“What are you waiting for? Quick, get to that tree!”

Ezkael roared at the frozen Calron.

“Huh? Oh, right!”

Broken free from his daze, Calron flapped his wings and flew towards the tall tree. He did not know why, but the beast’s howl he heard just now seemed to remind him of his past. More specifically, his mother.

Putting aside the strange emotions he was currently feeling, Calron turned his focus to the sounds approaching from his left.

He did not have to wait for long, as within a few minutes, an enormous beast collided against a rock below the tree Calron was currently perching on. The beast coughed out a mouthful of blood, as it struggled to rise back on its feet.

It was a giant black wolf with piercing purple irises.

Numerous cuts and wounds were covered across its entire body, with several of them bleeding profusely. Drops of blood unceasingly dripped from the wide gash on the side of its belly.

The giant wolf stood at over five feet tall, making it one of the largest wolves that Calron had seen. Besides its purple eyes, the wolf’s entire body and fur was completely pitch-black.

Wisps of dark smoke coalesced around its jaws as it savagely snarled at its incoming enemy.

*HISSS*

Right at that moment, a colossal green anaconda slithered towards the wounded dark wolf.

The large snake was over twenty feet long, and as thick as the trunk of a medium-sized tree. Several wounds and bruises were spread across the reptilian’s skin, but they were much fewer in quant.i.ty when compared to that of the wolf. The only serious looking wound on the green anaconda was the long gash across its right eye.

“Hand it over.”

The anaconda hissed sinisterly, as it prowled towards the giant wolf.

“If I had planned to do that earlier, then we would not be in this situation.”

The tenacious voice of a woman sounded out from the wolf’s mouth.

“We both know how this will end. You were no match for me even when you were at your full strength, so just hand it over and I can spare your life.”

The anaconda rasped out in a hoa.r.s.e voice, as its ma.s.sive body coiled around itself.

“Spare my life? Haha, you know very well that I will not survive with these wounds… the only thing left is for me to kill you before I die.”

The giant dark wolf growled within its throat, as dark fumes exuded from her body.

“Why do you want her so badly?”

The female wolf asked, while trying to hide the pain from her voice as blood continued to drip from her various wounds.

“If you do not know that by now, then you don’t know much about your own tribe.”

The snake hissed in an amused tone, as it began slowly slithering towards the giant wolf.

“Avi…sweetie, can you hear me?”

The giant female wolf whispered, as she lightly tilted her head to the side.

A sad whimper sounded out from the giant wolf’s back, as a small bundle of fur separated itself from its mother.

The little wolf pup was only half a foot tall, and compared to the size of its mother, the pup appeared like a pebble placed on top of a small mountain. The tiny beast’s fur was similar in color to the female wolf’s, but the pup had streaks of purple fur mixed in with its pitch-black counterpart.

Sharing its mother’s shade of purple irises, the little wolf heartbrokenly cried out when it realized what its mother wanted it do.

“I won’t be able to distract it for long, so you need to make your escape as soon as I engage it. Avi, mommy is sorry to do this… please forgive me for not being able to protect you…”

The giant wolf whispered sorrowfully, as tears streamed down its face.

“Wuwu…”

The little wolf pup wailed, as it tightly clutched onto its mother’s fur with its tiny paws.

“Run!”

The giant wolf suddenly bellowed, when it saw that the green anaconda was almost upon her. Nudging off her child from her back, the female wolf gave one last sad glance at the little wolf before charging towards the nearing reptile.

“AAAWWWOOOOOO!”

The giant wolf howled into the sky, as clouds of dark fumes coalesced around its entire body.

The little wolf pup refused to run away, as it gazed at its mother’s back, and let out a series of mournful sobs and whimpers in a desperate attempt to call for help.

“There you are… ”

The large snake quietly hissed when it saw the little black-purple wolf crying on the ground. Turning its head to face the charging giant wolf, a vicious expression flickered across the green anaconda’s face, as it patiently waited for its prey to draw closer.

The gut-wrenching cries of a beast echoed within the forest, along with the sounds of bones being crushed.

“Teacher, I can’t watch this anymore… ”

Calron furiously breathed out, as blood-red veins popped up around azure eyes.

The tree branch slowly began to crack under the pressure exuded by Calron’s claws.

“Kid, this is not our fight. I’m sure you must have sensed that the green anaconda is at the second rank of the Vajra stage. You have only recently advanced to the first rank, and have yet to fully understand your new body after the breakthrough.”

Ezkael evenly stated in an attempt to calm down the rising anger of its student.

“Beasts kill each other, they slaughter, and they will continue to do so in the future. Nothing will stop that. I do sympathize with the wolf and its child, but we cannot try to save every beast that we encounter.”

Ezkael continued in a gentle tone.

“It does not matter! The anaconda is wounded, so I might have a chance. Teacher, I just… I cannot let him kill her!”

Calron heatedly whispered, as tears rolled down his scaly face.

“Kid…”

Ezkael suddenly materialized in front of the golden bird, as he stared into Calron’s azure eyes.

Ezkael got the feeling that something deeper was going through Calron’s mind that was riling up his emotions.

“She reminds me of my mother… I know it’s stupid of me to think like this, as my mother did not look like that, still I cannot help but feel this way.”

Calron laughed sadly, as he broke off his gaze with his Teacher and glanced at the bright sky above.

“Sigh… go.”

Ezkael muttered with a slight smile on his smoky face.

How could he not sense what was in his student’s heart when both their souls were connected? The boy never talked much about his mother, but it was clear to see that Calron deeply cherished the memories of his mother.

“I don’t know how to fight in this bird’s body, so I will fight as a human.”

Calron said as the golden scales on his skin slowly started to recede back into his body.

“Teacher… thank you.”

Calron softly stated once he returned back to his human form, and turned to face Ezkael.

“Haha, thank me once you win the fight.”

Ezkael replied as his smoky body dispersed into the wind.

“I plan on it.”

Calron whispered, as he leapt off the tree and dove towards the battle below.