บท 4: Kargalgan's Army (2)

On the snowy slope of the jagged mountain. Nine mangled corpses belonging to the wolves could be seen lying on the ground, with six Awakeneds rushing past the dead nightmare creatures, preparing to defend and slaughter the incoming Orcs.

The battle with the wolves ended with a swift victory for the Awakened. All but one wolf was killed. And that wolf is heading toward Sunny.

Sunny could be seen coming face-to-face with a ferocious wolf. He pulled on his chain, trying to get the master's attention.

"Help me please." Sunny pleaded with the Ascended.

The Master barely spared him a glance and tossed a Dagger toward him just as the wolf attacked Sunny.

Sunny bearly caught the Dagger before rolling out of the wolf's attack.

"What am I going to do with a Dagger against an awakened monster? Do you honestly think that I can kill an awakened monster?" Sunny asked angrily, dropping all the honorifics as he narrowly escaped the wolf's claws again.

"I'll ask you a question slave, do you think that you are that powerful to evade the Awakened wolf twice?"

Sunny finally noticed, how weird it was that he was still alive after being attacked by an awakened monster twice. On a closer look at the awakened wolf, including the initial arrow stuck in the wolf's neck, Sunny noticed several knife lacerations oozing black blood. Once the black blood drops on the ground, vaporizer the snow, leaving a purplish black residue.

'So Creepy is a Poison user.'

'Since the wolf is poisoned, maybe I can win this.' Sunny thought as he tried to evade the wolf again, but this time he wasn't unscathed.

"urgh"

Sunny groaned as the pain from the injury flooded his head; even though the wolf's claw grazed him slightly, it tore through Sunny's back with zero resistance, effortlessly filleting his flesh.

Sunny finally realizes the strength of an Awakened nightmare creature personally,

He turned to the master for help again.

"Save me, please. You are an Ascended, right? It will cost you nothing to save me." Sunny continued his plea while the master ignored him. He then tried to attack the wolf this time around.

Holding the Dagger with his two chained hands he launched at the wolf, targeting one of the numerous black lacerations on the wolf's body.

"Tss." The Dagger slashed through one laceration, barely slicing an inch into the Nightmare creature's body.

"Grr." The wolf growled in annoyance as it tried to attack the scrawny little Human again.

Sunny immediately rolled again. He then tried to look for the other awakened for help only to see all of them at the vanguard engaging in an intense battle with the high orcs. Only Sunny and the master were at the rear, with the master refusing to help him; instead, he was watching Sunny's struggles with amusement. To him, Sunny was a circus monkey performing tricks.

The wolf managed to tear into Sunny's flesh again. This time it was his thigh.

Sunny grimaced in pain as continued rolling on the ground to avoid the wolf's attacks.

"Are you going to watch me die? Even if the wolf is poisoned, it is still an awakened monster; it will end up killing me."

"Then you die."

"If I die won't be able to find Auro's body."

"Do you honestly think that you're that important, that without you, we can't find Auro's corpse? You are just a means to an end, we will still find our target with or without you. If you survive this, that's good. If you don't, then that's also good. Our mission will be completed without you. It will only take more time."

"Since we are going to kill you at the end of the mission, it's better that you were killed by the wolf than for us to dirty our hands with your blood, slave." The master added throwing the end of the chain connecting Sunny to the master to the ground before riding off to support the Awakened.

Sunny watched as the master charged into the Frontline to aid the Awakeneds who were outmatched by the high orcs.

"Sigh."

Sunny sighed deeply before readying the Dagger for another attack.

'He is finally gone. I can now use my shadow abilities; I can actually win this. Those Bastards think that am going to die here. Am going to survive this and watch those memories from the past die.

Sunny quickly glanced at his runes before trying to summon the Puppeteer's Shroud. A bright light suddenly shined from Sunny's body, as the wolf attacked Sunny again. Thin black threads immediately appeared around his body and wrapped it into a set of armor. It was made of dark gray, soft fabric with several elements, such as bracers and shoulder guards, fashioned out of black, lusterless leather.

Sunny did not have the time to examine or study the armor before the wolf bared its fangs toward Sunny's neck.

Since he had no time to evade the attack, Sunny instinctively commanded his shadow to flow toward the Puppeteer's Shroud to increase its abilities before using his left-chained hand to block the wolf. The wolf successfully clamped its jaws on Sunny's wrist, ripping the shackles off his hand.

Sunny could feel the sharp fangs of the wolf pressing painfully against his wrist. Even with the combined defensive effort of his shadow and the Puppeteer's Shroud, he could still feel the might of the wolf's jaws.

He had to do something fast before the wolf crushed his wrist or, worse, flings him off his feet like a chew toy.

Sunny raised his Dagger which can be seen dipping with black blood, and made a quick gamble. He dismissed his shadow from the Puppeteer's Shroud and immediately wrapped it around the dagger, bringing it down and stabbing deeply into the wolf's eye.

"Howl"

The wolf recoiled in pain before flinging Sunny against the mountain wall.

"Argh"

Sunny barely got to his feet before sharp pain assaulted his senses; he didn't expect the wolf to smash him into the mountain; even Puppeteer's Shroud negated most of the damage; he felt as if his body had been broken into a million pieces.

Sunny and the wolf could be seen staring at each other with immense hatred; if looks could kill, both of them would be dead. Sunny was now weaponless as his Dagger was now in the wolf's eye.

Sunny glanced at the chain connecting to the shackles on his right hand; in a quick motion, he wrapped the chain around his hand as the wolf launched another attack. The wolf's movement has gotten slower and stiffer, that Sunny found evading it a bit easier.

'The Poison has taken more effect.'

Sunny felt a little bit relieved as he attacked the wolf; he wrapped his shadow in his right hand before punching the arrow in the wolf's neck; as the arrow tore through the wolf's neck, he quickly grabbed his Dagger from the monster's eye before hurriedly retreating.

The wolf was fatally injured by Sunny's attack but still refused to go down; the wolf managed to stand by, channeling his hatred for the hateful human in front of it.

'Fuck! Why won't you die?'

The wolf and the human attack each other again with great ferocity both ignoring their safety to end each other as Daggers, fangs, claws, chains, and fists collide in quick succession.

The Nightmare creature and the human both looked horrible as they lay on the ground. The wolf has lost its other eye and has more deep cuts on its body; its fur has started turning black, as the poison spreads all over its body.

Sunny was not doing any better himself; his left arm was now broken, and his body was covered with bruises and microfracture. He looked disheveled and battered with his Puppeteer's Shroud now looked ragged.

Sunny struggled to get on his feet before staggering toward the wolf, who could barely raise its head; it could only steer its blinded eyes toward the hateful human.

Before Sunny could reach the wolf to deliver the final blow. He heard the spells voice whispering in his ear:

[You have slain an Awakened Shadow, High Orcs Wolf]

[You have received a Memory…]

[...You have received a Shadow.]

[You have received an Attribute.]...