue. ,
"This was harder than I expected," Kol thought, sitting down tiredly on the floor of the room. "This battle consumed a lot of strength, both magical and vital. If it were allowed to use spells, it would be much easier."
After sitting on the floor for a while, he finally tried to get to his feet. Not on the first try, but he succeeded. He was still swaying a little.
"Well, now that this is over," he began. - I'll take my leave, I need to get myself in order. And then with renewed vigor he will begin to study new material.
"I understand you perfectly," the spirit smiled. — Rest is incredibly important. You - especially, especially at this moment," with the last word he began to disappear. - Good luck. See you later," he eventually disappeared without leaving a trace. Both physical and magical.
After examining the room again, Kol went to his room. The entire journey to his room passed in an instant. The boy had no strength for anything, he gave all his last to not being noticed.
The last thing that was imprinted in his memory was the sound of the door closing that led to his room. As soon as it closed, he fell where he stood.