The wolf yelped in pain as it wildly thrashed its head in a furious attempt to rid the arrow.
The arrow, instead, dissolved into a pool of blood, and a muzzle formed out of that very blood.
The wolf stopped thrashing around for a moment, and with a deep growl emanating from its closed jaw, it leaped forward.
Aramine was knocking another arrow as the wolf pounced with its claws outstretched. It clawed down onto Aramine but met the flat of Bell's blazing claymore instead.
The wolf pushed onto the flat of Bell's claymore, leaping backward. Bell was pushed in the opposite direction, all the while struggling to keep her ground. The wolf twisted around as it landed, and another arrow struck its body.
A deep crimson arrow protruded from its chest region, and the wolf roared in anger. The sounds of battle coming from the chamber entrance grew in intensity as a result.
The sounds of crackling blazes grew in the room, and Bell noticed from her peripheral vision that some of the floating flames grew in size. After a moment, they flung themselves in Bell and Aramine's direction.
Bell raised her claymore in defense as the sounds of someone leaping came from behind her.
Two heavy impacts reverberated through her claymore and into her arms. Then, a moment later, the sounds of fizzling flames died out far behind.
'You're not getting me twice in a row.' Bell snarled with a bitter grimace on her face.
She then looked towards the wolf, and it looked to be preparing an attack that she couldn't sense.
Ice started to crackle around Bell's feet as the earth started to quake. Bell wrapped her armor in the gray flames, melting the ice as it formed. Light steam started to flow around her legs as a reaction.
Her intuition screamed at her to dodge the incoming attack, so Bell dove out of the way of whatever was directed toward her.
While Bell dove, a sharp spire of earthen material protruded from the ground. She then saw the wolf pick up with its maw a giant slab of shimmering stone shaped into a sword.
Bell grunted in pain as she fell onto the ground gracelessly.
The muzzle formed from blood didn't seem to be enough to restrain the Dire Wolf Alpha. The wolf had stretched and shattered its restraint until it broke into a rain of slick blood.
Then, the wolf looked up and another arrow struck the chest of the dire threat.
'Aramine's a damn good archer.' Bell thought as she picked herself up from the ground.
In a heartbeat, the wolf leaped the distance between itself and Aramine while swinging its radiant cragblade.
Aramine slid underneath the belly of the beast while Bell rushed forward with blazing claymore readied.
She brought her blade down expecting to draw blood, instead meeting a moving mass of stone.
The wolf snarled in pain as it brought its blade further forward, twisting its body to deliver the redirected strike. Bell dropped into a crouch, dragging her claymore against the bottom of the cragblade.
She then exploded upwards with her claymore poised to deliver a piercing strike to the neck of the wolf.
Her blade met flesh, but it wasn't the neck, instead, the tip of her claymore met the fur above the wolf's shoulder.
Bell tsk'd, thinking 'Too slow.'
The wolf recovered from the exchange and turned to face another threat. Bell saw that a crimson rope tied itself around the Dire Wolf's neck. As Bell retracted her claymore into a neutral stance, she felt a dull thud against her back and a flash of heat.
She wheezed an "ouch" in pain and staggered forward one step, dropping her guard.
Bell heard the sounds of struggling snarls and yelps echoing across the chamber as she was forced to recover once again.
Two echoes originated from the furthest wall; one was more of a thump while the other sounded like boulders crashing against one another.
Bell heard Aramine exclaim in pain, her bodies struggled complaints became mute to her mind as she brandished her claymore once more. She rushed towards the wolf, who had dropped its shining stone blade. The wolf dashed to intercept Bell's attack.
Unfortunately for the giant foe, Bell evaded its snapping jaws with a sidestep. In the next breath, the wolf had a large, burning gash across its chest.
The wolf leaped further forward and roared; the earth then shot up in tens of spires across the chamber.
Bell discarded her claymore, flashing Creation to conjure a shortsword.
The wolf leaped above Bell in the direction of its discarded blade, as it passed above her, Bell unleashed an upward slash. Thick crimson blood already caked the underbelly of the Dire Wolf, but only more poured out.
Bell's face was sprayed with the deep red blood, and even more covered her blade.
'Crap.' Bell thought, igniting the gray flames around her shortsword.
Intense flames started to echo around the chamber and spirals. As Bell faced the foe while Aramine was incapacitated, more and more damage built up towards the two combatants.
Bell evaded the wide arcs of the wolf's wild slashes, having to dodge the subsequent earthen shards shooting her way. All the while, several spears and swords created of conjured flames struck her in the back.
As the battle continued to rage, the wolf garnered tens of slashes and strikes that were soon filled with gray flames.
However, Bell wasn't without injury, either; the damage of the flaming spears started to build up. The leather straps that bound Bell's armor to her started to melt from underneath the backplate.
The heat started to become unbearable, so Bell decided to do something daring, leap on top of the dire threat.
