Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though she might have been the weakest member of their group, seeing one of their allies get their head blown off caused the remaining three girls to shudder. Despite this, they still managed to react almost instantaneously, the scarred woman transforming to the point that everything but her elastic pants were ripped to shreds. As for her other party members, one grabbed the cackling boy before tossing him to the side while the other, a muscular woman with red skin and curved horns, pulled out a large glaive from her Pipe.

Despite being severely outnumbered, the wolfish woman charged towards Rak with a murderous snarl on her canine face. She was more than three meters in length at this point, and, though she still had vaguely humanoid features, she had resorted to running on all fours to drastically increase her speed.

Snorting in disdain at the woman's charge, Rak spread his legs a bit further apart to receive the impact with his shield. At the same time, his dory spear reappeared within his right hand, the tip glowing with an intense red glow as he attempted to skewer his slightly stunned foe. Before he could, however, a thunderous sound resonated throughout the vast chamber as he was forced back several meters by the glaive that had impacted his shield.

Feeling a numb sensation spread through his left arm, Rak managed the closest thing to a smile he could manage before remarked, "You are pretty strong for a turtle..." while looking toward the red-skinned woman. This caused the woman to scowl with an incredulous look on her face as she loudly retorted, "I'm gonna make a purse out of you...!"

Since the wolf-woman had run around him to engage the other members of his party, Rak decided that the Red Turtle across from him would be his prey. In response to her remark about turning him into a purse, he just issued a loud bellow before beating his spear against his shield and exclaiming, "Come at me, Red Turtle...!"

Though she wanted nothing more than to do just that, the red-skinned woman didn't immediately charge at Rak. She might not be afraid of him but the large group behind him wasn't something her party would be able to handle. To make matters even worse, their Lightbearer had promptly fled the moment the fighting began so they were already outnumbered more than seven to one.

Cursing the cowardice of her teammate, the red-skinned Spear Bearer vowed that she would hunt down the Light Bearer if she got out of this alive. Then, without further hesitation, she released a loud war cry as she lunged toward Rak with her glaive raised like the blade of an executioner. The edge of her weapon began to hum as a swirling vortex of Shinsu formed, and, though it wasn't an ignition weapon, she was determined to bisect both the shield and its bearer in a single blow...

Unbeknownst to the red-skinned Spear Bearer, her chance for vengeance would never come since, even if she did emerge victoriously, her prey was already dead. She hadn't even made it fully up the stairs before coming to a stop, fearful of the wispy darkness obscuring her path. Her Lighthouse did nothing to penetrate its depths, and, shortly after encountering the obstruction, the effective range of her Lighthouse seemed to gradually diminish no matter how much Shinsu she pumped into it...

Terrified by the encroaching darkness, the Light Bearer, resembling an Elf with delicate features and pure white hair, released an ear-piercing scream as she formed a single Baang of Shinsu and fired it. To her horror, the bluish-white beam formed from her attack actually impacted the darkness as if it had physical mass, disturbing it ever-so-slightly before disappearing completely. This revealed that the darkness was actually some kind of Shinsu-infused attack, compelling her to form a barrier with all three of her Lighthouses before they, and her body, were soundlessly consumed...

As one of the people initially selected to fight the boss of the 7th Floor, Hatsu was the one to step out and face the wolfish woman. He was a little annoyed that she wasn't a swordswoman, but, after exchanging a few blows with his surprisingly agile foe, his mind was fully focused on the fight.

Dodging a sweeping blow from the woman's claws, Hatsu attempted to side-step her follow-up kick only to receive a smack to his face with her tail. In the same motion, she spun around on her heel, ducking beneath his blind swing before rising with the attempt to bite out his throat.

Fortunately, some of the earliest training Hatsu had done alongside Gandr involved honing each of his senses instead of just relying on his eyes. He had also been training with Roger for the past few weeks, so, while he had been somewhat caught off guard by the tail swipe, he managed to smash the butt of his katana into the woman's lower jaw after swaying his head just outside of her maw's range.

Though Hatsu's attack hadn't hurt, it was enough to demonstrate that he wasn't an opponent she could take lightly. It also helped to knock a bit of sense into her, so, after deftly rolling to the side to evade Hatsu's combo attack, she leaped back nearly a hundred meters to get a better grasp of the situation. To her surprise, she found Rak standing with his foot atop her downed ally, spear raised high as he released a loud war cry. She also noticed that the Light Bearer of her party was nowhere to be seen, her eyes glistening with a murderous light at the implication...

Deciding it would probably be for the best to negotiate or try to flee, the woman shifted her focus back to Hatsu, eyes widening as she realized he was right in front of her. She didn't think there was another Regular who could keep up with her speed so she was completely caught off guard, barely evading a fatal blow thanks to her animalistic instincts and inhuman reflexes.

