The Devil"s Evolution Catalog Chapter 72: Silver Furred Werewolf {Draft}
"Awoo~~"
As the two-star werewolf ran away, he gave out the characteristic howl of a wolf. However, it sounded slightly different from before; it was much weaker and almost seemed like a signalling howl.
The howl rolled across the battlefield, bringing with it an immediate change in the werewolves. No matter their circ.u.mstances, they immediately tried to break away from their opponents even at the risk of getting injured. Soon, the werewolves were all gathered in one spot.
As if they had rehea.r.s.ed this before, the majority of the werewolves simultaneously turned around and ran leaving behind a smaller portion to cover their retreat. Despite the abruptness, these escaping werewolves managed to maintain to a semblance of unity as they tried to break through the devils.
They succeeded initially but things were never so simple, especially in a chaotic battle like this with so many unknowns thrown into the mix.
The two-star werewolves were significantly stronger than my imps, in fact, they were able to a.s.sist the other werewolves while taking on an enemy of our own. Initially, this created a favorable situation for the escaping werewolves.
However, they were foiled right at the cusp of success by the unexpected intervention of the half-orcs in what could only be described as the second coming of the half-orcs.
Due to the immense strength of the werewolves, a large number of our devils had been seriously injured by them, causing the battlefield to be littered with abandoned weapons. In the midst of this chaos, the half-orcs undertook a second round of scavenging, bringing the total up to 11 heavy shields, 14 Mo sabres and 8 sets of swords and shields.
With these equipment in hand, their second wave of attack was both explosive and deadly.
While I certainly appreciated their continuous show of formidable might, I just couldn"t understand the way these half-orcs thought. Don"t forget, just a short time ago, these slaves were our mortal enemies!
Initially, upon seeing the werewolves attempt to escape, I had planned on letting them go after putting up some nominal resistance. After all, even a rabbit would bite when cornered. Furthermore, I didn"t want to lose anymore subordinates and so I decided not to push them further over the edge.
However, this sudden outburst by the half-orcs made me reconsider my initial plans…
With heavy shield in hand, the 11 shield bearing half-orcs rammed right into the werewolf blockade. Making use of the heavy shield"s inherent st.u.r.diness, they threw themselves at the werewolves with reckless abandon time after time.
Shockingly, this brute force method ended up working as their third attempt finally succeeded in disrupting the werewolves" formation, allowing a breach to form in the blockade.
The half-orcs immediately streamed through the gap and dashed past the fleeing werewolves. With a quick turn of their bodies, they formed a shield wall in front of the fleeing werewolves.
These fleeing werewolves were all one-stars and so had no way to breakthrough this new shield formation. This last minute plan of theirs ended up being extremely successful.
It was at this moment that the other half-orcs who were currently mixed in with the devils, engaged in another frenzied wave of attacks. The sword and shield half-orcs formed the took the lead and charged at the werewolves with the Mo sabres following closely behind.
Compared to the devils, their take on our standard formation was significantly more successful. These half-orcs were able to bring out the full power of the bone shields as they clashed with the werewolves. Not only did they manage to efficiently defend themselves, they were able to interrupt the flow of their opponents" movements with a timely bash.
Furthermore, these sword wielding half-orcs coordinated perfectly with their Mo sabre brethren in inflicting the maximum amount of damage on the disorderly werewolves.
Ever since the demonic werewolves decided to abandon the fight, our side hadn"t suffered a single casualty. This was in large part due to the half-orcs" dynamic offense. To be honest, the fact that I had considered using them as cannon fodder was a serious mistake on my part; it would"ve been a severe underestimation of their abilities if I did so.
"These half-orcs truly exceeded my expectations this time around." I praised them, all the while making sure not to stay idle, with a wave of my hand, I instantly fired off a bone spear in the direction of a two-star werewolf.
That werewolf was currently engaged with Nine-finger, all the while being flanked by a couple of h.e.l.lhounds. In midst the of this dangerous situation, the werewolf not only had to deal with attacks from these three, he also had to contend with my sporadic bone spears. Naturally, this could only end in a tragedy for the poor werewolf.
Just as I was certain of our victory, Violet Snow suddenly shivered at my side as if something had chilled her to the core.
Knowing her, she wouldn"t act this way without a reason and so I immediately checked in on her: "What"s the matter?"
"We have a problem." She replied ominously as she threw a grave look in the direction the werewolves had just attacked us from. "Get your men to retreat now, we have a problem."
"What are you talking about?"
"Retreat! Immediately! Now!"
Retreat? Right now? Are you kidding me...we are just about to wipe out these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and you want me to give up?
Sigh…
In the end, I chose to place my trust in her words, even if I couldn"t see a reason to do so.
"Everyone listen up, stop chasing them and get back here immediately."
Upon receiving the order, my devils were just as stunned as I was. To them, beating on a defeated foe was exactly the situation they had been waiting for. Expecting them to stop now was the same as having to take a toilet break in the middle of an exciting fight.
"Awoo!!!"
A high pitched howl echoed ominously across the battlefield, At the corner of my eye, I spotted a black shadow flash across the battlefield at an unbelievable speed. If I had to describe it, it was as if a flash of lightning had crackled across the night sky, eye-grabbing and startling at the same time.
In the blink of an eye, the black shadow crossed the barricade set up by the half-orcs, knocking them aside as it rammed through. As it approached the werewolves, it gracefully leaped into the air, pa.s.sing over the werewolves, devils and the mix of half-orcs and h.e.l.lhounds. By the time it landed, it was already in front of my bone wall.
"So strong…"
What stood in front of us was a demonic werewolf. Her figure was roughly similar to the others we had encountered so far except that her body was slightly more slender than the others.
