The Ring of Hell

The ground was a bloodbath. This time it wasn't only soldiers. There were a lot of people gathering here before the monsters appeared. Soldiers, scientists, journalists, even politicians made interviews right before the blue walls. The purpose was to calm down the civilians and show them that there is no danger. They couldn't be more wrong. But now, all of them have one thing in common. All of them were dead.

Under normal circumstances the two of them would have been disgusted. But now there was no time to take a closer look, because what was the most frightening in there weren't the victims but the killers.

A dozen creatures were gathering around the blue wall. All of them looked like the beast they barely killed before.

And all looked at them. They must have keen senses to immediately perceive them, Laura thought.

Some of them were lying on the ground. If it weren't about the violent eyes staring at them they would almost look like they are taking a nap. They almost looked like they were waiting there. And without averting their gaze even for a moment, they stood up.

One of them was eating the pieces of a pitiful human. Laura couldn't even tell which part of the human body could look like this. With one big bite the rest of the corpse disappeared in the monster's bloodstained mouth.

They both thought about running away as the monsters were slowly approaching them. But they knew they couldn't get away. They beat one of them but one thing was for sure. They were faster than the women. Running away could only lead them to a worse spot. Backing up isn't an option here. The only options were either killing or getting killed. This round was the most dangerous round in their lives.

"I was confident in winning today."

"Me too" Laura replied, carefully maintaining a straight face except for the slightest quiver of her lips.

"I'm not so confident anymore." Anastasia said, her voice trembling as she tried to keep calm.

Laura faced the monsters with a deep sigh.

"But we don't have a choice, and I still don't intend to go down today."

A spark of hope was still there. Even if it's the last thing they do, they won't give up.

And the wolves didn't stop. They moved like a pack towards them, fletching their frightening sharp fangs. All of them had human blood drooling out of their scary mouths.

They jumped all together at the women.

Laura and Anastasia dodged to a different side away from the tank.

"Fuck.", they immediately realized that it was a bad decision. And the monsters would punish their mistakes. They aren't mindless beasts, Laura thought. They are hunting in a pack. Now they splitted up into two different groups.

She now had to face six of the monsters at the same time.

She took a deep breath and only a second later the wolf jumped on the tank before attacking her.

"Just do what I did before. Use the momentum and hit it as hard as possible straight in the face." She already knew that light punches wouldn't do much damage to the beasts.

She wasn't sure if they were able to learn but gladly they didn't watch the fight before. It seemed like the wolves were underestimating them because they thought of them as nothing but helpless prey.

And so, like the last time, with all her might, she punched the wolf's face as it was jumping towards her trying to bite and she got rewarded by a crushing skull. No, Laura thought, it felt like the hit was even stronger. Not only the skull was crushed but the whole head splattered and was barely recognizable as the lifeless corpse of the beast crushed into a nearby car.

She took a quick look at her fist and gathered some confidence. She can win here, she can defeat them. It wasn't hopeless.

But the same tactic wont work again as the five remaining wolves were all approaching her.

As the pack almost surrounded her, this time more careful because they now knew that she isn't the same as the other humans.

What now? She checked her surroundings.

She knew she can't do anything in that position and she had to come up with something.

If she is able to somehow take them one at the time there was a chance.

She took a quick look and saw two tanks right behind her, with enough space to move in the gap between the tanks.

She immentidally ran towards the opening and needed only two steps for the ten meter.

Her plan was to wait for them as the carsize beasts can't attack her in a pack in the small gap. But then she realized her grave mistake. That didn't work because they jumped on the tank.

Now she was trapped in the worst possible spot.

She was about to panic but found her cool again. She was in bad positions before. Countless times she was in a bad position in the ring. So she knew what was the worst thing and an instant loss right now. Panicking. Without her experience and training she would have probably already lost her mind. But somehow she was able to calm down. Even her breath and heartbeat normalized.

Then one of the beasts jumped at her from the tank above and crushed her to the ground with its massive body.

Somehow she was able to hold this mouth from biting her. Even against the incredible power of the jaw that ripped tanks apart not too long ago.

She knew she couldn't win in a battle of speed but now it was only a battle for strength.

Other wolves couldn't enter the fight.

She held its mouth and tried to rip it apart.

Speed was meaningless. Tactic was meaningless. Numbers were meaningless.

Now it was only about who is stronger. Nothing else would decide who would live and who would die here.

And Laura was able to open the monster's mouth wider and wider. Every muscle in her arm felt like it was about to burst apart but she didn't hesitate for a moment. Blood and saliva dropped out of the monster's mouth and in Laura's face. She felt the urge to spit but could hold it back.

And then the wolf tried to back away as it realized that it was about to lose the battle of strength.

But Laura didn't let it. The wolf was already making weird noises. Like the himpering from a dog which did not match his appearance at all. Its eyes were desperate. But no matter how hard it tried to get away, Laura didnt let it go. Blood dropped in Laura's face again. But this time it was the monster's blood. It panicked and lost its strength.

With a jerk and all her might she killed him by ripping his head apart.

At the horrible sight even the wolves who brutality murdered hundreds of people were backing off. It seems like it's different when something like this happens to their own kind.

Only that let her heavy breaths out for a second under the corpse of the huge monster. Laura was glad they had no fur but scales. So even under the monster she could see that the wolves were not approaching and hesitating. While normal people would have been crushed by the lifeless body she was able to lift it up.

