Harvest of The Fallen

Chapter 06

Laga slammed his head against the Stoneback Wolf’s head as hard as he could before striking its eyes with the iron bar.

As the wolf loosened its grip, Laga kicked it in the stomach with all his strength before repeatedly driving the iron bar into its belly.

The Stoneback Wolf whimpered like a wounded puppy as it staggered backward. Laga thrust the iron bar deeper into its stomach, ignoring the scratches covering his arms and chest.

“I refuse to die in this damn place, let alone at your hands!”

“Die, you stupid wolf!”

Laga pushed himself up with all his remaining strength, forcing the Stoneback Wolf backward until it stopped clawing at his arms and chest.

Just as the beast opened its jaws to howl, Laga kicked it hard in the mouth, sending it crashing backward.

He immediately collapsed, gasping for breath.

But when he saw the monster struggling to get back up, Laga forced himself to stand and mercilessly plunged the metal bar into its stomach again and again.

Finally, the wolf stopped moving.

Laga collapsed onto the floor, staring at its lifeless body.

“Just as I suspected... that wolf’s weakness is its stomach.”

Laga turned toward the other passengers.

The middle-aged man and the muscular man were desperately fending off the largest Stoneback Wolf with metal rods and bus seats.

The red-haired woman and the overweight man were hiding among the other passengers.

The long-haired man and the man with glasses were trying to hold another wolf back with kicks and pieces of the bus seats.

Meanwhile, the tattooed woman was pinned against the bus wall, desperately dodging the wolf's snapping jaws.

Laga suddenly shouted, “If you want to die here, keep crying like cowards! Otherwise, give it everything you’ve got!”

The red-haired woman and the overweight man immediately snapped to attention, while the other passengers briefly glanced at Laga.

“Attack the wolf’s stomach! That’s its weak spot!”

The middle-aged man kicked the Stoneback Wolf from the side.

The muscular man immediately pinned the beast down with two chairs.

For a moment, the bus was filled with roars, screams, and the sounds of metal colliding with flesh.

The middle-aged man pointed all his fingers at the Stoneback Wolf’s stomach, but only thin wisps of white smoke emerged from his fingertips.

“Why are you just standing there, Old Man?” the muscular man shouted while struggling to hold the wolf down.

The middle-aged man grabbed a metal rod and shifted aside just as the Stoneback Wolf swung its claws at him.

He then thrust the rod as deeply as he could into the monster’s stomach.

“You bastard!” The muscular man kicked the Stoneback Wolf, sending it crashing onto its back. He grabbed another piece of metal and drove it into the monster’s stomach.

The middle-aged man and the muscular man pushed their metal rods deeper and deeper into the beast.

The Stoneback Wolf howled as it prepared to unleash another attack.

However, the light pulsing from its back suddenly dimmed as the metal rods pierced deeper into its stomach.

The Stoneback Wolf let out one final howl before finally going still.

“That damn wolf is finally dead,” the muscular man said, panting heavily.

Laga turned toward the long-haired man and the man with glasses.

The long-haired man smashed the Stoneback Wolf with a chair, while the bespectacled man kicked its head hard enough to send it crashing into the roof of the bus.

As the monster collapsed, both men immediately drove their metal rods into its stomach, finishing it off.

In the corner of the bus, another Stoneback Wolf nearly sank its teeth into the tattooed woman’s neck.

“I really hate dogs.” The tattooed woman dropped to her knees, desperately holding the wolf back with a chair.

When the Stoneback Wolf finally knocked the chair away, Laga suddenly appeared and kicked the monster from the side, forcing it away from her.

The tattooed woman coughed several times. As the monster charged again, she quickly grabbed a metal rod. Unfortunately, the Stoneback Wolf knocked it from her hands.

“Damn it!”

As the monster closed in, the tattooed woman’s vision suddenly darkened. Her body grew unbearably hot. Without realizing it, the code on her neck briefly flashed.

The Stoneback Wolf suddenly thrashed violently as something pierced its stomach.

The tattooed woman struggled to get back on her feet while pressing both hands against the monster’s belly.

