Chapitre 10: Confronting the Wolves
Right as the two clashed in the air.
The impact sent shivers down Raian's spine as the wolf's teeth clashed against the outer edge of his shield, easily sending him to the ground as the huge wolf pounced on him in a single motion. Despite the added weight from the wolf, Raian held his ground and quickly pulled his legs near his chest. While the wolf was still gnawing on his shield, Raian kicked upward with all his might.
Raian had just dismounted the wolf that had pinned him down with a successful upward kick. He quickly rolled back and formed his initial position before the clash. As he started to march forward, he suddenly felt his right palm empty. He looked at his hand and realized that the sword he was holding was no longer there.
'Oh' Momentarily confused, Raian's gaze shifted towards the wolf he had just defeated. He noticed that the sword he had lodged into the wolf's eye was still there, and the beast was growling furiously in anger.
Raian couldn't help but let out a breath at his forgetfulness. Oh, right, he thought to himself, forgot I did that. Smiling at his achievement, Raian decided to unsummon the sword from the wolf's eye. It disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the wolf in anger.
He wasn't called Star Eyed Raian in the slums for nothing. Maybe he was called that because of his dreams instead of his fighting prowess.
Right at the moment of the clash Raian knew he wouldn't be able to overpower the wolf he moved back, instead of fighting the wolf for control he gave up and let the wolf win, that gave him the moment to drive his sword into the wolf's eye and break his fall afterwards.
Humans in Raian's mind had the best evolution in theory, Wolves on the other hand didn't get the best hand, sure they were faster and more agile, but all that speed and agility gave one big weakness, and their main attack of biting made them extremely vulnerable unless they finish their prey in one strike. Using that to his advantage, Raian tried to stab the wolf in the eye and directly pierce his brain.
As he waited for his sword to be summoned, the second wolf attacked him from behind. Not so gracefully he dodged the attack by squatting down deeply getting shallow cuts from the exposed claw, raising himself he looked at the vulnerable back of the wolf but he had no weapon to counterattack. Raian was still waiting for the sword to be summoned back, but it had yet to appear in his grip.
Feeling the bloodlust coming his way from the first wolf, Raian blamed himself for not eliminating one of them while they didn't expect it but alas, he failed his only chance of clean victory. Now things were going to be much more difficult.
Behind Raian the battlefield was a chaotic dance of snow and shadows, the clash of weapons and the growls of wolves creating an eerie symphony. Looking back surprisingly there were no flashing lights of energy as he expected.
As Raian contemplated the battle happening behind him, his sword summoned back into his palm. Feeling the sword, he gripped it tightly as the wolves charged towards him. Without wasting a moment, he swung his shield at the front wolf, aiming for a parry. Raian thought that he shouldn't attack with his sword, as he was outnumbered and outmatched. Instead, the sword should only be used to counter the wolves' attacks.
Raian's plan was simple: he would play defensively, parrying or defending an attack, and then counterattacking with a little sneaky stab. The injured wolf was in front, with blood oozing out of its eye socket, making it even more aggressive. The second wolf behind it was much calmer, silently running behind the injured wolf.
As the injured wolf tried to bite Raian, its aggression made it easier for him to predict its movements. Although the wolf was rough, wild and predictable, each bite could be lethal to Raian, so he was careful not to overextend.
While Raian was successfully blocking the incoming bites and claws of the first wolf, he was growing increasingly worried about the second wolf. Despite his constant glances, the second wolf was just standing there waiting and slowly moving to try and get into his blind spot. Raian had to take unnecessary risks in his movements, as the first wolf had already managed to give him a few shallow cuts across his body.
Realizing his slow defeat if things go like this Raian jumped to dodge. As he jumped up, he was able to dodge the ferocious bite and dropkicked on the wolf's forehead right between the eye and blood oozing eye hole. The kick had no strength in it to deal damage to the wolf, but the real aim wasn't the kick. Slipping smoothly Raian quickly wrapped his limbs around the wolf's neck and forcefully brought the beast down above him. The goal was clear – a burst of power intended to dispatch the wolf swiftly.
He flexed every muscle, using the wolf as a makeshift shield against a potential second assailant. Hoping his burst power would be enough he flexed his every muscle trying to kill this wolf by hugging it in the shortest amount of time possible. sacrificing one of his exposed limbs or maybe two to the second wolf if he was unlucky.
