Chapter 243 Volume IV - Chapter 88: Surviving The Wolves
"O- Open fire!"
The frightened soldiers grabbed their weapons, the triggers were pulled. Countless bullets rained down on the wolves surrounding them.
The wolves were not extremely strong, the bullets could affect them. So they had to move fast.
Several wolves entered the circle formed by the soldier dwarves and rushed at the same soldiers, trying to avoid the bullets raining down on them.
It didn't take long for the area to descend into complete chaos. Although at first the soldiers were able to form a formation and move as a group, this did not last long. When the wolves came among them, they were forced to move away from their off-road vehicles, away from themselves, and scatter. Of course, their numbers began to dwindle with it.
When they finally managed to kill one wolf, two of their own had already died.
I frowned when I saw the wolves overpowering the soldiers.
"Rulhan... aren't there a bit too many wolves?"
"It's us who'll be takin' 'em down, and remember, not everyone's joinin' the fight."
Rulhan gestured to the field with his eyebrows, and when I followed him back to the field, I saw that everyone who had been standing in the SUVs had jumped out. With that, the number of soldiers had almost doubled in an instant.
This was now a life-and-death battle, they had to put everything on the line. Even the drivers, even those who didn't know how to fight properly.
And this was our real chance.
Rulhan stretched slightly in armor of the same design as those fighting in front of us and called out to me one last time.
"We're movin', let's go."
Immediately after that, without waiting for me, he rushed out onto the field, and while everyone else was busy fighting for their lives, he quickly merged with the soldiers and started fighting as if nothing had happened. It was so perfect, he entered the field with such perfect timing that no one even noticed him.
I sighed deeply, then poured mana into the charm on my chest, and as soon as I did, my torso faded slightly. It looked like a transparent thing to me, as if my cells were made of glass. However, for everyone else, there was only a void where I stood.
It quickly became apparent that the charm was damaged, I noticed that the flow of mana through my body was not as it should be and that it was a little strained, but I didn't focus on it too much. It wasn't something to worry about, at least not yet.
I came out of my hiding place slowly, taking care not to make a sound, and walked carefully through the wolves toward the center lander, while at the same time checking what was happening on the battlefield.
The three wolves had died quickly after Rulhan had infiltrated their midst. The soldiers were so busy saving their lives that they didn't even realize what had happened. Of course, it wasn't that important to them. After all, they were all trying to save their own lives.
"Hrrr...!"
My steps stopped, I slowly turned to the right.
A wolf was growling in my direction, making a meaningless expression.
Its eyes darted this way and that, not sure where I was, but it was agitated, even if my mana was hidden. Now that it was particularly focused, there was a chance it might hear my footsteps, I couldn't move.
I stood silently where I was, even holding my breath. The wolf continued to stare at where I was for a few seconds, and then it looked in my direction for the last time, though it was still uneasy.
We locked eyes, at least for me. For a moment I felt like the whole world was crashing down on me, I was afraid that the wolf had realized that I was standing there. I even felt a bead of sweat slowly trickling down my forehead, my heart racing and pounding against my rib cage, but what I thought didn't happen.
The wolf looked at where I was for a while longer, then turned around and joined its friends, probably thinking that it had worried for nothing.
I let out the breath I was holding, trying to calm my racing heart.
I hadn't expected this... really. The thought that a wolf might be disturbed by my presence despite my invisibility had never crossed my mind.
Was it because the charm was damaged? It could be...
Anyway, I have to be fast, I can't waste time just standing where I am.
I tried to ignore the wolves for the time being, I just walked past a soldier who was busy fighting and approached my goal, the off-road vehicle in the middle.
When I reached the back door of the vehicle without any problems, I took one last look behind me to check how the chaos was going.
There were only three of the wolves left and five of the soldiers. This 'battle' would soon be over, there was really no time.
I quickly walked around to the other side of the vehicle, made sure no one saw me, and opened the door.
As the door opened, I heard a sudden rustling sound coming from inside, and when the door opened all the way, the scene inside was revealed to me.
There was a man inside, he looked about the same height as me, but he was thinner than me. He also had short brown hair with occasional gray, and his green eyes were pale. The wrinkles on his face suggested that he was at least well past his fifties, except that he had a strange face that reminded me of the teachers I had annoyed in high school.
He actually looked like my previous self, Ethan. He looked like a slightly older and slightly different version of me.
"W- what's going on?!"
The man looked at the suddenly opened door with great fear, he couldn't see me of course.
