Chapter 87

A moment of silence came as Amelia and I caught a break from the horde of enemies. It was only the fourth floor of this labyrinth and yet, we were being overwhelmed.

"Haa~ let's move…" I said while panting.

Amelia was growing tired as well. This is the most physical we've been since the last time we had a training session.

"Give me… a minute…" She muttered while breathing heavily.

The once-empty cave was now littered with the corpse of a thousand insects. Some burnt, some drowned by water. A lot is cut into pieces or pierced by ice.

I continued moving without Amelia. There was one single pathway to go to. A darkened hallway that was once filled with insects. It seemed safe to walk through.

We were still cautious about it. I held my swords in front of me and walked slowly, crouching down and lowering my posture.

As I entered the tunnel, it was completely empty. Except for the purple blood and dead bodies of multiple insects laying on the floor.

Amelia followed behind me, stepping over and on a few. My once-white shirt was now coated in a layer of sticky purple blood. Amelia's scales were also coloured in the same purple blood.

A howling sound came from the end of the tunnel. We both looked at each other and nodded before dashing forward.

We exited the tunnel and walked into another cave, similar to the last one. It was lit up by the same crystals that glowed in the dark. A light blue luminescent light. It gave enough visuals for me to look around the vast and empty room.

Rouge wolves looked at me and growled. Sharp fang-like teeth sticking out and saliva dropping to the ground.

We were surrounded on all sides, except behind us. The only way to survive was to fight.

"Take the left, I take the right," I muttered to Amelia before getting into my stance.

She does the same and gets ready to fight.

Barks and howls echoed around the spacious cave before they all dashed towards us. My wooden sword might be useless against them.

I had no choice but to use my steel sword for attacking.

As they came closer, I conjured up ice spikes to pierce through the hordes in one go. Spikes of ice shot out from under my left foot and stabbed right through the hounds as the rest whimpered.

Amelia charred the ones on the left using fire. Our strength as a duo was unmatched.

That was not the end of the fight. More began dashing towards us with anger in their eyes.

"Damn it!" I cursed out loud. "There's so many!"

I began to hack and slash through the hordes of wolves. I wanted to store my mana and only use it when I'm surrounded.

My sword stabbed through with ease. The wolves stood no chance as I danced around them with my swords, cutting through them like butter.

In the process, I left Amelia to herself. But she was more than enough to take on the horde on her own.

I looked at her with a prideful smirk on my face. But suddenly, a jolt of pain shot up my right leg as I lost focus on the battle.

"Agh! Damn you!" I shouted out as I stabbed through the skull of the wolf.

It let go of my leg and died on the spot. Blood spewing out of its head and painting me in it.

"You okay!?" Amelia shouted back at me through telepathy.

"I am!" I replied. "Just got bit, that's all,"

"That's one point to me!" She exclaimed while joyfully cremating the wolves.

Amelia and I made a bet amid fighting that I won't be hit once. But she refused and said I would be. We made a bet on who gets hit the most.

Seems like I'll be falling behind in points for now.

The pack of wolves saw our teamwork and durability. They realised it would be futile. We aren't an easy target. Only a dozen or two were left to fight us now.

All of them whimpered in fear as Amelia and I regrouped. Both of my swords were painted red and my face was covered in all sorts of blood.

"Follow them. They should lead us somewhere good," I told Amelia before dashing after them.

"You think?" She questioned. "What if it's just their hideout?"

"Even better!" I replied in haste. "That means we can kill them all!"

The wolves ran off into one of the two tunnels. It was littered with burnt wolf corpses. The smell of burnt fur and wolf meat spread across the tunnel and the cave.

"Don't use fire, use electricity," I told Amelia. "It smells terrible!"

"Good idea!" She shouted back.

We kept up with the wolves fairly easily. They were no match to keep up with. It was a long maze-like tunnel. Unlike before they just led into a cave or two. This one was confusing.

"Do you remember the way back?" Amelia asked me as we turned a corner.

"Pretty much," I replied. "We took three rights and two lefts,"

If we are running through a maze, I should keep count of how many turns we take or do not take. We need to escape after clearing this entire cave.

After a while of running after the wolves, we reached the end of the maze. As expected, it was a room full of more wolves. Packed with the females and the babies.

"Seems like we walked into their den," I told Amelia. "Leave none, kill all,"

"Even the babies!?" Amelia turned to me in shock.

