The cold feeling spreading through Koda’s soul vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.
‘A—An echo?!’ Was all he had time to think about.
He didn’t have the time to process it before one of the remaining wolves launched itself from the darkness.
The creature covered the distance between them in an instant, powerful back legs kicking up snow while its jaws opened wide enough to crush his throat.
Koda’s body reacted before his mind did.
Every muscle tightened.
His weight shifted.
His hands rose instinctively.
And suddenly, white sparks exploded from the air to his right.
A silver blur slammed into the charging wolf.
The impact sent both creatures tumbling across the snow, claws carving deep trenches through the frozen ground as viscous snarls echoed through the forest.
Koda stumbled backward, immediately creating distance instead of staring.
He didn’t have the time to check out what his echo was capable of.
Staying alive came first.
Receiving an echo in a first nightmare was utterly ridiculous, some people go their whole lives without even seeing an echo, let alone getting one from one of their first kills!
Only after several steps did he risk a glance.
He saw that the wolf he had just killed stood once more.
Or something wearing its shape, or a reanimated copy of what it once was Its body appeared solid enough at first glance, but a faint pale light shimmered beneath translucent fur, and countless almost invisible white sparks drifted from its frame whenever it moved.
Most importantly, its eyes were different.
There was awareness in them.
Intent.
His Echo was absolutely gorgeous.
Koda’s heart pounded.
The surviving wolves seemed just as confused as he was.
Their formation faltered for the briefest moment as they tried to understand why their dead packmate had suddenly risen once again and attacked them.
The Echo wasted no time exploiting that confusion.
Rather than throwing itself straight into the fight, it repositioned, forcing the wolves to react to it.
When one lunged, the Echo moved to the side and used its momentum against it, causing the beast to crash into its companion.
When another attempted to circle around, the Echo retreated just enough to keep both enemies directly in front of it.
It wasn’t stronger, nor was it faster.
It was smarter.
Koda recognized that immediately.
“Good.” He muttered breathlessly.
That changed everything.
His eyes shifted toward the largest remaining wolf.
Unlike the others, it hadn’t been distracted.
While its packmates dealt with the Echo, the alpha remained focused entirely on him.
Its yellow eyes tracked every movement.
Its body stayed low to the ground.
Patient.
Calculating.
The creature understood exactly where the real threat was.
Not the Echo, it was Koda.
The realization settled into his mind just as the wolf’s muscles coiled beneath its fur.
Preparing to lunge.
Koda adjusted his stance despite the pain shooting through his body.
His forearm still bled from earlier bites.
Deep cuts burned across his chest and shoulders.
His ribs still ached with every breath.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been exhausted.
Instead, strength still surged through him.
The flesh of Riley that he had consumed in the village along with the brain matter and skull of the Wolf continued feeding his body, replacing weakness with something unfamiliar.
The wolf attacked.
Koda moved forward to meet it head on.
The beast clearly expected him to retreat.
Its leap had been calculated to intercept that movement.
By stepping into the attack instead, Koda disrupted its angle completely.
A claw tore across his chest anyway.
Pain flashed through him.
His fist answered immediately.
The gauntlet smashed into the wolf’s ribs.
Nothing happened.
No explosion.
The creature twisted around the strike and snapped its jaws toward his arm.
Teeth sank deep into flesh before Koda could pull away.
Pain exploded through his body.
The wolf growled.
Koda grinned.
That seemed to confuse it.
Good!
While the beast focused on tearing through his arm, Koda stepped closer instead of pulling away.
The movement robbed the wolf of leverage.
Before it could adjust, he leaned forward and sank his sharp teeth directly into the side of its neck.
Hot blood flooded his mouth.
The wolf froze.
For a fraction of a second, predator and prey seemed equally shocked.
Then Koda bit harder.
The flesh beneath his teeth gave way.
The creature released his arm with a yelp and tried to recoil, but Koda followed immediately.
His forehead crashed into its skull hard enough to blur his vision.
The wolf staggered.
Koda didn’t let it recover.
Every second the wolf had to regain control was another chance for it to kill him.
