Stalemate (2)

*AWOOO!* AWOOOOO!*

As dozens, if not hundreds, of howls echoed through the house, the windows shook and shattered while the men felt their eardrums hurt. The howls resounded in unison, casting waves of terror in the hearts of those present. However, even before they could react, the howls abruptly ceased and only the silence remained.

"W-were that wolves?" Asked an incredulous bald man with your hands still protecting your ears from the loud noise.

"That's a pack, but I've never heard so many together…" said Edvar, the more experienced hunter among the group, between breaths. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the window but wasn't able to see a thing in the pitch-black night outside.

"T-that must be the act of that Demoness!" Suddenly, Andressa pointed at her niece and shouted madly. "She must have called the beasts!"

"I - I did nothing…" Aris pleaded lowly, unable to understand why her aunt was acting like that. The kid could not associate the image of a caring and lovely aunt she knew with this moment. Andressa now acted like a mad woman, completely shattering the figure of a second mother that Aris had of her.

The bald cultist and the other man looked at each other and nodded subtly, as if coming to a tactical agreement. Yet, that did not escape Edvar hawks' eyes: The men were going to take action!

"We can put an end to this if you just hand over the book…" The cultist leader explained as his subordinate stepped to the side. Edvar readied his rifle, shifting the aim between the two, but did not pull the trigger. However, at that moment, the group was once again interrupted.

"AAAAH!" A terrified scream came from outside.

The group couldn't help but to turn back and look towards the opened door. 

"AAAAH!" The voice, a bit too high-pitched, belonged to the third cultist man who was left guarding the car. Now, he sat in the driver's seat with his eyes wide open and yelled pointing forward. "What the f**k is th-"

*BANG!*

The man barely managed to end the sentence before something huge crashed into the car, completely obliterating its front and immediately killing the man in the process. The group could only stare in shock as the large, gray-furred object slowly moved and easily pushed the car away.

*BOOM!*

The car flew meters into the air and crashed into a nearby tree. The shock generated an explosion and flames that melted the snow and lit up the dark night.

"Is - Is t-t-that thing a wolf!?" Stammered one of the cultists.

Indeed, what they just saw crashing - or rather trampling the car - was the front paw of an immense wolf! The animal's paw was bigger than the front door of the house, and its claws had clearly shredded the metal of the car with ease. In fact, the beast was almost 3 meters tall (around 10ft) and even though they could not see it, the group speculated that size based on the beast's paws. 

With its large snout and mouth full of teeth, the animal lowered its head and peered into the house. Its dark eyes with shades of deep purple gazed directly at the group, sending shivers among them, it seemed that the wolf had found its newest prey!

"Shit shit shit!" The bald man stuttered, unable to control the trembling of his legs. Like a cornered prey, the cultist felt his body go numb and just couldn't take his eyes off that monstrosity. 

"Kid, run now!" Edvar was the first one to react, positioning himself in front of his daughter and ordering her to flee.

Aris, however, just as the bald cultist, was not able to take her little eyes off the immense animal, but for a different reason. The huge wolf gave her a dangerous feeling not because of its size, but due to the amount of Qi that swirl around it.

A strange mixture of red and deep purple Qi, not visible to the untrained eye, swirled around the wolf. Unlike the calm and gentle Qi Aris knew, this one had a violent aura and was able to disturb the girl's dantian. Alarmed, Aris did not have time to understand whether the animal was emitting Qi from its body or absorbing immense amounts from the environment, due to the fact that she was using almost all of her concentration trying to stabilize her own Qi!

It was unsure if both hypotheses were correct or not, but either way it could only mean bad news: The wolf was leagues above her own strength! Probably over the mythical realm stated in the book as the Foundation Establishment realm!

Aris did not move, however the second cultist, ignoring that Edvar's warning wasn't meant to him, soon broke into a desperate sprint. Not mad enough to face the front door where the giant wolf was, he instead chose to run towards the nearby window and jumped over it. 

"Come back, your idiot!" Shouted the bald man. But, unfortunately, it was too late.

"Fuck the c -" The man raised his middle finger while running, only for it to be bitten by a wolf that suddenly leaped from the dark night. The man had no time to scream as seconds later, three other wolves bounced over him and feasted on the man.

Sweat trickled down the foreheads of the remaining two men, Edvar and the cultist, who were no longer facing each other but stared intently into the large wolf.

"There is only one way out of this stalemate…" Edvar whispered, trying not to move a muscle. As a soldier but more of a father, he knew there was no way out for him and could only hope that Aris made it out alive.

"I-I can help…" muttered Aris, sweat pouring down from her forehead. It was becoming harder and harder to control her own Qi.

"No, I know you can't." Edvar said without turning his head back. "No need to try to look brave, my princess. I know how strong you are and this 'thing' is stronger…"

"Dad…" In fact, the moment Aris saw that wolf, she knew she was no match for it.

Seeing as his newest prey showed no action, the wolf opened his mouth slightly, showing its canines the size of half a man.

"Escape through the back door, I'll distract it!" Exclaimed Edvar, following that he took aim and loaded the rifle.

