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Return of the Fallen Vol1 Ch46

 

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Author: Blue_Rat

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ch46

“DEVOUR!”

The crazed Scron wolf was just about to run over Sam but its movements suddenly stopped. A sense of reasoning came back to the Scron wolf and it felt an ever-approaching danger. Looking for that sense of danger led its eyes to the fallen Sam or rather what was in front of him.

A small cloud of pitch-black floated in front of Sam. The cloud was no bigger than that of a person’s head and seemed like nothing more than smoke but the Scron cub could sense something ominous from it and froze in place.

The small cloud, as though it had a will of its own, gently drifted over towards the dog beast. The Scron wolf felt its skin crawl and swiped at the black cloud in disgust.

“Away from me, you foul thing.”

As soon as its claws came into contact the cloud dispersed a bit but quickly reformed and billowed itself across the beast’s skin. The Scron wolf’s eyes went wide as it tried shaking the black cloud away. The cloud though didn’t seem to notice and continued across the dog’s body until it reached its back where Shin’s sword still remained.

“Stop, get off of me before I eat you.”

The Scron wolf’s instincts told him that it was in danger but it had no clue why. Its instincts, though, were too late.

The cloud found the small gaps and cracks where the tip of Shin’s blade met the wolf’s back and like small insects, the cloud began to dig into the neck, spreading open the wound and drilling itself in and invading the body. Only half of the cloud entered before the rest of it split off and headed for the gash on the wolf’s stomach.

As the cloud invaded the Scron wolf’s back at first it felt a slight itch, followed by a small tingling sensation before…

*GUAAAAHHHHHH!*

“What is this NOOOOOOO!”

The wolf began to shake and tremble while throwing itself to the ground. It repeatedly slammed its back on the ground and into boulders smashing them into pieces, anything and everything to stop the pain it was in.

The itching had turned into tingling and the tingling then turned into excruciating pain, as the wolf felt as though he were being devoured from the inside out.

Muscles were snapping and withering away, while the tissue was being turned into pustules of yellow liquid bursting like small bubbles. Its flesh was being shredded and nerves were being twisted up and ripped apart.

*AHHHHHHHH!*

Danny and Asuna grabbed Sam and retreated while Shin and Kazuki did their best to try and distract it away from everyone else but what they didn’t realize was that the wolf no longer held any thoughts about them and could only think about the ever-escalating pain it was in.

Alice could see that Kimi’s spell had done something unpredictable and found this to be their best chance to escape.

“Everyone follow me.”

The beast saw them leaving but could do nothing about it. It soon found itself confused about why it was even there and wondered what was going on and why it was suffering so much. But before these thoughts could go beyond that it suddenly felt a small itch across its stomach before a bit of a tingling sensation filled its belly. Looking down it could see the last of the black cloud entering the wound on its stomach before…

*RAAAAHHHHHHHH!*
“NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The rampaging went from a 10 to a hundred as trees and boulders were snapped and shattered into many pieces. The wolf suffered so much that it began to slam its head into the ground repeatedly. The ground cracked and exploded open by the impact, sending debris flying in every direction.

The armor atop the creature’s body continuously cracked and repaired itself but even with this terrifying amount of damage, the pain still persisted. The Scron wolf’s eyes began to roll up into its head until it eventually fell over, unconscious.

Alice had led the others several miles away, where they found a cave in the side of a mountain. Once inside, Kimi lit up the small cavern with a few orbs of light. Danny and Asuna gently laid Sam down and Alice squeezed past them to have a look.

Sam’s breathing was incredibly labored and his body was covered in sweat. Alice examined his wound before she tore off his shirt and said.

“This is not good.”

His entire upper body was dark purple and with just a glance one could tell that the poison was spreading to his arms, as they too were beginning to change color.

Alice pulled out a cure-all potion and stuffed it into his mouth but because of the condition he was in plus his unconscious state, he couldn’t get the liquid down. Sam ended up spitting it up and spilling the potion on the ground beside him.

“Damn, he isn’t swallowing. I’ll have to give it to him mouth to mouth.”

The lights within the cave suddenly flickered.

“Nooo!”

Everyone’s eyes turned and focused on Kimi.

“I…I mean, if someone should give it to him mouth to mouth…”

Kimi went silent while everyone stared at her dumbfoundedly.

Alice argued back.

“This is no time for dumb crushes. I don’t care who does it but it needs to be done fast. Now someone take out a cure-all and hurry up.”

Kimi ran beside Sam and knelt down next to him. Pulling a small bottle from her pocket, she uncorked it and poured it into her mouth. With everyone watching she leaned over Sam and gently pressed her lips to his. Sam’s eyelids twitched momentarily before they relaxed and he fully accepted the liquid and swallowed it down.