The wolf retreated.
Koda quickly chased.
Its claws slashed toward him.
One opened a fresh wound across his shoulder.
Another narrowly missed his face.
He somehow managed to ignore both.
His gauntlet slammed into the side of its jaw.
Nothing.
Another punch.
Nothing.
A third.
Still nothing.
The enchantment refused to activate.
“Annoying!” Koda spat, blood splattering across the floor.
But the boy adjusted quickly.
If the explosions weren’t working, he’d rely on what always had.
The wolf lunged again.
Then, the spell whispered something into his ear.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Unhinged Wolf.] Koda’s eyes widened, he had done what?
But despite what the spell had said, the wolf was already on him.
This time its jaws closed around his already wounded shoulder.
Pain erupted through him and he growled.
Koda immediately wrapped both arms around its neck.
The creature realized its mistake too late.
Instead of trying to break free from the bite, he pulled himself closer.
The wolf began thrashing violently.
Its claws ripped across his back.
Snow exploded beneath them as both rolled across the ground.
The beast possessed tremendous strength, but Koda no longer tried matching it directly.
He simply refused to let go.
Every movement the wolf made wasted energy.
Every attempt to escape forced it to expose another opening.
The struggle continued for several seconds before the creature finally managed to wrench itself free.
The moment it did, it opened its jaws wide and snapped toward his face.
But… that is exactly what Koda wanted.
His hands shot forward.
One gripped the upper jaw.
The other grabbed the lower.
The wolf instantly understood the danger.
Its entire body strained against him.
Muscles bulged beneath its fur.
Its paws dug furrows through the snow.
The beast pushed.
Koda pushed harder, growling.
The contest had nothing to do with skill anymore.
It was pure brutality.
Pure stubbornness.
Both fought for leverage while blood soaked the snow beneath them.
Slowly, agonizingly, the wolf’s jaws began opening wider.
A crack echoed through the forest.
The beast panicked.
Koda didn’t stop.
Another crack followed.
Then a third.
The jaw finally dislocated.
The wolf yelped and cried.
Koda surged forward before it could recover and buried his teeth deep into its throat.
The flesh tore.
Blood flooded his mouth.
The creature convulsed beneath him, but Koda continued biting and swallowing mouthful after mouthful of monstrous flesh.
He felt his body slowly recover, he felt his energy returning to himself.
Then, the wolf went still.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Unhinged Wolf.] Koda rose slowly, breathing hard.
The fight had lasted less than a minute, but damn it felt like an hour!
His entire body ached.
Blood covered his hands, his face, and his clothes.
But… the battle wasn’t over yet.
A desperate yelp drew his attention toward the Echo.
The silver wolf was still fighting.
And somehow winning against two opponents of equal strength.
One of the remaining wolves already lay dead nearby, its throat torn open.
The final beast had clearly realized the situation had become hopeless.
Its attacks were no longer coordinated.
The bastard didn’t seem so confident now.
Koda quickly realised why the spell had told him that he had killed one of them earlier, it’s because his echo had done it!
He nodded in approval.
If he had a nightmare creature like this on his side, he should be relatively safe for the time being.
The Echo remained calm.
The surviving wolf finally broke and turned to flee.
The Echo immediately pursued.
Not recklessly, like Old Bram.
Efficiently.
Within moments it caught the fleeing beast and dragged it into the snow.
The struggle ended shortly afterward.
By the time Koda approached, the final wolf was already dead.
The Echo stood above the corpse, pale glowing blue eyes staring back at Koda.
For a few moments, neither moved.
Then the silver wolf calmly walked back toward him and sat beside him.
As if it had always belonged there.
Koda stared at it.
The Echo stared back.
A strange feeling settled over him.
For the first time since entering the Nightmare, there was something at his side that wasn’t trying to kill him.
Other than Riley, of course.
The realization was a bit unsettling.
Eventually, he made his way toward a large boulder and lowered himself against it.
The moment he stopped moving, exhaustion hit him like a hammer and he exhaled deeply before going to check out his new Echo.
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