Larm Forest was a very dangerous place. So dangerous that humans dare not step foot in it. Well, it was human nature to step foot into the unknown regardless of the amount of danger. So, why exactly did no one dare step foot here?
It was due to the presence of five powerful creatures known as the Tyrants of Larm. These tyrants all possessed immense power and were said to be able to take down whole adventurer guilds by themselves. It was rumoured that the strongest of these Tyrants could take down an entire nation if they so pleased.
There was a nation that had suffered from a Tyrant's wrath before and this was a well-known fact. No one wanted to introduce such a monstrosity into their lives, so they dared not bother with Larm.
Right now, in the West, its resident Tyrant could smell a blossoming fire. The discoloured creature got off its arse and picked up a massive club that was twice its size and walked towards the entrance of its cave. When it got there, the sun was not visible. It was night time. Yet, the forest was bright. It could see and smell smoke. Tiny animals were running about, none daring to go near its cave, but they were running around.
The Tyrant sniffed the air, and it tilted its head to one side, confused. There was a forest fire, but strangely no humans. In fact, the forest fire shouldn't have been possible with the way the trees in the forest were. It was like the trees were willingly burning themselves.
The Tyrant put their hand in their nose, picking out boogers. With an annoyed yawn, the Tyrant kicked off to go investigate. Not as fast as a lightning strike, but very close. The Tyrant of West was going to meet a seemingly very boring sight.
Little did the Mad Witch of the West know that she was about to have her entire life turned upside down.
***
'Ah! Stop that you damned dog!'
I still struggled under the wolf's weight. In a desperate attempt, I activated [Poison Gas Creation] to hurt the wolf's nostrils. This worked after I lost about 60 more health points. The wolf jumped off me and I slowly managed to move. I noticed I had the status [Broken Bones]
[Status Name: [Broken Bones]]
[Status Effect: The target's bones are all broken. All base stats decrease by 70% and target is inflicted with [Pain], [Internal Bleeding]]
'That… isn't good…'
My health points were going down fast. Like insanely fast. It wouldn't be long till I was left with only 50 percent of my original health.
That wasn't the only problem now. The ground was burning. Smoke was everywhere, making it a bit hard to breathe and see. Well, vision wasn't actually a problem seeing as I used other perception skills.
"Grrrrrr."
I looked back at the agitated wolf. I dragged my heavy body away. I had no chance but to fully activate the plan since I had already started it.
'Do it!'
I sent an order to the twig brothers. Ichi, Ni and San descended from the tree tops where I ordered them to hide and they came with Ichi's hand in the form of a large chainsaw. Honestly, where was he getting the idea for some of these shapes? Did he have access to my memories from before reincarnating? Maybe because I was its creator it saw glimpses of my past? Something like that?
They came down, delivering powerful blows to the wolf's head one after the other, so it were almost as if it were bobbing its head. They then landed, all making teasing expressions at the angry wolf whose HP I barely even scratched.
San whipped the wolf's ass, causing it to turn around and almost bite off his tiny head, but Ni shut Kuro's maw tight where as Ichi began the process of trying to cut it in half with his chainsaw.
Kuro slapped Ichi away with his tail and forcefully opened its mouth, wide enough to stick its tongue out and grab the arms into its mouth to be torn to pieces. It was left with San who continued to annoy the living hell out of the wolf.
I coughed a bit and leaned against the tree. My skills looked numerous, but in the face of true raw power, they were nothing but mere party tricks. If I wanted to stand at the top, what I needed was not brains, or tricks. It was all brawn. I needed power for in the face of true power, all could only bow.
'Guys… go back and hide.'
So for now, I would simply live to fight another day. I coughed up a bit of fire. The sparks were reflected by a shiny substance hanging between trees. My black threads which were not actually black.
'From the very beginning, my plan wasn't a head to head confrontation. I simply wanted to trap you here, where I laced the floor with a bunch of leaves I already dried out during the day. Didn't you wonder why the ground was burning? Now that they lack moisture, do you know what would happen when fire touches them? I'm guessing you wouldn't since you are just a dumb dog. Mitsuki was right. Cats were always smarter.'
