The thing before me was a Wolfana, one of the new species on the list of ‘Special Series Monsters’ also called the ‘Heaven’s Wrath’.

It is said that the heavens got angry with all the atrocities that human beings have been inflicting on nature and amongst themselves, that’s why they created these monsters to maintain the balance and keep humanity in check. A bunch of bullshit in my opinion.

As if the heavens would have time to care about something as trivial as humans and their atrocities, just how much spare time do these people who made the list think the heavens have? Morons

Coming back to the present situation, 

A Wolfana has the head of a ferocious wolf and the body of a human. It is counted among one of the strongest monsters to ever appear out of mysterious structures called dungeons.

The first appearance these monsters made was 10 years ago when 10 of these monsters massacred around 200 strong adventurers, thereby shocking everyone in the aftermath. Ever since then they have also been called the ‘Fangs of Death’.

Wolfanas are sometimes also associated with Werewolves and trust me, the comparison isn’t all that wrong. It is said that the Wolfana are born from the countless people who met some unfortunate circumstances and perished in the dungeons.

Maybe that’s the reason why their intelligence is considered to be on par with that of humans.

The Wolfana in front of me completely ignored the girl’s existence and focused all its attention on me. I guess it wants to have a fight with me or something.

Taking advantage of the monster’s negligence or dismissal, to be precise, the girl ran away from there without saying anything else. Well, she did flash me a ridiculing smile before heading off, shitty bitch. To be honest, I really wanted to catch her up and throw her in front of the monster but considering the direction she was headed in, I decided not to pursue her. I mean, she will meet one of ‘them’ if she keeps heading that way. I can’t wait to see her sorry expression when that happens.

“Hmph… pathetic shit” 

I shook my head and kicked any thoughts about her out of my mind, I was going to have so much more fun right here and now, why the hell should I keep on thinking about someone who might die in a few minutes?

So I focused my attention on the monster before me.

It stood there smiling and flashing its fangs, doing its best to creep me out of my mind. But if only this much was enough to disturb me then I would have probably died a long time ago or maybe become a kebab or a grilled steak for these monsters to enjoy.

Coming back to the monster,

My first impression of it was, huge!

It stood around 2.5 meters tall, its arms and legs were long and covered with fur and it was releasing an incredibly high oppressing aura.

The monster looked at me and then issued a roar probably to intimidate me.

“Graaaahhhhh!”

Well, the roar was loud and I did feel a tinge of pain in my ears, but that’s it. I didn’t feel anything else. The roar in reality was more irritating than intimidating.

Noticing no change in my expression the monster grinned happily and looked at me with interest in its eyes.

This guy…it must be thinking that I am a small fry. Well whatever, go on underestimate me it’s fine for me that way.

I unsheathed my sword and then covered it alongside my two feet with mana.

Luminescent white light covered my sword and my feet, I pointed my sword at the monster in front of me and then

“*Clang!!!*”

The sound of metal clashing reverberated in the surroundings.

***

AUTHOR’S POV

A girl in her late teens was running through the forest at an incredibly fast speed.

Sometimes whilst running she would glance backwards to check if someone was following her and then continue running again.

It was a very short period of time but the girl had gotten a considerable amount of distance away from the Wolfana that she had first met. 

The girl shivered holding her arms together as she thought about the sight of the monster she saw just a few moments ago. The monster was tall, around 2.5 meters in height, it had the head of a wolf and limbs of a human, the creature looked as if it had been summoned from some mythical legend. It was emanating a menacing aura, the entire forest seemed heavy under the influence of the monster.

The girl shook her head as if to remove all the unnecessary thoughts out of her mind and kept on running.

“Shit! That was a grave miscalculation on our part!”

She cursed under her breath

The thing is, this girl also came to this forest to hunt these monsters. She knew that her direct combat strength wasn’t high but she compensated for that weakness using her resourcefulness. ‘Today was supposed to be the biggest day of her life then how come she is now going through this hellish situation?’ Is what she kept on pondering about over and over again. She racked her brains to come up with an answer but she wasn’t able to do that.

“Maybe it’s the penance for everything that I have done”

She said with a tinge of pain and sorrow in her voice. Her mind got overwhelmed by the feeling of regrets but that didn’t last too long as she soon overpowered the useless emotions and flashed a cold smile.

