Twin bolts of lightning, red and black, struck the ironhide wolf on either end. The red lightning struck the nose, while the black hit the rump, and a moment later, the wolf’s body spun around before it slammed into a tree trunk. The lightning tethers remained, and the direction reversed even faster, forcing the beast to rotate in midair. Then, a last reversal overcame whatever resistance its body had, and with a loud crack, its back broke.

Orrin released his tether, sweat pouring down his face. Braden, beside him, was similarly fatigued, and if they had been fighting the wolves alone, they would have been at a severe disadvantage. Thankfully, there was a contingent of guards with them, one Intermediate Spirit Binder and the rest were Beginners. Still, the ironhide wolves attacking them were annoying to fight. Most of their weapons, even enhanced with Empowered Strike, failed to pierce through the hide, and they had to resort to clubbing them with their weapons. Those with polearms simply swung to hit, while those carrying swords held them by the blade and struck with the pommels.

Thankfully, his and his twin’s Facet techniques were effective, although their third Facet technique didn’t quite come up to par.

The group had been carrying a bunch of lumber, as well as some wildberries and forest vegetables. They were just a couple of hundred paces from the camp, as the crow flies, but nearly a longstride by following the game trails and avoiding the hills and ravines. They were halfway to the camp when they were beset by five wolves.

It was strange, Orrin thought. Wolves usually didn’t attack humans, and certainly not bigger groups like theirs. If they were hungry, they would go for the weaker animals and separate them from the herd, not like what they were doing now, which was a full-on attack. None of their Natural Science books mentioned something like this, so perhaps these creatures weren’t all that natural. Considering they had metal for fur only made that hypothesis more likely.

The others didn’t manage to kill the remaining four wolves and the beasts retreated by themselves. The one Orrin and Braden fought, was still alive, if only barely. It was struggling to get to its feet but its hind legs were limp.

The strange thing was, after a few moments, the iron fur suddenly receded and was replaced by normal fur. The wolf whimpered so piteously, that one of the guardsmen ran it through with his spear.

“Bring the corpse along,” Orrin said and the man nodded. They had to get to the bottom of this strangeness, and he thought that there was more to this than met the eye.

_____________

The stare-off with the three wolves on the river bank lasted for several minutes. And then, another two ironhide wolves appeared. Thankfully, Asami quickly warned Gwendith, and she struck even before the new pair came within sight.

Gwendith dragged her hands against the water and flung them at the wolves. The droplets turned to ice needles and shattered against their fur. She repeated the action with her other hand, taunting the wolves with the weak attack. The needles didn’t do anything but annoy them, and by the fourth salvo, one of the wolves couldn’t take it anymore and lunged at her.

The moment its feet touched the water, it froze and caught the beast. It tumbled forward, and Asami slammed her staff over its head, once, twice, thrice. The other two wolves hesitated for only a moment before they attacked too, and both quickly fell into Gwendith’s trap. The reinforcements came a moment later, took one look at the carnage then slipped away.

“Haaah. Haaah.” Gwendith struggled to get her breathing even. She hadn’t done much, but forcing the water and ice manipulation left her with a headache. Asami was shivering beside her too. These wolves…

They were tough and fast. Silent too. If Asami’s Facet wasn’t about scouting using the winds, the two of them would have been taken down without even noticing the beasts. Well, she did have her Animus Armour, so maybe not. Huh.

The camp!

“Let’s hurry back!” Asami gasped.

“Yeah.”

They splashed out of the stream and jogged towards the camp. They avoided the game trail and Asami’s Wind Scour was constantly active. They burst into the camp clearing into pandemonium.

“Yuri…” Gwendith’s eyes scanned the campsite but didn’t find her beloved. She frowned, but then, would a bunch of wolves that she could kill with reasonable ease even prove a challenge to the girl? Probably not.

But then, why wasn’t she here still? Yuriko loved challenging fights, but battling against weak and boring opponents? She’d just finish them off as quickly as she could.

She saw Heron near the campfire sitting on a log and looking tense. His hand rubbed against his calf. That boy had grown big, and she suppressed a hint of jealousy and… well, discomfort. He was as big as the barbarians and had a similar physique. Of course, the barbarians normally had a skin tone like the belly of a dead fish, unless they used their Geists anyway, while Heron’s was a lovely bronze.

She was fine. She drew a deep breath and approached the boy. “Heron, where’s Yuri?”

He looked up at her, startled. “No, I haven’t seen her since two days ago. You…you think she’s…?”

“Fighting? Probably.” Gwendith shrugged. “Those wolves…”

“Easy enough to fight,” he grunted. “My spear, once coated with Anima, is strong enough to cut them.”

“Ah.” Gwendith shook her head, slightly disgusted. Of course, he was baptized with the ability to fight like that while she wasn’t. Still, she had an Ennoia and he hasn’t even come close to touching one. Hmmm. Ah, she was still letting her jealousy bias her. She’d seen the way Yuriko looked at him, after all. Even if her ditzy love didn’t really notice how long her gaze lingered.

She looked at his leg and noticed a bit of a dent on his pant leg. “You got bit?”

“Urk. Yeah. Got careless.”

“Any casualties?”

“Two wounded. So far.” He nodded towards a couple of people resting on a pallet. Desire was next to them while the air shimmered with her song. One man had his leg outstretched and bandaged with a splint while the other person, a woman, had her arm wrapped in bloody bandages.

“Where do you think they came from? And why attack?”

“They’re wolves? Probably hungry.”

Gwendith frowned. She wasn’t so sure of that.