However, as she straightened her back, her towering figure cast an immense shadow over the bone wall and beyond. She must"ve been at least three meters tall!
A glint of danger flashed across her golden eyes as she stared at me. Her razor sharp claws glimmered coldly in the dim lightning, adding a sense of sinisterness to her already deadly claws. On her chest was a V-shaped tuft of fur that resembled that of a asiatic black bear"s.
"She"s dangerous, step back." As she said this, she began to attack the silver furred werewolf.
Three s...o...b..a.l.l.s the size of a soccer ball shot towards the silver furred werewolf, at the same time, five icicles stabbed at her from different angles, blocking off any avenue of escape. No matter what she chose to do, she would have to contend with an attack.
However, instead of forcing her into the corner, the attacks turned out to be mere annoyances for her. The werewolf stomped her feet into the ground, directly smashing one of the rising icicles into the pieces.
With a quick rotation of her body and a deadly flash of her claws, she sliced apart the four other icicles coming at her from the north, south east and west of her.
While she was busy taking care of the icicles, the s...o...b..a.l.l.s had already gotten within mere seconds of her.
*splat splat splat*
Instead of dodging, she nonchalantly stood there and allowed them to hit her. Upon impact, the s...o...b..a.l.l.s began to freeze the werewolf" body starting from the point of impact, spreading outwards till it nearly covered over half of the body.
However, just as we thought that it had worked, the werewolf gave another howl, shattering the gla.s.s-like ice wrapped around her…
Having just fired off eight spells consecutively, Violet Snow was exhausted and from the looks of it, wasn"t able to cast anymore spells.
"Run...quick!"
She used her tiny body to shove me, signalling for me to run away first. However, the might of the werewolf had left me stunned and so I didn"t react to her warning in time. Not that I was going to leave her behind anyway.
Within the span of that slight delay, the werewolf leaped into the air, all the while withstanding the hail of arrows from the archers.
She landed softly on my bone wall and stared down at me from her vantage point.
"Devil, get your subordinates to stop."
Her voice almost sounded feminine to me but for the most part, she sounded like a typical warrior with steel in her blood. However, this tone reminded me of another matter. As I lowered my gaze, I finally noticed that her chest was slightly bulging out…
She was actually a female werewolf.
"Devil, do you wish for me to repeat myself?" She reached out with one arm and lifted me up by the neck, her hand giant hand engulfing my shoulder and neck as she did so. At this distance, I bore the full brunt of the terrifying murderous intent emanating from her eyes.
Truth be told, her order was sort of redundant. The moment she captured me, my subordinates had already stopped fighting. As a result of this, the remaining one and two-star werewolves finally managed to get a moment of reprieve.
"..."
My throat was squeezed to the point of suffocation by her hand. Despite this, all I could think of was the safety of the devil egg. As I held my breath, I tightened my grip on the grimoire and egg, ensuring the safety of these two but at the cost of increasing the squeeze on my neck.
As the crushing sensation of suffocation bore down upon me, my eyes began to glaze over from the lack of oxygen…
Don"t tell me...this is the end…
Noticing that I hadn"t said a word since the start, the silver furred werewolf finally realized that I was unable to talk in this state. She turned and surveyed the area, by now, the fighting had already stopped as per her request and so she jumped off the bone wall and finally released me onto the ground.
As her crushing grip finally loosened its hold on me, I slumped onto the ground unceremoniously, gasping for air as I leaned against the bone wall. All this while, I didn"t dare to shift my eyes away from her, even for a second; she was simply too terrifying.
And so, I had to use my hands to check up on the devil egg. I gave it a cursory feel and upon discovering that it was still whole, I finally heaved a sigh of relief.
"Master...are you alright?" One-eye and the other named head imps finally caught up to the werewolf and immediately formed a protective ring around me, shielding me from the werewolf.
Even though this was just a futile action in the end…
"Devil, while this battle was caused by the rash actions of my men, your army had picked a truly inopportune time to arrive. Right now, I suggest that you turn around and retreat." Ignoring the five head imps around me, she reached out and waved her claw in front of me as if to emphasize my impotence.
"Don"t think you"re safe just because you have Mo En backing you up. If you choose to ignore my warning, your fate will be just as tragic."
Upon saying that, she turned around and left. The surviving werewolves hurriedly gathered up the corpses of their comrades and followed after her.
In the face of such an overwhelming strength, I didn"t dare to pull any tricks in front of that werewolf. Any request for battle was immediately shot down by me as I commanded them to stay put. However, I had forgotten about a certain idiot who was actually brainless…
I didn"t know when but by the time I had noticed it, the wispy green figure of Vick was already floating about the silver werewolf. As he circled around her, he gave her body a thorough scanning, his curiosity clearly getting the better of him. While this wasn"t by any means an attack, it was still an annoying move on his part.
Her brows furrowed at the irksome ghost in front of her, her claws swiping out at him as she did so. Vick stood there, without a trace of fear in him as he took her attack head on.
After all, he was immune to physical attacks and this swipe clearly belonged in that category.
However, the unexpected happened the very next moment. The werewolf"s claw tore through his body, ripping his body apart as it cleaved through his supposedly incorporeal body...
Vick wailed in pain and immediately flew away, his wounds shimmering in and out of existence as he did so!
"Ma...her magic"s pretty impressive!" I wryly smiled as I turned towards Violet Snow. Didn"t you tell me that the werewolves were bad at magic?
Footnotes:
TL: Since callmecat (editor/guy in charge of website stuff) is busy on a date with hurricane Maria, the chapters will have to released in draft form. I"ve done some proofreading but if you notice any glaring mistakes , please contact me via the contact us page.
Credits:
Special thanks to Steve Granger, Ichitsuzen, and LaRue Martin!!