EP.10 The Wolf Chasing the Moon -1
EP.10 The Wolf Chasing the Moon -1
Under the moonlight, I looked at the wolf howling and thought:
Ah... there was no beating that thing.
Was it because the wolf's fangs looked sharp? No.
Was it because the wolf's claws looked hard? No.
Was it because the wolf's freezing fur looked keen-edged? That wasn't it either.
I simply felt, on a biological level, that this creature was an existence I could not defeat.
Up until now, I had met many Divine Beasts, but I had never felt fear from a first impression.
That made sense—every Divine Beast I had met had been favorably disposed toward me. They were all beings who acknowledged and accepted me.
But the Divine Beast I was looking at now was different.
That ice wolf was blazing with fighting spirit and exuding killing intent, showing me exactly what a Divine Beast was like when hostile.
Just from seeing the hostile Divine Beast's appearance, my body was trembling on its own, and my skin was prickling as if something were constantly jabbing at it.
"I had to run...!"
But how?
I knew better than anyone that even if I ran, there was no escaping that wolf.
Living alongside Divine Beasts, I had seen just how extraordinary their physical abilities were.
I could imagine that even if I ran now, I would be caught before I made it a hundred meters.
As though proving my fears correct, the wolf formed a massive ice spike in the distance to kill me.
If I stayed like this, I would be pierced by that spike and die.
So I had to move, fast...!
I had to move...!!
But my legs wouldn't move because of the fear!
"Damn it!!"
I clenched my fist and slammed it down hard on my leg.
When my leg refused to move, I struck it repeatedly until it responded.
As I pounded my leg, begging it to move just a little—even a little, the way I wanted—I finally managed to regain control of my legs.
But it was too early to feel relieved.
I had only just gotten my legs to move.
I still had to dodge the ice spike shooting toward me, so I hurled my body to the right and narrowly evaded the incoming ice spike.
The ice spike drove deep into the ground, creating a large hole in the solid stone floor.
If I had remained still, that spike would have...
"Ugh...!! Let's not think pointless thoughts."
This was only the starting line.
Hati's fierce assault was about to begin, so I had to come up with countermeasures.
"Here it comes...!"
Hati had already entered the village and was running through the streets.
The wolf, its entire coat made of ice itself, was approaching me while radiating an intense pressure.
"Kuh!!"
I fired several shots at the approaching Hati, but a handgun could not meaningfully harm him.
Bullets could not pierce his icy hide, while the softer-looking eyes evaded every shot with the slightest tilt of his head.
I had no way to harm the wolf.
If so, there was only one action for me to take.
"Run!"
I swiftly ducked into a nearby building.
Running through the streets would only be a matter of time before the wolf caught me anyway.
So to evade that ice wolf, which looked to be about five meters tall and ten meters long, going inside a building had to be the answer.
But I didn't stop my legs and kept running.
My destination was the opposite window placed inside the building.
On the way, I snatched a frying pan that was inside and hurled it at the window, shattering the glass in advance.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, I threw my body through the window and came back outside.
—Crash!
"Ugh...!!"
At the sound of the building's outer wall collapsing from being struck by something, I glanced back and saw that a massive chunk of ice had smashed through the building I had just been in.
A moment more of hesitation would have left me crushed beneath the ice and collapsing rubble.
Just imagining it sent a chill through me, so I faced forward again and kept running.
From now on, to survive, I had to trust only my judgment and instincts.
"Haa...! Haa...!"
A situation where I had to keep running without a moment to catch my breath.
The frigid air burned my lungs and tightened my chest, but I had no time to complain.
Quickly, I went into the next building and came out through the window again.
And again, the building collapsed under a chunk of ice.
Repeating this, I fled from the ice wolf with all my might.
How much longer could I keep running...?
I didn't know.
But by now, the senior agents who had arrived in the village would be evacuating the residents quickly, and the other freed agents would be putting their full strength into the evacuation as well.
If so, all I had to do was keep playing tag with the wolf until all the residents had successfully evacuated.
Anyway, the ice wolf's target was me—me, the human companion of Divine Beasts.
A wolf that didn't care at all what happened to other humans as long as it could kill me.
If I just bought time here, the villagers would be able to evacuate safely, and my Divine Beasts would be able to fight with peace of mind.
"Just buy time, just time...!!"
The only task I could accomplish right now—all the previous tasks had ended in failure, so this time I would succeed.
For the sake of my Companion Animals...
I would dance with a wolf under this moonlit night.
***
"The game is over, human."
"You fucking—! Blowing up all the buildings—isn't that cheating?!"
I had tried to use the buildings in the village to flee, but perhaps losing patience, Hati generated ice chunks in advance and blew all the buildings away.
The surrounding area now resembled the devastated village, with not a single structure left for cover.
"Now, quietly be devoured by me and end your life. Human."
"The only thing you can eat is this, you cur."
It was a bad situation, but even so, I forced a sneering expression and raised only my middle finger.
I had to keep moving, or fear would overwhelm me and reduce me to a pitiful state.
To maintain the mental state needed to stand against the wolf, I had to look down on it as much as possible.
