9 He Who Felled Our Brethren

Astaros awoke slowly. Not because he might fall out of a tree. Not because something had come near and he was trying not to alert it. No. He was simply trying his best to get out of the fluffy bed he slept on. Trees and dirt had been his places of rest during his journey and thus the fluff had become foreign to him.

He finally managed to escape the terrifying snare known as a comforter and rolled out, hitting the floor and waking himself fully.

No matter how old you are, hitting the floor while half asleep will always scare you. He began his day by leaving the Inn early in the morning. Though he had awoke at 5 o'clock he had gone to sleep after talking to Fillia which was around midday, so 14 o'clock. The solar cycles here were 28 hours and a full year was still 365 days, 12 months, and 4-5 weeks per month.

This was some of the knowledge imparted to him by the damage core when it first initialized. He decided to eat some of the last of his forest food and water before going out.

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POV: Astaros

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What I needed to do right now was head to the commerce district and buy some casual clothes. Armor is cool but I'll be damned if it doesn't scare the merchants and common man by making me suspicious as hell.

In short? it was inconvenient at best and downright unacceptable at worst. I walked down the stairs having deployed my armor and engaged my dynamic concealment. The Innkeeper, who was named Dryis as if that wasn't some form of weird foreshadowing, was wiping down the tables as I began to walk out.

Her mana density was definitely weird and she was definitely not a human. Let's see how she reacts to my concealment. Humans didn't react unless I came as close as a meter while Fillia would straight up look at me if I was within ten meters of her.

I started walking towards her taking about two steps, only for her to stop and look in my general direction.

The first floor was a large square which was 40 meters per side. I was around 20m away from her when she reacted. She might have double the senses of Fillia. I could basically see around 100 meters if I was trying and 300 if I did nothing but use mana sense. In short while she was nothing to me her mana sense was obviously extremely powerful for someone who was supposed to be human.

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POV: 3rd Person

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Dryis remained on edge till the door opened to which she said:

"Welcome to th-" {Dryis}

She noticed no one came in and realized someone had instead left. She then remembered what Fillia had said about Astaros's concealment and then frowned. Fillia had been right and she had not been able to see him whatsoever. If not for the fact that she had been on edge because he was staying at the inn she may have completely missed him passing by.

Maybe Fillia had been right about not going.

…

Astaros walked through the near empty streets searching for a place where he could buy some clothes for himself. He walked into a store called the "Pin n Needle" jingling the bell as he opened the door and startling the receptionist who had been watching the door bored. He had de-cloaked as he opened the door and then reduced his mana presence which Fillia had told him about. Though still imposing he was no longer a terrifying monster pressuring everything and everyone with mana.

He walked up to the front desk as the receptionist struggled to welcome him while trying to hide his fear. However Astaros simply asked for some clothes and even had his measurements prepared beforehand (he hadn't changed in size since he came into being so he just knew it by heart at this point). This slightly lessened the man's fear and when Astaros paid for the order and tipped him he smiled and saw giant man off.

After leaving he flooded the dark element back into his visor filling the slits which showed his face.

While he didn't need to do this, he had no reason to show his eyes unless he was trying to be friendly.

Walking back to the inn he opened the door, this time without his concealment. He came in and shamelessly greeted Dryis as though he hadn't met her this morning. She turned her head and huffed at him before walking away. It was amusing to him so he chuckled as he walked towards his newfound partner.

Fillia was sitting at a table in the back. He held up a bag and waved her over.

She rolled her eyes and got up obviously disliking this arrangement.

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POV: Fillia

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Astaros waved for me to come with him. It was time to follow the fool to his death. He put his stuff away upstairs and then we walked out of the inn, weaving through the now bustling streets. As we walked towards the gate I saw my party waiting.

"Hey Fillia how are you doing, and who is this?" {Drave}

I sighed and looked at him. How would I deal with these guys. It's not that I disliked them as they're skills were the real deal… Its just they kinda always got me hot and bothered on missions.