Laga joined her, thrusting the metal rod into the wolf’s stomach from the side. He suddenly froze when he saw the tattooed woman’s hands.

“Die, you jackass!” The tattooed woman hurled the monster backward before collapsing onto the floor, gasping for breath.

She looked down at her hands and froze. “My hands... turned into tattoo machines?”

She stared at them for several seconds. The strange needles extended from her fingers before retracting and returning her hands to normal.

“They can extend and harden whenever I want...”

The Stoneback Wolf let out a weak whimper before collapsing.

Blood and strange yellow and blue fluids pooled beneath its belly.

Laga immediately plunged his metal bar into the monster’s stomach. The tattooed woman joined him shortly afterward.

The Stoneback Wolf stopped moving. It was finally dead.

The tattooed woman turned toward Laga and snorted. “Damn it. Now I owe you one, kid.”

All four Stoneback Wolves were dead.

However, just as Laga and the other passengers finally began to breathe a sigh of relief, eight more Stoneback Wolves suddenly burst through the windows and surrounded them.

“Don’t let those wolves devour the others!” Laga shouted.

“Stay away from me, you stupid dogs!”

The red-haired woman screamed at the top of her lungs while frantically throwing anything she could get her hands on—even the middle-aged woman’s severed head.

The bus windows suddenly cracked.

The wolves recoiled and retreated.

Laga and the other passengers immediately covered their ears.

As the Stoneback Wolves staggered from the woman's scream, Laga and the others seized the opportunity to finish them off.

Howls echoed throughout the bus, accompanied by the repeated sound of metal piercing flesh.

“Help us, you damn pig!” the long-haired man shouted. “Or I’ll throw you to those wolves!”

“I’m coming!”

The overweight man grabbed a chair and began beating a Stoneback Wolf with it. He slammed the chair into the beast again and again—left, right, up, and down.

He did it all with his eyes tightly shut.

The long-haired man stood frozen for a moment as he watched.

The Stoneback Wolves prepared to launch their stone projectiles, but the red-haired woman screamed again.

The wolves immediately recoiled.

After a fierce struggle, Laga and the other passengers finally managed to defeat every last Stoneback Wolf.

Everyone stood there, gasping for breath.

The muscular man collapsed into a chair and looked at the red-haired woman. “I hate to say this, but you’ll have to scream whenever those wolves come back.”

“W-why do I have to scream?” the red-haired woman protested. “Don’t just order me around!”

“Your scream was loud enough to crack the bus windows. It even made those bastards retreat and ruined their attack. Damn, I thought my ears were going to burst!”

“Really?” The red-haired woman smiled proudly as she smoothed her messy hair.

“You should all thank me. If necessary, bow down and praise me. I’m the only one who can help you in this situation!”

“You’re such a stupid woman. I already regret saying that!”

The man with glasses adjusted his glasses.

“That Stoneback Wolf is physically about as strong as an ordinary wolf. What makes it dangerous are the sharp rocks on its back and its powerful fangs. Those things were enough to kill three of us in a matter of seconds.”

The long-haired man wiped the sweat and blood from his forehead.

“As long as we avoid its bites and rock attacks, and prevent them from devouring the carcasses of their own kind, we should be able to survive.”

“That wolf might be some kind of shapeshifter... or maybe a mutation,” the overweight man said.

He quickly lowered his head when several people looked at him.

“Sorry. I guess I’ve been watching too many movies.”

Laga turned toward the middle-aged man, the tattooed woman, and the red-haired woman.

“I saw the codes on their necks glow right before their abilities manifested.”

He touched the code on his own neck.

“That means I have power, too.”

“Don’t let your guard down,” the middle-aged man warned. “That pack will come back, especially now that the bus has stopped moving. If we—”

Before he could finish, a sudden and powerful gust of wind swept through the area.

The bus was pushed backward.

Then, in the next instant—

BOOM!

The entire bus was hurled into the air.

Laga was thrown in every direction.

As his head briefly emerged from the bus, he looked down.

Far below was a long road.

Two enormous red lights glowed in the sky.

Hundreds of smaller red lights moved along the road below.

Laga stared in disbelief.

Then the fog began to clear.

And the red lights finally revealed their true forms.