Cursed System-Chapter 124: The Death Wolves

RAGNA POV...

I looked like a corpse that had been dragged out of a desert grave—no, worse, like someone who had drowned in sand and somehow crawled back out on sheer stubbornness alone. Grit clung to my face, packed into my hair, stuck to my lashes, and scratched against my skin every time I breathed, yet I didn’t even have the luxury to wipe it away. There simply wasn’t time, and more importantly, there wasn’t strength.

I could feel it then—my power leaking out of me drop by drop, like water seeping from a cracked jar no matter how desperately you tried to plug the holes. My limbs felt unbearably heavy, as if someone had poured molten lead into my veins.

My lips were pale and dry, my head throbbed dully, and I knew without looking that dark circles had hollowed the space beneath my eyes. Every breath tasted dry and dusty, my throat burned with thirst, and my body screamed exhaustion from every aching muscle fiber. I was drained, sluggish, and hollowed out all at once, barely able to squeeze out even a shred of strength.

HP: 150/46

In a twisted way, I was grateful that night had already fallen. If this were daylight, anyone who glanced my way would’ve thought I’d been poisoned mid-battle and left to rot. Even now, moving felt like swimming through mud; every step took effort, every shift of balance demanded focus.

’If I’m already like this, I thought grimly, then just keeping my composure is hard enough. Forget about what comes later.’

If I could consume a demon, maybe—just maybe—I could squeeze out a bit more energy. I still had a spark left in me, but even that was flickering dangerously low. And if I didn’t consume anyone... I didn’t even want to finish that thought.

{Host Attributes}

»Level(Rank-): 9

»Name: Ragna Ringwood

»Titles: Cursed Child

»Race: Unknown

»Exp: 25,000/32,000

»HP:150/46

[Attributes]

›Mana: 23

›Strength: 23

›Perception: 23

›Vitality: 23

›Agility: 23

›Mana Sensitive: 23

›Mental Fortitude: 23

{Attributes point: 200}

I stared at my stats for a moment longer than necessary, as if glaring at them might somehow shame my body into recovering. Then I lifted my gaze, and my eyes drifted toward the empty space amid the pile of corpses at the center of the campsite.

There, standing alone, was a black steel knight. He held a long black whip loosely at his side, unmoving, silent. Compared to the other black steel knights, he felt... different. Not louder, not more aggressive—but heavier, like the battlefield itself acknowledged his presence.

Howls and screams echoed all around us, yet none of the vicious wolves or cursed children dared step within a meter of him. It was as though some ancient instinct screamed at them to stay away, an inborn fear reserved for prey standing before a true apex predator.

The wolves outside the defensive perimeter had already lost nearly half their numbers, but the demon children alliance had paid a far steeper price. Most of them had never seen real combat before—never smelled blood thick in the air or heard death rattling in a friend’s throat. Even those of us with systems—me, the twins, a few others—had suffered badly. I couldn’t even imagine what the rest were going through.

The ones still standing weren’t winning. They were surviving. Barely.

’If I were the vicious wolf king, I mused coldly, this would already be enough to justify a full charge. One last decisive push—that was all it would take.’

I kept retreating, carefully, constantly pulling back from direct combat while watching the battlefield unfold exactly as I’d arranged it. Of the three vicious wolves I’d prepared earlier, two were already gone, torn apart in the chaos. Only one remained—the final piece I was counting on.

Mental energy wasn’t something I could just replenish on a whim. Without proper rest, it was gone for good. Otherwise, I would’ve risked subduing more wolves to secure food for myself. But time was slipping through my fingers, and my mana reserves were already scraping the bottom.

Then it came—a blood-curdling howl that tore through the night sky. But this one felt different. It wasn’t just rage or hunger. It carried intent.

After that howl, silence fell. An eerie, unnatural silence. The wolves suddenly halted their assault and began retreating slowly, cautiously. Even the black steel knights seemed uncertain—was this the calm before the storm, or had the wolves finally broken after suffering such massive losses?

Something felt wrong. Deeply wrong. My instincts didn’t whisper victory—they screamed danger. Still, the whip-wielding knight merely observed, unperturbed.

Some cursed children started cheering, laughter breaking out in shaky relief. Others stood stiff, faces pale with unease, sensing the same wrongness I did.

Moments later, the air exploded with howls—dozens of them, one after another. The retreating wolves stopped dead in their tracks. The dim intelligence in their eyes vanished, replaced by a frenzied madness. They began crushing the skulls of fallen wolves beneath their paws.

Then it got worse.

They tore open the chests of their own dead and devoured them—brains, intestines, flesh—gulping it down with sickening fervor. Before our eyes, their bodies began to swell. Muscles bulged grotesquely. Fangs lengthened, claws sharpened, and thick tusks jutted several inches from their upper jaws.

When they finished, they didn’t hesitate. They charged forward, completely indifferent to their own lives.

’It’s here, I realized calmly. The final wave.’

Strangely, a flicker of expectation ignited in my chest. To me, this wasn’t just despair—it was a blessing in disguise. If there was ever a moment for a miracle, it was now.

"To suddenly grow bigger and stronger—everyone watch out! These are Death Wolves!" a black steel knight shouted.

The joy drained instantly from the cursed children’s faces, and those who had already felt uneasy turned ghostly pale. These monsters were no longer anything like the wolves we’d been fighting minutes ago. This was an evolution—violent, twisted, and final.

’They’re stronger than others of the same race, I recalled, and their loyalty to the wolf king runs so deep they’ll gladly die for him.’

That was one of the few pieces of information I’d managed to extract earlier.

’How generous, I thought grimly. Looks like the wolf king is making his biggest investment yet.’

I retreated faster now. Even at full strength, this would’ve been dangerous. In my current state? Laughable. I couldn’t even muster a quarter of what I once had.

’If we’d faced these things earlier, I frowned inwardly, our carriages wouldn’t have lasted this long.’

Step by step, I withdrew until I was safely within the perimeter of our final refuge. From here on out, all I needed to do was watch. Watch how this ended.

And when the moment was right—

I would activate my ace.