The man watched the Beasts come closer. He stepped forward, before planting his shield into the sand. The others followed suit, before Crystal realized she was supposed to do the same.
The shields formed a wall in the sand, protecting the rest of the convoy. Crystal looked to her side. There were several smaller fights happening that she could see, as well as hear. They must've recently begun, as she didn't hear the fighting before.
"BRACE!"
Brace? For what? The wolves couldn't break through the shield wall that easily, could they?
Crystal watched the wolves approach over the top of her shield. She looked to her side, the center of the formation, where the first wolf was about to make contact.
The shield wall exploded. Four bodies flew backwards, including the man who led them here.
Just like that? How… How was that creature so strong? Her eyes widened, and she looked back towards the second wolf, right before it slammed into her shield.
***
She was lying in the sand. She lost her shield somewhere… Not that it mattered. The shield would probably slow her down in a fight. Thankfully, she managed to hold onto her sword.
She pushed herself off the ground, rubbing her head to shove away the pain. Looking up, the fight with the wolves was far from over. She must've only blacked out for a few seconds.
There was a boy lying in the sand, with blood flowing out of his stomach.
'Oh my god… Is he dead??'
No, this… why was she here?? She staggered forward, feeling sick in every part of her body. The sword she held dragged behind her, leaving a ragged line in the sand.
The ensuing fight was coming closer to her. She dreaded facing the monstrous wolf, but she couldn't leave the others alone. It just… didn't feel right. So, even if she would die for it, she would fight.
She raised her sword in front of her. Something about the weapon called to her, like it belonged in her hands. The feeling strengthened the closer she got to the fight.
Crystal stepped behind a wolf creature, which was currently busy fighting two of the soldiers. The soldiers cowered behind their shields. Each slash of the creature's claws seemed to create new dents and rips in the metal. Occasionally, a sword would strike from behind the shields, but what Crystal saw flying from the attack was not blood.
Instead, sparks flew from wherever the swords hit the creature. It was as if its fur was made from metal. Perhaps… perhaps it was made from metal. It certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing about the situation.
If that were the case, then killing the wolf would be much harder than she had initially believed. First, they were abnormally strong. And now, they had iron fur. Which… was ridiculous.
Crystal was behind the wolf, to its right now, watching as it snapped and slashed at the poor soldiers. She took in a deep breath, then ran towards it, and lowered her shoulder. Whatever this creature was, it must have weak spots. So, she simply had to expose those weak spots.
She slammed into the wolf, pushing up with her legs. The wolf let out a small snarl of surprise, but it was too late for it to do anything about it.
While the wolf didn't fly through the air like Crystal had, it did flip over. And there, on its soft underbelly, the fur was incredibly sparse. Before the wolf could flip itself, or do anything that would ruin her plan, Crystal attacked. She raised her sword high above her head, and brought it down on the vulnerable stomach.
The sword pushed through the wolf's body, and a river of blood flowed from the devastating wound. A pitiful sound escaped from the creature, and it struggled weakly, but it was of no use. The life faded from its eyes, to the relief of Crystal.
She stepped back, sighing in relief.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Iron Fur Wolf.]
[You have received a Memory, Foresight.]
She screamed in shock from the voice that spoke into her head. Then she calmed down, thinking to herself. The voice was familiar to her. In fact, she hadn't realized it at the time, but it had spoken to her at the beginning of all this mess. Something about a "Nightmare Spell" and "First Trial".
But that's not why it was familiar. It felt familiar to her then, too. But… she, for the life of her, could not figure out why.
The voice spoke of many, many strange things. What was a Dormant Beast? It must have been the wolf she had just killed, which apparently had a name, as well. Was Dormant Beast a title? A classification?
And what was a Memory? Had she received it after killing the Beast? Oh… did the man mean Beast literally? As in, describing the creature attacking them? Ah well, not exactly her fault for not knowing.
Back to her Memory… and she was sure that was a capital M. What was it called? …Foresight?
As soon as she thought about the word, shimmering golden runes appeared in her view.
Memory: [Foresight]
Memory Rank: [Dormant]
Memory Type: [Tool]
Memory Description: [Those who know their enemy have already won the fight.]
She stared blankly at the runes. She knew she couldn't read them. They were some foreign script that she had never seen. And yet, she could completely understand their meaning.
This was getting ridiculous. First she was thrown into some desert. Then the creatures were way too strong. Now… this? She had to be dreaming. No other way this could happen.
Anyways, there was that word again. "Dormant." The… system… called it a Rank. Did that mean there were other Ranks? How did Dormant place in the rankings?
Okay. So she had… a Dormant Memory. And it was apparently a tool. The description was absolutely useless, just some random words, as far as she was concerned.
So… what did the Memory do? She assumed it had a physical form. Otherwise, it would be pretty useless. Well, the description… runes? Had appeared based on her thoughts. So… maybe the Memory would too? She tried willing it into existence.
When she did, golden sparks appeared around her hand, weaving back and forth in a mesmerizing pattern. Crystal watched the process, and saw a small metallic sheet appear in her hands. After a second or two, the sparks disappeared, apparently done with their process of summoning the Memory.
On the left and right edges of the sheet, dim lights were clustered. As Crystal watched, a few lights blinked off.
She had… absolutely no idea what that meant. She lowered her hand, letting the Memory drop to the sand. She had more important things to worry about, and she had spent far too long exploring this system.
After all, there was another Beast to kill.