The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

Fleshless crossed in front of Zalan's light, casting faint shadows on the approaching monsters. Wherever they weren't met with direct light, the Nightwolves shifted into significantly larger creatures, with long humanoid arms pulling them forward instead of paws. In the time it took Zalan to blink, the monsters had shifted between their wolf form and larger form. Zalan took a slight step back, concerned.

"That was what you meant about their grotesque form?" Zalan asked.

"Howlers. Anytime they are not in direct light, they grow much more powerful," Slauson said.

"I would say they look nothing like a wolf in their second form," Rep said.

"And it was so fast! I didn't even see it grow. It just immediately became the bigger version!" Zalan added.

Another shadow passed ahead of the Nightwolves and Zalan focused to get a better sense of their Howler form.

Wherever direct light didn't touch, a massive amorphous blob of black space simply existed in its place. The creature dragged across the floor. Several long, human-like arms would grip the earth and pull forward like a spider with only two front legs. The only things that indicated it was still a Nightwolf was the shining red eyes and black void of its body.

Zalan emitted light from both hands, making sure to illuminate the four creatures at once. The amorphous blob disappeared into the darkness, leaving only a black wolf in its place, prowling forward. But it had covered tens of feet of distance while in its larger form. When they were about a hundred feet away, the pack started to split, picking up their pace as they tried to get around the oncoming undead creatures.

"I think they're trying to get out of the light," Zalan said.

"And avoid the Fleshless," Slauson pointed out. "Perhaps they know fresh from rotted humans."

Zalan created an orb of light in his palms and cast it upward like a miniature sun overhead. It cast light on the whole area, and Zalan was satisfied that the monsters would have nowhere to hide in order to create their larger form. The four monsters stared at it, as though knowing it would be a hindrance. Zalan drew his blade while the first Fleshless charged at one of the Nightwolves.

The Nightwolf nimbly sidestepped the Fleshless diving at it, kicking it back with one of its hind legs. Another Fleshless tried to bring its arms down to attack and the Nightwolf ducked at the last second. Snarling, the black wolf shot upward and tore the Fleshless head from its body. The undead servant collapsed, motionless.

"Keep an eye on the others, I'm gonna try hitting this Nightwolf with a focused blast," Zalan said.

Concentrating light, he fired a laser-like beam at the Nightwolf dancing among the undead. To his shock, the attack bashed the monster like he struck it with a boxing glove, leaving a sizzling wound.

Rep pointed, stunned. "I did not realize your power had such physicality to it."

"It doesn't! Or, didn't? Maybe this is because we're fighting at night." Zalan refocused.

The Nightwolf lost its footing, stumbling hard on its next jump. Taking the reaction as a good sign, Zalan increased the intensity to try and burn through the creature. Instead, it dipped low and hid behind the body of the Fleshless it had just killed. Zalan blinked, unable to redirect his Elemental Light enough to get immediately behind a body a hundred feet away. Light stuck the deceased creature, leaving the Nightwolf unharmed.

"Did it just hide from my attack?" Zalan asked.

"Turn to that one!" Slauson pointed. "It is killing too many of my Fleshless!"

Zalan spun on his heel and pointed to the next Nightwolf. Surrounded by three Fleshless corpses, the Nightwolf did a similar dance between the creatures, ducking away from blows and delivering decisive attacks to throats.

"What is that other one doing?" Rep asked pointing behind Zalan. "It is biting one of the dead Fleshless."

"I'll check in a sec. I think I got this one," Zalan said, hitting the Nightwolf directly in one of its eyes.

It yowled and retreated several steps, shaking his head. Zalan increased the light when Rep suddenly pulled him by the shoulder.

"Zalan, your light!"

Confused, Zalan twisted around, throwing beams of light blindly until he could get a good picture of the situation. The Nightwolf ahead of him flung the lower half of a Fleshless releasing it skyward. Zalan followed the limbs fly upward, colliding directly with his miniature sun and snuffing it out. The area went dark like a bulb sputtered out.

"Look out!" Slauson screamed, shoving Rep and Zalan aside.

A massive black Howler hand slammed into the spot between Rep and Zalan, flailing to strike one of them. King Docrun dove on top of the arm, beating it relentlessly with his fists.