"I thought we were gonna meet up here and then check out the quests" {Nancy}

"Yeah I know I'm sorry I got a job I need to work on with my friend over here." {Fillia}

Drave turned to him and smiled.

"Hello sir how are you" {Drave}

He reached out with his right hand. Astaros looked at the hand then looked at him.

"You fingered nancy with that hand so please excuse me if I pass on that" {Astaros}

I choked on my spit and began coughing as he walked past them. Thana began guffawing and pointing as though she had no relation to them. Nancy covered her face and ran into the shocked crowd while Drave stared at the figure of Astaros who was paying the laughing guards so we could leave.

In seconds Astaros had caused disaster and chaos at the gates without more than 15 words. I ran to catch up with him.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?!" {Fillia}

"It was quality entertainment and the guards didn't even care about me paying a little less than required. It was a win win." {Astaros}

"NO IT WASN'T NOW THERE GONNA THINK I TOLD YOU THAT" {Fillia}

"Want me to smooth it over?" {Astaros}

"NO. You are definitely planning on making it worse" {Fillia}

Astaros snapped his fingers as though he had just failed some minor foolish prank. I sighed. What did I do to deserve this annoying idiot? Oh right I thought we could get along, my bad. I had been planning to observe him on this trip and then if he was trustworthy or at least dependable leave him alone but now? I definitely had to kill him.

As we walked through the forest I began to ask myself why he decided on such a dangerous mission. He obviously had confidence but he he didn't seem stupid. Arrogance? Maybe. What were up against is a pack leader. They have elemental attributes and can be considered A class if put with their pack. If we are extremely unlucky we may even encounter the current Fenrir.

The Fenrir was a S class monster and a legend to humans. To beast-men however they are very real. They live long lives and will choose pack leaders or alphas imbuing them with a random attribute to lead their pack when it reaches a certain size. Other races have never really seen them because they are regulated by the beast-men with only one being alive at a time.

"Oi were at the place of the first sighting. Once we catch their trail we will speed up." {Astaros}

"I know, I know just let me do my job" {Fillia}

"Are you still mad?" {Astaros}

I sighed.

"Yes of course i'm still mad you basically embarrassed my entire party and me." {Fillia}

"Sorry I'll do better next time" {Astaros}

I looked at him incredulously.

"As if ther- wait I got something" {Fillia}

He began looking around and then looked back at me expecting something. I could smell it. It was faint but it was a wolf.

"This way" {Fillia}

"Then let's roll" {Astaros}

As we ran I was in the lead with the dirt, trees and grass blurring by. I had to admit though he certainly had speed he also had the stealth to back it up. He would likely beat me if I was alone. I was a beast-man so physical strength was burned into my blood and to add onto that I was a fox-kin with mana to back up that high level physical constitution. So me saying that really did say something even if I was a scout class.

We reached a clear open strip of clearing and stopped. This was our battlefield. I jumped up a tree and took a seat. Several pairs of yellow eyes staring us down.

"I did my part, now go have fun" {Fillia}

He didn't answer and simply looked at the mass of predators within the shadows across the clearing. Perhaps reality was setting in?

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POV: Astaros

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I looked at the wolves across from me. They were small fry but three creatures stood at the back of their formation. One of them was abnormally large with a high mana density and the other two simply being a step above the small-fry. The shadows seemed to part as the largest of our opponents, the one I recognized as the most powerful, came forward. Fillia lept into a tree looking down at me. She was obviously not going to help so I ignored her sarcasm barely hearing something about "fun". It's coming. The creature was a giant wolf with a white underside and a red back. It drew itself to its full size which was around that of a shipping container. A long bushy tail swayed behind it as its giant paws forced it to lumber forward. It's eyes locked with mine and stared at me. A wordless challenge was issued from its toothy maw. I accepted.

It then looked at Fillia and who shook her head and then retreated further. She was sweating and she obviously couldn't focus as her transformation came undone. It was obviously no normal wolf alpha. I didn't really care though. The other two beasts advanced and locked eyes. One was a smaller version of the big one and the other had a black back instead of red. Its eyes were also a deep blue instead of yellow.

