The Devouring Dragon

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Gorn asked, chuckling at me, "Well, the words of a deadman don't matter. Take him down, men!"

At his words, another flood of spears came raining down from the trees surrounding us.

How did he even get the wolves up there? Can dire wolves climb trees?

Not the best time to think about that.

I reached out, wrapping my arm around Raya and pulling her into my side. As I did, I lunged forward, letting the volley of spears stab into the mud behind me.

I shifted my arm downwards, and then yanked my arm to the side again, causing Raya to yelp as I pushed her into a bridal-carry. She looked at me with a slight blush, then glanced away.

Now is not the time to be embarrassed, damn wolf princess! 

I ignored her action, sprinting forward through the mud as I caught the general duo by surprise. Considering their surprised faces, and how they both took a step back as they were caught off-guard, they didn't expect me to charge straight at them with Raya in my arms.

But, unfortunately for them…

"I don't need my hands to take you two down," I shouted, causing both of the generals to tense at my words.

…

Well, I'd never actually fought without my hands before, but it can't be that hard, right?

I was expecting to eat those words, but it actually wasn't that hard. I kicked off the ground, shooting forward as my leg lashed out.

Gorn, despite being stronger than Torn and by far the strongest dire wolf I had seen so far, was not able to dodge my kick. 

My foot slammed into his side, and he went skidding backward.

I guess he's not just that high of a level because of his intelligence - my kick barely phased him, and he quickly launched a counterattack.

He lunged at me, his spear thrusting through the air and aiming to impale my chest, but I side-stepped it. I instinctually tensed my arms, ready to slam one through the spear and break it in half, before I remembered that my hands were full.

Instead, I had to hastily dodge to the side as Torn didn't watch idly. His huge claws tore through the spot I was in, and I stepped back a couple of times to create space between me and the generals.

"Again!" Gorn shouted, and a rain of spears came falling from the trees around us again.

I hissed in annoyance, shooting forward again and letting them land behind me.

This was quite the annoying situation - if I could fight freely with my hands, then I'd be able to overpower the brothers even in a two versus one fight.

But, with Raya in my arms, that wasn't possible. I couldn't just set her down somewhere, as the spears targeting her before meant that the generals had no problem killing her. If I wasn't with her, then the countless dire wolves hiding in the shadows would go after her.

Gorn was actually pretty smart - he put me in a situation where I couldn't fight easily, and I also had to worry about protecting someone - all while I was on unfamiliar ground, practically sliding with every step in the steep mud.

Unfortunately for Gorn, being smart could only get you so far. I was far from an idiot, and I hadn't just walked into such an obvious trap for no reason.

I shot forward again, moving even faster than before as my legs started to adapt to the muddy environment around me. I stopped abruptly right in front of Gorn as the wolf-man raised his spear at him, and stomped my foot into the mud before kicking up upward.

Mud shot forward, flinging through the air and shooting directly at Gorn's eyes.

"Hah! As if I'd fall for that!" Gorn shouted, the wolf apparently expecting such a tactic. He swiped his paw-hand forward, lashing through the air and brushing the mud aside before it could smack into his face.

Unfortunately for Gorn, I had expected that he would expect that. Make sense?

The mud distracted him for a moment, and I took the opportunity to change directions and lunge at Torn.

Torn hadn't been expecting my sudden change in target, but his claws were bared as he had been planning on attacking me from behind as I targeted Gorn.

He did the best he could as my leg lashed out - he managed to trade blows, lashing out with his claws and tearing them across my arm as my foot slammed into his stomach.

-50HP! (15,400/15,450)

I hissed lightly as a string of blood flowed out of my arm, which was quickly put to a stop by my regeneration skill.

+25HP! (15,425/15,450)

I was once again reminded of how overpowered my [Devour] skill really was - despite Torn being at a far higher level than me, our even exchange of blows ended up being very one-sided.

My arm was practically as good as new - I didn't even feel a bit of pain anymore.

Meanwhile, my kick left Torn stumbling backward as he clutched at his stomach, saliva dripping down his maw as he coughed.

I didn't have time to lament on how much stronger I was, as my devoured stats didn't coincide with my level, because Gorn didn't sit by idly.

He lashed out, his spear whizzing past my face as I stepped backward again. As I did, he let out another shout.

"Again!"

Spears came raining down at me again - how many damn spears did they have?!

I jumped backward, my feet sliding through the mud as I dodged the spears and created space between me and the two generals.

"Get him!" Gorn roared again, and apparently that was the signal for the commanders surrounding us to start helping out.

Damn, I was really hoping they were just there for dramatic effect. Y'know, like how school kids get in a circle whenever there's a fight to watch?

Instead of just watching, the circle around us broke as wolves started lunging forward wildly.

"How good are you with heights?" I asked Raya casually as I side-stepped a wolf, letting him fly past me as I ducked under another.