I looked into his frightened, agitated eyes, and studied his body, which began to tremble. Finally, I sighed lightly, stepped inside, and lunged at him.
My hands were at his throat, squeezing him as if I wanted to break it, but the weak, powerless man didn't have the slightest chance. He was leaning against the door, unable to sit up or reach my fingers around his throat because of the force I was putting on him.
Finally, tears came to his eyes, he looked into the 'void' that would lead to his death and mumbled a few meaningless words.
"My d- no..."
He could neither finish his sentence nor turn his words into something meaningful. A cracking sound echoed inside after his last words. The man's neck suddenly twisted and tilted sideways as if all the force holding him steady had been removed.
A deep silence fell over the room for a moment. An eternal silence that penetrated me. What broke this silence was... a sinister whisper.
'How was it, Aiden?'
It echoed in my mind, overriding everything else.
'It was different from anything you've ever slaughtered with your sword, wasn't it? How do you think it felt, strangling someone with your own hands?
"Shut up."
I didn't even bother with him, with my wiera side. Even though what he said was right, I knew what I was. I knew what I did. I was aware of it all.
I'm a murderer, someone whose hands are already stained with blood. Whether I cut someone down with my sword or flattened them with strong winds or burned them with my flames or strangled them to death... None of it matters.
The important thing is to keep moving forward.
I pulled my hands back, glanced briefly at the man's lifeless body, but I didn't have time to linger any longer.
I quickly removed my charm from my chest, put everything I was wearing into my ring as fast as I could, and threw one of the devices, one of the three things I hadn't hidden, at the man.
The device, the size of a small coin, stuck to the man's clothing, emitted a few waves of blue light that spread across his body as if scanning him, and then it suddenly flew back at me.
The one-time-use rune inside activated as fast as it could, and suddenly, as if appearing out of nowhere, a white cloth wrapped around me and took the form of an outfit.
Not only that, it also formed a layer over my face. It wasn't just my face, it was rapidly spreading all over my skin. It took the shape of an old man's wrinkled skin, reaching even into my hair, copying the man I had strangled to death with everything.
Before the process was over, I threw the second device at the front of the vehicle, which connected to its system and began to destroy all evidence. The third and final device absorbed the man's lifeless body as if it were an object, sucking in his entire body until there was nothing left of him, and then it fell onto the seat.
At the same time, the device connected to the vehicle finished its job, so both devices quickly began the process of self-destruction and disappeared into thin air.
In just ten seconds everything was finished. There was no evidence, not even a trace of me, but in the place of the man who was supposed to be there was someone else... Me.
The car door flew open, and then a dwarf with blood pouring out of him looked at me through it. He looked me up and down as he tried to recover his breath.
Of course, as he did so, my face, my fake face, showed traces of fear without end.
"Danger's over, sir. Do ye have any trouble?"
"I- Is it over...? You are sure, aren't you? They're all dead, right?!"
I tried to ignore my suddenly changed voice as much as possible, thinking instead about the man's personality.
He's basically a coward, that's just one of the many things I know about him. And I'm sure I know enough, more than enough, to be able to imitate him perfectly.
"Haaah, yes. They're all dead, sir, no need to worry."
I looked out the window with an unsatisfied expression.
Three of the last four surviving soldiers were busy cleaning the blood off themselves. Nine wolves, all dead, and the bodies of the soldiers who had lost their lives were watering the ground with their blood.
I quickly averted my gaze, as if disgusted by them and startled at the same time. I even closed my eyes, leaning back in my comfortable armchair, trying to think of something other than them.
The dwarf sighed deeply, as if frustrated by my behavior, and jumped into the driver's seat.
"With yer permission, the other three surviving friends o' mine will join us in this vehicle, and we'll leave the other two here. We're not far from our destination anyway."
"W- whatever you do... I don't care. Just get me out of here safely, please..."
The dwarf sighed again, looked out of the open window, called out to his friends, and said that we should keep going.
A few seconds later all four surviving dwarves were in the car. The driver and one dwarf were in the front, and the other two dwarves were on my left and right sides.
I was surrounded on all sides. They were very careful to protect me.
Although I wasn't sure which one was Rulhan, I couldn't help marveling at how easy it actually was. Sure, there were problems, like the wolf who almost noticed me, but... it wasn't too difficult.
That was how the first phase of the operation was completed. We were in disguise, we hadn't been caught, and if we behaved as we should, no one would even notice anything was wrong.
At least we hoped so.
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