Heidi's single, burning red eye was the signal that unleashed the slaughter.
She let out an inhuman shriek, and the ghoul-wolf knights, like a tide, surged towards us from all directions!
The last ray of twilight was swallowed by the rapidly gathering dark clouds. The entire Wailing Canyon was instantly plunged into a dim, suffocating dusk.
"Engage!" Kaelen roared, drawing his longsword.
But on our side, everyone who had been to Creek Valley Village hesitated.
Ulf stared ahead. The hunter who had warmly offered him ale was now charging at him with stiff limbs and swinging claws. The hand holding his sword trembled.
Drake recognized the old village chief who had discussed northern tactics with him. The chief's withered body was still clad in the familiar leather vest.
Even Rosalind saw the young villager who had drunkenly asked me to dance, now looking at her with lifeless eyes.
Their hesitation lasted only a moment. But for the fearless ghoul-wolf knights, a moment was all they needed.
Squish!
A young guard was pierced through the chest by the bony hand of the Creek Valley hunter who had saved him.
Blood stained the cursed land red.
"Wake up! They're not alive anymore!" Drake was the first to react. He let out a pained roar and was the first to shift into a giant grey wolf, fighting the enemy with the most primal tearing and biting. He bit off the old chief's neck, but the headless skeleton, unbelievably, continued to swing its arms on instinct!
Ethan and his elite Grey Wolf warriors immediately shifted, clashing with their twisted "kin."
Rosalind let out a sharp cry and also transformed into a graceful, fiery red werewolf. She moved like a red bolt of lightning, sticking close to Kaelen and tearing open the throats of one enemy after another with her sharp claws, fighting with incredible ferocity.
Kaelen did not shift. He stood like a black reef at the forefront of our line. Every swing of his silver-tempered longsword cleanly severed the neck of a ghoul-wolf knight. But these monsters knew nothing of death. Even with their heads lopped off, their bodies continued to attack on instinct.
I remembered Kaelen's instructions and stayed close behind Ulf. Ulf was a silent iron tower, using his body and shield to block one attack after another.
But there were too many enemies.
They were endless, constantly pouring out of the canyon's mist. Our defensive line was being slowly compressed, torn apart.
A Grey Wolf warrior was tackled to the ground by Heidi. The once-innocent little wolf-girl was now like a true beast. She opened her mouth and, with her rotten teeth, tore a large chunk of flesh from the warrior's neck!
"No—!"
Another Grey Wolf warrior roared and charged forward, severing Heidi's arm with his sword. But the severed arm, after hitting the ground, continued to writhe like a snake, its five bony fingers digging into the dirt!
We were outnumbered.
The battle was brutal. Our numbers were dwindling, while the enemy's showed no sign of decreasing. We were trapped in this small clearing with no way to retreat.
Despair, like the mist in the canyon, enveloped each of us.
Our defensive line, under the relentless assault of the monsters, was on the verge of collapse.
Just then, an exceptionally large ghoul-wolf knight, which had been fighting with Drake, suddenly stopped. Its burning red eye sockets pierced through the chaotic battlefield and locked onto me.
It abandoned Drake and, like a black arrow shot from a bow, ignored all obstacles and charged straight for me!
"Protect the Luna!" Ulf was the first to react. He roared, shifting into a powerful grey wolf and forming a final line of defense with his body.
At the same time, on the other side of the battlefield, Rosalind was cornered by two ghoul-wolf knights. Though her fiery red werewolf form was fierce and her claws sharp, the two monsters were fearless of pain, taking her attacks head-on and leaving bloody gashes on her body with their decaying bone claws. She was wounded in several places, forced back, and in grave danger!
Kaelen's gaze darted between the two fronts, his face as hard as iron in the firelight.
"Ethan!" his voice was like thunder. "Protect Lady Rosalind!"
I heard his command, and my heart turned to ice. Of course. In the end, he still chose Rosalind.