“No, if there was something called penance in this world then ‘he’ should have been the first person to die not me. This is a dog-eat-dog world, the stronger and clever ones survive and the weaker and foolish ones perish. Yes, that’s how it is, that’s how it is ‘supposed’ to be”

She murmured under her breath. She wasn’t saying these words to anyone, these words were only said because she didn’t want herself to be burdened by the thought of killing others.

How weak the mind is, deluding yourself just so that you won’t feel burdened by your sins, how weak, how pathetic

She didn’t think about anything else after that, she just kept on running but that came to a stop after she encountered ‘that’.

Her face went pale as if all the blood was drained from it and she started shivering. Well, of course, she would since the one standing before her was another Wolfana!

She was confused, she was aggrieved, she didn’t know what to do anymore.

It was then, that a sudden thought came to her mind, ‘why did that boy not chase after me?’

She was thinking about the boy she had met earlier. She still remembered the boy’s expression when she used him as a scapegoat to run away from the Wolfana. At that time rather than looking scared, angry, or confused the boy rather looked relaxed, no, she noticed that his expression was similar to when someone tries to stifle a laugh. But why? He surely didn’t know she would encounter another Wolfana on her way here, would he?

Just as this thought crossed her mind, she started feeling an immense amount of hatred towards the bastardly boy who knowingly plunged her into the claws of death. Even though she was the one who used him as a bait first, I guess shamelessness is a part of being a human too.

But something still strike her as odd, if the boy truly did know about the presence of the other Wolfana then why didn’t he use it as an excuse to make a temporary alliance with her?

‘Could it be…that he was strong enough to defeat a Wolfana?’

Her mind went blank as she thought of this possibility but she soon discarded this thought, ‘a Wolfana isn’t something that a boy similar to her in age can deal with’ is what she kept on repeating over and over again in her mind

She didn’t believe, no, she didn’t want to believe in this possibility because if the boy truly turned out to be strong enough to defeat that monster then she is going to suffer a fate even worse than death. She knew all too well about humans, she knew just how monstrous a human being could actually be.

Just the thought of that man coming back carrying the severed head of the Wolfana in his hand sent shivers down her spine.

The girl was still immersed in her thoughts, seeing the girl ignore its presence the Wolfana issued a roar,

“Graaaaaahhhh!!!!”

The Wolfana looked at the girl in the same way a butcher might look at a lamb that is about to be slaughtered. The gaze of the Wolfana was enough to tell that it didn’t take his opponent seriously, that it could easily deal with her anytime it wanted, that she was nothing but an inferior prey in its bloodthirsty eyes

The monster’s gaze caused the girl to lose all her strength, her hand holding the small sword started shaking. Her eyes started tearing up and it seemed as if she would drop to the ground any moment now but then suddenly all the shivering and shaking stopped.

“No! I can’t die here!!!”

She shouted to motivate herself, a strange fire lit in her eyes

The girl bit her lips, a trail of blood dripped down from her lips, and she rushed at the monster before her with determination apparent in her eyes.

“Haaaaaa!!!”

With full force behind her body, the girl swung her mana clad sword at the Wolfana. The girl had converged all her mana in her short sword and her feet as if it was her last attack and ran towards the monster. She had a determined expression on her face and looked certain that she will hit her target.

But

The moment her sword was going to hit the Wolfana, it dodged the strike by moving to its right side and then just casually punched the girl in her face. She got sent flying away from the impact of the punch and finally came to a stop after crashing into a tree.

“*Bash!!!*”

The girl collided with the tree and slumped on the ground, she was bleeding and she had probably broken a few of her bones.

The girl looked at the Wolfana standing before her with a smirk on its beastly face with fear completely apparent in her eyes. She kept on mumbling ‘I don’t want to die' repeatedly as if she was trying to escape reality by chanting those words.

“I don’t want to die! Not yet! Not yet!! Not yet!!! I cannot die, not until I kill ‘him’!!”

The girl started shouting, protesting, and crying. Tears filled her eyes and her entire face got drenched by her tears.

The monster looked as if it had gotten bored, so it leisurely walked towards the girl and raised its arm to tear apart the girl but before it could do that, it was interrupted by the arrival of a certain stranger.

“Whoa! How pathetic~!”

It was a voice full of derision

It was a voice unbefitting of someone noble

It was the voice of the protagonist

***