Everyone came rushing to the farm gate, joining up with Lady Madison, Shalista, and Cordelia. "I thank you for your hasty arrival," Lady Madison said. "As you can see, we have a situation on our hands."
"What is that thing?" Sophia asked of the giant snarling wolf standing before them.
"I think it's the alpha," Lady Madison said.
"I've actually read about that creature," Hilde said. "If it's as strong as has been rumored, this is going to be a heck of a fight."
"We can talk about it later," Shalista said. "Right now, we have to kill it."
"Shalista's right," Lady Madison said. "We don't have time to learn its backstory." She faced the wolves and let out a mighty roar.
The alpha replied with an ear-piercing howl, that made everyone cover their ears and drop to their knees. Even the alpha's pack appeared dazed. Lady Madison managed to stay on her, fighting through ringing ears and buckling knees.
Shalista recovered quickly. "Holy heck! We can't let him do that again. Cover me. I'm going in."
Lady Madison obliged, firing off attack spells as Shalista ran in and wolf down any wolves that got in her path on her way to the alpha. Lady Iocasta joined in with ice spells, Lady Glinda used fire, Sophia threw force daggers, Lady Audrixia fired of lightning, Akiko threw shiruken, Cordelia shot arrows, and Wendy used support spells to augment everyone's speed and defense.
The smaller wolves were killed in no time, which seemed to infuriate the alpha. Hilde ran out behind him and shot him in the butt with fire. This did nothing but draw the alpha's ire. It turned, but not before sending Shalista flying with a vicious paw swipe.
"Agh!" Shalista cried.
"Shalista!" Lady Madison said, running to her fallen friend with Wendy right behind her. "Please, no! Shalista!" Tears began to well in her eyes.
Shalista sat up slowly and shook her head. "Ugh! That wasn't very sexy, huh?"
Lady Madison checked her out. She didn't appear wounded, but ordered Wendy to cast a healing spell anyway. Just because there weren't any visible injuries didn't mean there were none.
"Hit me with a strength buff, Wendy," Shalista said.
"Me, too," Lady Madison said.
Wendy obliged and off they ran into battle again.
Lady Madison saw the alpha was slapping at Sophia and Hilde, who were safe behind one of Sophia's force fields. The other women pelted the alpha with magic, but it seemed to do nothing. The buffs she and Shalista received should have make physical attacks effective.
They each slashed at one of the alpha's hind legs, cutting into its flesh and causing it to let out a pained whine. Effective, but not effective enough. He turned and swiped at them with his paws, but they dodged.
"I know a high-level spell that can help," Hilde called out, "but it's too dangerous to do near the farm. We have to lure him away!"
Lure it away? How would they do that? Their attacks weren't doing much of anything.
"I have an idea," Shalista said. "Hit me with a speed buff, Wendy."
Wendy did so.
Then, Shalista cut off a dead wolf's head and ran out in front of him, where he was launching a brutal assault on one of Sophia's force field protecting Hilde. "Hey, prick!" Shalista said. "Look what I did to your brother! Don't you want revenge?" Then she started running away.
The wolf let out a sad howl, then gave chase.
"It worked," Lady Madison said. "Sophia. Hilde. Wendy. Follow me. Everyone else, stay behind and protect the farm."
"Yes, milady," everyone said. Then everyone did their assigned tasks.
Shalista and the wolf had already made it out quite a way and had stopped to fight. That should have been enough space. "How much time do you need, Hilde?" Lady Madison asked.
"Two minutes," Hilde answered. "And I can't move while I'm gathering the power. Try to keep him in one spot if you can."
"Okay. Sophia, protect Hilde. Wendy, buff my speed and rebuff Shalista's speed."
"Okay, but Shalista's out of my range," Wendy said. "I have to get closer."
"I'll send Shalista over to you."
After receiving the speed buff, Lady Madison got in there and said, "We need to buy Hilde two minutes. Go let Wendy buff your speed so we can distract the alpha."
Shalista slapped her butt. "Tagging you in," she said as she ran toward Wendy."
The alpha tried the follow, but Lady Madison hit it with a fire spell. "I shall be your opponent, cur."
She saw the wolf opened its mouth and breath deep. It looked familiar, kind of like a dragon right before... "Great. It breathes fire, too." She dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding the torrent of fire that shot from its mouth. She fought back by shooting it with lightning.
Not long after that, Shalista rejoined the battle. Together, they hacked and slashed at the alpha, dodging attacks and keeping his attention.
Then, Sophia came over. "Hilde's ready."
Lady Madison nodded. "Good. Set up a barrier."
Shalista ran over to her and Sophia raise a barrier to protect the from the wolf's fiery breath.
Then, Hilde unleashed her spell. "Rage of nature, burn without mercy! Scorched World!"
A big ball of fire fell from the sky and crashed down on the alpha. His pained cries brought them all to their knees. Even Lady Madison's knee briefly touched the ground this time. She fought through it and braced Shalista and Sophia.
The alpha tried to run away, still on fire, but didn't get far, collapsing about 200 feet away. He rolled around in the fields and by the time the flames went out, he was exhausted, seemingly unable to move. He fur had been completely burned off, revealing burned skin and muscle. His once mighty cries were now mere whispers.
"Okay, let's finish the job," Lady Madison said. "Strength buff, Wendy."
"It must be suffering so much," Wendy said on the verge of tears. "I kind of feel sorry for it."
"All the more reason why Shalista and I should put it out of its misery." After receiving the requested strength buff, she and Shalista worked together to cut off he head. The job was done. "Let's tell the farmer."
"Should I burn the corpse?" Hilde asked.
"No," Lady Madison said. "Not until Lady Iocasta examines it to see if any meat can be salvaged for a meal."
"If not, we still have plenty of dead wolves back at the farm," Shalista said. "On another note, you were crying after I took that blow, weren't you?"
Lady Madison didn't answer the question directly. "In battle, you get used to seeing allies fall. That doesn't necessarily mean you grow numb to it. Truth told, you're the first person that I've allowed to get this close to me in some time for that exact reason. Lady Belinda and Sophia are the only other people who have this level of trust in my heart."
"Really?" Shalista asked, her voice cracking. "I mean that much to you?"
Lady Madison nodded.
Shalista sniffled. "I promise to redouble my efforts to be the best friend I can be."
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