"More light Zalan!" Slauson said, blasting fire into the air to try and keep the Nightwolves at bay.

"I will protect you, focus on the light," Rep said, charging forward with his flaming sword.

Rep sliced downward at the black arm grappling with the Fleshless king. Before he could make contact, the arm disappeared in the light of his flame. The wolfen form tackled King Docrun to the floor, then leapt for Rep. Growling, the monster gnashed its teeth just ahead of Rep's chest.

Rep stared with wide eyes, inches away from having tasted death. The Nightwolf growled, pulling at its legs. To Rep's relief, the monster had been frozen to the ground. Slauson sweated, ice emitting from him in several directions.

"Move!" Slauson ordered.

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Zalan blasted more light into the sky, collecting it into another ball of light. As soon as it was bright enough to illuminate the area, Zalan tugged hard on the back of Rep's shirt, pulling him away from the enraged Nightwolf. King Docrun jumped high with his golden scepter in hand and bashed the Nightwolf's head like a gong. The Nightwolf buckled and the king started an onslaught of trauma-inducing strikes until the Nightwolf stopped fighting back, collapsing to the ground dead.

"Okay," Zalan said, turning away. "That's one. Where are the other…"

Zalan watched a Nightwolf use Fleshless as platforms to jump toward the trio in the center. Zalan raised his blade, waiting for it to barrel toward him. Instead, using a Fleshless as a springboard, the monster leapt high into the air, going straight for the ball of light above. Zalan recognized its intent a moment too late, just as the monster swallowed his orb of illumination.

The beast immediately shifted to the giant Howler of several spider-like, humanoid arms as it fell down toward them. It spread its body out, its form reaching out enough to crush all the humans under it when it reached the earth. Rep stared in fear, holding his sword up defensively. Slauson was focused on another approaching Nightwolf in its larger form.

Zalan panicked for a split-second, feeling that there was no escape. A fraction of a breath later, Zalan realized that he only needed to imbue himself in bright light. The descending Nightwolf shifted back from amorphous death blob to a void wolf, its teeth bared at Zalan.

Rep threw a fireball at it, and the Nightwolf hopped away, barely avoiding the trick. Rep spun his arms above himself and created a ring of fire, quickling swinging it down to encircle the monster. The Nightwolf backed into the center, spinning around in rage as Rep enlarged the flames to a tornado surrounding the creature. Holding his sword ahead of him, he approached the fire.

"Take out the others," Rep said. "I will deal with this one."

Zalan ran to assist Slauson. His ally was swatted aside by one of the massive Howler arms, scraping against the hard ground. It tried to smash him, but several Fleshless moved in to protect him. The Nightwolf was only successful in destroying several of the undead under Slauson's control, and he remained unscathed. Zalan got close enough that his imbued body brought the giant monster back down to wolf form. He stabbed forward, when the fourth Nightwolf darted in from behind him. Three Fleshless hung on its back, but it still had the maneuverability to bite Zalan's hand and disarm him.

Breathing through his teeth to power through the pain, Zalan bobbed to one side as one of the monsters tried to tackle him. Narrowly dodging it, he regained balance quickly.

When he thought he was clear, it spun in an instant and charged directly for his chest. It stopped midway, a shard of ice holding it to the ground. Zalan could hear Slauson grunting with strain behind him as he held the monster down with Elemental Ice.

Zalan ran forward and smashed his imbued arm against the Nightwolf's head, as hard as he could. The Nightwolf recoiled in pain, but couldn't retreat. Fleshless joined Zalan in beating the Nightwolf with their bare hands. He made sure his Elemental Light was never obscured by their efforts, and soon the second monster was dead, its body battered and twisted in unnatural directions.

Zalan breathed hard, losing balance and falling to his rear and looking for the remaining two Nightwolves. One of them prowled on the outside of the remaining Fleshless and the other growled and snapped at Rep within the tornado flame.

Slauson pulled Zalan to his feet forcefully. "No rest until they are all dead. Keep your light strong."

"I know, I know," Zalan sighed and went to retrieve his sword.

