I continued North to where the vampire had told me was the closest town, but I could not see anything yet. I climbed into a tree, but all I saw was a continuous line of trees. All trees here seemed to be of about the same height, so I stood up there until my mana replenished again, then I flew, or rather made a jump above the forest.

Now I saw something. There were several towers in a distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers away. I could not stay up there and have a better look as I had to navigate my landing. I almost came crashing down as I missed the branch I was targeting, broke through some foliage, and spread my wings again just above the ground, narrowly avoiding a hard crash.

I guess making my wings work as giant wings consumes a lot of mana. Oh, well.

The crash had been anyhow painful enough, and the catfoxes had woken up and started to meowl.

I have a little bit more mana with my staff, so I took my staff out of the inventory box again. I'll have to manage with the staff in one hand and my kittens' bag in the other.

As I stood up and healed my scratches, I saw another beast eying me. It was a bigger one, some kind of a big bad wolf with brown fur.

Uh, oh, fuck. I took the kittens' bag in my mouth and the staff in my hands. I'll need to blast it and block its attacks with the staff. That might be enough to make it leave me be.

Maybe I should change the staff for a spear? The staff increases my mana and mana regeneration, but the spear is more efficient in fending off these beasts and has that zapping end.

As I was facing the wolf, thinking about how to fight it, the beast approached me slowly. Then I saw another, then another one, both coming out of the woods.

Oh, fuck. There are more!

I did not move, waiting for my mana to replenish. Any second I gained was precious, giving me a bit more mobility. When I judged I had enough mana to escape, I did my jump high in the air without waiting for full mana replenishment. It proved that it was the right decision: the moment I flew up, I saw another beast jumping at me from behind, trying to get me.

Fuck, the ones in front were only decoys; the real attack was the one coming from behind. The beasts growled angrily, and one jumped high, almost reaching my perch.

Oh, fucking, fuck, I'll show you who's boss here! I waited again for complete mana replenishment and tried again that death bolt that killed the werewolf. I eyed the wolf that had attacked me from behind and shot it. The hit was a success as far as it angered the beasts immensely, but the beast survived. It must have pained as hell, the wolf rolling over with a pained yowl and disappearing into the bushes. The others followed. I still heard its pained yowls as it ran away and angry growls from the rest.

I waited for my mana to replenish and made a 'jump' to a neighboring tree. I was keeping watch for the wolves, and indeed I saw one hiding behind a tree. Still in flight, I sent him a firebolt. The wolf yelped, surprised, and ran away.

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I continued the procedure another five or six times until I could see no wolf anymore. Did they give up? I jumped from tree to tree, trying to keep my direction, looking back again and again. This will take an eternity to the town. A couple of times, I went to the sides or even back but could not see any wolves. They must have given up. I even risked a short run and a subsequent flight in the next tree, but even with my run on the ground, they did not appear.

I continued to advance north, keeping very alert and flying up now and then, inspecting the forest around. After about half an hour, I thought I was probably safe when I reached a clearing. It was covered with high grass, and a herd of some fifteen to twenty what looked like dark cows or bisons?

I waited until my mana replenished, bound the kitten bag at my neck, then started slowly to advance. At first, everything seemed to be clear, but then I saw a damn wolf coming at me from the forest. I jumped in the air, not a full jump, just a small one to leave me some mana, but it was enough to clear the picture. At least another two wolves were running on the left to cut my way and one right. I could not see them clearly, but I saw tracks in the grass, forming two arcs on one side and one on the other, all intersecting some hundred meters in front of me.

Fucking fuck. No way to run; they are faster than me. I could eventually overfly them for fifty meters, and that was all. I exchanged the staff with a spear and started a death bolt.

Just in time, as the wolf that was running behind me made its appearance. I blasted it and struck it with the spear. It yelped and jumped backward with one foot visibly hurt but was not frozen by the spear.

I was too far from the forest to try to reach it, so I ran towards the herd. Maybe the herd could give me some protection. The grass was here trampled, and I could see better. Besides, there was only one other wolf on this side.

I ran as fast as I could, and the wolf appeared in front of me. For several seconds we were running head-on, me pointing the spear at it. Behind me, the crippled wolf limped as fast as he could, further behind the other two coming now out of the high grass.

I stuck the spear in the wolf facing me and used it to propel me up, then helped with my wings. The wolf yelped in surprise, the spear almost breaking. Good that I did not try to spear it as I fear it would have overrun me. I was not strong enough for that kind of fight.

I lost the spear, but it did not matter; I have some more in my inventory. I ran now as fast as I could toward the herd, which was circling now, alarmed.

A shot resounded, then another one. I heard a yelp and risked an eye back. One wolf was rolling whilst the others changed direction, running towards the forest.

"Now, now, that was an interesting stunt you did there, lady dragonfly!"

From the right, a green giant approached me. His broad, almost square green breast was bare, with two powerful green arms on the side as wide as my thighs. He had one rifle in one hand. He loaded it and shot again.

I was not feeling well as he pointed the weapon at the wolf behind me, which was almost in line with me, but he clearly did not point it at me.

He loaded again, coming closer.

"You are never sure with these brawolfs!"

He shot it again. He was speaking a different language to the werewolves, but I understood it.