The situation was grave. This was one of the situations when whole teams were wiped out.

“Can we kill it?” Lillie asked.

“No.” Stanley and Aleena answered together.

“How about Aleena’s fire, or Stanley’s water spell?” Patrick asked.

“It’s a 4th tier. It most likely has some resistances to foreign mana types. The fire and water resistance are most common.” Jack explained. The wolves ran around, looking for an entrance. The 4th tier walked slowly, eying its prey.

“Ok. What now?” Lillie asked.

“We need to run away.” Aleena answered.

“Can’t we defend here?” Patrick asked.

“We won’t be able to kill the 4th tier. It will get to us sooner or later,” Aleena explained.

The 4th tier wolf stood calmly outside. It hadn’t attacked, yet.

“How do you want to escape? The 4th tier will manage to chase us down for sure,” Jack asked.

“Lillie will be a bait,” Aleena said.

“No.” Jack replied.

“Do you want to kill me?” Lillie asked, accusing.

“You will be most likely fine. Use your air mana and jump up the trees. Wolves won’t be able to climb. At worst you will need to block some ranged magic attacks.”

“And then what? Do I wait until it gives up?” Lillie asked sarcastically. 

“You should move towards the frontier. A 4th tier is a good prey for the lieutenant. You just need to bait it.”

Lillie didn’t say anything, thinking it over. Jack didn’t.

“It’s a bad plan. The 4th tier is too strong, there is a good chance it will be able to kill Lillie. Or it will just give up on her. She is one person, but there are four of the rest. We all have more essence than Lillie.”

“So, do you have a better idea?” Aleena asked sharply.

Jack didn’t. The smaller wolves came to the bunker walls and started digging.

“How long do we have?” Stanley asked.

“They don’t do much damage. I have inscribed earth mana producing spells on the walls, which are quite hard as the result. With the wolves’ speed of digging, we have at least 20 minutes until they dig through.” Jack informed.

“How can we get out?” Lillie asked. “Jack, can you make an exit?”

“Sure, but it will be also an entrance.” Jack checked his clarity: 456/590. He had been using spells for some time. He would need to ration his clarity in this fight.

“How about a tunnel?” Stanley asked.

Jack groaned. “I could, but it won’t be long enough. I don’t have that much clarity.” He added after a moment. “We need to do something about the 4th tier. Al least we need to hurt it, so it won’t chase after us.”

“That’s the hard part.” Stanley said bitterly.

Jack cast his beam spell. He hoped to blind the wolf. He knew wolves used smells and sounds more, but it was always something. The alpha jumped from the beam course, and hid behind a tree. Jack stopped casting.

Aleena sighed. “Let’s do something about these 3rd tier wolves.” She created fire mana and pushed it through the bunker’s walls. Jack walked to the wall. The wall was half a meter wide, and Jack’s kinetic spells were quite strong on the other side. He pulled the soil from the ground, and pushed it into wolf’s lungs. It was a bit hard, as he needed to fight against the strength of wolf’s lungs, but his magic was stronger. He left the suffocating wolf, and attacked another one.

Earth mana in the walls made it impossible for Stanley to use water mana. Lillie tried to kill with suffocating as well, but the wolves escaped. The ones with the soil in lung were not so lucky though, and died.

Ding… You have killed lv. 31 Fast Wolf

Ding… LEVEL UP! You have reached lv. 16

Five wolves survived, and retreated. One of them still had soil in the lungs, and suffocated soon after.

Ding… You have killed lv. 35 Gray Wolf

He didn’t get a level. ‘The second one died too fast after the previous. My body didn’t manage to absorb all essence. Normally, I would try to kill the second one after a few minutes.’

“So… Now the big one should come out.” Patrick said.

And the big one came. It stopped hiding, and ran at the bunker with anger in its eyes. The team prepared for some magical attack, or maybe for the alpha to try to dig them out, but it was just charging at them.

“Shit! It’s going to crash! Help me hold the wall!” Jack shouted. He pushed on the wall with his physical strength. “We all need to push the wall with the earth kinetic spell when it will crash!” Jack shouted. He was impressed by the wolf’s speed, but also terrified. They would never be able to run away.

He wolf hit the wall with its whole body. Tremors went through the bunker, but the wall held, though there was a crack now. Aleena immediately after the hit created fire mana and threw it at the wolf. The wolf jumped back and ran away. Its fur was scorched a bit, but not much.

