Chapter 143: Subdue

The wolf instinctively knew that Hugh was its biggest competitor. It was a fight between the two of them to establish who was the alpha in this group.

Hugh looked back at his other classmates. Aric was still out for the count as he was still recovering from the blood loss. Serena had it better, but she was in no shape to fight with the wolf. Jane was still shaken up by her near-death experience.

Hugh was the only one in the group who could fight the wolf. He had to fight long enough until they recovered in top form.

With his eagle eyes, Hugh did not take his eyes off the red flint of the wolf's eyes. It was a bright and clear light that broadcasted to Hugh that he was facing against a monster.

There was silence deep in the night. Hugh stopped breathing, and all he could hear was the sound of his heartbeat. He knew that the wolf heard this too.

Without any warning, Hugh charged towards the darkness with his armor activated. For Serena, all she could see was Hugh charging in recklessly. However, Hugh had only acted to dodge away from the incoming attack.

In truth, Hugh did not see the wolf's movements. He only saw a blur in the distance, and he inferred that the wolf would attack him. It turned out that he was right as he saw claws striking near him.

Hugh's heart was beating a thousand times per second as he dodged the first attack. It was only one attack, but it took every strength, will, and focus he had to dodge away from it.

At that fateful moment, Serena saw that the wolf briefly appear right next to Hugh. She was surprised to see that Hugh had anticipated the wolf's attack.

She knew first hand that the wolf was beyond her speed. She could not even see a blur in her vision, but Hugh was able to successfully dodge away from it.

She was speechless at this revelation. She had thought that Hugh was only a normal person, but his actions told her that he was special.

Hugh looked around and sensed the wolf's current location. There was not any sign of it like it had just dissipated out of nowhere.

"AWOOO!" the wolf screamed in the air. However, this was no ordinary howl. Hugh could feel the sonic vibrations in the air move towards him like it could pinpoint his location.

The attack was invisible, and Hugh was caught off guard. The sonic howl hit his ears and it created a disturbing noise around him that he could not ignore.

He started to hear ringing in his ears that were beyond compare. It took every inch of his attention as he started to get disoriented from the sound.

He lost control of his own body, and he could not even tell up from down. It was then that he realized that the attack was made from sound.

To remedy this, Hugh quickly covered his ears with his hands like a plug. With this, he could not hear anything from the outside world, and he finally found peace.

The ringing subsided and he could finally recalibrate himself. However, this peace came at a cost.

With Hugh distracted, the wolf took this chance to attack Hugh from the side. Hugh was left defenseless as he got tossed to the other side of the room.

Hugh tumbled in the air and landed directly on a pillar. Thankfully, Hugh's training had finally paid off as he subconsciously protected his body with his armor.

The pillar got destroyed as Hugh collided with it. Clouds of dust flew all over the air and bits of pebble covered Hugh's body.

For a brief second, Hugh's body was unmoving. Serena was anxious in that brief second as she thought that Hugh had died.

"No!" Serena shouted as she tried to stand up and run to Hugh's side. However, her body could not handle the strain as she quickly tumbled to the floor.

*cough*

Thankfully, Hugh coughed and threw up blood on the floor. He was injured, but he was alive. Serena was relieved.

Hugh quickly stood up and patted himself down. He looked around the room to see the wolf, but it had once again disappeared into the night.

Hugh raised his hands in defense, as he could not fully focus right at this moment. His whole body was still aching, and he could not guess where the next attack would come from.

Right at that second, Hugh felt some vibrations in the air. He figured out that the wolf would attack him, but Hugh was too late to dodge away.

Hugh emptied his mind and let his thoughts be nothing. He closed his eyes and let his body move the way that it can move.

Just as the wolf's claws were about to dismember his whole body, Hugh twisted his body and miraculously slipped away from the attack.

Hugh was once again safe for now. With this extra time that he was given, Hugh calmed himself down and focused on the task at hand.

For the next few seconds, Hugh sensed the wolf's movements and dodged away from its attack. Hugh was like a fish in the water as he finessed himself out of a dangerous situation.

Serena's jaws dropped as she saw Hugh effortlessly dodge away from the wolf's jaws. Hugh was dancing in the line between life or death, but he kept his cool.

Hugh looked around and sensed the wolf's next attack. He prepared himself to dodge away, so he activated his armor to give himself the speed he needed to dodge away.

However, his armor did not activate. He could not use it, which meant only one thing: the armor was now on cooldown.

Hugh realized his mistake. He was at a stalemate with the wolf before only because of his armor. Without it, Hugh's speed was severely lacking.

Hugh's whole body crashed to the side as the wolf dashed towards him. Without his armor, Hugh was defenseless in this attack.

Serena was shocked to see Hugh flying to the side. She had thought that Hugh had finally found the right pattern for the wolf's attack, but Hugh suddenly became slow.

Hugh crashed to the pillar and broke most of his bones. He could feel the crack of his ribs and his arms. He felt the wind escape from his lungs, and the blood filled in his throat.

Hugh slid to the ground like a broken toy. He could no longer feel his body, which meant that he could not move it. He could not even feel pain anymore.

He could only see the wolf coming towards him step by step with its red eyes staring right at him like he was a cornered prey.

Hugh was defenseless at this moment. He knew that the wolf could tear him into pieces and he could only watch as it happened.

With death staring right at his eyes, Hugh did not waver. He still had his ace in the hole, the transformation.

However, before he could activate his transformation, Hugh saw a shroud of pink smoke crash through the wolf.

It was only after Hugh blinked that he realized that Serena attacked the wolf. Her whole body was enveloped in the pink smoke, and it gave her enough strength to fight against the wolf.

With the pink smoke, Serena's strength was multiplied manyfold. She was able to hold the wolf's leg into place and prevented the wolf from devouring Hugh.

Hugh could only look at Serena's determined face as she tried her hardest to help Hugh. He could tell that Serena was hurting, but she still stood up and helped Hugh.

However, the wolf was still stronger than Serena. "AWOOO!" shouted the wolf. It was a sonic attack directed at Serena to distract her long enough for her grip to loosen.

Just as the wolf opened its jaws, there was a sudden black flame that punched the wolf's jaws shut. Aric had come behind and helped Serena.

Aric mounted the wolf and started to punch it into submission. He used his black flames to try and penetrate through the wolf's protective fur.

The wolf was beyond livid as its plans got wrecked. It squatted in the ground as it gathered strength. It was preparing to throw Serena and Aric off its body.

However, before it could do that, it suddenly felt a heavy weight that prevented it from moving. Hugh looked up and realized that Jane used her air pressure to weigh the wolf down.

The three students did enough to subdue the wolf by their powers. They were holding on to their strengths as the wolf was slowly resisting against them.

"GAOOO!!!!!" the wolf shouted as its fur stood up and became sharp and spiky. Jane, Aric, and Serena felt a piercing force from the fur, and it was enough to throw them off the wolf.

No matter what they did, it was still not enough. Jane, Aric, and Serena all tumbled in the ground as their strengths faded. They no longer had the strength to continue.

As Hugh watched them, he closed his eyes and decided to transform.