Demon Wolf

They don’t believe me. Wolf finished his brief explanation, describing how he had stalked and slain over a thousand Brilliant Gate’s disciples with the natural air of nonchalance, indistinguishable from that of an accomplished braggart.

It doesn’t matter. He held back a snort, watching the Earth Pavilion’s trio’s patronizing looks.

“The survivors will probably pass through here in a day or two, maybe more, depending on their pace.” Despite feeling annoyed, Wolf concluded his short narrative with a warning.

Just as he considered setting off, the slender Lydie stopped him.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Hillman, we’ve found a patch of Corpseworts. We wanted to pick them, but Swordleg Devourers watch over them. We planned to increase our realm before trying our luck, but with you here…”

She trailed off under the stout red’s glare. Wolf ignored the woman and gave a slow nod.

Corpsewort is a fundamental ingredient for advanced, flesh-mending pills and salves. It could prove handy, if there’s enough of it.

“How many?” he asked.

“We saw two,” the redhead replied with a gruff tone, “but there’s probably one more, hunting and bringing carcasses to speed up Corpseworts’ growth.”

“I mean, how many Corpseworts have you seen?”

The women exchanged confused glances, and the red, who seemed to be their leader, shrugged.

“Several hundred stalks?” Lydie answered. However, her tone lacked confidence. “Could’ve been more. There was a bunch of decomposing deer, and we didn’t dare get too close.”

Yeah, Swordlegs are nasty buggers, assuming bestiary entries are correct.

“Still, several hundred is a lot.”

“We split the loot based on contribution? You found the treasure, so you get ten percent each, plus whatever you earn during the fight. Does that sound reasonable?” The girls went silent after hearing Wolf’s proposal.

He could see the tiny cogs turning in their heads as they pondered his offer.

“I can probably handle a pair of mature Swordleg Devourers alone.” Wolf considered what he had read about the eight-legged monsters and their paralyzing tentacles, doing his best to overestimate their abilities.

Meanwhile, the three young women kept exchanging meaningful glances. The awkward silence stretched too long, and Wolf decided he was not welcome.

“Well, then—” he turned to leave, but unexpectedly, the red stopped him.

“Wait Senior Apprentice Brother Hillman, we agree to your proposal,” she said, swallowing a lump.

Ten, I hate these types of indecisive, stubborn people the most. She’s about to say something stupid.

“But you protect our rear.” The red bit her lip, looking sideways at her apprentice sisters, anger seeping from her eyes when she met Lydie’s gaze.

There it is; as dumb as it gets. She probably thought I would go look for their treasure and steal it while they cultivated.

“Alright, I’ll stay in the back, unless things get out of hand.” Wolf kept his thoughts to himself. He joined the group for Corpseworts, not to safeguard suicidal cultivators.

Lydie and the petite brunette grinned with genuine relief, but Wolf read the red’s fake smile, which never reached her calculating eyes.

“Should we head out now?” Wolf asked after the silence stretched long enough to become awkward.

“Follow me,” the red turned around, leading the way through the bushes.

Her movement is amateurish, and she’s leaving obvious tracks, but at least she seems to have more experience than the other two.

Wolf brought up the rear, evaluating his temporary allies. Unfortunately, he could not tell their exact stage. They spent several days meditating in the middle ring, they probably reached the first stage, unlike me.

“Soon, my second Mental Aspect will recover enough. Then I can cultivate whenever I’m not using Qi.”

The group covered fifteen kilometers before Wolf caught the ungodly stench, and the redhead tensed. She turned, pressing downward with her palm, giving Wolf a signal to move with caution.

I don’t even have to try around you guys, but Wolf still nodded and continued moving in the exact same manner as before.

The group crept closer, and the stench grew overpowering. Lydie and her black-haired friend got increasingly nervous, casting glances left and right, ready for monsters to jump them.

Finally, the bushes ended and the burly woman called for a stop with her raised fist. She pointed at her eyes, then motioned her friends to fan out while Wolf should stay put. He ignored her amateurish gesturing, mercilessly pinched his nose, and held his breath. He awakened his senses, hoping he had done enough to shield his sense of smell from rot’s initial onslaught.

