JR 5.1

Hey guys! hows the week going? If its good I hope it stays good, if its bad I hope this picks it up a bit!

Puppet POV~~~~~~

My order roused the camp and the regular automata immediately reacted. The drivers climbed into their vehicles and readied them in case we had to move quickly. Another three jumped up on the roof and manned the machine guns mounted on the top. The armored foot soldiers formed walls in the gaps between each vehicle while the others readied their rifles and other weapons. The shields of the footsoldiers started to emit a barrier, and then they fused with their neighbors. 

“Everyone be ready! We have a large pack of wolf based monsters in the perimeter. They are tier 2 or higher!” I shouted as I moved between the groups of automata. 

I was checking that the last group was ready when a howl that seemed to shake the air rang through the air. Several more followed after it that were less powerful but still equally nerve-racking. I released one of the machine gun drones, as I wasn’t too sure how effective they would be in the forest. I would have to make a few land-based drones. 

“Azra, Z2 you two are in command. I’m going for a walk,” I said and channeled light mana around my body. The surroundings started to appear on me so that if someone looked at me, they would see whatever was behind me. I believe that Father would call it Active-camouflage. 

“Make sure you keep watch!” Z2 shouted in my direction. 

“I’m going to win either way!” Azra retorted. 

I jumped into a nearby tree and made my way towards the pack that was stalking us. I used air mana to erase my scent and space mana to reduce my weight as I made my way towards the top of the trees. I sped through the canopy without so much as a sound, the branches barely bending at my passing. After a few seconds, I arrived at where the wolves had gathered and seemed to be preparing a rush towards the camp.

I contemplated my options. I wanted to cause some damage, I knew how to create the gunpowder that Father likes to use so I could create a bomb, but I had too little information on what type of wolves these were. I was about to throw a gunpowder bomb when a wolf entered my view. 

It was at least an extra two meters taller than the rest. It had the form of a wolf, but that seemed to be the end of it. Flames leaked from its mouth and nostrils, while smoke curled off its hide. The ground singed as it stood, very clearly in charge of the pack. What had me worried was the strange collar around its neck, a green stone was embedded at the throat and green ‘cracks’ spread from it. Where the green was, it seemed that the wolf’s body had started to become twisted. 

“Well, shit,” I whispered to myself. 

The leader’s ears twitched, and I quickly jumped to another tree. A moment after I had moved an evil looking black, green and red flame completely devoured the tree that I was on a moment ago. The tree quickly rotted from the burnt spot and soon was just a husk in a matter of seconds. The leader looked around as if trying to decide if it was a threat or not. 

The regular wolves started to freak out but it growled, and the pack returned to calm. A few had even launched fireballs into the surroundings the moment the leader had attacked. It looked like a bomb wouldn’t do much good, the shrapnel might cause some damage, but a few cuts weren’t going to stop these things. 

I pulled my blade from the scabbard on my waist and channeled mana so that a thin beam of light covered the edge, I made sure that the light didn’t leave the blade so that it was basically invisible to the eye. I looked back to the pack to figure my attack route that would optimize my strike, and that would hopefully avoid the leader until I cut the numbers down a bit. 

My time to decide ended when a bullet plowed through one of the wolves’ head. A few moments later the body exploded quite grandly. I took the opportunity created by the distraction and shoot towards one of the wolves on the outer edge of the pack. It appeared to catch my scent right as my blade separated its head from its body. I followed the path in my head and struck down three more before I exited the pack and was back in the forest. 

Four splendid explosions followed behind me. I made my way up into the treetops and observed the panic I caused. The pack was actually calmer than I thought it would be, I knew this because several dozen fireballs followed my path through the forest. I made my way around the pack as two or three dozen meters of trees were turned into ash. 

A few more bullets entered from the direction of camp and took the heads off a few more wolves. I nodded, at this pace, we might be able to handle this without any trouble. I plotted my next course through the pack and readied my blade. 

I jumped down and charged the nearest wolf, and its head went flying. I was about to remove the next wolf’s head when the flame from the leader encompassed it and its surroundings. The explosion sent me flying into the brush nearby, my flight ended as I collided with a tree. My right hand was thoroughly charred, and I found it hard to move, I was thankful that I didn’t feel this pain that mortals talk about. 