A moment later, Sam slowly opened his eyes. Looking around, he found himself to be in a dimly lit cave. Asuna for some reason was smiling at him while both Danny and Shin cursed at him simultaneously.

“Sam, you lucky bastard.”

Looking over to Kimi, she quickly turned away with an ever reddening face. Sam just turned to Kazuki and asked.

“What happened.”

“You got poisoned by that ugly dog thing and then Kimi forced herself on you and gave you mouth to mouth with the cure-all potion.”

Asuna came over and knocked Kazuki on the top of his head.

“Can’t you be more subtle, idiot.”

Kazuki pretended that Asuna’s punch hurt and rubbed his head in pain.

“Ow ow ow ow ow, you can’t just keep hitting me all the time. What if I get permanent brain damage or something?”

Shin chimed in with a laugh.

“I think it’s too late for that, hahaha.”

Kazuki ignored Shin’s provoking remarks like he didn’t even hear them and asked curiously.

“Alice, what’s going on with that beast wolf thingy. How come you can’t beat it?”

Alice gripped her fist tightly and grit her teeth, while everyone else looked at her like [“What is he talking about?”]

Alice wanted to be mad but in this situation, it wasn’t worth it. With a heavy sigh, she told everyone the truth.

*Haaaa*

“Ryuta’s right, I can’t beat that dumb wolf. Actually, even if we all attack it again we still can’t beat it”

Everyone gasped in astonishment and Danny and Kimi began to feel dread. The only reason why they had been so calm before was because they had Alice on their side. With her strength, there was a sort of confidence that she could handle the situation. So hearing now that she couldn’t beat that Scron cub, it dealt a heavy blow to their sense of security.

Danny almost shouted and quickly caught himself and lowered his voice almost down to a whisper.

“But why? You are so strong, and that wolf was tough, but together we seemed to be doing ok, and Kimi even used that weird attack, that definitely did something, we all saw it.”

Alice shook her head.

“My main elements are lightning and wind. As you saw, my lightning can’t penetrate his armor and my wind, although I can throw a few trees and boulders at him, he quickly recovers and is on us very soon after that. He is the worst type of opponent for me to face.”

Alice grabbed Kimi’s shoulder and felt for her Magic confirming something before she nodded in understanding.

“As for Kimi’s attack, whatever she did, that was a complete accident. Do you think she can do it again on command or even control it? Maybe next time her attack goes after one of us, then what? That though isn’t even the main issue. After fighting all day, as well as running all over the place, I’m sure everyone is close to empty. I just examined Kimi and after using that attack and now these lights in this cave, she’s infinitely close to empty.”

As everyone began to look worried, Danny’s curiosity again got the better of him.

“Um, Alice, We all know that that Scron wolf is a Magical Beast but its strength, although we can’t face it, is weak compared to Garn, so what Tier is it then?”

“That wolf is a Limit Beast, a tier 1 Magical Beast. It has reached the apex of its physical beast body and has only recently learned how to use magic. If it’s main element was anything other than earth then I would have been able to easily crush it. Even a tier 2 Magical Beast may have been difficult for me but I’d still be able to manage somehow but because my element can’t get past that stupid armor…Damn it.”

The light inside the cave began to grow dim. Just as Alice had said, Kimi’s power was nearing zero.

“We have to go. Sam, can you run?”

Sam struggled and just barely managed to get to his feet. Although he was no longer poisoned, a great amount of energy had been drained by it and he was feeling the effects of mana sickness. Collapsing to his ass, Sam shook his head before shutting his eyes for meditation.

Alice was slightly irked but she didn’t voice her complaints. Instead, she barked some orders.

“Shin, you’re the fastest so you carry Sam while he recovers. Kimi, you can still move but try not to exert yourself and don’t use any more spells or you’ll be the next one out with mana sickness. Asuna, you…”

“Hahaha, so this is where you all are hiding.”

As the voice boomed like thunder in their ears and a chill ran down their spines, they were shocked to have been discovered so soon. Shin carried Sam and everyone raced out of the cave before it became a death trap and entombed them forever.

The Scron wolf had found them once again.

Lifting its nose into the air it got a few whiffs.

“Yep, with this nose, no matter how far you travel, I will always be able to find you, hehehe. You guys really got me good. I think it’s my turn to return the favor.”

*Bzzzzzzz*

As the Scron wolf was just starting to brag, a black swarm could be seen approaching from behind him. The swarm spotted a meal and swarmed him in droves of thousands.