"When you do pest control, you don't only kill the insects. You kill the larva and the eggs along with the adults," I told her before dashing forward.

All the wolves attacked me first. I stabbed through them with ease. Using wind blades and electricity to make it easier.

The females were dangerous. A mother will fight rabidly to protect her child. This was a prime example of it.

Female wolves were aggressive and continued to surround me in patterns I did not expect. It was like fighting a beast let loose.

"Watch your eight!" Amelia shouted to me through telepathy.

I whipped around to see a wolf jumping at me. With only a split second to spare, I rolled under and barely managed to dodge it.

"Thanks for the heads up," I replied before incinerating the pack in front of me.

"I won't lie, I've been hit as well," Amelia admitted. "One managed to scratch me on my tail,"

"Is it bad?" I asked while killing a few wolf cubs.

"No, it barely managed to get to my skin,"

"Stay alert. Female wolves are much more aggressive,"

We managed to fight through the multiple hordes. We diminished the number of wolves from hundreds to barely thirty. The fight seemed over.

But as we closed the numbers even more, an unexpected foe appeared.

"A-Amelia…" I stuttered out.

The ground and the walls around us rumbled. As I stared at the wide tunnel in front of me, a massive beast arrived in front of me. It was the same size as the devilish hound I fought in Redwater.

Glowing blue eyes and teeth larger than my own body. Grey fur that could be mistaken for scales The King wolf.

"What?" Amelia said as she finished killing the cubs.

She stared at me as it slowly walked out of the massive tunnel, entering the room too big for itself.

Its entire body came out of the tunnel and stood there for a moment. Suddenly, it let out a deafening roar that shook the cave once again.

"Amelia, this is for you," I said while a tired yet arrogant smirk breaks from my lips.

She wasted no time and began changing her size. The wolf looked past me and at the glowing light that came from behind me.

Amelia grew to twice the size of the wolf. Growing wings and standing on her hind legs. Staring down at it as she stood tall.

She roared back at it as it looked up. Her roar was far more fierce and terrifying than any puny King wolf's roar. Compared to hers, it was like a cat's angered growl

The beast that I at first thought was impossible to kill, was now whining and whimpering in front of me.

With no mercy, Amelia clawed at the wolf with her arms. It dropped the beast to its side and left a bleeding scar on its face.

I should not stand in the middle.

"Stand back, let me handle this!" She said in a voice that did not fit her body.

"I think I knew that!" I shouted back as I ran for safety.

I ran towards the tunnel we came in from. It would be safer for me to stand far from two titans having a brawl.

The wolf slowly got back on its feet but tried to run away. Amelia has no mercy, however. She clawed the tail of the wolf and dragged it back as it cried and howled in pain.

She turned him on his back and bit into its neck. The wolf stood no chance. It cried and howled in agony as Amelia dug deeper into its neck.

Blood began sprouting out of the neck and covering Amelia's body in a red mess. The wolf tried its best to claw at Amelia but her scales denied it. Her scales were too strong for the weak claws.

Slowly, the wolf stopped protesting against Amelia. Its limbs slowly gave out and before long, the wolf breathed its last breath.

"Good going," I said while walking out of the tunnel.

Amelia stood on all fours on top of the mighty wolf. She turned and looked down at me with her blazing yellow eyes, piercing through me.

"Too easy!" She exclaimed, overjoyed by her kill.

"Let's stop here for today. It's been more than two hours of fighting.

Amelia's colossal body began glowing a white luminescent light before growing smaller. It became smaller till she was back to her fox form.

"I'm tired but we could keep going," She said while walking back to me.

"I'd rather rest here," I said while walking past her. "We have a supply of meat we can cook,"

"Meats on the menu today!" She exclaimed with joy.

I put my rucksack on the ground, finding a clearing in the bloody mess we made. We couldn't stay here for too long. The scent of blood will bring more creatures to us.

"Here, take this," I told Amelia as I threw a few sticks of wood to her.

She caught them with her mouth and placed them on dry ground. "Fire?" She questioned.

"Yes, let's cook this guy,"

I picked up a few stones from the surrounding area and placed them in a circle. Amelia put the wood inside the circle and I threw in a torch for good measure.

"I'll light it!" Amelia said before shooting a ball of fire.

It lit ablaze and illuminated the surrounding. It wasn't much but it's better than nothing.

"Time to cut apart this fat boy!"

ALEXANDER'S POV

The sun had already set an hour ago. The carriage slowly trotted through the familiar lush forest as I sat in the back. Uncle Regulus was away and someone had to substitute for him.