After sliding under a swing from the thick cragblade, Bell ran towards one of the earthen spires and put her foot against it. In the next instant, she was in the air, avoiding the next slash of the shimmering earthen sword.
Unfortunately, she failed to land on the wolf's back, and was forced to land on the ground with an audible grunt. Afterward, she started running to avoid both the wolf's wild strikes and the spear's homing properties.
Bell bobbed and weaved through the spears as she bought time for her partner in hunting to reawaken.
Luckily, Bell didn't have to wait for long.
The sound of sinew and tendons rending echoed above the crumbling spires and blazing spears. Following that was a roar that leveled the spires nearest to the Dire Wolf.
Aramine then appeared beside Bell with a crimson scimitar in hand.
"What'd I miss?" Aramine asked.
Bell answered honestly, "Nothing much. I just kept him occupied until you could wake up."
Aramine nodded before simply saying, "Let's rush him."
Bell nodded in reply before dropping into a sprint beside Aramine.
The wolf raised its head with the sword in hand, then brought it down in a slamming motion. This move disrupted the ground, with a wave of liquid-looking rocks emanating from the center of the blow.
Bell leaped above the blow while Aramine conjured a crimson rope and wrapped it around the wolf's neck, using it to swing above the wave.
It restrained the wolf somewhat, allowing Bell to strike the wolf's front knee, causing it to nearly buckle.
At this point, Bell found that the scenario was perfect to reignite the flames that danced around the wolf. Its fur then erupted in an inferno of black and gray flames.
As the Dire Wolf roared in pain, Aramine started pelting the wolf with bloody arrows. She had started to look pale from Bell's perspective, and Bell thought to herself.
'She should stop using that ability...'
Just as she thought that, the wall of black, infernal flames died down, and Bell started to attack the exposed skin.
Damage started to build up further and further until the beast roared once more.
This time, the air dropped to freezing levels, and the blood that caked Bell's face and exposed skin started to freeze into ice.
Then, the ground around them started to freeze over as well, and the walls started frosting as well. The flames around the chamber started to be encased in some sort of ice cage, turning the room blue with its light.
Then, ice rapidly built up around Bell in a dome shape. In an instant, Bell struck the icy walls that surrounded, her, and Bell's attack only left a small mark against the thick ice.
Bell then discarded the shortsword she wielded and conjured a heavy warhammer with Creation.
She saw that Aramine began to struggle against the Dire Wolf, in a heartbeat, Bell's warhammer was wrapped in gray flames, and she struck the inner walls of her cage.
Aramine leaped above one of the wolf's slashes with the help of her crimson rope, and the wolf started to conjure earthen spears and icicles to impale the girl.
Another strike against the inner wall of the ice dome, cracks started to form at the epicenter of each impact.
Unfortunately for the wolf, Aramine was evading each of the deadly attacks, all the while delivering occasional blows when the opportunity arose.
Bell struck the inner wall of her prison once more, and the cracks spread all around the dome.
'One...'
Bell raised her warhammer.
'More...'
She gathered strength in her body and prepared to swing.
'Strike!'
The warhammer was released at maximum force to destroy the prison entirely. A shower of small ice shards exploded forward and subsequently fell against the frozen ground.
Bell then wrapped her armor in the gray flames, and all of the thin ice that covered the ground melted at her step. More gray steam started to evaporate and swirl around Bell, but then vanished into the air around.
Bell discarded her warhammer and conjured a spear, instantly wrapping it in gray flames and hurling it towards the wolf.
Her aim was true, and the spear impaled the side of the wolf, embedding the gray flames deep into the wolf's flesh.
It yelped in pain, then turned to face Bell with noticeable hatred inside of its eyes. Two flames swirled deep within its large, beady, black eyes.
Bell then used Creation to make a longsword and a bundle of rope. The longsword was immediately wrapped in gray flames.
She dropped into a sprint with her longsword held low, conjuring the strength required to execute her plan.
Aramine spared a glance toward Bell, and then changed her course of action. It looked like she was previously poised to launch an attack with her scimitar.
In an instant, the scimitar then turned into a rope and Aramine wrapped it around the neck and leg of the wolf, then placing a foot against an earthen spire. The wolf struggled free, but was restrained further, all efforts met with more restraint.
As Bell grew near, she threw the rope around the wolf's neck and leaped upwards, pulling herself up with the taut rope.
On Bell's upward ascent, she left a deep gash in the nape of the wild beast. After successfully landing on the back of the Dire Wolf Alpha, she discarded the rope and grasped her longsword without hesitation.
The wolf attempted to kick her off, but her sword was already in motion, and nothing was going to stop it.
The reaper had finally come for this wolf, and it wielded black flames.
Underneath the weight of this terminal slash, the wolf's spine snapped.
In the next moment, the wolf fell to the ground, dead.
The battle was over.