The trap had always been simple.

  Kill the majority of the pack in a single attack to inflict an unrecoverable casualty event. Once the pack was reduced in size, they would flee or be easier to pick off.

  To that end, Juni dug a network of tunnels beneath the road and the area surrounding the village on the east side, and placed metal castings filled with the pyropowder they’d been able to make. She'd also carefully spread out a small trail of the powder to ignite them.

  And, she’d left one tunnel deliberately open, marking the entrance with a small flag. The one in which the cart filled with explosives was currently sitting, just as the ember hex ignited the powder.

  The wagon detonated in a massive wave of fire, and the wolves closest to it were turned into complete ash in a split second.

  The blast also triggered the secondary charge, igniting the remaining explosives against the more distant wolves currently ensnared by the roots. They, too, were either incinerated or blasted away by the secondary trap.

  What Neska hadn’t expected was the intensity of the blast that drove dirt, rocks, and debris in a deadly cloud of shrapnel outward. The shards cut through more of the wolves. Most of the archers had ducked after they saw the detonation; some were flung from the ramparts and landed in a heap on the level below, groaning, but still alive.

  And as for the wolf trying to bite her in half?

  She used her [Spring Scales] at the last second, springing laterally while firing a tail-held [Mana Bolt] straight down its throat. The projectile hit home, and the wolf spun to the ground, hacking up blood. It didn’t last long as Jurik shoved a blade into its ribcage, ending its life.

  Wellik and the others were inside the wall just as the wagon detonated, shielding themselves with the barricade door now hanging askew on only one hinge.

  To Neska, it felt like the whole world was on fire. Burning debris shot into the air and rained down, igniting smaller fires both inside and outside the village.

  Okay. I might have overdone it a bit.

  “Goddess, Neska, that was insane!” Juni cried out, then her eyes went wide as she surveyed the destruction. She pointed to the wolves still circling the flank and jumping the wall. “Wolves coming up the wall, north side!”

  One of them charged just as she fired off her [Terra Spikes], impaling through one of the beast's forward legs. It yelped and tried to gnaw at its impaled paw, as if it could chew through it.

  Neska leaped with a [Coiled Strike], biting down while its jaw was otherwise distracted, and then coiled herself around its neck, squeezing with all her might and remaining latched. She triggered her [Constricting Coils] to try and finish the job.

  Her physical attacks weren’t anywhere near as effective as her mana-intensive abilities like the hexes, but the [Constricting Coils] did protect her scales against any attempts to claw her off. Juni continued to launch [Terra Spikes] at other targets. Neska heard a gurgling wheeze and felt the soft tissue of the wolf’s neck give way. It let out a gasp as she crushed the life out of it.

  It finally toppled to its side, either dying from the crushed windpipe or the potent venom circulating through it. She slid off, looking for more threats.

  The archers were having an easier time with the entire area illuminated with burning debris, and picked off the wolves. But the creatures were fast, and one of the archers screamed as the wolves pinned them down, tearing at their throats.

  [Mana Bolt] shots didn't have enough power to damage the creatures heavily. Still, they stunned them long enough that other archers could finish the job, turning several of the wolves into pincushions.

  At a cost, though. She saw two men on the ground, bleeding out, gasping with torn throats, too slow to switch to close range.

  It was the same feeling at the sawmill. Something that twisted Neska's stomach and made her feel uneasy. It was the sheer violence of these monsters. They inflicted lethal wounds and continued to bite and claw.

  This was not a hunt for meat; it was a hunt to inflict terror.

  “More of them are approaching!” Jurik bellowed out, taking a deep draw of his bow, and pricking his finger with the arrowhead. On contact with his blood, the arrow ignited as though it were covered in oil. He snapped his arm to motion, aimed toward one, and his shot drove deep into the wolf’s side, burning it and leaving it bounding around in panic. “Juni, Neska, follow me to the north side!"

  The battle was not won yet. The wolves were persistent, undeterred by losses. Their monstrous strength, their ability to bound over the walls, spoke of an inhuman will, an overwhelming drive not to eat…but simply to kill.

  Kill until none were standing.

  Neska began to understand the unspoken fear from Jurik, the flinch of his face as another young lad went down, three of them overwhelming him, tearing at his legs and at his belly, coming up with stringy viscera as they snarled and snapped. His shrill scream pierced the chaos of the battle.

