Chapter 347: A Transformative Experience (1/2)

[Alright, you've done this before, surely you can do so again.] Mike thought as he considered how to go about correcting Selene's transformation. He tried to recall exactly how he did it last time, but the only thing that came back to him was a vague impression of just throwing mana at the situation to see if it worked.

He would need to approach this in a more methodical manner this time, but first he would need to subdue the angry mass of brown-furred muscle.

Walking forward, he began dealing lethal attacks to any of the milling combatants that got too close. As he approached, he realized what had been bugging him about the situation since he'd arrived.

[Now that I think about it, isn't she bigger than last time?]

The vargulf was now towering over the other vampires. While he remembered her being fairly large, like others of her kind, she now stood nearly three meters in height and appeared to have gained a good amount of muscle as well. In fact, if it wasn't for her obvious bat-like features, he could have easily mistaken her for a bear standing on its hind legs.

[Aberth did say that he would have a larger effect on her than others in the vicinity, but I didn't think it would have a physical effect.]

Dismissing the thought, he channelled his mana and dispatched most of Selene's attackers with a few well-placed fireballs. The survivors turned on him and charged, evidently too blood-crazed to realize that doing so was suicidal, and not just because they were attacking a far superior opponent.

The vargulf took advantage of this distraction by snagging one of the running vampires with a twisted wing-like foreleg. The victim, an elegantly dressed man, struggled to break out of Selene's grip, but could only snarl helplessly as he was dragged up to her mouth.

With a sickening crunch, the vargulf bit down on the vampire's head before wrenching her neck to one side, messily decapitating him. Snarling, she spit out the offending appendage and allowed the rest of her victim's body to collapse bonelessly.

Mike watched the grisly sight while dispatching the other attackers. Soon he was left facing the enraged crazed vargulf alone.

”I don't know if you are still in there, but I've come to help.” He told the beast in as reassuring a voice as he could manage. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help as he quickly found himself dodging backwards to avoid her snapping jaws.

”Come on! You remember me, don't you?” He tried again, hoping to see some sign of intelligence in the vargulf's dark red eyes. ”It's me, Mike. I know I'm a little late, but I'm here to save you.”

This time he had to slide to the right in response to her full-bodied tackling attempt.

”Alright, I tried doing this the nice way, so don't blame me if this hurts.” He grumbled while channeling his mana.

As the vargulf turned to launch another attack, tendrils of muddy water began wrapping themselves around her, binding her movements. At first, she was able to break free of the restraints, but Mike just kept adding more mud until she was trapped in a dark brown sphere nearly four meters in diameter. So large in fact that her head, which he intentionally left outside of the makeshift prison, was nearly scraping against the ceiling.

He used a bit of his focus to solidify the mud, creating a cement-like prison around the vargulf. After spending a few moments watching the angry creature try to break free again, he finally relaxed.

[This is definitely going in my bag of tricks.] He thought to himself before turning his thoughts to the task at hand.

Flying up to the vargulf's head, he carefully laid one hand on the back of her neck, as far away from the angrily snapping teeth as he could manage. Once he'd firmly established a connection, he began channeling Life Magic into the trapped creature.

He felt the wave of mana snag slightly with something in her head, and the vargulf's frantic thrashing quieted down. Based on her reaction, he assumed that he'd managed to remove the condition that was causing her to go berserk. However, the magic continued to flow through her with no other obvious effect.

[What the hell? Why is it so different from last time?]

Mike recalled that the vargulf's body had actively resisted the Healing Magic, which had given him the means of forcing the issue. Now however, it was like he couldn't gain any traction. The mana was there, surging through her body, but he couldn't find any abnormality to fix.

[Does this mean that I can't do it with Life Magic? Do I need to try and make another familiar bond?]

Redoubling his efforts, he tried investing his mana into her tissues directly, searching for a means of returning her to her original form. With that deep of a connection, he could tell that forcing her to change shape was technically possible, but the mana requirements would be incredibly steep. Even then, it would be difficult to control the process. So difficult in fact, that he was convinced it would be beyond his current abilities to achieve.

[This doesn't quite seem like the same method I used the first time. I'm fairly certain the System was involved in correcting the process, making it possible at all. The fact that her race changed according to Appraise was an indicator of that. On the other hand, this method seems to be more direct. In fact, I think this would be a bit like extensive plastic surgery. She would likely regain her sanity and general human shape, but her race would remain the same in the eyes of the System. I wonder if that wouldn't cause some kind of error.]

He considered a few potential long term effects for using this method, before ultimately foregoing it. There were simply too many potential complications. It would be like trying to turn a gorilla into a human by rebuilding it from a cellular level while leaving its DNA unaffected. He didn't know what that would mean for Selene after the transformation, but he assumed that it wouldn't be good.

What he really needed to do was figure out how he managed to form a familiar bond with her in the first place. Working off a hunch, he decided to try focusing on the vargulf's soul with Life Magic. He relied on his limited experience in dealing with his inner demon to make the connection work. It took some effort, and a great deal more mana than he would like, but he was able to grasp the condition of Selene's spirit.