Chapter 62: Opening a path for the pack…

Edward was watching the tide of magic beast rush wildly towards the outskirts of the marsh from his platform in the air. Looking at the endless sea of crazed beasts, the only way he could find to survive this was to let it all to the wolf and hope for the best, but Fenrir saw right through him and put an end to his wishful dreaming.

[If you choose to turn now, the wolf might be able to run with the tide and survive until it reached the forest outside the tide, but the chances of both it and Minx making it out alive are quite slim.]

“Then what do I do?” asked Edward as he fixed his eyes on Minx. “Damn, if there were no flying beasts we could easily wait it out in the air.”

“Minx, I want you to attack any magic beast that happens to fly near us. I’ll try to think of a solution in the meanwhile.” What he needed now was time to work out a plan with Fenrir. Since he didn’t want to waste his remaining mana before he could figure out a viable plan, he could only rely on Minx to take care of any flying beast that happens to be heading towards them.

Minx nodded and started channeling her mana, ice spears slowly forming all around her. Trusting Minx to protect them, he turned his attention to the mark on his arm: “Fenrir, can you or Azure see any way out of this?”

As Fenrir fell silent, discussing the issue with Azure, Edward closed his eyes and started going through different scenarios in his mind.

“I don’t have nearly enough mana to clear a path forward. Probably only someone on master’s level could deal with so many beasts so that option is definitely out. Fighting my way against the tide in my wolf form is also a big no. Even if my stamina would last enough, there is no way I could avoid getting overwhelmed without using magic as well.”

“Running… but where would I run? There are too many beasts and there’s no safe place where I could run to with the tide… if only Kara was here… we could use her magic to make a safe spot underground..”

Edward kept muttering to himself, going over different ideas one by one, finding all of them pretty much impossible. Looking at the flock of flying beasts that was getting denser by the minute, he knew this couldn’t go one forever.

“Fenrir, anything?”

[Azure says there might be a way…]

Edward perked up and asked anxiously: “What is it?”

Fenrir started explaining Azure’s plan, which Edward listened to with bated breath. Once she was done, Edward let out a sigh and said: “I guess we can try.”

Jumping from his platform towards Minx’s, he climbed on her back and said: “Minx, we’re rushing towards the fog at the outskirts of the swamp. You deal with the monsters in front while I take care of the ones rushing at us from the back and sides.”

Minx trusted Edward even if she didn’t understand his plan and jumped off the platform into the tide of stampeding beasts. Summoning a water whip, Edward quickly cleared an area for them to land on.

As her legs touched the ground, Minx didn’t waste any time and started running in the same direction the tide did. Sitting on Minx’s back with his face towards their back, Edward used the water whip to clear any beast that would come too close. It was the first time he has used the water whip in combat and, while quite difficult to control, it proved to be a better weapon than he expected.

As time went on, the beasts coming from their back started growing stronger and stronger, with some of them taking two or even three hits from the whip before falling down. Looking at the whip in his hand for a brief moment, Edward noticed that it was also a lot thinner than when he created it.

As Edward killed a beast that looked like a six feet tall wild boar with horns coming out of it’s skull, the water whip finally couldn’t resist anymore and broke apart completely.

“Damn. Just a bit more.” Said Edward as he turned and looked at the fog a couple thousand feet ahead of them. He could always summon another whip but Azure’s plan wouldn’t work if he used the remaining mana for that.

Clenching his fists, Edward said: “Minx, I’m sorry but I’ll have to conserve the mana I have left and fight anymore. You’ll have to try and take care of all the beasts approaching us for a while.”

Minx didn’t say a single world of protest and started launching ice spears after ice spears both in all directions with her at the center. Her attacks seemed to be working, managing to protect the two of them, but Edward knew she must also be running low on mana.

The last few hundred feet until they reached the fog were getting harder and harder to repel. As Minx had to reduce on the frequency of the attacks, many beasts managed to make it through and reach her body. They kept colliding into Minx, some of them even choosing to bite and attack her. Edward started attacking any beast that would bite into Minx’s flesh using his legs from her back, but that didn’t do much for her. He also noticed that their speed was slowly reducing and it won’t be long before the beasts completely overwhelmed them.

“We have to make it…” said Edward, looking at all the small wounds and cuts that have piled up on Minx’s legs. There were only a hundred or so feet until they would reach the fog.

“Fenrir, tell Azure I’m starting.” Said Edward with a determined look before whispering into Minx’s ear: “You did good, Minx. Thank you and leave it all to me now.”

His words ending, Edward took a deep breath and lifted his left arm. Focusing on the water droplet mark, he channeled the little mana he had left towards it.