There was little to see through dense leaves, but moving his head left and right, Wolf pieced together the fragments he saw between their gaps and formed a picture of the area ahead. A pair of two-meter-tall arachnids moved with great care amid a field of corpses and crimson flowers growing from between the carcasses.

The creatures used their long, smooth legs as sheers, severing any unwanted plants and digging up the soil to promote the Corpseworts’ growth. The abominable monsters’ calm gardening stood at complete odds with their appearances.

The giant spiders had eight double-edged blades for limbs. Each of their bodies was as large as a grown man’s torso, the entirety of its lower side a giant maw, surrounded by thin, stinger-lined tentacles, similar to those of common jellyfish.

“An adult Swordleg Devourer is a sixth stage Blood Saturating Monster Beast. Their potent paralyzing venom is a great tool both for offense and defense, scaring away any Monster Beasts which would otherwise hunt them.”

Under normal circumstances, two would be enough to deter any competition, but that’s not true for Corpsewood.

Also, there’s too many fresh bodies on the ground. They killed them here to water Corpseworts with fresh blood. There’s no way a single hunter can catch and bring back more than one Monster Beast per day.

He was about to ask what gave the redhead the confidence she could handle a Monster Beast five whole stages beyond her, when a small black cylinder riddled with holes appeared in her hand.

Talisman timer? What kind of talisman is she going to use?

The burly woman set the timer to two and waited. Once the Swordleg Devourer drew to two dozen meters away, she pressed the matte container’s lid and hurled it towards the beast.

On the count of two, the talisman container released a wave of scarlet light.

Blood Saturating grade Befuddling Burst? A surprisingly intelligent choice.

While Wolf looked down on her, the woman burst into action. The moment her eye caught the flash she sprang forth. She circulated Qi through her legs, not as a simple enhancement, but as her family’s unique movement art.

Like an enraged bull, she charged towards the giant spider, whose limbs moved erratically under the befuddling spell. The monster collapsed, digging its bladed appendages into the ground and ruining two nearby Corpseworts.

A thick, black spear appeared in the woman’s hand, and its runic tip glowed gold as its wielder fed its engraved Spell Formations with Qi.

The gleaming spearhead struck the eye. It dug into the creature’s brain, detonating a burst of Qi, and killing it on the spot.

Everything went according to plan, the execution slick like oil. As expected, the second Swordleg rushed towards its murdered mate, and Lydie threw another black canister while the group’s leader ducked, hiding behind an elk carcass.

The bushes rustled, revealing a pair of Swordlegs dashing towards the attacker. Even in their rage the beasts scuttled around the precious plants.

Wolf watched the scene with a flat face as terror dawned on Lydie’s and the black-haired girl’s faces.

The red is dead. She can’t even distinguish the number of enemies, given how she buried her head in the sand to avoid getting stunned, which is not a horrible strategy, assuming you have all the information. The talisman will scramble the visible monster’s senses, I can dash out and block one, but the remaining beast will turn her into fertilizer.

“Stay,” Wolf growled nasally at the rear support and burst into the Corpsewort field. Just like Swordlegs, he also avoided the sanguine herbs’ precious, meaty leaves.

He chose the closer monster. He believed this choice might help the red flee, or fend for herself until he returned to save her.

“Fat chance.” Despite scoffing at her odds, Wolf gave her a hand as much as he could.

In the stretched flow of time, the first thing to hit him was the putrid odor as he released his nose. The battlefield’s stench made even Wolf gag. Fresh bodies stank, the decomposing ones reeked thousands of times worse. He clenched his jaws, as the enzyme-saturated saliva flooded his mouth, preparing his body for retching.

He drove away the hindering notion, focusing on the beast before him. It gracefully weaved between plants, shredding obstructing corpses; the stabbing movement of its legs like a dance of bloodthirsty dervishes.

The clicking, squishing, and spurting sounds the Monster Beasts made resonated within Wolf’s ears, when he caught a faint, out-of-place metallic ‘tak’ behind him.

What was that?

Wolf turned his head slightly, casting a peripheral glance behind him.

“You stupid whore!”

sleepydad88 Author’s Note - Swordlegs, one of the many wonderful monsters my toddlers had created in my mind while drawing in the sand.