Chapter 174 - Old Men To The Rescue!
(MC POV)
Lian Li, Manami, Cai Hong, Eris, Diao Chan, Kiyomi, I hope all of you are enjoying your vacation right now because I most certainly am not.
The Elder Wendigo, as Sylphy had called it, roared at us before pouncing on the nearest target which just happened to be Sylphy.
Unfortunately for that monster, Sylphy was more than prepared for it.
"Don't you dare touch me, you abomination!"
A whirlwind formed in front of her, blowing the giant monster back to it's starting point.
At this point, I'm just wondering how she failed the initial entry test if she's showing so much power now? Is there such a big difference when a goddess is using a body as a vessel compared to when she resides within it?
Well, not that I would know anyway.
"An Elder Wendigo… And here I've always thought they were just a myth…" Elder Gong muttered.
"Oh you better believe they are real, old man," Sylphy grumbled, her eyes never leaving the monster in front of her. "They've just adapted over the years and became better at hiding amongst humans. This one in particular... Probably has been around for at least a few centuries."
Elder Gong summoned his sword in his hands, only to receive a sneer from the former goddess.
"Put that toy away, all you'll be doing with that is breaking your sword in half. Their skin is too thick for physical weapons to even make a dent on them."
Brendan stood pushed himself off the ground, groaning in pain, "Damn… Where did it even come from? What even is a Wendigo?"
"Former humans possessed by spirits," Sylphy explained helpfully. "They possess inhuman strength, speed and endurance, have an almost indestructible layer of skin but are driven mostly by their instincts to sate their hunger. The older ones might regain a small semblance of their humanity back but--"
The Wendigo roared again, leaping at the girl once more.
Once again, another blast of wind sent it crashing back down onto the ground a little further than where it had been.
"They're still mostly ruled by their bestial nature when the hunger strikes, as evidenced here," Sylphy continued, gesturing towards the monster.
"How do we kill it?!" Chris all but shrieked, hiding behind his twin.
"It's body is weak to fire but--"
"Then kill it with fire!" Chris screeched, waving his arms around in the air to summon a small ball of flames.
It seemed to work as the Elder Wendigo started screeching even louder when it saw the flames.
Perhaps spurred on by what seems to be the monster's fear, Chris had a sadistic smile before he tossed the small fireball at the monster.
Unfortunately, the monster's screech was more like screeches of contempt than fear since it easily swatted aside the fire ball with the back of its hand.
Sylphy gave him an extremely irritated look, "I was just about to mention that Elder Wendigos are resistant to even fire because their skin would've strengthened over the years."
"Alright… Then how do we deal with that thing?" I asked, A little concerned about this monster running loose within the Sect.
Don't get me wrong, I am completely ready to contain it or kill it if I have to, the only thing is that I've never met an Elder Wendigo before. For all I know, there may be some convoluted or specific way to get rid of it and I may just screw it up if I don't know the way.
From what I know about normal Wendigos, fire should be enough to kill them, but that also releases the spirit from the body which allows it to potentially possess someone near them if you can't contain the spirit.
Not to say that I've actually met them before myself, just read about them in the Royal Spiritual Family's archives.
The Wendigo switched its sights to Chris, probably offended by his attempt at burning it.
It leapt at him without any warning, all four of its arms reaching out as if to embrace him.
There was the sound of the earth cracking before roots appeared from the ground beneath it, entangling the monster's limbs and leaving it suspended in the air.
"Don't look down on this old man now," Elder Gong grunted from behind us, both his hands raised to maintain his Technique. "Now, Sylphy! How do we get rid of it?"
Well, I guess we're beyond questioning how she knows so much about something we had assumed was merely a myth at this point in time? I guess having a giant flesh eating monster thrashing around while being restrained by tree roots in front of you helps.
Sylphy frowned, "There's nothing much we can do, we can only keep pushing it back and hopefully it will leave us alone."
"And put the rest of the Sect in danger?! No, we must do something about it! Would a stronger blast of fire help?"
Sylphy shook her head, "It would slow it down, but they would still regenerate from its wounds quickly."
"Then I guess we just need to make sure we out pace its regeneration!"
Elder Gong clenched his fist in front of him, summoning a small ball of fire that quickly expanded in size to match half his height.
The Wendigo started thrashing even harder, breaking off most of the roots that had been holding it captive.
Thrusting his hand towards the monster, Elder Gong let a steady stream of flames blow at the Wendigo, engulfing it entirely.
The roots that had been holding the monster were quickly burnt to a crisp, but the fire managed to keep the monster back.
If anyone in the Sect wasn't aware of the monster's existence by now, the inhuman screams of pain that is currently ringing out from our courtyard would ensure that its presence is known.
Elder… I mean Sect Master Qing soon appeared with a few other Elders in tow, watching Elder Gong burn away at something with all his might.
"What is going on here?!" Sect Master Qing demanded.
"Monster! Burn it!" Elder Gong explained with supreme eloquence.
Without hesitation, all the Elders joined in on burning the Elder Wendigo, its screams getting softer and softer by the moment.
Sect Master Qing noticed that we were still standing nearby, "What are you guys waiting for? Fly, you fools!"
Not needing a second prompting, all of us made a run for it out of the courtyard.
I did send Sect Master Qing a telepathic message to call for me if they needed help though.
We paused a distance away to catch our breaths, the dying screams of the monster getting fainter and fainter in the background.
"They'll kill it right?" 'Chris with a K' gasped, visibly shaken from the experience. "That thing will… Die, right?"
Sylphy shook her head, "It'll be back… It has already survived for hundreds of years, it won't allow itself to be killed so easily… What's more… It knows our faces, it will definitely come back for us..."
Ok…
Why did things take a horror turn now?
I expected this to be the school arc, not the start of the horror arc!
Just as that thought came to mind, a loud shriek echoed throughout the Sect followed by a boom that shook the earth.
And then, there was silence.