Claw and fist
More wolves diverted their attention to Marcus. At one point, three attacked at the same time but he swiped them away in a whirl of fire. His fist swung in an arc striking all three. Each hit was like an explosion as the fire surrounding his hand assisted him like magic taking the form of a legendary gauntlet.
How was this even possible? Marcus had no way of explaining it. The system couldn't just give him magic. Without a second left to spare debating the reality of his new power, Marcus threw HIMSELF at the wolves this time. No more would they pounce on him.
Every strike blasted through flesh and trees until a mark had been left on the surrounding area. Turning back, Marcus saw Tozark becoming overwhelmed. Wolves jumped on his back and their claws' scraped along scales, piercing his ears.
Marcus took a step towards the dragon. 'What am I doing?' He took another. 'Surely it would be easier to let him...' Faster now. Marcus was walking, jogging, running head on into danger. Taking a leap, he raised his fist and slammed it into the ground.
The echoing blast tore the dogs from the dragon's back. "Are you okay?" Marcus stood at the beast's head, resting a hand on its maw. No gentle growl answered.
In a rage of frustration, Marcus tore up his surroundings. The wolves left in a panic but some were caught in the crossfire. Marcus begged them to come back. "Face me!!! Fight you shameless canines!!!" Eventually, their yelps faded into the distance too.
One final crimson notification presented itself to Marcus. 'Thank you... thank you for... for being the first human to show me some humanity.' Marcus ran over to check if Tozark was still alive. His eyes remained shut and a blue notification confirmed it.
'Class A red dragon slain. Distributing reward - red dragon scale armour and crimson dragon blade.'
'Achievement unlocked - dragon slayer. Distributing reward - dragon crate.'
Marcus' knees buckled and one hit a pointy rock which broke through the despair. He didn't know how long he rolled about for to get rid of the sharp pain but the rewards promised were just next to the dragon. Parachutes still tied on.
Afraid the wolves would come back and his new enhancer skill would run out, Marcus put on the dragon scale armour. He noticed straight away how light it felt as well as how durable it was too. A description written by the system informed him of two things:
1. It was fire proof.
2. No blade/projectile could pierce it unless diamond grade or above.
That didn't mean he'd survive being burnt at the stake in it or that a boulder wouldn't crush him. Still, it was better than any medieval armour worn by knights or kevlar vests made by the military.
The crimson blade was a short sword with jagged thorns along the blade. The steel was an alloy unlike any other; perhaps forged with the dragon's breath. The scabbard had an outer shell of scales just like the armour and the sword hilt was pure dragon bone.
It had a perfectly balanced weight to it plus the grip did almost all the work of holding the weapon for him. Marcus was only intrigued by the shape of the dragon crate. It had a convex bulging out of it to fit a bulky object inside.
Undoing the fine clasps, it felt more like a treasure chest than a crate. Marcus shifted his gaze once more to the lifeless creature who's death had provided him with these items.
Why did the system call him dragon slayer. Even if he'd had the most active role in its demise, he'd done nothing but try to save it towards the end. Was it purely the fact that he'd survived the encounter with it? That causing it to crash in the confusion brought it down?
Resting the lid of the crate on its hinges, the mystery was revealed. A glistening egg, crimson like all the other rewards sat there. So did a ring with a ruby at its centre. Marcus pocketed the ring and closed the case to take the egg back to camp safely. He just had to do one more thing first...
James was pleased that the running he'd done every morning with Marcus had paid off. He not only kept pace with Tarik but managed to take the lead when he began to slack a little. Their gap in stats was not so wide. Five other's were traveling with them. Jessica was one of them. There was also Rowan, Gavin, Michael and the 8th survivor from Rowan's old base: Violet.
A girl with purple eyes and pure white hair. Her skin was just as pale too. Although quiet for most of her stay so far, she had played an active role in fighting the dragon. She didn't appear tired in the slightest while they ran either.
Soon, they stopped to get a better inclination as to the direction they needed to travel in. Violet swung herself up a tree and scaled a vertical cliff side onto a rocky ledge. After scrambling back down, she motioned for them to follow her.
Violet led the group for the rest of the run but suddenly slowed to a walk. Holding up a hand, the others all came to halt. Everything seemed mostly quiet until a pack of wolves burst through the foliage.
At first, some of the group hacked and slashed at a few or made sure to get out of the way. The wolves simply went around them, not daring to look back. Soon the noise disappeared with them too.
"Okay, that is never a good sign," exclaimed Michael.
"When have you ever experienced this before?" Clary asked, her question accompanied by a skeptical raise of the eye brows.
"No, Michael's right," Gavin frowned whilst facing the direction they came from. "Not only does this scream danger but a pack of wolves usually consists of four to nine members. The highest they can get to is 30 before individuals start braking off and forming their own packs or they simply don't have enough food to sustain themselves."
"Well that's odd," commented Jessica. "Because I counted at least fifty or so."
"Exactly. Therefore, the animal and plant species must not be the same as they were before the collapse. That would explain the extreme biodiversity other than just the near extinction of humans," finished Gavin. They stepped past the trampled area where it was now obvious which path they must take. One was already laid out for them by the numerous paw prints and trampled ground.
Everyone was anxious as to what might have driven so many wolves away. However, when they arrived at the completely destroyed site. All they found was Marcus in his new gear laying a rock at the top of a large rock pile.
When they called him, he just turned around and said, "the dragon is dead." The journey back to camp was tiresome. The group hadn't realised how far they'd ran and Marcus began to feel faint now that his adrenaline had all but faded away. They all managed to make it back without collapsing from exhaustion though. Proof that they'd all grown stronger. Marcus' skill had indeed run out of juice for a while though.