COMPASS OF TRUE LOVE - CHAPTER 32

Chapter 32: The Beast of Wolfland

-Lissa-

Out of the darkness of the forest strode the beast. Sharp, green glowing eyes fixed on us hungrily. The eyes of a predator. A vicious snarl escaped its lips, canines bared, the long ginger mane fluttering in the breeze, two long furred ears pointing directly towards me.

“About fucking time I find you hell-spawn fuckers!” she spat, twirling the massive wooden maul around like it was nothing. Green runes lit up around the hammerhead, forming a shimmering magical swirl around it. “This time,” she continued striding onto the battlefield, “I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL!”

With a dull ‘thump’ the ruscoqui disappeared and immediately reappeared from the massive tree trunk we’d been fighting at. Reflexively, I twisted around and pulled my head back just in time. The green glowing hammer whooshed through the air exactly where my head had just been. I gripped my daggers tightly and took a proper stance, keeping my eyes fixed on my opponent.

Naga and the Aspect gathered themselves and both unleashed their magic – arcane bolts barrelling down on the beast. She swerved the massive hammer around and the green magic around its head weaved around the blueish green bolts, shredding them apart midair. The ruscoqui unfurled all of her nine tails and shot towards the mages.

I tried to get over as quickly as possible, but the two-and-a-half-meter tall fox was incredibly fast for her build. The maul crashed into Naga’s torso before he could react and he was immediately thrown across the entire battlefield, crashing into a large boulder near the treeline. The Aspect weaved his arms upwards and darkened tendrils crawled up the beast’s tall form, dragging her towards the ground.

I used the moment of vulnerability and struck forwards with both my daggers, igniting the flames on the way. The hellfire bit into her flesh, but despite her scantly wood and leather armour, I barely pierced her skin.

With a roar, she thrashed the tendrils away and her eyes focussed back on me. The edge of her green irises were starting to turn red. Just like the last time we fought her. The longer the fight went on, the angrier she got, until she became fully unstoppable.

Gulping, I held my dagger up and prepared for the worst. In the blink of an eye she was on me, a claw slashing against my daggers, flinging one of them away in an arc and loosening the grip of the other one. I ducked as the hammer swung after me and felt the air whooshing above me. Shortly after, pain raked across my entire body, green sparks thrashed against my skin as an arcane blast emanating from the hammer sent me flying across the battlefield. With a loud crack, I crashed into a thick root and sagged down.

I heard a faint chuckle from the right and shot a glare to the barely conscious human swordswoman. “Shut the fuck up!” I spat and began heaving myself up again.

On the other side of the battle, the ruscoqui began assaulting the Aspect. In a panic, he raised one arcane shield after the other, each one being easily shattered by the massive magical hammer. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Naga getting up as well, plunging his scythe into the ground for stability. A barrage of arcane bolts twirled through the air and plummeted into the beast.

She let out another roar, the green in her eyes almost consumed entirely by the red glare. She lifted her maul and flung it headfirst towards Naga. With a loud crack, the hammer thundered into him and crushed his skull against the boulder. Necrotic energy whirled around his corpse, turning it into a reddish black ichor as he began his involuntary descent back to the hells.

“Shit!” I spat and rushed back into the fight. The beast began slashing against the Aspect’s shields with her claws. But, unlike the hammer, it took her serious effort to break through his defences. He realised it as well and promptly started casting more offensive spells between his shields.

I slid forward and slashed my one dagger across ruscoqui’s legs, drawing another roar from the ninefox. Ghastly claws shredded her skin the moment she turned towards me and, for the first time since she started hunting us, she fell to her knees.

Immediately, I brought my daggers back up and left a series of slashes on her arms and torso. A larger arcane blast smashed into her and the beast was flung a good ten metres through the underbrush.

“The hammer,” the Aspect called in between heavy breaths. “She draws most of her strength from it. If we keep her away from it, we can beat her.”

I nodded and rushed forward again. The ruscoqui had only just gotten back up when I pressed my attack. She anticipated my strike, batting my blade away and slashing her claws towards me. I stepped back and the Aspect hurled another three small arcane bolts into her. She began breathing raggedly, the red in her eyes slowly dimming.

We engaged again, slashing, twirling and before too long we had her trapped between us. I tried my best to occupy her attention while the Aspect prepared another heavy spell.

Then, something unexpected happened. Something fatal. Just begin the Aspect, a small shadow dashed forward. “BEHIND YOU!” I warned, but it was too late. The small rat person shot out of the darkness and jumped towards the Aspect. Midair, her hands grasped the glowing Skull of Unlife and ripped it from his shoulder.

The Aspect, fell to the ground, most of his strength suddenly leaving him as he aged rapidly, hair thinning, muscles tearing. His skin decayed away and his mortal husk collapsed. The rat girl disappeared into the underbrush again in the blink of an eye.

“Heh,” the beast huffed. “You’re fucked now, she-demon.”

She straightened up, towering above me with her strengthened resolve.

I clasped my dagger tightly. Eying my opponent closely, I prepared myself… and ran away as fast as I fucking could.

*****

-Sephie-

I shuddered awake, my entire body burning with pain. I was lying against the tree trunk, right next to Nydia. Soft rays of sun flittered through the canopy, a comfortable warmth on my face. I sat up with a wince and glanced over at my glamoured demon girlfriend. The wound around her stomach was bandaged and she was breathing steadily.