Ulf roared and met the charge of the large ghoul-wolf. The two giants collided violently. But the ghoul-wolf knight was immensely strong. Ulf used all his strength to parry its claws and tried to bite through its neck. But the ghoul-wolf knight was immensely strong and fought with a wild, bestial frenzy. It didn't dodge, letting Ulf's teeth scrape sparks from its hard neck bones as it opened its own mouth and, with a precise and vicious counter-attack, bit down on Ulf's previously injured leg!
Ulf let out a pained howl and fell to the side.
The ghoul-wolf knight's claws, whistling through the air, cleared the fallen Ulf and came crashing down towards my head!
I didn't even have time to scream.
However, the next second, I witnessed a scene I would never forget.
Kaelen, after giving that command, hadn't even spared another glance at Rosalind's side. Like a black bolt of lightning, he had charged, without hesitation, towards me!
BOOM—!
A giant, dark figure, at the very last second, threw itself in front of me like a mountain.
It was Kaelen! He had, at some point, shifted into a black giant wolf, equal in size to the ghoul-wolf knight.
He had taken the full force of the ghoul-wolf knight's poisoned, deadly claw with his own back!
"Urgh—!"
A pained grunt escaped him, and blood sprayed from the gruesome wound on his back. A black poison, like a snake, quickly spread under his skin.
He whipped around, his eyes, now consumed by crimson flames, locked onto the ghoul-wolf. He let out a roar and, ignoring the grievous wound on his back, lunged back like a demon from hell!
He opened his great maw and bit down hard on the ghoul-wolf knight's arm! Foul-smelling black blood splattered his mouth, but he didn't care, only biting down harder!
The ghoul-wolf knight let out a shriek, and its other, intact bone claw, with the force of a thousand pounds, came crashing down towards Kaelen's head!
"No—!"
I looked at the beast before me, fighting to the death to save me, at its head about to be crushed. Rage and fear instantly drowned all my reason.
I yanked the silver dagger—the "Moon Shadow's Sting"—from my waist!
Meeting the ghoul-wolf knight's descending claw, I used all my strength and plunged the silver blade deep into its burning eye socket!
"—Screee—!!!"
A twisted, piercing shriek erupted from the depths of its throat!
The invincible monster, upon contact with the silver blade, the red light in its eye socket extinguished. Its massive body, as if drained of all its strength, crumbled into a pile of black ash before my eyes.
And the giant black beast in front of me finally gave out.
The black wolf fur receded like a tide, and the massive body quickly shrank, returning to its human form.
Kaelen collapsed limply into my arms.
His face was ashen, his lips purple. The gruesome wound on his back was still seeping black, poisoned blood.
He looked at me, his lightless eyes, for the first time, clearly reflecting my own image. Then, they closed heavily.
Everyone was stunned.
My success had given everyone a sliver of hope, but it had also completely enraged the entire ghoul-wolf knight army. They let out a series of sharp hisses and began to surge towards us even more frantically.
"Retreat! To the canyon entrance!" Drake's voice snapped everyone out of their shock.
"Go! I'll cover you!" the Grey Wolf Captain, Ethan, made his decision as he saw the growing number of enemies.
"Lord Drake!" he yelled to Drake, who was beside me. "Protect the Alpha and the Luna! Tell our commander that Ethan… did not disgrace the Grey Wolf tribe!"
With that, he roared and charged back alone, into the tide of enemies!
"Ethan!" Rosalind, back in her human form, let out a grief-stricken cry.
"Go!" Drake didn't hesitate for a second. He threw the unconscious Kaelen over his shoulder and roared at me, "Keep up!"
Ulf also immediately shifted back to his human form and, on either side of me and the weeping Rosalind, we made a desperate retreat towards the narrow canyon entrance.
Just as we were about to break through the encirclement, I looked back and saw one last thing.
Ethan had detonated a powerful alchemical bomb.
BOOM—!!!
An avalanche of rock, fire, and a shockwave instantly engulfed him and the pursuing ghoul-wolf knight army. With his last breath, he had temporarily blocked the path to hell for us.
We used the chaos of the explosion to finally escape the Wailing Canyon, making a desperate retreat towards the rockfall slope where Ethan's men and our horses were waiting.