This Is Not the Life That I Imagined

A chilling wind swept through the prairie as the frost-covered beast stalked forward, its piercing gaze fixed on them. Time seemed to slow as Zak's heart raced, his mind working furiously to calculate their next move.

The smaller hounds were already closing in, their snarls growing louder with every step.

"Everyone, regroup now!" Zak shouted, slamming his staff into the ground, sending a wave of earth spikes toward the approaching hounds. But even as his spikes and walls rose, the creatures ripped through them with a ferocity he hadn't anticipated.

Maxwell retreated as he fought, coming closer to Zak. "Who is going to fight the big guy?"

Joe finished the monster he was dealing with, landed, and reverted to his original form. His eyes darting between the advancing enemies and the giant beast. "That thing... it is not going to be easy taking it down."

Zak's eyes narrowed. "Toby, Maxwell—control the smaller ones. Joe, help them in eliminating the beasts. I'll handle the big one for now. Once their number decreased, come and help me."

The group sprang into action, each to his own battle. Toby left hand extended as he spread his fire as a flamethrower, controlling three of the brown hounds. His right hand condensed a fireball, then he hurled it toward them. Just as the beasts jumped out of the way, Toby chuckled. "Got you!"

The fireball split into three smaller ones, darting toward each hound, exploding in their faces. From the corner of his eye, he caught more hounds heading his way, including red, brown, and the new addition, silver.

 Joe was constant in his approach. Surveying the battlefield, spot an opening, dive with extreme speed and ferocity, take down the monster, and fly up again. His approach was less flashy than Toby's but no less deadly. His kills were swift and calculated.

Maxwell's fight was brutal, less flashy, but just as effective. Spikes erupted from different parts of his body, maximizing the damage with every punch or kick. A brown hound lunged at him, and with a brutal swipe, Maxwell pinned it with his spiked hands and gave it a knee kick in the face as the spike penetrated from the jaw to its brain.

Just as he let go of the dead monster, a red hound opened its mouth, throwing a fireball at him. He crossed his hands in defense as it exploded, making him stagger as he took a few steps back.

Like Toby, Maxwell also got an item upgrade. It is wearable shoulder pads. Its function is simple; when Maxwell focused and created a spike through the should pads, it would separate the spike from his body, making it throwable. But he would need to use the spike in less than a minute or it would dissolve into elements once again.

Now, Maxwell reached for his shoulder, holding the spike firmly in his hand before throwing it. It hit the red hound's back leg, slowing its kiting as it tried to fire another fireball at him. Maxwell rolled, evading it, rising up again to deal with the beast.

Abruptly, a sizzle noise echoed as a mist spread from behind Maxwell, enveloping him. Apparently, a sliver hound saw the fireball coming in its direction; it opened its mouth and threw an ice attack of its own. When it collided with the fireball, it exploded alongside the fireball and covered the area with mist.

"What the hell!" Maxwell flustered for a second before continuing his sprint as he went out of the fog.

Zak's attention was captured the second the mist formed; his expression became heavy. "This is getting bad. The least we need is something to obscure our vision."

He looked at another side of the battlefield, noticing Toby struggle as mist also erupted from his direction. Joe landed beside Zak reverting back to his human form. "Zak, this is getting dangerous. From the way the mist forms, in less than five minutes, all this place would become a land of fog. I can't fight from the sky anymore."

"I noticed. What is your idea?" Zak was talking to Joe while accumulating power while the huge silver hound, with its slow stroll, neared Zak's attack range.

"I have no ideas." Joe shook his head. "I'm just informing you, as it would be harder for me to provide swift support when I'm on land." As soon as he finished his piece, he transformed into a lion and sprung back into action.

The moment the huge hound stepped into Zak's attack range, a rock as big as a car hurled in its direction. Even with its weight, it was fast. The beast let go of its leisurely attitude and darted to the side, trying to avoid the boulder.

Booooom!

In the last second, the hound created an ice wall; the collision speared ice shards and rock's shrapnel in every direction.

"Shi—! It is ice control is strong." Zak created three more boulders, placing them beside him. He created ten huge spears, each one having a diameter of 50 cm, letting them hover in the sky.

"GO!" Zak swept his staff, hurling the spears, one at a time, at the beast.

The silver hound snurled, darting to the left and to the right, dodging the spears. Suddenly, A wall eructed from the ground in its dodging direction. Halting its attempt as a spear closed in.

Awooooooo!

It howled as an ice wall after an ice wall was conjured in front of it. One by one they crumbled, but it slowed the spear down to a halt at the last wall. Before the beast could get away, a rock following the spear crashed in the last wall, destroying it and hitting the beast, throwing it off and making it slide across the ground.

Zak, not giving the beast a respite, another boulder was throwing in the beast's direction with the spears alongside it. Zak slammed the ground with his staff, creating many small spears and sending them behind the huge spears.