"Come" {Astaros}

The large beast then lunged forth with surprising speed. I blasted forth a blade of wind to intercept and the red beast combusted and transformed into a sea of flames, burning away the grass and reappearing beside me attempting to take the left half of my body in its maw. I punched its lower jaw forcing its mouth closed and then crashed my fist through its brown nose. The soft skin burst like a pimple against my fist, blood and flesh now slowly leaking and lolling out the side. The creature reared back and smashed into the ground kicking up a obscuring cloud of dust. The other two wolves now rushed towards me. Barks and howls were like cheers within an arena; their snarling and gnashing teeth almost seemed natural to me, a former gladiator.

The black wolf suddenly disappeared from my vision dropping down into a shadow while the other red wolf breathed fire upon me which became a towering crashing wave.

FWOOOOOSSSSHHHH

I waved my hand splitting the crackling flames and then using the earth element to lock the smaller red wolf in place, stones crashing into its sides and legs trapping it. I then whirled around slamming the back of my fist into the face of the black wolf that was halfway coming out of my shadow and leaping at my nape. Its lower jaw cracked out of place as it fell back and hit the ground unconscious. The small-fry were down now it's jus-.

BAM!!!

A giant paw smashed into me, flinging me like a bag of stones. I hit the ground and rolled back, dodging an incoming bite. I stood and caught the open jaws coming down on me, the sharp stalactite and stalagmite like teeth stabbing through my armored hands. I shoved the monster back, the dirt gathering behind its paws as it skidded away.

It bared its bloodied teeth, seeming to show off my blood on it's pearly yellows. It regretted doing so as my fist blasted into the left side of its bared teeth with the shock of the blow knocking out the teeth on the right side and cracking the ones I directly hit. The wolf howled in pain as its teeth hit the ground and then a second blow crashed into its chin shutting it up.

The beast flew into a rage now with Astaros now being the only thing in its vision. It raced forward with a lunging bite trying to cleave my torso from my lower half but I sidestepped and reached through the open hole on the left side of its face and grabbed its tongue, my fingers stabbing into its soft flesh and making it bleed. I dragged it in a full 180 and then lifted the monster up off the ground, over my shoulder and then slamming it down, kicking up a massive plume of dust.

BLAMM!!!

When the dust settled. Only I stood. The howls, barks and growls had stopped. The grey wolves walked out of the forest with both the black and red ones coming forth. My hand began to burn as flames licked down the side, burning away my clotting blood and cauterizing my wounds before forming a blade. I looked towards the two coloured ones who were obviously their leaders. I then had an idea and pointed my flaming blade towards them

"You will serve or die." {Astaros}

I wasn't sure if they would listen but it wouldn't hurt to try as they seemed fairly intelligent. They hung down their heads before taking a prone position. So maybe they did understand. I turned to the black one who was now also walking towards me. He then laid down. They definitely understood.

I turned around, raised my hand, and lopped off the giant monster's head. The sound of searing flesh seemed to make the wolves flinch. I dug my fingers into the giant cheek of the rolling head and hefted onto my shoulder while the request sphere which I had pulled from my core flashed green.

"Lets go" {Astaros}

They rose and followed, the black one on my left and red one on right with the rest gathering behind. I looked up at Fillia who was staring at me in a stupor.

"CMON LETS ROLL" {Astaros}

She snapped out of it and jumped down, landing near me as I passed by. Time to go back.

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POV: Fillia

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I had watched the battle in awe of the power on display. There was no doubt about it; he was a true monster among monsters. The giant wolf he had faced was without a doubt a Fenrir yet it was handled with mostly pure physical strength. He moved with brutality and efficiency in mind, not a single move being wasted. I had hoped to watch him die but now? I could never imagine him breathing his last breaths.

I feel arrogant for thinking he could be tricked into a deadly situation. His confidence made it obvious he was prepared to fight and yet I overlooked it as some form of foolery. I had seen a Fenrir twice in my life and never once did I imagine one losing like this.

I walked beside Astaros with the wolves as we approached the forest edge. How the hell will we explain this?