“Fire resistance confirmed.” Aleena said.

Mana types were created inside a caster’s body. They need to move through a body to be used in most cases. This was harmful, but everyone could move a mana type. This way, everyone in Jack’s team could cast earth kinetic spell without problem, since Jack’s spell on the wall was creating earth mana on its own. There wasn’t a need for others to produce earth mana.

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“My spell on the wall is broken. I can create earth mana on my own, but I won’t be able to push the wall with the kinetic spell, if I need to produce enough nama for you all to hold the wall.” Jack said.

“Can’t you repair the spell?” Lillie asked.

“I can, but it will take at least half a minute. I don’t know if I can spend that much.”

“How do you kill such creature, since it’s resistant to the magic?” Patrick asked.

“The wolf’s skin can repel mana types, but that’s it. I can scorch it to death still, or burn the air it’s breathing. If we could damage its skin, it should be possible to avoid it’s resistance, by pushing mana through the wound.” Aleena explained.

Patrick took a stance, and threw a spear at the alpha wolf, which was slowly walking outside, looking for an opportunity. Jack didn’t expect much, but the spear flew fast! It hit the wolf, pricing it’s skin a bit.

“How?” Aleena asked, completely surprised. Patrick was looking disappointed. He shrugged. “Life kinetic spell works on bone spears. I have merged the strength of the spell with my own.” Jack was impressed. Throwing a spear, which was propelled by a spell must have been incredibly difficult. Patrick’s agility must have been very high.

The alpha wolf wasn’t amused, though. The monster was only lightly injured, but he had not been able to kill the Jack’s team. The wolf howled, and one of 3rd tiers came forward. The wolf cautiously trotted, hiding behind the trees if possible. It came close to the bunker.

“What are they trying to do?” Stanley frowned.

Dust fell from the roof of the bunker. Jack sent earth mana to investigate. Something was pushing the earth mana in the roof down.

“The wolf is sending water mana to the roof.” Stanley said. “I could keep the mana at bay, but earth mana is blocking me.”

“Don’t worry, the roof will hold.” Jack replied.

The wolf was too far away, his spell too weak. Jack cast his drill spell and hold it, waiting for an opportunity. When the wolf showed itself from behind a tree, he fired.

Ding… You have killed lv. 38 Water Wolf

Ding… LEVEL UP! You have reached lv. 17

It seemed enough time passed from his last kill. The main problem remained, though.

“So, what do you think? Maybe the alpha would give up.” Lille asked.

“Doubt it.” Stanley said sternly. “Everyone prepare for the alpha’s charge.” The monster charged again, but toward another wall, which saved the wall from breaking. The wolf started digging. “Shit. It has earth resistance.  Its paws are pushing back earth mana. The wall is going to be down in seconds.” Jack shouted desperately. Aleena attacked the wolf with fire mana. She kept her attack for a few seconds, heating the insides of bunker in the process. The alpha howled in pain and gave up, retreating.

“The next charge is going to be the last one.” Jack warned.

“Jack, prepare the drill spell, now!” Aleena shouted. Jack cast the spell, but he wasn’t convinced. “The wall will fall! I need to repair it!” Jack shouted back. The bunker room was small. The alpha wolf’s body was going to crush them. If this was an Aleena’s murder attempt, it was a very bad one. She would die too.

Aleena cast her own spell, and created fire mana. She heated Jack’s drill. The earth changed into lava. Some of the liquid splashed around, as Jack was rotating the drill. “Damn. I don’t have experience with handling liquids!” Jack shouted. The wolf charged, leaving them a second. Aleena just shook off the lava from her hands. “Fire it!” He fired.

The lava hit the wolf in the head. It howled in pain and slowed down a little. Patrick threw his spear, which hit wolf’s leg. The spear’s end landed on the ground and blocked itself, stopping completely the wolf in its run and pushing the spear further in. The wolf fell on the ground, shaking its head in an attempt to get rid of the lava.

“What was that?!” Lillie asked.

“Lava. It’s physical, so no magic resistance is going to help it. Jack, once again.” Aleena boasted with a smile.

He cast once again, this time trying to use more soil. “Nobody impressed by my trick with stopping the wolf with the spear,” Patrick sulked. “Do you think the spear blocked itself so lucky on its own?”

“You are great.” Stanley consoled him.

Jack threw the lave once again, but there wasn’t much damage. “Once again, Jack.” Aleena half-shouted.

