The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 30 - The News (Patreon)

The Outskirts of the Clearing on the Twenty-Second floor

Ariana grimaces after the light fades to reveal nothing but a severed arm with part of Ludric’s cloak.

“He got away,” she mutters before sending Crystal a wary glance.

Crystal just raises her hands in a placating gesture before putting her bow back into her inventory.

This eases Ariana’s doubts a little before both she and Crystal turn back and start towards the clearing to find Wolf.

By the time they get there, Wolf is nowhere to be seen. Instead, all they manage to find are heavy tracks made by a large eight legged creature, along with a faint trail of frost.

“It looks like Sapphire carried him away from the clearing,” Crystal mutters before walking up to and touching the other remaining chest. She then grabs the item that appears without even looking at its description as she starts after the trail of frost in a hurry.

As she is moving, a look of surprise flashes across her face as she finally takes the time to read the notifications that she was given after the werewolf’s death.

After a brief smile from the contents of her notifications, a stick snaps behind Crystal, prompting her to turn around to find Ariana following after her.

“You’re going to check on him too?” she asks in surprise without stopping.

Ariana nods her head and says, “Yes. I owe him a favor.”

‘Well, I guess that explains why she fought Vulcan off earlier,’ Crystal thinks before she faces forwards again while saying, “Let’s just hope that he is still alive.”

Ariana silently nods her head in agreement as they continue following after Wolf and Sapphire’s trail.

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About three kilometers from the girls’ location

Sapphire cautiously walks by the dark ent with Wolf still laying on its back trailing along a light mist behind them.

The ent ignores the both of them as a faint green light shines from an amulet around Wolf’s neck.

Sapphire – having gotten used to the ents ignoring them by now – gently lays Wolf down on the ground past it before opening the door to the Expanded System Store, picking Wolf back up, and bringing him inside.

She then proceeds to use her limited manipulation power to manipulate the ice element spilling from Wolf to freeze the door shut before she walks up to him and rubs up against him with a purr.

Another pained groan comes from Wolf’s unconscious form while he lays down on the ground as the blackish blue coloring of the infection continues slowly spreading, having already reached his neck and upper biceps from the origin point of his shoulder.

Sapphire lets out a very faint screech out of sadness as it rubs up against Wolf.

Several minutes pass like this before a commotion sounds from outside of the store, making Sapphire get up to stand in front of Wolf in a defensive manner.

She quietly hisses whilst looking at the door as the noises coming from outside of the store quiet down.

A knock suddenly sounds on the door, making Sapphire flinch before she calms down at the sound of a familiar voice on the other side of the door.

“Sapphire? Are you and Wolf inside?” Crystal says from the other side of the door.

Sapphire immediately opens the door with her ice manipulation, only to tense up again at the sight of an unknown face.

“Don’t worry, Sapphire,” Crystal says as she walks in with Ariana, “this person owes Wolf a debt, so she wouldn’t hurt him.”

Sapphire relaxes a little bit again at this before freezing the door shut again and rushing back to Wolf’s side as he groans in pain again.

“Shit,” Crystal mutters as she sees the state Wolf is in before she moves over to his side and takes off his partially shredded coat to reveal the damaged armaments beneath.

She suddenly calls over her shoulder towards Ariana, “Please search for information about werewolf venom on the forums!”

Ariana just nods her head and opens up her menus as Crystal picks Wolf up and begins to carry him towards the living area within the shop.

Meanwhile, Ariana follows behind her whilst reading a thread on the forums.

“Shit,” she mutters, catching Crystal’s attention as they pass through the doorway into the bedroom area.

“What is it?” Crystal asks as she maneuvers Wolf around to the bed before gently placing him on top of it.

Ariana looks up at Crystal through the menu and says, “There isn’t any way that we could possibly get an antidote for this right now, and even if we could, the thread I am reading says that it is likely already too late.”

“Shit,” Crystal copies Ariana before she looks down at Wolf’s face as it twists in pain despite him being unconscious, “tell me about the process. How does the venom turn him, and how long will it take?”