I let out a sigh of relief before I remembered to check my own wounds. My right arm and my chest were bandaged, like Nydia was, and there was some sort of healing salve applied to my skin. It was good, but not perfect. I’d need to replace it with one of my own, once I got my bearings.

I took in the rest of our devastated campsite. Cassie and Ashe were both huddled up inside their sleeping bags, still sound asleep. Whatever they had done must have saved us, I gathered. The last thing I remembered was Nydia being hit badly and collapsing and after that a sharp pain shot through me. Then there was just darkness.

I grimaced and the memory and decided to occupy myself with something else. Gently, I unwrapped the bandages around my chest and arm. Then I searched around for my bag and began preparing my healing salve, applying it to the scorch marks as gently as possible – I didn’t want to disrupt the healing that was already done by the other one.

The whole process took about fifteen minutes and by the time I was wrapping myself in fresh bandages, I heard steps approaching, rustling through the underbrush. Alarmed, I grabbed my copper rod from the bag that was still right next to me and held it out towards the sound.

A shadow was cast around the tree trunk and by breath hitched. A massive fox woman walked around, carrying a wicker basket filled with mushrooms and vegetables. When I say massive, I mean well over two metres massive, although she had a more athletic rather than muscular build. She had long, messy, ginger hair, a bit darker than my own, and two large, tufted fox ears. Her eyes were glowing emerald green and were framed with black eyeshadow. She wore a wicked smile on her dark red, almost black, lips that contrasted her pale skin. Behind her furled out nine fluffy ginger tails with white tufts at the end.

She was clad in a skimpy wooden armour, that only covered her chest and tummy. Around her hips she wore a three-piece green cloth-and-leather skirt with a white fur rim that reached just past her knees. One of her shoulders was covered in a massive wooden pauldron with a green magic swirling around a glowing core. Her hands and feet were covered in tied leather with that same white fur rim. On her other shoulder rested a wooden maul that was as tall as she was, covered in runes that glowed that same green colour as her pauldron.

“Oh, hi sugar. Finally awake I see. I brought some stuff for soup.” She flashed me one of the most endearing smiles I’d ever seen in my life and I couldn’t decide whether I wanted her to adopt me or take me.

“Aa,” I replied skilfully.

“You okay there? Oh fuck did you tear you wound?!” she immediately began to panic, sat down the basket and rushed over to me.

“N- No! Not at all! I- I’m just- f- m- you-“ I felt my entire face heat up. "Aa. Women,” I finally explained in perfect detail.

The fox girl raised an eyebrow, then started laughing hysterically. “Oh my gods, you are adorable! Fuck my life, this is great! Haha!” She stood back up and strode over to her basket. “Imma go make some soup. Oh. I’m Shyleen by the way!”

“S-s- Stephanie. Though friends just call me Sephie.”

“Sephie? Not Stephie?”

“N-no. Back at the boarding school there was a girl in my class who was called Stephie. So I was Stephanie-Sephie and she was Stephie-Steph. It just… sorta stuck.”

“School, huh? You’re one of those fancy types then?” The fox girl still smiled, although the tone felt slightly disapproving. “Also, you might wanna cover up? Or do you need help after all?”

I stared down at my body and saw my barely bandaged-up, paste covered boobies hanging out in full view. My face immediately began heating up again. “N-no! I- I’m fine! I can take care of it!”

I awkwardly turned around and continued bandaging myself up. “I- I’m also not a ‘fancy type’. I was at a regular boarding school, not – like – the Segronne Academy or anything like that.”

“U-huh,” Shyleen commented and I could hear the smirk in her voice.

“A-anyways. What happened last night? I only remember Nydia and me being wounded.”

“Well sugar, I saved you and your friends from the evil demons. Killed one of ‘em even. Then the fight went bad cuz I threw away my hammer to kill that one guy, but your adorable rat companion over there, Ashe if I remember correctly, stole the divine artefact of the other guy, rapidly aging him to death. The she-demon ran away in fear. I’d have gone after her, but ya’ll were badly wounded and I couldn’t just leave you like that, you know?”

“Oh… Uh… Thanks? For helping us, I mean. Not everyone would have.” I turned back around, now fully bandaged up.

“Ohh don’t mention it,” Shyleen waved her hand dismissively. “It’s what I do. Even though most people don’t like my… payment.”

“Payment?” I asked, trying and failing the faint bit of fear that crept into my voice.

“Emotions.” Shyleen looked up from stirring the pot. “I feed on the emotions of others to strengthen myself. For example, this battle I could feast myself on soooo much hatred, it was probably one of the best meals I’ve had in my life!”

“So you want to eat our emotions?” I asked, still slightly terrified. I mean what if we can’t feel that emotion afterwards or something?!

“Nooo! Not at all! The battle was enough to feed me for weeks! No, people just usually dislike it, cuz I chase them down and feed on their fear!”

A shiver ran down my spine and I was very thankful this woman was on our side.

“But I also protect nature from intruders. People who want to harm this place. Mostly humans. Your kind, no offense, really likes having control over things, especially nature.” She heaved up the giant wooden maul and the runes all lit up. “This,” she proclaimed enthusiastically, “is Worldwaker, the divine artefact of Visay, Goddess of the Wild. And I,” she proudly thumped her hand against her chest, “am her chosen champion!”