Suikoden VII

Chapter Three: Part Six

Chapter Three: Part Six

An undead werewolf. Astraea didn't know how they could safely fight such a monster.

"Um...will we turn into a werewolf or a ghoul if it bites us?" Viki asked meekly.

Astraea saw it rear back and she realized it was about to lunge. "SCATTER!" she screamed.

Brownie flew off her shoulder and Pesmerga leapt high into the air. Astraea realized in a split second that both David and Viki were rooted to the spot. Thinking fast she pushed them off the top step—David to the right and Viki to the left—and they both fell into the bushes framing the stairs. She ducked to avoid the lunge from the undead werewolf and dove down the stairs. She rolled down the last couple of steps but she ignored the discomfort. She scrambled to her feet and drew her knout. "David, Viki, are you both okay?!"

"Y-Yeah!" David shouted from the bushes.

"I'm okay!" Viki shouted from her side.

The undead werewolf had flown into the castle but came rushing back out into the front courtyard, frothing at the mouth with rage. "GET INTO FORMATION!" Astraea shouted.

Pesmerga immediately appeared at her side, and Viki scrambled to untangle herself from the bushes to rush over to them. Brownie floated beside Astraea and did a backflip in air, and with a puff of smoke he grew to 50 cms again. "Do you have a rune that heals?" Astraea asked Brownie.

"I have a Wind Rune," Brownie told her.

Astraea nodded, but then saw that the undead werewolf was charging them again. "LOOK OUT!"

The four scattered into separate directions and Brownie took off into the air. "It's out of my home at least!" he called out happily.

"Are there any others inside?!" David exclaimed, scrambling back onto the staircase and closing the doors to the castle shut.

"Nope, just him!"

"David, take shelter inside the castle!" Astraea shouted to him.

"With all due respect Your Highness, I would rather not run away!" David called back to her.

"Ready!" Viki shouted, raising her right hand. A golden rune symbol suddenly rose into the air, and a beam of light suddenly surrounded the undead werewolf. But just as quickly, a loud 'PING' filled the air and the light dissipated.

"Damn!" Pesmerga shouted, startling Astraea. "The spell is going to rebound!"

"Rebound?" Astraea asked, and at that moment the same light surrounded Pesmerga and in the blink of an eye he was gone. "W-Where did he go?!"

"Oh no, my spell backfired!" Viki wailed, pressing a hand to her head. "I was trying to teleport that thing away, but w-when the spell doesn't work it teleports an ally away!"

"Maybe don't use that spell on a battle that's clearly not a random encounter?" David called to her.

Astraea glanced up and saw that Brownie was still flying around in a circle overhead. "Brownie, use Pixie Dust on that thing!" she shouted.

"It won't work!" Brownie called out, still flying around. "I tried it before and my Dust wasn't strong enough!"

Wasn't strong enough?! Astraea gaped at the creature. It was slowly turning around in a circle, surveying the people around it. She glanced back up. "Wha—how were you able to shrink me then?!" she asked. "I have a True Rune! A power of creation! How is a monster like this somehow able to overcome Pixie Dust when someone who wields a True Rune can't?!"