*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.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the noise vanished. The silence that followed was even more terrifying.
"W-was that wolves?" the bald cultist stammered, his hands still pressed tightly against his head.
"That's a pack... but I've never heard that many at once." Edvar whispered, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He glanced toward the broken window but wasn't able to see a thing in the pitch-black night outside.
"It's her! It's the demon girl!" Andressa suddenly shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at Aris. "She called them! She's summoning the beasts to kill us all!"
"I didn't do anything..." Aris pleaded. Her voice was small and broken. She looked at her aunt, but the loving woman who had been like a second mother to her was gone. In her place was a wide-eyed, raving stranger consumed by fanatical hate.
The bald cultist and his partner shared a quick, tactical look. They didn't need words to agree—they were going to take the book by force. But Edvar's hawk-like eyes caught the movement. He shifted his rifle, ready to fire.
The bald cultist and his partner shared a quick, tactical look. They didn't need words to agree—they were going to take the book by force. But Edvar's hawk-like eyes caught the movement. He shifted his rifle, ready to fire.
Before anyone could move, a scream tore through the air from outside.
"AAAAH!" A terrified scream came from outside.
The group couldn't help but to turn back and look towards the door.
It was the third cultist, the one guarding the truck. He was sitting in the driver's seat, his face pale in the dashboard light, pointing at something in the darkness. "What the f**k is th—"
BANG!
He never finished the sentence. Something massive slammed into the front of the truck, crushing the engine block like a soda can and killing the driver instantly. The group inside watched in frozen horror as a giant, gray-furred limb pushed the wreckage aside with the ease of a child moving a toy.
*BOOM!*
The truck was tossed meters into the air, crashing into a tree. The fuel tank ignited, and a ball of orange flame erupted, melting the snow and lighting up the yard.
"Is... is that a wolf?" one of the cultists choked out.
It was. Or at least, it used to be. What they just saw crashing - or rather trampling the car - was the front paw of a massive wolf!
The beast stood nearly three meters tall, a mountain of fur and muscle. Its snout was the size of a trunk, filled with teeth as long as combat knives.
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's legs gave out, and he sank to his knees. He was a predator of men, but in the face of this monstrosity, he was just meat.
"Aris, run! Now! Edvar was the first one to react, positioning himself in front of his daughter, his rifle braced against his shoulder, ordering her to flee.
Aris didn't move.
She wasn't just frozen by fear; she was sensing something the others couldn't. A violent, swirling aura of red and purple Qi was radiating from the wolf. It wasn't the gentle, calm energy she knew. This was a storm of malice that hammered against her own Dantian, making her Qi go wild.
Alarmed, Aris did not have time to understand what the beat's Qi entailed, because she was using almost all of her concentration trying to stabilize her own Qi!
[It's too strong.] She realized with a sinking heart.
The wolf was leagues above her own strength, probably it had already reached the mythical realm stated in the book as the Foundation Establishment realm!
The second cultist panicked. He didn't wait for Edvar to speak again. He turned and dove through a side window, desperate to escape.
"Come back, you idiot!" Shouted the bald man. But, unfortunately, it was too late.
The runner didn't listen. He scrambled through the snow, but he only made it five steps. A shadow leaped from the darkness. A normal-sized wolf caught him by the throat mid-stride. Two more joined in a second later. There was no time for him to even scream before he was torn apart.
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 he wasn't walking out of this house. His only goal now was to buy his daughter a few seconds.
"I-I can help, Dad," Aris muttered, sweat pouring down her face as she struggled to stabilize her Qi.
"No, you can't," Edvar said, his voice steady for the first time. "Don't try to be brave, my princess. I know how strong you are... and I know this thing is stronger. You have to live."
"Dad…" Deep down she knew her father was right. The moment she had seen that monstrosity, she knew she was no match for it.
The giant wolf opened its mouth, letting out a low, vibrating growl that made the floorboards shake.
"Back door! Go!" Edvar commanded. He took aim and pulled the trigger.
BANG! BANG!
The action seemed to somehow anger the immense wolf and it howled. The house trembled even more but Edvar took no heed and immediately shot again. The bald cultist joined in, firing his pistol blindly.
*TAP!* *TAP!* *TAP!*
Aris didn't look back. She turned and sprinted toward the kitchen. She knew, deep down, that the bullets wouldn't stop a beast of that level.
As she burst through the back door and hit the cold night air, the pressure on her Dantian eased, the dark night greeted her as snowflakes fell on her hair.Then, she heard a massive CRASH behind her—the sound of the giant wolf lunging through the front of the house, shattering wood and stone like glass.
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. She channeled every bit of her cold Qi into her legs. Each step she took left a crater in the snow, propelling her meters forward. In seconds, she reached the street, a distance of over 150 meters.
Less than twenty steps were enough to reach the street. There, Aris found himself in an area under the dim yellow light.
Unfortunately, the distance wasn't enough to drown out the scream of terror coming from behind. A high-pitched, agonizing scream of a woman.
Aunt Andressa.
The screaming stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of more gunshots. Aris stood under a flickering yellow streetlight, tears streaming down her face. The tears turned to ice before they even hit her chin. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed by a cold hand. [Is this the devil's curse? Why is everyone dying?]
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 them, from a glance she could tell the wolves had similar strength to a Fist Stage Body Tempering cultivator.
[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, twelve years old, and that reasoning made sense for her.
Aris wiped her eyes, her sorrow suddenly turning into a white-hot spark of rage.
"SCRAM!" she screamed.
She moved like a blur. Her small inoffensive looking foot flew out like a cannonball, catching the lead wolf square in the jaw.
*CRACK!*
The wolf's head snapped back at an impossible angle, its skull shattering instantly. It hit the ground, dead before it even slid.
The other two wolves yelped, tucked their tails, and vanished back into the shadows. They had realized too late that this human "pup" was a monster in disguise.
"Hrumpf!" The girl humped and looked towards the left, where the city center was located.
Not daring to look back, she ran once again.
Unfortunately for her, this nightmarish night was not over.
As he approached the city center, her heart sank. Shadows danced in the darkness of the night, formed by burning houses and people being hunted down by hundreds of wild wolves.
The orange glow of burning houses lit up the sky. Packs of wolves were hunting humans through the streets. The snow was no longer white; it was a slush of red and grey. People were being pulled from their cars, dragged out of their homes, and slaughtered in the streets.
Screams, gunshots, and flickering lights left her dizzy, feeling like she was in a horror movie. The girl kept running, numbing her mind and heart.
"I have to find Alden Reece... Dad said he would help..." she whispered, her voice trembling.
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.
She stopped and turned. There, kneeling in the snow, was the old doctor who had treated her leg. He was in his pajamas, barefoot, his shoulder a mangled mess of blood.
"Help me—" he started, but then he saw her small stature and stopped. He knew she couldn't do anything. Before he could say another word, a wolf pounced on his back, burying its teeth in his neck.
"D-demon…" With his eyes wide-opened, the man let out his last breath.
Aris watched the light leave his eyes. "I... I'm sorry," she whispered, and she kept running.
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.
She reached the edge of town, where the highway stretched out into the infinite, dark woods. Her Qi was almost gone, and her breath was coming in ragged, frozen puffs. She looked back at the burning remains of her world.
Her father was gone. Her aunt was gone. Everyone she knew was dead.
For the first time in her life, despite the fire in the distance and the blood in her veins, Aris felt cold. Truly, deeply cold.