As they did their best to bite him with their razor-sharp mandibles or sting him with their even sharper stingers, the Scron wolf just shook them away in annoyance.

*Tch*

“What pesky fellows, so annoying.”

As they seemed to be having absolutely no effect on the Scron wolf, they then turned their attention to Alice and the others.

“Everyone get out of here. Those are Lodian Wasps and you all have no defense against them, so run.”

Asuna saw the desperation in Alice’s eyes.

“But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine, I can keep the wolf at bay and these things shouldn’t be able to get past my barrier but I have no way of fighting and protecting you all at the same time, so you have to run.”

The Scron wolf though was having none of it.

“You think you can just leave, no, I want to play some more.”

The wolf’s body blurred as he accelerated forward at a terrifying speed. Alice tore dozens of trees from the ground and launched them like javelins while screaming at the others behind her.

“I said run, now run!”

The Scron wolf was bashed repeatedly with the trees but still pushed forward, while the Lodian Wasps flew at everyone. Asuna wanted to do something, anything but she knew she was powerless. Grabbing Danny and Kimi by the hand she ran away.

“Ryuta, Shin, follow me.”

Asuna led everyone away while Alice stayed behind to face the wolf and Lodian Wasps. Creating a massive gale of wind, Alice pushed her hand forward and the wind rushed forward toward the Wasps. The Wasps, however, divided themselves into separate groups. Some aimed for the wolf, some for Alice, while another larger group pursued Asuna and the others.

(Shit, I have to stop them somehow.)

Alice wielded a few trees like clubs as she whacked hundreds of wasp to the ground. The ones she knocked down died almost immediately but the thousands that she missed had flown around her and gave chase. Alice was about to hit some more when a large tree came flying up at her from below.

*Bang*

The tree crashed into her barrier and knocked her several feet away.

“Don’t leave me yet. I’ll play with you for a bit and then I’ll kill you, after that, I’ll catch up to the heroes and then I can play with them some more.”

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Garn had fled for several hundred miles now but still had no chance to heal the large bleeding hole in his thigh. The cause, of course, was the Wind Beast at his back.

“Why are you running, oh great Garn. Aren’t you the master of the north, protector of the great kingdom Tresta. The man said to be able to lift the mountains and split the seas. Come back!”

Garn ignored the foolish Wind Beast’s words and continued forward.

(This damn bastard, chasing me to the ends of Gordonia.I’ll show you.)

Garn saw several mountains up ahead and flew toward them. The Wind Beast was right on his tail. The speed at which the two traveled would mesmerize the eyes, that is if eyes were even capable of keeping up. Garn found the biggest mountain there and formed a small barrier in front of him before he dove straight at it.

The Wind Beast didn’t know what he was doing but followed anyway.

“You think a mountain will stop me?”

Garn accelerated faster and faster. Speaking a few words to no one he roared.

“Blades of lightning!”

A small amount of electricity began to dance around the surface of his barrier, rotating around it like a moon orbiting a planet. Garn’s speed increased once more towards the mountain. Just as he was about to crash into it…Well, he did. With his barrier up though and the small electricity orbiting around him, his speed actually did not decrease as the lightning quickly began to carve out the mountain, creating a small and narrow path in front of him.

The Wind Beast roared in surprise.

“WHATTTTT!”

The Wind Beast hesitated for but a moment before he dove after Garn.

“You cannot get away from me that easily.”

The Wind Beast had no spell that could protect his body like Garn did so instead it sent hundreds of wind blades forward to carve out a path big enough for it before it too entered the mountain.

Chasing after Garn inside the mountain, the Wind Beast grew more and more confident.

“You fool, you’ve left your back completely defenseless.”

The Wind Beast began firing more and more wind blades, trying to cleave Garn in half but Garn was just as clever. Spinning his staff, he pointed it behind him and fired a few fireballs behind him.

*Boom Boom Boom*

Instead of striking the Wind Beast though he struck the walls instead causing the mountain to collapse slightly, burying the Wind Beast. Garn made some distance between them before taking his staff and whispering a few words into it. Afterward, he then stabbed his staff down, planting it firmly inside the middle of the mountain. Extending his hands out to each of his sides, Garn spun in a small circle and said.

“Blades of lightning!”

Several blades of lightning than shot off in every direction. With no time to spare. Garn began to carve something out around his planted staff. Ancient words linked together like a chain, formed around his staff and slowly began to light up one by one.

(This should do it.)

The inscription was rough but there was no more time. Leaving his staff behind Garn carved out a tunnel above him and flew straight up, escaping the mountain completely.

(It’s time to finish this.)

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