"W-What?" Raya stuttered, staring at me in confusion because of the strange question, "F-Fine, I guess?"

"Great. Have a nice flight," I grinned cheesily, then abruptly grimaced as I forced all my strength into my arms. I stomped my feet down into the mud, giving me a good base as I let a commander slash their claws into my back.

-10HP! (15,415/15,450)

+5HP! (15,420/15,450)

"W-What are yo- AHHHHHHHHH-" Raya abruptly let out a scream as I flung my arms upwards, sending the wolf princess soaring through the air above. 

Her rather small body easily cleared the tree line, my supernatural strength sending her hurtling hundreds of feet into the air. 

Now, let's clear out as many as I can before she comes back.

"Ten," I hummed, lunging forward as my hand shifted into a knife. In a split second, my knife tore through two commanders, turning them into bloody piles of fur.

"Nine," I leaned back, letting a wolf lunge past me as my hand lashed out, slashing through its side as it did. 

"Just keep throwing them, you mutts!" Gorn screamed from somewhere behind the crowd of wolves attacking me, and another volley of spears came hurtling down at me.

"Eight," I swiftly dodged through the spears, letting them land around me as they inadvertently stabbed into a few of the commanders trying to take me down. 

"Seven," I took advantage of their momentary confusion, targeting two commanders that were injured by their own comrade's spears. I lunged forward, a knife forming on my other hand as I cut both of them down.

"Six," I muttered. I was going to slow. I tensed my legs, the mud shooting out from under me as I pushed off of it. My arms became a blur - my body shooting into the crowd with no regard for my own life.

-20HP! (15,400/15,450)

+10HP! (15,410/15,450)

-25HP! (15,390/15,450)

+10HP! (15,400/15,450)

-50HP! (15,350/15,450)

+25HP! (15,375/15,450)

-75HP! (15,300/15,450)

+35HP! (15,335/15,450)

-40HP! (15,295/15,450)

+20HP! (15,315/15,450)

The commanders swarmed me, their claws and teeth digging into my skin as I didn't try to dodge. 

Damn, this regeneration skill is pretty overpowered, huh?

My HP barely dropped despite the constant attacks, only depleting by nearly a hundred as I was swarmed.

And, for a measly 100 points of damage? They got much more in return.

With all the wolves right on top of me, practically dog-piling me (get it?) as their claws and teeth tore into me, they had no way of dodging my hands.

"Five," My hands lashed out, tearing through wolf after wolf as they dumbly jumped into the fray, believing that their comrades had me on the ropes.

I couldn't blame them. They saw their fellow commanders piling on top of their enemy - their claws and teeth tearing apart his flesh. 

In their eyes, I was as good as dead, and they were missing out on the action.

"Four," The number of deaths rose - the pile of corpses around me going from a dozen to over twenty.

"Three," I casually flung my arms out, tossing the bodies off of me as more wolves filled their place. My arms started moving faster as I lunged forward, slashing through commander after commander as my time limit started to run out.

"Two," I grunted, slamming my knife hand through the neck of another commander as their numbers started to dwindle - the once large circle containing nearly 50 commanders was now down to less than ten.

"One," I grinned, enjoying the look in the remaining commander's eyes as I dashed forward, my knife easily carving through them from close range. 

"AHHHHHHH!"

"Zero," I hummed, my knives switching back to hands as the final commander fell into the large pile of bloody wolves that filled the muddy clearing.

Above me, a small body slammed down, causing me to grunt from the force as a disheveled Raya landed in my arms. 

She blinked, looking around frantically as she let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm alive…" She muttered, tension draining from her shoulders as she was safely in my arms again. Then, she looked up at me sharply.

"At least tell me before your going to do that next time!" She huffed, glaring up at me. In response, I merely grinned.

"My bad," I hummed, turning my attention back to the two wolf generals in front of me, who were looking surprised at how easily I had taken down all the commanders.

"Y-You…" Gorn trailed off, at a lost for words as he stared at me with a mixture of anger and slight fear. He clenched his fist, turning to his brother.

"He's stronger than I thought, Torn. We need to be careful," He grunted, but Torn merely smirked in response, locking eyes with his brother.

"Hah, you call that strong?" Torn grinned cockily, "Those commanders were just wea-"

"Talking in the middle of a fight?" I interrupted, appearing in front of Torn in an instant, a gust of wind shooting out behind me from the immense speed.

My legs were becoming more accustomed to the mud now - I could move much more efficiently than before.

My left leg stayed planted in the mud, acting as a base while the rest of my body spun. My other leg lashed into the air, my foot disappearing as a knife filled its place mid-roundhouse kick.

Torn's eyes went wide, the blade suddenly inches away from his unguarded face.

"Whose careless now?"

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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be out Friday, or you can read ahead right now at Patreon.com/Koyon !