chapter 15: Boss fight II

[Species name: Blood red bark wolf

Species grade: D

Attributes: Wood

Height: 2-3 meters

Evolutionary history: The blood red bark wolf is an evolution of the blood red dire wolf species and falls into the 'Indutus lupus' genus, it is created when a blood red dire wolf forms a pact with a wood worm of the same level, the wood worm burrows into the blood red dire wolf's skin after it injects a mass amount of wood type mama into the wolf's flesh directly, this turns part of the wolf's skin into wood, giving the wood worm a suitable environment to survive, this process is excruciatingly painful and will leave the wolf paralyzed for a day afterwards. Due to the unique way in which the blood red dire wolf evolves with the introduction of a symbiotic relationship, they are one of the few species to have a common way to evolve without reaching level one hundred. When the wolf evolves, it will immediately become the leader of its pack.

Defining features: The blood red bark wolf retains the distinctive blood red coat of the blood red dire wolf, and appears mostly as a larger version of the blood red dire wolf, the main difference is the massive woody growth that grows from the creatures back, this growth can be shaped at will, once a blood red bark wolf feels that it or its pack are in mortal danger, it will completely cover itself in the growth, forming a wooden 'armour' that is said to be as strong as steel, this organic 'armour' gained the blood red bark wolf the nickname of 'Carved knight' in certain cultures.

Hunting behaviors: The blood red bark wolf does not hunt, instead, it will take a small portion of each successful hunt, in return, the blood red bark wolf patrols the packs resting grounds at all times, defending against any threats that may endanger the young, sick or elderly, they effectively forfeit their own freedom upon evolution and become the guardian of the pack.

Mating behaviors: The blood red bark wolf does not mate, or at least, incidents of them mating is rare, this is due to the fact that they will only mate with the same species and not their less evolved pack mates, it is unclear why, as their genes allow them to breed with the blood red dire wolf and make fertile offspring, but mostly the blood red bark wolf lives out a solitary life till it dies, it will even stop mating with a mate it had before evolution, though it will still care for any cubs it may have.

Symbolism: Due to the fact that the blood red bark wolf is formed from the union of two species that live in very specific conditions, they are quite rare, and as such have very little cultural symbolism, but in the few cultures that do come into contact with the species, it is usually symbolizes blind loyalty and devotion to a cause]

"Well," Alex let out through a bought of pained coughs, "that didn't go to plan"

He lay slumped against the tree, a dull pain emanating throughout his chest, fractures coursed over his skull like a spider web, the world was becoming more and more hazy.

"Well, you are getting none of my sympathy" Nicolas stated flatly, "You are the one that charged at a boss with no plan or backup, you dug your own grave"

"Yep" Alex muttered, ignoring Nicolas entirely, "My ribs are most certainly broken"

"Oh boo-hoo," Nicolas mocked Alex while throwing him a potion, "does this make poor little jack feel better"

"I told you we should have used my plan" he added curtly.

"Your plan" Alex gasped while chugging the potion, "took a day's worth of set up, which we did not have"

"At least I would have stuck to my plan"

"Like hell you would have" Alex snapped, "now pass me a few more potions"

Nicolas let out a disgruntled sigh and threw four potions in quick succession, all of which Alex caught.

As he made his way back to the wolf frantically scrabbling at the muzzle impending its view, Alex began to form a plan. As he got closer, the harder it became to form the plan.

He twirled the empty bottle between his fingers, he stepped closer to the frantic wolf, his thoughts becoming messier and disconnected. There were just too many unknowns about his opponent.

Then, he stopped, he let the empty bottle fall into his hand, the light reflecting off of the crystalline glass. He slowly rotated the bottle in his hand back and forth, its cut edges reflecting the light in a beautiful wave of fragmented colours.

"Fuck it" he suddenly said to himself, "who needs a plan"

With that, he lobbed the glass bottle as hard as he could at the wolf, when the bottle was about twenty feet away from the wolfs body, two woody tendrils shot from the wooden growth on the wolfs body, shattering the glass bottle.

Alex's eyes formed arches and underneath his skull, a massive grin split his face. He now knew it's range.

With a manic little chuckle, Alex broke into a run, slowly picking up momentum and keeping as low to the ground as physically possible, an insane laugh now erupting from him as he dashed full tilt at the beast.

When he reached the twenty feet mark, A wooden root flew at him at incredible speed, he barely managed to move to the side, the root skimming his skull, but the manic grin underneath his skull did not fade, after all, where is the fun in a fight if there is no tension.

As the root brushed past Alex's face, it stopped dead in its tracks, as if frozen in time, and the part closest to Alex's face began to bubble and roil, as if it was a liquid being boiled.

Feeling something was off, Alex dropped onto all fours, and just in time, as a similar tendril burst from the first, once again barely skimming Alex's skull.

As quickly as he could, Alex grabbed the ground beneath him and propelled himself forward, adding to his already ludicrous speed.

The wolf did not give up though, as a root shot straight downward from the last one, taking off a chunk of Alex's right thigh.

Alex winced in pain as his lifeblood stained the forest floor, but he had no time to worry about it now, he could do that once he reached the wolf.

Another root shot out vertically, Alex had to widen his stance so that no more damage was done to his legs, but this left him with depleting momentum and a root directly under him.

With little time to spare, Alex grabbed the ground once more and performed a forward somersault low to the ground as a root shot upwards, aimed directly at his heart.

