Chapter 17: The Pearl in You

We each swung our swords at the werewolves from various angles in an effort to cut them, but they avoided being hurt. But I constantly ended up falling back to the ground and hurting myself, which led to my joints becoming numb and my muscles being weak. When I was trying to get away from the young werewolf that was attacking me, I slipped a few times because my legs were trembling like a beating burning wood.

"Why are you trying to get away? You, moron!" Dwayne yelled as he lay flat on the ground, putting his back into the grasses and using his sword to prevent the sharp fangs of the werewolf from reaching his face. This caused him to repeatedly swallow his saliva and moisten his dry, half-terrified lips. His perspiration streamed down the side of his eyelids and over his forehead.

I gazed back at him with a furrowed brow and watery eyes. As I pondered about what he had said, I scratched the inside of my lower lip. I brought my hands down to the ground and clinched them so tightly that the joints of my fingers met the pebbles. How can he speak to me those insolent words while we are now in a chaotic—life-threatening situation!

"Oh, stop looking at your boyfriend! Come on, get off your knees and save your life!" The young werewolf laughed merrily. I gave her a sideways look while raising one of my eyebrows, annoyed.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I corrected. The young werewolf girl smiled and giggled while shaking her head.

I cautiously rose up, but my vision was hazy, and I kept staggering forwards, backwards, and sides as I did so. As I pushed myself to walk, all of a sudden, I began to feel a dull ache in my head. I became aware of the presence of blood underneath my body when I smelled traces of it and saw drips dripping down the side of it.

My own breathing is causing me to suffocate. As I attempt to reclaim my sense of equilibrium, my chest is going up and down as I struggle to catch up after losing my balance. The werewolf girl moved closer to me and halted at a distance near a massive branch, which I found to be a chance to lock her up only if I could cut the branch. But, I could only do it if I am strong enough.

*Should I escape?*

I continued to look around for openings, but suddenly the werewolf interrupted. "If you want to leave this area alive, you'll have to kill both of us first.”

I clenched my teeth because I wasn't sure I could kill them with any degree of confidence. I can hardly move as I stare at this werewolf as Dwayne is still fighting to free himself from the ground.

I've heard that werewolves are truly people, but they have the ability to change into a beast or a wolf that's twice as large as they normally are. Would this indicate that the werewolf that I am now battling is a human person in some way?

I glanced up to her as she continued to laugh like a wild animal. I insisted, wiggling my shoulders. "The fight is unfair!" She put an end to her laughter and looked quite serious as she approached me. Her eyes expanded. "You are a werewolf who killed plenty of innocent human beings, and I am just a newcomer," I added.

The corners of our eyes met midway. We continued to look at one other intently for a more extended amount of time before she made the initiative to break eye contact. She questioned menacingly, "Newcomer?" as she came close to spitting out some saliva. "You won't be a werewolf hunter if you don't know what you are entering at," she reasoned. "You have to know what you are getting into."

When she looked at my ring, I couldn't help but cast a quick peek at it too. You are mistaken, you little werewolf; I was only forced into joining. *I want to find an answer to my questions.*

Werewolf hunters won't exist if you, demons, will stop bothering humankind," I rebutted.

She laughed in a mockingly caustic manner. "Oh, my lady. Oh, my young and naive werewolf hunter.” She spoke these words while shaking her head. "When you talk, it sounds as though the population of your species are the only rational beings in the whole planet. You know… Humans pose a risk to our very survival. That is why we find it necessary to devour every single one of *them*.”

I smiled and shook my head. As our conversation is about to end, I am completely at a loss for what to do next. I could not even move some of my fingertips. The passage of time gave the impression that my heart was beating more slowly. The stars in the sky stopped appearing, and a brisk icy breeze began to blow.

Dwayne was able to get away by slashing the werewolf's eyes, which caused the beast to reel backwards and cry in agony. The sound drove the birds away from the trees in the immediate area. But as Dwayne was pointing his blade forward in preparation for a potential second attack, the werewolf was slowly regenerating its wounds to the extent that they had been healed. His astonishment caused both his eyes and his lips to gape open wide… *including mine*.

“W-What…”

So, it is a waste of time to attempt to injure these werewolves in any way. I was thinking about the methods that we might use to eliminate them. Although Dwayne cut the werewolf's eyes, they rapidly grew back, making it seem as if he had not done any damage.

"I could smell your scared scent dancing around my nose, my dear," the little werewolf said in an ominous authoritative tone that sent shivers down my spine. Her threatening tone annoyed me.

I looked up to the sky and whispered at the back of my head. Mother… Father… Tell me… *H-How can we kill them?*

As the werewolf started to pursue Dwayne from behind, Dwayne ran frantically towards me while screaming. “Lita! We need to get out of this place as quickly as we can!" His urgent tone jolted me back to reality, and while it did, it also rendered me unaware of the following actions that the small werewolf would do. After hitting my head on the land, I rolled toward some bushes.

“I don’t know this place! I don’t know where to exit!” I yelled back at him while also forcing myself to wield my sword to defend myself from the small werewolf's assaults. Because of the imprints that her claws left on the blade of the sword, I will no longer be shocked if it breaks anytime soon.

“Just follow me!” Dwayne replied as he quickly ran towards a specific direction which I assumed he wanted me to follow.

But, huh, he knows this place well?