Infinite Arrow-Chapter 52 - 50: Embers (2)

The flames continued to swallow the werewolf whole, burning every limb and fur he had and turning it into charcoal and ash.

The explosion from the combustion spell sped up the burning process, but it seemed like that the werewolf hadn’t given up yet. It stood up, growling while its eyes were blank, white foam coming out of his mouth as he looked at the boy who had his palm pointed at him.

GRRR.....!!! GRUOAH!!!

It is angry, it lunged forward with its sharp claws out, preparing to mangle the human. However, his movement became sloppy over time and tripped on the ground, despite that, he continued to move forward with blood lust.

"Just like a rabid dog."

Cliff lunged backward as he pulled out another arrow from thin air and aimed it at the incoming rabid werewolf. Then, he released the arrow from his fingertips and the string pushed the arrow, making it travel at a fast velocity. His eyes twitched, and he winced in pain, feeling the damage he received from the werewolf earlier "Tsk...!"

[ Rear Dash + Basic Shot ] = [ Retreat shot ]

THWAP–!

The raging werewolf continued to give chase despite burning and being shot with an arrow in the leg. Once again, it lunged forward and his claw managed to reach the archer’s clothes.

[ Perfect Counter ]

Suddenly, the archer swiftly turned around and performed a roundhouse kick, hitting the werewolf’s jaw and knocking him back to the walls of a building "GRAUH–!" It groaned in pain, shaking its head to stabilize itself.

Cliff wiggled his foot "Tsk! Doing a perfect counter when it’s not one of your movements is difficult–!" before continuing running in circles. For minutes, he has been running in circles, evading obstacles along the way. The reason he hasn’t left this place is due to the princess and the people of Ordelia. There is no reason for the people of this city to get involved in such a dangerous situation.

He quickly took a look at the alleyway where the princess decided to hide, he sighed in relief as he confirmed that she was still there. It seems that she took some damage when the werewolf pushed her aside, but it should be nothing too serious.

If she cannot handle pain, there is no reason for her to be part of the selection of the new rulers of the central kingdom.

"Well, it’ll happen in four years anyway. I shouldn’t worry about her development." He said to himself as he returned his focus to the matter at hand. The werewolf began chasing him again, but this time he was slower. The effects of the flames are working, it was just slow.

"Alright– Keep being like that! Make it easy for me, you one nasty dog!" What a racist remark. If this wasn’t a real battle, he would’ve been canceled for saying such discriminatory words.

Cliff looked ahead and his inventory appeared on the side. He used his mind to scroll to check for items and his eyes lit up as soon as he found something. The lad pushed his hand to the interface and pulled out two small vials of red liquid.

"These helped me out during that time I was struggling on the third floor of the infinite dungeon..." He reminisces about a time when he desired nothing but to escape. It isn’t any different now, but other people’s lives are at stake here. It wasn’t just Cliff’s life that he had to preserve, but his friends too.

The future is already diverging from real history, but it doesn’t mean that everything should change. If the system wants me to keep the princess alive, he shall obey.

He turned his head to look behind him and found himself looking at the sight of the werewolf running on all fours, like a real wolf "Wha–! He became faster!" That wasn’t all, the sword that he was carrying earlier is now being held by his mouth, with its teeth gripping the handle.

[ The Werewolf is preparing to perform a deadly attack... ]

WELL, THAT’S A FIRST– HOW COME I’M GETTING THIS NOTIFICATION NOW?

Cliff looked around, hoping for a place he could hide and rest so that he could drink the potions he was currently holding. Then, the moon got brighter. It was practically blinding because the clouds went away. At that moment, he thought of an idea, a logical one.

<••••••••••••••••••••••••••••>

The werewolf kept chasing the red-haired archer across the streets of the city. It didn’t matter how far away they were, the wolf could only see the color of red. Fixated on the archer, they kept taking turns on strange alleyways. It only takes a few seconds before turning to another direction to see the archer running again before turning around to another direction inside the maze of alleyways.

"GRRRRRRAAHHH!!!" The werewolf got mad, his prey kept getting away despite reaching close to it a few seconds ago. He followed where the archer went but as soon as he turned to another direction, the archer disappeared. On such a narrow alleyway, there’s no way that he could’ve squeezed inside smoothly without at least getting stuck for a few seconds.

The werewolf slowed down and used its trusty nose to follow the scent of the archer’s blood. Fortunately, he left a few drops of blood on the stone-cold surface. The werewolf approached the drops of blood and followed it, despite the alleyway being so narrow, the werewolf found a way. His mouth began to foam more saliva and the pupils became even paler than before. Then, the blood drops ended at the end of the alleyway which led back to the main street to where they were before.

It growled violently. It searched everywhere, even back at the alleyway where he could’ve gone in another direction to buy time for himself. Yet, he couldn’t be found.

The werewolf began to shake even more thanks to the effects of [ Madness ]. The dagger was still lodged on its back, the effects of [ Madness ] will only increase at this point. However, it has been burnt and cracked thanks to the magic that Cliff did earlier. The werewolf returned to the alleyway where it had the drops of blood of the archer and searched around once again, then... unexpectedly...

