Night was only a few minutes away from falling. yumiel stood in front of the door, Jùnyǔ was behind her. Once the sun set, she went out, followed by Jùnyǔ.
Looking far off toward the city's horizon, yumiel perceived helicopters, thinking for a moment before heading into the forest, toward the cave. Jùnyǔ stuck close to her, seeing nothing more than five meters ahead, except a few silhouettes or shapes emerging from the shadows cast by the trees.
« Uh, yumiel, excuse me but… why don't we wait for them? They just went to check the helicopter. »
« And so? You think I'm going to politely wait for them. Our goal is to find those werewolves, try to convince him to join us, and leave, nothing more, nothing less. »
Jùnyǔ said nothing more out of fear; yumiel was, let's say, fierce and unpredictable. Heading back up toward the cave, yumiel noticed footprints, crouching down and analyzing them.
« What is it, why are we stopping? »
« The footprints. If they were wolves, that'd be fine, but these are human. »
Nearby, she saw even larger tracks, like beast tracks but with the shape of human feet instead. Standing back up, she continued in the same direction.
The trip went without incident, reaching the cave, where multiple traces of passage were visible. Approaching, she opened her senses and put her eight daggers in front of her.
Slowly entering the cave, she discovered several bodies torn into a thousand pieces. Signs of struggle were visible, but nothing more conclusive.
« It would seem that he… »
yumiel spoke while turning around, but stopped short when she saw a massive wolf standing on two legs, measuring a little over two meters, firmly holding Jùnyǔ between claws resembling human hands. His body and head were slightly elongated, with sharp fangs.
yumiel said to herself. No doubt about it, this is him, our werewolf. His eyes shone with a yellowish light, almost like amber. His chestnut fur lightly covered his body, but let his skin show through, mixed between man and beast.
« Wow, you're… charming? »
The werewolf threw Jùnyǔ to the ground in front of yumiel. Jùnyǔ got back up and moved behind yumiel. After that, he headed back toward the exit.
« Hey, wait, you and I need to talk. »
The wolf didn't pay any attention, leaving the cave. yumiel sent her eight daggers to the entrance to block his path, but he saw it as an aggression, turning around and leaping at yumiel.
In a single bound, he crossed more than ten meters. yumiel wouldn't have time to bring the daggers back, recalling them and opening her senses to their maximum, creating a shield in front of her with her own blood.
The werewolf's jaws smashed against yumiel's shield. With his arms, he tried to grab her. yumiel opened her flask and created a sword, sending it at his head. He stepped back, dodging the sword, and turned around, destroying the eight daggers coming at his back in only a few movements.
yumiel recreated the destroyed daggers. Seeing this, the werewolf roared at her: « RRRRRAAAAAAAAHHH ! » Then he fled.
Exiting the cave and running outside, leaving behind only footprints.
« Fucking asshole, he thinks I'm going to play hide-and-seek? »
Absorbing her shield, putting her sword back into her flask, and deactivating her senses as she headed toward the cave exit.
« Look on the bright side, he doesn't seem mean. »
« Mean, my ass, yeah. You're saying that because he let you live and you were freaking out. I assure you that if I hadn't defended myself, my head would be in his mouth. »
« Okay, that might be true, but you have to admit he could've killed me and he didn't. »
Leaving the cave with Jùnyǔ, she analyzed the footprints, slowly retracing the werewolf's trail.
« I rather get the feeling he obeys someone or something. From what I saw of that wolf, he's no good Samaritan. »
Slowly retracing the werewolf's tracks, she came across other footprints, very different from his. These were human and easily recognizable, heading in the same direction, as if this person too was tracking the werewolf.
Continuing along the werewolf's trail, she didn't take long to see in the distance a woman crouching from time to time and following the werewolf's tracks.
Accelerating to meet her, Jùnyǔ had to speed up as well to avoid falling behind. She approached her while muffling her footsteps; Jùnyǔ tried to do the same. The woman straightened up, then suddenly a nearby tree began to creak, and a mouth emerged from the tree, saying:
« Leave! You are not part of this forest, go away. » The voice sounded deep and hoarse.
yumiel guessed this must be the woman's power. No longer hiding, she walked openly toward her.
« I'd like to leave, but not without the werewolf. »
The woman turned around and approached yumiel before stopping about three meters from her.
« What do you want with him? »
yumiel noticed that her English was really good despite an accent from Asia. Looking at her face more closely, she didn't look purely Asian either; only her accent was noticeable.