Ariana looks back at the thread in front of her again as she begins reading it out loud, “The infection first goes through the infected’s body, mutating all of their blood down to the DNA while also healing any wounds. This process can take almost an entire day to finish, and the infected will remain unconscious throughout the process. After all of the infected’s blood is mutated, the virus will go directly to their heart and their brain. Once their brain is mutated, they will gain the balancing factors of a werewolf.”

She pauses at this part as her eyes go wide with fear.

Crystal looks back at her and says, “What about when the virus reaches the infected’s heart?”

Ariana looks up at her question and finishes, “If the virus isn’t compatible with Wolf, then it will mutate his heart incorrectly, causing the newly mutated blood pumping through his body to become corrupted, turning him into either a primal werewolf, or a lesser werewolf as the corrupted blood integrates and changes his body down to the DNA.”

A grimace crosses Crystal’s face as she quietly says, “So there is a chance that Wolf might become a primal werewolf, just like the event boss…”

“Yes, although it also says that a class mutation might alter the outcome of the virus,” Ariana says with a slightly hopeful tone of voice.

Both girls watch Wolf as he groans in pain again while Sapphire climbs up the bed and sits next to him.

Several seconds pass in a gloomy silence before Ariana says, “I will watch over him for the duration of his transformation.”

She then looks up and finishes as Crystal’s eyes widen in shock, “This will be how I pay my debt to him.”

Understanding flashes in Crystal’s eyes at her last statement before she nods her head and says, “If you see Vulcan while you are protecting Wolf, make sure to kill him. For all of our sakes.”

Ariana nods her head before placing her hands on the pommels of her swords and turning her attention towards Wolf as Crystal pats Sapphire on the head once and quietly says to her, “I’m going to need you to open the store entrance for me, okay?”

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Safe Zone 52
Several hours later

The new-and-improved council room falls silent as all of the council members look at Wolf’s family with varying expressions ranging from fright to worry.

Luke breaks the silence as he says, “I am going to do some research into whoever Vulcan is.”

Manfred shares a concerned glance with Jessica before asking, “And what are you planning to do with that information? If it can even be found that is.”

Luke turns a stone-cold stare towards the leader of the council and says, “I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done.”

Several of the council members shiver in fear at the tone of voice used by the leader of safe zone 52’s military forces.

After an awkward cough at Luke’s blunt answer to his question, Manfred suggests, “Maybe you and your group should take some time to yourselves and leave the matter of our metal shortage to the rest of…”

Before he finishes his statement, Wolf’s friends and family all get up and immediately begin leaving the room.

Manfred stares at them as they leave for a few seconds before shaking his head with a worried look on his face and continuing the meeting.

“Calm down, dad,” Katie says to Luke while putting her hand on his shoulder. “Remember. Wolf said that the Werewolf Empress told him that he shouldn’t have any chance to turn into a primal or lesser werewolf.”

Luke suddenly slams his fist into a nearby wall, splitting the wood making up the wall as he says, “I know, but that doesn’t change what happened! If I can’t hurt that bastard Vulcan personally, then I am going to find a way to do so from Aegis!”

Lucia silently nods in agreement with his words before Katia sighs.

“You can’t tell me that you aren’t mad as well, Katie,” Aidan suddenly says from the side without taking his eyes off of Wolf’s livestream.

Katie turns to him and says, “Yes, I am pissed as hell and if I was given the chance I would rip Vulcan’s goddamn cowardly head off, but we need to think about this before we act.”

Her words make Aidan look up from the livestream with surprise before he says, “Continue.”

“If we go openly searching for information about Vulcan, anyone he is connected with – both on Aegis and off of it – will know about it,” Luke answers instead of Katie, drawing a look of surprise from her before he says, “you should know that I’m not stupid enough to do something without thinking just because of anger, but I am glad that you were thinking about this logically.”

Katie blushes from embarrassment at his compliment.

“We’re assassins,” Luke says as a cold look flashes across his eyes, “so we are going to do things like assassins.”

A sob suddenly breaks everyone focus as they turn to see Lexi softly crying whilst watching Wolf’s livestream.

“We are going to get our revenge against Vulcan here on Aegis in our own way,” Luke quietly says before patting Lexi on the head.

Lexi just nods her head in agreement without saying a word.