*AWOOOOOOOO!*

The action seemed to somehow anger the immense wolf and it howled. The house trembled but Edvar took no heed and immediately shot. The bald cultist for some reason followed suit and also shot his gun.

*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*

Aris, not knowing what to do, just did as she was told to. The little girl turned around and ran towards the back entrance, not waiting to see if the shots had any effect on the wolf or not. In fact, deep down in her heart she knew it wouldn't. From the little she knew about cultivation, she could expect that these bullets would have no effect in the legendary Foundation Establishment Stage written in the book.

Fortunately for the girl, the pressure on her dantian eased the moment she left the house, enabling her Qi to be fully controlled by her will. Just as Aris was greeted by the darkness of the night and snowflakes fell on her head, she heard as the great wolf went crashing towards the house.

*BANG!* *CRASH!*

Chunks of wood and other materials flew to the air as the wolf easily slashed upwards with its big claws, destroying most of the front of the house. Yet, Aris dared not to look back and used all her strength to run. The cold Qi flowed out of her small dantian and filled her legs with power. Each step she took left huge marks on the snowy ground, propelling the small girl meters forward.

Less than twenty steps were enough to cover a distance of more than 150 meters and reach the street. There, Aris found himself in an area under the dim yellow light of a streetlight. Unfortunately, the distance wasn't enough to drown out the scream of terror coming from behind. It was a woman's scream: Aunt Andressa was no more. 

Even so, shots still rang out.

The street lights weren't bright, but they were enough to illuminate the tears that ran like a small river down the girl's face. Golden tears fell from her cheek to her chin and turned to ice the moment they left her face. Aris's heart ached, why were so many bad things happening to her?

C-Could it really be the devil's curse?

For a moment, the little girl stood there, lost in her own despair, trying to control her sobs. Unfortunately for her, the world was a harsh place and would not give her the time to do so. 

From within the shadows, three black wolves appeared. The ferocious animals walked step by step towards the small girl and soon joined her in the illuminated area. The wolves were not as big as the first one, but their white teeth gleamed just as dangerously.

Aris furrowed her brows as she saw the newcomers, from a glance she could tell the wolves had similar strength to a Fist Stage Body Tempering cultivator, nothing to be scared off - at least not after she had met a supposed Foundation Establishment beast. 

[Wolves…] Aris muttered to herself in thought. [They are the ones responsible for all this!]

The assumption might not be entirely correct as there were many factors she did not consider, or even knew. In any case, Aris was just a young girl, nearing twelfth years old, and that reasoning made sense for her.

"SCRAM!" Finding something to take out her increasing anger, Aris quickly flashed towards the nearest wolf and kicked it with all her might!

Her small and inoffensive looking feet flew fast like a bullet, giving no time at all for the unlucky wolf to evade.

*BANG!* *CRACK!*

Ari's feet connected with the wolf's jaw, jolting the animal's head backwards, crushing many of its bones. The First Stage Body Tempering beast immediately went limp and fell dead on the ground. 

The other two, realizing that they had provoked a small human monster, immediately turned around, ignoring their dead comrade and fled in terror with their tails between their legs.

"Hrumpf!" The girl humped and looked towards the left, where the city center was located. 

Not daring to look back, she ran once again.

As he approached the city center, his heart sank as he realized that things were even worse: Shadows danced in the darkness of the night, formed by burning houses and people being hunted down by hundreds of wild wolves.

Utter chaos met her. Packs of wolves killed people left and right, Blood and guts turned the snow red, and the flames of the burning houses turned his vision orange. Even though running away from such a fast animal was futile, people were not armed enough to resist. Because of that, public security was not enough to control the situation.

Screams, gunshots, and flickering lights left her dizzy, feeling like she was in a nightmare. The girl kept running, numbing her mind and heart.

"I - I must find Alden Reece, father said that he will help me…" Trying to ignore the carnage around her, Aris focused on what she had to do: find whoever was Alden Reece in the nearby city.

"... A- Aris…" At that moment a low begging caught Aris' ears. Out of reflex, she turned around just to see an old man on his knees. It was a face she had met before.

The old bearded man was the doctor that had treated her and Edvar just a few days ago.Now, he seemed to be running for his life. The man was disheveled, in his night clothes and barefoot. Kneeling, he tried to stop the bleeding from a large bite on his shoulder.

"Help me-" The man begged, yet stopped midway. What could a small girl like her do? Wouldn't he be a moron to do so?

Unfortunately he did not have the time to complete his reasoning as, at that moment, a wolf pinned him down and bit his neck.

"D-demon…" With his eyes wide-opened, the man let out his last breath

"I - I'm sorry…." Aris mumbled and ran.

The kid ran and ran, sparing no time to help the others around her. As people paved the street red, heavy snowflakes started to fall. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Aris to find herself at the end of town. Ahead of her, an endless highway led towards the next town.

Her tears had already frozen on her face and her Qi was half depleted, she knew that she wouldn't make it to the next city in time.

Looking towards that dark night, realization struck her: Her father was dead, her aunt and everyone she knew too. 

She was alone.

Today was the first time in her life that Aris felt cold.