Posted by Once again in the arena Aker was waiting for the magic beast to come charging out of the gate. The announcer had already gone through his spiel about how vile and evil Aker was and that he was facing certain death. The only item of interest in the announcement was the type of magic beast that Aker would be fighting this time.
In this battle Aker would be fighting a Wind Wolf, another Level 1 Basic beast. Unlike the Fire Ape that Aker fought yesterday the Wind Wolf’s strength is its speed and agility. Vance had already gone through the four to five most likely magic beast he would be facing and the Wind Wolf was of course listed.
Like the Fire Ape the Wind Wolf can wrap magic around its paws but instead of fire it wraps wind. With the wind magic wrapped around its paws it can move around three to four times faster than an average beast, it does this as its feet are actually hovering a centimeter or two off of the ground preventing any kind of friction. In addition to the lack of friction it can use the wind magic to propel itself forward.
Suspecting that he wouldn’t be fighting another Fire Ape Aker didn’t bring a shield into the battle today. In order to keep his speed up and allow him the capability to attack with both hands to increase his rate of attack, he is using duel swords. Aker had been putting equal practice into sword and shield and duel sword wielding in his cell so he felt equally comfortable with both.
It was only in the last day that Aker began to feel “comfortable” using a sword. During his battle with the Fire Ape he had grown significantly in his use of the sword. In his set training this morning while in his cell, as he moved through his practice sequence the use of the sword started to flow more naturally. After using his sword in battle and then getting some time to comprehend in practice he was starting to become confident in his sword skill. Currently Aker’s ability with the sword would only qualify as basic while his knife skill was clearly intermediate. Due to his superior skill with the knife Aker had again snuck a knife into his boot, for a just in case scenario.
After the gate to the arena opened the Wind Wolf came shooting out like a rocket. As soon as it entered the arena its eyes quickly moved around the area as it did a quick survey trying to ascertain its environment. During its survey it certainly spotted and noted the location of Aker but it continued with its quick scan. The Wind Wolf did this for a couple of reasons. First Wind Wolves moved faster than other animals so they needed to have a full understanding of their environment so they could move around freely without running into objects. Secondly, like all wolves they are used to hunting in packs and become much stronger that way. As the Wind Wolf entered a new area, of course outside of getting a quick understanding of where it could run and what traps existed it was also looking for other members of its pack.
The scanning of their environment was an instinctual move and the entire process is ingrained and as such it took less than a second for this Wind Wolf to understand its surroundings. After ascertaining that it had no support and Aker was its prey it seemed to relax slightly. For the law of the jungle of kill or be killed, there was a need to live with your head on swivel. Attack while observing this was the nature of the beast and it was at the center of their whole existence. Aker who had been fighting Kulga and who was now expanding his horizons by fighting his second magic beast was starting to learn this lesson from them.
Aker who had watched the Wind Wolf run in had thought that it seemed to move fast but it didn’t seem to be overly special, or at least it wasn’t what he would expect out of a magical beast.
After the Wind Wolf had finished its observation it suddenly pushed its speed full throttle moving more than four times faster than it did as it ran out of the gate. Wind Wolves ran on all fours, had a long snout nose, and blue eyes with sky blue and white fur. As the Wind Wolf stood measuring from its paw on the floor to the arch in its back it was just over three and half meters. Its claws were not exceptionally long as they are not specifically meant for attacking, however, the paws were unusually large and were used for pouncing when it attacks. Also, the fur on the Wind Wolf was extremely hard and sharp and was used for attacking its prey. The Wind Wolf would build up its speed and launch itself and try to incapacitate its prey. For the Wind Wolf its speed was its greatest asset and weapon.
Surprisingly enough the Wind Wolf did not normally use its teeth to attack as it preferred to keep its head up where it could constantly see and take in its surroundings as it quickly ran around. As the Wind Wolf moved so fast if it was to accidentally hit the wrong object as it was running it could ram itself to death.
“Fast….how does it move that fast?” Aker who was watching the Wind Wolf move couldn’t help but be startled by the extreme speed of this magic beast. Vance had tried to prepare him for the insane speed that Wind Wolves moved at, Aker who listened had in his mind doubled the speed of a Kulga and at the time thought he was being ridiculously cautious. After seeing the Wind Wolf in action, he was sorely mistaken ‘this magic beast moves so fast all I can see is a semi blue blur. Somehow the white mixed in with the fur actually makes it more difficult for my eyes to follow the Wind Wolf as it moves, probably because it is breaking up the solid object.’
Aker who was trying to wrap his head around understanding the speed and some of his visual cues was interrupted as the Wind Wolf dove into him from behind. The Wind Wolf moved so fast it had managed to run all the way around him and ram him before he had a full opportunity to turn around or dodge.