  Neska saw the pained expression on Jurik's face as he adjusted his aim slightly, knowing he couldn't kill off three wolves in time.

  The arrow pierced the young man’s eye, and his body went slack. Neska stared at Jurik, the way he grimaced, and briefly nodded at the fallen man.

  As if this wasn’t the first time he’d performed such an act of mercy.

  We will not retreat. The monsters won’t return from their hunt with full bellies. Or alive. Neska repeated the words in her head, and the burning fury returned to her scales, seeping inside her as she slithered forward. She fired off [Mana Bolts] to slow the wolves from afar, keeping them from growing into a dangerous number. A few saw the projectiles coming and leaped aside. Some did hit their mark, leaving burning blue embers on their flesh and scorching their fur.

  Her bolts were too bright and too slow. If she lived past this, long-distance attacks would be better served by increasing her Intelligence to increase their speed, giving targets less time to react.

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  But the wolves couldn’t see hurtling rocks very well. A wolf Neska hit with a magical bolt stumbled, then was felled by Juni's follow-up shot to its skull. The mouse wielded jagged stones that hovered over her head, casting them like stealthy missiles. Whatever Neska didn't hit, she adjusted her aim. What Neska did hit was more than enough for the mouse to finish them off.

  The stones did substantial damage, cracking skulls and breaking ribs. They had slowed or stopped several of the wolves, but Juni already looked as if she was gasping for breath. She must be feeling the exertion of this, the same as Neska.

  This, too, was recognized by the attackers. The wolves pushed forward to up the pressure and charged into the front line, fighting soldiers between them; the archers' shots were slower, to avoid hitting their own allies.

  The wolves were learning. Were the monsters as smart as her?

  Smarter, maybe?

  Jurik pointed to Wellik and Hadley, fighting off several wolves by themselves. They defended the doorway of a house where Neska could hear people screaming inside–not in pain, but in fear. “Cover the corporal!” Jurik barked, firing another arrow at a wolf charging at the house. Its motion was arrested by the piercing bloodfire arrow burning through its flank. The projectiles were truly deadly, fire burning the creatures from the inside, then outward.

  Bloodfire. That did sound like an appropriate name for his abilities. Neska made a note to ask him about them later if they survived this.

  Right now, they had foes to deal with first.

  She sprang forward and triggered another [Rooting Hex] on three closely grouped wolves. They were unable to leap away in time and found themselves ensnared by the web of vegetation. Wellik’s axe and Hadley’s arrows made short work of them, and they shouted triumphantly once they had breathing room.

  “You guys are a sight for sore eyes!” Hadley called out, blonde hair shining from the light of the burning debris. “Wellik, I see some of the wolves fleeing or regrouping, northeast side!”

  “Focus on shoring up the village! Pick off stragglers, keep an eye out for reinforcements!” Wellik called out, bearing a bite wound on his arm that his bracer hadn’t fully protected. “Jurik, you and the Awakened with me!”

  Neska realized that there were two kinds of people in this world. Those that burned in the chaos…and those that were forged in the fires of destruction and made stronger.

  Wellik struck her as the latter of the two, as he dashed to reinforce guards outnumbered by the wolves, keeping them at bay with sweeping polearms. The ferocity of his defense was commendable, taking openings offered by Juni and Neska to strike at staggered or entangled foes, giving the other men breathing room.

  But not all the fights were going well. Neska was on the move to keep supporting the fight, and slithered by two farmhands in piecemeal armor, limbs torn and throats ripped open. It pained her to see this; they weren't trained for this, and it was tragic that their skills had failed them. One was a distance from their weapon, face toward the ground.

  Fleeing was not an option against such unrelenting foes. Keep going, Neska. They'll break before I do.

  She felt no cold sensation as she fired off her hexes to entangle or disrupt the foes. A new shock came when one guard screamed before Neska heard the sound of something pneumatic.

  The soldiers' scream turned into a shout of pain, and he turned slowly, staggered by the wolves' spines that had pierced his shield and tore into his arm and flank.

  Neska saw the source, one wolf whose coloration was different, black with silver banding, and its spines vibrated while it growled. It fired another volley of quills with another pneumatic thump, but Wellik's shield held against the assault, protecting the soldier. He shoved him behind the fighting line, screaming at him to fall back.

  Ranged attacks. Need to keep an eye out, prioritize them.