Rather than pursue further, Hatsu allowed the woman to take her distance as he calmly advised, "It is unwise to shift your focus in the middle of a battle..."

Pawing the large cut that now ran from her right shoulder to just below her left ribs, the woman looked towards Hatsu with a feral look in her eyes as she growled, "I don't need your advice you damn human...!"

Frowning at the unexpectedly xenophobic remark, Hatsu lost all desire to fight the woman with his sword, sheathing it as he coldly replied, "I thought you were a worthy opponent...I was wrong..."

Shaking his head, Hatsu turned his back on the woman without actually dropping his guard. She didn't seem to realize this, however, as she immediately charged toward him, shouting, "You son of a bitch...!" as the razor-sharp claws of her right hand aimed toward his neck.

Exhaling the breath he had been holding, Hatsu's eyes opened wide as his pupils contracted into points. At the same time, he spun around with incredible speed, catching the woman's wrist with his right hand before using her own momentum to slam her into the ground. This was a lot harder than he expected due to her size, but, after swinging around a two-ton metal bat for training, controlling the momentum of 220kg werewolf wasn't that difficult.

Though it wouldn't have even have winded her in a normal situation, the wolfish-woman coughed up a mouthful of blood upon contact with the ground. The impact also caused the wound on her chest to open up further, the beige fur on the underside of her body become a crimson red as she quickly reverted to her original form. This actually caused a not-so-subtle blush to develop across Hatsu's face, unaccustomed to seeing a half-naked woman up close. As a result, he quickly peeled off the outer layer of his robe, tossing it over the woman before staring at her face and realizing she was actually quite beautiful...

With things going a lot smoother than he anticipated, Khun exhaled a sigh of relief before looking toward Phae and asking, "How should we deal with this situation? Should we revive them and mete out justice? If not, I would at least like to gather the bodies of the victims and cremate them..."

Though they had heard about Vahn's ability to revive the dead, Khun's words caught the attention of nearly every member of Team Wolf Pack. Even Yun-Yun and Laure, who usually rode around in slings attached to Baam's and Aleksai's backs, briefly opened their eyes to pay attention. (A/N: The thought of Baam piggybacking Yun-Yun around makes me smile xD...)

Since she was still an extension of Vahn, Phae could tell that there were actually a number of 'spirits' still present within the area. The Ego didn't immediately fade after death, so, while he might not be able to save them all, Vahn would still be able to resurrect the vast majority of those who had died.

Possessing the same bleeding heart as her Lord, Phae adopted a smile in response to Khun's words, softly musing, "I suppose this is as good a stage as any to allow my Lord to show off..." while pulling out the Little Garden. This caused everyone's tensions to grow exponentially as Endorsi, Anak, and even Jung adopted uncharacteristically serious expressions...

Fortunately, Vahn just so happened to be lounging about in the outer rings with Fenrir so he had plenty of time to clean himself up before emerging from the Little Garden with a dignified smile on his face. He was a little surprised by the number of corpses present, but, after quickly linking with Phae to get a better grasp of the situation, his demeanor relaxed as he ordered, "Those who have an aversion to death will help to establish a base camp. Resurrection isn't easy on the body or the mind so we'll need a place for everyone to rest. As for everyone else, please help me organize and separate the bodies. It is much easier to resurrect the recently deceased and whole so do your best to ensure 'parts' don't get mixed up..."

Understanding what Vahn meant when he said 'parts', Nare almost immediately turned away from the party to empty the contents of her stomach. She had been putting up a strong front until that point but the smell of blood, combined with the casual mention of dismembered parts, was a little too much for the relatively innocent young woman.

Feeling a little guilty about Nare's condition, Vahn realized he could have the support team wait in the Little Garden. This actually made a lot more sense since he could have all his Templates help in the preparation of food and other accommodations. The calming atmosphere would also help the traumatized victims remain calm, and, though it would likely take several months for some of them to recover, even this could be resolved using the outer rings.

Having made his decision, Vahn explained the situation to Khun before making the stipulation that only those who helped recover the bodies could stay around to watch the resurrection process. This was to compel those like Laure and Yun-Yun, both capable of moving bodies using their Telekinesis, from simply idling about as everyone else worked. This also had the effect of steeling the resolve of several people who were thinking about just waiting in the realm, drastically decreasing the amount of time it took to gather and organize all the bodies. After that, Vahn began the arduous process of healing and 'resurrecting' a total of fifty-nine people, a relaxed smile on his face as the Loyalty and Belief of everyone observing the process increased by leaps and bounds...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'I am Rak Wraithraiser...!','Hatsu got a glimpse of his first nips...','*System Notifications Intensify*')