Chapter 99: Escort Mission (IV)

I used my draconic eyes to search for the source of that howl, and it didn't take long before I found what I was looking for.

[Great Woodland Wolf Lv. 37]

The monster was a giant, nearly 10-meter-tall wolf with a thick pelt, wickedly sharp claws and fangs, and a glint of intelligence in its eyes.

Upon further inspection, I figured out that it was a rank B creature. It was nothing I couldn't handle. The problem was that the damned thing was surrounded by an army of hundreds of smaller wolves.

[Juvenile Woodland Wolf Lv. 12]

[Woodland Wolf Lv. 23]

...

[Juvenile Woodland Wolf Lv. 15]

The wolves charged towards the caravan, and I cursed as I prepared to launch spells at the incoming horde. Anbu stood in front of the villagers at the tip of the spear, while I prepared my spells to attack from above. The great wolf stayed back and stared at me and Anbu, while its kin were charging downhill towards us in a crazed dash.

I began firing a barrage of mana blades, killing or maiming dozens of the wolves before they reached us, while Anbu thrust his spear forward, and bright bolt of lightning struck the leading

wolf, frying it as the bolt jumped from one wolf to the next. By the time the fifth wolf fell, the bolt had vanished, only to be replaced by another from the tip of Anbu's spear.

Still, it hardly slowed down the wave of murderous beasts crashing down on us, and the melee between the villagers and the wolves began.

As I furiously cast spell after spell at the wolves, I thought that we were finally going to see casualties. Fortunately, the eight villagers with combat abilities were able to shore up any weak points on the defensive line, so it held.

For now.

I tried to create another trench surrounding the caravan, but there were simply too many roots in the ground holding the soil together, and I'd run out of mana before even finishing half the damn thing.

With a click of my tongue, I desperately looked for anything else that could turn the fight our way. The villagers were killing the wolves, but they were slowly accumulating more wounds than I could simply solve by transferring away to someone else. At this rate, the line was going to fall before the wolves would.

Suddenly, the great wolf howled once more, sending a wave of horror that shook the villagers. They still did not break, not yet, but the howl also affected the wolves besieging us – they began throwing themselves at the defenders with a rabid ferocity and a complete disregard for their own lives.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back, as a section of the line crumbled, with wolves crashing onto villagers and lunging for their throats.

I moved into action, all thoughts of sparing my mana gone. I transformed into my Draconic Form as I crashed into the wolves, shredding them all like a fierce storm of claws, magic, and fury. I launched fire breaths, incinerating waves of incoming wolves as I ripped apart the monsters and roared a challenge at the beasts.

"Kiara, WATCH OUT!" Anbu yelled at me.

I looked towards the voice and saw the great wolf swinging its paw at my face and taking one of my eyes with it. I crashed into the ground with the wolf atop me as it tried to bite at my neck, though my own claw smashed into its face, deflecting its fangs into the dirt next to my head.

The wolf tried to lunge at my neck again, this time holding my arms with its claws as its feet dug into the ground, to which I responded with my [Law of Exclusive Attraction], [Force Coefficient], and [Herald's Domain] combo to launch it off me into the sky.

I got up from the ground and was about to finish the job before noticing that our fight has completely wrecked any semblance of order to the fighting, with the villagers fighting the wolves individually.

Fortunately, the wolves were culled to the extent that they were fewer than the villagers, but unfortunately, each of them was still far more powerful a single man.

I turned to the smaller wolves to fire spells at them, saving a number of villagers who were in a precarious spot, as Anbu continued to pick them off by the dozen.

A loud roar emerged from above – it was the damned great wolf, which dug its claws into one of the treetops, its distance putting out of [Herald's Domain]'s range, which gave it enough of a chance to overpower its force with pure strength.

This time, the roar's effect was different. It was much louder, and instead of striking fear into us, it was antagonizing us into attacking it. The roar echoed throughout the forest just as the last of the smaller wolves were put down.

"Kiara, kill the wolf now!" Anbu yelled at me in a panic.

Hearing his urgency, I had a bad feeling as I summoned my wings and flew at the wolf, ready to end this charade once and for all. I turned off the class skills I'd used on the wolf, freeing it from the oppressive force pushing it into the sky.

Seeing me rush at it, the wolf jumped towards me, fangs and claws out, glowing with vibrating air mana and ready to sink through my scales. It must have thought that its little taunt worked on me.

Before I could celebrate, the wolf roared at me, and a sound wave struck into my chest, bypassing my scales and damaging my innards. I almost winced just as I was about to crash into the wolf but fought through it anyway as I infused my arm with as much force mana as it could hold.

The wolf's mouth bit into my shoulder, dealing massive damage, before my arm slammed into its side with so much force that both my arm and everything beneath the wolf's neck exploded in a shower of guts, gore, and blood.

I crashed into the ground, bloodied and wounded, yet still alive. HP: 2,317/18,120

SP: 1,263/3,470

MP: 791/9,359

I slowly transformed back into a polymorphic enhancer, my body taking a human shape and the wolf's head falling off my shoulder as Anbu rushed towards me.

"Kiara!" he yelled.

He kneeled besides me and tried to stem the bleeding from my shoulder where my right arm used to be.

I am fine, just don't move me too much. Can I take some of your health to heal?

I asked telepathically.

The man's eyes widened in surprise before he agreed.

He had less health than I did even as a rank B creature, though that was likely due to both my rarity and my being a dragon. Because of that, I 'only' took a few thousand worth of HP with polymorphic enhancer's racial traits, closing my wounds and putting me out of mortal danger.

Anbu carried me on his shoulder as he moved me to the wagon before turning to the villagers.

"The wolf called monsters here! If you can evolve or advance and there's still space on the wagon, then get to it! Leave the dead here and carry the wounded to the wagon, we need to get out of here NOW!"

People began shuffling around as sleep finally took me. ***

When I next woke up, I found myself sleeping on the wagon, with some of the village children watching over me.

"She woke up!" a girl said, drawing attention from the adults.

People made way on the wagon as Delondra approached me.

"How are you feeling, your excellency?" she asked nervously.

I chuckled a little before wincing in pain.

"What do you mean by 'your excellency?' I am just another adventurer." I answered. The old woman sighed.

"If you wish to keep your identity a secret, then I promise that everyone present will take the secret with them to the grave. Thank you for saving our lives." She said, bowing her head deeply.

Confused, I stood up, and noticed that my missing eye and arm had regrown.

I took a look around and noticed that the caravan was looking considerably smaller, but also a lot more intimidating.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You slept for about half an hour. During that time, the large wolf's roar drew in hordes of monsters from the forest to attack us. They were even greater in number than the wolves. Fortunately, they fought each other even more than they fought us. That, combined with the evolutions and advancements the survivors earned and Lord Anbu's vigilance, were enough for us to pull through." Delondra said melancholically.

The trees began thinning out, and the end of the forest was finally in sight.

I hopped off the wagon and walked towards the front to meet Anbu. As I took a rough count of the villagers, I'd guess that about thirty of the two hundred or so that we started with died in the fighting.

Gritting my teeth, I made my way to where Anbu was as we finally stepped past the last tree.

"Welcome back, Kiara. For saving the villagers, you have my gratitude." He bowed his head to me.

I shrugged it off.

"I came here of my own free will, no need to thank me. The one who owes you thanks is me; thank you for protecting me while I was recovering."

We were silent for a moment, until that silence was broken by what we saw at the horizon: the city.

I turned around to yell out the good news to the crowd, but the words died in my throat. Now that we finally went past the forest, the other side of the horizon was visible. And its skies were covered with hundreds of thousands of distant black specs.