“I can’t! I’m low on clarity. I can push myself and fire the drill a few more times, but I won’t be able to cast anymore then.” Jack was desperate. They needed to escape. The lava might have damaged the wolf, but it was impossible to kill it with so meager amounts of it. And it was getting hot inside. Aleena didn’t care, but for the rest, it was as hot as in the summer. Jack was all in sweat.

“Fine. Jack, open an exit. Lille, you will be the bait.” Aleena commanded. “No!” Jack shouted. “It’s fine. I will do it.” Lillie said, surprising Jack. He gritted his teeth and gave up under the pressure of the group. He just punched one of the walls, as it was barely standing already, and he wanted to conserve clarity. “Go.” Lillie jumped out. 3rd tier wolves were afraid of attacking on their own, while 4th tier was still lying on the ground in pain.

“They don’t follow her.” Stanley commented. Patrick threw another spear with his technique. It flew at the alpha’s head, as he aimed at the eyes. The wolf got hit, one of its eyes were pierced, but the spear was stopped by its skull. The monster howled, and got back on its legs. The wolf bit the spear protruding from its leg, and jerked it off. The alpha wolf charged at the bunker, though limping this time, because of the injured leg.

“We need to get out!” Stanley shouted. “Wait a bit.” Aleena said and started casting. “We won’t survive if we stay here!” Stanley argued. Jack and Patrick had already left the bunker.“ Then get out!” Aleena snapped. The monster crashed through the wall. “Ignite breath!” Aleena said, and jumped toward the exit. The monster was half-buried in the remnants of the bunker, now, and was shaking its head around.

“What was that?” Stanley asked. There had been a summer temperature around them because of Aleena’s spells before, but now, it was as freezing as at winter’s morning.  

“A fire spell, using fire kinetic spell as a base. I have forced most of the heat from the bunker into its nose.”

“That’s impossible.” Jack answered shortly. The monster’s skin was repelling fire mana. The team as running in the frontier direction. The three remaining wolves stayed by 4th tier side.

“Hmm. I have moved all heat just under its nose, when it was inhaling. Its nose is half ruined, it won’t be able to sniff as out. Now, we need to loss it.” Allena replied with a scoff. Lillie jumped down from a tree.

“It didn’t try to chase me.” She said with a bit of guilt in her tone.

The alpha wolf stood up. Its nose looked burned. The monster ran after the team. It was limping, and it was obvious the run was painful for it, but the wolf ran. It was faster than humans. 3rd tier wolves were running alongside the alpha, flanking it. They were prepared to attack from the flank, since the hunters would be distracted by the alpha.

“We won’t outrun them!” Stanley shouted. He gritted his teeth. “We need to split up.”

“Are you stupid? We don’t have a chance against wolf packs on our own!” Lillie shouted.

“We don’t have a chance against the 4th tier! We need to spit up. One by one. Only Lillie has a chance to outrun it. The wolf will chase the main group. There only will be a danger to the last person who will stay with Lillie the longest.”

“He is right. I volunteer. I have a method to be fast for some time.” Aleena said.

“No! I will stay.” Jack shouted. He was afraid Aleena had nefarious plans towards his girlfriend. A situation, in which the two girls would be alone with each other and a pack of wolves was ideal to kill Lillie. He wasn’t going to risk it. He couldn’t trust Aleena.

“You will die.” Stanley stated the obvious. Jack gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to risk Lillie. He would rather risk his own life.

“I will manage.” Jack said sadly.

“Fine. I will be the last.” Patrick announced, to the surprise of everyone. “I have some methods. I’m not going to die. You can trust me.” Patrick said calmly. There wasn’t much time for the discussion. At first, they had managed to escape for 200 meters from the 4th tier, but it was only 100 meters now.

Aleena dashed to the left. After a few seconds, Stanley ran in the right direction. The wolves were only 50 meters now, still chasing the main group. It was Jack’s turn. He dashed to the left, and ran for a dozens of meters. Jack was low on clarity, so he didn’t use a detection spell, but it seemed, the wolves went after Lillie and Patrick. He sighed. Jack couldn’t go after them. He had to avoid them, and return to the frontier. Lieutenant Bonner would probably thank them for a meal, should the wolf appear close to the frontier. 

Jack ran. He was using neither magic nor detecting spells, which was a mistake. He understood this, as he ran into a small clearing, filled with wolves. He looked at them. They looked at him.

“Shit.”