Flying forward and rolling head over head two times Aker had thankfully jumped forward with the Wind Wolf thus eliminating most of the impact of the body slam by the Wind Wolf.
As Aker finished his second roll, he put his right foot in the ground and jumped up with all of his strength. Aker who had increased his strength skill, was body conditioning skin level, and practiced under the extra gravity was able to jump straight up into the air almost two full meters. As he reached the second meter, the Wind Wolf shot below his feet as Aker looked down and saw the blur blow by. He had not seen the Wind Wolf’s approach or attack but he had anticipated that it would try and attack him on the floor with its big paws after his roll. If their roles were reversed Aker would attack while it was on the ground so Aker instinctively jumped to clear its attack.
The significant problem with Aker’s avoidance move was that he lost the ability to control his body while in the air. As Aker was falling, he could just catch a blue blur as it had changed direction and was headed for him. As Aker was calculating the distance, speed and height of his fall he came to the realization that the Wind Wolf would reach him and attack before his feet hit the ground by about twenty centimeters. This would leave Aker completely defenseless and exposed.
Aker had only one option, he needed to move in the air despite the fact that he didn’t have any kind of leverage or foot hold. If the Wind Wolf was to land this attack on Aker under these circumstances even if Aker wasn’t killed, he would most certainly suffer grievous injuries. Aker didn’t panic as the Wind Wolf adjusted its trajectory and made a perfect intercept course. Aker couldn’t see the Wind Wolf’s eyes because of its speed but he was sure that if he could he would see a confident and ruthless leer that signified that Aker wasn’t even its opponent. In less than a few seconds it had already cornered Aker to this degree.
Aker who was still in the vertical jump position meaning that his knees were up at his chest level took the sword in his left hand and thrust it down at the ground at a slight angle while taking the other sword and extending his arm at a one-hundred-eighty-degree angle or straight out.
The sword extended out three quarters of a meter thus allowing Aker to reach the ground ahead of the Wind Wolf. As his sword dug into the ground, due to the angle he had used, it pushed him back ever so slightly. As Aker moved off of the exact trajectory of the Wind Wolf, he took his right arm and swung his sword in from the side flat side forward. Instead of meeting Aker as it had expected the Wind Wolf was met with the flat side of the sword straight to its nose. Aker who admittedly didn’t have a lot of force to swing with due to being in the air and not having any leverage still watched as the Wind Wolf yelped and started tumbling across the dirt floor.
Even though Aker couldn’t generate much momentum it didn’t stop the Wind Wolf from being seriously injured for two reasons. Firstly, even though Aker couldn’t generate much momentum the Wind Wolf was moving at incredible speeds. The Wind Wolf getting defeated by a weak swing of a sword was the same as a wheel getting stopped up by a pebble. Secondly and probably most importantly the location that the Wind Wolf was hit resulted in an almost immediate loss. By hitting the Wind Wolf across the nose Aker had managed to attack its weakest spot whether on purpose or accident.
Aker had planned on hitting the Wind Wolf across the face which was the reason for the flat side swing of the sword rather than leading with the sharp edge. He had figured that based on the unbelievable speed of the Wind Wolf if he could land a solid shot across its face while it was unprotected, he could take control of the battle.
Up until the actual sword clobbered the Wind Wolf Aker hadn’t really planned any attacks and he was being completely reactive in this battle. Thankfully he had allocated two skill points to agility as he was just barely able to make out the movements of the Wind Wolf. Even with his increased skill points he wasn’t able to clearly see the Wind Wolf move and had to make some guesses on where it was due to its superior speed.
As Akers feet came to the ground the Wind Wolf was lying unconscious on the floor about three meters away. Since Aker hadn’t really had a chance to fight this magic beast, he wanted to try something. He slowly and cautiously walked up to the Wind Wolf and as he hovered above it he swung his sword down onto its fur. He did not swing it as hard as he could, he wanted to test how tough the fur was. As the sword hit the fur it gave out a small clang sound as his fur had completely absorbed the impact. Seeing that a forward slash had no effect on it at all Aker took the pointed end of the sword and stabbed into the shoulder area, as the sword hit the fur there was a significant amount of resistance and he realized this attack wouldn’t work either.
Seeing he couldn’t stab or slash through the fur Aker gave the Wind Wolf a look over. After examining it more closely he noticed the hair on the underside of it didn’t seem to have the same properties as the top layer. Repeating the same experimental steps, both the slice and the stab managed to cut through and injure the Wind Wolf. Satisfied with his testing Aker who was now walking out of the arena mumbled to himself “I don’t know if that was easy or hard.”