The dagger that was once lodged in its back– suddenly went deeper and cracked inside the werewolf’s body, leaving pieces of the blade inside.

"RUAGHHH?!!?"

It went down on the ground, shaking in pain like an injured wolf because of how powerful the impact it had on his back. It looked up and found a dark shadow run by on the rooftop of one of the buildings.

The werewolf growled even more, and the intensity and the gravity of the situation became more heavy. The werewolf jumped onto the two buildings’ walls which were almost connected and used it to climb to the top of the building. Despite being injured and the effects of the dagger increasing, it ignored the pain. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"W–WH–WHERE ARRE.... YOOOUUU....!!!"

Despite being afflicted with [ Burn ] and

[ Madness ], it managed to speak a whole sentence.

"Fascinating!" A delighted voice from the werewolf’s right could be heard, with the sound of a bowstring being pulled back but not being released.

The werewolf looked in the right direction and found the archer that had no wounds on his body, with his arrow aimed at him like before but this time, the string had been pulled back twice as far. The enemy wolf did not hesitate in propelling itself forward in the archer’s direction, the flames that were once burning him were almost extinguished thanks to him running around.

[ The werewolf will now perform a deadly attack–

"Heavy Shot!"

[ Power Shot + Focused Shot ]

THWACK–

His fingertips left the string and the string pushed the arrow forward. With extreme power and velocity behind it, it traveled towards the head of the werewolf.

Swiiisssshhh–

It tried to block the incoming arrow with its paws, but it went through the flesh.

Sshhrrkk!

But the werewolf refused to give in, he raised the sword from his mouth to block the arrow using the blade, but it shattered the blade.

Shatter!

The velocity and power of the arrow slowed down, but it was powerful enough to pierce the forehead of the werewolf, shallowly. It knocked him to the side of the building, near the edge of the roof.

[ LUCKY! ]

The shards of the blade fell to the werewolf’s face, cutting up his nose and his eyes with the tiny shards of metal. The wolf winced in pain, moving erratically because of the sharp metals piercing his sensitive face and eyes. His lower legs slipped, causing the werewolf to fall off the edge of the building.

Cliff breathed heavily, holding his bow tightly as ever. He cannot relax, despite the amount of calluses he has on his palms, he slowly walks towards the edge of the roof where the werewolf fell.

"Surely, this isn’t over yet..."

[ One minute left until your allies arrive. ]

"Huh. Neat... However..."

He looked at the edge where the werewolf fell, but it seemed like he didn’t die yet. The perseverance of this thiren is outstanding, he managed to come to his senses at the last minute and clung to the ledge.

The thiren looked up and found the archer looking down at him. He was confused, he didn’t know what was going on or what had happened when he was out.

"HEY!! WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" He shouted, clueless about what occurred. Yet the only reply he got from the archer was his... terrifying grin.

The archer looked at the side, like he was reading something but it was just air.

"HEY, YOU NUTJOB! SPEAK!!" Randall growled, but he was in no position to order around the archer like that. Cliff’s grin turned into a smile and he began giggling and slowly but surely, turned into a burst of mocking laughter.

The flames were almost out, only the embers on his ashen fur remained.

"Combustion."

[ MP: 4/50 (-3) ]

Yet those embers were enough to start a big explosion, causing the fire to spread through the werewolf’s body once again. The once-blackened parts of his body began to scorch, like reigniting lava. The arrow on his forehead burnt too, seeping the flames directly onto his skull and brain, causing fire to come out of the back of his eyeballs and out of the socket.

"GRAH!!! WHY– HOW– WH–"

Yet he couldn’t die. The wind didn’t help either, it only fanned the already huge fire into a bigger one. But, he couldn’t let go of the ledge he was holding onto. Not because he doesn’t want to, his hand melted, making his body stuck in a perpetual position where he is continuously being burnt alive.

He couldn’t speak any more. Only noises of a burning man can be heard, and the fire crackling on his body, cooking him alive. Yet Cliff wasn’t satisfied.

"You targeted my friends, you sent a lot of people to die because you wanted to satiate your lust for battle..."

"You went to assassinate the princess of the central kingdom... I hereby declare myself as your executioner and decide your death!" His crimson pupils pierced through the souls of the thiren, the flames of justice burning through his tainted soul.

"I hereby sentence you... to death by explosion! Let the phoenix’s flames purify your tainted soul, and guide you to purgatory to remove all of your sins by walking through the flames of justice! Burn to oblivion, Combustion!"

[ MP: 1/50 (-3) ]

His body exploded into flames, and each of his limbs melted off his body and fell to the ground. It continued burning, the scent of flesh was overpowered by the scent of ash and charcoal. There was no blood present at where he died, it evaporated before it could even splatter everywhere.

Cliff sat down and looked at the clear, starry night.

"...I won..."

[ New Achievement "First Kill" ]