The Three-Horned Wolf

       'I really shouldn't have rushed at the zombie like that…' Blake mumbled inwardly, with beads of sweat running down his forehead. 

  A few minutes later,

   Blake hands rested on the hem on his shirt, as he stared at the golden haired girl standing in front of him.

   His cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment, and his brows were furrowed into a weird expression. 

   During the last few minutes, Aria had searched him throughly to see if he was scratched by the zombie or not, focusing more on his upper body since that was where the zombie struck him. 

   Although she didn't touch him inappropriately or do anything abnormal, the way she was looking at his body intensely, while searching for any scratch made him feel quite weird and embarrassed.

   However, he was still glad he managed to escape turning into a zombie. While his actions might have been careless, it seemed like luck was on his side.

   Meanwhile, Aria's face contorted into a slight frown as she peered outside the building, strategically concealed behind a wall.

    The air was still thick with dust from the rubble, offering her some cover from whatever monster was outside, though also limiting her sight a little. The sky was also getting darker as night drew closer. 

   A few meters away from their location, she could make out the silhouette of a large wolf-like creature, with three large horns jutting out of its head.

   'Shit… a mana beast.' She thought, the frown on her face deepening in annoyance. 'I knew all that commotion was sure to attract a beast.'

Growl!!

   The beast growled loudly, sniffing the air violently.

  Blake's ears also perked up in shock when he heard that growl, and he didn't need anyone to tell him before he knew what that was.

   "A beast…" He mumbled, instinctively moving towards the window by his side, before looking through it. 

   The image of a large wolf-like creature came into his sight, and his body subconsciously shivered in fear.

   "Hey… Blake." Aria said, sharply turning her head to the black haired boy with a cold stare. "You better not be useless this time."

  "Don't worry about me, I won't hold you back." He replied, with a slight frown on his face as he gently withdrew from the window frame.

   "I hope so…" Aria mumbled. Even without facing the beast yet, she could tell it was quite strong… probably stronger than the zombie they just killed, so if there was a way to avoid fighting it, she would gladly choose that.

   Just as she thought about that, her eyes suddenly lit up with an idea… but it wasn't one she was sure would work given their situation.

   "We might be able to avoid fighting the beast." She said, causing Blake's brows to curl up in confusion. "The wolf doesn't seem to have noticed us yet, so if we manage to sneak past it, and get into the street ahead, we won't have to fight it."

   "Sneak past it…" Blake mumbled, taking another quick glance at the ferocious beast. 

   'Can we really just sneak past that…?' He thought, his fingers trembling slight in fear.

   "I doubt it'll work… the senses of the beast might be too sharp to escape, so we still need to be ready to fight it." She replied. "But we still have to try, it's best we don't face that."

   "Yeah." Blake muttered, before clenching his hands into a tight fist. Aria was right; the pharmacy wasn't too far from where they were, and it was best they avoided the beast. 

   Besides, fighting it might only attract more, which wouid put them at a bigger disadvantage.

  With the two of them coming to a decision on the best choice to make, they cautiously stepped out of the building, moving as slowly as possible to avoid alerting the beast.

  Their simple plan seemed effective at first, with the beast halting its sniffing and slowly turning around.

   'Did it work?' Blake mumbled inwardly, with sweat pooling around his forehead. With every step he took, he felt as if his heart was about to fall out with how fast it was beating.

   However, just as they were about to fully cross unto the other side, the mana beast halted its footsteps, before swiftly turning around with a loud snarl.

Growl!!!

   The wolf beast growled loudly again, as it charged at the duo with drool leaking down its fangs.

   Although they hadn't let down their guard, the speed of the beast was just too fast for any of them to react to. 

   In the blink of an eye, the large three-horned wolf closed in on them, lunging towards Blake with its jaws wide open.

   'Damn it!!' Blake examined inwardly, hurriedly leaping backwards, barely escaping the attack.

   "Light arrows!!" Aria shouted, and in an instant, five bright, white arrows materialised in front of her before shooting towards the beast at great speed.

   The light arrows whooshed through the air, with two of them heading for the wolf's neck and the other three flying towards its legs.

   With unnatural speed, and wolf swiftly shifted its head to the side, causing the two arrows aimed at its neck to miss. 

   However, despite its quick reaction, it wasn't able to completely evade the light arrows targeted at its legs, and two of them immediately pierced through its right knee, with the third one hitting the ground.

Growl!!

   The wolf growled loudly in pain, as thick red blood slowly ran down its limbs.

   'This is my chance!' Blake thought, hurriedly stretching his hand towards the wolf.

   'Lightning Ball!' He shouted inwardly, swiftly activating his skill. Immediately, bright blue sparks of lightning flickered over his outstretched palm, before rapidly merging into a large ball of lightning.

Blitz!!

   In a split second, the lightning ball shot towards the wolf's head at insane speed, leaving a small trail of lightning. 

Boom!!

   The lightning attack struck the mana beast right below its chin, crackling violently before erupting into a powerful explosion that forcefully jerked the wolf's head upwards.

Growl!! 

   The wolf growled in pain and frustration, as the sheer power contained in the explosion deeply scorched it from its chin down to its neck, leaving a deep, charred mark.

   'Got ya!' Blake thought, feeling a slight sense of pride from landing that attack. Though he might have infused too much of mana into the attack, at the end of the day, it was worth it.

    'So powerful!' Aria thought, her eyes widening in shock. When she saw Blake use his lightning ball against the bony zombie, it didn't seem very powerful, so she was quite surprised at how the amount of power Blake was able to unleash with it.

   However, she quickly regained her composure, before charging at the beast once more.

   Due to Blake's attack, its neck was now a weak spot, and striking that spot with a powerful skill might end the mana beast in one shot.

   Apart from that, the wolf was currently distracted by the pain, so there was no better time to attack than now.

   'Light—' She wasn't able to complete her attack, as the wolf unexpectedly swiped its left claw towards her with an annoyed growl.

   'Damn it!' She cursed inwardly, as she watched the beast's claws rapidly close in on her.

   Since she had just lunged for an attack, it was impossible for her to suddenly change her momentum, so she was practically helpless.

   'Aria!!' Blake screamed inwardly, swiftly launching another lightning ball—a much smaller one compared to the former—towards the beast's limb in a bid to stop the claw from hitting Aria.

Blitz!!

   The attack flew through the air at insane speed, landing on the large limb just before it slammed against Aria, and then immediately exploding into a powerful series of blue lightning sparks.

Growl!!

   The wolf growled in pain, as it felt a familiar electrifying pain course through its left limb. 

   Due to the stinging pain, it instinctively put its claw away from Aria, before howling to the skies in agony.

   'That was close…' Aria thought, feeling grateful to Blake in her heart for that last minute attack, which saved her life.

   She quickly swiped that thought away from her mind, remembering that they were still in front of the mana beast.

   Thanks to Blake's lightning attacks, the wolf's neck was completely bare, leaving it vulnerable and exposed!

   'Light Manipulation: Light Beam!!' Aria hurriedly activated her skill once more, stretching her hands towards the open neck of the beast.

Thrunnn!!!

   Small dots of bright, white light rapidly gathered in front of her palms, before coalescing into a small white ball of light.

  In a split second, the light condensed within the ball shot out towards the wolf's neck in form of a thin, bright, white beam.

   Sending the danger behind the incoming attack, the mana beast instinctively tried to dodge it, but the beam was just too fast for it.

   Before it could even react, the light beam shot through its charred neck, instantly frying its throat, before piercing through the other side of its neck, leaving a small hole.