"Thuu." The wolf spat the remaining half of the sphere. Rudra could do nothing but watch as the other half landed quite far from his reach. He was in disbelief as he had not expected the outcome to be this way.
"AGHHH," Rudra cried in pain. The wolf jumped over him, and he was pushed to the ground quite easily. 'Come on, dammit, think something,' he racked his brain, trying to think of some way.
'Just when I was so close to killing that thing. Is there no other way? Am I really dying here?' Rudra mused, his eyes showing signs of fear. "You freaking mutt, I will not let you kill me. If I must die, I will drag you down to hell with me." He burst in rage, seeing the looks on the wolf's face.
As the wolf stood over Rudra's body, he stared right into the boy's eyes. Seeing the boy's fearful eyes made the wolf excited for some reason. Maybe he was seeing things, still, he didn't care. Killing the wolf anyhow became his only goal as a sudden burst of rage burst forth from within him.
"Let's see if you are still happy after getting cooked alive." Rudra bellowed as he looked straight at the eyes of the wolf. His eyes full of madness, he really was ready to die along with the wolf, if that was the only option left.
"HOWWWWWWLLLL" Wolf howled, one of the hands of Rudra was currently inside the wound on the neck of the wolf. He had managed to grab something around the neck. After he grabbed whatever he was able to, he just twisted his hand, which caused the wolf to scream in pain.
'And for the finale, I saved the best for last.' Rudra mused, Spiritual power started gathering around his hand. "LIGHTNING STRIKE," He roared. His magic circle in his heart started rotating madly, trying to match his madness.
"Ahggg." The wolf, as well as Rudra, suffered from the effects of the lightning from the skill. While Wolf seemed to have lost all of its wits while being electrocuted, he seemed to be feeling relatively less effect of the spell for some reason.
'This must be because I was the one who used the skill; I am only experiencing a little bit of the effects of the skill.' Rudra assumed that he had no clear evidence. "A little more, just a little bit more...." he muttered as he started feeling exhausted, almost 1 minute had passed since he used the skill. To maintain the skill, spiritual power was draining rapidly from his body; his circle was almost empty. The rapidly spinning circle started to slow down.
"No, you don't, LIGHTNING STRIKE!" Rudra howled, seeing the wolf slowly coming back to his senses. With the shout, Rudra once more unleashed the only skill he had available in his arsenal.
The wolf was slowly gaining its senses and used mana to cover its body as a last-ditch effort. This somehow worked, Wolf stared at Rudra, was was winching in pain as he was currently expanding the last remaining power he had left in his body.
'What, just how is it still able to maintain sanity?' Rudra mused that, although he felt just a small percentage of the power of his own skill, he was sure that was enough to make anyone go mad or lose their life. His eyes met with wolves as he felt chills. The wolf pounced on him, and he stared helplessly as he had no strength to defend himself.
"Dieeeeee," Rudra winced as he felt his throat being torn apart. The wolf had managed to bite his neck. Left without any defenses, both of them did their best to kill each other before the other succeeded. Rudra channeled whatever remaining Spiritual power he had in his body towards his hand, in a last-ditch effort. Wolf mustered all of his strength to pull apart Rudra's head from the throat. Both of them used their last attacks simultaneously.
...
Cough cough cough... The sound of coughing abruptly sounded all around an empty hallway in front of an ancient-looking door. 'I felt like I died. If my last attack was just a little bit weaker, I would be dead, walking around in a jungle, god knows where, as a ghost. HEHEHE at least I didn't die.' Rudra started celebrating as soon as he came out of the tribulation.
"Just what happened to you inside that door?" The melodious voice of the woman sounded inside the cave like place once more. Rudra, who hadn't heard this voice for god knows how long, started grinning ear to ear.
'You have no idea what you have just put me through. If only I could see where you are hiding, I would have slapped your buttocks so hard, you would have started squirming in pain.'
'Well, I would need strength to do any of that; I should recover first.' Rudra thought as he slowly started closing his eyes. "No, DON'T! Don't fall asleep. Just wait a minute, I will fix you up real quick." Said the woman, seemingly concerned from the sound of her voice. "What do you mean?" Rudra asked in a very low voice. He seemed to have lost even the strength to speak.
"You are very heavily injured; if not treated immediately, you will die. Worry not, I used to be a very impressive healer before I died, so you are in the best hands. If it were before, I would not have been able to do anything, but it seems you were able to acquire the book of blasphemy. I no longer have to be a guide here." The woman claimed, Rudra remembered her mentioning something about it; she had mentioned that if he came back from inside the door alive, she would help him save the orphanage.
"Alright...." Rudra muttered as he still hadn't figured it out yet. He was missing a large chunk of his neck at this moment, blood gushing out of it like a river. If at this moment he fell asleep, he might even lose his life, which was why the woman warned him from sleeping.
"Dear goddess Lumina..." The woman started chanting in a very melodious voice; hearing the voice intently, Rudra couldn't help but become enchanted. As he kept on hearing her voice, he was slowly able to feel a lot better than he had felt before. Although mentally he wasn't able to tell the difference, physically his life-threatening wounds gradually healed in just a matter of minutes.
"I feel a lot better than before. Earlier, I wasn't even able to feel anything from the waist down. I wasn't even thinking straight, it seems, I didnt even realize I was dying. Thank you for saving my life," Rudra said apologetically.
"There is no need for you to be thankful. I just did what I had to do. Rather, I should be the one who should be thankful." Said the woman.
"If I am fully healed, why do I still feel so sleepy? Even though I can feel my entire body, I just can't move any of it." Rudra asked in a very low voice with all of the strength he could muster.
"That is because you have used up all of the spiritual power in your body."