Aaron ducked under the first one. Before he could retaliate, he had to block another attack with the top of his warhammer.

It seemed like they would try to wear him down, which suited Aaron just fine. He needed to wait for more of them to stand on the plate. It wouldn’t help him if his trap only caught one or two.

As Aaron defended himself from an attack, the next wolf decided to jump him. Without his magic sense, he wouldn’t have noticed, but with it, he was able to twist his upper body at the last moment to change the direction of his weapon to hit it across the wolf's head.

The victim of his attack let out a whimper as it tried to right itself.

In the corner of his eyes, Aaron saw the biggest wolf waiting. It hadn’t tried to strike him yet, but he was sure that it was only a matter of time, especially if Aaron held out longer.

Something else he noticed was that the attacks began to grow more frequent. Now, a second wolf would sometimes join the charge. They tried to bite, claw, and otherwise hurt Aaron. With more than one enemy to defend against, Aaron also started to use his only other spell, Rock Shield.

It was the only other spell his mother had taught him before he left. She was sure that he would need it, and she was right. It had quickly overtaken his rock shaping spell, Shaping Rock, as his most used spell.

At first, he only had to use it on a few rare occasions. But as the encirclement shrank, it also became harder for Aaron to defend himself.

His body had even started to accumulate wounds. Though shallow, the claws were able to draw blood. While Aaron wasn’t too worried about his arms, he was considerably more worried about his face.

He swore that if there was enough money, he would look into a helmet. When his old one was rendered unusable, he never had the money for a new one.

Another swing, another clash. This time between claws and his warhammer. His weapon won, leaving the wolf to awkwardly crawl back as one of its four legs dangled uselessly.

Just when Aaron thought that he might be in the position to start his trap, the large one joined in.

It happened just as the dwarf foiled another charge. With his thoughts occupied, he hadn’t even noticed it before pain shot through his back.

It was only luck that he didn’t die right there. Aaron stumbled forward. As the wolf reached out again, a tall rock plate shot up between the two.

“Shit!” Aaron shouted as he tried to suppress the pain. He almost laughed as he noticed that the other wolves hadn’t pounced on the chance to rip him to shreds. It seemed like they were scared to interrupt their leader.

His thoughts turned back to the problem at hand. He moved further back to gain a bit of distance from the big wolf. Eyes that gleamed with intelligence watched his every move. He was happy that the others didn’t seem as intelligent as this one. Otherwise, he would have died already.

Aaron exhaled as he readied himself. Activating the trap now wouldn’t help. Although quite a few of them stood on the plate and would fall, the leader itself was in the center where it was safe.

It stood right at the corner, as if mocking him. Now that he thought about it, the wolf had also stopped right in front of his trap before. Did it know it was there, or was it just a fluke? Why wouldn’t it warn the others then? Aaron had so many questions that would probably never get answered.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

The dwarf and the wolf slowly circled around. Aaron sensed a spell snapping into place right as he completed the forming of his own. Both moved at the same time. The wolf seemed quick. Too quick for a wolf, Aaron supposed he knew what kind of spell the wolf had used.

With his weapon raised, Aaron met the wolf's charge head-on. The large animal moved around, escaping Aaron's attempts at hitting it. Slowly, the wolf gained back the momentum, hitting Aaron on his left thigh. Luckily for Aaron, the claws didn’t penetrate.

He was able to avoid some of the harder hits, but it was still impossible to completely escape an already quick animal with a haste spell.

Aaron's wounds began to grow worse, with the large slash across his back being the worst. It was harder to move around, though he didn’t think that anything important was damaged.

After another close encounter, Aaron took stock of the situation. Although he himself was fairly hurt, he wasn’t the only one. Blood littered the fur, with the wolf itself panting. It was growing agitated. That alone had helped Aaron deal much of the damage.

There were so many things Aaron didn’t understand about this fight. Why didn’t the other wolves join the fight? Why did the leader take so many risks? It didn’t make any sense to Aaron. Until it finally did.

Just as the enemy was about to engage again, Aaron laughed while panting. “Hahahahaha! Oh my god, is that really the reason?”

The wolf started again, though it did seem a bit slower. The spell seemed to finally run out of magic. Maybe if they wouldn’t see each other as competition, they would be able to achieve more.

As the wolf ran circles around Aaron, he finally saw his chance. The moment the wolf he had dubbed Fucker Two was behind him, Aaron changed his direction and hit the wolf straight on the back with his warhammer.

It let out a loud whimper as it reared back and tried to distance itself a bit.

Aaron wouldn’t let it have that respite. He charged ahead, uncaring for the desperate slashes and bites.

He brought down the weapon again, this time hitting the left hind leg.

The dwarf continued in his pursuit of Fucker Two. Luckily, it really seemed like it knew of the trap, as it didn’t leave the rock Aaron had left behind so he wouldn’t fall in as well.

At the same time as he reached the wolf, he felt a spell finish forming. Before he could retreat, the wolf turned around and unclenched its jaw.

Aaron finally saw what kind of spell it was as stone teeth came into view that were twice the length of normal teeth.

Next thing he knew, pain shot through his leg. In all the pain, Aaron let go of his weapon and fell to the ground. He couldn’t think straight as the wolf didn’t seem to want to stop the bite.

In his stupor, Aaron flailed around as he searched for his weapon. These were one of the longest few seconds Aaron had ever endured.

It was like a gift sent from the goddess as he finally gripped the handle of his weapon.

He lifted it up and brought it down again with more elan than ever before. After the sixth hit, Fucker Two finally seemed to have had enough. But Aaron wouldn’t let it leave. Not again.

He wrapped his second arm and leg around the warm body and continued with his strikes.

Aaron didn’t know how many times he hit the wolf, but it had already gone quiet. Aaron just lay there in shock for a few seconds until his thoughts kicked in again.

He looked around in a frenzy as he searched for the others. It didn’t seem like he was a moment too early as Aaron saw the wolves shake themselves out of their own shock.

They seemed quite scared. Before they could decide whether the fight or the flight response should be picked, a quiet howl could be heard. With it, the thought process seemed to finish, and they all turned towards him again.

They advanced quickly, but Aaron could only laugh. Because as they made their way towards him, Aaron only thought about that one spell he had formed as he had begun the fight.

With a mental push, Aaron watched as the plate finally broke and the five wolves fell below. There was a loud crack, followed by multiple thuds, and then there was silence.

Aaron didn’t dare to move for a time. After a handful of minutes, he finally began to carefully remove his leg from the gaping jaws. It hurt like hell, and it wouldn’t be possible to put much weight on that leg, but it would heal.

Blood flowed freely as he removed the pouch that contained the bandages. After Aaron carefully wrapped them around his leg, he slowly made his way towards the edge of his little island.

There he saw the rewards for his labor. All five wolves were there, pierced by spikes he had placed the night before. It was time to get his money.

As he began to use his Shaping Rock spell to remove the spikes, he finally noticed it.

Not a single bird could be heard.