Chapter 239: Werewolf of Calamity
Before she even realized what was happening, Ramin's body had already reacted to the danger. Her blade darted out and struck down on the back of the Werewolf's lowered head. However, the blade stopped going in with a clang. The Werewolf, having completed its transformation, had shed its Human disguise, revealing its true form covered in stiff fur.
Just as the player 癤Woo bbit瑜swem ssik had appeared with the Vampires on the third continent, an unknown player known as ?bwel dyuks留? in the first continent had appeared with the Werewolves. However, while most species could be turned into Vampires, Werewolves could only be transmitted among what players commonly referred to as humanoid species, such as Humans, Elves, and Dwarfs. Due to a quick response and joint effort from various nations, the spread of the Werewolf transformation was stopped.
The Werewolves of the first continent ended up in a similar situation to the Vampires in the Empire. Although they did not need to drink the blood of others like Vampires did, the inherent violent and bestial nature of Werewolves were considered just as dangerous. After the death of the evil god, they scattered in all directions, with some even going to the second continent.
The Union Kingdom also had its share of racial discrimination, but their standards were different from other nations. The Angry One closely monitored the power of the Werewolves, promising to take them in if they could prove their worth despite their violent nature.
'And the Werewolf in front of me is probably the result of that promise.'
The Werewolf’s face came into Ramin’s view, its densely packed teeth revealed as it growled. The Werewolf was holding Ramin's sword in one hand, and the blade was caught between its claws.
"Is this all? Vampire of the Empire?"
The difference in strength was difficult for Ramin to accept as she was using both hands while the Werewolf was using just one. Deciding to give up on a battle of raw power, Ramin immediately moved one hand to draw her next sword. Or at least, she tried to.
Thud!
Ramin's body soared through the air, feeling like she had been hit by a tree trunk. She smashed through the stone ceiling of the path and eventually crashed back down to the ground.
'...What? What just happened?'
Although she had reflexively taken a defensive stance, her forearm was throbbing, and her back was stinging. Something was broken or cracked. The pain arrived belatedly, and Ramin swallowed a groan. She had been hit by the Werewolf’s fist.
'Even for a Werewolf, this level of strength is...'
Ramin quickly rolled to her feet. The ceiling she had smashed into burst apart, and debris poured down again. The Werewolf leapt up from its position, revealing its true form under the sunlight.
Seeing its silver pelt, Ramin realized its identity.
"...The Werewolf of Calamity?"
The silver Werewolf, now more than twice its original size, walked on two legs towards her.
The Werewolf said, "Yes, I am Aruega Rob, the seventh apostle of the Angry One."
Ramin belatedly felt bile rising from the back of her throat.
Aruega Rob, a descendant of the evil god, led the pack of Werewolves to the second continent and subjugated themself to the Angry One, becoming the king of Werewolves.
'So I was discovered after all?'
Even while directly commanding numerous troops, the Angry One had not missed the intruder in the Sky Castle. However, managing the troops directly would be burdensome, so they had sent a delegate. Sending an apostle to catch an intruder could seem excessive, but for the Angry One, it was a way to ensure maximum safety.
'I can’t believe I have to face an apostle.'
Ramin thought that facing an apostle alone was impossible, unless Owen was there.
'No, I need to think differently. The presence of an apostle here means that the enemy's forces are poorly balanced. If I risk my life and hold off as much as possible...'
She had to risk her life and endure. She had no other choice.
Aruega was an apostle of the Union Kingdom, but Ramin had heard of their reputation. This Werewolf had once entered a small nation that refused entry to their pack in the Union Kingdom and captured the royal castle in a single night. Although they had been wounded, they also killed a Dragon alone. All of this was their achievements while they were alive.
'A person like me is no match.'
Ramin felt a chill down her spine. It was a feeling she had gotten used to now.
The expansion of her field of vision when standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down below, was a stimulation that seemed to uncover something deeper and darker than just the landscape before her. It was the feeling of preparing for death.
'This is the last feeling felt by those who wished to sacrifice themselves in the Pantheon.'
Ramin embraced that feeling.
Drawing her second sword, she said, "Come at me, you..."
She searched for the right phrase to provoke the Werewolf.
"Puppy."
"...Puppy."
Aruega seemed momentarily taken aback and confused, visible even on their wolfish face, but after a brief moment of contemplation, they seemed to take it as an insult as Ramin intended.
"...Ha, I won't waste much time on something like you."
Aruega charged at her.
'Fast. Very fast, but...'
Ramin squinted.
'I can see it.'
Ramin couldn't match Aruega in speed and power, but she could predict their movements from the revealed shape of their body and the movement of their muscles. The moment she dodged two attacks in succession, with Aruega swinging both front paws alternately, Ramin drove her knee into Aruega's jaw, whose attention was momentarily scattered due to guarding against the sword.
'It’s heavy...!'
It felt like she was lifting a boulder.
However, Ramin had another ability to add to her insufficient strength.
…Pzzzt!
The moment Ramin's knee struck Aruega's jaw, an electric spark crackled, as if it was piercing through Aruega's jaw and skull.
Aruega's eyes widened from the pain.
"...How dare you!"
However, even after receiving the electric shock, Aruega did not go even a little stiff like Ramin had expected. Aruega, supporting themself on both front paws, propelled themself into the air, tucking in their abdomen and gathering both legs. It was an entirely unexpected and strange movement.
The Werewolf's two legs kicked up, striking Ramin in the chest.
'...I can't breathe!'
