Chapter 178 - A Practitioner Is Never Late, He Arrives Exactly When He Means To
(Brendan POV)
Ok… Sylphy is behind me. Check.
We're alone in an isolated area of the Sect. Check.
There's a giant monster that can easily rip us to pieces that we currently do not have the means of fighting back against standing right in front of us. Check.
Now, what would be the most sensible thing to do in this sort of situation?
"HELP! THE WENDIGO IS IN THE GARDEN AND WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!" I screamed as loud as I could.
Spurred by my voice, the Wendigo lunged towards us, one of its giant arms swinging through the air towards me.
Sylphy tried to blast it back with a wall of air like she had done before, but this time, it was too close for it to be effective.
Though the wind was insufficient to blast it back, it was still able to slow it down enough for me to summon a ball of water to protect us from its strike.
The Wendigo's arm struck my barrier, the shockwave was enough to blast both Sylphy and I off our feet.
Thankfully the barrier managed to cushion our fall so nothing was broken at least.
"I don't remember him being this strong…" I groaned, crawling back on to my feet.
"He must have fed earlier. He had been starving when he first transformed and was much weaker then," Sylphy muttered from beside me.
That was when he was weak? His weak self was able to shrug off the flames of several Elders and the Sect Master! What chance did we have if he's strong now then?
But… Didn't he eat on that day as well? As Tekiteh?
"Starving? Wasn't he eating properly alongside us in the canteen?"
She shook her head, "The only kind of meat that can sate a Wendigo's hunger is human flesh."
Wait… If he fed recently… Does that mean that Mark is already...
As though reading my thoughts, the Wendigo slowly turned its head towards us, a cackling sound that might have been laughter emanating from its exposed teeth.
Revealing its head under the light of the moon, we were granted a full view of its blood-stained teeth. There was no doubt that we were next on its list of prey.
I raised my hands again, attempting to summon a wall of water to at least block the Wendigo from attacking us directly.
As though sensing my intentions, the monster in front of me immediately charged towards us on all its limbs, leaping up into the air with one of its claws reaching towards me.
There was no way I could get the wall up in time.
"Get down!" Sylphy shouted from behind me.
Placing my trust in her, I hit the dirt without a second thought.
There was the sound of something slicing through the air as a blade made of wind passed through where I had been moments before.
The wind blade smashed into the Wendigo's outstretched arm with the sound of clashing metal, deflecting him slightly off course towards its left.
The monster landed on all six of its limbs, digging its hands into the ground to stop itself from skidding away.
With surprising agility for its size, it leapt towards Sylphy, its jaws opening wide as possible as if to devour her whole.
It was obvious Sylphy had not expected the Wendigo from the surprised look on her face. It probably already knows that between Sylphy and I, she was the bigger threat to it.
With all the strength that I could muster, I leapt to my feet and pushed her away from it, placing myself in its range instead.
Looking up at the gaping maws of the monster that was going to clamp down on my head, a certain sense of calm had enveloped me.
It wasn't that I had come to terms with my death, no. It was just that I knew there was absolutely nothing we could have done with this thing as an enemy.
Just as I braced myself for the inevitable impact, a voice shouted out from my right.
"Fireball!"
A ball of fire struck the Wendigo in the face, the blast forcing its head to the side.
Fortunately, that means its jaws were no longer going to close around my head and bite it off.
Unfortunately, the fireball did not halt the Wendigo's flight path towards me.
It's full weight crashed into me, sending me flying off to the side and hitting the dirt with a loud crack. I swallowed the scream that almost spilled out of my mouth, the pain in my left arm I had landed on clued me in that it was broken.
I turned to see Chris standing a few distance away, both his hands raised in front of him. No doubt that he was the one who threw the fireball.
The Wendigo switched its sights to Chris, its right hand smashing into the ground to tear out a chunk of earth.
The improvised projectile was tossed towards Chris with blinding speed, hitting him square in the chest.
The poor guy was flung away like a rag doll, his body crashing into the trunk of a tree and snapping it in half.
"Brother!" Kris cried out in dismay, appearing a distance away from behind some rocks.
I guess the twins must have came running when they heard my shout but chose to hide at first.
When the Wendigo was going to kill me, Chris probably chose to step out to try and save me.
"You've done enough, monster!" Sylphy roared, a little worse for wear from when I pushed her away. "You will harm these mortals no longer! Be gone!"
She pointed her palm at the Wendigo, promoting a huge gale of wind to blast towards it.
Seeming to have learnt from its previous encounters, the Wendigo smashed the ground with its left fist, using it as an anchor to stop itself from flying away.
What was most unexpected, however, was the right hand that it raised that had electrical sparks gathering around its fingers.
Oh right… It also used Techniques while possessing Tekiteh's body.
I stuck the fingers of my good hand into the ground, using my Quarks to draw out all the water that I could from below the ground and redirecting it towards Sylphy.
Just as the Wendigo punched its lightning clad fist forward, my water shot out from the ground beneath Sylphy, forming a thin wall in front of her.
It was still not enough to fully protect her from the knock back of the blast though, as she was sent flying back the moment the Wendigo's lightning exploded on my shield.
At least she's alive.
That thought disappeared when I saw her hit the tree behind her head first with an audible crack before slumping down on to the ground, unmoving.
She's just unconscious right? That wasn't the sound of her breaking her neck right?
The Wendigo turned its sights to me, snarling.
My breath was stuck in my throat, watching as the monster took its first step towards me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small ball of light speeding its way towards the space between the monster and I.
Already guessing what was going to happen, I shut my eyes and covered my face with my right arm.
Even with all that, the explosion of light still seared through my retinas, blinding me for a moment.
"Come on! Let's go!" I heard Kris shout out from a distance in front of me.
I stumbled to my feet, trying to get as far away from the monster I knew was right beside me at the moment as quickly as I could.
But just as my vision began to clear, a large figure barreled past me and went straight for Kris.
I could only watch as the Wendigo pierced its arm through Kris's abdomen and lifted him up into the air.
The young man sputtered and choked on his own blood, his hand grasping onto the Wendigo's arm that was embedded inside him.
The monster tossed the dying twin away, leaving him to bleed out in the dirt.
Now there was nothing left to stop it from finishing me off.
I took a deep breath, clenching my fists as I stared him down. If it thinks I was going to go down without a fight--
My vision blurred and the monster was in front of me, two of its arms closed around my throat and squeezing painfully.
It lifted me off the ground easily, bringing me right up to its face as it watched me thrash about in its grip.
I was going to die, no doubt about that. It wasn't even reacting to my kicks to its face, what else could I have done?
But as though fate had just been playing tricks on me all this while, another voice called out from the side.
"I think it's time to drop this damn farce."