NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Big Bad Wolf?
Maria was having a nice dream. She dreamt that her mother was still alive and that she was tightly embracing her in a warm hug, protecting the little girl from all harm.
But then, to her horror her mother had suddenly dropped her onto the ground and turned around and left. Then, wolves came out from the darkness around her and began pouncing on her, ripping apart her flesh and hurting her.
No matter what she did and no matter how loud she cried and reach out to her mother, her mother didn't bother turning around, leaving her behind coldly to be ripped apart by those wolves.
*****
Maria's eyes immediately snapped wide open. She felt tears dripping down from the sides of her face. She brought her arm up and wiped her tears away.
She smiled miserably and looked up at the night sky.
'Night?'
"...sky?"
"Grrrr...Little Miss, you've finally awoken."
A gravelly voice sounded out from under her and Maria couldn't help, but robotically turn her head around towards the source.
In her eyes, a black wolf head with green, ominous eyes stared back at her, the large canine teeth that peeked out from under the powerful snout that was releasing white smog with every powerful breath that the wolf made, was scaring her to death.
With each passing second she was staring into the ominous green eyes of this mighty black wolf, she was apparently sitting on, the slower her heart beat in her chest.
Seeing the young angel growing paler and paler by the second, the wolf finally came to a realization.
"Afraid? Little Miss?"
The angel girl on top of him could only nod her head up and down mechanically. The wolf began to laugh at the frightened angel.
"Harharhar...you have no need to be afraid, Little Miss."
"B-but...you're a wolf..."
"And?"
"And you can talk..."
"...and?"
"...are you going to eat me?"
The wolf immediately stopped in place and turned to look back at the young angel that was riding on top of him. His brows were furrowed and his ominous green eyes were showing a clear look of confusion.
"Hrmm...what makes you think that?"
"Th-those other w-wolves...th-they kept hurting me...they w-wanted to e-eat m-me..."
Maria began stuttering and her body began to shiver at the thought of those previous wolves ganging up on her and taking a bite out of her body. Speaking of her body, Maria finally noticed that the missing pieces of flesh have now returned to their original place.
Her shivering stopped and she couldn't help, but wonder if that previous experience was only an illusion. However, the pain that accompanied that 'illusion' was much too real to pass it off as one.
"I really was about to be eaten..." She mumbled in fear.
"Grrr...don't worry lass, I won't eat you."
"Y-you won't?"
"No, I'm taking you to a place...a place where your kind belongs."
"My kind? But, I'm an angel...I should head back out of the forest and return to the village..."
"Head back? Grrrr...in your condition, those Angels might just kill you," The wolf growled.
"H-huh?"
A gust blew from behind her and it was then that Maria noticed something different about her body.
A black feather floated in her vision, she reached out to grab it and she finally caught sight of her wings.
"B-black? When did they turn black?!"
Maria finally saw that the feathers on her wings had turned pitch black. The wings were no longer tattered and torn from the previous wolf assault, but instead had recovered to their original beautiful shape except that the feathers were no longer white like before.
"It's because of your Angel's Rage," The wolf responded to her.
"Huh?"
Maria finally recalled about the skill that she had gained earlier. She immediately opened up her status menu and looked at the skills page.
[Angel's Rage Lv. 1 (43/100)
Attack every enemy you designate in an area 10 meters around you with your wings, dealing 200 Pure Damage and an additional (STR x 0.5) damage every two seconds for the next 10 seconds.
Costs: 25 MP/activation
Warning: Every usage causes a 10 point increase in Taint Value]
"T-taint? What's that?!"
At her exclamation, it was once again the wolf that answered her.
"It means that you've fallen."
"F-fallen?"
"Normally, Angel's do not acquire the Angel's Rage skill. If by chance one does acquire it, it'd be in their best interest to never use that skill."
"W-why?"
"I don't really care if an Angel uses it or not, because if they're tainted or not, it matters not to me...but if an Angel becomes too tainted from overusing that skill, they'll fall into becoming Fallen Angels."
"Huh?"
The wolf looked back up at her. This time there was pity in its eyes.
"When I found you in the clearing, you were frozen up and in fear. I saw the wolves all dead around you and naturally I wanted to kill you."
When the words 'kill you' came out of the wolf's mouth, Maria once again froze up.
"But then you suddenly fainted, just before I could bite your head off...I noticed that your wings were beginning to change, but then for some reason, even while you were fainted, you had continued releasing the Angel's Rage skill."
The wolf shook its body and numerous black feathers dropped down. Maria finally noticed the numerous injuries the wolf sported on its body.
"It was only when you had finally run out of mana that your skill stopped working. By then it was already too late, your Angel's Rage skill had already risen to Level 1 and you changed into a Fallen Angel."
Maria stared at her status window and it was true, her race had indeed changed into the Fallen Angel race from the initial Angel race.
[Maria Lv. 5]
HP: 200/200
MP: 500/500
SP: 30/30
EXP: 0/500,000
Race: Fallen Angel
Class: ---
Titles: N/A
ATK : 50
DEF : 25
M.ATK : 5
M.DEF : 25
STR : 10
AGI : 10
VIT : 10
INT : 10
LCK : 10
Free Points: 100