Lily’s Perspective

  I didn’t even have to look to know what we were in the presence of. The howl that was so loud it made my ears ring and the sudden heat was overwhelming. I realized that we were in the presence of a werewolf blessed by the God of Destruction.

  Those cursed with lycanthropy are usually only able to transform under the influence of a full moon. When that happens, the victim turns into a werewolf. They are incredibly strong, fast and unnaturally talented hunters.

  There is no cure for lycanthropy so those that are afflicted with it are feared by others. However, there are those that consider it a blessing, mainly the demons that worship the Goddess of the Hunt, who created the curse.

  According to legend, the God of Destruction took the lycanthropy curse and made modifications so that it would better suit the needs of his followers. He also made it so that those afflicted with the curse can only transform during the day. The result is a much larger werewolf with tougher skin, an immunity to fire damage, and a radically different temperament that made it unpredictable.

  The worst part is that even with the incredibly tough skin, you can only kill a werewolf by destroying the heart.

  The werewolf raised its hand above Suzi. It was about to cut her clean in half! I ordered Abrams to charge at the beast. He did so and sent it crashing through the wall.

  Abrams picked up Suzi and made his way towards us. Before he could make any significant distance, the werewolf jumped out and sunk its molten claws into his back. Abrams yelled out as steam and blood poured from his wounds. He then tossed Suzi a short distance away and bashed the back of his head into the werewolf’s snout.

  I ran right up to Suzi to see if she was okay. I was relieved to see that she didn’t have any serious injuries. I looked back up towards Abrams to see that he was being torn up. The werewolf was slashing him at every possible angle and he was too slow to react. All Abrams could do was bear the pain until an opportunity to strike back presented itself. When he did finally manage to land a solid hit and send the werewolf tumbling backwards, Abrams was already too hurt to keep fighting.

  “Sorry, Miss Lily,” Abrams said. “I’m done for.”

  With that, Abrams disappeared and the werewolf turned its attention back to us. It lunged at us with its claws but before he could touch us, Aurelia stood in front and cast a spell that created a protective barrier. The werewolf clawed at the barrier in a frenzied rage but Aurelia held firm, repeating prayers to the gods to keep the barrier strong.

  Cracks in the barrier began to form. It wouldn’t be long before the beast broke through! Cracks continued to appear until the werewolf was thrown back. When the beast stood back up, its focus was now on the one who had attacked it. I followed its line of sight to see that it was Maximus.

  The werewolf charged at the Guildmaster but was pushed back even further by a powerful wind spell. The werewolf went straight through the hard stone of the castle wall, something that would kill any other creature.

  “Everyone! Get in cover!” Maximus ordered. “Form a defensive perimeter!”

  Everyone rushed to do as Maximus told. Mages created protective barriers and cast spells increasing defence and fire resistance. I dragged Suzi and Aurelia behind an ice wall that Jack had made.

  Everyone knew exactly what to do, even myself despite this being my first time fighting a werewolf. The best thing to do in this situation was to take a defensive position and wait out the beast’s attacks. We all knew this, except for one person.

  “Jesus Christ, what the fuck is that?!” Suzi yelled, seemingly so surprised that she once again began speaking that strange language.

  “What did you say?”

  “What is that thing?!”

  “It’s a werewolf,” I said.

  “Bullshit! Werewolves are only supposed to appear on the night of a full moon!”

  “This one is different. It can only appear during the day! I’ll explain later, so just keep your head down.”

  “So, we’re just supposed to wait for this thing to kill us?!”

  “Waiting is the best option right now!”

  Suzi stood up from behind the ice wall with her rifle drawn. She shot three bullets at the werewolf but they had no effect against its thick skin. I expected that to happen but I honestly wished it would have worked.

  The werewolf’s chest began glowing a vibrant orange and I instantly knew what it meant. I pulled Suzi back down behind cover and we braced ourselves for the attack.

  The werewolf’s chest glowed brighter and brighter before it unleashed a devastating stream of fire from its mouth. I could feel the heat even at a distance. It felt like my skin was already melting.

  This was the werewolf’s infamous fire breath attack. The flames were hot enough to melt through steel. It was a truly devastating attack but it had a weakness that we could exploit. Francoise stood out in the open to demonstrate this weakness. Everyone, except for Suzi, knew she would be perfectly fine.

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  “Hey there, big guy! Since we both have an affinity for fire, maybe we can get married!” Francoise taunted.

  “Francoise, get the fuck down!” Suzi yelled.

