Chapter 64: Fenrir

Outside of the city, inside a big cave, a new calamity took birth in the world. Unaware of its power and origin, it was enjoying its time with its mother and siblings.

Seven baby pups and a mother wolf were the inhabitants of that cave. The cave was located deep inside the jungle and was free from human interference. No human can enter inside the jungle, thanks to the protection of the forest guards and the wildlife conservation act.

But that day, an exception happened, when the entire city was suffering from the problem of Chiseki Pollens, a group of hunters broke into the wildlife century.

Their motive was simple, kill as many as they could and load them all in the truck. It was a very special day and once-in-a-lifetime chance.

All the forest guards and the officers were called back to the city for rescue operations. No one was there to guard the forest, which was the perfect chance that team Alpha wanted to take advantage of.

Team Alpha was a group of hunters specializing in hunting and selling animals. A team of expert poachers, in short. Generally, they hunt whenever they get an order or a commission, but that day was special. Observing a golden chance like that, none of them could control their greed.

They packed their weapons, checked their traps, and set out their camps to hunt for some wolves. The forest they were currently roaming was a national reserve for arctic wolves.

They are often called polar wolves or white wolves found in the Arctic regions of North America and Greenland. Thanks to its isolation, the Arctic wolf is not threatened by hunting and habitat destruction. A few years ago, according to a conservation plan made by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, Japan was given a few arctic wolves and was asked to raise them at their place.

It was a backup plan to save their species from any disease or virus in the near future. If the arctic wolves come to extinction for some reason, then the ones kept in other countries can be used for the revival of the species.

Team Alpha started their killing spree around noontime and continued till evening. It was quite a good day for them. In the beginning, they were only setting traps to kill the arctic wolves, but when they found out the wolves were acting strange and weakened for some reason, they started to kill them by hand (With a knife and dagger).

The haul was good, the day was good, and the profits were out of their expectations. Everything was going good, and team Alpha was very content that day.

They were going to earn billions by selling the furs, claws, teeth, skins, and most importantly, the arctic wolves' meat. These all things would have happened with them, and they would have become billionaires if not for the misfortune that fell upon them that night.

After having their dinner, the members were taking turns in guarding the camp and rest in between. It was already past 11, and Jia, one of the group's skilled hunters, was guarding their camp alone.

While roaming here and there, she heard a squeaking sound from somewhere. At first, she thought she must have been hearing things, later she realized that sound was coming from somewhere near.

After searching here and there and following that sound, she finally found the sound source and hit the second jackpot of the day.

Since the inside of the cave was dark, and she didn't want to alert the wolves by using a torchlight, she sneakily went inside the cave and used her thermal sensing glasses to scan the cave inside.

Seven baby pups and one big wolf were sleeping soundly at the end of the cave. Though their camp was near, they could not spot it, thanks to all the trees hiding that cave, like a camouflage.

After giving it some thought, she returned back to the camp and unpacked her weapons for the hunt. They were done for the day and had already packed everything.

They were planning to move out of the forest and meet their dealers the following day. Jia equipped herself with her guns and dagger and returned to that cave again.

She didn't wake up the others as she didn't want to share her profits this time. The preys were baby pups and a mother wolf. She was of the idea that she will kill them in a flash.

And this was the last and the most memorable mistake of her life. Like the first time, she sneakily went inside and hid beside a rock to observe her prey. 

After confirming its safety, she slowly moved forward and lighted up a small bomb in her possession. Her plan was simple, throw the bomb and kill everyone in one go. 

More than the skin and claws, she wanted the meat of those baby pups. She lighted up her bomb and threw it deep into the cave.

The mother wolf woke up from its sleep after smelling the odor of the explosives. She started deep in the dark and realized someone had invaded her territory. The explosive was dropped just before her kids, and she had no way to stop it from exploding.

Without thinking much, she jumped onto the baby pups and acted as a shield to protect them from the explosion.

BOOM!!

The noise prevailed throughout the area. The other team members heard the noise and ran towards the source of sound in a hurry.

Upon reaching the explosion site, they found out the cause of the explosion and the person behind it. The reason was their TN 36 high power explosives, and the one behind it was none other than Jia, the youngest member of the group.

As soon as they reached there, they started the rescue operation.

They knew what Jia was up to and why she didn't call them, but they didn't give it any thought and started their rescue operation. Things like that were every day occurrence in their field field of work, and Jia was still the youngest member amongst them.

In the world of magic and magiculus, events like these give birth to legendary mythological beasts, and this time it was the mythical beast, Fenrir.

Fenrir, also called Fenrisulfr, a monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. He was the son of the demoniac god Loki and a giantess, Angerboda. Fearing Fenrir's strength and knowing that only evil could be expected of him, the gods bound him with a magical chain made of the sound of a cat's footsteps, the beard of a woman, the breath of fish, and other occult elements. When the chain was placed upon him, Fenrir bit off the hand of the god Tyr.

He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnarök (Doomsday) when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods. According to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarok, he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. According to one account, Odin's son Vidar will avenge his father, stabbing the wolf to the heart and tearing his jaws asunder. Fenrir figures prominently in Norwegian and Icelandic poetry of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the poets speak apprehensively of the day when he will break loose.

These are just mythologies of the magicless earth. But the mythologies of the magical earth were a bit different. According to its mythologies, Fenrir was a mythological beast that fought alongside Indira, the god of rain and thunder. Its contribution to the fourth demonic war was much higher than any other god at that time.

Some gods were jealous of his achievements and set a trap for this legendary holy wolf. They lied to him by saying Indra, one of its best friends, is in danger on the other side of the battlefield. The other gods said they can't go there to his rescue since they have to hold their respective stations.

Fenrir understood what they wanted to say and ran to the other side of the battlefield to save his best friend, Indira. But Indira wasn't there on the other side. It was the base camp of the trickster god Loki. 

What happened after that can be guessed very easily. Fenrir tried to fight with Loki, the god known for his mischiefs and trickery and got wounded heavily. And what's more, he fell into an illusion trap at the end. Where he saw Loki as Indiara, his best friend who has come to his rescue.

When the real Indira came for his rescue, he saw Fenrir getting along with Loki at the battlefield. It was impossible to kill Fenrir at that time, so he snatched away his divinity and threw him into the mortal world.

When Fenrir woke up in the mortal world, it found itself stuck in that realm and unable to cross the realms as it could do before. After wandering here and there for thousands of years, it finally gained a part of its divinity again, by doing virtuous works here and there.

The divinity was enough to make him a powerful deity in the mortal world, but not enough to let it jump realms. According to the old folklore, before dying, Fenrir left a treasure on earth for his descendants. With a will that whoever has the faith will awaken the treasure within.

Many historians in the world of magic tried to decode the meaning of his words, but none of them understood its meaning. 

After removing the debris and rescuing Jia, the other members gave her emergency first aid and asked her why she didn't inform them about it. They knew the reason was greed, and she wanted to keep the profit up to herself. Even then, they asked her as a formality. 

Before she replies anything to them, a squeaking sound came from the debris.

"Let's check there, first," said one of the members of the hunting team and searched for the source of that sound. They found one of the pups was lying away from the debris in a completely safe zone after searching here and there.

It was neither hurt nor even scratched. When the mother wolf saw the explosive before her-