NOVPUBUriel closed his eyes and braced for impact as the creature’s steps drew closer while he lied on the shallow waters completely defenseless. The pain that coursed through his body let him know that he was fine and the reason he couldn’t move was most likely because he couldn’t breathe.
Thanks to his extensive experience in getting beaten up he knew that it was when he couldn’t feel any pain after an attack that he should worry, but now it made no difference since he couldn’t even lift his arms to protect his vitals.
The cryptid moved at a normal speed in spite of the Dash skill altering his perception of time, which was a sign of its incredible velocity. It was the first time he encountered a cryptid that fast and it would most likely be the last.
Or so he thought, because from out of the bushes, Luna came bashing at the creature in the complete dark, causing a commotion that shook the earth and caused waves on the shallow water Uriel was lying on.
Judging by the miriad of sounds that echoed in the forest, Uriel knew the battle between Luna and the cryptid was fierce.
’I need to help Luna...’ He thought, but he couldn’t lift a finger. Dash was incredibly useful and it saved Uriel’s life on more than one occasion, but it also made him feel helpless when he was immobilized or in pain. Still, even when he couldn’t move his body, his ethereal body was completely fine and he took advantage of that fact and visited his museum.
Focusing while in pain was a difficult task, but thankfully his wounds were shallow and he still managed to enter his museum. There, he prepared himself and bought a couple gas lanterns, one for himself and the other for Luna. Then, a semblance of a strategy to fight the cryptid dawned on him and he also bought grease and alloy wire from his souvenir shop.
It was hunter grade, which meant it shouldn’t break easily even by cryptids, or so he hoped.
As soon as Uriel deactivated Dash he was able to stand up, and he hurriedly applied the grease on the wire and on his hands and proceeded to wrap the wire on the trees surrounding him. The sounds of the battle among Luna and the cryptid were much more dreadful now that his skill was inactive and he felt completely open to attacks from anywhere, but that didn’t stop him from completing his task.
By the time Uriel ran out of wire, the sounds of the battle had come to a halt and Uriel probed in the darkness calling for Luna, but she didn’t reply. His mystical sense led him towards a hollow tree, where the gruesome sight of Luna in her human form completely bathed in her own blood left him in shock. But the worst part was the heavy sigh she let out.
"Luna!" Uriel screamed to the top of his lungs.
"Uhm, stop being a drama queen, I’m fine." She spoke in her usual tone of voice.
"But there’s so much blood!"
"I’m bigger when I’m on werewolf form, more importantly, where did it go?"
"I don’t know, I still haven’t seen it."
"Uriel, this is really important. Do not let it bite you..."
"Is it a vampire?" He asked.
"Worse, he’s a rougarou. They’re a subspecies of werewold, but they’re pretty rare. They’re not like me, they’re more wolf than human..."
"What happens if it bites me? Will it turn me into a werewolf?" Uriel asked pondering about the benefits he could possibly gain by becoming a hybrid like Luna.
"Uhm, no, you’ll die. He’s stronger than me... I don’t think we can defeat him, but you need to run away."
"What about you?"
"He won’t kill me, he wants to mate with me. I think he picked up the scent of my clothes on your backpack... I guess my smell is enticing to him given that I can morph into a full lycantrope."
"He... wants to mate with you," Uriel echoed dumbfounded. "and you want me to leave you alone?"
"I don’t want to mate with him if that’s what you’re implying, but it’s not like he’s going to give me a choice. Werewolves are half human and we don’t really have much humanity, rougarous behave just like beasts. Uhm... I wonder if I’ll get pregant," Just as Luna finished speaking, an eerily long howl resounded in the distance. "the mating ritual is over. Go, now."
The rougarous steps were heavier than those of Luna in her werewolf form, they sounded like a tree falling on dry ground in spite of the shallow water which was a sign of its huge size. As the cryptid drew near and the dim light of Uriel’s gas lantern licked its thick fur, Uriel was finally able to see the face of his enemy.
"Uhm, go. I don’t want you to see what’s going to happen." Luna said amidst stutters, showing how scared and embarrassed she truly was.
"I won’t let you alone, I’ll protect you." Uriel stood tall in front of her, his wounded figure somehow looked taller than usual.
"You love playing hero too much, I don’t need your help. Save yourself!" Luna finished with the closest thing to a genuine expression Uriel ever heard coming from her mouth.
"I don’t know about the hero part, but I’m not playing." The sheen on Uriel’s eyes overwhelmed the light of his lantern for a second and the rougarou took it as its cue to attack.
The massive shape of the rougarou moved impossibly fast for its size, but Uriel didn’t budge. He watched as the cryptid got tangled on the wire, breaking some trees in half without even slowing down, but the more tangled it got, the heavier its steps became. The cryptid dragged several trees on its wake and its speed was finally decreasing and Uriel knew it was his chance.
"It’s do or die," Uriel let out a sigh as he took the stance of professional athletes from the old times. "again."
