Mash paused his contemplation on an escape plan when he noticed something more interesting. Well, it was more interesting to him. There were two wolves that were even larger than the rest. If the biggest wolf so far had been the size of a large horse, these were more like enormous bears. Their fur was an even darker shade of grey, and they didn’t even bother blending with the snow. They were too large and discolored to blend into the environment. The size of the creatures, and the way that the smaller wolves surrounded them made them seem like leaders. He guessed that was exactly what they were.

He wanted to fight them but didn’t know what would happen if he did. The plan they had was to return to this place over the course of the next few days. Even if they weren’t planning on fighting wolves the entire time, he was worried that killing the pack leaders would cause the wolves to avoid them. Mash was weighing his desire to fight the obviously stronger monster with the steady stream of levels that the wolves’ existence would offer. Ultimately, he craved the fight more than the levels, just glad to be able to fight without worrying about the consequences. Plus, the larger wolves looked like they were hoping for a challenge as well. At least, it looked like that to him.

The wolves around him had returned to circling him. Mash wondered if they were receiving orders from the two largest ones but didn’t know if that was a thing. He decided in an instant what he wanted to and bent slightly. He prepared for another jump, this time he was planning on using his wind affinity as well. His instincts told him that the size of the monsters correlated directly with their speed and strength. That made him think that he would need a lot more speed and power behind his movements if he wanted to hurt the wolves’ leaders.

He was practically a blur himself and was easily as fast as he had been when he was flying in his wyvern form. Even if he wasn’t flying, he had kicked off the ground with enough force that he didn’t touch the ground again. He aimed at one of the two largest wolves. It reacted to his movement though and attempted to tackle him in return. The impact was loud and threw snow off of both of them. Mash had been covered in wolf blood and smeared it on the monster in the impact. The noise of bones breaking did not escape his ears, and pain shot through his arms. He had held them up to cover his face, but they had broken in the impact. The wolf didn’t get away unscathed either, or Mash could tell that it was struggling to breathe.

The wolf’s chest. Well, the part of the wolf that was just beneath its neck had collided with his arms. Mash was surprised at how muscled that section was, but it had felt like he had collided with a mountain, albeit one with fur. His arms were broken in several locations, but the pained wheezes that the wolf was giving made it worth it. The wolf was unable to breathe, and he wasn’t going to give it the time to recover. They had rebounded off one another a little from the impact. He managed to land on his feet and ignored the pain in his arm to swing at the same location. He used wood to form a cast around his forearm but left his claws unaltered. They would hopefully be able to tear into the wolf’s flesh.

The wolf tried to step out of the way, but it was slightly delayed in its reaction. Mash swung his claw with the intention of cutting, and he scored a long gash across the wolf’s chest as it failed to run away. Despite the cut being long it was very deep and only bled a little. He tried for another cut, but the monster managed to regain its breath, and pushed mash with its head. It didn’t try to bite him but shove him away. Mash could do little to resist the sudden motion, but he tried anyway. Wood grew from him even as he was lifted off the ground. It grew around him like a web. He tried to tether himself to the monsters or even just the dirt that was slowly being revealed by the fight. The snow had been pushed and moved and the ground was nearly bare now. Although it would never be perfectly clear as snow fell consistently. It was light though, and they were easily outpacing the gentle white stream.

He managed to stop himself from getting sent too far away, but that only lasted for half a second. Two of the horse-sized wolves lunged toward him each slamming their teeth down on his shoulders. They were aiming for his neck, but he managed to wiggle enough to avoid that. The monsters were resilient and bit down on whatever they could. In this case that meant his shoulder. Well, it was more than just his shoulders. Their mouths were big, and he could feel the teeth digging into his back. It was strange, they seemed stronger now and their teeth managed to bite through his scales. Thankfully they couldn’t fully bite through him, and this tactic made them vulnerable.

It was a suicidal attack, and Mash felt like the monsters knew it. They didn’t try and escape or jump away. They held to him and simply tried to bite through him. Mash struggled to stand with the weight of the monsters, but his wooden supports were helping him. He started filling the wolves’ mouths with wood and frying them with lightning. The whole interaction only lasted a few seconds, but the uninjured leader was already on the move. It probably knew that the two on him would die. It was obviously aiming for his head, but Mash focused on finishing the ones that were on him. Even as he burned the wolves from the inside out, he started making wooden mouths within the monsters. He bet that their cooked insides would be easier to bite through than their skin and muscle.

