The only difference he could point to was movent. The first ti, when the wolf had attacked him, he had stood his ground like a stationary wall, using the antlers as a passive shield. Right now, he was moving frantically, aggressively thrusting the antler shield forward, pushing it directly into the paths of the wolves whenever they tried to bring their crushing jaws near his body.
Is that it? Uhtred’s rapid thoughts continued. But if they’re afraid of the movent, then why?
A wild theory sparked in his mind. What if there was sothing intrinsic to this elk creature that the wolves instinctively feared? An attack, a biological trait, or a specialized cosmic essence technique that the elk used to defend itself when it was alive?
When the wolves saw him aggressively waving the antlers to cover himself, their instincts were telling them that an attack was coming. Sothing devastating enough to keep them permanently on edge, preventing a total commitnt.
There was only one way to find out.
Without hesitation, Uhtred unleashed the floodgates of cosmic essence from his core. It surged across his body, through his arms, and directly into the antlers.
And imdiately, a sudden, intense heat began to spread across the bone structure. A soft glow emanated from the sharp tips, growing brighter with each passing second.
The three wolf-hyenas went rigid in an instant. They began to growl and howl in trepidation, sensing the building danger. Their attacks beca more frenzied as they scrambled to bypass the wide reach of the glowing antlers, desperately trying to reach the small human figure underneath before whatever was building could detonate.
But they were too late. Uhtred felt the energy inside the bone hit a critical mass. The antlers began to tremble and violently shake in his grip, the raw power screaming for a release. He knew, with absolute certainty, that the energy needed a target now.
With a ferocious yell, Uhtred lunged forward, dashing straight at the closest wolf, which looked torn between attacking and escaping. The beast reared back in pure panic, frantically trying to put distance between itself and the charged antlers. But its initial indecision settled its fate.
The contact Uhtred wanted was made before it could fully leap away, and a loud, bright flash of explosion followed right after, sending the beast ricocheting backwards for several feet, and sending powerful tremors through his hand even though he wasn’t on the receiving end of the attack.
The explosion even hurled Uhtred back several paces, however, unlike the massive wolf-hyena, he managed to keep his footing.
The violent, numbing tremors jolted up his arms, leaving his hands completely dead from the wrists down. Yet, his fingers remained locked around the base of the antlers in a claw-like grip. He knew with absolute certainty that this single piece of bone was his only saving grace. If his grip slipped now, he was dead.
He didn’t dwell on the loss of sensation in his hands too long, though. Because, through the lingering flash of the explosion, the remaining two wolf-hyenas were already closing the distance. They dashed toward him rapidly, trying to take advantage of the mont now that he had released his attack.
But Uhtred hadn’t relaxed at all. In a continuous motion from his attack, he forcefully raised the antlers upward, driving another massive torrent of raw cosmic essence straight from his core into the pathways in the bone.
It imdiately erupted with a second vibrant glow, shocking the two incoming beasts and making them skid hastily in their tracks. From their expression of absolute shock, it was obvious they hadn’t expected the small human to unleash the explosive attack in such rapid succession.
Even when the elk itself was alive, it had never been capable of such back-to-back attacks. If it were, then they would never have been able to kill it the way they had in the first place.
It was only due to Uhtred’s primordial grade core that such rapid succession of cosmic essence use could be achieved. He didn’t even know how crazy what he was doing looked to the beasts, he was only focused on pumping unadulterated power into the weapon like an essence machine.
The scales had now tipped thoroughly. If Uhtred could keep such attacks going repeatedly, then he now posed a serious threat to the wolf-hyenas despite losing one weapon.
Already, the first of the three wolf-hyenas — the one that had taken the brunt of the explosion directly to its chest — was still down on the riverbank. It writhed in the sand, letting out wet, wheezing gasps as its legs twitched erratically.
Uhtred’s first explosive attack had functioned like a localized concussion grenade, fracturing its ribs and completely scrambling its internal organs. It wasn’t dead yet, but it was effectively immobilized.
The remaining two beasts, on the other hand, stared at Uhtred with a tense, hyper-alert wariness. They knew the battle had gotten exponentially more dangerous, yet, they were too far deep to turn tail and run. They had already lost two of their pack mates to this seemingly pathetic bipedal creature, so their eyes were mad with a craving for revenge.
Uhtred continued to push forward, forcing another wave of cosmic essence into the elk antlers. This ti, the antlers began to tremble so violently that the vibrations rattled right through Uhtred’s teeth.
He still couldn’t feel his hands, but a faint, acrid sll of burning bone reached his nose. The antler was heating up rapidly, expanding past its natural tolerances. It was never structurally designed to act as a conductor for this much raw energy, let alone in such an impossibly quick succession.
But Uhtred didn’t care about the weapon’s durability. He didn’t care about the aching pressure building in his own chest from exerting his core without stop. His entire world had narrowed down to a singular, blood-red focus: Kill everything in front of him.
With a guttural roar, Uhtred charged.
The two wolves reacted instantly, splitting up and leaping laterally out of his direct path, refusing to let the glowing tips make contact with their fur. But Uhtred had already anticipated their evasion.
Instead of charging at them, he used the space they’d given him to pivot backwards and charge toward the crippled wolf he’d first attacked. He intended to finish the job he had started with this one at least.
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