Awakening: I Ascend Alone-Chapter 39: Awake

Melvin burst out of the cave, but at that same instant, he stood frozen. Cold air slammed into him, but that wasn’t what froze him in place.

Above the snowy ground, wings spread wide against the pale... well, the pale sky. The owner of those wings was the winged lycan; its massive frame cast a shadow over the land, its eyes locked onto him with a feral, intelligent rage. As it hovered in the air relentlessly as if running out of patience, the snow swirled violently beneath the beating of its wings.

Melvin was dazed.

For the god’s sake, he thought that abomination was dead for good. Then, how come it was awake now? Does it resurrect?

A thought of remembrance kicked into his mind as he remembered Aurex dropping it hard on the ground. Hence, it meant the lycan was never dead but was only sleeping the whole time.

Keth had not killed it. Then, how did she make it to sleep for such a long time?

He was even sure that if Aurex hadn’t triggered its awakening, it would have been sleeping until now.

Then, he moved his eyes and locked them onto Aurex, who looked tense and uncertain of what to do. Beside him was Keth.

She was already awake.

This led Melvin to conclude that whatever had caused that massive wolf to be asleep was tied to the ash-haired girl. The question is, was that why she remained unconscious until now? Or was she just exhausted?

Or... if she had a kind of ability that makes such a thing possible, was sleeping later on the limit placed on her?

There was only one way to have his answer. So, Melvin began to advance toward Keth and Aurex so that he could interrogate them and get a better grasp of the situation.

However, the lycan was not the type to wait for its prey to achieve its goals. It dove immediately like a falling blade.

With no time to discern the situation, Melvin’s body reacted instead. Instantly, he stepped to the side, barely avoiding the initial strike as the creature slammed into the ground where he had stood, snow exploding outward in a violent burst. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But that was not all.

The lycan adapted to the situation immediately, diving upward just at that same time, with the same momentum it had dove with. In a single motion, it twisted mid-lunge and surged toward Melvin again, faster this time.

Melvin didn’t hesitate. He did the only sane thing that came to his mind.

He turned and began to run.

If for some reason he didn’t know the lycan had him as its target, then good. Better him than fearful Aurex. Better him than recovering Keth. He planned to attract the creature’s attention all to himself by running in the western direction.

Behind him, the thunder of wings followed. The Lycan gave in to his plan and began to chase him.

Earlier, in that split second when he had dodged the first attack, Melvin had marked a point on the lycan’s back as immutable. Due to the massive creature’s gargantuan height, he had sidestepped to be able to see a visible point as it dove.

Now, as he sprinted across the snow, his eyes sharpened.

’Now.’

The instant he activated his ability, the world shifted and his body vanished.

[Cost of Fragments]: 1.0

Melvin didn’t have an opportunity to register the runes that had appeared before him in that second. As far as there wasn’t a significant decrease in his essence, there was nothing to worry about.

And, in the next instant, he appeared right on the Lycan’s back. His boots slammed against its outstretched wing, using it as a foot mat as the creature roared in fury.

"Got you."

The Lycan thrashed violently.

It twisted midair, wings beating erratically as it tried to shake him off. The wind howled louder, the creature climbing and diving in haphazard patterns.

But Melvin held on, thanks especially to his slime boots, which anchored him firmly, gripping the wing’s surface unnaturally.

Without wasting time, he summoned his weapon.

As Aftertick appeared in his hand, following his command, the whip extended instantly, snapping forward as he wrapped it tightly around the creature’s neck. The tension pulled taut at the same time.

The lycan suddenly remembered it was also a land creature. Hence, it descended with inhuman speed, snow bursting out due to its impact. Standing on its back limbs, it shook itself violently, then gripped onto the silver whip of Aftertick wrapped around its neck with its front limb.

As if a jolt of electricity ran through its vein, it released its front limb immediately due to the blade of the whip. But then, it strengthened its resolve to get itself free and gripped back onto the whip.

Not wanting to miss this chance, Melvin leaned forward, bracing himself as he prepared to tear through it. But then, he heard that voice, which he would later come to regret why it sounded at the wrong time.

"Don’t kill it!" Keth’s voice cut through the chaos.

Due to the lycan’s chaotic moves earlier, they had found themselves closer to the duo waiting by the cave entrance.

Melvin’s head snapped toward the cave.

Her eyes were fixed on him.

"Please! Don’t kill it! You can stop it, paralyze it if you like. But don’t kill it!"

Melvin frowned.

’What...?’

Why?

Why would she care about this creature? He had almost tried to convince himself that Keth had made a mistake while trying to kill the lycan initially. He didn’t want to believe that she had whatever weird ability that made her send the creature to sleep... if that was the case.

But now, what he didn’t want to believe was the heavier claim to prove why the lycan was still living.

Besides, that single moment of distraction and hesitation was what the lycan had secretly prayed for. As soon as Melvin’s grip on Aftertick loosened, and the whip around its neck did the same, the Lycan reacted instantly.

It pulled, and the force dragged Melvin forward, but he didn’t fly out... not yet, especially as the sticky ability of his slime boots was still active. However, the lycan had other surprises up its sleeve.

It immediately lowered itself to take the form of a crawling creature as its torn, jagged tail lashed out like a blade.

Melvin’s instincts screamed.

He let go of the whip’s handle and leaped.

The tail sliced through the space where his body had been a fraction of a second ago, but Melvin wasn’t safe.

The Lycan, as intelligent as it turned out to be, had already predicted his evasion movement. Hence, while Melvin was still midair, its massive wing slammed into him from the left.

BAM!

The impact was brutal.

Melvin’s body was sent flying instantly as he was thrown across the snowy ground.

He hit the ground hard with a great thud, then crashed continuously until his body came to a halt some measurable distance away from the massive wolf creature.

Pain exploded through his body. For a moment, it felt like the world was spinning, but he knew that the more time he spent trying to recover, the more chance he was creating for the lycan to finish him off.

With that in mind, Melvin forced himself up, and his eyes widened in shock. He thought it was going to be the end for him, as the lycan was not even taking even the slightest second to allow him to rest.

Now standing on level ground as humans would, the lycan dove again with an inhuman speed that wasn’t meant for a creature of its weight.

Melvin tried to activate his ability at that instant. He planned to mark a distant point as immutable so that he could buy himself enough time to recover and continue facing the creature head-on.

Unfortunately for him, he was late. Too late, thanks to his spinning head.

The lycan shot toward him, faster than when it lunged, then came crashing at an angle perfectly aligned so that it could finish its prey off with its talons.

Its talons stretched forward, aimed directly for Melvin’s neck.

Due to Melvin’s unstable condition, there seemed to be no escape. There was only nothing he could do. Death seemed to have visited him... and untimely.

Melvin’s eyes widened as time seemed to slow.

’Is this...’

The talons descended.

’...my end?’