"A mere insignificant human, daring to provoke a Divine Beast... The Divine Beasts who formed a Companion Contract with such a pathetic creature must truly be fools."
"Don't talk shit, you bastard! My Divine Beasts are more capable than a cur like you, got it?"
"Hmph! Vulgar human."
The ice wolf snorted once, as if I wasn't even worth listening to, and began generating dozens of ice spikes in the air again.
Ah, this was dangerous...
No cover remained, and the continuing commotion told me the evacuation was still incomplete.
Fortunately, the commotion had faded. The evacuation was nearly complete, but I still needed to buy more time.
"Hey, cur. Yesterday was your first time with humans, right?"
"What of it?"
"That means you don't know much about humans, so you also don't know what kind of tools humans have made. Right?"
"Anything made by mere insignificant creatures is obviously worthless without even looking! Not even worth evaluating!"
"Really? Then that's convenient for me."
In my hands was a single, weighty steel rod.
Calmly, I braced the butt of the steel rod against my shoulder, and with one hand on the trigger and the other gripping the fore-end of the metal mass, I aimed it straight at the wolf.
"Truly the height of insignificance! Threatening me with a mere lump of iron like that."
"Whether it's insignificant or not, judge after you've been hit by it, you stupid cur bastard."
I took a breath, then closed my mouth and, holding my breath, aimed at Hati's eye.
The wolf's eye was looking at me as if I were pathetic.
It must have seemed pathetic—earlier I had aimed for the eyes and fired the gun, but every shot had failed.
But this time would be different.
—Boom! Clack!
A relatively clean gunshot. But unlike the sound, the power was far stronger than before.
Unlike the pistol's single rounds, the shotgun unleashed a spread of pellets.
Toward the wolf's eye, which thought it could dodge again with a light movement, multiple iron pellets spread wide and flew.
"Keuk...?!"
Just as I had hoped, one of the many iron pellets succeeded in striking the wolf's eye directly, and the wolf let out a short yelp while jerking its head away.
I had succeeded in landing my first effective hit.
But I couldn't stop—I had to keep pressing the offensive.
To quickly deal damage to the other eye as well, I ran across the snow and aimed at the wolf's head once more.
Shots fired in an alternating rhythm of clean gunshots and the clacking sound of shell casings ejecting.
My right hand didn't stop, repeatedly pulling and releasing the trigger, while my left hand pulled and pushed the fore-end, ejecting the spent shells.
"In one of the houses I luckily ducked into and out of, there was a shotgun lying around! So I snatched it right up, and it's turning out to be pretty damn helpful, huh?"
"Kraaak!! Human!!"
Hati had been ignorant of the human creation called a shotgun.
That ignorance and carelessness had made the wolf completely fail to foresee this kind of damage, and that was the wolf's greatest blunder.
"Keuuuk...!!"
Ice spikes rained down all around.
But the spikes, now that the wolf had lost track of its target, were not particularly threatening to me.
"Haha!! How's the shotgun taste? You stupid cur!"
"You damn humaaaan!! I'll kill you!! You, I will gnaw to death, bones and all, crunching you to pieces!!"
The wolf was spouting terrifying words, but its ice spikes still weren't hitting me.
I had aimed for the eyes, but had the pellets unexpectedly caught the wolf's nose as well?
With his sight and smell numbed, Hati relied on hearing to rain spikes toward where I was, but he couldn't hit me as I ran endlessly across the snow.
"Kraaaak!!"
Hati, unable to land a proper attack and just getting pummeled by my shotgun.
Apparently abandoning offence for defence, the wolf raised a massive wall of solid ice around himself.
"Good! While I have this opening...!"
No matter how powerful a shotgun was, that only applied when talking about humans.
Guns couldn't inflict major damage on Divine Beasts, and at best they only amounted to scratches.
It had been effective only because I had attacked a sensitive area like the eyeball, but even that, considering a Divine Beast's regenerative ability, wouldn't last long.
So while that bastard was hunkering down in defense and healing its wounds, I had to put as much distance as possible—
"Agh...!?"
"Finally caught you! You damned human!!"
As I was fleeing frantically, a single spear made of ice pierced through my leg and embedded itself in the ground.
Damn it!! I had no idea the regeneration would be this fast...!!
This was clearly my mistake—this time I had been the stupid one.
"Keuk!!"
An intense cold sensation traveled up my hand from the ice spear.
I gritted my teeth and pulled the spear from the ground, hoping to escape.
When I tried to discard it, it stuck to my hand and wouldn't come off.
"Hnnggh!!"
Fearing frostbite, I planted the ice spear against the ground and stomped on it until it tore free from my hand.
I managed to finally separate my hand, but the skin of my palm tore off along with it, causing excruciating pain.
"Keuhaaak...!! Keuhp...!!"
My red blood began dripping onto the pure white snowfield.
It hurt so much that tears automatically streamed down and my face crumpled up, but I had no time to stop because of the pain.
"Ah...!!"
Once again, dozens of ice spears were flying toward me.
I took off the shoe stuck to the ice spear, then quickly rolled across the ground to evade the spears.
