Chapter 52 - The Attack II

CELESTINA VILLARAMA'S POV

In every breath that I took, I kept on smashing my scythe in front of me as I attempted to slash the rogue's head to cut it off of its body. I kept on moving back; I even had to jump on the wall, as if my feet were sticky enough for me to stay there. I'm just lucky that only one of them caught up to me. Or so I thought.

At the very moment that I looked back to where the cage was and where the rest of them were staying, I saw none of them. There were no traces left of them other than the cage's steel bars. Because of how much I panicked thinking about the others who were missing, I stumbled on the ground when the rogue in front of me managed to land its claws on me.

"Focus, Celestina. You can't win if your mind is too troubled. You should learn how to strike back and avoid even if you're thinking about something else. That would be the only way for you to survive," Siege said from behind.

The alpha never lost track of me, no matter how far I jumped. He was always there behind me, just like he told me hours ago. I had to heave out a deep breath for me to regain my focus, and at the same time, I regenerated the wound that I got from the rogue's claws.

"The four rogues disappeared, Siege," I uttered, as I could no longer keep it to myself. "Do these rogues have the power to turn invisible?" I asked, as if that were possible in this realm.

I know that there were a lot of distinct abilities that set apart wolves, but it's kind of far from possible that the wolves that reside in this realm would possess magic.

Alpha Siege hissed from behind. "They aren't invisible; you simply can't sense their presence because they're stronger than your current state," he answered.

Realizing that, I had to back down for a while to try and come up with a plan. But my first attempt to hide was a total failure as the second rogue smacked me from behind. Siege was right; I just couldn't sense their presence because of how frail I was.

I have to outstand them when it comes to strength so that I can sense where they are hiding. And when I'm stronger, I doubt that they will be able to detect my presence, just like I can't detect theirs at this point.

I stood back up as quickly as I could. Making use of my scythe, I stepped on it to land above the shelves where I could easily see them. "Two behind me, one in the center, and another pair on the left side..." I murmured as I examined where their next attack would come from.

If only I could send my scythe flying in their direction while staying on top, then that could've been more feasible than any other tactics that I could come up with.

"I forgot to tell you that they grow bigger if their time is almost up." Siege randomly popped out from the right side of the shelves. "You only have an hour to defeat them. If even one remains standing, then you lose this round. You'll have to face another round with twice the amount of the current number of rogues here," he further explained things that he didn't say earlier.

I had no energy left to argue with the alpha and his shortcomings, so I chose to ignore him. Even so, I regained the willpower to strike back and say that it's my turn to take the offense. Slightly bending my back, I aimed to jump to the spot of the rogue in the center since it was alone.

Without removing my vision from the rogue, I successfully landed on its back. I rode it like a horse, then I stretched both of my arms above while holding tightly on my scythe. I stepped on its head as I put all the pressure on the scythe as I slashed it down from the right side of its neck to the left.

I almost fell flat on the ground after I lost balance because of how it got decapitated, but Siege caught me with his hands, letting me lay my feet on the floor firmly. "Thanks," I briefly uttered before I proceeded to attack the rest of the rogues.

Their size is no joke now. They looked like boars on a rampage in the forest. I gulped, hesitating to strike, thinking that my scythe might not be able to pierce through its skin.

"Don't falter, Celestina. The moment that you show your opponent that you're weaker than them, they will surely take your whole life in a split second," Siege advised, pulling me from behind.

I couldn't even see that the rogue had already raised its claws on me, and if Siege didn't pull me back, I would probably be cut into pieces right now.

Gripping on the scythe, I advanced to the spot of the rogue and aimed for its limbs. Seeing that all of his four limbs were slashed, I finally got an opening to slash his head. I instantly backed down as soon as I saw its companion heading my way.

My shoulders kept on bouncing up and down as I was about to run out of breath. This was the first time that I was actually forced to partake in a battle with rogues—those that I used to fear when I was wandering all by myself before.

"Two down, three remaining... and I barely have half an hour left on me," I whispered to myself.

Imagining that I couldn't take all of their heads in that short time, I made up my mind to gather all three of them in one place. I let the third rogue try and catch me as I led it to the spot where I last saw the two who were together on the other side of the room.

"Only ten minutes remain, Celestina. What will you do now that you're facing three of them?" Siege asked from behind, but I don't think that he really wanted me to answer. It was more like a provocation for me to lose sight of what I should do in this kind of situation.

I smirked when I realized that I wasn't that fragile now compared to how I was before I first came here. I'm not alone in this fight, and I also have a weapon with me.

"I'd surely win this fight, Siege," I confidently said.