The three wolves moved with predatory purpose, rushing to block the ground between Leor and the defiled Beast with angry snarls, putting their deadly white fangs on display. Leor reacted with all the swiftness he could muster, pulling an arrow from his quiver and notching it on his bow in one fluid motion. He had some training with such a weapon, not nearly as much as with his sword, but enough that he was not without skill in wielding it.
His Willpower poured into the shaft of the arrow and the bow itself. The arrow would deliver the Willpower to the Beast, but the bow would deliver the arrow, and so to ensure that his shot would carry the force it needed to pierce the creature's thick skin, he needed to empower the bow as well.
He waited until the Bear's charge had carried it to within fifty meters before taking his shot. The tension on the bowstring was released with a loud twang, sending the Willpower infused arrow splitting through the air. It was still quite a distance though, and the shot missed its mark. It ended up piercing the thick fleshy shoulder of the bear, rather than the head Leor was aiming for.
The Beast continued forward in its mindless charge, releasing a furious bellow as the arrowhead sunk into its flesh. The small amount of Willpower in the arrow was not enough to even stun such a large Beast, especially without a headshot.
The elder grey wolf circled forward, finally reaching the bear and snapping at its flank in an attempt to draw the Beast's attention, but the defiled creature seemed laser focused on Leor for some reason, continuing to rush toward the young man despite the wolves circling around it and biting at its heels.
Drawing another arrow across his bow, Leor took aim. The bear was now only a dozen yards away, a much easier shot than the previous one. A second twang sounded out on the mountainside as he let the arrow fly. Leor watched the thin wooden shaft cut through the air toward its target, the speeding arrow almost looking as if it was moving in slow motion in his adrenaline soaked senses. He somehow knew that it would strike true before it even reached the bear.
The head of the bear was quite large, thick with layers of muscle and fat stacked up beneath the shaggy brown fur. Leor watched that large head make the mistake of glancing up toward the sound of the twanging bowstring. That slight movement placed the arrow's trajectory directly in line with the beady brown eye on the left side of the bear's face.
A painful roar shook the air around Leor, and the bear finally halted its charge, standing up on its hind legs as it clumsily swatted at the bloody arrow sticking out of its eye. The wolves caught the scent of blood, and seemed to sense the vulnerability of their prey at that moment. Like a well trained team, all three canines struck at the exact same instant.
The smaller wolves latched on to the limbs of the much larger creature, while the elder grey wolf did its best to force the bear back down to the ground, quickly dodging out of the way as a powerful clawed fist came crashing down into the rocky soil with a trembling thud.
Just as the bear's mighty paw struck the earth, Leor released a third arrow from near point blank range. This one shot into the bear's chin from underneath, cutting the thin layer of flesh and piercing through the bottom jaw and into the roof of the creature's mouth from inside. This final arrow seemed to do the trick, as the telltale glazed expression of the defilement began to clear away came over the Beast's face.
At the same time, the towering bear began to tumble over forward towards the rocky ground below, pulled in that direction by the two smaller wolves still clinging to its limbs. The elder grey wolf took full advantage of the situation, snapping its large jaws shut around the Bears neck, and a few moments later the thick smell of blood filled the mountainside. A dripping pool of red soaking into the rocky floor, as the defiled bear breathed its last.
Leor took a satisfied breath as he examined the growing ember of Willpower inside his body. From high nightly meditations, combined with the defiled creatures that he had helped slay one after another, Leor's Willpower had grown by at least a third since the time he had slain the Twisted one near the ruins of the old elven city.
His Willpower had been merely half a fist in size when he first departed from the realm of light to undergo his initiates trial. Then, it had doubled in size with the slaying of the powerful and dreadful Twisted one upon the great hill beside the elven ruins, and now around a week later it had already grown to a fist and a half in size. That might seem like not much to a casual observer, especially considering that he would need to fill his entire body with Will before he could be considered an Adept, but it was truly great progress indeed.
One had to remember that the greater his Willpower became, the stronger he became as well, and the easier it would be for him to defeat stronger opponents. The stronger the opponents he defeated, the faster his Willpower would grow. So his growth rate would only continue to accelerate from here.
Focusing his attention back on the matter at hand, Leor watched as the wolves retrieved a set of thick ropes and harnesses from the pack that they had brung along for the hunt. It seemed that they intended to drag the large corpse back to the fortress in order to process the meat when they returned.
It made sense. There was no use in trying to cut up the meat way up here on the mountainside, since that would just make it more difficult to transport.
The wolves tied the heavy rope around the two front paws of the bear, then strapped it to the body of the smaller black wolf, who had returned to his Beastial form. Then they set off, back down the mountainside at a much slower pace than they had climbed it. The wolves took turns pulling the heavy burden, each dragging the corpse around a half mile before turning it over to the next in line.
Leor wanted to help, but his human body was nowhere near strong enough to do so. He began to daydream about what it would be like to embody a Beast like Bone with the worldtree potion that he still had in his possession. Imagining his sword easily cutting through the flesh of powerful defiled Beasts because of the tremendous strength of his new apelike arms.
As he was now, Leor was barely able to put a scratch on the pig-like Dire Beast that had attacked the herb fields during his guard duty. But if he was to gain the body of a powerful Beast, that would no longer be the case! Depending on which Beast he embodied, he might end up stronger than any human initiate had ever been before!
On top of that, Leor would still have access to his human Willpower. As that Willpower grew stronger, he could use it to empower his new Beastly body even further. Willpower Adepts and Masters were able to match Beasts in single combat, because of the enhancements and spells that their Willpower allowed them to learn. Leor and Alina, however, would likely be able to match such creatures in combat as mere initiates. This was something completely unheard of. It was starting to become more and more clear to Leor why the world tree sapling was considered such a legendary and singularly unique item.
There was another thought Leor could not suppress. Would Alina and himself become like the Dragons were, once they too possessed both a Beastly body and a human Willpower? It was hard to tell exactly, but as far as Leor could understand, that seemed to be the case. The dragons were known for tremendously powerful Will's capable of wielding all manner of destructive spells, and enhancing their own bodies almost to the point of being immortal. It was a truly fearsome power, to enhance an already deadly Beast with the all around useful Willpower of a human.
Defiled Beast also had Willpower, of course, but it was not the same. Theirs was the fallen and sickening Will of a corrupted being, it was a destructive and blunt instrument. Nothing like the surgical precision and limitless adaptability of the human Will.
There were countless more advanced Willpower spells and training manuals that existed, these could further enhance physical performance, and they did so much more effectively than just pumping Willpower into your own limbs and muscles like initiates did. These secretive and cherished techniques required more Willpower than Leor currently possessed, however. Usually these would be learned around the level of an Adept, or at minimum a very strong initiate, who had filled at least half his body with Willpower.
Leor and Alina should have begun learning about such things once they completed their final trial, becoming full members of the house of flame. For now, anyway, he would need to wait. He would at least be able to understand more about the effects of the worldtree potion on human anatomy once Alina woke up. Then they would know more, and be able to plan accordingly.
The trip down the mountainside continued without issue. They began passing small groups of foraging females once they got closer to the fortress. The wild vegetables growing on the mountainside were an important source of nutrients for the entire community, so the Beast were constantly gathering the wild plants.
When they finally reached the plain below and circled back around to the cliff that held the fortress entrance, Leor saw something that brought a great surge of joy to his heart. Much more so than even he expected.
He couldn't prevent the smile from spreading across his face as he rushed forward ahead of the wolves, running at full speed as he approached the entrance.
There, leaning against the outer wall of the fortress, her slender body basking in the red glow of the Beastial sun, was Alina. She had finally awoken from her days long slumber.