A familiar scent came from outside. The smell of nature. It filled me with nostalgia and joy.

Glimmers of light rays went through the glass in front. The lights were not from the carriage, it was from the houses.

I looked in front with a wide smile and saw the town slowly come to view. The small huts are made of earth and straw. But one underwhelming fact about the town still stayed the same.

The road was still only carved out of the ground. Unlike every other developed town that had stone-paved roads, we were still living with such disgraceful conditions.

My smile slowly turned into a frown as we entered the sleeping town. Everyone slept early around here. Only to wake up at the break of dawn and start work.

"It's quite silent today, isn't it?" I asked the chauffeur as we drove through the empty streets.

"Work starts at five in the morning tomorrow," The chauffeur answered. "Sleep is a must-have if we want to work at full efficiency,"

It didn't take long for us to reach the estate either. Since it's a straight path to the estate, we made it in no time.

The gates slowly open wide and let us through. The yard lights brightly lit up the entire estate in an angelic glow.

"Thanks for the gentle ride," I thanked the chauffeur as I hopped off.

"The pleasure is all mine," He smiled and bowed.

The estate doors were wide open for me. Welcoming me with open arms, and doors.

I ran inside and took a deep breath. Breathing in the familiar smell of home and food.

"There he is!" The voice of a familiar man shouted out.

I turned to my left and saw my dad for the first time in weeks. We shared the same brunette hair and facial structure, except he had a well-kept beard.

He embraced me and welcomed me home with a warm smile. It had been a while since we talked. A sense of peace washed over me as I fell into his arms and held him tight.

"Congratulations, my boy," He said while shaking me. "You and Artorius have truly created something marvellous!"

My lips curled into a confident smile. "All thanks to the hard work and diligence of your son!"

He grabbed my arm and dragged me away. "Come! We have a guest that wants to meet you!" Father said with a wide smile, a genuine smile.

"A guest?" I raised an eyebrow. "Who is it?"

"Oh~ you will see," He said while dragging me into the living room.

I was skeptical of who it was. As we continued to walk, a sense of dread and fear came over me. With every step, my heartbeat rose faster and faster, as if walking to my demise.

We walked into the living room and turned to the right. I expected to see my entire family seated and waiting for me. That is what I expected and saw, but also a person I was not expecting.

"There he is!" Mother exclaimed, overjoyed from seeing me.

Mother and sister sat together on the left sofa of the armchair. While the armchair was empty, it was for my father to sit on.

The person that sat on the right had a blue left eye and a hazel right eye. Cocoa-coloured hair. It was Olivia.

My heart sank as I saw the princess sitting elegantly on the sofa. Her legs were crossed and her arms were locked on her knee. She shot me a warm smile as father and I walked in.

"Hello, Alexander!" Olivia greeted in a gentle voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Father pushed me from the back and urged me to sit next to her. He gave me a cheeky smile. A smile that said 'I know everything.'

"The boy has been working hard these past few days," Father said as he walked to his armchair.

Slowly, I walked over to Olivia and took my seat next to her, keeping a wide distance from her.

Olivia wore a beautiful black dress that covered everything except her shoulders and collarbone. Her hair was wavy and smooth which ran down to her shoulders and sat gently on them.

"You never told us the kind of relationship you had with Olivia," Sister spoke up as I awkwardly sat with my legs closed together and my fingers fidgeting.

Olivia chuckled as the rest of my family talked with each other. I fell silent and looked down at my fidgeting fingers, trying to not look anywhere else.

My heart pounded faster the longer I sat next to her. I was not told that she was here. When did she come? Why is she here? I completely forgot about her since I received her letter.

Slowly, Olivia came closer to me. My brain melted as I tried to figure out what to do in this situation. Artorius wouldn't have helped me here either!

"Hey, Alexander," She whispered in my ear. "Why are you so shy today?"

"Huh!?" I exclaimed and backed up. "I-I'm not shy! I'm j-just really t-tired,"

"Oh, right," Father said. "You've had a long trip, haven't you?"

"Huh? But I heard the trip should be shorter now," Olivia turned to father.

"It's short but it still takes six hours at most,"

"Woah, six hours!?" She exclaimed. "From over a day to only seven hours?"

She turned to me and looked at me with alluring eyes. "Talk about changing the world,"

"O-of course," I muttered. "We're here to change the world,"

I hope this night ends fast.