"What happened to Anastasia?" as she got back on her feet and had a second to think. But she knew that this wasn't something she should think about before the fight is over. She had to fully focus on the monsters in front of her right now or her worries would be meaningless anyways.

She slowly left the trap while the wolves were still looking at her, but now with a less confident face as they saw how one of them got brutally killed. But their killing instinct was stronger. Laura felt a growing bloodlust around her. The murderous eyes were back. They underestimated her in the beginning and even after she killed the first wolf of the pack they didn't seem to attack her all serious. But that has changed now.

The wolves growled as they circled Laura again. This time more carefully than last time. The scene would have been kind of beautiful if it wasn't for all the blood. The scales were reflecting the lights all around them and made them look like they were glowing in an emerald green light.

But the beautiful sight was destroyed instantly as they all rushed forward together.

Every attack they made seemed slower. Laura knew that it wasn't about that they slowed down, but her perception became better and better. She was able to grasp and analyze her situation in a matter of seconds.

"If I can't dodge to the sides I'll go up."

She was bending her knees and tensed her muscles in her legs and then she jumped with all her power she had left.

The wolves were confused; they didn't expect anything like that, while Laura was looking down on them. It felt like she was in the air for a very long time. Almost like she was flying up to five meters above the ground. All of the wolves were looking at her. They knew she just jumped but were still surprised by the height. And that saved Laura's life. She was falling right towards one of the pack. But it didn't move. It could have backed off but hesitated as it wasnt used to attacks from above.

And then Laura crushed her knee on the wolf's head. The skull made a bonecrushing noise as it was destroyed by the impact and formed a crater as it hit the ground with incredible force.

Laura didn't stop here, she immediately grasped the situation around here. One of them, the closest to Laura, was only two steps away.

Chance.

And as Laura got up immediately she was able to land a quick jab.

Her powerful fist hit the wolves face with a painful sound of crushing bones. This time the hit didn't kill the wolf, but that wasn't what Laura was aiming for. She hit the lower jaw of the monster and completely crushed it so the monster wasn't able to bite her again.

But contrary to her plan the wolf wasn't backing off, it still was just standing there with trembling knees. And it was barely able to stay conscious.

Again a chance, Laura thought. Everything happened in a second and she knew the two wolves left were not attacking her right now. As they were still confused about what just happened.

Now she was able to get a powerful hit again.

Before, she needed the momentum of the attacking wolves and all of her power to kill them in one hit but this time she hit the beast right between the eyes, destroying every bone in its face.

The body flipped over in the air and hit a wall that destroyed his skull for good and she didn't need to take another look to know that the beast was dead.

Her confidence was rising.

The monsters were still horrible to look at. The shoulders towered over Laura's head, but only two of them were left. And in their eyes Laura saw for the first time something that looked like a spark of fear.

"I can do it.", she said to the wolves. Knowing that they would not understand but it felt like the right thing to do at that moment.

She was used to the movements. They use tactics in a group but only attack head on when they are alone. And for some reason they wouldn't run away like a wild beast would usually do it. It's kill or get killed, there is no other possible outcome. They are incredibly dangerous in a pack but not so strong when they are alone. Laura knew very well that she was lucky to be alive. They were not used to worthy opponents. If they were cautious from the beginning and would have fought together there was no way for her to win.

But now it's her time to attack.

Her situation was fairly better than in the beginning but as she stood in front of the carsized monster looking at her with sharp murderous eyes she almost lost her confidence again. But there was no way to back off now.

She charged forward.

The wolf almost got caught off guard. It didn't expect her to attack. But what was even more surprising was her speed. Her speed matched the speed of the wolves and it took her only a second to reach the wolf. But still, the wolf was able to react and tried to bite her as she appeared in front of him. If Laura had thrown a mindless punch right now she would have lost her arm in the monster's mouth.

But she expected the fast reaction and decided to choose the tactic she used on the monster before and was even more successful than expected.

She dodged the wolf's bite and went a step to the right. And then she threw her punch right onto the jaw.

And again, she got rewarded by a bonecrushing sound.

All of a sudden the last healthy wolf appeared right behind her. She couldn't see him but out of sheer instinct she threw herself on the ground, avoiding the sharp fangs of the beast only by a hair's breadth.

The wolf didn't hesitate this time and attacked her right away.

Laura somehow managed to roll away on the ground. Small crater formed around the wolf's attack as it hit the ground with its large claws and crushing sounds filled the air.

She could see his jaw working as his fangs ground together, the frustration he felt emanating from him like the heat from a flame.

His rising frustration caused him to pause for a second and Laura had time to jump up and take quick steps back.

They stood in front of each other. The wolf knew he was alone now, only one of his pack was still alive and he lost most of his jaw and was making painful grunts on the ground.

The sides had changed. The hunter became the prey. And the prey became the Hunter.

With an ear splitting loud rawr the wolf charged towards Laura.

And, like she did before, she finished the wolf off by breaking his skull into a bloody mess with a direct hit to the head.

Breathing loudly, she looked up at the sky above her. Her heart felt like it was about to´explode. She was never this exhausted in her life. She knew it must be the fires in the building but can't avoid the thought that there was blood in the sky.

But she did it. She somehow managed to survive. A feeling of euphoria arose in her.

She looked around as there were finally some monster corpses and not only humans, there was a glimpse of pride when she realized that they got their revenge. However much she would have liked to just lie down on the ground, there was still something to do. It wasn't over yet.

"Where is Anastasia?"