Wolf ran, mentally noting Call of the Netherworld’s aftermath. With his senses awakened, he knew that over ninety-nine percent of the normal fauna within the spell’s range had passed away. The ultimate death spell didn’t distinguish friend from foe, let alone innocent bystanders. It mercilessly reaped all animal life in the area.

As for Demonic Beasts, Wolf saw three Thornshells blocking his way. Thick bone plates covered the bulky quadrupedal drakes, with each plate sprouting several meter-long twisted spikes. Wolf estimated these saurians were mature, their Orders roughly around Eight.

Two other, unseen, enemies of equivalent Order approached from behind the saurians, but they were too far away. Originally those signals weren’t on a collision course with Wolf. Unfortunately, the eerie howl antagonized them, and they changed their direction, heading straight for Wolf. Two other Demonic Beasts of Eighth Order, which Wolf had already passed, survived the tidal wave of death. They also immediately turned around, rushing towards Wolf.

Call of the Netherworld did more harm than good. Even though the immediate pressure is gone, all tough Demonic Beasts are targeting me now. Wolf frowned with a sour expression. Wait…

Unexpectedly, Wolf sensed another change. The majority of Demonic Beasts in front of him veered slightly off course, changing their directions enough not to enter the area reeking of death.

Did Call of the Netherworld scare them away? In that case, it’s actually quite useful. Wolf’s frown turned into a smile, as he used the spare time to consume two Lesser grade Healing potions and patch up his bruised back completely.

He couldn’t help feeling annoyed at the healing potions and how inconvenient it was to drink them. Luckily, he had enough time while coming up with a plan.

Prickly lizards aren’t much of a problem, unless I’m crazy and decide to fight them head on. They are too slow, and can’t maneuver well in the forest. I can ignore them. The fast ones are gaining on me, and Swiftness is about to end, so they will definitely catch up to me, Wolf thought, taking them for cheetah Chimeras or Manticores.

The two enemies Wolf sensed behind the drakes weren’t quick enough to pose an actual threat. What worried Wolf the most was that he’d sensed one other distant enemy after casting Call of the Netherworld, but several seconds later that enemy disappeared without a trace.

That signal felt smudged, probably a distant group. However, Wolf had little attention to spare on this phenomenon. He could already hear the pair of pursuing Demonic Beasts roaring behind him, while Thornshells blocked the way forward.

Leather wings flapping. The sound confirmed that the two Demonic Beasts chasing after him really were Manticores.

Wolf had already finished the first half of Subtle Volcanic Blast, but it was time to pick a target. The question was whether to punch his way through, or to kill a Manticore, getting rid of a competent pursuer.

Thornshells aren’t a problem. Wolf chose to eliminate the Manticores first, then to circle around the slow-moving saurians, using them as a shield against the two unknown Demonic Beasts.

With an enraged roar the first Manticore caught up. It entered the scene full of righteous fury, only to have half a dozen fist-sized orbs of lava to bludgeon its face beyond recognition. One molten orb smashed the fangs of its half-open jaw. It flew straight into the leonine mouth and down the throat where it exploded, killing the Manticore on the spot.

Casting the spell didn’t even break Wolf stride. He completely ignored the Eighth Order Monster Core and circled around the Thornshells, still using them as a living shield.

No time for Arcane Storm, Wolf thought, sensing the rapid approach of the second Manticore. It would be upon him before he completed a third of the spell.

Less than two seconds later, a Manticore pounced towards Wolf’s exposed back, its jump assisted by the flapping of leathery wings. The youth ducked and rolled under the attack, letting the Manticore jump over him.

The leonine monster slashed its paws in a futile attempt to maul Wolf. However, the youth’s maneuver was too abrupt, and the Manticore missed. The Demonic Beast landed with grace and agility Wolf never expected from its bulk. It flapped its wings and clawed at the ground, pivoting around the claw it sank into the soil. For a split-moment the Manticore came to a stop before its hind legs coiled and the monster lunged at Wolf all in a single perfectly fluid motion.

It’s lower this time. I can’t duck under it. If I dodge to the side, it will use its wings to change direction and get me with that stinger. I can only fight it head on, Wolf thought, not bothering to run as he stood up from his roll.

The youth dropped Van Dale’s flaming sword to the ground, already scanning his Ring of Holding for the heaviest weapon he had, while moving his hands into an overhead grip.

In the next moment an oversized dull great-sword appeared in Wolf’s hand. Internal Energy surged to his legs and arms, linking the earth with the weapon as the youth swung the sword with the torrential force of an avalanche.