I jerked up to make my way into the forest but was too late as several wolves had surrounded me. 

“Oh, you dogs want a piece of me?” I said through gritted teeth. 

The wolf directly in front of me was thrown several meters to the side as the leader smacked him out of the way, “Dogs! If we’re dogs, that makes you our new chew toy!” An unearthly voice came from the mouth of the leader.

“Since when did dogs learn to talk?” I said as I looked around to find some way to escape. The leader snorted, and flames left its nostrils, they coiled around either side of me, I was amazed at the heat that came from it.

“Joke all you want, you and yours are about to be the s**t I crap out tomorrow,” the leader said as he somehow managed to make a grin. 

“Not today!” I shouted as the drone I released earlier came around and unleashed a hundred bullets every second. The leader roared and turned towards the drone, then unleashed his, what I was going to start calling ‘hell flame.’ I managed to turn the drone in time to avoid most of the damage, but one of the wings got hit, and it started to lose altitude deeper in the forest. At the same time I jumped straight up and reached the bottom most branch, I used that to propel myself further into the forest. 

Another hell flame followed me and burned everything in its path. I gulped after I had escaped the immediate area, then made my way back to the camp. The damage to my hand was starting to spread, and I was worried that I would have to cut the thing off. Hopefully, Natsuo would be able to fix it. 

I dropped into camp and shouted, “Open fire! Don’t let them near the camp!” 

The three turrets turned towards the section that the wolves were in and unleashed a steady stream of gunfire. I heard several explosions during the first couple of seconds, but it slowly died down. I felt like the leader had done something to reduce the effectiveness of the weapon. 

“What is it that did that to you?!” Azra asked shocked when she saw my hand. 

“Big guy, something is up with him,” I responded as Natsuo examined it. 

“Closer, bad,” he said, which I took to mean if I’d been closer it would have been worse. He poured some energy into my hand, and the darkened section started to fade. The black had receded to my wrist when a fireball soared into the camp, it collided with the side of one of AVSs, luckily it seemed the armor was strong enough to defend against it. 

I looked and noticed that a thin barrier was covering it. I peeked into the driver seat and saw that the driver automaton was channeling mana into the vehicle. I gave him the thumbs up, and he nodded back to me. 

“Natsuko, can you see anything?” I asked. She was laying on top of the AVS as she looked through her scope. 

“Hm, the big dog is channeling mana into a firewall of some sorts, stupid mongrels,” She replied with a really pissed off face. 

“Thanks, let me know if it changes,” I said, and she fired a round into the forest. A moment later an explosion followed. 

“Sure thing,” she said as she pulled the bolt back to remove the shell she just fired. Even with all the wolves we’ve killed already, there were still over thirty or forty plus the monster of a leader they had. I suddenly heard a growl from behind us and turned to see at least a dozen of the wolves that were rushing from the rear of the camp. 

“Fuck! Behind us!” I shouted and shoot towards them with my blade shimmering from the energy covering it. It would be better if I could use both hands, but one blade was going to have to suffice. Z2 followed close behind me able to keep up with me. She had her gun out and was firing into the group of wolves as we ran. She managed to take out at least three of them, but it seemed their hide was thick enough to protect from the rounds that she was using. 

I channeled some mana and blades of light formed around me. I flung my injured hand forward, and the blades sliced into several of the wolves, let's just say limbs went flying. We collided with the group and met claws with blades. Z2 was easily dodging their attacks and each time she sliced with her sword, ice burst out of the wound… usually resulted in the wolf being pulled apart. 

Z2 was quite destructive in a close group fight like this it seemed. I knew she was getting better with her close range combat, but it was still surprising that it had reached this level. Her tail was slicing into a wolf’s eye, while her sword gashed one in the side and her other hand fired bullets into another wolf. 

I didn’t hold back either and went to town moving like the wind. I used the wolves own body as jump boards and made my way through the group removing their heads as I went. In a matter of seconds, the group of roughly fifteen or sixteen wolves was decimated. 

I turned around when a thunderous crashing sound came from the camp. I turned and saw the leader wolf had its mouth around one of the turrets. I looked to Z2 and got a nod. We shot back towards the camp.