CH 85

“Elena, Elena.”

Tears had welled up in Gareth’s eyes without him realizing it. They dropped onto Elena’s frozen face as he struggled to listen to her pulse. Gareth hurriedly undid the buttons on her frozen clothes and glued his ear to her frigid chest. Fear of the irreversible made his heart beat uncontrollably. It was then when he could hear a faint pulse. Gareth hastily buttoned up Elena’s shirt and took off his coat to wrap it around her. The ruthless blizzard clawed at his skin, but it didn’t matter to him. The only thing that mattered to him at this moment was that Elena’s heart was still beating.

Holding Elena tightly in his arms, Gareth used his fingers to sound a loud and sharp whistle to announce his position to his subordinates, as his whistles were powerful enough to be heard by his men even in the midst of the most chaotic battles. However, the shadows that emerged from the snowstorm were not his men. Gareth’s eyes gleamed.

Snarls and grisly whimpers echoed throughout the forest. Without even having the time to wipe the animal blood off his face, Gareth crouched into a defensive position and glared at the park of wolves who were waiting for him to let his guard down to begin their attack. He decided that he couldn’t change his position, as the wolves would charge at him right away if he did so. Gareth was now breathing heavily from the uneasiness, but he firmly stood his ground. Elena laid behind him wrapped in his coat and surrounded by the wolves he killed earlier.

Bloodlust dripped with every breath Gareth exhaled. The terrible stench of blood stimulated the wolves’ wild nature, as well as Gareth’s. His madness was now clear in his eyes. At that moment, a feeble groan sounded from behind. Gareth’s eyes trembled when he realized that the wolves had instinctively realized his weakness. Before he could do anything, the wolves jumped towards Elena.

Gareth took a step backwards to Elena and stood close to her as he used his sword to fend off a wolf running towards Elena, revealing its sharp fangs as if to bite into her throat. At the same time, he used a dagger with his other hand to attack the wolf who was flying towards him from a different direction. He felt a sharp pain in his arm at that moment, which soon dissipated into the disorderly situation.

Another attack came as he was trying to dislodge his sword from the first wolf’s skin that he had penetrated. Gareth quickly pulled out the sword and turned around as fast as he could and slashed in a semicircle. Hot blood gushed out of the wolf and sprinkled on his face. Blood continued to expel from the beast’s bodies, causing the other wolves, as well as Gareth, to lose control.

His sense of time, as well as the grim situation he was in, gradually disappeared from Gareth’s mind. The only thing he could feel as he mercilessly slaughtered the wolves was Elena. He decided that he wouldn’t let these beasts get close to the woman even if he were to die. He was adamant on protecting her until the end, no matter what.

With this thought, Gareth continued to stave off the constant attacks from the wolves. His eyes were now bloodshot from the prolonged battle against the barbaric animals. One of the wolves eventually bit his wrist, prompting him to drop his dagger. He, however, grabbed the wolf’s mouth with his bare hands to fight them back, disregarding the fact that his arms and shoulders were now vulnerable to the creatures’ canine teeth. Before long, Gareth’s body had become stained with a vermillion color. The forest at night was indeed the beasts’ territory. Nevertheless, Gareth resolved that it was also his and Elena’s territory as he decided to not back down.

After many rounds of disorganized attacks, the wolves took a few steps back in unison as if they had devised a tactic for their next attack and rushed onto Gareth and Elena at the same time. Realizing that the beasts were going for Elena’s feet and neck, Gareth turned around to protect her, ignoring the wolves that ran at him. He pierced through the top of a wolf’s head with his sword and spun around fast to kick the wolf approaching Elena’s feet. Another wolf jumped onto his exposed back. Ragged breaths and painful groans rang throughout the forest. Gareth became entangled with the wolves to the point that it became difficult for him to tell who was man and who was beast.