章 10: My way

Ray ran into the forest as fast as he could. He knew that every second counted. Amy had no way to defend herself since she wasn't a fighter like her brother.

As he entered the forest and looked around, his eyes sharpened to the limits as he looked over for any trail or disturbances that he could follow.

'There has to be something, a clue around here. Something that could tell me where they went.'

As Ray went deeper into the forest, he soon noticed blood marks splattered on a tree. The blood looked black and fresh, it was still wet. The colour of the blood made it obvious enough that it came from a beast, not a man.

following the blood marks scattered around the area he eventually came across a dead beast. It was a wolf covered in black fur. Underneath its stomach was a clean wound.

"It looks like it wasn't killed that long ago…"

Ray was convinced that Gary and his friends must've been the ones that ended the life of this wolf for the cut seemed to have come from a sword instead of a beast's claw due to how neat it was. Diving deeper into the forest, he started to come across more wolf carcasses.

Luckily, these beasts weren't that powerful. Anyone with decent swordplay should be able to handle them with ease. Of course, there were caveats, but these wolves normally weren't considered trouble.

However, the fact that there were so many carcasses worried Ray even more.

He knew that Gary and Amy weren't the types of people that would deliberately make their parents worry about their safety. Something must've happened and it was definitely the reason why they still hadn't returned.

Suddenly, a scream came from Ray's right side. The voice was without a doubt, coming from Amy's mouth. Ray sped like a cheetah towards the direction of the scream.

When he arrived, he was astounded by what he saw.

A lone black wolf stood strong and tall. It was around six feet tall with razor-sharp fangs. This wolf was definitely not something that anyone with decent swordplay could handle. Gary's two friends were lying on the ground nearby. Their condition, unknown.

Gary was standing in front of the wolf with his sword unsheathed.

Ray's eyes darted around the battlefield, looking for Amy when he suddenly spotted the blonde hair and the red dress.

She was frightened and shivering.

Ray started to move towards Gary's direction.

The battle between Gary and the wolf resumed as the wolf pounced onto Gary.

But despite the impending attack, Gary wasn't moving. He was obviously trying to protect the person behind him. He held up his sword horizontally to block the attack, but it was obviously useless.

The wolf was just far too strong for Gary to handle. The sheer size of the creature made it carry such raw force that Gary was sent flying towards a tree, and now his condition was unknown to.

The wolf began to look around for its next prey sniffing the air, and it had found Amy.

Meanwhile, Ray successfully closed the distance between him and the wolf. Noticing that it was being distracted on its task of looking for Amy.

Ray took advantage of this opportunity to attack.

'You practised for this right, now's the time to use everything you've got'

Running at full speed, he didn't draw his sword and left it sheeved.

The wolf attacked, and Ray ducked down so far until his body was practically on the floor as if on all fours. He quickly ran like a wild beast until quickly bringing himself up.

The window of opportunity was there, and Ray had no intention of letting it pass by.

His fingers had always been clumsy with holding objects, he struggled with a fork, so of course he would struggle with a spoon. Making his fist into a claw like shape, with no hesitation as he leapt up. He threw his whole hand into the beast eye, penetrating the soft tissue.

A clear cry of sorrow and pain rang out.

Ray landed onto the ground on all fours like a cat again, avoiding all the attacks. He always did prefer crawling but the human body wasn't optimized to move in this way. It helped him control his body better avoiding attacks, but it also slowed him down.

Although he was better and using his bearfists it wouldn't be enough for him to kill the beast. He took the sword from his side, and clenched down on the hilt with his Jaw. It wasn't to attack with, but so he could have easy access to it at any time.

With the sword in his mouth, he stared right at the beast.

The wolf also stared back at Ray.

"These are my humans, they are not for you to touch!" Ray glared.

This was the fighting style was what Ray had come up with after fighting Gary. He was never destined to use a sword. His fist was far better, but at the same time in this era with his weak body a weapon was needed.

His clumsy leg's stopped him from dodging, while on all fours he felt natural.

He wasn't human, so why must he try to fight like a human, when he could just use a fighting style where he was good at? I was a magical beast, the strongest one at that. I will fight on my own terms, in my own way.

The wolf moved.

But at the same time, as if by instinct, Ray's body also moved. The wolf tried to bite down on him, but Ray was far too fast and far too small for the wolf's gigantic teeth to nibble. He was now directly beneath the wolf.

Taking the Blade out from his mouth he sliced at the legs of the beast as he went past its body.

It was working!

Ray was delighted and made the mistake of celebrating too soon.

Just as he slipped past the wolf's body, it raised its hind legs and swiped at his direction.

Fortunately, Ray avoided most of the wolf's attack, but its claws still reached and scratched him.

Blood began to drip down Ray's chest as his vision swam and blurred. But he knew that he had to fight. The world was unfair, always had been. He knew that if he wanted to live, then he must kill.

The wolf gave Ray no time to rest as it took that opportunity to pounce onto him. The wolf opened its mouth for another attack, while he forced himself off the ground by kicking the mud beneath him.

He landed on a nearby tree, but he wasn't able to stay there for too long.

The wolf bit the tree and snapped it in half.

Ray who was in mid-air recognized the chance in front of him as he started spinning his body in order to gain momentum for his upcoming attack. He took the sword out of his mouth and held it with his hand.

Like a furiously spinning top, he decisively landed a fierce attack on the wolf's head.

A sorrowful cry followed afterwards.

The beast sustained an injury that was far too serious for it to handle, and it eventually fell onto the ground.

Ray also fell onto the ground.

He was tired. Out of breath, and worn out.

The wound on his chest was still bleeding, he had been too naive and now he was paying the price as the wound started to itch.

Gritting his teeth, he raised his sword and stared at the wolf's direction. To be honest, he was in doubt if that single decisive attack of his was enough to bring down the wolf.

He stared at the wolf, expecting it to move but as if confirming his thoughts, a screen appeared in front of him.

<1 of 1000 Complete>

A mechanical voice rang in Ray's head and it read the messages on the screen out loud. But Ray's concern wasn't with the screen nor with the voice.

It was with Amy.

He had to make sure that she was okay.

And as if it was reading his mind, the same mechanical voice along with several transparent windows rang out and appeared right in front of Ray. The previous windows had vanished and after a few seconds, these new ones reappeared.