Then I got back up and ran, dragging my limping leg, trying to flee as far as possible.
One second. Just one more second—I had to buy even one more second...!
"Stupid human! Did you really think you could escape from me?"
"Huhk?!"
The ice wolf had already reached my vicinity.
I raised the shotgun toward the ice wolf's cold eyes again.
"Pathetic."
"Aaaagh!!"
The wolf's swinging claws tore away not only the shotgun but also a part of my hand.
Son of a biiitch!! It hurts! It hurts!! I said it hurts, dammit...!
"I thought there might be something special about a human who had formed Companion Contracts with Divine Beasts, but it seems an insignificant creature is still an insignificant creature..."
"Keuheuk...!! Shut up! Cur...! Just like you said, I'm not special! I'm nothing but a weak human—a human who can't do a thing in front of you Divine Beasts...!"
"To meekly admit your own frailty—so you were a human without even a shred of spirit."
"That's right, I'm a human without even a shred of spirit! But so what? Just now, you got a hit landed on you by that stupid human, didn't you? Doesn't that mean you've proven yourself to be the dumbest, weakest piece of shit among all Divine Beasts? Hahahat!!"
Right to the very end, I decided to mock the wolf.
So I raised my half-mangled hand, trembling from the pain, as high as I could, and gave it the finger for the wolf to see.
"Truly, you are a disgraceful human to the end."
"Think whatever you want. You're the one who's going to live with the disgrace of getting hit by a pathetic human, you mongrel cur bastard."
"...I've changed my mind. A filthy human like you isn't worth dirtying my mouth to eat. Just die, human."
Ice spikes and spears began forming one by one around me.
I had been driven into checkmate, with nowhere left to dodge or run.
"Haa...~ So it's over..."
"It's over, human."
Spears and spikes hurtled toward me in unison.
If I stayed like this, my body would probably end up like hole-riddled cheese.
It would have been a bleak and gruesome end.
"You dumb bastard. 'Over' refers to you, not me."
"What...?"
A transparent barrier stopped the shower of ice and shattered every chunk.
As evidence of that, ice powder was swirling around me.
"Wha, what?! What in the world?!"
"Kyuiit!!"
"Tia...!"
The baby dragon flew swiftly to me and nestled into my arms.
Seeing her small eyes brimming with tears, she must have been worried after seeing me in this battered, injured state.
"Kyuit!"
"I'm okay. This much is bearable."
In truth, it hurt so much I was nearly losing consciousness, but so Tia wouldn't worry, I forced a smile and stroked the dragon's head.
With part of my hand gone, I could not even pet her properly.
I was sorry...
"Thank you, Tia. You saved me when I was in desperate straits, didn't you?"
"Kyuit!"
At the very moment the ice spears were about to pierce me.
Tia had rapidly rotated the air around me, creating a wind barrier so fast that it pulverized the ice—that was why I had survived.
It had been somewhat close and sent a chill down my spine, but having survived like this and been reunited with my adorable baby dragon made me truly happy.
"A dragon that manipulates air... A troublesome opponent."
If you asked who among my Companion Animals possessed the most overwhelming power, the answer was indisputably Tia.
It wasn't that the other Divine Beasts weren't strong, but prophecy lacked pure force, and illusion and materialization abilities had many constraints.
Tia's ability simply controlled air, but that simplicity made it immensely powerful and destructive.
In that sense, for Hati, who manipulated ice, Tia was unavoidably an awkward opponent.
But...
"It's still a hatchling dragon that hasn't finished growing. It should be manageable enough."
"You really aren't a wolf, are you? You're more like a stupid cur, aren't you?"
But facing him was not Tia's role.
"Shut your mouth! Human!! An insignificant creature who can't do anything by yourself and has to cling to Divine Beasts!!"
"Before you get that mad, just look up at the sky."
"The sky...?"
A beautiful night sky with a meteor shower falling.
If someone sentimental were here, they would probably be making a wish right about now.
"What about the sky, human!!"
"You still haven't seen it? Look there."
I pointed at a certain part of the brightening sky with the one remaining middle finger I had, and at last the ice wolf looked that way.
Soon, as if in disbelief, the wolf's eyes went wide, and its face filled with shock.
The reason the sky, which should have been dark, was gradually brightening.
Among the countless meteors, exactly one had deviated from its path and was currently descending precisely toward where we were.
It was probably burning that brightly because it was piercing through the atmosphere.
"This is absurd...!! Summoning a meteorite?! There's no way a being with such an ability could exist...!!"
No matter how much it denied reality, shouting that it was impossible, that it couldn't be, the meteorite falling toward this spot would not disappear.
One way or another, this wolf was fated to be struck by the meteorite and die.
"Hey, cur. Swallowing the moon is your dream, right?"
The situation had now been reversed.
I had succeeded in holding out, and that wolf was now in mortal danger.
If so, the only thing left for me to do was to keep mocking the wolf.
"Then go on, try swallowing that first! You damned mongrel cur bastard!"
That meteorite, presumed to have been created by my proud Companion Divine Beasts, was truly...
big and beautiful.