  “Relax, Suzi. It’ll be okay. I have complete immunity to-”

  Francoise was cut off as she became engulfed in the fire breath attack that was directed right at her. The long stream of fire continued for a few seconds more before it stopped and Francoise remained exactly where she was as if nothing happened. Suzi was left dumbstruck at the sight.

  On the top of the castle walls, more adventurers were yelling and waving their arms around to get the attention of the werewolf.

  “Hey, you ugly bastard! I bet you can’t even hit me from here!”

  “Toddlers can aim better than you!”

  The werewolf turned and let out another breath attack but the adventurers were able to dodge it in time. More and more adventurers were baiting the werewolf into attacking, and were successful each time. This was exactly what we wanted but Suzi didn’t seem to understand that.

  “What are those idiots doing?!”

  “Suzi, wait! This is what we're supposed to do. Look!”

  Suzi and I looked over and winced at the sight of the werewolf’s thick skin melting away. Large chunks were falling off and the muscle and tendons underneath burned to ash. Its intestines and other organs fell out onto the ground like raw meat. It would not be long before all that remained was a black skeleton.

  While the werewolf’s fire breath attack was powerful, the flames were so hot that it caused the thick skin of the werewolf to melt away, leaving its heart exposed. It takes time, so it's important not to panic.

  I told Suzi that when the chest was fully exposed, she could use her rifle to destroy the heart and kill the werewolf. The heat emanating from the beast was too great for anyone to get close with a sword. She nodded in confirmation and waited with me until the time was right to strike back.

  Truth be told, anyone with ice or water magic could destroy the werewolf’s heart with ease but I wanted Suzi to be the one to take this beast down. I wanted her to show everyone that she could be trusted. I wanted this animosity towards Suzi to be done and over with.

  The tactic of baiting the werewolf continued for a short while longer. Suzi and I had to change positions because our cover was melting under the extreme heat. We were separated but I was confident that she would do her part well.

  With one last fire blast from its mouth, the werewolf’s heart was now exposed. All Suzi had to do was shoot through the ribs and the beast would be dead, though that was easier said than done. The werewolf was now in a complete frenzy, lashing out at random and jumping all over the place. The heat emanating from its body was now so strong that Jack’s durable ice magic evaporated in an instant.

  I needed to summon another spirit but the heat was so terrible that I couldn’t concentrate! I was at a loss for what to do. The werewolf was charging toward me. I was almost convinced that I would die right there until I saw a bright flash of light that both blinded and deafened me.

  When my vision cleared, I saw the werewolf howling madly as it grabbed at its eye sockets. Then I saw Suzi fire a shot at its heart. Its sternum exploded, fully exposing the beast’s heart for all to see. It turned to Suzi and was about to attack but she shot it twice more. Sparks emitted from its eye sockets before its skull exploded into pieces.

  The heat dissipated and all that was left of the fearsome werewolf was a pile of charred bones.

  I fell backwards as I let out a massive sign of relief. For a second, I thought I was actually going to die. Suzi ran right up to me and lifted me up. She checked all over my body for injuries while profusely asking if I was alright.

  “Are you burned anywhere, Lily? Any bruises or cuts?”

  “Suzi, I’m fine! I’m fine!”

  She then immediately dragged Aurelia over and began doing the same thing as she did with me. It didn’t take long for Aurelia to get fed up.

  “Stop! I’m not injured!” Aurelia said.

  “That’s a relief,” Suzi said.

  “Suzi, what was that flash of light?” I asked.

  “What flash of light? Oh! You mean this.”

  Suzi pulled out a strangely shaped cylinder that had a bunch of holes in it.

  “It’s called a flashbang,” she said.

  “You have so many useful gadgets. I’m kind of envious.”

  “I actually thought it wouldn’t work. My gear can only do so much and this fight proved that. You two really saved my ass back there. I would be dead if it weren’t for you.”

  Suzi leaned in close and gave Aurelia and I each a kiss on the cheek. I could feel my face grow flustered. Aurelia’s face also started to turn red.

  “Thank you.”

  While I was touched by Suzi’s gratitude, why did she kiss me?! What even was that?!

  “W-W-W-Why did you kiss us?!” I asked.

  “Huh? I didn’t kiss you.”

  “Yes you did! You kissed us on the cheek just now!”

  “No, I didn’t. I definitely would remember doing something like that. Why are you turning blue?”

  Aurelia and I were too flabbergasted to say anything else while Suzi looked on at the charred pile of bones and smiled.

  “We just killed a fire-breathing werewolf. That was pretty cool.”

  With that, Suzi fell back and was sound asleep. The quest was over and now we were going home.