Chapter 58: Wolf Lord Part 3

“Holy Light!” Alicia used her skill for the first time, targeting the black and silver Wolf. A bright light shone close to the beast’s eyes, stunning it right before it could behead Erina. The light coming from Alicia’s power was warm and gentle, reminding me of the user’s personality, but it was hard to look at even for a human. At least now, Erina was safe.

Despite that, I need to go into the light. Holy Light wouldn’t last forever, and once the beast was free from the status effect, it would hunt us down. Erina was meters away from me, and I needed to reach her as fast as possible. I didn’t have many options, but my instincts knew what I should do. I called for that skill as if it was already natural to me.

“Flash Thrasher!” I used my Swordmaster skill, dashing towards Erina at the max speed I had, holding my sword.

When I stepped close enough, the Wolf Lord’s ears moved, hearing my fast footsteps. It was stunned, paralyzed by the Holy Light, but there was the risk that the beast would crunch me the moment it was free from the status effect. What I needed at the moment was to throw other distractions at it.

When the light was getting dimmer, I was close enough to attack the monster. I couldn’t miss the opportunity, so with all my strength, I swung my sword right at its muzzle. I wasn’t as strong as the creature, but I didn’t need to overcome its strength right now.

To rescue Erina, I just needed to make the monster step aside long enough so we could regroup. So, what place should I attack on the beast? Its crotch? Good idea, but it’s a very low blow for my taste, so no. I decided to go for its nose. If I managed to make its muzzle useless, the creature wouldn’t be able to track us by scent.

So I slashed its nose in half, blood spilling from the injury. It wasn’t a deep cut, but I was sure it was enough to destroy such an efficient but delicate sense of smell. The monster barked in pain, running back and forth in an agonizing frenzy. The Wolf Lord was meters away from us, barking frenetically, covering the green grass with its blood.

I left the monster alone and turned my body to the woman seated under the tree, who seemed weak, but her eyes were still moving in discomfort at the dim light around us.

“Are you still conscious?” I asked her, stretching my hand out to her. Thankfully, Erina was still conscious.

“Yeah, but… I can’t move my body correctly.” She said in a frail voice, different from her usual energetic self. She needed to be healed.

“I see. So let me handle this.” I said, embracing Erina with my arms.

“Eh? W-What are you doing? What do you think you’re touching?”

“Shhhh! The monster’s ears are still working. Do you want this thing to hear us?” I whispered to her seriously.

“But touching me down there, all of a sudden…” Erina said with a bit of embarrassment in her voice. I couldn’t believe what I just heard in the dangerous situation we were in.

“Take your mind out of the gutter! I’m trying to carry you!” I said to her in a nervous whisper. Justine was looking at us, her face carrying a dumbfounded expression. I gave a signal to Justine so she would follow me.

…

We hid ourselves behind some bushes as far as we could from the Wolf. When the creature stopped struggling in pain, we stopped making any sound. Its ears were still functional, so it could spot us. The beast got tired of searching for us and slept ten meters from where we were. Making sure it was resting deeply, all four of us sighed at the same time.

“I think we can relax for a bit, ouch!!” Erina said, only to cry out in pain.

“Shhh, it will hear us,” I said to the Captain, and right after, I asked my blond-haired Valkyrie, “Alicia, please heal her.”

“Right!” Alicia placed both her hands on Erina’s back, whispering her skill, “Heal.”

A green light radiated from her hands, enveloping the place Alicia was touching. When the light faded away, Erina’s eyes opened widely.

“I feel no more pain! What an impressive healing power!” Erina praised my Saintess’ power. Alicia didn’t respond to her; she just stood there, avoiding Erina’s gaze.

“To think that we would be saved by the guy we were about to fight… What a turn of events.” Justine said in a low voice, looking at me.

“I wouldn’t lower my guard if I were you. That beast won’t let us leave this forest. The second we move around, it will catch us.” I said to Justine, making sure that our conversation wouldn’t wake the Wolf Lord up. Her expression got serious at my words.

“So what…” Justine started asking something, but I stopped her.

“Because of that, Alicia and I want to offer a truce.”

“A truce?”

“Yes, both of our groups can’t defeat that monster, and it doesn’t care if you girls are from the Silver Fang. Our best chance to win is to gather our strengths.” I said to them, trying to be persuasive. “When we defeat that monster, we can solve our differences.”

I stared at their reactions. Justine was reflecting about my proposal, but Erina looked uneasy. I carried her all the way from the tree and placed her right next to me. ’So she really is interested in me, huh.’

In SCRL, Erina said she thought Rick was handsome the moment she met him, but it didn’t go anywhere. Rick died at the beginning, so there wasn’t a window for relationship development. She was beautiful, her buttoned uniform giving shape to her body. She was quite intelligent, and from what I remember from the story, she isn’t a bad person. So I wouldn’t mind making her one of my Valkyries.

“I suppose you have a plan, Richard?” Justine asked me in her formal tone.

“Yes, you girls are stronger, but your magical powers don’t do much damage against it, so only Erina can deal real damage to him. But she would be an easy target.” I explained my plan to them. “But we can protect her.”

“You guys?” Justine asked, surprised.

“Yes, I have close-range abilities that can hurt that thing, and Alicia also has powers that could help our defenses.”

“Are you sure that you can do this?” Justine asked, testing me. “No offense, but it looked like Erina and I could defeat you easily back then.”

“Well, you’re not wrong. You are stronger than me, so I decided not to fight back then. I was thinking that I could negotiate, even though it didn’t happen. But the situation is different. That thing won’t talk, and forget appealing to reason. It won’t stop until we are both dead. I didn’t want to, but I will have to use my trump card and hang in there until we win.”

“You don’t sound very confident.” Erina broke her silence.

“Sorry for that. I have no intention of losing, but I won’t lie saying that it will be an easy win. That’s the best I can offer.”

Justine looked down, her expression grim knowing what I had to say. Our bush was silent until someone decided to talk.

“I think we should follow his plan.”

“Erina?”

“We don’t have much of a choice. We don’t have anyone to fight on our frontline. I would feel better if I had someone to keep the monster occupied while I shoot.”

Justine closed her eyes, thinking about the cards that were given to her, and after she realized that she had a bad hand, the only thing left was to play the game the best she could.

“Fine.” She finally approved.

“Welcome on board, even though it’s temporary. Ah, I was forgetting something.” I said, looking at Justine with a smile.

“What?”

“Alicia used a good part of her mana using her magic. Do you have a few mana potions with you?” I asked innocently, and her eyes opened in surprise.

“How do you know?” She asked.

“Hmm… You are a Mage and you have that aura of a really professional woman, so I thought you should have some potions just in case.” I said to her, remembering that she was prepared for setbacks.

“Yes, I have six mana potions. How much do you need?”

“S-Six!!” I replied, dumbfounded.

“Any problem?”

“N-No, no problem.” I responded to her.

I didn’t expect that she had that many. Even though it wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Wolf Lord with her magic, I couldn’t help but think that she would be the type to bring a sack full of items to use in a boss fight, thinking that every item could be useful.

“Just give three potions to Alicia. Her skills are very mana-consuming, so she will need the most. I’ll need two, so you can have the rest.”

“Are you going to be fine?” Alicia asked me with her worried green eyes.

“Don’t worry, Alicia. We’ll defeat that thing and continue our journey.” I said to her, but her expression didn’t look happier. Maybe my frightened words couldn’t convince her this time.

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