"Stop."

Immediately Noone and Sarah's weapons stopped in place, hovering in their hands like they were supported by a warrior's statue. After a couple weeks of training, Tobias had managed to get the two perfectly in sync, improving their battle capabilities by leaps and bounds in the process.

The two finally released the tension within their bodies and looked quizzically over at Tobias. Why did he stop them? They weren't in any danger of hurting each other yet.

While waiting for Tobias to say more. Noone's eyes suddenly narrowed, he quickly shifted his body to look north into the dark forest. The same direction Tobias was watching intently.

Sarah quickly realized something was wrong and stood next to Noone. She was unable to see anything past the first layer of trees because the canopy of leaves made the forest too dark. However, Tobias and Noone both had much better senses.

Suddenly a rabbit dashed out of the forest and into the clearing.

As soon as it spotted the three combatants it quickly stopped moving and instead dashed to the side, circumventing them as quickly as it’s legs could carry it.

"Not good." Tobias said. Even after the rabbit entered their line of sight, the older paladin did not take his eyes away from the forest. "Back to the cart. Quickly." He moved as he talked, not waiting to explain before he dashed back towards the rest of the party.

"Sally and Rae are on watch right now, they should notice soon." He thought. Each step from his heavy frame caused the soft forest soil to compress as he ran. Behind him Noone and Sarah followed, neither having any trouble keeping up.

Noone kept glancing behind him, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it is that caused the change in atmosphere. He hadn't noticed it before when training with Sarah, but as soon as they stopped, he began to realize…

The forest was silent. The usual mild hum of life that constantly existed in the background of their minds ever since leaving from Ardglass, was gone. It seemed as though even the wind had stilled, cutting off the noise of rustling leaves.

Upon approaching the cart, they could see Rae, Sally and Feylin all standing together in a circle. Someone had cast a magic light which lit up the road around them with a gentle moonlight glow.

"Tobias. Direwolves to the north. More than 50 less than a hundred." Raelith spoke evenly but quickly as soon as the three approached from within the forest.

"Mm. How long?"

"They are running… two minutes." Raelith said. Tobias nodded, trusting her words entirely. Elves were always more attuned with nature than the common person. While not as accurate as the wood-elves of many forests, a moon-elf like Rae was good enough. On top of that she had more than a century of experience traversing forests across the continent. Tobias would have to be a fool to not trust her.

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Noone searched his brain, wondering what these direwolves were. He vaguely recalled being taught about such a beast, but it wasn't something that had stuck with him while learning the common language.

Feylin and Sarah on the other hand immediately tensed up. There weren't many monsters in these forests, the magic density was too low to support them. However, within the southern forests there were beasts aplenty. Each with their own territories.

Direwolves were like the field wolves of the inner kingdom, only much larger. Each one could easily reach two meters in height. And they travelled and hunted in packs.

If there truly were 50 headed their way… They said a small prayer to their respective gods.

Tobias thought for a few moments, looking over the entire party.

Noone was relaxed, although he could sense the tenseness of the party, it hadn't reached a point where they were deathly afraid, thus Noone believed that he had no reason to worry too much.

"Sally, Feylin, Rae. You three stay near the cart and offer support where you can." Tobias spoke quickly.

"Noone. Sarah." He made eye contact with them, leaving no room for argument. "You both will take the brunt of the attack. Work together. I will be right behind you to take care of any which might break through your protection or come in from the sides. So just focus on the one's that come from the front."

Suddenly there was a rustle from the bushes which lined the sides of the road. Immediately everyone could see the dark brown fur of the wolves which easily crested over the height of the brush – darting between the trees.

"This isn't training. You can use all your abilities. Whatever you do though, don't get hurt. Pull back if you need to." Tobias gave one final reminder as he took positions between them and the cart.

Noone pulled out both of his axes and gripped them tightly. The pale light which was cast over their party reflected hundreds of pairs of eyes between the trees.

A shiver ran through Sarah's spine. She couldn't help but shake out a chill while she readied her weapons. In the back of her mind, chains were being prepared.

Normally the miracle to summon weapons was exclusive to clerics, however she had bargained with Hoar to keep it. She was particularly fond of her chains.

Noone stretched his divine sense out to its limits. He could feel the stares from dozens of wolves and his mind calmed, preparing and calculating.

Unlike the rest of them, Noone was acutely aware at how many techniques he was missing compared to his counterparts. Sarah was capable of summoning another weapon out of thin air, and Sally could summon a steed.

They all had healing abilities, and Noone wasn't even sure what skills Tobias was holding onto.

All he had was his strength and divine sense…

Cool energy circulated Noone's meridians and his breath steadied. A smile stretched across Noone's face as he heard the first shuffling of paws and fur move forward.

The full form of several direwolves broke into sprints as they dashed out from the tree line, there was no time for any more planning.