The noticeable increase in his stats proved that theory. The bigger wolf had recovered from any damage now and was running at him. He prepared to release lightning, hoping it would slow the approaching wolf. At the very least, he bet that it would blind the creature. The wolf closed the distance in less than a second, its jaws open to tear off his head. Mash retaliated himself. He cracked his mouth open, as he released a blast of lightning from it. With all of his bonuses, he was able to put a lot of power behind the blast. He imagined himself as a dragon, and that was exactly what this attack represented. It came out in a single bolt, the very seemed to vibrate as it left him. The wolf was moving too fast to change directions, but it didn’t seem to want to either. The leader was going for the kill, and it would accept the attack to it.

Neither he nor the monster was prepared to see Jill wink into existence beside him. She touched him, and the world shifted again. He was now above the dashing wolf, his attack released like a true bolt of lightning. It struck down in an instant, the roar of thunder that followed truly made him feel like a dragon. Even with all of the wolf’s speed, it wasn’t prepared to deal with someone who could glimpse into the future, and it wasn’t faster than lightning. The pierced the wolf like a spear, and Mash could almost feel the attack ripping through its body. He didn’t feel the rush of a level though.

“Still alive!”

Jill looked uninjured, though her clothes had some cuts on them. He guessed it was probably from the wolves’ fur. The lack of injuries meant that she wasn’t struggling very much, though it was hard to tell. With her skill set, her fights would be one-sided. Until she ran out of mana, and he knew that she must be running out now. Mash tried to shout the words, but he only managed to mutter them with fervor. He coughed a little afterward. His attack had expended all of his breath and heated the air around his mouth. The hot air didn’t feel good in his throat. Mash didn’t get a reply, and he realized that he wasn’t really able to hear all that well. The thunder must have damaged his ears, and Jill was probably just as vulnerable to it. Wolves had good hearing, right?

Mash looked over the battlefield and was pleased to see several disoriented wolves. Much of the snow had melted too, and he realized how muddy the ground was. The snow made for surprisingly good footing, and he bet that the mud would confuse the monsters. He needed to attack again, preferable to the one he had just hit with lightning. This would be his best chance to get a good hit in. Jill seemed to recognize that too, and she released him. Falling onto the wolf, he saw that part of its fur was gone. Black streaks covered its body. It was burned badly but was already recovering. The monsters’ physical abilities were truly incredible.

Simply falling would be too slow, so Mash used his wind affinity to push himself down faster. His forearms were definitely broken, but he used wood to keep them steady. It was basically like making splints for himself. They helped him keep his claws pointed toward the wolf. Mash fell onto the wolf, which was still recovering from the lightning and thunder. It seemed like these monsters were struggling more with the noise than power. He was trying to keep his vision wide as there were many wolves beneath him. Because of that, he noticed Jill appearing beside the other leader, her javelin in hand.

He landed on the wolf his hands dug into the monster but didn’t go as deep as he wanted to. It was enough though. Wood grew from around his claws extending as far as they could within the wolf. He was on its back, and he did something rather bestial. He fully used his bonus stats and bit into the wolf. His teeth changed, sharpening into points designed to rend flesh. He got a mouthful of fur and skin, which almost made him gag. Even if his skill let him, eating fur was not a pleasant experience. He bore with it and the excessive shaking as the wolf tried to remove him forcefully. It was basically thrashing about like a fish. The wood gave him a good hold of the monster though.

He took another bite, this time getting a mouthful of actual flesh. It wasn’t all that bad. He didn’t like the texture much, but the flavor was pretty good. He didn’t know how to describe it other than meaty, and the blood probably didn’t help with that impression. This was significantly better than the fur and it didn’t scratch his throat nearly as much. The feeling of strength was a nice touch. It was his favorite part of the skill. It was like he got a second wind or something, and the rush was always exhilarating. It made him want to test his boundaries. Although with how he was currently positioned, he couldn’t much more than continue biting the creature. He was eating a creature alive, that was a little horrific and even more disgusting, but he kept with it. It was working quite well.