Chapter 26 - A Helpful Cocktail
It was huge. Its dark, thick fur in itself seemed like a natural armor that would be hard to get through. At the very least, it would be tough to damage it by punching it like what Foster just did with that other wolf.
Overall... it seemed impossible to beat this thing in the first place. It was huge, incredibly so, dwarfing all the other giant wolves. But there were a few people that didn't hesitate fighting againt it for even a moment. Lynol and Octer. Lynol attacked the wolf with his huge sword, while Octer somehow kept its attention on itself, with his huge tower-shield inbetween his own and the wolf's body.
But no matter what they did, the wolf didn't even seem to react to Lynol's attacks. Chunks of fur fell to the ground, sure, but every attack that seemed to hit its skin was nothing but a scratch to its huge stature.
Many of the employees lost hope, thinking that this was it, but the adventurers all kept on fighting eagerly to make sure the other wolves were taken care of. That way, they could join the fight against the huge wolf.
And Foster? He just stood there, trying to figure out a way that he could help. He wasn't scared anymore, after all. But he knew that he wouldn't be much help like this. Foster looked around, trying to see if he could find a 'regular' giant wolf to fight instead, when his eyes landed on a particular carriage.
It was the carriage filled with the Dwarven Spirit. And that was when Foster got an idea. He immediately ran over toward one of the other carriages first, however. In there were some clothes that they were transporting to sell as well. Luckily, they all seemed to be 100% cotton. As he grabbed as many of them as he could carry, he looked at a particular magic-user.
"You! Come with me, I need your help!" Foster exclaimed, and seeing that he seemed to have a plan, the mage followed him immediately, unsure what else to do. After grabbing one of the bottles of Dwarven Spirit, he pulled the cork and poured just a gulp of it onto the grass.
"Use fire magic to see if you can burn it." He instructed the mage, who slowly nodded his head. And as Foster thought, the moment that the mage's conjured flames hit the spot soaked in the liquor, the ground went up in flames. The mage quickly got rid of them, of course, but now Foster knew that his plan would work.
"Wh-What are you trying to do?" The mage asked, and Foster grinned as he started ripping apart the cotton, "Just wait and see. It's a bit of a trick from... my hometown."
Foster placed the pieces of cotton onto the ground and poured the Dwarven Spirit all over them, making sure that they would properly soak it in. At that point, George noticed what Foster was up to.
"You! What are you doing with our war-"
"Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to help out. If you want to, I'll work off all the money I'm wasting with this when we're in Arcadum." Foster said immediately, not caring for what George was saying. Instead, he picked up the cloth and pushed it into George's hands.
"Grab a piece of cotton and roll it up, like you're trying to wring the alcohol out of it, but don't 'actually' wring it." Foster said, as he grabbed another bottle of Dwarven Spirit. He pulled the first ready piece of cloth out of George's hand, and pressed one end tightly into the bottle until that end was fully submerged in the extremely flammable alcohol.
And just like that, Foster had invented the Molotov Cocktail.
He made a few more of them, until a full crate's worth were finished. He grabbed the crate and carried it close enough to where the fight against that enormously huge wolf was happening.
"Let's just hope that these trees are as fire-proof as I was told..." Foster muttered with a wry smile, as he looked over at the two adventurer's fighting that monstrosity, "You two, get away from it! Now!" He exclaimed.
Lynol heard his friend, and saw him standing there with a determined expression. He ran away from the wolf and grabbed Octer's arm to pull him away as well.
"Oi, what're you doin'?!" Octer yelled out, since he didn't know what was going on. But as he was being dragged away, he was able to see that rather familiar bottle of alcohol flying toward the wolf at high speed. Luckily, its fur was dirty and filled with large rocks all over, so the bottle had a surface to break on, if Foster was lucky enough.
Well, sadly, he wasn't, and the bottle bounced off the wolf's fur, instead landing on the ground underneath its feet. And that was when it broke. The moment that the glass bottle shattered, a huge explosion of flames appeared underneath the huge wolf's feet as it let out a loud yelp of pain. And that was when the next bottle came flying at it. This time, it broke on the wolf's body instead, dousing its body in the Dwarven Spirit before it went up in flames a moment later.
"It's working!" George exclaimed, glad that this tactic at least wasn't a total waste of money, since it seemed like it could turn out to save them.
"Yes, it is, but more importantly..." Foster said, looking at Lynol and Octer, "We need to lure this thing away from the caravan, it's too dangerous here. If that thing ends up killing the animals or destroys the carriages, we're fucked."
"Aye, sounds like a plan!" Octer exclaimed with a broad grin, "Just gotta make sure it won't attack me while it's burning like that." Without another word, Octer started running around the spot where that huge wolf was currently standing. Surprisingly, it was able to withstand that immense pain and damage the flames were doing to its body, although its fur was already melting and fusing into its flesh.
While he was running past it, Octer started hitting his shield with a metal mace that he was carrying on his hip while yelling loudly to get the wolf's attention. It seemed like it was working as well. The wolf was slowly moving away from the caravan.
And without a moment's hesitation, Foster and Lynol followed Octer and that enormous wolf. George and the mage stayed behind to help take care of other things, since that healer was one of the few that could also use healing magic. Luckily, since the wolf was already on fire, even the unlit molotov cocktails would do fair damage.
"You should have stayed inside the carriage." Lynol said in a cold tone, but Foster just turned his head to the side with an angry glare, "Eh? Shut the fuck up, you think you'd be able to beat that fucker without these things?"
"I can throw them as well, so-"
"No. Lynol, I don't give a shit if you think I'm weak or something. I'm not as weak as you think I am." Foster said with a deep stare. Lynol slowly turned his head away as the two of them kept chasing after that huge wolf. It took them a while to get to a safe distance, which was when they could really start.
Both Foster and Lynol started throwing the molotov cocktails at the wolf while Octer distracted it, to get as much initial damage in as absolutely possible. But soon, they ran out, and the flames soon subsided.
The wolf was in a horrific state. Its fur was nearly completely burnt off, its skin was bubbling because of the flames. It was just barely able to even keep standing on its two legs, so the group of three quickly got to work.
"Focus on the left hind leg!" Foster exclaimed, seeing that it was especially injured compared to the rest of its limbs, and both Lynol and Octer quickly did as told. Octer slammed his shield against the leg, Lynol cut it up, and Foster hit it with all of his might. Soon enough, the wolf collapsed, but stood back up not long after only using its three usable legs.
"Good, now-" Foster was about to tell the others to move onto the next 'tactic', but before he could, the wolf let out a loud howl once again, even if it was clearly weaker than the first one.
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[You have been placed under the influence of the {Fear} effect. You are unable to move for 30 seconds]