Chapter 88: The Unkillable Wendigo
Deep within the primeval forest, a creature with a massive deer skull atop a grotesquely elongated humanoid body prowled through the darkness.
This was its hunting ground, and the Wendigo's supernatural speed combined with intimate knowledge of the terrain allowed it to strike repeatedly at any prey foolish enough to enter its domain.
Typically, it tormented trespassers this way—driving them to madness with terror before finally feeding on their despair-soaked flesh.
But today's intruders were different.
From the moment they'd crossed into its territory, the Wendigo had sensed something unusual about them.
Three beings, ostensibly human. One was a lesser creature touched by its own corrupting power—a failed transformation, stuck in an incomplete state.
Another registered as an overwhelming threat. Human in appearance, yet possessing strength that rivaled a full-grown grizzly compressed into human form. Perhaps a rival monster in disguise?
And then there was the strange small one with the oversized head, carried by the others. The Wendigo had never encountered such a peculiar life form in all its centuries of hunting.
The small one radiated an intoxicating essence—pure, concentrated life energy that called to the Wendigo's hunger like nothing it had ever sensed.
The creature was certain that consuming even a mouthful of this being's flesh would trigger a transformation, elevating it beyond its current form into something truly godlike.
However, all of this hinged on one critical factor: eliminating the dangerous one who stood guard.
Consumed by desire, the Wendigo coiled its emaciated body and launched itself forward.
That first exchange—when Chris had struck at what he thought was the sleeping monster—hadn't just revealed Chris's superior strength to him.
The Wendigo, possessing cunning intelligence despite its bestial appearance, had also confirmed that its own advantage lay entirely in speed.
So while it craved the opportunity for apotheosis, it knew better than to directly challenge Chris for the small one. That path led only to destruction.
But by exploiting its overwhelming velocity, the Wendigo calculated it might succeed in tearing off just one piece of that radiant flesh before escaping.
Seizing what it perceived as the perfect moment, the Wendigo shifted trajectories mid-lunge, abandoning its feint toward Chris to strike at the actual prize.
The ten-foot creature, all exposed sinew beneath its bleached skull, opened its blood-crusted maw impossibly wide as it descended on Ruby's shoulder—directly toward Stewie.
Shink.
The wet sound of severed tissue filled the air as more than half the Wendigo's massive skull separated from its body, cleaved by Chris's monomolecular blade.
The creature's momentum carried it past Ruby, who staggered from the displaced air but maintained her footing, one arm instinctively protecting Stewie.
"I've been watching you, you bastard!"
Although Chris couldn't match the monster's raw speed, his enhanced perception detected minute changes within a several-meter radius—enough warning to position himself between the Wendigo and its intended target.
Chris had deliberately focused most of his awareness on Ruby and Stewie, precisely because he'd anticipated this kind of underhanded strike.
Seeing the Wendigo with half its skull missing, Chris cursed with grim satisfaction and brought his blade down again.
The creature had made a critical error, and Chris had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
His blade flashed repeatedly, dividing the monster into multiple segments before it could regenerate. By the time Chris stepped back, the Wendigo lay scattered in pieces across the forest floor.
Without waiting for orders, Ruby immediately deployed her flamethrower, unleashing a concentrated stream of fire onto the writhing chunks of flesh attempting to knit themselves back together.
The flames roared to life, illuminating the surrounding jungle in hellish orange light. Several hundred pounds of corrupted tissue contracted and blackened under the intense heat.
Chris, remaining vigilant against any deception, kicked the severed deer skull into the flames and said, "Didn't expect this thing to be so stupid, just charging at us head-on like that."
Based on the Wendigo's poor tactical showing, Chris had begun to suspect this was merely an animalistic monster without real intelligence—incapable of reasoning or communication.
The deer skull certainly reinforced that impression.
However, Stewie—perched on Ruby's shoulder and observing the Wendigo being incinerated—glanced meaningfully at Chris.
He had a pretty good idea why the monster had attacked so recklessly, but where was the fun in explaining? That would ruin the entertainment.
Better to wait for Chris to figure it out himself. The expression when realization hit would be priceless.
Stewie narrowed his eyes in amusement, then suddenly considered something else: Chris seemed to know quite a bit about his capabilities and origins. Did that include awareness of... well, everything?
Glancing at Chris's unchanging expression, Stewie nodded to himself. 'Good. Either he doesn't know, or he thinks it's too absurd to take seriously.'
With that concern addressed, Stewie began contemplating how to subtly reveal certain truths about the nature of reality to Chris. The reaction would be spectacular.
Just as Stewie was plotting his grand revelation, Chris sensed something wrong.
"This thing is harder to kill than I thought." Staring at the Wendigo's remains—now compressed to roughly basketball-sized mass of charred tissue—Chris still hadn't detected any life essence entering his body. He immediately signaled Ruby to stop. "Hold up. Let me see what this thing's actually made of. Temperatures over a thousand degrees should have finished it."
The moment Ruby ceased firing, the basketball-sized char began expanding. The black-red flesh swelled to the size of a tractor tire within seconds.
Chris didn't hesitate. He raised his blade and struck. Within the half-meter distance, Chris's supersonic strikes created a metallic blur, shredding the tire-sized mass into pulverized meat.
Ruby moved to resume firing, but Chris stopped her. "Don't bother. The flamethrower's not hot enough to kill it."
"I've got thermite grenades. Want to try those?"
At Chris's nod, Ruby produced a thermite grenade and handed it over before retreating with Stewie to a safe distance.
Chris continued slashing at the regenerating mass with one hand while pulling the pin with the other. He leaped backward, simultaneously hurling the grenade into the center of the Wendigo's flesh.
BOOM.
After the detonation, blinding white flame erupted from the creature's tissue, instantly reducing the tire-sized pile to smoldering ash.
Several seconds later, an orange essence—visible only to Chris—rose from the white-hot flames and flowed into his body.
Feeling the energy integrate with his own life force, Chris turned and waved. "Alright, we're done here!"
But before he could say anything else, Chris felt a disturbance in the forest's corrupted energy. Then he watched as another Wendigo crawled out from beneath the split boulder—the same one he'd struck at the beginning.
"Are you kidding me? This thing can respawn?"
Without time to analyze the situation, Chris drew his blade and charged the newly-emerged Wendigo.
However, despite just reviving, the creature wasn't disoriented. Leveraging its speed advantage, it kicked off, attempting to create distance from Chris.
The tactic had worked before. But after absorbing that orange essence, with the enhancement actively integrating into his physiology, Chris's speed was rapidly increasing—beginning to match the Wendigo's velocity.
After two or three seconds of pursuit, more of the essence had been metabolized, and Chris's speed directly surpassed the creature's.
The hunt reversed.
After another cycle of dismemberment and thermite incineration, the revived Wendigo transformed once again into orange essence and merged into Chris's body.
Feeling the genuine power coursing through him, Chris showed a predatory smile and fixed his gaze on the spot where the Wendigo had just reformed.
His voice carried a dangerous edge as he spoke to the empty air:
"Come on then, sweetheart. Let's see how many times you can do that."
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