Chapter 1701 The Unchained Alpha
Chapter 1701 The Unchained Alpha
In one of the caverns, the carefully laid plans for containment were beginning to crumble. There was a certain individual who had proven to be unsuccessful when it came to the grueling process of fasting and diluting their body of its natural energy. That individual was Steve.
Steve possessed more raw power than he even realized.
The root of the problem lay in Steve’s own mind. He often saw himself as the inferior brother, a constant shadow to Jack’s light. After all, he had witnessed the legendary feats Jack was capable of, moments of leadership and power that Steve believed he could never replicate.
It was only because of a stroke of sheer luck, or perhaps misfortune, depending on how one looked at it, that Steve had become an Alpha at all. He knew deep down that his position was largely a result of Jack’s influence and sacrifice.
Although Steve never harbored any jealousy or hard feelings toward his brother, if anything, he was immensely proud of Jack, this admiration acted as a double-edged sword. It allowed him to push himself to accomplish his own goals, knowing that there were werewolves who chose to follow him rather than his brother. The fact that he was "needed" by his own pack was enough to keep him going.
The issue, however, was that Steve’s lack of confidence led him to underestimate his own biology. He didn’t realize that his body was a reservoir of untapped energy. Because he hadn't pushed his fast to the absolute limit, his body was still brimming with the fuel needed for a violent transformation during the full moon. When the moon reached its peak, Steve didn't just transform; he exploded.
After the transformation was complete, the beast that occupied Steve’s skin didn't wait. He ripped himself out of the cavern wall, the heavy iron spikes that had been driven into the stone groaning and snapping under his newfound strength.
The first thing Steve did was swing his massive arms, the long, heavy chains still attached to his wrists whistling through the air as they hurtled toward Kai.
Kai reacted with the instincts of a seasoned survivor. He managed to jump, twisting his body mid-air to avoid two of the heavy chain links that would have crashed into his skull. But as he landed on the uneven cavern floor, another lesser werewolf, spurred on by Steve’s Alpha presence, lunged forward to claw at his stomach.
Kai blocked the strike with a forearm, quickly countered with a sharp knee to the creature's chest, and followed up with a kick that sent the wolf tumbling back into the shadows.
However, the distraction cost him. Kai suddenly felt the heavy chains strike him squarely in the back. The pain was blinding, the sensation of cold iron meeting flesh and bone echoing through his spine. Kai spun around, his eyes narrow, as he saw the chains coming toward him again in a sweeping arc.
This time, he didn't dodge. He reached out, his claws digging into the metal links to catch them, and used his momentum to heave them to the side.
“Damn it, Steve! Why did you have to be the one to change?” Kai growled, his voice a low, bestial rumble. “I knew you were going to be trouble from the moment we stepped into this cave!”
As Kai ran forward, he knew he needed to utilize his superior speed and transformed into his Wolf form. He had been watching Steve’s behavior earlier, before they had entered the cavern and back at his own settlement, noting how Steve had fought against his own pack members during their training sessions.
Steve never seemed to tire; he had swatted away his own team members as if it were effortless. Now, as a mindless beast, that efficiency was amplified by a lack of restraint.
The chains continued to crash against the ground, shattering the stone as Kai closed the distance. He needed to get inside Steve’s guard. Thankfully, the chaotic environment worked to his advantage; the large number of other werewolves in the area provided a maze of bodies that Kai could use as cover to obscure his trajectory.
He rushed straight ahead, weaving through the fray, and managed to sink his teeth into Steve’s leg. It was a calculated strike, but Kai’s heart sank when he felt the resistance. His bite hardly broke through Steve’s thick, reinforced hide.
Kai didn't linger; he stayed mobile, darting around Steve’s bulk like a mosquito, biting and slashing whenever an opening appeared. With every contact, Kai channeled his elemental power, forming patches of jagged ice on Steve’s fur to slow him down.
The problem was that none of the wounds were serious enough to hinder the Alpha. As Steve moved to counterattack, the ice Kai had formed simply shattered and fell away like glass. Steve let out a roar that shook the very foundation of the cavern and slammed his fist into the ground.
The moment his fist connected with the earth, the iron cuff around his right wrist snapped. A massive surge of energy erupted from the point of impact, a shockwave of Qi that traveled through the floor and kicked upwards.
It hit Kai like a physical wave. It wasn't a direct strike to his body, but the sheer pressure was enough to lift him off his feet, suspending him in the air for a fraction of a second. Before he could recover his footing, Steve was already there. His massive fist crashed into Kai’s ribs with the force of a falling boulder.
Kai’s wolf form was sent sprawling, bouncing across the jagged ground multiple times before finally slamming into the far cavern wall. He slumped to the floor, a thick trail of blood dripping from his mouth.
‘Damn it… I’m not like the other two,’ Kai thought, his vision swimming. ‘Gary and Lupus have always been monsters in their own right when it comes to raw physical prowess. I’m steps behind them. The only way I’ve been able to stay in the game is by cheating with my elemental powers and my specialized form.’
Kai coughed, tasting copper, and made a split-second decision. He canceled his wolf transformation, reverting to his full Werewolf form stance on two legs. He needed better control over his Qi than his beast form allowed.
“I can’t go into my True Alpha form right now... I don’t even have Marie here,” Kai muttered, looking at the hulking beast that was Steve. “And that attack? I’m surprised. Even when you’re just a wild beast, you’re still tapping into your Qi subconsciously. That makes you a lot harder to handle than a normal transformation.”
Steve roared again, the sound reverberating through Kai’s bones.
“But I guess the only answer is to fight fire with fire!” Kai stated.
He reached behind him, grabbing a jagged slab of stone that had been broken off the cavern wall. With his claws, he quickly reshaped the stone, honing the edges into lethal points. Then, he focused his energy. A deep, crystalline frost began to spread from his palms, encasing the stone in layers of reinforced ice.
In both hands, Kai now held what looked like two glowing, frozen blades. He took a low, predatory stance, the blades humming with cold energy.
“Let’s try this again.”
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