  She felt a tingle on her snout, as if mana were concentrating nearby. She sprang to the side just as spines whizzed by, nearly hitting her. She adjusted her roots to grip the spines on the offending wolf, reducing the incoming fire. Heavier shields made effective deterrants against them, as she observed the guards switching tactics at Welliks' command.

  Another such wolf tried to shoot its spines at her, as if it knew she was the biggest threat. She sprang out of the way, firing another [Mana Bolt] and stunning it temporarily. She finished it off up close with a coiled leap, and a [Coiled Strike] with her tail snapped its neck.

  Even with the brief window of damage resistance as her scales hardened, it hurt. She hadn’t wanted to risk jumping right into its jaws, and was rewarded as its eyes went unfocused as the blow made it unable to fight further. Juni launched another stone to finish it off. The mouse girl's eyes were wild, and her teeth bared.

  This was not the same timid person she’d met only a day and a half ago. Neska realized in a moment of grim reality that this girl knew how to fight well. And knew how to protect others.

  A piercing scream rang out as they killed off the closest wolves. More approached the closely clustered band. Jurik stepped to the side to afford an unobstructed window for Neska and Juni to fire off from. “Corporal, did you hear that?”

  “Shit. I wish I didn’t.” The young guard's hand shook only for a second, and he tightened his grip on his shield and axe. Hadley nocked another arrow, aiming it at the wolves now gathering around them, but not attacking. Dozens of them, having broken the tree line and reinforced the pack, were closing.

  Then they stopped, holding in a formation line.

  “Why aren’t they attacking?!” Juni shouted. Neska was too busy counting the wolves that surrounded them, easily thirty now. The others seemed to be keeping the other guards on the south side of the village from gathering by their small cluster.

  What were the wolves waiting for?

  A figure approached from the burning field, with a loping stride that was not a run…but a strange gait. This figure approaching was almost as tall as the gate…and the gate was already a grown man and a half high.

  It looked like a wolf…but was not. It stood on two legs like a man, but with the muscular legs of a wolf, and massive paws that crunched down over gravel and dirt. Its body was covered in dark fur, streaked with grey…and what looked like a coating of blood.

  Its upper body was like that of a man, barrel-chested, covered in fur, and it carried in its wicked claws a single soldier as if he were nothing more than a sack of wheat. Its head was that of a wolf, with golden eyes gleaming, and a long mane of fur trailed down its head and back.

  The wolven creature stood on the other side of the ring of wolves and threw down a bloodied Briggs, cut up, bitten, and suffering. One hand had been torn off, and he moaned in pain.

  The creature loomed down at him, and its ears flickered. Its head tilted in curiosity as Briggs pleaded.

  “I…I don’t want to die. Please just let me go,” the man clenched his stump, his words slurring.

  Then the wolven creature grinned its muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth. He grabbed the man and chomped down with a single bite as a scream abruptly ended.

  Neska looked on, mortified, as Briggs' head rolled between two wolves, who snapped at it and tried to bite it for meat. This…this thing is beyond any of the others.

  Jurik tilted his head, strapped his bow to his back, then drew his finger over the edge of his sword while unsheathing it. low red flames ignited as he did so, the firebrand illuminating his surroundings. He narrowed his eyes. “Not just a Tier Two.”

  Spoken as if he knew what they were up against. Wellik gritted his teeth, tightening the strap on his shield. “Gods, what is it?”

  “A corrupted Awakened.”

  Neska’s eyes focused on their foe. Jurik had spoken of a Tier Two as problematic…but what was a corrupt awakened?

  The answer to her question, she realized, was obvious. An Awakened, in which the monstrous side of them won out. They turned their backs on humanity.

  The empty stare of Briggs was more discomforting than when he was alive, and he had spoken a bitter warning that carried an inconvenient, post-mortem truth.

  Then, the wolven creature stamped its massive clawed foot on the ground and pointed directly at Jurik. “You, veteran manling. I smell the blood of many of my kin on you. The stench of their deaths doesn’t leave you. And the overwhelming scent of sweat, death, and fury about you tells me you are no fool. Old, but dangerous.”

  The wolf then tilted his head and let out a barking laugh. “Oh, but you know who I am, don’t you?” he laughed, and gazed at Hadley. Neska dared a glance at the female archer, whose body trembled, and her breath hitched. Then she spoke a single quivering word to a question Neska had not wanted answered.

  “Felix.”

  *Boss Music Intensifies*

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