The Manticore’s head appeared in the oversized sword’s path as if the Demonic Beast wanted to offer its life to it. With a loud crack, the leonine skull exploded, and the blade smashed into its back, snapping the spine. Sword’s hilt broke and the thick blade deformed. Neither the weapon, nor the monster could take the overbearing power of Avalanche, the most destructive Seventh Order Sword-Sage maneuver.

My gut churns from that strike. Wolf assessed the state of his body while picking up the flaming blade and storing the Manticore’s corpse into his Ring of Holding.

The youth’s innards were shaken, and his arms went numb from the strength of the blow. He hadn’t received significant damage, but the rebound wasn’t comfortable at all.

Avalanche used the Sword-Sage’s own body as a conduit to transfer the power from the earth into the weapon. However, as the energy of the earth traveled, some of it strayed, damaging the user. The strike’s destructive power was on par with its advanced counterpart, a Ninth Order maneuver Mountain Burial.

The only difference being that Mountain Burial channeled the coursing power of the earth to strengthen the user and increase their defense for a minute after delivering the blow. Quite the contrary, if they hadn’t practiced Body Refining arts, an ordinary Sword-Sage would end up heavily injured after using Avalanche, but they’d fare considerably better than their opponent.

I can only use Avalanche twice more before risking the lightest form of Internal Energy deficiency symptoms. Wolf calculated inwardly, not that he had two weapons which wouldn’t explode from the force before landing the strike. Even that black hound’s great-sword got ruined after executing the maneuver once.

I really need a proper weapon, Wolf thought for gods know which time, before he continued running and evading the Thornshells.

Killing both Manticores wasted five seconds of Wolf’s precious time. A Thornshell's mad dash was on par with an adult jogging, and the Demonic Beasts trying to reach Wolf by going around them finally lost their patience. They tried to run straight through the drakes, and pandemonium broke out, which suited Wolf just fine.

Those five were the last of his pursuers, and they started fighting each other, losing focus of their goal. The young Mage gave them a wide berth, then fled towards relative safety. He figured he should get at least three kilometers away from the Demonic Converter to feel somewhat safe. Otherwise, Demonic Beasts could swarm him while returning to their own territories.

Wolf covered two hundred meters in two dozen seconds before another oddity happened.

An Eleventh Order Demonic Beast? No way. Wolf’s mind reeled for a moment, but the sudden appearance of such an enemy made no sense.

It could be closer and have a lower Order. Hmmm, he tried to rationalize what just happened. It’s near where that blurry signal abruptly disappeared. Some ambush Monster Beasts can hide their presence, maybe it’s the same for Demonic Beasts?

As soon as he felt the presence, Wolf started casting Subtle Arcane Storm, and slightly changed his course, to see how the strength of the hatred fluctuated.

Seventh Order, slightly faster than Thornshells. Wolf calculated the enemy’s power based on what he’d sensed. After considering the matter for a split second, the young Mage decided to avoid this Demonic Beast. It wasn’t fast enough to pose a threat, and he didn’t have the time to waste on it. Then, the enemy suddenly disappeared once more, increasing Wolf’s unease.

Half a minute later, the youth covered another five hundred meters, greatly slowing down the circulation of Soul Force for Arcane Storm he was still casting. If he stopped, he’d waste the spell, if he completed it he’d also waste it, so he found himself in this awkward situation.

Then another change happened. Wolf found that Call of the Netherworld’s deterring effect had ended. Luckily, there were hardly any Demonic Beasts coming towards him anymore.

In the following minutes, the youth used a combination of magic and weapon attacks to slaughter fifteen Seventh and Eighth Order Demonic Beasts. Even though each battle lasted only a couple of seconds, they acted like speed-bumps, and that Seventh Order Demonic Beast kept appearing and disappearing as it hounded Wolf, drawing ever closer.

Finally, when he no longer sensed the demonic apple tree even with his senses fully awakened, Wolf believed he was relatively safe. He only had to get rid of that Seventh Order stalker.

The youth turned around to face the pursuing monster. However, as he stopped the Demonic Beast disappeared once more.

Wolf’s senses were fully awakened, but he heard nothing. He took a deep breath. Other than the expected smell of the forest and hints of slaughter about him nothing drew his attention. As for his eyes, in this environment they were the most useless sense. His line of sight varied from two meters to several dozen, depending on the random distribution of forest greenery.

Nothing, he thought, pushing his senses. Then, the soil beneath Wolf’s feet trembled slightly.

It’s in the ground! Wolf realized and jumped to the side as the earth swelled underneath his feet.