__________

Of the fifteen wolves that came after Yuriko, only five were left. The rest were either dead or had fled. These five were the most adept in their resonance, and she couldn’t help but force them to stay.

Not that they hadn’t tried to leave, no. But she was faster than they were, and her Anima reach wasn’t something the wolves could counter. Her perception aura was in full force, and even if their Anima resisted invasion, they had been under her gaze long enough that she managed to penetrate their iron fur, and look into their bodies. And their Animas too, but those weren’t actually that much different from normal.

She divided her attention evenly between all five, as well as the ambient Chaos surrounding them. She could see how smoothly the earth element moved, how easily it penetrated into their bodies, shifted to their Anima, changed, then shifted back to the physical. The wolves felt the invasiveness of her gaze, hated it, in fact, but they were the aggressor here.

One of the wolves stepped back, clenched its jaw muscles, then barked. Ambient Chaos shifted from its inert state to earth element, turned to iron, and by the time the sound emerged from its throat, a metal dart formed on its tongue and was launched to her eye.

She leaned to the left and the dart swished past her ear. Why didn’t the other four do the same?

Instead, one wolf growled. The sound made the air tremble, then an invisible force slammed against her condensed aura. For a moment, she thought that the ripple would bypass her protection, but it was soon neutralised. If her Anima wasn’t so robust, she was sure the vibrational wave would have struck her body.

The other three used the two’s distraction to flee, and when she tried to chase after them, the first two threw themselves at her.

“Tsk.”

Well, she’d observed their movements enough. It gave her a lot to think about, but she needed to sit down and actually ponder them rather than force them within battle.

She slapped one wolf, which tore its head clean off. The other one she kicked upwards. It slammed against a tree branch twenty paces above, then fell to its death.

There were eight wolf carcasses scattered around her, and, uh, none of them really fit to look at. Ehehehe.

“I’m not sure if I should be outraged or ashamed.” Rolland’s deep, growly voice came from just beyond her perception aura. “Ah, I surprised you. I apologise.”

Yuriko glared at the tall beastkin man, who pushed out of the bushes and onto the game trail. The wolf-kin was in his war form, a cross between human and beast. He was much taller in this form, taller than she was by nearly twenty inches, though only if he stood up straight. His legs were digitigrade rather than plantigrade, meaning he was walking on the tips of his toes, and his normal posture was slightly crouched, as though ready to lunge at any moment.

His clothes, normally loose when in humanoid form, were tight across his body, showing every bulging muscle on his legs. He had a snout and was covered in fur, although he still enunciated his words impeccably. His nose twitched, and he drew a deep breath while smirking slightly. Or maybe it was just the way his canine snout looked.

“Why would you be ashamed?” Yuriko asked curiously.

He gestured at the iron-furred wolves. “These cretins ignored what it means to hunt. They rely too much on the elements rather than tooth, claw, and instinct. To think that they would dare challenge a warrior such as yourself.” He gave her a low bow. “Ah, I’ve been sent to look for you. Many others have been attacked.”

Her pulse spiked. “Dead?”

“No.”

Yuriko sighed in relief. “Thank the Ancestors.”

“I don’t think your Ancestors had anything to do with it,” he said without a hint of humour. “Your training had toughened them up, and they’re reasonably competent to take on these beasts.” He nodded firmly. “Shall we return?”

“Oh, yes.”

Nodding in agreement, Rolland spun on his toes and loped ahead.

“So fluffy.” She couldn’t help but murmur as she stared at his tail. When his ears twitched, accompanied by a chuckle, she blushed. Ah, she didn’t mean to say that out loud!

They walked quickly down the path, following most of its twists and turns. “Let’s take the arboreal road,” Yuriko said, to which Rolland returned an offended look.

“I’m not a cat or a monkey,” he muttered sourly while his ears flattened. Yuriko bit her lips at the adorable look, even if his teeth were at least thrice as big as hers.

Still, the beastkin man was quick on his feet, as fast as she was if she didn’t use her Anima to restrict her movements. Not that she had that function active now, or during the battle. Well, it looked like Rolland was an able pathfinder, so she mulled on what she learned.

Jade Mountain Style had always been about standing her ground, using her strength and skill to deflect, absorb, or redirect attacks against her. It wasn’t the same as the second sword dance but they were similar enough that they meshed well. What the wolves did used the same element as that sword style, but in a vastly different manner.

The earth absorbed their footsteps, silencing them and simultaneously adding to the spring in their steps. They used the element to reinforce their bodies and made them as close to invulnerable as they could. As hard as metal, but it didn’t stiffen them up at all.

She wasn’t able to observe how they moved their Animus, as there was no doubt that the iron-furred wolves were able to use it. But she noticed how even and controlled their breathing was. Even when they fought, their breaths came in the same interval.

And most importantly, she saw how the ambient Chaos shifted to earth elemental energy when they breathed in and out. That had not been something she focused on while training the Four Phases of the Sword.

The forms did not include breath control and patterns at all. But, did that mean that patterns, any pattern, done right would invoke power? But how could she determine what the right pattern was? And if so, what did it mean for Ennoias? Did her Radiant Ennoia also have a specific breathing pattern to empower itself? If so, how would she find out? And what would it even do? She could already call upon Radiant energy from the ambient Chaos. But being able to do it automatically while breathing…that would allow her to cast her Radiant Lance faster, wouldn’t it? Or Shape faster, which would have a more drastic effect.

Ah, she had much to explore and learn! And it was just as exciting as fighting a challenging battle.