I gripped my hatchets tightly and prepared myself for combat. I stopped at the entrance to the cave, but did not enter it. The cave was narrow, and the ceiling was low. Although it would be easier to fight something large inside, it would also be difficult for me to escape if something went wrong.
But I didn't need to enter. As if responding to my arrival in its territory, a creature walked slowly out of the darkness...
Its length was almost the same as my box truck, only it was thinner and more slender. It had gray fur, red eyes characteristic of mutants, perky wolf ears, and a huge mouth that constantly leaked black saliva.
This monster would previously have been called the Gray Wolf (Canis Lupus). They lived in several groups in this forest and made these cave systems, which had also been a coal mine, their habitat. But among them, a cannibalistic aberration had emerged. Its hunger and violence made it devour its entire pack. Not satisfied, he also hunted and killed all the mutants he could find in the caves and surroundings of this place.
In the first apocalypse, this monster reached level 2 in just two weeks, and his insatiable thirst for blood took him to Pineview Village... With no mutant humans there, the creature took over the place, killing several citizens every day for pure fun. Almost as if he held everyone hostage for several days... Until the other survivors of SC12 arrived to put an end to his killing spree...
Although Rhayra was still alive, it was too late for my mother, who perished at the hands of this monster... That's why I came personally, this was an old enemy that I wanted to eliminate with my own hands...
The cannibal wolf was not that smart. As soon as he saw me, he began to circle slowly as if he were observing a new prey.
While he did this, I also watched him. Its claws and teeth were larger, and its size was almost as large as my box truck, meaning it had already become a level 3 in less than 2 weeks…
If I hadn't come here, he would have threatened the Pineview Village base. But now I was happy… Happy that this trip had yielded me another level 3 crystal… The sooner my allies became level 3 mutants, the sooner they could start practicing their own Universal Force.
I didn't let the cannibalistic gray wolf circle me any longer, I threw the first hatchet using space blade and distance break. The blow was fast, and caught him by surprise, but his level 3 mutant body reacted instinctively, making a huge leap…
But how could such speed overcome the barrier of space itself? He dodged a blow to the head, but the hatchet completely embedded itself in his shoulder, incapacitating his left front paw.
His jump also gave me another chance to attack again, since he was in the air, there was no way to dodge the second hatchet. This time, I didn't use Space Break and just threw the second one using Space Blade again. I took the opportunity to use Return and remove the first hatchet from inside his shoulder.
The sight of the hatchet disappearing from its shoulder and returning to my hand caused blood to gush from the wound as the wolf was in the air, creating a beautiful and sinister shower of blood, followed by a reddish mist that covered the entire cave entrance.
"Growl"
The creature, seeing that it could not escape the blow of the second hatchet, sacrificed its left front paw that had already been crippled… Its roar was followed by the entire paw being cut in half.
When it landed on the ground, I knew things had gotten serious, its previously gray fur, now mostly red from the blood cloud, gained an additional red glow that only I would recognize…
"Berserk…" I said in a low voice, as I exchanged the hatchets for my axe… The wolf barely landed on the ground and used all the power of its hind legs to propel itself towards me.
Similar to the life-or-death attack I went through with the drone, everything slowed down, while I saw in slow motion the wolf coming towards me. It was fast, very fast, its teeth tried to close on my body trying to split me in half with a single bite, I just turned the axe letting it stay between its fangs preventing it from closing its jaw, but the impact still lifted me off the ground ready to throw me far away…
Level 3 humans couldn't compete in strength against level 3 mutant animals, even more so those who entered "berserk" mode, the only ability that level 3 monsters had.
Using my experience, I slowly turned my body, letting the wolf pass me while withstanding only a fraction of the force of its powerful dash.
That was still enough for me to feel my arms almost break and still be thrown rolling across the forest floor until I hit a tree.
"Pow"
"Crack"
"Tush"
"Crack"
"Crack"
It was no different for the cannibal wolf; his strong momentum caused him to crash into several trees, bushes, and rocks in his path after missing his blow.
I stood up, ignoring the pain, I made my axe return to my hands with "Return" and ran after him following the trail of destruction through the forest, when I found him he was getting up still dizzy… I jumped as high as I could, and threw my axe again, this time at one of his hind legs.
"GROWL"
He growled again, but before the axe pierced his hind leg too much, it returned with a silver flash to my hands, when my body fell on top of the wolf, plunging the axe completely into its enormous skull.
"Swish"
There was only a clean slashing sound, and the wolf fell dead with a red crack on its skull… My axe that didn't have a single drop of blood on it disappeared into my inventory and a second level 3 crystal appeared in my hands, confirming the mutant's death.
I put its crystal and huge body into my inventory, then walked back to the cave entrance to confirm that there were no more alive… But when I got there I got another surprise, something growled at me…
"Grrr"