268 Stay Aler

Bertuf could see what Vy was going for. 

"It's too heav-"

Before the Beta could even finish his word of caution, Vy picked up his great axe with one hand. She felt its weight in her hand before shifting it over to the other. The way she held it with ease surprised Bertuf. 

His great axe was made out of titanium steel, forged by the blacksmith of his pack. It took the Beta three months just to get used to its weight, half a year to fight with it efficiently. Yet this young woman picked it up as if she had picked up a stick off the ground. 

How strong was this woman? He felt like he would never know for certain. 

Vy swung it at the werebears. Though she was aware it felt heavier than most weapons she's had before, it was still fairly easy to use. She cleaved the attacking beasts as blood spewed from the gaping wounds she inflicted.

As she spun the great axe in her hands, she covered the axe in her blue flames. This increased the damage she dealt as she went. Seeing the carnage she delivered began to shake the confidence of the werebears. 

The easier it was to cut her enemies down, the more worried Vy became. It could not be so simple, she thought to herself. And why did the three mysterious figures not call off the attack after witnessing the blood bath?

Did they not care for their comrades? If so, what sort of leaders were they? 

-Something isn't right.- Aether added to her doubts as Vy dealt the finishing blow onto the final werebear, splitting the creature into two where it stood. 

-But what?- 

Vy looked around her surroundings. A strange mist began to form around them. The air was heavy with blood and the smell of death. Darric, who was injured, noticed the change in the air as well. 

Something was not right. 

"Stay alert," Darric warned all of them. 

Without the light of the moon, their vision was greatly reduced. Vy summoned spheres of fire to light up their surroundings. The Shrouds Forest was famous for its vengeful spirits. Some of whom began to haunt the forest because they were killed there. 

Amongst the mist before them, a shadowy shape formed. It was the shadow of a beast, with multiple heads as if they had all been stitched together. Vy, holding Bertuf's great axe was ready to pounce on the approaching enemy as soon as it got near enough. 

But when they realised it was a spectre, a ghost; it quickly dawned on her that her weapon would not work. 

"It can't be destroyed by normal means. We need the moon silk net to slow it down." Darric explained. 

"Aether, what else is effective on creatures like these?" 

-Moonlight would have been helpful. So does the Sun. But we don't have both. Although…-

Before Aether could finish, the ghostly werebear finally revealed its full form. Towering above all of them, it was a gruesome creature of werebears stitched together. It was a monstrosity. Their eyes lit up bright red, full of anger and seeking vengeance. 

Darric and Bertuf wanted to help but they could barely stand. The rest of the werewolves remained where they were to protect their leaders. It was up to Vyrena, Lycster and Aether to finish off the enemy. 

Aether leaned nearer to Vy and whispered to her. It was a solution she had not tried. She had been hesitant to use her Dark Kyu powers, to begin with, in fear of losing control. 

"Are you sure it can work?" she asked her Familiar. 

Aether nodded. 

Vy simply nodded in return and threw the moon silk net over the ghostly beast. With a leap into the air, her fur turned black. Heavy dark clouds began to form in the sky. Vy howled into the night as dark ice vines burst forth from the ground to hold the net down. 

The dark ice vines grew into the shape of a thorn-covered tree, piercing through the spectre werebear as well. But it did not seem to have any effect on the ghostly beast. Vy looked to the side, where the corpses of the werebears were. 

Vy reached her hands. Her nails were black, longer and sharpened. The blood that was still seeping out of the wounds of the corpses began to move towards her. It was as if the sticky red liquid had a mind of its own. 

Streams of blood flowed towards where Vy was and towards the dark ice thorns. As soon as it touched the ice tree, it slowly began to turn red. The entire dark ice tree was now red. Vy clenched her right fit. 

The dark ice tree glowed red as the thorns on the tree grew out of it, impaling the ghostly beast. The spectral werebear let out a roar in agony as cracks formed all over its body before it dispersed into specks of dust in the wind. 

Vy took in deep breaths, keeping her mind focused. With the spectral werebear destroyed, she released her clenched fist and lowered her hands towards the ground. The dark ice tree melted down into the water and was swiftly absorbed into the ground. 

Now that the battle was over, Vy turned back her attention to the werewolves, all of whom had suffered some form of injury. 

"We need to heal all of you fast," she said anxiously. 

Darric's wound looked the worst out of all of them. Vy instructed them to lay Darric flat down on the ground. She rolled up his shirt and examined the wound. Luckily, the wound did not seem to be infected in any way. 

But, they still needed a way to cleanse the wound. Vy closed her eyes and took to her regular hybrid Kyu form once more, her fur turned back to white. She rubbed both of her hands together until she was able to produce a soft glow of a blue flame. 

"This is going to sting," she gave a word of warning before hovering both palms over the wound. 

As soon as the flame touched the wound, Darric winced and grunted in pain. His fellow pack members helped to hold him in place as Vy treated him. While Lycster assisted his sister in treating the wound, Aether kept a keen eye on their surroundings. 

Unfortunately for them, their run-in with the werebears, and subsequently, the spectral beast seemed to have caught the attention of some of the other spectral residents of the Shrouds Forest. 

Aether took to his winged serpent form and summoned a wind spell to blow away the mist that surrounded them. With the mist cleared, it revealed pairs of sinister eyes staring at them from the darkness of the forest. 

They were being monitored. 

Interestingly enough, Aether could not sense three figures who were likely the masterminds behind the werebear attacks. 

-They seemed to have retreated after their plan failed.- he hypothesised.