« I get the feeling the shadiest one here is you. »
The woman tried to analyze yumiel, who was staring at her with predator's eyes.
« Forgive me, where are my manners. I am Anita, I've traveled all around the world. Forgive my poor accent, currently in the service of the Seraphs, and you? »
« Wrong answer. »
yumiel sent her eight daggers. Anita barely had time to react, creating a wall of brambles rising from the ground in front of her, blocking five daggers, but three slipped through, cutting her moderately.
Letting out a sound of pain, she screamed.
« YOU FUCKING BITCH, IS THAT HOW YOU GREET SOMEONE?! »
yumiel controlled the daggers, moving behind the wall, getting at her back and rushing toward her. Suddenly, beneath the layer of wet leaves, the ground slowly cracked, then a gigantic root burst from the soil, thick as a trunk, nearly a meter in diameter, tearing itself from the forest's depths with a dull crack. It rose, snaked through the air for nearly ten meters, covered in dark bark, sweeping away the daggers as if they had never existed.
Seeing this, yumiel was left speechless, before thinking out loud.
« So that's what a seraph is? »
The massive root, now fully emerged, measured nearly ten meters high and about a meter in diameter. The root then slammed down toward yumiel, who recalled her blood, opened her senses, and began running while grabbing Jùnyǔ, barely dodging the blow.
The enormous root struck the ground, making it tremble slightly, before diving back into the earth and moving underground, gnawing like a worm and resurfacing near yumiel.
She looked at Jùnyǔ, who was terrified and frozen in front of this immense root. For him, he saw the ground where the root began, then, lifting his eyes, only the shadow cast by its exceptional size.
About to strike yumiel again, she grabbed the motionless Jùnyǔ and jumped to the side, falling and rolling on the ground, narrowly dodging the attack once more. The root returned underground before emerging again in front of yumiel, crashing down on her yet again.
Unable to dodge it, she gathered all the blood she had from her flask into her eight daggers, creating a wall above her. The root smashed into it, cracking her wall before lifting back into the air and crashing down again.
Jùnyǔ screamed whenever the root slammed down. In the position she was in, she couldn't free herself and save Jùnyǔ at the same time. To her, he was a nuisance, and in her current state it irritated her more than anything.
« FUCK JUNYU YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT, PULL YOUR FINGERS OUT OF YOUR ASS AND RUN. »
At first terrified, he eventually began crawling slowly, trapped between yumiel's wall and the ground, getting out and starting to run. The immense root did not pursue him, continuing to hammer yumiel's wall.
At the moment the root struck and rose back into the air, yumiel transformed her wall into an immense blade of blood containing 2.6 liters of blood. When the root slammed onto the blade, it was severed by it.
Standing back up, yumiel transformed her immense blade into thirteen daggers, before having her foot grabbed by the severed root that was still moving, making her fall to the ground. Fortunately, after a few seconds, it stopped moving, and yumiel shattered the root and stood up.
Anita stood before her, the wounds inflicted by the daggers bandaged by plants. Anita raised her hands, and a new root emerged from the ground, same size and same diameter as the previous one.
« Quite a power, huh. »
« Starting to regret it? »
yumiel brushed off her clothes covered in dust and dirt, saying at the same time: « You wish. »
Sending her thirteen daggers at Anita, who controlled her root. But yumiel didn't fall for it twice, controlling the daggers so that they dodged the root, passing behind Anita and rushing toward her.
To protect herself, she created a dome of roots around her. The daggers embedded themselves in it but didn't pierce through.
Suddenly, a wolf's howl was heard, and in the seconds that followed, wolves began bursting out from everywhere. Thinking it was an attack, yumiel recalled her daggers and took a defensive stance.
Yet the wolves ignored her, surrounding Anita, who was sheltered in her circle of roots. Then suddenly the werewolf arrived, charging before leaping onto the dome, tearing it apart with his claws and powerful jaws.
The root began to move, striking the werewolf and sending him flying through the air straight toward yumiel. Seeing this, she tried to catch him. But the werewolf was far larger than she was, crashing into her and sending them both to the ground.
Thanks to yumiel, the werewolf suffered very little damage from the landing, getting back up by pushing off her and lightly scratching her.
« HEY, nice, I help you and that's how you thank me?! »
He didn't even listen, charging again like a wild beast toward Anita.
« Hoooo… I can feel this one's going to tire me out. »