The air was forcibly expelled from her lungs, and it was so painful that she wondered if her chest had split open, adding to the damage she had received from the first attack. Ramin's body soared tens of meters into the air before hitting the ground and rolling several times backward. Lying on her back and looking up at the sky, Ramin barely managed to lift her head.
Aruega then made a single leap and landed right in front of Ramin.
Thump!
'I'm going to die this way.'
Ramin tried to raise her body, but suddenly she coughed, and blood and vomit poured out. Her chest was wet with her own expelled blood.
Aruega, brushing their burnt jaw with their paw, said, "That was surprising...but is that all? It's interesting you're still alive. Vampires are indeed resilient."
Aruega walked closer, saying, "I’ll put an end to your pain."
Enduring the intense pain, Ramin lifted her upper body, but her legs wouldn't move. To be precise, it seemed like the muscles or tendons around her abdomen were damaged.
'I can still fight, can't I? Get up!'
Ramin muttered to herself, forcing her eyes open, which were closing for some reason. That's when Ramin saw the trembling air at one side of her field of view. Something was moving.
'What is that?'
At first, it was too small to notice, but as she looked closely, it was rapidly cutting through the clouds, approaching at an incredible speed, and it was aiming precisely at Aruega's back, closing the distance.
'Could it be...'
Ramin realized one thing. Just as the Angry One had watched her, the Pantheon was also watching her.
'It started when we fell from the sky.'
They had jumped without parachutes, but the strong wind had gently caught the three of them, setting them softly on top of the Sky Fortress.
'Then they deflected the bullets.'
It all happened too quickly for her to comprehend, but when she encountered the ambush, Ramin hadn’t been hit by a single bullet. It was hard to think of it as mere coincidence. Some sort of power was present around Ramin.
'And as Sky Castle gets closer to the Rasdasil Ruins and the land of the Empire, that power is getting stronger.'
It was just as she had thought.
Now, the third miracle of the Pantheon was ready for Ramin.
As Ramin anticipated what was about to happen and a smile appeared on her lips, Aruega said, "What's so funny?"
Ramin slightly shook her head.
Aruega Ignored Ramin's attitude and attempted to approach her, but suddenly, their animalistic instincts told them to turn around.
Turning one's back to an enemy while in battle, especially as a warrior of the Angry One, was a foolish act. However, Aruega was a Werewolf, they trusted their own nature, and it was that trust that had brought them to the position of an apostle.
"...?"
What Aruega saw was a sharp lead bullet—nothing noteworthy save for the fact that it was almost one meter in diameter.
"...!"
There was no time to dodge it. Aruega reflexively extended both front paws to block it, and Ramin couldn’t see what happened next.
Boom!
Aruega disappeared from Ramin's sight along with the warhead, and all that followed was a shower of debris, the friction heat created by the warhead, and the noise made by the atmosphere split open in its wake.
Ramin lifted her body to look at the spot where the warhead had hit Aruega. Dust was rising between the complicated stone walls of the Sky Castle.
‘The Moving Castle’s artillery, it was this powerful.’
***
Lunda asked, "Did it hit them?"
"It did."
The accuracy of the cannonball fired from the Moving Castle’s artillery was poor. However, the shell soared into the sky, catching the wind and crossing the atmosphere. In other words, if the sky could be controlled, it could be decided where and how to hit the cannon.
Sung-Woon, having gained the Large Area: Sky, realigned the path of the wind for the warhead fired from the Moving Castle, and then sent the Moving Castle’s warhead directly toward the enemy who warranted most caution, the apostle of Hegemonia.
A weapon that could intercept an apostle in any way had great strategic value.
"Are they dead?"
"I hope they are."
Sung-Woon adjusted other parts of the battlefield for a moment, expecting the dust to settle.
Lunda, who was watching Sung-Woon’s screen beside him, said, “They didn’t die. There's still time until the next warhead from the Moving Castle arrives."
Sung-Woon shook his head.
"It doesn't matter."
***
Under the demolition, Aruega Rob, with dust and blood all over their beautiful silver fur, raised themself up. In the process of blocking and avoiding the giant warhead, which was as big as their upper body, their left shoulder had been torn from friction, exposing raw flesh. However, Aruega Rob blew their nose and cleared the blood from their nostrils, and then went up onto a nearby watchtower. From there, they spotted Ramin.
Ramin also saw Aruega and adjusted her grip on her sword.
‘They definitely received a strong hit. Judging by the extent of damage, Aruega is much worse off. If they weren’t an Apostle, they would surely be dead.’
But the situation didn’t seem favorable to Ramin. Aruega’s wounds were healing due to the natural healing abilities of a Werewolf and the power of an apostle. Moreover, an apostle could exert all of their strength even to the moment they took their last breath, which wasn’t the case for Ramin.
‘Maybe this can be finished off with the next shell. But to do that, I have to stay alive on this Sky Castle until then.’
Although Aruega didn’t seem to have any intention of running away, it appeared that they planned to quickly kill Ramin and then escape from the next shell.
Once their torn shoulder had somewhat healed, Aruega leapt the tens of meters to where Ramin was.
Thud!
Aruega licked their lips and said, "You had something to rely on."
"Do you plan to stay like this when your head could be torn off and fly away next time?"
"Do you think I'll be here until then?"
Ramin actually wanted to agree with Aruega’s words. She didn’t have much confidence.
'But I have no choice but to try.'
Just as the two were about to start fighting again, a voice came from Ramin's left.
"Ramin Solost Muel, look this way."
There was a group of Goblins lightly armed with weapons and dressed in black clothes.
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