Chapter 23: Pack Mentality

Finally, I'm almost at the fucking castle. And just as I was thinking that another wolf appears.

"I see you defeated that slow minded Xorag. Don't worry I will kill you painlessly."

Ooh, blah blah blah blah. This is getting annoying.

"Noir."

Noir bursts out of the ground behind me and gallops toward the blabbering werewolf. It tries to block with its sword after noticing Noir galloping at it. But Noir simply phases through it and stops dead behind it.

And just as the werewolf turned around to see, Noir kicks it in the head. As it flies away, I see its head caved it like a crushed aluminum can. And it disintegrates into dust before it hits the ground.

That was unexpectedly efficient. And ooh, I don't want to get kicked by Noir. After getting rid of the blabbering werewolf we continue along the street. The castle is getting closer and closer.

And we face whom I think are the last obstacle before we get to the castle. Three giant wolves. Actual wolves. Even though I'm in city full of wolves, those three are the closest ones to actual wolves.

The look their eyes. The same cunningness, patience and the pack mentality from the way they are together. I'm sure this will prove to be much more daunting challenge than the previous ones.

While Noir and I face them, Fenrir jumps out of my shadow. Three against three. This might be interesting. Those wolves are more than three meters tall. And Noir and Fenrir can adjust their height as they wish. So, they start to expand till they get as tall as the wolves.

And I look like baby among these giants.

From the looks of it, the middle one seems like the alpha. I will kill that one. As soon as I decide that, I run toward it. And it does the likewise. And the others do the same too.

And we collide like trucks in a highway pileup. I hit the wolf in its jaw just as it was about to bite down. Fenrir simply crashes into the other wolf and Noir also charges at the other wolf.

After getting hit in the jaw, the alpha raises its paw and swipes at me. Just a as I was about to squat and dodge the swipe, I notice that its trajectory was above me.

Just as I was thinking that it missed, wolf that was fighting Fenrir suddenly bites down on my shoulder from behind me. And the alpha hits Fenrir across his face with its swipe.

Shit, that was coordinated so good that I didn't see it coming. After biting down on my shoulder the wolf throws me away into the wall of the nearby house. I crash through the wall and enter the house. While that happened, wolves gang up on Noir.

The wolf Noir was fighting tries to bite Noir, but he manages to dodge that by phasing through and just as he stopped phasing, the alpha crashes into Noir side. Other wolf Fenrir was fighting, comes from his behind and bites him on his hind leg. Just as that happened, Fenrir comes out of the shadow of the wolf that bit Noir.

Just as he was about the slash with his claws, the alpha crashes into Fenrir from his left side and throws him away.

I conjure up my katana and charge toward them too. After exiting the house through the hole I made, I immediately run toward the wolf Noir was fighting and slash at it. It rolls sideway to dodge me. Even though I attacked it from behind, it dodged me like it was watching me.

I think there is a connection between those three. Pack mentality. Thought sharing. This might prove to be problematic. Fenrir comes out of my shadow and Noir phases to avoid them and comes next to me.

Once again, we have ourselves a Mexican standoff. I'm sure we can take them on one on one easily. But their coordination is giving them an undeniable advantage over us.

"So, we will divide and conquer."

Other two look at me and nod. After doing that, Fenrir dives into his shadow and disappear. Noir phases through one of the nearby house and disappear too. Wolves search for them around and fails to find them.

Even their nose is rendered useless against Fenrir's shadow and Noir's phasing. After searching for them with no result, they turn to me. And that is exactly what I wanted.

"Come on then. What are you waiting for?"

I wave them over to provoke them. They hesitate for a while and sniff around to see if other two are nearby.

"Come you mutts. I don't have all day!"

I try to provoke them again with a taunt. But they still hesitate and wait. Yup. Wolves are patient and cunning animals. And that is how they are supposed to be. So, if taunting you won't work I will piss you off.

I cast my fireball and throw it toward the alpha. But it simply takes a few steps back and dodge my fireball. If it was going to do that I should have thrown OD fireball at it. Then let's do that.

I start to OD my fireball. But as soon as my fireball turned blue, the wolves look at me with caution in their eyes. Shit, they can feel my fireball's fatality. So, even if I throw it at them, they will simply run.

After realizing that, I cancel my fireball and make a bow from my left arm. Let's see you dodge my exploding arrows, then.

I make my arrows out of fire elemental mana and start shooting at the wolves. At first, they simply dodge them like they dodge my fireball. But as soon as they do that, they regret it. My arrows explode the moment they hit the ground near them.

This time their patience finally runs out and charges at me. I loose two arrows toward the other two wolves and wait for the alpha to approach me.

Two wolves swerve fall back to dodge my arrow's explosion and leaves the alpha to charge at me alone. And as soon as they got little bit of distance from the alpha, Fenrir jumps out of one of their shadow and crashes into the wolf, thus throwing it away and crashing through the nearby building's wall.

As for the other one, Noir phases through the opposite building's wall and charges at it. And like Fenrir, he takes the wolf away and crashes through the building's wall.

First part. Divide. Now, only alpha is here to face me. If it is all alone this will be a piece of cake. I charge against it and we collide once again. And once again, it tries to bite down on me. And once again, I hit it across its jaw. Making its head whiplash back.

While the wolf orients itself by shaking its head, I spin right and stands next to its side. Just as the wolf orient itself, I stab into its front armpit. I feel my katana passing by its ribs and heading for its heart.

And as it feels what is happening, the alpha rolls on the ground. My katana rips through its ribcage and comes out of it body. But that saved the alpha. Even though it evaded instant death, it is still bleeding profusely through its ribcage.

But even though it is in tremendous pain, I still can see clarity in its eyes. Unlike ones before, this one is tenacious one. I hold my katana horizontally and approach the alpha slowly.

And as soon as I enter its range, it tries to bite down on me. I dash to its left and jump up and bring down my katana across its neck. I feel my katana slicing through its neck as I fall down.

Its head falls on the ground with me. And like many before it, its body starts to transform back. But this time is see something I did not expect.

This time I see it transform back into not human, not elf or not orc. I see it transform back into wolf-person. Man with wolf ear and tail. This is interesting.

I wonder if it is same with the other two. And just as I was thinking that, other two jumps down from the roofs of the nearby buildings. One Fenrir took away is bleeding all over its body. And one that Noir took away got broken front leg.

This time I see rage and hatred in their eyes. No more clarity. Pack mentality, right.

"You want revenge. Come on, then."

They jump down on me. Their rage and sadness robbed them of their reasoning. I'm sure if they were in their normal state of mind, they wouldn't have done that. As they fall toward me, I simply impale them with my mana spears protruding from the ground.

Yup, they definitely wouldn't do that if they were calm. But their pack mentality made that impossible. As soon as they felt that their alpha died, they lost their rationality. They become wild beasts. Pity.

And like their alpha they turn back. And like their alpha, they were wolf-person, too. Now that I've seen them, I think this curse affects races differently. Orc with its iron will retained their self and reason. Elf with his sufficient energy control managed to regain his initial form. And those wolf-people became a full wolf but retained their reason and I think gained pack mentality.

I couldn't help but wonder what it will do to me. With my S-ranked willpower there is no way I will lose my self and reason. And with my energy control I can regain my initial form.

While I was thinking that, Noir and Fenrir comes next to me and shrink themselves to my size. Now, I'm sure I can enter the castle. I can't wait to meet the duke of Oldvale.

"Now, shall we?"