lvin burst out of the cave, but at that sa instant, he stood frozen. Cold air slamd into him, but that wasn’t what froze him in place.
Above the snowy ground, wings spread wide against the pale... well, the pale sky. The owner of those wings was the winged lycan; its massive fra cast a shadow over the land, its eyes locked onto him with a feral, intelligent rage. As it hovered in the air relentlessly as if running out of patience, the snow swirled violently beneath the beating of its wings.
lvin was dazed.
For the god’s sake, he thought that abomination was dead for good. Then, how co it was awake now? Does it resurrect?
A thought of rembrance kicked into his mind as he rembered Aurex dropping it hard on the ground. Hence, it ant the lycan was never dead but was only sleeping the whole ti.
Keth had not killed it. Then, how did she make it to sleep for such a long ti?
He was even sure that if Aurex hadn’t triggered its awakening, it would have been sleeping until now.
Then, he moved his eyes and locked them onto Aurex, who looked tense and uncertain of what to do. Beside him was Keth.
She was already awake.
This led lvin to conclude that whatever had caused that massive wolf to be asleep was tied to the ash-haired girl. The question is, was that why she remained unconscious until now? Or was she just exhausted?
Or... if she had a kind of ability that makes such a thing possible, was sleeping later on the limit placed on her?
There was only one way to have his answer. So, lvin began to advance toward Keth and Aurex so that he could interrogate them and get a better grasp of the situation.
However, the lycan was not the type to wait for its prey to achieve its goals. It dove imdiately like a falling blade.
With no ti to discern the situation, lvin’s body reacted instead. Instantly, he stepped to the side, barely avoiding the initial strike as the creature slamd into the ground where he had stood, snow exploding outward in a violent burst.
But that was not all.
The lycan adapted to the situation imdiately, diving upward just at that sa ti, with the sa montum it had dove with. In a single motion, it twisted mid-lunge and surged toward lvin again, faster this ti.
lvin didn’t hesitate. He did the only sane thing that ca to his mind.
He turned and began to run.
If for so reason he didn’t know the lycan had him as its target, then good. Better him than fearful Aurex. Better him than recovering Keth. He planned to attract the creature’s attention all to himself by running in the western direction.
Behind him, the thunder of wings followed. The Lycan gave in to his plan and began to chase him.
Earlier, in that split second when he had dodged the first attack, lvin had marked a point on the lycan’s back as immutable. Due to the massive creature’s gargantuan height, he had sidestepped to be able to see a visible point as it dove.
Now, as he sprinted across the snow, his eyes sharpened.
’Now.’
The instant he activated his ability, the world shifted and his body vanished.
[Cost of Fragnts]: 1.0
lvin didn’t have an opportunity to register the runes that had appeared before him in that second. As far as there wasn’t a significant decrease in his essence, there was nothing to worry about.
And, in the next instant, he appeared right on the Lycan’s back. His boots slamd against its outstretched wing, using it as a foot mat as the creature roared in fury.
"Got you."
The Lycan thrashed violently.
It twisted midair, wings beating erratically as it tried to shake him off. The wind howled louder, the creature climbing and diving in haphazard patterns.
But lvin held on, thanks especially to his sli boots, which anchored him firmly, gripping the wing’s surface unnaturally.
Without wasting ti, he summoned his weapon.
As Aftertick appeared in his hand, following his command, the whip extended instantly, snapping forward as he wrapped it tightly around the creature’s neck. The tension pulled taut at the sa ti.
The lycan suddenly rembered it was also a land creature. Hence, it descended with inhuman speed, snow bursting out due to its impact. Standing on its back limbs, it shook itself violently, then gripped onto the silver whip of Aftertick wrapped around its neck with its front limb.
As if a jolt of electricity ran through its vein, it released its front limb imdiately due to the blade of the whip. But then, it strengthened its resolve to get itself free and gripped back onto the whip.
Not wanting to miss this chance, lvin leaned forward, bracing himself as he prepared to tear through it. But then, he heard that voice, which he would later co to regret why it sounded at the wrong ti.
"Don’t kill it!" Keth’s voice cut through the chaos.
Due to the lycan’s chaotic moves earlier, they had found themselves closer to the duo waiting by the cave entrance.
lvin’s head snapped toward the cave.
Her eyes were fixed on him.
"Please! Don’t kill it! You can stop it, paralyze it if you like. But don’t kill it!"
lvin frowned.
’What...?’
Why?
Why would she care about this creature? He had almost tried to convince himself that Keth had made a mistake while trying to kill the lycan initially. He didn’t want to believe that she had whatever weird ability that made her send the creature to sleep... if that was the case.
But now, what he didn’t want to believe was the heavier claim to prove why the lycan was still living.
Besides, that single mont of distraction and hesitation was what the lycan had secretly prayed for. As soon as lvin’s grip on Aftertick loosened, and the whip around its neck did the sa, the Lycan reacted instantly.
It pulled, and the force dragged lvin forward, but he didn’t fly out... not yet, especially as the sticky ability of his sli boots was still active. However, the lycan had other surprises up its sleeve.
It imdiately lowered itself to take the form of a crawling creature as its torn, jagged tail lashed out like a blade.
lvin’s instincts scread.
He let go of the whip’s handle and leaped.
The tail sliced through the space where his body had been a fraction of a second ago, but lvin wasn’t safe.
The Lycan, as intelligent as it turned out to be, had already predicted his evasion movent. Hence, while lvin was still midair, its massive wing slamd into him from the left.
BAM!
The impact was brutal.
lvin’s body was sent flying instantly as he was thrown across the snowy ground.
He hit the ground hard with a great thud, then crashed continuously until his body ca to a halt so asurable distance away from the massive wolf creature.
Pain exploded through his body. For a mont, it felt like the world was spinning, but he knew that the more ti he spent trying to recover, the more chance he was creating for the lycan to finish him off.
With that in mind, lvin forced himself up, and his eyes widened in shock. He thought it was going to be the end for him, as the lycan was not even taking even the slightest second to allow him to rest.
Now standing on level ground as humans would, the lycan dove again with an inhuman speed that wasn’t ant for a creature of its weight.
lvin tried to activate his ability at that instant. He planned to mark a distant point as immutable so that he could buy himself enough ti to recover and continue facing the creature head-on.
Unfortunately for him, he was late. Too late, thanks to his spinning head.
The lycan shot toward him, faster than when it lunged, then ca crashing at an angle perfectly aligned so that it could finish its prey off with its talons.
Its talons stretched forward, aid directly for lvin’s neck.
Due to lvin’s unstable condition, there seed to be no escape. There was only nothing he could do. Death seed to have visited him... and untily.
lvin’s eyes widened as ti seed to slow.
’Is this...’
The talons descended.
’...my end?’
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