Taking another look at the Nightwolf assessing him, Zalan felt that he should help Rep instead of trying to take on the last one.

"Send the Fleshless," Zalan said.

"Not many remain." Slauson counted a half dozen around him, including King Docrun.

"You can take it. If not, we can focus on this one once Rep is free to assist."

Reluctantly, Slauson tilted his head upward, silently ordering the Fleshless to race toward the Nightwolf. He summoned pockets of ice to try and hold it in place, but this Nightwolf seemed especially light on its void feet, avoiding the trap with every step. Either that, or it had learned of Slauson's trick and wouldn't easily fall for it like its fallen pack mates.

"Rep, open up the tornado so I can help," Zalan said, his sword and body imbued in bright Elemental Light.

"Be careful, this monster is fast!" Rep said.

The tornado opened on one end, like a sliding door slipping open. Stepping in, Zalan saw Rep taking jabs at the Nightwolf, but not landing any direct hits, constantly just out of reach. Without hesitating, Zalan sent a floodlight of energy at the Nightwolf's eyes, blinding it. The moment it took to turn its face away was the moment Rep needed to slash into its neck and decapitate it. Its head thudded against the floor, and Zalan noted there was no blood in the black void of a creature. Only more void.

Rep breathed heavily, his arms red with scratches.

"Thank you," he said, letting the tornado dissipate with a twist of his hand.

"One more," Zalan said, leading the way to Slauson.

Slauson held a flame up in one hand to keep light in the area while the other fired shot after shot of Elemental Ice. The Nightwolf danced like a fox on snow, light on its feet and never in one place for a full second. As the Fleshless closed in on it, it suddenly got down low and drove into all the creatures at once. They climbed over it in a frenzy, striking haphazardly.

"No!" Slauson said to Zalan's surprise.

"They got it!" Zalan said.

"They are blocking it from the light!" Slauson said.

All six of the Fleshless flew forward toward Rep, Zalan, and Slauson, thrown by the massive arms of a Howler. None of the trio had the time to dodge and were smashed to the floor mercilessly by the undead bodies. Zalan's eyes were bleary for a second, then he realized he'd lost concentration when hit and was no longer imbuing himself in light. By the time he shined himself once more, the Howler was almost on top of him.

In the instant it shifted back into its wolf form, it jumped high into the air. Zalan was still reeling from being struck by a human body and didn't know where his sword lay. Fortunately for him, King Docrun sprang to his feet to protect him, holding his golden scepter out proudly. The Nightwolf, kicking the scepter aside, used King Docrun's head as leverage to dive forward to Zalan's throat.

But as it left King Docrun's head, the monster's void-consumed paw touched his crown ever-so-slightly, shifting it less than an inch.

King Docrun's one remaining eye went wide with rage, a jolt of energy spiking through the Fleshless royal. Like a bolt of lightning, Docrun's arms shot out and grabbed at the Nightwolf's legs, snagging it just before it chomped down on Zalan's jugular. With a wild look in the usually glazed-over eye, the king pulled his arms apart rapidly, shredding the dark Nightwolf into two pieces.

Zalan stared in a mix of fear and shock as the king continued to pummel what was clearly a dead monster. Looking away, he allowed the undead to let out his kingly frustrations.

Zalan, Rep, and Slauson looked at one another seconds later, taking in the scene. Struggling to catch his breath, Zalan forced himself to his feet with a grunt, scanning the area to make sure no other Nightwolves were prowling the area. Slauson tutted as he walked among the fallen Fleshless. Spinning in a slow circle, he assessed the numbers.

King Docrun stood tall, adjusting his crown to straighten it out. Other Fleshless came shambling in. There were dozens before the battle, perhaps nearing sixty in total. Now there were only five. One of which was missing its arm.

"What a shame." Slauson spat on one of the dead Nightwolves. "These Fleshless could have been used for so many better situations."

"They saved our lives," Rep mentioned.

"Mmm," Slauson sounded unconvinced. "We should remain behind the walls of cities going forward. No more risks like this."

"Yeah," Zalan said, finally feeling like he could catch his breath when the first hint of the sun poked the horizon. "Let's go find a town we can stay in before the next night shows up."