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The moment his mana touched the mark, it turned bright blue and absorbed the entire mana almost instantly. Since the mana was not even close to complete the summoning of a high spirit, a excruciating pain followed next and Edward started feeling his entire being would soon get sucked into Azure’s mark. Gritting his teeth, he did his best to resist the pain, Azure already having told him this would happen.

At this point, Minx has already reached the fog, but had no choice than to blindly run forward until Edward finished his spell. She was out of mana and kept colliding with equally confused beasts, but she pressed forward nonetheless.

As Edward felt that he was about to pass out from the pain he was feeling, a small blue vortex formed atop his hand and all the fog in their surrounding started heading towards it. With the apparition of the vortex Edward’s pain also went away almost instantly, being replaced with a nauseating feeling, like he was about to throw up any moment.

“Edward. The summoning is almost done but you need to turn into your wolf form. Your human body won’t be able to resist being a vessel for the summoning.” Azure’s voice sounded in Edward head, prompting him to immediately activate his wolf form.

As his body started contorting and turning into that of a wolf, water mana started forming a small protective aura around it. More and more mana kept getting absorbed from the fog all around before entering the water aura around him.

By the time his transformation was over, a huge wolf made out of water appeared in the middle of the horde of beasts. All the magic beasts around Edward ended up being crushed completely, the only one being safe inside his water body being Minx.

Seeing Minx appeared to be fine, Edward heaved a sigh of relief and turned his eyes on the horde of beasts visible all around. He felt powerful now, more powerful than he has ever felt and wanted to have his vengeance. Not so much for him, but for Minx. Just as he was about to let loose and start massacring all the beasts around, Azure spoke inside his mind once more.

‘I can understand your desire to take revenge for them injuring your companion, but now is not the time. The summoning is incomplete and uses your body as a vessel. Even if your wolf body is a lot more durable than your human one, it would still be better to not spend a lot of time using it as it would only increase the strain on your body. I would suggest you start running towards the center of the swamp as soon as possible.’

Edward reigned in his excitement and asked: ‘Why go against the entire tide? Wouldn’t it be faster to just head towards the forest outside the swamp?’

‘It will, but once the spell breaks apart, you’ll probably be incapacitated for a while. It would be best if you head towards the direction the beasts are running from then in the direction they’re running to.’

‘But, if the beasts are running from swamp, there must be something even stronger there. Also, I won’t be helpless since I can always let the wolf take over.’

‘You don’t know the strain this spell puts on your body. I’ve already discussed it with Fenrir and she agrees that probably not even the wolf will be able to move afterwards. Also, the presence all the beasts are running from, it will probably not harm you…’

‘Alright.’ Replied Edward as he decided to trust in Azure, even if that probably was not really reasuring. Concentrating all the water mana he had in control right now, he reduced the wolf’s size to just a bit over ten feet and started running towards the center of the swamp.

‘That’s too slow. I’ll help you speed up a bit.’ Said Azure and not long after, a wave formed out of water appeared under Edward’s legs. Edward stopped running forward and focused on riding the wave without falling down.

His speed kept increasing as time went on, but so did the pain that was coming from all over his body. He knew this was because his wolf form was starting to have trouble sustaining the summoning spell. Looking at Minx that was now sleeping inside a water bubble above him, Edward grit his teeth and forced himself to hang on. He didn’t know how much longer until they passed the beast tide, but he couldn’t give up.

With more and more time passing, Edward’s real body started to bleed from any orifice, dying the membrane forming the water wolf red. His vision was starting to darken and he was barely able to feel his own body anymore, but he knew that passing out here would spell certain death for both him and Minx, so he forced himself to hang on.

Eventually, after a long and arduous journey through the beast tide, Azure spoke to him once more.

‘It’s over. You've finally made it past the beast tide.’

With her words, Azure canceled the spell on her own and returned to Edward’s mind. Being freed from the spell, both Edward in his wolf form, as well as Minx, fell down to the ground and started tumbling forward for over 200 feet from the speed they were traveling at.

Edward passed out immediately, having exhausted all his energy a long time ago. Keeping his consciousness all this time was nothing short of a miracle. His body turned back to a human for a brief moment before the wolf took over, but, as Fenrir said, not even the wolf was able to move at all.

Minx tried to stand up and go towards the wolf, but the injuries she suffered from the beast tide have not healed yet and she fell right back down to the ground.

Two wolves, one blue, one black, were both laying down on the ground, with their eyes fixed on each other.

Edward listened to Fenrir explaining the situation from inside his mind and heaved a long sigh of relief. They were both injured, unable to move and in an unknown territory, but at least, they were still alive. 

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