Damn it! I cringed so hard to the point where I was proud of myself. I said one of those cringey lines the wise mentors on their death beds in shounen novels always do! Yes, I became a damned novel character. Unlike them however, I wasn't dying today.
I coughed the fire out. It was me adding an ember to an inferno at this point.
"AWWOOOOOOOOO!!!"
The wolf howled.
[The spawn San has been destroyed]
A message popped up and an automatic voice rang in my head. I paused in my tracks and looked back. The wolf was looking at me, the way its body was on fire and the ground around it burnt made it look like a beast from hell. I saw San's body burning before my eyes. It was a lump of charcoal.
I could feel all heat in my body drain away. My own heartbeat slowed, but was as loud as thunder. My body shook mightily as if I was going to cause an earthquake.
I knew I should have ran. With the threads I had tied all around and the way I had reinforced them, it would have taken the wolf quite a while to escape. So right now was the perfect time to run. So… why didn't I?
Why did I turn back with my severely wounded body? Why despite the odds was I able to fly at the creature? Why… why was I crying? freewe(b)novel
***
I looked all around me. My nest was in flames. There was so much smoke it was getting hard to breathe and see. My body felt numb. My feet especially. I saw blood dripping down then before me there was the wolf. It was covered in scratches, but it didn't have any serious damage on its body.
Damn it, all my preparations were still useless. I was still too careless. No, now I was going to die. I didn't want to die. Not now! I hadn't become a badass phoenix yet! I hadn't built a mansion yet! I hadn't gotten my monster girls yet!
I couldn't die now. Not after barely living in this piece of shit world.
I suddenly lost all sense of reasoning. The only thing that was on my mind was Survive. To survive I needed to Kill.
Kill. Kill. Kill. I couldn't die here. Not now! So I would kill.
An adrenaline boost caused me to surge with power as I flapped my wings hard, allowing me to meet the wolf on an eye-eye level. Through the pain of my leg being gnawed at by a wolf, I used my other leg to scratch the damned wolf's face.
Not even thinking I just let loose my attack. My claws had been transformed into bronze, then coated with my poison. I scratched the beast's eye out. Blood jutted out like a fountain and seeing as it had never known anything as painful as losing its eye, it let go of my leg which I hadn't expected. With how hard I was flapping my wings, I flew straight back, spiraling in the air till I fell on the ground pathetically.
'Ugh… Uuuggh! Aaaagghh! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This hurts! This really, really hurts. My vision was all red now with blood. My body felt very numb and heavy. I doubted I could move now. Still, I couldn't simply die here, right? With all my will power, I stood on my one functional leg.
Not thinking straight, I activated [Fire Breath] and [Poison Generation]. I opened my beak wide as my stomach was getting gassy. I felt like I was getting the worst sort of stomach ache imaginable. The air literally burnt my nostrils. It was like the very atmosphere was acidic.
I saw a weird liquid leaking from my beak. It had this sort of green with a mix of bright orange in it. It looked so beautiful, yet it was destroying my beak.
Yes. This would be enough to injure that damned wolf.
I looked at it. The beast must've sensed my plan, because now it wasn't squirming about in pain. It looked at me, it's eye showed a sign of pure determination and rage.
Well, this was the kind of fight I wished for in the first place. To be put on the battlefield and feel the rush of a life death situation. This was all my fault for envying a bloody boar. No regrets now!
"Stop."
The skill deactivated. My body collapsed, my willpower was drained. This was all because I heard a voice resonate in my head. With [Auto Mapping], [Sensors] and [Feelers] I saw a being in about a 200m radius from where I stood.
In the next second, I could only hear a big boom and a massive dust cloud appearing. Next, the big black wolf had been replaced by a single creature. The creature possessed a sort of grey skin. It looked short. Its white hair settled down on its head. I looked around searching for the wolf but it was no longer there.
I remember golden eyes staring at me, before my mind itself collapsed.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om