Luckily, it seemed with each root added, the time to fire another one grew, due to this, only the front of his skull was slightly chipped.

The somersault had been performed directly Infront of the wolf, still helplessly scrambling at the muzzle. Alex stretched out his left leg and brought it closer to his chest.

With one swift motion, Alex brought his leg down in a heavy axe kick, directly onto the poor beast's head, the sickening cracking of a fracturing skull echoed throughout the trees.

Alex wasted no time, as quickly as he could he removed a potion and gulped it down, then, he selected one of the wolf's forelegs and slammed the empty bottle into its feet.

The wolf howled in pain as the shards of shattered glass pierced its leg, rendering it completely useless.

Alex was a little surprised, the muzzle had covered both the wolf's mouth and nose, and with the amount of energy it was wasting, he was surprised it hadn't blacked out, maybe it had other means of breathing.

Ah well, looks like he would just have to beat it to death without resorting to such tactics.

Alex raised both of his arms in a defensive position, adopting the form of a seasoned boxer, a light purple mana coursing throughout his right fist, leaping of at random intervals, distorting the air around it.

[Spatial straight]

His throughout a right hook, landing squarely in the wolf's side, cracking a rib or two.

The beast howled in anger, shooting a vine directly at Alex's head. Alex yanked the beast's head, so it stood in the way of the incoming vine, at the same time, the muzzle began to spark with a light purple energy and the wood began to bubble and distort.

[Void sprout]

The wooden muzzle retracted, traveling up Alex's arm like a snake, and wrapped around his skull, clamping down on any fractures in an attempt to hold it together, the lenses formed a pattern that made it seem as though he had multiple sets of eyes.

Alex patted his skull, feeling the soft wood fill the cracks in his skull, stitching them together with a rushed precision.

The wolf's eye widened at the sight of the woody vine hurtling towards it, but the gaze soon became apathetic and calm.

The root parted through the middle, becoming five smaller roots that danced past the wolf's head and reformed neatly after the danger to the wolf had passed.

Alex jolted in surprise and angled his head to the side as quickly as possible, the root missed impaling him completely, but it still caught the side of his neck. Thankfully, all major blood vessels where missed, but a sizeable chunk was still removed from Alex's neck.

Blood spurted from the exposed flesh like a gory water feature, staining Alex and the wolf crimson.

With a sharp intake of breath, Alex ignored the pain and pulled his knife from his inventory. Pulling away from the root sharply, Alex stabbed the knife upwards at the wolf's neck.

With a dull thud, the dagger harmlessly bounced off of the wolf's neck, a wooden shell slowly retreating away from the site of the attack.

The wolf gazed at Alex, a look of contempt and scorn in its eyes.

"Fuck you" Alex yelled with vitriol, unleashing a flurry of strikes upon the wolf's neck.

The wolf stood calmly, still looking at Alex with scorn, each blow bouncing harmlessly off of a wooden shell, not even so much as a flinch coming from the beast.

Alex switched the blade between his hands and dashed towards the wolf's side and raised his hand to stab downwards, the wooden shell already forming where he would strike.

Alex, however, did not strike down, instead, he dropped down and angled the blade upwards, stabbing out hard, and finally drawing blood.

The wolf yelped in pain, but did not panic of retreat, rather, it turned to face Alex, anger and hatred burning in its eyes.

Alex fell backwards quickly in a matrix style fall, abandoning his dagger in the beads side, catching himself with his hands before he hit the ground moments before a wall of sharp, wooden spikes erupted from the beast side, almost impaling him.

A deep purple mist began to gather around Alex's feet, swirling around them in a chaotic storm, tainting the ground around him a similar deep purple.

[Venomous dash]

Alex's legs shout out from under him and flew upwards with tremendous force, they landed squarely upon the wolfs chest, sending the beast tumbling away and launching the knife stuck in its side hurtling upwards, roping through its skin and flesh in the process.

Alex himself was launched skyward as well, dragged upwards by his feet through some mysterious propulsion.

On his way up, Alex snatched the knife out of the air, but accidently caught the blade, so when he pulled his hand back to ready for whatever the wolf threw at him, he slit his palm, rendering his left hand unable to hold the knife.

Grabbing the knife with his right hand, he turned towards the wolf, desperate to respond to whatever the wolf would do while he was in this vulnerable position.

The wolf was lying on the floor, heaving, eyes bloodshot, breath ragged, its chest bleeding profusely from a wound that looked more like a biohazard than the flesh of a living creature as it had shriveled and become a toxic purple colour.

Seeing this as a chance, Alex pulled a potion from his inventory and downed it quickly, feeling the wound on both his hand and neck seal themselves at rapid pace.

He turned back towards the wolf, now reaching the peak of his leap. From his position, high in the air, Alex twisted his body, hurling the potion bottle as hard as he could at the wolf.

The sound shattering glass rang through the forest as the empty bottle shattered directly on the wolf's wound.

This seemed to awaken something in the injured beast, it raised itself off of the ground on shaky feet, blood oozing from its open wound, a fire burning in its eyes, daring Alex to attack it again.

When the wolf had stood up, the woody growth began to writhe around upon the beast back, before seemingly melting, flowing like a liquid over the wolf's injured body, covering its injuries, extending its claws, and finally clamping down upon the wolf's head, obscuring it for a second before retracting to reveal a fully armoured wolf, ready to go for another round.