Meanwhile, the second wolf started charging at Raian he heard a crack, no sound of cracking bones ever felt so pleasurable to him before, before letting go of the wolf's neck Raian flexed again to make sure the wolf was dead, it was only logical to make sure your enemies were dead.
Now desperately moving his limbs as he was short on time, the limbs from the incoming side hid under the wolf completely as the second wolf bit into the first missing his leg as it was slower, the previous thought of glorious sacrifice gone in a moment, Raian changed his game plan completely.
After the second wolf stopped his biting and tried to stomp on the carcass, he kicked the carcass onto the other with all his two might he ran back into the snow. Re-summoning his sword took much longer than he expected so this time he ran to get his sword back. Gripping his iron sword, he waited for his shield to be summoned again staring down the second wolf.
Quickly dashing the second wolf lunged at Raian from the side, teeth bared. Responding to it, he raised his shield, deflecting the incoming bite.
The impact reverberated through his arm, but he gritted his teeth, determined to endure. The dance continued as Raian fended off the relentless attacks, his movements becoming more fluid with each passing second, but the lethality of the wolf's attack was not in vain, each of the teeth and claw were lethal but he was learning the attack pattern. Not that beast had many.
As Raian struggled against the wolves, he could feel a surge of energy within him. The dormant strength awakened despite the cold, fueling his parries with newfound power. It was as if the very essence of the blizzard-infested land was coursing through him, granting him resilience and strength. Maybe the adrenaline was starting to rush faster.
With a burst of determination and belief, Raian started to attack back, a flurry of stabs mixed between his parries, The sword piercing through the air the wolf avoided them all until a sudden bronze shield connected to its face.
Raian seized the opportunity and struck with precision at the wolf's heart.
Driving his sword into the wolf he was met with some resistance but with his will and determination the sword pierced through the fur, not letting the stab go to waste he rotated his arm inward, causing the sword to pierce inside the wound, if Raian had pierced the heart with a single slash now the heart should have a gaping hole in it from the rotating sword.
As he rotated the sword inside the wolf Raian was suddenly bitten by the wolf. Panicking from the sudden retaliation Raian slammed his shield into the wolf's lower jaw, quickly releasing himself from the maul he stepped back and looked at the wolf.
The wolf stood strong, instead of falling on the ground the wolf stood tall with its limbs standing on the ground firm.
Biology had failed Raian again, he should have killed the wolf instantly, but it was standing in front of him ready to attack again. Quickly analyzing the injury, he looked at his right shoulder, as it bled Raian had mostly lost the ability to grip his right hand. One of the fangs of the wolf had gone particularly deep inside his shoulder.
Things had gone from bad to worse, letting his right arm drop to his body Raian unsummoned the bronze shield and grabbed the sword with his left arm. Now he was down two-thirds of his offensive power, but the wolf was barely harmed. 'The strike must have missed the heart' Raian cursed inside, his stab must have missed otherwise the wolf wouldn't be standing tall and moving towards him slowly ready to pounce.
If Raian knew any gods, he would begin praying to them, but he was a wholehearted atheist, he didn't even know the name of one god.
Laughing internally at himself attempting to pray to gods he readied himself to a battle of death. 'One of us is dying alright but it isn't going to be me.'
As Raian began running towards the wolf to dodge its first attack to counter it, a sudden hand rose behind the wolf. The hand was open, but the fingers were connected forming a knife hand.
Before the wolf could realize the presence behind it the hand descended below, crashing into its head and breaking through any sort of resistance the hand had decimated the wolf, placing its now head inside its stomach area with bones sticking out.
Realizing the threat vanishes, Raian blinks a few times to see Geralt kneeling beside the wolf pulling back his bloody hand. Raian had tuned out everything besides the wolf, it was one of his bad habits. During a fight in the slums Raian effectively almost died because of this bad habit, mostly getting ambushed when there should be no chance of ambush in the first place.
Pulling his hand back Geralt rose and walked towards Raian smiling, in no time Geralt was nearing Raian, green light energy glowed on the hand that killed the wolf evaporating the bloodstain on his arm he patted Raian's shoulder "Not bad kid you withstood two awakened winter wolves, maybe the second one was a Monster of a Demon because it was smarter."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone