Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

As he stood at this pivotal juncture, Rain\'s strategic mind worked overtime, deliberating the best course of action to unravel the mysteries surrounding these elusive adversaries.

"It will be useful if I could capture one of them, but I doubt that they will fall that easily… and I can\'t take any chances either," Rain thought.

Before the enemies could transform and find him by his scent, Rain decided to charge toward them. The enemies noticed his approach when he was half of the distance, but a single extra path had been enough to reach them.

Rain\'s arrival had been a shift as it had been destructive; with two kick punches, he smashed the heads of two enemies, and while all the others were transforming, he kicked another in the neck and finished him off.

The skill Iron Fists skill leveled up.

The Fighter\'s path received 390 experience points.

The skill Iron Fists skill leveled up.

The Fighter\'s path received 400 experience points.

…

The other enemies jumped away while they were transforming. Under the luminous glow of the full moon, the enemy\'s bodies begin to shift and writhe, muscles contracting as an unseen force takes command. A grimace of agony etches across their faces, beads of sweat forming on their furrowed brow.

The transformation takes root at their fingertips, where nails thicken and curve into menacing claws, piercing through flesh and skin.

Their complexion pales, a glistening layer of perspiration giving their skin an ethereal sheen. A primal warmth emanates from within as bones snap and stretch, elongating gradually. The spine arches imperceptibly, shoulders slumping forward as though bearing an invisible weight.

A guttural sound escapes their lips, a mixture of pain and transformation, as their facial structure reshapes itself; the nose extends into a snout with a fierce jut. Teeth protrude into elongated canines, filling their mouth with predatory weaponry.

A surge of hair bursts from beneath their skin, coarsening and darkening rapidly. It spreads fervently, matting into a shaggy pelt that envelops their form, originating from deep within and bursting outward. Limbs tremble and convulse, adopting a more robust and powerful form. Fingers and toes elongate, nails fully transitioning into formidable claws.

The spine cracks a final time, the tailbone elongating to form a bushy appendage that twitches and sways involuntarily. Their ears remodel, stretching upwards into pointed tips, incredibly mobile and responsive, attuned to even the slightest of sounds. The person\'s eyes ignite with an eerie luminosity, pupils narrowing into vertical slits.

A final, intense shiver courses through their frame as the transformation culminates. In the place of the human stands a creature of myth and dread—a werewolf. Its physique radiates raw power, each sinew and muscle delineated beneath the newly grown fur. Poised with the stance of a natural predator, it embodies the fusion of human and wolf, an entity driven solely by primal urges and base instincts.

Rain was surprised. Their transformation was a lot more intense than he had predicted… he even watched the whole thing since he was so caught off guard. He thought that they would transform in a less bizarre way… considering that they were magic people.

"I guess magic doesn\'t make everything that convenient…" Rain thought.

The aura of the enemies changed from light blue to orange… they weren\'t as dangerous as the generals since their goal was only to destroy villages, but Rain didn\'t drop his guard.

The werewolves charged toward him and slashed their claws from all directions. Still, Rain blocked two of them with his forearm guards and avoided the others by lowering his stance. The impact made his arm move a bit, but he didn\'t feel that much weight or pressure. The enemies were surprised by that and stared at him for a moment, but soon they charged once again.

Rain did the same and then smashed the face of one of the enemies with his forearm guards before turning and then snapping the neck of another one with a roundhouse kick.

After losing their allies that fast, the other werewolves raised their guard… losing half of their forces wasn\'t something that they expected, after all, so soon they began to take steps back.

When that happened, Rain kicked the ground and then made several earth spikes emerge from the ground and then impale the enemy\'s legs. He didn\'t try to hold back, but the spikes didn\'t pass through their legs, even with the reinforcement of his items.

"Their fur and skin are surprisingly tough…" Rain thought.

The enemies grunted in agony but soon recovered and tried to run away in different directions. Still, Rain didn\'t hold back while using Impulse, and while the enemies could run at one hundred meters per second, he could almost three times faster. Rain quickly reached them, kicked their sides, and punched their heads.

"Ouch, hot, hot…" Rain thought when the final enemy was killed. "This was surprisingly easy…"

Rain knew that the enemies wouldn\'t send the best warriors to attack villages. Still, even so… that was a bit disappointing. In any case, Rain looked at the bodies and saw them returning to normal. It will be hard to convince the Captain that they were true werewolves… in any case, that will stop the attacks for a while, and that should be enough.

Regardless, that wasn\'t the only surprise of the night.